JPH1124841A - Information processing device and method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability of a touch pointing means by defining a touch position as a physical input point, regarding a position distant from the touch position as a designated position, i.e., a logical input point to be inputted, and displaying a cursor having a shape connecting the physical and logical input points to each other. SOLUTION: A touch panel cursor has a physical input point 20a and a logical input point 21a at its both ends. The point 21a serves as a touch position that is actually touched by a user via his fingers or a touch pen, and the coordinate data (X, Y) on the touch position are inputted to a BIOS via a touch panel and transferred to a touch panel driver via a basic OS. The point 21a also serves as a point position that is regarded as a designated position and fetched by an application program to be executed there. The coordinate data (X+m, y+n) on the point position are calculated by the touch panel driver based on the coordinate data (X, Y) on the touch position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus such as a word processor having a touch panel or a touch pad in addition to a mouse pointer as position specifying means, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer), a processing method, and a storage medium. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, there have been known information processing apparatuses such as a word processor and a personal computer having a mouse pointer, which can be used together with a touch panel or a touch pad. In this type of information processing device, a touch signal from a touch panel or a touch pad is converted into a mouse signal and transferred to a mouse driver, and the touch panel or the touch pad functions as a mouse pointer emulator.

[0003]

However, even when a touch panel or a touch pad is used as a mouse pointer emulator, the shape of the cursor remains the same as that of a conventional mouse cursor. Had the following problems.

That is, in a system or application in which the resolution of an image is high, the shape of an icon or a selection button is smaller or more complicated, the cursor is hidden by a finger, and a desired icon or selection button is surely designated. There was always anxiety about whether or not it was done. Further, since the area of the icon or the selection button is smaller than the contact area of the finger, the icon or the selection button is touched across a plurality of icons or the selection button, and the desired icon or the selection button cannot be accurately touched. Was. Furthermore, it has been difficult to move or resize the window by properly specifying the thin frame of the window. Further, it has been difficult to specify icons, selection buttons, and the like in the peripheral and corner portions of the display screen.

When the position is designated using a touch pen instead of a finger, the above-mentioned problems are relatively reduced. However, if the shape of the icon or the selection button is still small, the designated position is designated. Therefore, considerable care must be taken when performing the method, and improvement in operability has been desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made under such a background. An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus using a touch pointing device such as a touch panel or a touch pad as an emulator for a mouse pointer. To improve the performance.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus using a touch pointing means as an emulator of a mouse pointer. Determining means for determining whether the operation is a position specifying operation by the user, and, when the determining means determines that the operation is a position specifying operation by the touch pointing means, the touch position is set as a physical input point, and a position separated from the touch position And a cursor display control means for displaying a cursor having a shape connecting the logical input point and the physical input point as a logical input point to be subjected to input processing by regarding the logical input point as a designated position.

[0008] According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect,
The described cursor display control means is configured to change the direction of the cursor according to a touch position on the touch pointing means.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the second aspect.
The cursor display control means described, the touch pointing means, or near the upper side of the window frame, near the lower side, near the left side, when the position near the right side is touched,
The upper side, the lower side, the left side, the cursor perpendicular to the right side and the logical input point is formed on the upper side, the lower side, the left side, the right side, near the upper left corner, near the upper right corner,
If the position near the lower left corner or the lower right corner is touched,
45 for the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right corners respectively
It is configured to display a cursor having the logical input point formed at the upper left corner, upper right corner, lower left corner, and lower right corner.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 4, in claim 2,
The cursor display control means described above is configured to recognize a touch position on the touch pointing means and change the direction of the cursor.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 5, according to claim 2,
The cursor display control means is configured to change the direction of the cursor when a predetermined operation means is operated.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 6, according to claim 1,
The touch pointing means described above is constituted by a touch panel laminated on a display screen of a display means.

[0013] According to the invention described in claim 7, according to claim 1,
The touch pointing means described above is constituted by a touch pad formed separately from the display screen of the display means.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method using the touch pointing means as an emulator of a mouse pointer, it is determined whether the touch pointing means or the mouse pointer is used to specify a position. A touch position is determined as a physical input point, and a position separated from the touch position is regarded as a specified position, and input processing is performed. And a cursor display control step of displaying a cursor having a shape connecting the logical input point and the physical input point.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the eighth aspect of the present invention provides
The described cursor display control step is configured to change a direction of a cursor according to a touch position on the touch pointing means.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the cursor display control step according to the ninth aspect, the touch pointing means or a position near an upper side, a lower side, a left side, or a right side near the window frame is touched. In this case, a cursor having the logical input point formed on the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side, which is perpendicular to the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side, is displayed. When a position near the vicinity, the lower left corner, or the lower right corner is touched, the upper left corner, the upper right corner, the lower left corner, and the lower left corner are inclined by about 45 degrees with respect to the upper left corner, the upper right corner, and the lower left corner, respectively. ,
It is configured to display a cursor having the logical input point formed at the lower right corner.

According to the eleventh aspect of the invention, the cursor display control step according to the ninth aspect is configured to recognize a touch position on the touch pointing means and change the direction of the cursor.

In the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the cursor display control step of the ninth aspect is configured to change the direction of the cursor when a predetermined operation means is operated.

In the invention of claim 13, the touch pointing means of claim 8 is constituted by a touch panel laminated on a display screen of a display means.

Further, in the invention of claim 14, the touch pointing means of claim 8 is constituted by a touch pad formed separately from the display screen of the display means.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium for storing an information processing program using a touch pointing means as an emulator of a mouse pointer, wherein a position designation operation is performed by either the touch pointing means or the mouse pointer. A touching position is determined as a physical input point, and a position separated from the touching position is specified as a specified position. As a logical input point to be regarded as input processing, a program having a cursor display control routine for displaying a cursor having a shape connecting the logical input point and the physical input point is stored.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, the cursor display control routine according to the fifteenth aspect is configured to change a direction of a cursor according to a touch position on the touch pointing means.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, in the cursor display control routine according to the sixteenth aspect, the touch pointing means or a position near the upper side, near the lower side, near the left side, or near the right side of the window frame is touched. In this case, a cursor having the logical input point formed on the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side, which is perpendicular to the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side, is displayed. When a position near the vicinity, the lower left corner, or the lower right corner is touched, the upper left corner, the upper right corner, the lower left corner, and the lower left corner are inclined by about 45 degrees with respect to the upper left corner, the upper right corner, and the lower left corner, respectively. , A cursor having the logical input point formed at the lower right corner is displayed.

Further, in the invention according to claim 18, the cursor display control routine according to claim 16 is configured to change the direction of the cursor by recognizing a touch position on the touch pointing means.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, the cursor display control routine according to the sixteenth aspect is configured to change the direction of the cursor when a predetermined operation means is operated.

According to the twentieth aspect, the touch pointing means according to the fifteenth aspect is constituted by a touch panel laminated on a display screen of a display means.

In the twenty-first aspect of the present invention, the touch pointing means of the fifteenth aspect is constituted by a touch pad formed separately from the display screen of the display means.

[0028]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
IOS (Basic Input Output Sy)
stems) 101, a keyboard 102, a mouse pointer 103, a basic OS (Operating System)
m) 104, a display 105, a touch panel 106, an input device recognition unit 107, a mouse driver 108, a touch panel driver 109, a cursor switching control unit 110, a cursor display control unit 111, and a ROM 112.

Note that programs constituting the basic OS 104, the input device recognition unit 107, the mouse driver 108, the touch panel driver 109, the cursor switching control unit 110, the cursor display control unit 111, and the like are preset in the ROM 112. Although not shown, the CPU
There is also provided an execution memory area where programs to be referenced and executed by the CPU 100 are arranged, a work area for the CPU 100, and a RAM which is used as a storage memory area where various programs temporarily store data.

The CPU 100 is hardware that controls various processes in the information processing apparatus. BI
The OS 101 is firmware that controls input and output.

The keyboard 102 is an input device for inputting various data and commands.
Reference numeral 03 and the touch panel 106 are pointing devices for specifying a position on the display 105. In addition,
The touch panel 106 is stacked on the display screen of the display device 105 and is configured to function as an emulator for the mouse pointer 103. Mouse driver 1
08 and the touch panel driver 109 are software for calculating the position of the cursor actually displayed on the display 105 in dot units based on the data input from the mouse pointer 103 and the touch panel 106, respectively.

The input device recognizing unit 107 is software for recognizing whether the input is made by the mouse pointer 103 or the touch panel 106. The cursor switching control unit 110 switches between a mouse cursor of a normal shape corresponding to the mouse pointer 103 and a cursor of a shape unique to the present invention corresponding to the touch panel 106 based on the recognition result of the input device recognition unit 107 and Is software that changes the direction of the cursor for the touch panel 106 according to the touch position. The cursor display control unit 111 also displays the cursor of the shape switched by the cursor switching control unit 110 on the mouse driver 1.
08 or software displayed at the position calculated by the touch panel driver 109.

Next, the flow of basic cursor display processing in the present apparatus will be described. When an access signal is input from the mouse pointer 103 or the touch panel 106, the BIOS 101 interrupts the basic OS 104, and the input device recognizing unit 107 performs an input using the mouse pointer 103 or the touch panel 106.
Is recognized based on the difference between the electrical signals, and the recognition result is stored as input device data. Then, the BIOS 101 transfers the input access signal to the mouse driver 108 or the touch panel driver 109 or the like corresponding to the input device data related to the storage, and transfers the control right.

The mouse driver 108 calculates, based on the transferred access signal, that is, the amount of movement in the X and Y directions inputted from the mouse pointer 103, position data of the cursor actually displayed on the display 105 in dot units. Then, the data is transmitted to the basic OS 104 via the BIOS 101. Further, the touch panel driver 109 converts the transferred access signal, that is, coordinate position data corresponding to the resolution of the display device 105 into dot position data of a cursor actually displayed on the display device 105, and
1 to the basic OS 104. Basic OS 104
Transmits the stored input device data to the cursor switching control unit 110, and outputs a mouse cursor of a normal shape corresponding to the mouse pointer 103 or the touch panel 10
While switching to the cursor of the shape corresponding to 6,
The received cursor position data in dot units is transferred to the cursor display control unit 111 to display the cursor.

Next, a cursor display process unique to the present invention will be described.

At the time of input using the touch panel 106, a cursor having a shape as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed. The cursor for the touch panel is, as shown in FIG.
0 and an elongated arrow portion 2 protruding from the annular portion 20
1.

The cursor is provided with a physical input point 20a disposed in the annular portion 20 and a logical input point 21a disposed at the tip of the arrow 21. That is, the cursor for the touch panel has a structure in which a physical input point 20a and a logical input point 21a are provided at both ends, respectively. The physical input point 20a is a touch position where the user actually touches with a finger or a touch pen. Coordinate data (X, Y) of the touch position is input from the touch panel 106 to the BIOS 101, and the basic OS 104
The data is transferred to the touch panel driver 109. The logical input point 21a is a point position which is regarded as a designated position, taken into the application program and executed,
The coordinate data (X + m, Y + n) of this point position is
The basic OS 104 is calculated by the touch panel driver 109 based on the coordinate data (X, Y) of the touch position.
Via the application program.

The cursor for the touch panel shown in FIG. 2 shows the basic form, and its orientation is changed by the cursor switching unit 110 into nine positions (3a to 3a) shown in FIG.
It is configured to change in the area of i). That is, when the center region (strictly, all regions except the peripheral region of the screen) of the display screen of the touch panel 106 shown in 3a of FIG. 3 is touched, as shown in FIG.
A cursor tilted to the left by about 60 degrees is displayed. Also, an area near the upper side of the screen shown in 3b of FIG.
Alternatively, when an area near the upper side of the window frame is touched, the cursor shown in FIG. 5, that is, a vertically upward cursor is displayed. Here, the direction of the cursor means the direction indicated by the above-mentioned arrow 21, and indicates that the logical input point 21 a is located on the side of the arrow 21 in the traveling direction. When an area near the lower side of the screen shown in FIG. 3C or an area near the lower side of the window frame is touched, a vertically downward cursor shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. When the area near the left side of the screen shown in FIG. 3D or the area near the left side of the window frame is touched, the horizontal leftward cursor shown in FIG. 7 is displayed.
When the area near the right side of the screen shown in 3e of FIG. 3 or the area near the right side of the window frame is touched, FIG.
The horizontal right cursor shown in is displayed.

When an area near the upper left corner of the screen shown in 3f of FIG. 3 or an area near the upper left corner of the window frame is touched, an upper left cursor shown in FIG. 9 is displayed. When the area near the upper right corner of the screen shown in 3g of FIG. 3 or the area near the upper right corner of the window frame is touched, the cursor pointing to the upper right shown in FIG. 10 is displayed. When the area near the lower left corner of the screen shown in 3h of FIG. 3 or the area near the lower left corner of the window frame is touched, the lower left cursor shown in FIG. 11 is displayed. An area near the lower right corner of the screen shown in 3i of FIG. 3,
Alternatively, when an area near the lower right corner of the window frame is touched, a lower right cursor shown in FIG. 12 is displayed.

The reason why the direction of the cursor is changed in accordance with the touch position is that icons, selection buttons, and window frames existing in the peripheral portion of the screen are used as much as possible on the assumption that the same size cursor is used. This is for improving the operability by increasing the distance between the touch panel and the touch position.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
By using a cursor provided with a physical input point 20a and a logical input point 21a at both ends thereof as a cursor for a touch panel, an icon or a selection button existing in a peripheral portion of the screen or a desired window frame is directly touched. Even if you do not, by touching a position slightly away from them, you can specify icons and selection buttons at the periphery of the screen or a desired window frame,
Operability is greatly improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified and applied. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the position of the cursor is automatically changed by recognizing which one of the nine regions shown in FIG. 3 is touched and the direction of the cursor is automatically changed. When the direction change is automated, the area near the boundary of the nine areas or the area extending over two areas, for example, 3a and 3e in FIG.
When it is desired to designate a selection button that straddles the frame line of the window located at the boundary of, or the area of 3b and 3f, there is a possibility that these desired selection buttons and the like cannot be easily designated. Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, it is possible to provide a means for instructing whether or not to change the direction of the cursor. As this means, for example, the touch panel 10
Various means such as a changeover switch provided on the outer peripheral portion of the display screen 6 and a switching icon provided at a predetermined position on the screen can be considered.

Further, the shape of the cursor for the touch panel is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and as long as the physical input point and the logical input point are provided at positions separated by a certain distance, for example, The physical input point may have a shape other than a circle, such as a square. Further, the present invention can be applied to a touch input unit other than the touch panel, for example, a touch pad.
Further, the touch panel cursor is displayed only when the peripheral portion of the touch panel display screen is touched, and when the inner part of the touch panel display screen is touched,
A cursor for a mouse pointer may be displayed.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In an information processing apparatus using a touch pointing means as an emulator of a mouse pointer, a discriminating means for discriminating whether the touch pointing means or the mouse pointer is used to specify a position, and a position determined by the discriminating means by the touch pointing means. If it is determined that the operation is a designation operation, the touch position is set as a physical input point, and a position separated from the touch position is regarded as a specified position, and the logical input point and the physical input Since cursor display control means for displaying a cursor having a shape connecting points is provided, it is possible to improve the operability of the touch pointing means.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for describing a cursor for a touch panel.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a screen position for explaining a change process of changing a direction of a cursor according to a touch position on a touch panel;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a direction of a cursor when a position 3a in FIG. 3 is touched.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a direction of a cursor when a position 3b in FIG. 3 is touched.

6 is a diagram showing the direction of a cursor when a position 3c in FIG. 3 is touched.

7 is a diagram showing the direction of a cursor when a position 3d in FIG. 3 is touched.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the direction of a cursor when a position 3e in FIG. 3 is touched.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the direction of a cursor when a position 3f in FIG. 3 is touched.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the direction of a cursor when a position 3g in FIG. 3 is touched.

11 is a diagram showing the direction of a cursor when a position 3h in FIG. 3 is touched.

12 is a diagram showing the direction of a cursor when a position 3i in FIG. 3 is touched.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 circular part 20a physical input point 21 arrow part 21a logical input point 100 CPU 101 BIOS 103 mouse pointer 104 basic OS 105 display 105 106 touch panel 107 input device recognition unit 108 mouse driver 109: Touch panel driver 110: Cursor switching control unit 111: Cursor display control unit 112: ROM

Claims (21)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus using a touch pointing means as an emulator of a mouse pointer, a determining means for determining whether the touch pointing means or a mouse pointer is used to specify a position, and When it is determined that the operation is a position designation operation by the touch pointing means, the touch position is set as a physical input point, and a position separated from the touch position is regarded as a specified position, and the logical input point is processed as a logical input point. An information processing apparatus, comprising: cursor display control means for displaying a cursor having a shape connecting an input point and a physical input point. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cursor display control means changes a direction of a cursor according to a touch position on said touch pointing means. 3. When the touch pointing means or a position near the upper side, near the lower side, near the left side, or near the right side of the window frame is touched, the cursor display control means respectively sets the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side. A cursor having the logical input point formed vertically on the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side is displayed, and positions near the upper left corner, near the upper right corner, near the lower left corner, and near the lower right corner are touched. In this case, the logic input point is formed at the upper left corner, upper right corner, lower left corner, and lower right corner side at an angle of about 45 degrees with respect to the upper left corner, the upper right corner, the lower left corner, and the lower right corner. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a cursor is displayed. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cursor display control means changes a direction of the cursor by recognizing a touch position on the touch pointing means. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said cursor display control means changes the direction of the cursor when a predetermined operation means is operated. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said touch pointing means is constituted by a touch panel laminated on a display screen of a display means. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said touch pointing means is constituted by a touch pad formed separately from a display screen of a display means. 8. An information processing method using a touch pointing means as an emulator of a mouse pointer, a discriminating step of discriminating whether the touch pointing means or a mouse pointer is a position designation operation, When it is determined that the operation is a position designation operation by the touch pointing means, the touch position is set as a physical input point, and a position separated from the touch position is regarded as a designated position, and as a logical input point subjected to input processing, A cursor display control step of displaying a cursor having a shape connecting the logical input point and the physical input point. 9. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein in the cursor display control step, a direction of a cursor is changed according to a touch position on the touch pointing means. 10. In the cursor display control step, when a position near the upper side, near the lower side, near the left side, or near the right side of the touch pointing means or the window frame is touched, the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side are respectively touched. On the upper side, the lower side, the left side, the cursor on which the logical input point is formed on the right side is displayed, and a cursor near the upper left corner is displayed.
When the positions near the upper right corner, the lower left corner, and the lower right corner are touched, the upper left corner, the upper right corner, the lower left corner are inclined at about 45 degrees with respect to the upper left corner, the upper right corner, the lower left corner, and the lower right corner, respectively. 10. The information processing method according to claim 9, further comprising displaying a cursor having the logical input point formed at a corner and a lower right corner. 11. The information processing method according to claim 9, wherein in the cursor display control step, the direction of the cursor is changed by recognizing a touch position on the touch pointing means. 12. The information processing method according to claim 9, wherein in the cursor display control step, the direction of the cursor is changed when a predetermined operation unit is operated. 13. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said touch pointing means comprises a touch panel laminated on a display screen of a display means. 14. The information processing method according to claim 8, wherein said touch pointing means comprises a touch pad formed separately from a display screen of a display means. 15. A storage medium for storing an information processing program using a touch pointing means as an emulator of a mouse pointer, wherein a determination routine for determining whether the touch pointing means or the mouse pointer is used for a position designation operation. When it is determined in the determination routine that the touch pointing means is a position specifying operation, the input processing is performed by regarding the touch position as a physical input point and regarding a position apart from the touch position as a specified position. As a logical input point,
A cursor display control routine for displaying a cursor having a shape connecting the logical input point and the physical input point; and a storage medium storing a program comprising: 16. The storage medium according to claim 15, wherein said cursor display control routine changes a direction of a cursor according to a touch position on said touch pointing means. 17. In the cursor display control routine,
The touch pointing means, or near the upper side of the window frame, near the lower side, near the left side, when the position near the right side is touched, respectively, the upper side, the lower side, the left side, perpendicular to the right side, the upper side, the lower side, The left side, the cursor on which the logical input point is formed on the right side is displayed, and when the position near the upper left corner, near the upper right corner, near the lower left corner, and the lower right corner is touched, the upper left corner, the upper right corner, 17. A cursor which is inclined by about 45 degrees with respect to a lower left corner and a lower right corner and displays a cursor having the logical input point formed at the upper left corner, the upper right corner, the lower left corner, and the lower right corner. The storage medium according to the above. 18. In the cursor display control routine,
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a direction of the cursor is changed by recognizing a touch position on the touch pointing means.
6. The storage medium according to 6. 19. In the cursor display control routine,
17. The storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the direction of the cursor is changed when a predetermined operation unit is operated. 20. The storage medium according to claim 15, wherein said touch pointing means is constituted by a touch panel laminated on a display screen of a display means. 21. The storage medium according to claim 15, wherein said touch pointing means is constituted by a touch pad formed separately from a display screen of a display means.