JPH1153113A - Display input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display input device capable of detecting and removing dust and dirt deposited on a display face in the display input device for inputting data by directly touching the display face. SOLUTION: A picture input means 4 moves between the display face 1 and a transmission input face 2 and inputs picture information on a picture quality reference board 5 to a storage means 7. A picture information comparison means 8 compares picture information with standard picture information at regular time, which is previously inputted to the storage means 7. When a difference occurs, it is judged that an unnecessary object is adhered to the input face 2, a cleaning means 6 is operated and the unnecessary objet is removed. Thus, the unnecessary feeling of a user is eliminated, the hygiene of the device is kept and reliability can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display input device for performing an input operation by directly touching a display surface by a user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a transparent touch panel has been used as a means for easily performing information input / output operations by anyone.
Display input devices in which the touch panel input surface and the display surface are overlapped on the same axis have been actively developed. For example, in an information terminal such as a cash dispenser, a ticket vending machine, a handwriting word processor, or a pen-input type portable terminal having a structure in which a transparent touch panel is arranged in front of a display surface, a user follows the instruction while watching the display screen. The input is performed by one's own hand or by directly touching the touch panel with a light pen, a stylus pen, or the like. In this display input device, a necessary condition is that the display screen is always clearly seen through the touch panel.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a conventional display input device.
Hereinafter, an example of an input method of a conventional display input device will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, 1 is a display surface, 2 is a transparent touch panel input surface, and 3 is a visual matching structure for matching the display surface 1 with the input surface 2. For example, it is a structure for matching the display area of the menu image on the display surface with the menu designation input area on the input surface to facilitate menu designation input.

[0005] As the display surface 1, a flat display device such as a liquid crystal display device is used. The input surface 2 is a touch panel made of transparent glass or a film, and can be seen through the display surface 1 below the input surface 2.

The display surface 1 displays several display areas having specific coordinates, such as an icon display on a computer, and the input surface 2 above the display area desired by the user is touched with a finger or a pen. The control unit (not shown) uses the coordinates of the contact point on the input surface 2 to display the corresponding display surface 1
Find the coordinates of. An instruction corresponding to the specific coordinates is assigned to the specific coordinates of the display surface 1 in advance. When an input signal is input by designating the specific coordinates, the instruction is input to a computer (not shown). The desired processing is performed.

[0007]

In the above-described apparatus, since an unspecified number of users touch the input surface 2, the input surface 2 is easily stained by dirt or sweat on a finger. In addition, since cash dispensers and ticket vending machines having such touch input surfaces are often installed outdoors or in spaces easily congested by people, the input surface 2 is chronically exposed to dust, tar, insects, and the like. The situation is easy to get dirty. If the input surface 2 becomes dirty, the display surface 1 becomes difficult to see, which not only causes an erroneous operation but also gives the user discomfort and is unsanitary. Also, it is a cause of deterioration of the equipment.

In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a display / input device capable of automatically inspecting the state of dirt on the surface of an input surface and removing dirt on the input surface if necessary. With the goal.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a display input device for scanning an image of an image quality reference plate on an input surface between the display surface and the input surface. The standard image information previously stored in the image storage means is compared with the image information of the image quality reference plate newly read by the image input means, and the dirt on the input surface is detected from the difference between the two image information. Is what you do. According to the present invention, it is possible to detect dirt at each coordinate on the input surface, and to specify a portion deteriorating image quality.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a display input device having a display surface and a transmissive touch panel input surface, wherein the display input device moves between the display surface and the input surface. Image input means for scanning the input surface, storage means for storing image information from the image input means, and image storage means by scanning an image quality reference plate previously placed on the input surface with the image input means. A display input device comprising: image information comparing means for comparing standard image information input to the means with image information of the image quality reference plate newly input by the image input means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to detect dirt for each coordinate on the input surface. Therefore, by properly selecting the threshold value of the image information comparing means, the coordinates of the input surface requiring cleaning can be accurately known. Based on this dirt information, a dirt warning lamp is turned on, and a dirt portion of the input surface is displayed on the display surface to facilitate cleaning of the input surface, thereby giving a user discomfort and preventing erroneous operation. be able to.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image quality reference plate is located above the input surface and at a position where the image of the image quality reference plate can be read by the image input means.
The display input device according to claim 1, wherein the display input device moves in synchronization with the image input means.

According to the present invention, since the image quality reference plate and the image input means are configured to move synchronously, the width of the image quality reference plate may be the width of the reading section of the image input means. So small. Therefore, when the image quality reference plate is not used, it can be incorporated in a hidden place such as the left and right corners which do not interfere with the normal operation of the display input device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the display input device according to the first aspect, further comprising an image adjusting / synthesizing unit capable of processing the image information read by the image input unit. It is possible to adjust the image such as the size and color, or combine the stored image with the read image, and adjust the dirt detection condition.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning device for cleaning the input surface based on information from the image information comparing unit, and a cleaning control unit for controlling the cleaning unit. The display input device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein only a very dirty portion of the input surface can be automatically and efficiently cleaned.

Hereinafter, a display input device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a display input device of the present invention.

The display surface 1 is a display panel such as a liquid crystal display panel, an EL panel, and a cathode ray tube.

The input surface 2 is a transparent touch panel which is installed above the display surface 1 and is connected to a coordinate control device (not shown). The detected coordinates can be detected. Input surface 2
Is composed of a transparent touch sensor surface (touch panel) of a pressure-sensitive type, a capacitive type, a resistive type, or the like.

The visual matching structure 3 is a mechanism for making the input surface 2 and the display surface 1 visually appear to be located on the same surface, as described in the conventional example.

The image input means 4 is a scanner or a small camera using an image sensor. The image input means 4 is moved between the display surface 1 and the input surface 2 by a driving system mechanism such as a stepping motor. Is read, and the read data is input to the storage means 7.

The image quality reference plate 5 is deteriorated depending on the environment.
It is made of materials such as metals and plastics that are difficult to discolor,
The input surface 2 is connected to the image input means 4 and
Move together at a position where the image information of the image quality reference plate can be read.

The cleaning means 6 is a device provided with functions such as a brush, a brush, air blowing and water supply. The cleaning means 6 moves on the input surface 2 and adheres to the input surface 2 and the image quality reference plate 5 by wind pressure or cleaning liquid. Remove unnecessary objects, obstacles, dirt, etc.

The image information comparing means 8 is provided at an arbitrary position on the input surface 2 of the image quality reference plate 5 which has been moved between the display surface 1 and the input surface 2 by the image input means 4 and input to the storage means 7. An electronic circuit (electronic computer) having a function of analyzing image quality.

The control means 9 controls the operation of the input surface 2 and the cleaning means 6 according to the operation of the image input means 4 and the image quality reference plate 5 connected thereto and the information from the image information comparing means 8. An electronic circuit (electronic computer) having the function of performing

Next, the operation of the display input device according to the first embodiment will be described. First, as an initial setting, input surface 2
In addition, the image information of the image quality reference plate 5 read by the image input unit 4 in a normal state where no unnecessary matter (dirt) is attached to the image quality reference plate 5 is stored in the storage unit 7 as reference data. Further, the image quality reference plate 5, the image input means 4, and the cleaning means 6 are stored in hidden positions so as not to disturb the use of the display input device.

Next, the image input means 4 is scanned by an instruction from the control means 9, and the image information of the image quality reference plate 5, which is connected to the image input means 4 and moves on the input surface 2, is read from the input surface 2. Read at any position. Then, the image information read here is compared with the reference data stored as described above by the image information comparing means 8. At this time,
If there is a difference between the read image information and the reference data, the position of the input surface 2 may be undesired, such as dirt, dust, dust, or the like.
It determines that an unnecessary object is attached to itself, and sends the position information of the image input means 4 and the image quality reference plate 5 to the control means 9 at that time. The control means 9 moves the cleaning means 6 to a position on the input surface 2 where it is determined that there is an unnecessary object based on the information from the image information comparison means 8, and cleans the input surface 2 and the image quality reference plate 5. Perform After the cleaning is completed, the image input means 4 reads the image information of the image quality reference plate 5 again at the same position, compares the image information with the reference and data, and if there is no difference, determines that the cleaning is completed and the image information comparing means 8 sends the control information to the control means 9 To return the cleaning means 6 to the original storage position. If there is still a difference from the reference data, the above-described cleaning and image checking operations are repeated. Here, in the comparison between the read image information and the reference data, a certain allowable range is provided in consideration of the installation environment, the use, the error, and the like of the apparatus to adjust the operation frequency of the cleaning unit and the image quality analysis accuracy. Becomes possible.

Further, the position of the input surface 2 for reading the image of the image quality reference plate 5 by moving the image input means 4 can be arbitrarily selected, and the timing of the movement, the frequency / interval, etc. can be freely set. It is also possible to set it.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the display input device of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, instead of the moving image quality reference plate 5 of the first embodiment, a predetermined presentation (for example, a dedicated test chart for identifying pictures, characters, photographs, and colors written on paper) ) Is placed on the input surface 2 as an image quality reference plate. Further, in order to display the image information read from the image input means 4 on the display surface 1, the display position, size, color, etc. can be processed according to arbitrary conditions. An image adjusting / combining means 10 having a function of combining is added.

Next, the operation of the display input device with a cleaning function according to the present embodiment will be described. First, as an initial setting, a normal state in which unnecessary matter (dirt) is not attached to the input surface 2 is confirmed, and the user places a presentation at an arbitrary position on the input surface 2. The image input unit 4 moves and reads the image information of the presentation, and stores the image information in the storage unit 7 as reference data. The image input means 4 and the cleaning means 6 are stored in hidden positions so as not to disturb the use of the display input device.

Next, the user places the same presentation at an arbitrary position on the input surface 2 for the purpose of checking the state of the input surface 2. The image input unit 4 is scanned by an instruction from the control unit 9 to read image information at an arbitrary position on the input surface 2. Then, the read image information is compared with the reference data stored in the image information comparing means 8. At this time, if there is a difference between the read image information and the reference data, it is determined that an undesired object such as dirt, dust, or dust is attached at that position on the input surface 2, and the control unit 9 determines at that time that the unnecessary object is present. The image input means 4 and its position information are sent. The control means 9 moves the cleaning means 6 to a position on the input surface 2 where it is determined that an unnecessary object is present, based on the information from the image information comparison means 8, and cleans the input surface 2. After the cleaning is completed, the user puts the same presentation at the same position again, and the image input means 4 reads the image information of the presentation and compares it with the reference data again. Upon completion, a command is sent from the image information comparing means 8 to the control means 9, and the cleaning means 6 is returned to the original storage position. If there is still a difference from the reference data, the above-described cleaning and image checking operations are repeated.

It is also possible to process the read image information of the user's presentation by the image adjusting / synthesizing means 10 according to arbitrary conditions such as size, color, and position, and display the processed information on the display surface 1. .

Incidentally, instead of automatically cleaning the input surface 2,
The control means 9 can also turn on a dirt warning lamp to warn the administrator of the cleaning of the input surface 2. At this time, if the degree of dirt corresponding to each coordinate is displayed on the display surface 1, cleaning by hand becomes easy.

[0035]

According to the present invention as described above,
It can automatically detect and remove dust, dirt, fingerprints, sweat, and other stains on the input surface such as the touch panel, which may cause user discomfort or cause erroneous operation or failure of the device. Can be used hygienically and can be used with confidence,
There is an effect that the reliability of the device can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional display input device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display surface 2 Input surface 3 Visual matching structure 4 Image input means 5 Image quality reference plate 6 Cleaning means 7 Storage means 8 Image information comparison means 9 Control means 10 Image adjustment / synthesis means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A display input device having a display surface and a transmissive touch panel input surface, wherein image input means moves between the display surface and the input surface and scans the input surface;
A storage unit for storing image information from the image input unit, and image information input to the storage unit by scanning the image quality reference plate previously placed on the input surface with the image input unit, and the image input unit A display input device comprising: image information comparing means for comparing the newly input image information of the image quality board with image information. 2. An image quality reference plate above said input surface,
2. The display input device according to claim 1, wherein the display input device is located at a position where the image of the image quality reference plate can be read by the image input device, and moves in synchronization with the image input device. 3. The display input device according to claim 1, further comprising an image adjusting / combining means capable of processing image information read by said image input means. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cleaning unit for cleaning said input surface based on information from said image information comparing unit and a cleaning control unit for controlling said cleaning unit. 3. The display input device according to 2.