JPS61198321A - Touch input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute continuously various input methods with a single hand by providing a switch means, which is operared with a load heavier than the operating load of a touch pad, under the touch pad. CONSTITUTION:When a depressing force stronger than the former is applied after a touch pad 10 is depressed to move a cursor 31 of a display device 30 to one of command execution displays 32a, 32b, and 32c, a switch 13 is operated and outputs a switch input signal, and the command is executed. Thus, move ment of the cursor 13 and execution of the command are performed with a single hand in continuous two-stage operation to improve the operability.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a touch input device that detects coordinate information of a position touched by a stylus, finger, or the like.

(B) Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a touch input device comprising a touch pad that detects coordinate information of a suppressed position, in which a switch means that operates under a load higher than the operating load of the touch pad is provided on the lower surface of the touch pad. This enables two-step operation of the touch input device.

(c) Prior art and its problems Conventionally, as a touch input device, for example, as shown in FIGS. A touch pad 1O has been proposed that has a structure in which a pressure-sensitive conductor 5 is sandwiched between a printed resistor 4 and a pressure-sensitive conductor 5.

As a method of using this touch input device, for example,
As shown in the figure, the touch pad IO is connected to the keyboard 3
4, the cursor 31 of the display device 30 continuously displays command execution rt, I 5TJ32a.

It is possible to move it to either rcOPYJ32b or rSTOPJ32c.

However, in conventional touch input devices, the cursor 3
Since you can only input to move 1 continuously, when you try to input a command execution instruction, the touchpad 1
There is a problem in that operability is poor because the user must either move the hand that was placed on the keyboard 34 to perform an input operation, or use the remaining hand to perform an input operation on the keyboard 34.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides the following features:
A switch means that operates under a load higher than the operating load of the touch pad is provided.

(e) Operation and Effect Therefore, according to the present invention, different input methods using the touch pad and the switch means can be performed continuously with one hand by two-step operation, and the touch pad has excellent operability. This has the effect of providing an input device.

(F) Embodiment Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of FIGS. 1 to 3.

This embodiment has almost the same structure as the conventional example described above,
The difference is that a switch 13 that operates with a load higher than the operating load of the touch pad 10 is provided on the lower surface of the touch pad 10 via a fixed plate 11.

That is, the sort body l of touchpad IQ has a thickness of 100
It is made of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film of μ, and a conductor 2 consisting of a substantially rectangular silver pattern is printed on the surface on which a pressure-sensitive conductor 5 (to be described later) is sandwiched, and the conductor 2 is printed on the connector portion la of the conductor 2. The lead pattern 2a is printed.

The pressure-sensitive conductor 5 is a substantially rectangular anisotropic pressure-sensitive conductive rubber sheet l-
It exhibits conductivity when pressure is applied in the thickness direction.

The sheet body 3 has a thickness of 100 mm, similar to the sheet body I described above.
It is made of a μ PFJT film, and a substantially rectangular resistor 4 is printed on the surface that is in close contact with the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 described above. This resistor 4 has a central resistance surface 6 made of a carbon pattern having a uniform resistance value at the center, and a carbon pattern having a constant width and a uniform resistance value at the periphery of the central resistance surface 6. It is composed of a peripheral electrode band 7 consisting of a pattern. Furthermore, the sheet body 3 has a connector portion 3a that has a
Corners 7 a, 7 b, 7 c of the peripheral electrode band 7,
Lead pattern 8 a, 8 drawn from 7 d
b, 8c, and 8d are the drawers.

The central resistance surface 6 is made of a carbon pattern having a resistance value of several Ω/sq, and the peripheral electrode band 7 has a resistance value of several tens of Ω/sq.
It consists of a carbon pattern with a resistance value of . Furthermore, an insulating material (not shown) is provided on the surfaces of the lead patterns 8a to 8d to prevent malfunction.

The switches 13 are soldered to the four corners of the substantially rectangular mounting plate 12, and when a load higher than the operating load is applied to the touch pad IO, at least one of the switches 13 is operated via the fixing plate +1. , the switch is designed to output human power signals.

Next, an example of use according to this embodiment will be explained (see FIG. 3).

The conductor 2 is connected to a V-F converter 22 and an arithmetic circuit 23 via a flexible printed circuit board (not shown).
It is connected to the. This V-F converter 22 outputs pulses with a frequency proportional to the input voltage, and the arithmetic circuit 23 counts the input pulses for a certain period of time.
The count value is output as coordinate data.

On the other hand, the peripheral electrode band 7 connects the corner 7a of the peripheral electrode band 7 to the GN via a flexible printed circuit board (not shown).
D, the corners 7b and 7d are connected to the analog switch 2I, and the corner 7C is connected to the power supply Vcc.

This analog switch 2'' has a resistance value of zero or infinity upon receiving an external XY switching signal, and connects the corners 7b and 7d of the peripheral electrode band 7 alternately to either the power source Vcc or GND. Switch to .

On the other hand, the switch 13 is configured to operate and output a switch human input signal when a load greater than the operating load of the touch pad IO is applied.

Next, the operation of this circuit will be explained.

First, in the state shown in FIG. 3, the corner 7a of the peripheral electrode band 7 is
The corner portion 7C is always connected to the power supply Vcc, and the corner portions 7b and 7d are connected to the GND and the power supply Vcc via the analog switch 21, respectively. Therefore, one side 9a between the corners 7a and 7b of the peripheral electrode band 7 has a voltage near GND, and the corner 7c,
One side 9C between 7a has a voltage near the power supply Vcc. Therefore, the central resistance surface 6 has a potential gradient from one side 9a to one side 9c. At this time, the corners 7a, 7a of the peripheral electrode band 7
One side 9d between them and one side 9b between corners 7b and 7a are G
It has a potential gradient from ND to power supply Vcc, and the central resistance surface 6
Corrects the distortion of the potential gradient at the periphery of the

Now, when the sheet l on which the conductor 2 is printed is pressed arbitrarily with a finger etc. in the state of the surface, the pressure-sensitive conductor 2 becomes conductive at the pressed position, and the potential at the pressed position of the central resistance surface 6 increases. The voltage is manually applied to the V-F converter 22 via the conductor 2, and the converter 22 outputs a pulse having a frequency proportional to the potential to the arithmetic circuit 23. The arithmetic circuit 23 counts the manually inputted pulses for a certain period of time and outputs the count value as X coordinate data.

Then, when the XY switching signal is manually applied to the analog switch 21, the contact is switched, and the peak portion 7b of the peripheral electrode band 7
is connected to the power supply Vcc, and its corner 7 (1 is connected to GND. Therefore, one side 9 between the peaks 7a, 7a of the peripheral electrode band 7
d takes a value near GND, one side 9b between corners 7b and 7a takes a value near power supply Vcc, and the central resistance surface 6 has a potential gradient from one side 9d to one side 9b. Also at this time, one side 9a between the corners 7a and 7b of the peripheral electrode band 7 and the corner 7d
, 7a has a potential gradient from GND to the power supply Vcc, and corrects distortion of the potential gradient at the peripheral portion of the central resistance surface 6.

Further, as described above, when the potential at the pressed position is manually applied to the V-F converter 22 via the conductor 2, the converter 22 outputs a pulse with a frequency proportional to the potential to the arithmetic circuit 23. Then, the arithmetic circuit 23 counts the input pulses for a certain period of time and outputs the count value as Y coordinate data.

In this embodiment, X-coordinate data and Y-coordinate data are alternately detected by changing the voltage application position using an XY switching signal and switching the direction of the potential gradient to the right angle direction. Since the switching is performed instantaneously at a period of several tens of m5ec, there is no lag in the time point at which the pressed position is detected. Therefore, the X and Y coordinates of the pressed position at the same time can be detected.

Then, when a load larger than the operating load of the touch pad 10 is applied, the switch 13 is operated and a switch human input signal is output.

The present invention can be applied, for example, to the usage example (sixth example) according to the conventional example described above.
(see figure), if a larger pressing force is applied after pressing the touch pad IO to move the cursor 31 of the display device 30 to one of the command execution displays 32a, 32b, or 32c, the - switch 13 will be activated. Work,
Switch I3 is a switch manual signal (command execution signal)
is output and the command is executed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the movement of the cursor 13 and the command execution can be performed with one hand and in a continuous two-step operation, so there is an advantage that the operability is improved over the conventional example.

Note that in the suppressing direction, the resistor 4 may be pressed from the sheet body 3 on which it is printed. Further, in the above embodiment, the pressure-sensitive conductor is separate from the conductor and the resistor, but
The present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and a pressure-sensitive conductor may be printed in advance to overlap the conductor or resistor. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the sheet body is not limited to two separate sheets, and may be a single sheet formed by printing a resistor and a conductor so that they face each other when folded together. It is.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view, FIG. 2 is a sectional view, FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram explaining the operation, FIGS. 4 and 5 are an exploded perspective view and a sectional view of an embodiment of the conventional example, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of use of an embodiment according to the conventional example. 10...Touchpad, 13...Switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A touch input device comprising a touch pad that detects coordinate information of a pressed position, characterized in that a switch means that operates under a load higher than the operating load of the touch pad is provided on the lower surface of the touch pad. Input device.