JP2012176640A - Input operation system for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input operation device capable of sufficiently perceiving vibration of an operation unit in a vehicle input operation device provided with an operation unit that vibrates when operated by an operator, even if a situation of generating vehicle vibration changes. .
An input operation device includes a touch panel that is operated by contact by an operator, and a vibration element, an amplifying unit, and a control unit as vibration means that vibrate the touch panel when the touch panel is operated. . The control means 5 is characterized in that the vibration element 3 is vibrated by controlling the amplifying unit 4 so as to increase the vibration of the touch panel 2 as the vibration detected by the acceleration sensor 6 of the vehicle increases.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular input operation device including an operation unit that vibrates when an operator scans.

  Conventionally, a display device including a display panel and a vibration element that vibrates the display panel is known (Patent Document 1). This display device designates the position of the display area on the display panel with a pen, fingers, etc., and changes the frequency and amplitude of vibration by the vibration element according to the designated position. The operator can grasp the operation content by perceiving the vibration of the display panel by the vibration element.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-85400

  When an electronic device (for example, a car navigation system) using such a display device as an input operation device is mounted on a vehicle, when the vehicle is traveling, the vehicle is vibrated by being affected by a traveling environment such as road undulations. Therefore, it is necessary that the operator of the input operation device can sufficiently perceive the vibration of the display panel regardless of the vibration of the vehicle. For this reason, it is conceivable that the vibration of the vibration element when the input operation device is operated is set larger than when there is no or small vibration of the vehicle, such as when the vehicle is stopped.

  However, since the display device described in Patent Document 1 does not consider changing the vibration of the vibration element according to the situation in which vibration occurs, there is an inconvenience when the display device is used in a vehicle. Arise. For example, if the vibration of the vibration element is set so as to exceed the vibration of the running vehicle, the vibration of the vibration element is too large while the vehicle is stopped, and the vibration sound becomes noise and feels uncomfortable. On the other hand, if the vibration of the vibration element is set in accordance with the vibration of the parked vehicle, the vibration of the vibration element is too small compared to the vibration of the vehicle while the vehicle is running, and the vibration of the display panel may not be sufficiently perceived. is there. Such a problem is not limited to display devices that vibrate the display panel, but is common to input operation devices having an operation unit that vibrates by vibration means.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides an input operation device for a vehicle that includes an operation unit that vibrates when operated by an operator, and can sufficiently perceive vibration of the operation unit even when the situation of generating vehicle vibration changes. The purpose is to provide.

  The present invention is an input operation device for a vehicle that includes an operation unit that an operator touches to operate, and a vibration unit that vibrates the operation unit when the operation unit is operated. The vibration of the operation unit is increased as the vibration detected by the detection unit is increased.

  According to the present invention, when the vibration detected by the vibration detection means is large (for example, when the vehicle is running), the vibration means increases the vibration of the operation unit. Can perceive. When the vibration detected by the vibration detection means is small (for example, when the vehicle is stopped, etc.), the vibration of the vibration means becomes small, so that the operator does not feel the vibration sound generated by the vibration of the vibration means uncomfortable. The vibration of the operation unit can be sufficiently perceived. Therefore, even when the vibration of the vehicle changes, the vibration of the operation unit can be sufficiently perceived without feeling uncomfortable with the vibration sound generated by the vibration means.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the vibration detecting means corrects the magnitude of vibration according to the traveling speed detected by the speed detecting means for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle. In general, when the traveling speed increases, the vibration of the vehicle also increases. For this reason, by correcting the magnitude of vibration in accordance with the traveling speed detected by the speed detection means, it is possible to correct measurement errors and the like of the vibration detection means, and to detect vibration with higher accuracy.

Explanatory drawing of the input operation apparatus of embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence when the touch panel of embodiment is operated. The figure explaining the detection of the vibration of embodiment. Explanatory drawing which correct | amends the vibration of an operation part according to the absolute value of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle of embodiment.

  With reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the input operation apparatus for vehicles (henceforth "input operation apparatus") of embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

  The input operation device 1 according to the present embodiment is an input operation device that is mounted on a vehicle and operates operations of a navigation system, an audio device, an air conditioner, and the like.

  The input operation device 1 includes a touch panel 2 as an operation unit, a vibration element 3 as a vibration unit, an amplification unit 4, and a control unit 5.

  In addition to the function as a display device that displays information on the screen (not shown) to the operator, the touch panel 2 comes into contact with the screen of the operator's fingers (hereinafter referred to as “screen operation”). ) Can be operated. The touch panel 2 changes the display on the screen according to an electrical signal representing display content input from the outside. In addition, when the screen is operated, the touch panel 2 outputs an electrical signal representing position information in the touched screen to the outside.

  The vibration element 3 is a member that vibrates in response to an electrical signal input from the outside. For example, by shifting the center of gravity from the rotation axis, the current flowing in the eccentric motor or the coil that generates vibration during rotation is changed. The voice coil motor generates vibration by changing the attractive force and repulsive force generated between the permanent magnet and the coil. The vibration element 3 is provided on the back surface of the touch panel 2 and can vibrate the touch panel 2 by the vibration of the vibration element 3. Thus, when the operator is operating the screen of the touch panel 2, the vibration element 3 vibrates, so that vibration can be transmitted to the fingertip of the operator who is touching the touch panel 2.

  The amplifying unit 4 is composed of an amplifying circuit composed of, for example, an operational amplifier in order to amplify an electric signal representing the vibration of the vibration element 3.

  The control means 5 is an internal storage means comprising a CPU (central processing unit: not shown) for executing various arithmetic processes, a ROM and a RAM for storing various arithmetic programs, various tables, arithmetic results and the like executed by the CPU. (Not shown). The control means 5 receives various electric signals and outputs a control signal to the outside based on a calculation result or the like. In detail, the control means 5 changes the information displayed on the screen of the touch panel 2 according to a situation, and outputs it to the touch panel 2 as an electrical signal. Then, the control means 5 receives an electric signal representing the position information in the screen by the screen operation of the touch panel 2, and processes according to the screen operation from the correspondence between the position information in the screen and the information displayed on the screen. And an electric signal for vibrating the vibration element 3 is output to the amplifying unit 4.

  For example, when the control unit 5 displays a plurality of virtual buttons (hereinafter referred to as “virtual buttons”) on the screen of the touch panel 2 and the operator selects one virtual button, the selected virtual button is displayed. Executes processing according to the button. At this time, the control means 5 displays a plurality of virtual buttons at different positions, and stores the association between each virtual button and position information in the internal storage means. Then, the control means 5 determines which virtual button is selected from the position information in the screen output from the touch panel 2 when the operator selects one virtual button among the plurality of virtual buttons. Identify.

  The control means 5 outputs various patterns of electrical signals so as to change the vibration of the vibration element 3 in accordance with the operated virtual button. Here, various patterns of electric signals are, for example, electric signals that continue to vibrate while the virtual button is operated (while touching), or vibrate for 0.5 seconds after vibrating for 0.5 seconds. It is an electric signal that alternately repeats the pattern of stopping. Thus, if the operator remembers the vibration pattern, the operator can grasp whether or not the screen operation can be correctly operated by changing the vibration according to the operation.

  Further, the vehicle uses the acceleration sensor 6 as vibration detection means for detecting vibration. The vehicle includes a vehicle speed sensor 7 as speed detection means for detecting the traveling speed.

  Next, a processing procedure when the touch panel 2 executed by the control means 5 of the input operation device 1 having the above configuration is operated will be described with reference to FIG. The control processing program shown in this flowchart is called and executed every predetermined time (for example, 10 msec).

  In the first step ST1, it is determined whether or not the touch panel 2 is operated on the screen. In this determination, it is determined that the screen is operated when an electric signal representing position information in the screen is input from the touch panel 2, and it is determined that the screen is not operated when the electric signal is not input. If it is determined in step ST1 that the touch panel 2 is not operated (the determination result in step ST1 is NO), this control process is terminated, and if it is determined that the touch panel 2 is operated (the determination result in step ST1). YES) Step ST2 follows.

  In step ST2, an amplitude value of the vibration of the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as “vibration amplitude”) is acquired, and the process proceeds to step ST3, and a correction value for the magnitude of vibration of the vibration element 3 is determined from the vibration amplitude of the vehicle acquired in step ST2. To do. FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the time change of the vibration of the vehicle, the horizontal axis indicates the time, and the vertical axis indicates the vibration amplitude of the vehicle detected by the acceleration sensor 6. Time t1 indicates the time when the vehicle starts to vibrate, and time t5 indicates the time when the vibration of the vehicle ends. Time t2 shows an example of the local maximum value of the vibration amplitude, and time t4 shows an example of the local minimum value of the vibration amplitude. Time t3 indicates a time when the amplitude of vibration is temporarily 0 when the transition from time t2 to time t4 occurs.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, when the transition from the local maximum value to the local minimum value or the transition from the local minimum value to the local maximum value as at time t3 occurs, the moment when the vibration temporarily becomes zero. appear.

  Actually, even if the vibration of the waveform at the moment is zero, the vibration of the vehicle is not stopped, so that the operator feels shaking. Therefore, it is better to prevent the vibration of the touch panel 2 from becoming smaller than the vibration of the vehicle even in such a case.

  For this reason, in the present embodiment, FIG. 3 (b) takes the absolute value of the maximum and minimum values of the time variation of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle in FIG. The absolute value is linearly interpolated. The horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the absolute value of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle. Times t1 to t5 indicate the same time as in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, even at time t3 when the vibration amplitude of the vehicle is zero, the value interpolates between time t2 and time t4. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the vibration of the touch panel 2 from being instantaneously weakened so that the vibration cannot be sufficiently perceived. In this embodiment, as described above, the value obtained by linearly interpolating the absolute value of the local maximum and minimum values of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle is used as the absolute value of the vehicle vibration amplitude waveform.

  However, in order to determine whether a value at a certain time is a maximum value or a minimum value, it cannot be determined that a certain amount of time has not elapsed, so the amplitude correction value thus determined is applied after this time has elapsed. The In the present embodiment, the correction value is applied after a lapse of time. However, the correction value may be further corrected in consideration of such a time delay. For example, if the maximum value is determined, the subsequent vibration is weakened and is corrected to be slightly reduced, and if the minimum value is determined, the subsequent vibration is corrected and is corrected to be slightly increased.

  Based on the absolute value of the vibration amplitude thus determined, a characteristic table as shown in FIG. 4 is prepared, and the vibration correction value of the touch panel 2 is determined. The horizontal axis in FIG. 4 indicates the absolute value of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle, and the vertical axis in FIG. 4 indicates the correction value for vibration of the touch panel 2. Thus, the correction value increases as the absolute value of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle increases. A table having such characteristics is prepared and stored in the internal storage means. Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the absolute value of the vibration amplitude of the vehicle is determined, and the correction value is determined from this absolute value and the table. In this way, determining the correction value using the table having the characteristics as shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to “increasing the vibration of the operation unit as the vibration detected by the vibration detection unit of the vehicle increases” in the present invention. To do. In the present embodiment, the characteristic as shown in FIG. 4 is “20 × log (“ absolute value of vehicle vibration amplitude ”+1)”, but is not limited thereto. It is only necessary that the vibration of the touch panel 2 can be appropriately corrected according to the vibration of the vehicle that differs for each vehicle.

  Further, the traveling speed is detected by the vehicle speed sensor 7 of the vehicle, and the correction value is further corrected according to the traveling speed. As the traveling speed of the vehicle increases, the magnitude of vehicle vibration also increases. For this reason, the measurement error of the acceleration sensor 6 and the like can be corrected by correcting the touch panel 2 so as to increase the magnitude of vibration as the traveling speed increases, and the vibration of the touch panel 2 relative to the vibration of the vehicle is detected. Accuracy can be improved. This correction corresponds to “correcting the magnitude of vibration according to the traveling speed detected by the speed detecting means for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle” in the present invention.

  Next, the process proceeds to step ST4, and the amplification unit 4 is controlled so that an electric signal that causes the vibration corrected with the correction value determined in step ST3 is input to the vibration element 3. Specifically, the magnitude, pattern, and the like of vibration are determined according to the operation content when it is determined that the screen is operated in step ST1. For this, the amplification factor of the amplification circuit of the amplification unit 4 is controlled by changing the resistance value by switching or the like so as to be the correction value determined in step ST3.

  Next, proceeding to step ST5, processing corresponding to the screen operation is performed. For example, when the selected virtual button is a virtual button for stopping the operation of the air conditioner, the operation of the air conditioner is stopped. When the process of step ST5 ends, this control process ends.

  As described above, in the input operation device 1 according to the present embodiment, the acceleration sensor 6 as the vibration detection means detects the vibration of the vehicle (step ST2), and the vibration of the vibration element 3 increases as the detected vibration increases. (Step ST3), and the vibration element 3 is vibrated so that the magnitude (amplitude) of the corrected vibration is obtained. When the vibration element 3 vibrates, the touch panel 2 as the operation unit vibrates, and thus vibration is transmitted to an operator whose finger or the like is in contact with the touch panel 2 for operation. Since this vibration increases as the vibration of the vehicle increases as described above, even when the vibration of the vehicle is large (for example, when the vehicle is traveling), the operator can touch the touch panel 2 as the operation unit. Can sufficiently perceive the vibration of Further, when there is no or small vibration of the vehicle (for example, when the vehicle is stopped), the vibration of the touch panel 2 is small, so that the state where the vibration of the touch panel 2 can be sufficiently perceived is maintained and the operator Can suppress unpleasant feeling of vibration sound generated by the vibration of the vibration element 3.

  Therefore, in the input operation device 1 of the present embodiment, the vibration of the operation unit can be sufficiently perceived even when the situation of generating the vibration of the vehicle changes.

  In the input operation device 1 of the present embodiment, the vibration element 3, the amplification unit 4, and the control means 5 correspond to the vibration means in the present invention.

  In the present embodiment, the touch panel 2 is used as the operation unit, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a mechanical switch such as a push switch that presses a button to be operated, a rotary switch that rotates, or a rotary switch may be used. In this case, the mechanical switch is configured to vibrate by the vibration element 3. This also allows the operator to sufficiently perceive the vibration of the operation unit.

  In the present embodiment, the correction value for the magnitude of vibration is determined using a table having characteristics as shown in FIG. 4. However, the correction value need not be a table, and may be calculated in advance. You may calculate by a type | formula. Further, the calculation method may be changed according to the type of vehicle on which the input operation device is mounted. Further, a predetermined coefficient may be calculated after determining the correction value according to the vehicle type of the vehicle on which the input operation device is mounted. In this case, the predetermined coefficient is changed according to the vehicle type. Further, such a predetermined coefficient may be changed according to the user's preference. As a result, even if the tactile sensation for detecting vibration differs from person to person, it can be adapted to each user's preference and the user's convenience can be improved.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input operation apparatus, 2 ... Touch panel (operation part), 3 ... Vibration element (vibration means), 4 ... Amplification part (vibration means), 5 ... Control means (vibration means), 6 ... Acceleration sensor (vibration detection means) , 7 ... Vehicle speed sensor (speed detection means).

Claims (2)

An input operation device for a vehicle, comprising: an operation unit that an operator touches and operates; and a vibration unit that vibrates the operation unit when the operation unit is operated,
The vehicle input operation device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration unit increases the vibration of the operation unit as the vibration detected by the vehicle vibration detection unit increases.   The input operation device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vibration detecting unit corrects the magnitude of the vibration according to a traveling speed detected by a speed detecting unit that detects a traveling speed of the vehicle. Vehicle input operation device.

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