JPH11212692A - Touch panel input device and graphical user interface method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To enable the operator to easily increase the variation of the operation to be input using one finger. SOLUTION: A light source 2 is provided on one side of an analog contact type touch panel 1 in which a resistor film that transmits visible light is laminated.
A light receiving section 3 having a light receiving element for inputting light emitted from the light source 2 is provided on the other opposite side thereof. The light receiving section 3 is provided at the time when the voltage output by the light receiving element according to the input light changes and when the touch panel 1 is pressed. The time difference data based on the time when the coordinate position to be output changes accordingly is added to the coordinate position data of the pressed position of the touch panel 1 and output.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel input device and a graphical user interface method used for OA equipment such as a facsimile machine and a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of personal computers employing a graphical user interface (GUI) method, OA equipment such as a facsimile machine and a copying machine employs a GUI similar to that of a personal computer, thereby making operation easier. There is a growing demand for improved performance.

[0003] However, in the OA equipment, variations in processing contents and operations are limited, and providing an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard similar to a personal computer complicates the operation itself.
The operability did not improve.

Therefore, in OA equipment, a touch panel input device capable of inputting coordinates made of a transparent multi-layer resistive film on a display screen such as a CRT or LCD capable of displaying graphics is frequently used.

[0005] The touch panel input device is an input device suitable for OA equipment. However, when a GUI based on a mouse is realized, there is an inconvenience due to a difference in functions regarding operations between the mouse and the touch panel. This inconvenience is that the button press operation and the coordinate position designation operation can be performed independently with the mouse, but the coordinate position designation and the screen depression operation always occur simultaneously on the touch panel, reducing the variation in operation. It is in.

[0006] For example, in order to realize the operation of “selecting simply” the operation target and the operation of “selecting and confirming” with the touch panel input device, the number of operations on the menu screen and the operator increases, so Would be less convenient.

Therefore, conventionally, even in a touch panel, 2
When a point is pointed at the same time, each coordinate position is detected, and the detected position is assigned to an operation corresponding to a mouse button (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
No. 34625) has been proposed.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned touch panel input device, there is a problem that an operator is forced to perform an operation of pressing the touch panel with two fingers, so that a simple and comfortable operation cannot be realized. Was. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to increase the number of variations of an operation performed by an operator using one finger.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a light source on one side of an analog contact type touch panel in which a resistor film that transmits visible light is laminated, and the light source on the other side opposite to the touch panel. A light receiving element for inputting light emitted from the light receiving element, and a time difference based on the time when the voltage output by the light receiving element according to the input light changes and the time when the coordinate position output by pressing the touch panel changes Provided is a touch panel input device including means for adding data to the coordinate position data of the pressed position of the touch panel and outputting the data.

A backlight may be provided on the back side of the touch panel, and the light source may be formed by guiding illumination light of the backlight to an optical path parallel to the surface of the touch panel by a lens.

Furthermore, there is provided a graphical user interface method for comparing the time difference data added to the coordinate position data output by the touch panel input device as described above with a preset threshold value and assigning different operations based on the comparison result. I do.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a touch panel input device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In this touch panel input device, a light source 2 is applied to one side of an analog contact type touch panel 1 having a laminated resistive film in which a resistive film that transmits visible light is laminated, and a light emitted from the light source 2 is applied to the other opposite side. Each of the light receiving sections 3 has a light receiving element for inputting the light.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram at the time of an input operation in the touch panel input device. As shown in (1) of FIG. 2, all the light L emitted from the light source 2 is received by the light receiving unit 3, and as shown in (2) of FIG. When the finger F is brought close to the corresponding position in order to depress, the light F connecting the light source 2 and the light receiving unit 3
Part of the optical path is blocked, the amount of light L input to the light receiving element in the light receiving unit 3 decreases, and the operator's finger F touches the touch panel 1 as shown in (3) of FIG. Press.

[0015] The touch panel input device uses the touch panel pressing device to input time difference data based on the time when the voltage output by the light receiving element in response to the input light changes and the time when the coordinate position output in response to the pressing of the touch panel changes. The position is added to the coordinate position data and output.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the touch panel input device, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration in the touch panel control unit, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of time difference data.

The light receiving element 10 outputs a voltage corresponding to the amount of light incident on the light receiving section. The comparator 11 outputs a voltage output from the light receiving element 10 and a preset reference voltage (threshold) V
And the output voltage from the light receiving element 10 is equal to the reference voltage V
When the number is smaller than that, a pulse is generated to the interrupt control unit 21 of the touch panel control unit 12.

On the other hand, the signal of the position depressed on the touch panel 1 is converted into coordinate position data by the A / D converter 13 and output to the input port 23 of the touch panel controller 12.

Upon receiving the pulse, the interrupt control unit 21 of the touch panel control unit 12 requests an interrupt process to the CPU 20. The CPU 20 measures the elapsed time (time difference data) from the interruption of the optical path of the light L by the operator's finger F to the pressing of the touch panel 1 by the timer 22, and uses the time difference data as speed information of the pressing operation.
The data is added to the coordinate position data of the pressed position input to the input port 23 and output from the output port 26 to the GUI system.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an interrupt process in the touch panel control unit. In this process, it is determined in step (indicated by "S" in the figure) 1 whether or not a timer interrupt has occurred. If the timer interrupt has occurred, the process proceeds to step 2 to increment the time difference data, and proceeds to step 3 to fetch coordinate position data. Proceeding to step 4, it is determined whether or not the coordinate position data has become stable. If stabilized, the flow proceeds to step 5 to add the time difference data to the coordinate position data and output it to the output port, thus ending this interrupt processing. .

If it is determined in step 1 that the interrupt is not a timer interrupt, the process proceeds to step 6 to determine whether or not the interrupt is an external interrupt. If the interrupt is an external interrupt, the process proceeds to step 7 to reset the time difference data and terminate the interrupt process. . If the coordinate data is not stable in step 4 and if it is not an external interrupt in step 6, this interrupt processing is terminated.

FIG. 7 shows a GU based on coordinate position data and time difference data output from the touch panel input device.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of software for implementing I. The application 30 is a program that executes and executes functions of a normal OA device system. It should be noted that the specific processing contents of the application 30 are omitted, and only the part related to the transfer of information (GUI) with the operator according to the present invention will be described.

When the application 30 needs output to the operator and input from the operator, the GUI handler 31
Process display and input via. The display processing in the application 30 includes, for example, screen creation,
There are deletion, display switching, display of selection items such as buttons, and the like. On the other hand, in the input processing, for example, the GUI handler 31
This is a process that occurs when a message corresponding to the pressing of a specific button is received from the user.

The GUI handler 31 is a program for collectively transmitting and receiving information between the operator and the application 30. In the display process, the GUI handler 31 instructs and manages the display of a screen specified via the display driver 32 in accordance with an instruction from an application. On the other hand, in the input process, an event from the touch panel driver 33 is monitored as needed, the type of the event is analyzed each time an event occurs, and information indicating the type is notified to the application 30 in the form of a message.

This event is a lower event such as "the touch panel is pressed by the finger of the operator, and the coordinate position indicating the pressed position is (X, Y)".

The GUI handler 31 analyzes the type of the event based on the positional relationship with the object such as a menu or a button currently displayed on the display screen, and determines the event as a more abstract event (message). Notify to The message corresponds to, for example, an event that a certain button has been pressed. Display driver 32
Draws entities such as menus and buttons on a screen such as an LCD display device or a CRT display device in accordance with an instruction from the GUI handler 31.

When an operator's finger presses an arbitrary position on the touch panel 1, the touch panel driver 33 stores coordinate position data (X, Y) of the pressed position, elapsed time (time difference data) at the time of pressing, and the like. Is detected, and a unique event is assigned to the GUI handler 31 in accordance with the displacement of the coordinates.

Here, the touch panel driver 33
The elapsed time (time difference data) at the time of pressing received from the touch panel input device is compared with a preset threshold, and when the elapsed time is shorter than the threshold, the event is a “fast touch panel press”. Each event is notified to the GUI handler 31 as a "slow touch panel press" event.

As described above, since the coordinate position data and the time difference data indicating the operation speed are added and output, the GUI
The system can output more information regarding the input operation of the operator, and can increase the variation of the operation that can be identified by the GUI system. Therefore,
Various input operations using the touch panel can be easily and easily performed, and the convenience of the operation can be significantly improved.

Further, different events can be recognized by the GUI handler in accordance with the pressing speed of the touch panel, and different operations can be assigned in accordance with the speed of the pressing operation of the screen of the touch panel. Can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a backlight 4 is provided on the back side of the touch panel 1 in place of the light source 2, and illumination light L ′ of the backlight 4 is parallel to the surface of the touch panel 1 by a lens 5. If the light is irradiated to the light receiving unit 3 by being guided to the optical path, the display content of the touch panel 1 can be sharpened, and the light can be used as a light source for detecting the pressing operation of the operator. Can be realized at low cost.

[0032]

As described above, according to the touch panel input device according to the present invention, it is possible to easily increase the variation of the operation that the operator inputs using one finger.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a touch panel input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram at the time of an input operation in the touch panel input device of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the touch panel input device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration inside a touch panel control unit shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of time difference data.

6 is a flowchart showing an interrupt process in the touch panel control unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of software for realizing a GUI based on coordinate position data and time difference data output from the touch panel input device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a touch panel input device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: touch panel 2: light source 3: light receiving section 4: backlight 5: lens 10: light receiving element 11: comparator 12: touch panel control section 13: A / D conversion section 20: CPU 21: interrupt control section 22: timer 23: Input port 24: ROM 25: RAM 26: Output port 30: Application 31: GUI handler 32: Display driver 33: Touch panel driver L: Light F: Finger V: Reference voltage

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A light source is provided on one side of an analog contact type touch panel in which a resistor film that transmits visible light is laminated, and a light receiving element for inputting light emitted from the light source is provided on the other opposite side thereof. The time difference data based on the time when the voltage output by the light receiving element in response to the input light changes and the time when the coordinate position output in response to the pressing of the touch panel changes is added to the coordinate position data of the pressing position of the touch panel. A touch panel input device comprising output means. 2. The touch panel input device according to claim 1, wherein a backlight is provided on a back side of the touch panel, and illumination light of the backlight is guided to an optical path parallel to a surface of the touch panel by a lens, so that the light source is provided to the light source. A touch panel input device characterized in that: 3. The time difference data added to the coordinate position data output by the touch panel input device according to claim 1 is compared with a preset threshold value, and different operations are assigned based on the comparison result. A graphical user interface method.