JPS61241823A - Touch input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a touch input device having excellent operability by providing a switch means which works with the load higher than the working load of a touch pad and can be operated at an optional position on the touch pad to the lower surface side of said touch pad. CONSTITUTION:A film type switch 40 serves as a switch means which works with the load higher than the working load of a touch pad 10 and can be operated at an optional position on the pad 10. The switch 40 is provided to the lower surface side of the pad 10. The pad 10 is pressed and a cursor 31 of a display 30 is shifted to either one of command execution display 32a-32c. Then the pad 10 is pressed with larger force to actuate the switch 40. Thus the switch 40 outputs the switch input signal (command execution signal) for execution of a command.

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 pressed position, and a touch input device that operates with a load higher than the operating load of the touch pad on the lower surface of the touch pad, and By providing a switch means that can be operated from any position on the pad, the touch input device can be operated in multiple stages.

(c) Prior art and its problems Conventionally, as a touch input device, for example, as shown in FIGS. A touch pad 10 having a structure in which a pressure sensitive conductor 5 is sandwiched between a printed resistor 4 and a printed resistor 4 has been proposed.

As a method of using this touch input device, for example,
As shown in the figure, the touch pad 1° is connected to the keyboard 3
4, the cursor 31 of the display device 3o continuously displays the command execution “L I 5TJ32a.

It is conceivable to move it to either rcOPYJ32b or [5TOPJ32c.

However, in conventional touch input devices, the cursor 3
1 cannot be entered manually, so if you try to manually execute a command, you will have to move your hand from the touchpad 10 to the keyboard 34 and perform the input operation, or use the other hand that remains on the keyboard 34. keyboard with hands 3
There is a problem that the operability is poor because input operations have to be performed in step 4.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides the following features:
Operates at a load higher than the operating load of this touchpad,
Additionally, a switch means that can be operated from any position on the touch pad is provided.

(E) Operation and Effect Therefore, according to the present invention, multi-step operations can be performed with one hand through the input means consisting of a touch pad and a switch means.
In addition, since the touch input device can be operated continuously), it is possible to obtain a touch input device with excellent operability.

(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 membrane switch 40 is provided on the bottom surface of the touch pad 10, which is a switch means that operates with a load higher than the operating load of the touch pad 10 and can be operated from any position h on the touch pad 10. That's what happened.

That is, the sheet body 1 of the touch pad 10 has a thickness of 100 mm.
It is made of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film of μ and has a conductor 2 made of a substantially rectangular silver pattern printed on the surface on which a pressure-sensitive conductor 5 (to be described later) is sandwiched, and a conductor 2 made of a substantially rectangular silver pattern is printed on the connector portion 1a. The lead pattern 2a is printed.

The pressure-sensitive conductor 5 is made of a substantially rectangular anisotropic pressure-sensitive conductive rubber sheet, and 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 1 described above.
It is made of μ PET 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 lead patterns 8a=8b, 8c, and 8d routed from the corner portions 7a=7b, 7c, and 7d of the peripheral electrode band 7 to the connector portion 3a thereof.

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 . Further, an insulating material (not shown) is provided on the lead patterns 88 to 8- to prevent malfunction.

The membrane switch 40 has almost the same configuration as the touch pad 10.

That is, the sheet body 41 is made of a polyethylene tele 7 tarley (PET) film with a thickness of 100μ, and a conductor 42 consisting of a substantially rectangular silver pattern is printed on the surface on which the pressure-sensitive conductor 45 is sandwiched. , its connector part 41
A lead pattern 42a from the conductor 42 is printed on a.

The pressure-sensitive conductor 45 is made of a substantially rectangular anisotropic pressure-sensitive conductive rubber sheet, and when a pressure higher than the pressure at which the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 used in the touch pad 10 exhibits conductivity is applied, the pressure-sensitive conductor 45 changes in the thickness direction. Demonstrates electrical conductivity.

The sheet body 43 has a thickness of 1, similar to the sheet body 41 described above.
The pressure sensitive conductor 4 is made of PET film of 00 μm.
A conductor 44 made of a substantially rectangular silver pattern is printed on the surface that comes into close contact with the conductor 5, and a lead pattern 44a from the conductor 44 is printed on the connector portion 43a.

The membrane switch 40 is connected to connector parts 41a, 43ah, and other circuits to be described later, and when a load higher than the operating load is applied to the touch pad 10, the membrane switch 40 operates and a switch input is performed. It is designed to output a signal.

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

The conductor 2 is connected to V via an FPC connector (not shown).
- is connected to the F converter 22 and the arithmetic circuit 23. The 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 and outputs the counted value as coordinate data.

On the other hand, the peripheral electrode band 7 is connected to the corner 7a) GND of the peripheral electrode band 7 via an FPC connector (not shown) to the corner 7b.
, 7d are connected to the analog switch 21, and the corner 7c is connected to the power supply Vcc. This analog switch 21 is
The resistance value becomes zero or infinite upon receiving an external XY switching signal, and the corner portions 7b and 7 of the aforementioned peripheral electrode band 7
d is alternately switched to either the power supply Vcc or GND.

On the other hand, the membrane switch 40 is configured to operate and output a switch input signal when a load greater than the operating load of the touch pad 10 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 source Vcc, and the corner portions 7b and 7d are connected to the GND and the power source 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 and 7d of the peripheral electrode band 7
One side 9d of the opening and one side 9b of the corner portions 7b and 7c 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, in the above state, if the sheet body 1 on which the conductor 2 is printed is pressed arbitrarily with a finger or the like, the pressure-sensitive conductor 5 becomes conductive at the pressed position, and the potential at the pressed position of the central resistance surface 6 becomes conductive. The voltage is input to the V-F converter 22 via the body 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 input pulses for a certain period of time and outputs the count value as X coordinate data.

When the XY switching signal is input to the analog switch 21, the contact is switched and the corner 7b of the peripheral electrode band 7
is connected to the power supply Vcc, and its corner 7d is connected to GND.

Therefore, one side 9d between the corners 7a, 7a of the peripheral electrode band 7
takes a value near GND, one side 9b between the corners 7b and 7a takes a value near the power supply Vcc, and the central resistance surface 6 has a potential gradient from one side 9d to one side 9b.
corner 7a, ? One side 9a between the corners 7d and 1a 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.

Furthermore, as described above, when the potential at the suppressed position is input 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. Switching is several dozen + m5ec
Since the detection is carried out instantaneously at the cycle of , there is no lag in the time point at which the pressed position is detected.Therefore, it is possible to detect the X and Y coordinates of the pressed position at the same time.

Next, when a load larger than the operating load of the touch pad 10 is applied, the membrane switch 40 operates and a switch input signal is output.

The present invention is applied, for example, to the above-mentioned conventional example (6th example).
(see figure), after pressing the touch pad 1° to move the cursor 31 of the display device 30 to any of the command execution displays 32a, 32b, 32c, if a larger pressing force is applied, the membrane switch 40 operates, the membrane switch 4o outputs a switch input signal (command execution signal), and the command is executed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the movement of the cursor 31 and the execution of commands can be performed with one hand in two successive steps, so there is an advantage that the operability is improved over the conventional example.

In addition, by reversing the vertical positions of the sheet body 1 and the sheet body 3,
The resistor 4 may be pressed from the printed sheet body 3. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the pressure-sensitive conductor is separate from the conductor and the resistor, but this is not necessarily the case. Furthermore, the sheet body is not limited to two separate sheets, but can also be a single sheet with a resistor and a conductor printed so that they face each other when folded together. Of course, it is possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

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...Touch pad, 40... Membrane switch (switch means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a touch input device consisting of a touchpad that detects coordinate information of a pressed position, a touch pad is attached to the bottom surface of the touchpad that operates with a load higher than the operating load of the touchpad, and that is operated from any position on the touchpad. A touch input device characterized by being provided with an operable switch means.