JP2008165575A - Touch panel device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem of a conventional touch panel device in which only one center-of-gravity position between two points is detected even if two-point pressing is performed, so that two different point positions cannot be performed, and improvement in function using detection of two different point positions cannot be performed. <P>SOLUTION: The touch panel device comprises a touch panel part which detects a contact of a finger, a pen or the like thereto; a coordinate detection part which detects coordinates of a contact position from information obtained by the touch panel part; a contact position estimation part which estimates, when the finger, a pen or the like contacts at two points, contact coordinate positions of the two points based on information from the coordinate detection part; a control part which performs predetermined processing based on information obtained form the contact position estimation part; and a storage part which stores various data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a touch panel device that can be input with a contact such as a finger / pen, and in particular, detects simultaneous pressing of two points using different sensing information such as an electrostatic sensor and a pressure sensor, and operates using this. It is related with the technology which improves sexuality.

  Due to the miniaturization of devices, input / display integrated touch panel type input devices have come to be used in various places. Conventionally, typical touch panels for detecting input by a finger or a pen include a resistance film type and a capacitance type. With the resistive film method, a resistive film is placed with a spacer in between. When the touch panel is pressed strongly above a specified pressure, the resistance film comes into contact with each other to detect changes in the resistance value and detect the pressed position. To do. In addition, the electrostatic capacity method detects a contact position by detecting a change in the electrostatic capacity value when a weak electric current is applied to the entire surface of the touch panel to form an electric field, and a conductor such as a finger is lightly touched. .

  In addition, studies on advanced touch panel functions are also being conducted. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-35596 “Integrated Sensor Plate” discloses a method of forming a capacitive panel on a resistive film panel or a method of forming a low pressure sensor on a high pressure sensor. ing.

The conventional example shown in the above Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-35596 will be briefly described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of a pressure-sensitive electrostatically integrated sensor plate. In the figure, 1 is a first plate, 2 is a first space, and 3 is a second plate. Also, 1a is glass, 1b is a resistive film, 2a is a spacer, 3a is a resistive film, 3b is a film, 3c is a resistive film, glass 1a, resistive film 1b and first plate 1 with spacer 2a and first space 2, the second plate 3 is formed by the resistance film 3a, the film 3b, and the resistance film 3c.

  By configuring as described above, the resistance films 1b and 3a arranged with the spacer 2a interposed therebetween are pressure-sensitive sensors (the resistance value changes when the resistance films come into contact with each other when pressed down at a constant pressure). The resistance film 3c functions as an electrostatic sensor (detects a change in capacitance value and detects a contact position when lightly touched with a finger).

  By using this device, for example, a state in which a finger or the like is lightly touching the touch panel surface is detected by an electrostatic sensor, and a state in which the finger is pressed down strongly is detected by a pressure-sensitive sensor. The contents related to high functionality are disclosed such that the mouse can be moved when touching, or the mouse can be clicked when pressed down strongly.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-35596

  When considering advanced touch panel functions, for example, as in a normal keyboard, when entering a specific key, if you press the key alone, lowercase letters are entered, and while pressing the Shift key, When the keys are pressed at the same time, a function improvement utilizing the pressing of two points cannot be realized by the prior art, such as an English capital letter being input.

  In the case of a normal resistive film type touch panel alone or a capacitance type touch panel alone, when a finger or the like is touched, a change in resistance value or capacitance change on the entire panel surface is detected, and the contact position is determined from that value. This is a method of detecting one point. For this reason, when a finger or the like touches at two points, the position of the center of gravity is detected as the contact point because the contact position is obtained based on the resistance value change and the capacitance change for two points. For this reason, the position of two points cannot be detected.

  In addition, in the literature cited in the conventional example, by using an electrostatic sensor and a pressure sensor, two types of pressing methods, light contact and strong pressing, are distinguished, and functions are performed by performing different processing in each. Only the points to be improved are described, and the point of improving the function by detecting the position where two points are pressed is not disclosed.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to detect the positions of two points simultaneously pressed on a touch panel device and to improve the function using this information.

The touch panel device according to the present invention includes:
A touch panel unit that detects that a contact such as a finger or a pen is in contact;
A coordinate detection unit for detecting the coordinates of the contact position from the information obtained from the touch panel unit;
A contact position estimation unit that estimates a contact coordinate position of two points based on information of the coordinate detection unit when a contact such as a finger or a pen contacts at two points;
A control unit that performs a predetermined process based on information obtained from the contact position estimation unit;
It consists of a storage unit for storing various data.

According to the touch panel device according to the present invention,
Two points of contact coordinates based on the information of the coordinate detection unit when a coordinate detection unit for detecting the coordinates of the contact position from information obtained from the touch panel unit and a contact such as a finger or a pen contact at two points Since the contact position estimation unit for estimating the position is provided, it is possible to detect the position of the two-point press on the touch panel, which has not been possible in the past, thereby enabling complicated processing by the two-point press and adopting the touch panel The function of the device can be improved.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, 8 is a touch panel unit. Reference numeral 1 denotes an electrostatic sensor unit that detects a change in capacitance value when a contact such as a finger or a pen as a conductor comes into contact with the touch panel unit 8. Reference numeral 2 denotes a pressure-sensitive sensor unit that detects a change in resistance value due to a contact point when a pressure higher than a predetermined value is applied to the touch panel unit 8 with a contact such as a finger or a pen.

  Reference numeral 3 denotes a capacitance value coordinate detection unit that detects the coordinates of the contact position based on the change in capacitance value obtained from the electrostatic sensation unit 1. Reference numeral 4 denotes a resistance value coordinate detection unit that detects the coordinates of the pressed position based on the resistance value change obtained from the pressure-sensitive sensor unit 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a contact position estimation unit that estimates the position of two-point pressing from information on each coordinate value obtained from the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 and the resistance value coordinate detection unit 4. A control unit 6 controls the whole. A storage unit 7 stores various data.

FIG. 2 is a schematic process flow diagram of the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a finger input operation according to the present embodiment, and is a schematic diagram illustrating a state where a finger is brought into contact with the electrostatic sensor unit 1 and the pressure-sensitive sensor unit 2. Among these, 10 is an electrostatic sensor and 11 is a pressure-sensitive sensor. Reference numeral 12 denotes a contact position obtained by the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 based on the capacitance value change caused by the finger touching the electrostatic sensor 10. Reference numeral 13 denotes a contact position obtained by the resistance value coordinate detection unit 4 based on a change in resistance value obtained by the pressure sensor 11 when the finger is brought into contact therewith.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state where another finger is brought into contact with FIG. 3 and different places are brought into contact with the two fingers. Reference numeral 14 denotes a contact position obtained by the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 on the basis of a change in capacitance value caused by contacting different places with two fingers.
FIG. 5 shows data defining what kind of processing is performed for each area where contact is detected when there is an input by contact of a finger or other contact element, 20 is process definition data, and 21 is area 1. Area information describing X and Y coordinate information indicating the range, 22 is the processing content when the area 1 is touched, 23 is the area 2 area information, 24 is the area 2 under certain conditions In the case of the contact, the processing content 25 is the processing content when the area 2 is touched under different conditions.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, a case is considered where the user presses a specific position on the touch panel with a finger at a predetermined pressure or more. First, a change in capacitance is detected by the electrostatic sensor 10 of the electrostatic sensor unit 1 by contact with a finger. The capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 obtains the coordinate value (12 in FIG. 3) of the contact position based on the information on the change in capacitance value (step S1 in FIG. 2).

  Next, a change in the resistance value caused by pressing the finger is detected by the pressure-sensitive sensor 11 of the pressure-sensitive sensation unit 2. The resistance value coordinate detection unit 4 obtains the coordinate value (13 in FIG. 3) of the pressed position based on this resistance value change information (step S2 in FIG. 2).

  Next, the contact position estimation unit 5 compares the contact position coordinates obtained in Step S1 and Step S2, and determines whether or not they are the same point. The determination of whether or not they are the same point is carried out by determining that they are the same point when the difference between the X and Y coordinate values is within a predetermined threshold, for example.

  In this example, as shown in FIG. 3, the position obtained by the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 (12 in FIG. 3) and the position obtained by the resistance value coordinate detection unit 4 (FIG. 3) 13) are obtained as substantially the same position, and the difference between the X and Y coordinate values is within a predetermined threshold range. In this case, the contact position estimation unit 5 determines that both are the same point (Yes in step S3 in FIG. 2).

  Next, using this point as the first contact point, the contact position estimation unit 5 stores and stores the coordinate value at a predetermined position in the storage unit 7 (step S4 in FIG. 2), and returns to step S1 again.

  Note that the contact position estimation unit 5 has no input information when a finger or the like is not in contact, that is, when coordinate values cannot be obtained from the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 and the resistance value coordinate detection unit 4. It is determined and data related to the first contact point stored in the storage unit 7 is cleared.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4, consider a case where the user touches a position different from the first contact point with another finger. At this time, the capacitance change is detected by the electrostatic sensor unit 1 by the contact of another finger. The capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 obtains the coordinates of the contact position based on this (step S1 in FIG. 2).

  Here, since the electrostatic sensor is generally composed of full-surface electrodes, one contact point coordinate is detected for each of the X direction and the Y direction based on the entire capacitance change caused by finger contact. When the finger touches at two points as in the example of FIG. 4, the center of gravity position is determined by the contact point coordinate value (in FIG. 14).

  Next, in step S2 of FIG. 2, the resistance value coordinate detection unit 4 obtains the coordinates of the pressed position. At the time when the second finger comes into contact, only the contact position of the first finger is pressed down at a predetermined pressure or higher, so that the position 13 in FIG. 4 is obtained as the pressed position, as in FIG.

  Next, the contact position estimation unit 5 compares the coordinate value obtained in step S1 with the coordinate value obtained in step S2, and determines whether or not they are the same point. In this case, the coordinate position obtained in step S1 (position 14 in FIG. 4) is greatly different from the coordinate position obtained in step S2 (position 13 in FIG. 4). No in S3, and proceeds to step S5.

  Next, the contact position estimation unit 5 determines whether the coordinate value of the first contact point is stored in the storage unit 7. In this case, since the first contact point is stored and stored in step S4 in FIG. 2 when the first finger touches, the result in step S5 becomes Yes and the process proceeds to step S6.

The contact position estimation unit 5 is based on the contact position coordinate value obtained by the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 in step S1 and information on the first contact point coordinate value stored / stored in the storage unit 7. Then, the second contact point coordinate value is estimated. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, when the X coordinate of the first contact point is X1, and the X coordinate of the contact point obtained by the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 is Xp, Xp is the first contact point. Therefore, the X coordinate value X2 of the second contact point is obtained as follows.
X2 = Xp + (Xp-X1)

Similarly, if the Y coordinate of the first contact point is Y1 and the Y coordinate of the contact point obtained by the capacitance value coordinate detection unit 3 is Yp, the Y coordinate value Y2 of the second contact point is obtained as follows.
Y2 = Yp + (Yp-Y1)

  Next, the control unit 6 performs processing using information on the first contact position coordinates and the second contact position coordinates (step S7 in FIG. 2).

  In the present embodiment, the processing definition data having the contents as shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the storage unit 7 as the data describing the processing contents when a finger touches a specific area of the touch panel. To do.

  The control unit 6 reads the process definition data 20 in FIG. 5 from the storage unit 7. Next, the processing content is determined from the values of the first contact point coordinates and the second contact point coordinates.

  In the case of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the X and Y coordinate values of the first contact point are included in the range of region 1 in 21 of FIG. Further, it is assumed that the X and Y coordinate values of the second contact point are included in the range of region 2 in FIG.

  The control unit 6 determines the processing content based on the processing definition data 20 of FIG. Specifically, since the first contact point is included in the region 1, the processing content 22 is executed. That is, the contents of Flag1 (not shown but saved in the storage unit 7) are set to ON. In addition, since the second contact point is included in the region 2 and Flag1 is ON, the control unit 6 executes the processing content 25. That is, here, the character “A” is stored in the storage unit 7.

  In this way, in the normal one-point pressing of only the area 2, the character “a” is stored by executing the processing content 24 of FIG. 5, but when the area 1 is also pressed down simultaneously, the character “A” is stored. Etc., the function can be improved by pressing two points.

The first embodiment has been described above.
By adopting the configuration as described above, it was possible to detect the position of two-point press on the touch panel, which could not be done conventionally. As a result, complicated processing by two-point pressing becomes possible, and the function can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the portion corresponding to the touch panel is configured to acquire different sensing information by combining an electrostatic sensor and a pressure sensor. However, for example, a second predetermined pressing pressure due to strong pressing is detected. A weak pressure sensor that detects a first predetermined pressing pressure due to a light contact may be arranged on the strong pressure sensor unit to obtain sensing information with different strong and weak pressures.

  In this embodiment, two physically different sensors such as an electrostatic sensor and a pressure-sensitive sensor are arranged. However, for example, a resistance value and a static value of a sensor made of a resistive film with a spacer interposed therebetween are used. Different types of sensing information may be acquired from one sensor by using a detection circuit that acquires information on the capacitance value.

  The present invention can improve the functions of the touch panel device, and can be used for devices that employ touch panels such as GOT (Graphic Operation Terminal), car navigators, and mobile phones, and the operability of these devices can be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic block diagram of Embodiment 1 of this invention. 3 is a schematic processing flow of the first embodiment. 3 is a schematic diagram of a state in which one finger is brought into contact with the touch panel in Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a state in which two fingers are in contact with the touch panel in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the processing content definition data for every contact area by which input detection was carried out. It is sectional drawing of the conventional pressure-sensitive electrostatic integral formation type sensor plate.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1; Electrostatic sensor part, 2; Pressure sensitive sensor part, 3; Capacitance value coordinate detection part, 4; Resistance value coordinate detection part, 5; Contact position estimation part, 6; Control part, 7; Touch panel, 10; electrostatic sensor, 11; pressure sensor, 12; contact position with electrostatic sensor, 13; contact position with pressure sensor, 14; electrostatic sensor when two fingers are in contact Contact position.

Claims (3)

A touch panel unit for detecting that a contact such as a finger or a pen is in contact;
A coordinate detection unit that detects the coordinates of the contact position from the information obtained from the touch panel unit;
A contact position estimation unit that estimates a contact coordinate position of two points based on information of the coordinate detection unit when a contact such as a finger or a pen contacts at two points;
A control unit that performs a predetermined process based on the information obtained from the contact position estimation unit;
A storage unit for storing various data;
A touch panel device comprising: The touch panel part
It has an electrostatic sensor that can detect changes in capacitance, and a pressure-sensitive sensor that can detect changes in resistance,
The coordinate detection unit includes a capacitance value coordinate detection unit that detects coordinates from the capacitance value of the electrostatic sensor unit, and a resistance value coordinate detection unit that detects coordinates from the resistance value of the pressure-sensitive sensor unit. The touch panel device according to claim 1. The touch panel part
A weak pressure-sensitive sensor unit capable of detecting a first predetermined pressing pressure by light contact and a strong pressure sensor unit capable of detecting a second predetermined pressing pressure by strong pressing;
The coordinate detection unit includes a weak pressure value coordinate detection unit that detects coordinates based on information on the first predetermined pressing pressure value, and a strong pressure value coordinate detection unit that detects coordinates from information on the second predetermined pressing pressure value. The touch panel device according to claim 1, further comprising:

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