JP2010039741A - Information terminal device and input control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a user-friendly information terminal device which includes a display part equipped with both a character input function using a pen and a touch input function using a hand and prevents a user's incorrect input, and an input control method therefor. <P>SOLUTION: The information terminal device wherein a pen input part 41a using an exclusive pen and a touch input part 41b using a hand (fingers) are integrated with the display part 47, includes: a pen holding part which holds the pen; a pen detecting part 42 which detects that the pen be held at the holding part; and an input control part 44 which controls touch input of the touch input part 41 to be deactivated when the pen detecting part 42 does not detect the pen. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a tablet-type information terminal device having a pen input function and an input control method thereof.

  In recent years, portable information terminal devices such as PDAs and tablet PCs are rapidly spreading. In such a portable information terminal device, it is difficult to use a conventional keyboard or mouse because of its usage or the demand for small size and light weight. Therefore, instead of these, a pointing device that inputs necessary information by touching the display with a touch pen or a hand is often used. In recent years, a digital display function using a dedicated input pen and a touch pen or touch panel function by hand have been realized on the same display. Such a thing is called a tablet here.

  In such a tablet that can use both an input pen and a hand, a digitizer and a touch panel are provided on the surface of a liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as “LCD”) or the like. There is no problem when either the input pen or the hand touches the tablet screen, but if you touch both at the same time as you touch the screen while touching the screen, there is a problem that you mistakenly input the touched part as a touch. there were.

  For this reason, conventionally, in the case of pen input, this erroneous detection is prevented by setting the area where the hand holding the pen contacts as an invalid area (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Moreover, this false detection is prevented by comparing the areas of the touch areas, enabling the small area touch area (pen), and determining that the large area touch area (hand) is invalid. 2).

  Here, a method of inputting characters using a pen on the tablet screen will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the procedure when the input screen 51 is opened on the tablet screen with a predetermined application and the current address, telephone number, name, etc. are input by handwriting with the pen 5.

  In FIG. 12A, the input screen 51 displays a current address input field 52, a telephone number input field 53, and a name input field 54. When the user inputs the current address, the character input pad 55 is displayed when the inside of the current address input field 52 is touched with the pen 5. In addition to the handwritten character entry area 56, an OK button 57 and a Cancel button 58 are arranged on the character input pad 55. The OK button 57 is a button for confirming handwritten input, and the Cancel button 58 is a button for canceling the input. A predetermined operation is performed when the user touches each button using the pen 5 or the like. The cursor 59 is a pointer that indicates the position of the character to be input next. When the user touches the OK button 57, the character input by handwriting is recognized and converted into text data. Is done.

As shown in FIG. 12, the user manually inputs a predetermined character (“Chuo-ku”) into the handwritten character entry area 56 of the character input pad 55 with the pen 5 (FIG. 12A), and then presses an OK button 57. When the pen 5 is touched, the handwritten input character (“Chuo-ku”) is input at the correct position (after “Osaka City”) in the current address input field 52 (FIG. 12B).
JP-A-9-44293 JP 2006-39686 A

  However, in the above conventional method, there is no problem when the pen 5 and the hand 4 are simultaneously touching the tablet screen. However, the handwriting input with the pen 5 is finished and the pen 4 is released before the hand 4 is released from the tablet screen. When 5 is released from the tablet screen, the touch of the hand 4 becomes effective. At this time, depending on the touch position of the hand 4, there is a problem that the cursor 59 moves to an unintended place on the input screen 51 and erroneous input is performed.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of erroneous input. In FIG. 13, consider a case where the hand 4 holding the user's pen 5 touches an input field different from the current address input field 52 to be originally input, for example, a name input field 54. While it is good to write a character with the pen 5 as shown in FIG. 13 (a), the writing of the character is finished and the pen 5 is touched with the hand 4 touching the name input field 54 as shown in FIG. 13 (b). When released from the tablet screen, the touch becomes valid and the cursor 59 moves to the name input field 54. In this state, as shown in FIG. 13C, when the OK button 57 is touched with the pen 5, the character (“Chuo-ku”) entered in the handwritten character entry area 56 is input to the name input field 54. Thus, in the conventional method, depending on the position where the hand 4 touches on the tablet screen, characters may be input at an incorrect position.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and includes a display unit having both a character input function with a pen and a touch input function with a hand to prevent an erroneous input by a user and ease of use. It is an object of the present invention to provide a good information terminal device and its input control method.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information terminal device of the present invention is an information terminal device in which a pen input unit and a touch input unit using a dedicated pen are configured integrally with a display unit, and holds the dedicated pen. A pen detection unit that detects that the dedicated pen is held by the holding unit and the holding unit, and an input control unit that controls the touch input unit to disable touch input when the pen detection unit does not detect the dedicated pen. And with.

  With such a configuration, the touch input is invalidated when it is detected that the pen is not stored in the pen holder. Therefore, in an information terminal device having both a character input function using a pen and a touch input function using a hand, the touch input becomes invalid while the user uses the pen to input a character. The cursor will move to the correct position and the character input position will not be mistaken. Thereby, the speed and reliability of the character input of an information terminal device improve, and the user can use a handwritten character input function in comfort.

  The information terminal device of the present invention is an information terminal device in which a pen input unit and a touch input unit using a dedicated pen are configured integrally with a display unit, and the dedicated pen is held by a hand. An input control unit that controls to disable the touch input of the touch input unit when the pressure detection unit detects that the dedicated pen is gripped by a hand. Prepared.

  With such a configuration, when it is detected by the pressure sensor provided in the pen that the pen is held by the user's hand, the touch input is invalidated. Therefore, in an information terminal device having both a character input function using a pen and a touch input function using a hand, the cursor does not move to an incorrect position due to the user's touch, and the character input position is not mistaken. Thereby, the speed and reliability of the character input of an information terminal device improve, and the user can use a handwritten character input function in comfort.

  In the information terminal device of the present invention, the pen input unit may be configured with a digitizer, and the touch input unit may be configured with a touch panel.

  With this configuration, for example, characters can be input using a tablet composed of an electromagnetic dielectric digitizer using a dedicated pen and a resistive touch panel, so pen input and touch input can be performed without any special measures. They can be distinguished, and the reliability of character input can be further improved. In addition, since a digitizer is used, finer character input is possible.

  An input control method for an information terminal device according to the present invention is an input control method for an information terminal device including a pen input unit using a dedicated pen and a touch input unit integrated with a display unit, and a holding unit that holds the dedicated pen. The pen detection step for detecting that the dedicated pen is held in the holding unit, and the input control for controlling the touch input of the touch input unit to be invalidated when the pen detection step does not detect the dedicated pen. And steps.

  In the information terminal device input control method of the present invention, the pen input unit and the touch input unit using the dedicated pen are configured integrally with the display unit, and the dedicated pen detects that the dedicated pen is held by the hand. An input control method for an information terminal device including a pressure detection unit that performs pressure detection step for detecting that the dedicated pen is held by the hand, and the dedicated pen is held by the hand at the pressure detection step An input control step for controlling to disable the touch input of the touch input unit.

  According to the present invention, an information terminal device that includes a display unit having both a character input function with a pen and a touch input function with a hand, prevents an erroneous input by a user, and an input control method thereof that is easy to use. Can be provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is an overview diagram of an information terminal device 1 according to the present embodiment. The information terminal device 1 is a tablet PC, and includes a main body 2, a tablet screen 3 for input and display, and a pen holder 6. As will be described later, the tablet screen 3 is formed by integrating a display LCD, a digitizer for character input, and a touch panel. Further, the pen holder 6 can store the pen 5 dedicated to the information terminal device 1, and the user can avoid losing the pen 5 by storing it in the pen holder 6 when not using the pen 5.

  When the user grips the pen 5 with the hand 4 and enters characters on the tablet screen 3, the digitizer detects the position coordinates of the pen 5, displays it on the tablet screen 3, and enters it using the character recognition function of the main body 2. A character is entered. At the same time, various operation instructions can be given to the main body 2 by touching an icon or the like displayed on the screen with the hand (finger) 4.

  2A and 2B are diagrams showing an example of the pen holder 6. FIG. 2A shows a state where the pen 5 is stored in the pen holder 6, and FIG. 2B shows a case where the pen 5 is removed from the pen holder 6. In use). The pen holder 6 is provided with a pen sensor 7. When the pen 5 is stored, the side surface of the pen sensor 7 pushes down the pen sensor 7. When the pen is taken out, the pen sensor 7 returns to the original position. In this way, it is possible to detect whether or not the pen 5 is stored in the pen holder 6 by detecting the position of the pen sensor 7. Needless to say, the pen sensor 7 is not limited to the mechanical method as described above, and may be a method using magnetism or light. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the tablet screen 3, and a touch panel 21 and a digitizer 22 are formed on the upper and lower parts of the LCD 23, respectively.

  The touch panel 21 has, for example, a resistance film method, and a thin spacer is sandwiched between the surfaces of the glass surface serving as a base, and a film sheet such as PET is attached to the surface. A transparent electrode grid such as ITO (Indium Thin Oxide) is provided between the glass and the film. When the user is not touching, the two electrodes are not in contact with each other by the spacer, so no current flows, and when the film surface is touched, the film bends due to pressure, contacts the electrode on the glass surface, Flowing. The pressed position is detected by measuring the partial pressure ratio in the X direction and the Y direction due to the resistance of the transparent electrodes on the glass surface and the film surface. This method is not good for fine input such as inputting characters with a pen, but is effective when a relatively large predetermined position on the screen is designated.

  The digitizer 22 uses, for example, an electromagnetic induction method, a plurality of sensor coils are arranged on a sensor substrate, and a resonance circuit composed of a coil and a capacitor is built in the input pen. When a current is passed through the sensor coil, a magnetic field is generated on the front of the tablet, which stores energy in the pen's resonant circuit. Next, the current on the sensor coil side is stopped, and the magnetic field is sent back to the sensor coil from the pen side using the energy stored in the pen. By repeating this operation at a high speed, information from the input pen such as the position is detected. Character input can be performed by character recognition from the detected position information.

  In addition, the method of realizing the touch panel 21 and the digitizer 22 is not limited to the above-described method. For example, the direction of current flow when the pen 5 and the hand (finger) 4 are input is detected using an electrostatic coupling method. Thus, a method of distinguishing both inputs may be used. Further, the configuration of the tablet screen 3 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 3 as long as the digitizer function and the touch panel function can be realized on the LCD 23.

  Next, the system configuration of the information terminal device 1 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the information terminal device 1. As shown in FIG. 4, the information terminal device 1 includes a CPU 31, RAM 32, ROM 33, display controller 34, LCD 23, disk controller 35, HDD (hard disk drive) 36, pointing device controller 37, touch panel 21, digitizer 22, pen sensor 7 and A bus 38 is provided.

  In FIG. 4, a CPU 31 is a central processing unit that controls the entire information terminal device 1. The RAM 32 operates as a main storage memory for the CPU 31. The ROM 33 stores basic operation programs such as BIOS. The display controller 34 displays character data and image data on the LCD 23. The disk controller 35 controls the writing of data to the HDD 36 and the reading of data from the HDD 36. The HDD 36 stores an OS and various application software along with various data. The pointing device controller 37 receives inputs from the touch panel 21 and the digitizer 22, transmits the input coordinates to the BIOS and the like, takes in the detection result of the pen sensor 7, and performs input control as described later.

  Next, the input function of the information terminal device 1 in this Embodiment is demonstrated. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the information terminal device 1. The pen input coordinate detection unit 43a receives pen input information from the pen input unit 41a, detects position information (XY coordinates) on the tablet screen 3, and outputs the detected position information to the processing unit 45. Similarly, the touch input coordinate detection unit 43b receives touch input information from the touch input unit 41b, detects position information (XY coordinates) on the tablet screen 3, and outputs it to the processing unit 45. The input control unit 44 receives the detection result from the pen detection unit 42, determines whether to enable or disable each input based on the detection result, and outputs the result to the processing unit 45.

  In the processing unit 45, the handwritten character is recognized from the captured pen input coordinates and converted into text data, or the handwritten character is displayed on the display unit 47 as it is. An icon or the like is displayed on the display unit 47. By touching the icon with a pen or hand, input selection or application software can be activated. In an application for inputting characters and data, the cursor can be moved by touching the input start position with a pen or hand. The display control unit 46 receives the processing data from the processing unit 45 and causes the display unit 47 to display it.

  In the above, the correspondence between the components in FIGS. 4 and 5 is as follows.

  The pen input unit 41 a and the pen input coordinate detection unit 43 a correspond to the digitizer 22, and the touch input unit 41 b and the touch input coordinate detection unit 43 b correspond to the touch panel 21. The pen detection unit 42 corresponds to the pen sensor 7 of the pen holder 6. The input control unit 44 corresponds to the pointing device controller 37 and the CPU 31, the processing unit 45 corresponds to the CPU 31, the display control unit 46 corresponds to the display controller 34, and the display unit 47 corresponds to the LCD 23.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of input operation of the information terminal device 1 of the present embodiment. The input operation of the information terminal device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. As shown in FIG. 6, when the information terminal device 1 is first turned on, the input control unit 44 sets both pen input and touch input to be valid (step S1). Next, in step S2, the pen sensor 7 of the pen holder 6 detects the presence or absence of the pen 5, and if the pen 5 is not in the pen holder 6 (Yes), the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the input control unit 44 invalidates the touch input. That is, if the pen 5 is not in the pen holder 6, the user can determine that an input operation is being performed using the pen 5, so that only the pen input is enabled and the touch input is disabled. As a result, even if the user releases the pen from the tablet while inputting characters, the touch input is invalidated, so that the cursor does not move erroneously and does not input erroneously. On the other hand, if the pen 5 is in the pen holder 6 at step S2 (No), the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, it is determined whether or not the process is finished. If the process is not finished (No), the process returns to step S2 to continue the operation.

  Finally, an operation assuming an actual input scene will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the positional relationship between the pen 5 and the hand 4 and the tablet when the input screen is opened with a predetermined application and the current address, telephone number, name and the like are input by handwriting with the pen 5. FIG. 7A shows a state where both the pen 5 and the hand 4 are attached to the tablet (normal state), and FIG. 7B shows a state where only the pen 5 is separated from the tablet (rest state). FIG. 7C shows a state where the pen 5 is again touched on the tablet.

  In FIG. 7A, the input screen 51 displays a current address input field 52, a telephone number input field 53, and a name input field 54 for inputting the current address. When the user inputs the current address, the character input pad 55 is displayed when the inside of the current address input field 52 is touched with the pen 5.

  First, the user enters an address with the pen 5 in the handwritten character input area 56 of the character input pad 55. At this time, it is assumed that the hand 4 holding the pen 5 touches the name input field 54. Even in this case, since the pen 5 is not in the pen holder 6, the touch of the hand 4 is invalid and only the input of the pen 5 is valid.

  Next, the user finishes entering predetermined characters (“Chuo-ku”), and removes the pen 5 from the tablet (FIG. 7B). The hand 4 continues to touch the name input field 54, but the touch input remains invalid, so the cursor 59 does not move to the position of the name input field 54, and “ It remains after "Osaka City". In this state, when the user touches the OK button 57 with the pen 5, the handwritten input character is input at the correct position (after “Osaka City”) in the current address input field 52 (FIG. 7C).

  As described above, according to the information terminal device 1 of the present embodiment, when the pen 5 is not stored in the pen holder 6, it is determined that the pen 5 is used, and control is performed to invalidate the touch input. Therefore, in the information terminal device 1 having both the character input function with the pen 5 and the touch input function with the hand 4, the cursor does not move to an incorrect position due to the user's touch, and the character input position is not mistaken. Thereby, the speed and reliability of the character input of the information terminal device 1 are improved, and the user can use the handwritten character input function with peace of mind.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 8 is an overview diagram of information terminal apparatus 101 in the present embodiment. The information terminal device 101 according to the present embodiment is different from the information terminal device 1 according to the first embodiment in that the pen 105 includes a pressure sensor 107, and the output of the pressure sensor 107 is between the pen 105 and the main body 2. The signal is transmitted to the main body 2 by a pen cable 109 that connects the connection terminal 108. Therefore, when the user holds the pen 105 from the pen holder 106 with the hand 4, the pressure sensor 107 detects it and transmits it to the main body 2. On the other hand, when the user returns the pen 105 to the pen holder 106, the pressure-sensitive sensor 107 does not detect the pressure, so it is determined that the pen 5 is not being used. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted. The same applies to the following drawings.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of the information terminal apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the output of the pressure sensor 107 provided in the pen 105 is output to the pointing device controller 137.

  FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of the information terminal device 101 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, the detection result of the pressure detection unit 142 is input to the input control unit 144. The input control unit 144 receives the detection result from the pressure detection unit 142, determines whether to enable or disable pen input or touch input based on the detection result, and outputs the result to the processing unit 45. Here, the pressure detection unit 142 corresponds to the pressure sensor 107 of the pen 105.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of input operation of information terminal apparatus 101 of the present embodiment. The input operation of the information terminal device 101 will be described using FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 differs from FIG. 6 only in step S102 for determining whether or not the pen 105 is held by the hand 4, and the other steps are the same as those in FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, when the information terminal device 101 is first turned on, the input control unit 144 sets both pen input and touch input to be valid (step S1). Next, when the pressure of the hand 4 is detected by the pressure sensor 107 of the pen 105 in step S102, and the pen 105 is held by the hand 4 (Yes), the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the input control unit 144 invalidates the touch input. That is, if the pen 105 is held by the hand 4, the user can determine that the input operation is being performed using the pen 105, so that only the pen input is enabled and the touch input is disabled. As a result, even if the user releases the pen from the tablet while inputting characters, the touch input is invalidated, so that the cursor does not move erroneously and does not input erroneously. On the other hand, if the pen 105 is not gripped by the hand 4 in step S102 (No), the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, it is determined whether or not the process is finished. If the process is not finished (No), the process returns to step S2 to continue the operation.

  Since the operation assuming an actual input scene is the same as that described with reference to FIG.

  As described above, according to the information terminal device 101 of the present embodiment, whether or not the pen 105 is held by the user's hand 4 is determined by the pressure-sensitive sensor 107 provided in the pen 105. Is held by the user's hand 4, the touch input is controlled to be invalidated. Therefore, in the information terminal device 101 having both the character input function using the pen 5 and the touch input function using the hand 4, the cursor does not move to an incorrect position due to the user's touch, and the character input position is not mistaken. Thereby, the speed and reliability of the character input of the information terminal device 101 are improved, and the user can use the handwritten character input function with peace of mind.

  In the above-described embodiment, the detection result of the pressure sensor 107 of the pen 105 has been described as being transmitted to the main body 2 via the pen cord 109. However, the pen 105 and the main body 2 may be connected to a wireless LAN, Bluetooth, or the like. The pen 105 may include a module and wirelessly transmit the detection result of the pressure sensor 107 to the main body 2.

  As described above, according to the information terminal device of the present invention, the cursor for designating the next input position does not move to an incorrect position even when the pen is released from the tablet while touching the tablet with the hand. It becomes possible to input a handwritten input character at a correct position.

  The present invention is widely applicable to tablet-type information terminal devices having a pen input function and a touch input function.

Overview of information terminal device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention The figure which shows the structure of the pen holder of the information terminal device The figure for demonstrating the structure of the tablet of the information terminal device Block diagram showing the system configuration of the information terminal device Functional block diagram of the information terminal device The flowchart which shows the flow of input operation | movement of the information terminal device The figure for demonstrating the positional relationship of the pen of the same information terminal device, a hand, and a tablet Overview of information terminal device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention Block diagram showing the system configuration of the information terminal device Functional block diagram of the information terminal device The flowchart which shows the flow of input operation | movement of the information terminal device The figure for demonstrating the procedure in the case of handwriting input with the conventional information terminal device The figure which shows the example which inputs accidentally with the conventional information terminal device

Explanation of symbols

1,101 Information terminal device 2 Main body 3 Tablet 4 Hand 5,105 Pen 6,106 Pen holder (holding part)
7 Pen sensor (Pen detector)
21 Touch Panel 22 Digitizer 23 LCD (Display Unit)
31 CPU
32 RAM
33 ROM
34 Display Controller 35 Disk Controller 36 HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
37,137 Pointing device controller (input control unit)
38 bus 41a pen input unit 41b touch input unit 42 pen detection unit 43a pen input coordinate detection unit 43b touch input coordinate detection unit 44, 144 input control unit 45 processing unit 46 display control unit 47 display unit 107 pressure sensor (pressure detection unit) )
108 Connection terminal 109 Pen cable 142 Pressure detector

Claims (5)

The pen input unit and the touch input unit with the dedicated pen
An information terminal device configured integrally with a display unit,
A holding unit that holds the dedicated pen, and a pen detection unit that detects that the dedicated pen is held in the holding unit;
An information terminal device comprising: an input control unit that controls to invalidate a touch input of the touch input unit when the pen detection unit does not detect the dedicated pen. The pen input unit and the touch input unit with the dedicated pen
An information terminal device configured integrally with a display unit,
The dedicated pen has a pressure detection unit that detects that the dedicated pen is held by a hand,
An information terminal device comprising: an input control unit that controls to invalidate a touch input of the touch input unit when the pressure detection unit detects that the dedicated pen is held by a hand. The information terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the pen input unit is configured with a digitizer, and the touch input unit is configured with a touch panel. A pen input unit and touch input unit with a dedicated pen are integrated with the display unit,
An information terminal device input control method including a holding unit for holding the dedicated pen,
A pen detection step of detecting that the dedicated pen is held in the holding unit;
An input control method for an information terminal device, comprising: an input control step for performing control so as to invalidate a touch input of the touch input unit when the pen detection step does not detect the dedicated pen. A pen input unit and touch input unit with a dedicated pen are integrated with the display unit,
The dedicated pen is an input control method of an information terminal device including a pressure detection unit that detects that the dedicated pen is held by a hand,
A pressure detection step of detecting that the dedicated pen is held by a hand;
An input control method for an information terminal device, comprising: an input control step for controlling the touch input of the touch input unit to be invalid when detecting that the dedicated pen is held by a hand in the pressure detection step .

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