JP5659595B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program, and can be applied to, for example, a car navigation device. In the present invention, when a user's operation is received by a touch panel arranged on a display screen, a menu is displayed by the approach of a finger to the touch panel, thereby effectively using a display screen with a limited size. Make sure that you can provide the information.

  Conventionally, in a car navigation apparatus, a user operation is received by a touch panel arranged on a display screen for the purpose of improving usability for the user.

  That is, in a car navigation device, for example, a transmissive touch panel is disposed on the surface of a liquid crystal display panel, and a road guide image and the like are displayed together with a menu using the liquid crystal display panel. As a result, the user can execute an operation such as enlarging a route guidance image, for example, by operating the menu as necessary, and can search for restaurants near the current position. .

  By the way, in practice, in a car navigation apparatus, various images are displayed on a small liquid crystal display panel of about 7 to 8 inches by being used in a vehicle, which makes it difficult to see various displays. There is.

  It would be possible to further improve the usability of this type of device if various kinds of information can be reliably provided by effectively using such a limited display screen.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points. An information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing apparatus capable of reliably providing various information by effectively using a display screen having a limited size , and It is intended to propose a program .

  In order to solve the above-described problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, an image display unit having a touch panel that can be operated by touching a pointer, and an approach detection unit that detects approach of the pointer for each region of the image display unit And a control unit that controls the operation of the image display unit, and an image generation unit that generates first and second images, wherein the first image generated by the image generation unit is the image display unit. When the approach detection unit detects the approach of the pointer in the state displayed on the screen, the control unit generates the image at one of the four corners of the image display unit that is closest to the area to which the pointer has approached. An image display device that displays the second image generated by the unit is provided.

  The control unit may be configured to end the display of the second image when a predetermined display time has elapsed when the approach detection unit detects that the pointer has moved away. Good.

  Moreover, the said control part may be comprised so that the change of the said display time may be received.

  The approach detection unit may include a light emitting unit that transmits infrared rays, and a light receiving unit that is disposed so as to correspond to the light emitting units and detects light shielding of the infrared rays by the finger.

  The finger approach detection unit includes a transmission unit that transmits a microwave, and a reception unit that is arranged to correspond to the transmission unit and that receives the microwave that changes as the finger approaches. It may be.

  Further, the first image or the second image may be a menu.

  The image display device may further include a position information acquisition unit that acquires information on the current position. In this case, the image generation unit generates a guide image to be used for the user's route guidance as the first image based on the information on the current position acquired by the position information acquisition unit.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when a user's operation is received by the touch panel arranged on the display screen, the display screen with a limited size is effectively displayed by displaying the menu by the approach of the finger to the touch panel. It is possible to reliably provide various information.

It is a top view which shows the display screen of the car navigation apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the car navigation apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the top view and sectional drawing which show the image display unit of the car navigation apparatus of FIG. FIG. 2 is a connection diagram showing a signal processing circuit in the car navigation device of FIG. 1 together with a peripheral configuration.

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

(1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a car navigation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The car navigation device 1 detects a user operation by the image display unit 2, displays a map or the like on the image display unit 2 by the user operation, and thereby provides various information to the user.

  Here, the image display unit 2 is formed by arranging a transmissive touch panel 4 and sensors 5 </ b> A to 5 </ b> G for detecting the approach of a finger on the surface side of a display unit 3 constituted by, for example, a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight. The That is, as shown in FIG. 3 and a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA, the image display unit 2 sequentially stacks the touch panel 4 and the display unit 3 on a frame 6 made of, for example, resin. The opening formed in the frame 6 is configured so that various images displayed on the display unit 3 can be viewed through the touch panel 4, and the user's operation can be detected by the touch panel 4. Composed.

  The sensors 5A to 5G constitute a finger approach detection mechanism that detects the approach of a user's finger to the touch panel 4, and are formed by infrared light emitting elements 7A to 7G and corresponding light receiving elements 8A to 8G, respectively. In the sensors 5A to 5G, the light emitting elements 7A to 7G and the light receiving elements 8A to 8G are arranged on the inner side of the frame 6 so that the respective areas of the image display surface by the display unit 3 are shared by the sensors 5A to 5G. Located around the surface.

  That is, the first to third sensors 5A to 5B are assigned to the respective areas obtained by dividing the image display surface in the vertical direction, and in this embodiment, the light emitting elements 7A to 7A are sequentially arranged on the left side of the image display surface from above. 7C is disposed, and light receiving elements 8A to 8C are sequentially disposed on the right side of the image display surface from above so as to face each other with the image display surface interposed therebetween. In addition, the fourth to seventh sensors 5C to 5G are assigned to respective regions obtained by dividing the image display surface in the horizontal direction. In this embodiment, the light emitting elements 7C to 7C are sequentially arranged from the left side below the image display surface. The light receiving elements 8C to 8G are sequentially arranged on the upper side of the image display surface from the left side so as to face each other with the image display surface interposed therebetween.

  As a result, when the user brings his / her finger close to the touch panel 4, each of the sensors 5 </ b> A to 5 </ b> G blocks the infrared rays emitted from the light emitting elements 7 </ b> A to 7 </ b> G and reduces the amount of infrared light received by the corresponding light receiving elements 8 </ b> A to 8 </ b> G. The approach of the finger to each region is detected by the change in the amount of light.

  In the car navigation apparatus 1 (FIG. 2), the signal processing circuit 10 drives the sensors 5A to 5G, processes the light reception result, and notifies the main microcomputer (main microcomputer) 11 of the processing result. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the signal processing circuit 10 turns on the light emitting elements 7A to 7G of the sensors 5A to 5G by a drive circuit (not shown), and amplifies the light reception results of the light receiving elements 8A to 8G with a predetermined gain, respectively. And input to the comparison circuits 12A to 12G.

  Each of the comparison circuits 12A to 12G detects a change in the amount of received light in each of the light receiving elements 8A to 8G by comparison with predetermined reference power supplies 13A to 13G, and outputs the comparison result to the register 16. The register 16 captures these comparison results at a predetermined cycle and outputs them to the main microcomputer 11, so that the car navigation apparatus 1 can detect in the main microcomputer 11 which area of the touch panel 4 the user has placed his finger. Has been made.

  The position detection unit (FIG. 2) 16 acquires position information of the current position under the control of the main microcomputer 11 and notifies the main microcomputer 11 of the position information. Here, the position detection unit 13 acquires position information by, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System). The optical disc unit 13 accesses an optical disc in which map information, location information of various stores such as restaurants, souvenir stores, and the like are recorded under the control of the main microcomputer 11, and outputs these information to the main microcomputer 11.

  The display microcomputer (display microcomputer) 14 drives the LCD driver 15 under the control of the main microcomputer 11, thereby displaying various images and the like on the display unit 3.

  The main microcomputer 11 is a computer that controls the operation of the car navigation device 1. The display unit is operated by operating an operator (not shown), by operating the touch panel 4, or by a user operation detected via the signal processing circuit 10. 3 shows a map for directions.

  That is, the main microcomputer 11 displays a predetermined initial screen on the display screen when the power of the car navigation device 1 is started by the operation of an operator (not shown) by the user. Here, the initial screen is configured by arranging a predetermined menu, and the main microcomputer 11 switches the entire operation by the menu selection by the user detected via the touch panel 4.

  That is, when the user selects a menu for road guidance, the current position information is acquired from the position detection unit 12. In addition, the display on the display screen is sequentially switched in response to an operation by the user to receive an input of the destination, and a route from the current position to the destination is searched based on the map information recorded on the optical disc. Further, based on the search result, as shown in FIG. 1A, the route to the destination based on the current position is displayed on the display screen. In addition to such processing, an audio guide is provided to the user. As a result, the car navigation apparatus 1 provides various information to the user via the display screen of the display unit 3.

  When various information is provided via the display screen in this way, when the approach of the finger to the touch panel 4 is detected by the sensors 5A to 5G, the main microcomputer 11 is shown in FIG. As described above, a predetermined menu is displayed by an icon. Here, this menu displays a list of selectable processes. The main microcomputer 11 sets the display position of this menu according to the area where the approach of the finger is detected. That is, the main microcomputer 11 displays a menu in the upper right corner when the user brings a finger close to the upper right area of the display screen. When the user brings his finger close to the lower right area of the display screen, a menu is displayed in the lower right corner. Similarly, when the user brings a finger close to the upper left area and lower left area of the display screen, menus are displayed at the upper left corner and the lower left corner, respectively.

  Further, the main microcomputer 11 displays the menu in this way. When the menu selection by the user is detected by the touch panel 4, the main microcomputer 11 controls the entire operation so as to correspond to this menu selection, and if necessary, Switches the display screen display. On the other hand, when it is detected that the menu is not selected by the user and the finger is moved away, the display of the menu is stopped when a predetermined display time elapses.

  Further, when the user selects a setting menu by selecting such a menu, the main microcomputer 11 displays a predetermined setting screen and detects the operation of the touch panel 4 by the user, thereby accepting the setting of the display time. .

(2) Operation of Embodiment In the above configuration, in the car navigation apparatus 1 (FIG. 2), when the power is turned on, the display microcomputer 3 and the LCD driver 15 are driven by the display microcomputer 14 under the control of the main microcomputer 11. A predetermined menu is displayed. In the car navigation device 1, when the user brings a finger close to the menu and touches the menu, this operation is detected by the touch panel 4, and in response to an instruction from the main microcomputer 11, display is performed in response to the menu operation by the user. Can be switched.

  Thus, for example, when the user gives directions, the optical disk is accessed by the optical disk unit 13 based on the current position information detected by the position detection unit 12, and a route is set by searching for information recorded on the optical disk. A map indicating this route is displayed by the display unit 3. As a result, the car navigation apparatus 1 provides various information to the user via the display screen of the display unit 3.

  In this way, for example, when information is provided by a map (FIG. 1), when the user brings a finger close to the touch panel 4, the car navigation device 1 uses any of the sensors 5A to 5G arranged around the display screen. (FIG. 3), the infrared rays transmitted from the light emitting elements 7A to 7G are blocked, and the received light amount of the corresponding light receiving elements 8A to 8G is reduced. In the signal processing circuit 10, the reduction of the light amount causes the approach of the finger. , Detected along with the approached area.

  In the car navigation device 1, the menu is displayed at a position corresponding to the area where the finger is approached by the processing of the main microcomputer 11 based on the detection result.

  As a result, the user can receive various information using the entire display screen of the display unit 3 and select a menu by bringing his / her finger closer as necessary. As a result, the car navigation device 1 detects the approach of a finger and switches the display, and can effectively provide various information by effectively using a display screen having a limited size. .

  That is, in the car navigation device 1, when the operation of the menu displayed in this way is detected by the touch panel 4, the entire process is switched so as to correspond to this operation, thereby providing information desired by the user.

  When processing is performed in this way, the menu is displayed at a position corresponding to the area where the user brings his finger close, so that the user can quickly select a desired menu by bringing his finger close. , Can improve usability.

  On the other hand, when the menu is displayed in this way and the finger is moved away without the touch panel 4 being operated by the user, the car navigation device 1 closes the menu after a predetermined time has elapsed. As a result, the car navigation apparatus 1 prevents frequent switching of the display when the finger is moved away from or close to the user, thereby eliminating the troublesomeness of the user.

  Further, such a predetermined time can be changed by a user's operation, so that the user-friendliness can be improved by setting such a menu switching speed according to the user's preference.

(3) Effects of the embodiment According to the above configuration, when a user operation is received by the touch panel arranged on the display screen, the size is limited by displaying a menu by the approach of the finger to the touch panel. By effectively using the display screen, various information can be provided reliably. Thereby, in the car navigation apparatus, it is possible to prompt the user to drive safely.

  Also, at this time, the approach of the finger is simple and reliable by comprising a light emitting unit that transmits infrared rays and a light receiving unit that is arranged so as to correspond to the light emitting units and detects the shielding of infrared rays by the fingers. In addition, it is possible to detect the approach of the finger, and by arranging a plurality of these combinations as necessary, it is possible to detect a region where the finger is approached and execute a corresponding process.

  At this time, by setting the display position of the menu according to the area where the finger approaches, it is possible to quickly select the desired menu by bringing the finger closer, and the usability can be improved accordingly. it can.

  When it is detected that the finger has moved away, the display of the menu is terminated when the predetermined display time has elapsed, thereby preventing frequent switching of the display when the finger is moved away or moved closer. The user's troublesomeness can be eliminated.

  Further, by accepting the change in the display time, it is possible to set the menu switching speed according to the user's preference and improve the usability.

(4) Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiment, the case where the menu is displayed according to the area where the finger is brought close has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the menu is displayed according to the image being displayed. In this case, the display position may be set. That is, when a route is displayed on the car navigation device as described above, a position that does not interfere with the display from the current position to the destination according to the display of the current position on the display screen and the display of the destination. It is possible to improve the usability by displaying a menu on the screen. Further, instead of the process of setting various display positions, for example, a menu may be displayed at a predetermined position set in advance.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the menu is displayed when the finger is brought close with the map or the like displayed is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the menu screen that is an initial screen or the like is displayed. In this state, when the finger is brought closer, the present invention can be widely applied to a case where a menu below the menu where the finger is brought closer is opened.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the approach of the finger is detected by shielding the infrared rays has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is widely applied to the case where the approach of the finger is detected by scattering of the infrared rays. be able to. In place of the infrared light emitting element and light receiving element, a microwave transmitting part and a receiving part are arranged, and when the approach of the finger is detected by the attenuation or increase of the microwave reception result due to the approach of the finger, it is further received. The present invention can be widely applied to the case where the approach of the finger is detected by detecting the Doppler shift in the microwave. Further, instead of such detection by infrared rays or microwaves, the approach of a finger may be detected by a change in capacitance with respect to the touch panel.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the display is simply switched by detecting the approach of the finger has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the display may be switched by detecting the movement of the finger. Good. In this case, the display may be enlarged or reduced by moving the finger in the state of being close to the display screen, or the display may be scrolled.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the car navigation apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various image displays such as various portable image display apparatuses and personal computer displays can be used. Can be widely applied to the device.

  In the above-described embodiments, the case where the approach of the finger is detected and the display is switched is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the display is switched by detecting the approach of various pointers used for touch panel operations. Can be widely applied to cases. Such a pointer is not limited to a finger, and includes various instruments that operate a touch panel, such as a pen and a pointing stick.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Car navigation apparatus, 2 ... Image display unit, 3 ... Display part, 4 ... Touch panel, 5A-5G ... Sensor, 11 ... Main microcomputer

Claims (16)

A selection image that can be selected in accordance with a user operation is displayed on the display surface at a position based on a region of the display surface that is determined to be close to the pointer, and the pointer is determined to be in contact with the display surface. A control unit that executes processing related to the selected image based on
The controller is
In response to determining that the pointer is close to the display surface in a state where a display image is displayed, the selection image is displayed.
The selected image displayed on the display surface is changed according to the determination that the pointer has moved,
The information processing apparatus, wherein the selected image is an image that is not displayed as the display image and is a menu related to the display image. The display image is an image representing a menu,
The selected image is an image representing a menu below the menu.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The menu is an image representing a list of selectable processes.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The control unit stops displaying the selected image in response to determining that the pointer has moved away from the display surface.
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The control unit stops displaying the selected image in response to a predetermined time elapsed since it was determined that the pointer has moved away from the display surface;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. The control unit changes the time.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 5. The control unit displays the selected image in response to determining that the pointer is close to the display surface,
Causing the selected image displayed on the display surface to execute at least one of enlargement, reduction, and scrolling according to the determination that the pointer has moved;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays the selected image at one of the four corners of the display surface that is closest to a region where the pointer is close. Wherein, in response to the pointer in a state in which the display image is displayed is determined to be close to display the selected image at a position based on the display image,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 . The display image is a map image.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 9 . The control unit determines a position for displaying the selected image according to a route displayed on the map image when it is determined that the pointer is close to the display surface in a state where the map image is displayed. ,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 10 . An image display panel, and a display unit that forms the display surface by a touch panel;
A position detection unit that acquires position information of the current position,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11. Proximity of the pointer to the display surface is detected by a change in capacitance.
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 1 2. Contact of the pointer with the display surface is detected by a change in capacitance;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 3. The control unit displays on the display surface a selection image that can be selected in accordance with a user operation at a position based on a region of the display surface that is determined to be close to the pointer , and the pointer touches the display surface. in response to the the determined and includes performing a process associated with the selected image,
The selected image in response to the pointer in the state where Viewing image is displayed is determined to have approached to the display surface is displayed,
Wherein the selected image displayed on the display surface, is changed in response to the determination and the pointer is moved,
The selected image is an image that is not displayed as the display image, and is a menu related to the display image.
Information processing method. A selection image that can be selected in accordance with a user operation is displayed on the display surface at a position based on a region of the display surface that is determined to be close to the pointer, and it is determined that the pointer is in contact with the display surface in particular according to a program for realizing the functions in a computer that executes a process relating to the selected image,
The selected image in response to the pointer in the state where Viewing image is displayed is determined to have approached to the display surface is displayed,
Wherein the selected image displayed on the display surface, is changed in response to the determination and the pointer is moved,
The selected image is an image that is not displayed as the display image, and is a menu related to the display image.
program.

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