JPH0366687B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device in a terminal device or the like of an information processing system, and particularly relates to a touch sense input device that detects input by contact with an object.

(2) Background of the technology In recent years, various input devices have been developed with the expansion of information processing services. However, when integrating the display screen and the input section by overlapping them, it is necessary to use a predetermined input method instead of inputting by inserting a key. The touch sense input method, which allows input by touching the area with your finger, is suitable.

(3) Prior art and problems The conventional touch sense method will be explained below using a pressure sensitive method as an example.

The conventional touch sense input method is shown in Figures 1 and 2.
As shown in the figure. In Fig. 1, 1 to 4 indicate input areas, and in Fig. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1
0, 11, and 12 indicate electrodes provided corresponding to 1 to 4, respectively. When a certain area (for example, 1) of the input areas 1 to 4 is pressed with a finger or the like, two electrodes (for example, 5 and 6) below it are brought into contact with each other due to the pressure and become electrically conductive. Electrodes 5 and 7 are terminals y _a and electrode 9
and 11 are terminals y _b , and electrodes 6 and 10 are terminals x _a
The electrodes 8 and 12 are in contact with the terminals _xb, respectively, and it can be determined which area has been pressed based on the potentials of the terminals _xa and _xb when the switches SWA and SWB are sequentially closed. For example, if the potential of x _a becomes 0 [V] when switch SWA is closed, it is determined that input area 1 is pressed.

However, according to this conventional method, even an accidental touch is detected as an input. Also,
It is possible to consider a method in which it is determined that an input has been made only when the user has been in contact for a certain period of time, but this is not desirable as it would slow down the operation.

(4) Purpose of the Invention The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional methods, and utilize the fact that when pressed with a soft object such as a finger, the contact area of the input area changes due to the push piece, and the time of the contact area is changed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a touch sense input device that allows the user to know the true input based on physical changes.

(5) Structure of the Invention The present invention provides a touch sense input device that has a plurality of input areas and inputs input by touching a predetermined input area with a finger, etc., in which the input area is further divided into smaller areas and Detection means 13, 14, 15 for detecting the number of small areas in contact in the input area as the contact area for each time; storage means 16 for storing the contact area values detected a plurality of times in the past by the detection means; a change detection means 17 for determining a temporal change in contact area from a plurality of contact area values stored in a storage means; It is characterized by having input detection means 18 and 19 for detecting when an area is touched.

(6) Examples of the invention Examples of the present invention will be described below.

In the embodiment of the present invention, one input area is further divided into 6×6 small areas, and contact can be detected in these small areas in the same way as conventional input areas,
The contact area of this input area is measured based on the number of small areas where contact has been detected among these multiple small areas, and the temporal change in the contact area is determined from the past two measurement values. It is assumed that an input has been received.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the input area used in the touch sense input device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the thick line frame indicates the input area, and the thin line frame indicates the small area, x _a-0 to x _{a -5} , x _b-0 ~ _{x b-5} , y _a-0 ~
y _a-5 , y _b-0 ~ y _b-5 are x _a , x _b , y a , and y _a in Figure 2, respectively.
Corresponds to y _b .

In FIG. 3, each small area is provided with two upper and lower electrodes corresponding to each small area, as in FIG. 2, which are brought into contact and electrically connected by pressure from a finger or the like. Then, as before, x _a-0 ~ when closing switch SWA _-0 to switch SWA _-5 sequentially
Depending on the potential of x _b-5 , it can be determined which small area is in contact.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a touch sense input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a read-only memory (ROM), 14 is an adder,
15 is a flip-flop (FF), 16 is a shift register, 17 is a differencer, 18 is a comparator, and 19 is a set-reset flip-flop (SRFF).

In Fig. 4, for example, when determining whether input area 1 is truly pressed, switch SWA _-0
to switch SWA _-5 are closed sequentially, and x _a-0 to _{x a-5} at each time are set to the address of ROM13 (6
(bit). The ROM 13 stores as data the number of "0" bits, that is, the number of bits with a voltage of 0 [V] among the six bits of the input address. For example, if the input address is "111011", "1" is output as data, and if the input address is "100011", "3" is output as data.

This data is added to the previous value stored in the FF 15 by the adder 14, and is stored in the FF 15 again.

In this way, switch SWA _-0 to switch SWA _-5
After closing sequentially, the number of touched small areas in the input area, that is, the measured value of the touched area is stored in the FF 15. Then, while sequentially storing this value in the shift register 16,
Reset FF15. Here, the ratio of the cycles of the FF 15 clock and the shift register 16 clock is 1:6.

The past two measured values stored in the shift register 16 are subtracted by a subtractor 17. This difference is compared with a predetermined constant by a comparator 18, and if it is larger than this constant, SPFF 19 is set.
When SRFF19 is set, the control unit determines that there is an input in this area and sets SRFF19.
Reset.

In this way, in the embodiment of the present invention, the contact area is determined by the number of touched small areas within the input area, and
Since it is determined that an input has been made when the difference in the contact area between the past two times, that is, the temporal change in the contact area is large, it is possible to distinguish between cases where the touch was made by mistake and cases where the button was pressed with the intention of inputting. , erroneous input can be avoided.

In this embodiment, the presence or absence of an input is determined based on the size of the difference in the contact area between the past two times, but in addition to this, it is also possible to determine whether there is a continuous change in the contact area over time based on the past three contact areas, for example. Various determination methods are conceivable, such as determining an input when the input signal exceeds a predetermined value. Further, although this embodiment is applied to a pressure-sensitive type, it can also be applied to a more advanced type, for example, an electrostatic type.

(7) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the embodiments of the present invention, since the presence or absence of an input is determined based on the contact area and its temporal change, it is possible to distinguish between an accidental touch and a true input. can be distinguished. Therefore, reliable and high-speed input is possible, and the great effect of improving input operability on a terminal device or the like can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the input area, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the conventional touch sense input method, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the input area used in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the touch sense input method of the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram of an input method. In the drawing, 1 to 4 are input areas, 5 to 12
13 is an electrode, 13 is a read-only memory, 14 is an adder, 15 is a flip-flop, 16 is a shift register, 17 is a differencer, 18 is a comparator, and 19 is a set/reset flip-flop.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a touch sense input device that has a plurality of input areas and inputs input by touching a predetermined input area with a finger or the like, the input area is further divided into small areas, and the Detection means 13, 1 for detecting the number of small areas in contact in the input area as the contact area
4, 15, storage means 16 for storing the contact area values detected a plurality of times in the past by the detection means, and change detection for determining temporal changes in the contact area from the contact area values of the plurality of times stored in the storage means. A touch sense input device comprising: means 17; and input detecting means 18, 19 which detect that the input area is touched when the value of the temporal change detected by the change detecting means exceeds a predetermined value. .