JPH0451404Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a touch panel for various control devices.

[Conventional technology and problems]

Conventionally, in order to improve the operability of various AV equipment such as televisions, video decks, VD (video disc) players, CD (compact disc) players, tuners, and cassette decks, wireless remote control devices have generally been adopted. This allows you to perform various operations such as turning the power on and off, increasing and decreasing the volume, changing channels, and fast forwarding and rewinding the tape, without affecting other devices. In addition, infrared type devices are often used because the device configuration is relatively simple.

However, in order to enable a variety of operations, this type of infrared remote control device has a large number of switches corresponding to each function arranged on its panel surface. In some cases, it becomes difficult to determine which switch to operate, and even though these infrared remote control devices were adopted to improve the operability of various AV devices, they actually make operation more cumbersome. There was a problem with this.

For this reason, a display section displaying each operation function is provided on the panel surface, and the desired operation can be performed by operating a switch provided on or adjacent to the display section while looking at the display on the display section. An operation panel is known that allows the user to perform the following operations, but in such an operation panel, the operating status of each switch is generally checked using, for example, an indicator lamp provided for each switch. It is not easy to immediately recognize the operating state of the switch by the lighting or extinguishing of the indicator lamp, and also to confirm the operating state to be performed by the switch. Therefore, when it is desired to operate the above-mentioned various AV devices as one system, it has not been possible to realize a suitable remote control device.

[Purpose of invention]

In view of the above points, the present invention forms the panel surface with a liquid crystal display element having a display section, so that operations displayed on the display section can be performed simply by touching the display section, and further, It is an object of the present invention to provide a touch panel in which the display section displays an operating state by switching the driving state.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

The above object, according to the present invention, includes a display panel section constituted by a liquid crystal display element having at least one display section, preferably a two-layer GH type liquid crystal display element, and a liquid crystal display section below the liquid crystal display element. This is achieved by an optical touch panel including an infrared receiving/emitting element whose optical axis is inclined with respect to each display part of the display element, and an optical touch switch part constituted by an optical touch switch part.

According to this invention, various displays on the touch panel are performed by the display part of the liquid crystal display element according to its driving state, so a larger display can be obtained compared to conventional ones, and the GH Since a type liquid crystal display element is used, the display panel section provides an extremely highly visible display, and by simply touching each display section of the liquid crystal display element with your finger, light emitted from the infrared light emitting element can be displayed. The infrared light transmitted through the liquid crystal display element is reflected on the surface of the finger and reaches the infrared light receiving element, whereby the infrared light receiving element can detect the touch of the finger.

Here, since the optical axis of the infrared receiving/emitting element is arranged at an angle with respect to the liquid crystal display element, the infrared light from the infrared emitting element is transmitted to the back surface of the liquid crystal display element.
Even if it is reflected by the surface or a surface cover (not shown), it will not be incident on the infrared light receiving element, and when the display is touched with a finger, the infrared light that is diffusely reflected by the finger will enter the infrared light receiving element. This improves the S/N ratio during touch detection, and when such a touch panel is normally used, the optical axis of the infrared receiving/emitting element is The slanted surface makes it less susceptible to external light.

In this way, a switch operation can be easily performed using the optical touch switch section of the touch panel, and furthermore, by switching the driving state of the display section according to this detection operation, a display corresponding to the switch operation can be performed.

In addition, if a two-layer structure GH type liquid crystal display element is used as the liquid crystal display element, the display by the dye in the first layer of the liquid crystal display element and the display by the dye in the second layer of the liquid crystal display element can be switched depending on the operating state. Therefore, visibility is further improved.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which a touch panel according to the present invention is applied to an infrared remote control device for an AV system, and this infrared remote control device 1 is equipped with a touch panel 2 according to the present invention on its panel surface 1a. , and further includes various switches 3 such as a power switch.

As shown in FIG. 2, the touch panel 2 includes a liquid crystal display element 4 constituting a display panel section A, and an optical touch switch section B disposed with respect to the liquid crystal display element 4 as described later. , the liquid crystal display element 4 is illuminated from the side of the upper surface by an illumination light source 5.

The liquid crystal display element 4 has a two-layer structure that has high transmittance for infrared light because it does not use a polarizing plate.
The GH type liquid crystal display element uses a negative display type that blocks light when turned off and transmits light when turned on. Furthermore, this GH liquid crystal display element 4 has at least one
In this example, for example, a 5×5 rectangular segment configuration (not shown) is adopted, and each segment serves as a display portion 4a indicating an input area of a touch switch. hand,
The top surface has letters and symbols (ON, OFF, , etc.) indicating various operating functions.

The touch panel 2 incorporates an optical touch switch section B, and the optical touch switch section B is constructed as follows. That is, for each display section 4a of the liquid crystal display element 4 of the display panel section A, a set of infrared light receiving and emitting elements 6 is disposed to face the back surface of the liquid crystal display element 4.

The infrared light emitting/receiving element 6 is composed of an infrared light emitting element 6a and an infrared light receiving element 6b, and these optical axes are arranged at a constant angle with respect to the liquid crystal display element 4. Of course, it is also possible to use an infrared photointerrupter in which these infrared receiving and emitting elements are integrally formed. Note that these infrared receiving/emitting elements 6 are placed opposite to a reflecting plate (not shown) provided on the back surface of the liquid crystal display element 4 because the reflecting plate has an extremely low transmittance for infrared light. A through hole is formed in the part where the

The infrared remote control device equipped with a touch panel according to the present invention is constructed as described above, and an appropriate display is performed on the display panel section A by driving the liquid crystal display element 4 by a drive device (not shown). At this time, since the liquid crystal display element 4 is illuminated by the illumination light source 5, a highly visible display can be obtained, partly because a GH type liquid crystal display element with high contrast is used. When a desired display section 4a of the plurality of display sections 4a of the liquid crystal display element 4 where display is performed in this manner is touched with a finger, the infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting element 6a of the infrared light emitting element 6 is Since the transmittance of infrared rays is as high when the liquid crystal display element 4 is off as when it is on, the infrared light passes through the display section 4a of the liquid crystal display element 4, is diffusely reflected on the surface of the finger, and then passes through the display section 4a again. A part of it reaches the infrared light receiving element 6b.
Then, the infrared light receiving element 6b detects the touch of a finger on the display section 4a by detecting the incident infrared light, and causes a control circuit (not shown) to perform an appropriate switching operation. Perform the desired operation.

Note that when the display portion 4a of the liquid crystal display element 4 is not touched with a finger, the infrared light from the infrared light emitting element 6a is reflected by the back surface, the front surface, or the front cover (not shown) of the liquid crystal display element 4. Since the axis is inclined at a certain angle with respect to the liquid crystal display element 4, the incidence on the infrared light receiving element 6b is small, and therefore the S/N when detecting the touch of a finger on the display section 4a is low. ratio is improved. Moreover, the infrared receiving/emitting element 6
The slanted arrangement of the touch panel makes it less susceptible to external light from above when the touch panel is in normal use with the surface facing upward.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, the optical touch panel according to the present invention includes a display panel part composed of a liquid crystal display element having at least one display part, preferably a two-layer GH type liquid crystal display element, and a display panel part composed of a liquid crystal display element having at least one display part, Since the structure includes an optical touch switch part composed of an infrared receiving and emitting element provided below with its optical axis inclined with respect to the display part of the liquid crystal display element, various displays on the touch panel can be displayed on the liquid crystal display element. Since this is performed by the display section of the display element according to its driving state, a larger display can be obtained compared to conventional ones, and by preferably using a high-contrast GH type liquid crystal display element as the liquid crystal display element, The display panel section provides display with extremely high visibility. In addition, by simply touching each display part of the liquid crystal display element with your finger, the infrared light emitted from the infrared light emitting element passes through the liquid crystal display element, is reflected on the surface of your finger, and reaches the infrared light receiving element. This allows the infrared light receiving element to detect the touch of a finger, and since the optical axis of the infrared light receiving and emitting element is inclined with respect to the liquid crystal display element, the infrared light receiving element can detect the touch of a finger. Even if the infrared light is reflected by the back surface, the front surface, or the front cover (not shown) of the liquid crystal element, it hardly enters the infrared light-receiving element, and when the display section is touched with a finger, it is diffusely reflected by the finger. Since the infrared light is incident on the infrared light element, the S/N ratio during touch detection can be improved. Furthermore, when such a touch panel is used, the surface of the touch panel is usually directed upward, so that the optical axis of the infrared receiving/emitting element is inclined, making it less susceptible to external light.

In this way, the optical touch switch section of the touch panel allows a switch operation to be easily performed, and furthermore, by switching the driving state of the display section in accordance with this detection operation, a display corresponding to the switch operation can be performed.

In addition, if a two-layer structure GH type liquid crystal display element is used as the liquid crystal display element, the display by switching between the display using the dye in the first layer of the liquid crystal display element and the display using the dye in the second layer according to the operating state. , visibility will further improve.

Although the present invention has been explained by taking a guest-host type liquid crystal display element as an example, it is obvious that similar effects can be obtained not only in this but also in other types of liquid crystal display elements.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of an embodiment of an infrared remote control device equipped with a touch panel according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the touch panel. 1...Infrared remote control device, 2...
... touch panel, 3 ... power switch, 4 ... liquid crystal display element, 5 ... illumination light source, 6 ... infrared light emitting element, A ... display panel section, B ... optical touch switch section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A display panel section composed of a liquid crystal display element having at least one display section, and an infrared light receiving/emitting device provided below the liquid crystal display element with an optical axis inclined with respect to each display section of the liquid crystal display element. What is claimed is: 1. An optical touch panel comprising: an optical touch switch section comprising an element;