JPH0451406Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

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

[Prior Art and Problems] Conventionally, in order to improve the operability of various AV devices such as televisions, video decks, VD (video disk) players, CD (compact disk) players, tuners, and cassette decks, in general, A wireless remote control device is used to perform various operations such as turning the power on/off, increasing/decreasing the volume, switching channels, fast forwarding and rewinding the tape, etc. The infrared type is often used because it does not affect other equipment and the configuration of the device 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, this invention forms the panel surface with a liquid crystal display element, and just by touching the display part,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a touch panel in which the operations displayed on the display section can be performed, and the display section displays the operating state by switching the driving state.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

The above object, according to the present invention, includes a liquid crystal display element having at least one solid display area, a deflection plate disposed below each liquid crystal display element, and a desired display pattern disposed below the deflection plate. an infrared filter, a flat light guide disposed below the infrared filter and having a light shielding material attached to the lower surface, and a cold cathode tube disposed opposite to one or both end surfaces of the light guide. a display panel section comprising an illumination light source such as, a transparent plate disposed on the upper surface of the light guide and provided with holes in an area facing the infrared filter; This is achieved by an optical touch panel including an optical touch switch section constituted by an infrared receiving/emitting element disposed in a recess provided on the lower surface of the light guide.

According to this invention, since the operating state of the touch panel is displayed by the display section of each liquid crystal display element according to its driving state, a larger display can be obtained compared to the conventional one. In addition, since a GH type liquid crystal display element is used as the liquid crystal display element,
The display panel section provides highly visible display, and by simply touching the display section of the liquid crystal display element with your finger, the infrared light emitting element passes through the hole in the transparent plate, the infrared filter, and the deflection plate. The infrared light transmitted through the liquid crystal display element is reflected on the surface of the finger, passes through the liquid crystal display element again, and reaches the infrared light receiving element, whereby the infrared light receiving element detects the touch of the finger. be able to.

Thus, according to the present invention, a switch operation is easily performed by the optical touch switch section, and furthermore, the driving state of the display section of the liquid crystal display element is switched in accordance with this detection operation, thereby displaying according to the switch operation. be able to.

If a two-layer structure GH liquid crystal display element is used as the liquid crystal display element, it is possible to switch between the display using the dye in the first layer and the display using the dye in the second layer of the liquid crystal display element, depending on the operating conditions. This makes it possible to display a clear display, further improving visibility.

〔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.

The touch panel 2 is composed of a plurality of display sections 2a, and each display section 2a is composed of a display panel section A and an optical touch switch section B built into the display panel section A. As shown in FIG. 2, the display panel section A includes one liquid crystal display element 4 and a polarizing plate 5 disposed below the liquid crystal display element 4.
, an infrared filter 6 having a desired display pattern shape (in the figure, a triangular pattern indicating reproduction) disposed below it, and an infrared filter 6 disposed below it and having an appropriate light shielding material attached to its lower surface. A flat light guide 7, an illumination light source 8 such as a cold cathode tube provided on one side of the light guide 6, and a light source 8 disposed on the upper surface of the light guide 7 and facing the infrared filter 6. Transparent plate 9 with holes 9a
It is composed of.

The liquid crystal display element 4 can be uniformly illuminated by the illumination light from the illumination light source 8 being repeatedly reflected within the light guide 7 and then emitted from the upper surface and diffused through the transmissive plate 9. The light guide 7 is formed as flat as possible to make the entire device thinner,
It is preferable from the point of view of illumination efficiency to the liquid crystal display element 4 if it is formed so that the thickness increases toward one side as shown in the figure. Furthermore, if the light guide is formed so that its thickness gradually increases from approximately the center to both sides, illumination light sources such as cold cathode tubes can be attached to the end surfaces on both sides.
Since they can be arranged facing each other, the efficiency of illuminating the liquid crystal display element 4 is further improved.

The liquid crystal display element 4 is a two-layer structure GH type liquid crystal display element, and is a solid negative display type that blocks light when the entire surface is off and transmits light when it is on.
The display section 2a indicates the touch switch input area.
In addition, the infrared filter 6 has letters and symbols (ON, OFF, , ■, etc.) indicating various operating functions.
It is molded in the shape of.

Each display section 2a of the touch panel 2 incorporates an optical touch switch section B, and the optical touch switch section B is constructed as follows. That is, a recess 7a is formed on the lower surface of the light guide 7 of the display panel section A, corresponding to the hole 9a of the transparent plate 9 disposed below the liquid crystal display element 4 of the display panel section A.
is provided, and an infrared receiving/emitting element 10 is disposed upwardly within the recess 7a. The infrared light receiving/emitting element 10 includes an infrared light emitting element 10a and an infrared light receiving element 1.
0b, but it is of course possible to use an infrared photointerrupter in which these are integrally formed.

The infrared remote control device equipped with a touch panel according to the present invention is configured as described above, and by driving the liquid crystal display element 4 by a drive device (not shown), a red color is displayed on the display panel section A when it is off or on. A light-blocked display, for example, a horizontally oriented triangular display (see FIG. 3A) is performed by the shape of the outer filter 6, and at this time, the liquid crystal display element 4 is uniformly back-illuminated by the illumination light source 8 through the transmissive plate 9. As a result, a very easy-to-read display can be obtained.
When you touch the surface 4a of the liquid crystal display element 4 where display is performed in this way with your finger, the infrared receiving/emitting element 10
The infrared light that passes through the light guide 7, the hole 9a of the transparent plate 9, the infrared filter 6, and the polarizing plate 5 from the infrared light emitting element 10a of Due to its high transmittance,
The light passes through the liquid crystal display element 4, is reflected on the surface of the finger, passes through the liquid crystal display element 4 again, and reaches the infrared light receiving element 10b. Then, this infrared light receiving element 1
0b detects the touch of a finger on the surface 4a of the liquid crystal display element 4 by detecting this incident infrared light, and causes a control circuit (not shown) to perform an appropriate switching operation to perform a desired operation. At the same time, by controlling the drive circuit of the liquid crystal display element 4 and turning each layer of the two-layer structure on or off as appropriate, for example, the display color of the horizontally oriented triangular display can be changed or the entire surface can be blocked from light. The state is displayed in black (see FIG. 3B). Further, when the surface 4a of the liquid crystal display element 4 is touched, the above-mentioned black display can be changed to a horizontal triangular display, that is, a display in the shape of the infrared filter 6. In this way, each time the surface 4a is touched, the two types of displays mentioned above are alternately displayed, or a plurality of types of displays are displayed in a cyclical manner including changing the display color.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to the present invention, the display panel section includes a display panel section and an optical touch switch section, and the display panel section is disposed below the liquid crystal display element having at least one solid display section and each liquid crystal display element. an infrared filter with a desired display pattern shape arranged below the polarizing plate, a flat light guide arranged below the polarizing plate and having a light shielding material attached to the lower surface, and the sides of this light guide. The light guide includes an illumination light source such as a cold cathode tube disposed in the light guide, and a transparent plate disposed on the upper surface of the light guide and having a hole in an area facing the infrared filter. Since the optical touch panel is composed of an infrared receiving/emitting element disposed in a recess provided on the lower surface of the light guide corresponding to the hole in the transparent plate, the operating status of the touch panel can be displayed. is performed by the display section of each liquid crystal display element according to its driving state, so a larger display can be obtained compared to conventional ones, and by preferably using a GH type liquid crystal display element as the liquid crystal display element, The display panel section can provide display with extremely high visibility. In addition, by simply touching the display area of the liquid crystal display element with your finger, the infrared light from the infrared light emitting element passes through the hole in the transmissive plate, the infrared filter, and the polarizing plate, and passes through the liquid crystal display element to touch your finger. The light is reflected from the surface of the screen, passes through the liquid crystal display element again, and reaches the infrared light receiving element, whereby the infrared light receiving element can detect the touch of the finger.

Thus, according to the present invention, a switch operation is easily performed by the optical touch switch section, and further, the driving state of the display section of the liquid crystal display element is switched in accordance with this detection operation, thereby displaying according to the switch operation. be able to.

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. It becomes possible to perform a variety of displays, and visibility is further improved.

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 the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of an infrared remote control device equipped with a touch panel according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the touch panel, and Figs. 3 A and B are views of one of the touch panels. FIG. 1...Infrared remote control device, 2...
...Touch panel, 3...Power switch, 4...Liquid crystal display element, 5...Polarizing plate, 6...Infrared filter, 7...Light guide, 8...Illumination light source, 9...
...Reflection plate, 10... Infrared receiving/emitting element, A... Display panel section, B... Optical touch switch section.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A liquid crystal display element having at least one solid display area, a polarizing plate disposed below the liquid crystal display element, and a desired display disposed below the polarizing plate. A pattern-shaped infrared filter, a flat light guide disposed below the infrared filter and having a light shielding material attached to the lower surface, and an illumination light source such as a cold cathode tube disposed on the side of the light guide; a display panel section comprising a transparent plate disposed on the upper surface of the light guide and having holes in an area facing the infrared filter; and a lower surface of the light guide corresponding to the holes in the transparent plate; An optical touch panel comprising: an optical touch switch section comprising an infrared receiving/emitting element disposed in a recess provided in the recess. (2) Utility model registration claim No. (1), characterized in that the light guide is formed so that its thickness increases toward one or both sides thereof.
Optical touch panel described in section.