JP2001175375A - Portable information terminal device and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a portable information terminal device that clearly displays a software keyboard without impairing portability and prevents erroneous input by a user. SOLUTION: When a coordinate signal is input from an input unit 4, a CPU 2 detects an input area from the coordinate signal by input determination processing, and calculates a center point P and an area S thereof.
Next, it is determined whether or not the center point P belongs to the detection range of the key. Further, the area S of the input area and the area K of the detection range are determined.
Then, it is determined whether or not one key can be determined from the input coordinate signal. If one key cannot be determined, the keys around the input area are enlarged and displayed.
Perform input operation again.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a portable information terminal device having a function of displaying a software keyboard on a display panel integrated with a tablet, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a portable information terminal device in which a display unit and an input unit are integrated has been mainstream in order to reduce the size of the device. That is, a transparent tablet or the like is provided on a display screen made of liquid crystal or the like, and writing input using a dedicated pen or the like at a predetermined position of the tablet, or a display keyboard set by software (hereinafter, software keyboard; see FIG. 7) The user presses and inputs the inside of the frame.

In this tablet system, the position coordinates pressed by the user are detected by a method such as an optical system, an ultrasonic system, an electromagnetic induction system, or a resistive film system, and an input process is performed based on the detected coordinate signals. Running. For example, in a handwriting input using a dedicated pen or the like, a character is recognized from a plurality of detected coordinate signals.In an input using a software keyboard, one character is detected from the detected coordinate signal and position information of a predetermined character or item. It uses a method to limit characters and items.

The input by handwriting requires a plurality of continuous coordinate signals, and therefore requires a high processing speed and high resolution. On the other hand, character input using a software keyboard requires only one pressing operation for selection of one character or item, and thus has an advantage that it can be manufactured relatively inexpensively.

[0005]

However, with recent advances in miniaturization of portable information terminal devices and improvement in resolution of the display screen, characters and data displayed on the display screen have been reduced, and one screen has been reduced. As the amount of information displayed on the software keyboard has increased, the input area per key of the software keyboard has also been reduced, and there has been a problem that each key is difficult to see and a plurality of keys are pressed when inputting with a finger or the like.

Conventionally, when a plurality of keys are pressed, a plurality of characters or items corresponding to the detected position coordinate signal are all selected or the center point of the pressed portion is calculated, and the center point is calculated. A measure has been taken such as whether to select the character or item of the closest coordinates or perform error processing. However, the characters and items displayed by such a procedure do not always match the desired ones, and the inconvenience of having to erase characters and items that have been erroneously input each time and newly inputting them must be avoided. The remaining.

Alternatively, in order to prevent the selection of a plurality of keys, a method of inputting with a pen or the like having a thin tip has been adopted, but the tablet is scratched by repeating the input operation with a pen or the like having a thin tip. Also, there is a problem that the sense of transparency is reduced and the display screen is difficult to see. In addition, when a dedicated pen is provided, the user must always carry the dedicated pen, which degrades convenience.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable information terminal device which displays a software keyboard clearly without impairing portability and prevents erroneous input by a user.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A keyboard composed of a plurality of keys on a display screen having a touch panel (for example, a key display unit 31a shown in FIG. 2)
In the portable information terminal device for displaying and performing key input,
When a desired input range is input on the keyboard, a determination unit (for example, FIG. 1) determines whether or not one key can be specified by the input range.
CPU 2 shown in FIG. 4; Step S of input determination processing shown in FIG.
1) to 5), and when it is determined that one key can be specified by the determination means, the input by the specified input key is determined. When it is determined that one key cannot be specified, the input is performed. A plurality of candidate input keys are extracted from the keyboard based on the instructed input range, the extracted keys are enlarged and displayed on the display screen, and an input instruction is made from among the plurality of enlarged keys. Input control means (for example, the CP shown in FIG.
U2: Steps S6 to S9 of the input determination process shown in FIG.
And, it is characterized by having.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in a portable information terminal device for displaying a keyboard composed of a plurality of keys on a display screen having a touch panel and performing key input, the determining means includes: When a desired input range is instructed, it is determined whether or not one key can be specified by the input range specified by the input. The input control means determines that one key can be specified by the determination means. In this case, the input by the specified input key is determined, and when it is determined that one key cannot be specified, a plurality of candidate input keys are extracted from the keyboard based on the input range specified by the input. Then, the plurality of extracted keys are displayed in an enlarged manner on the display screen, and the input of the key instructed from among the plurality of enlargedly displayed keys is determined.

[0011] Accordingly, when one or more keys are pressed and input at once, or when an erroneous position between keys is pressed or the like, or when an erroneous position is pressed, one or a plurality of keys related to the pressed range are pressed. Key can be displayed in an enlarged manner and the user can be prompted to input again, so that a key input operation desired by the user is always realized. On the other hand, if it is correctly input at a predetermined position, it can be displayed as before. This eliminates the hassle of displaying a plurality of undesired characters due to an input error, and does not mean that keys are displayed in an enlarged manner for all inputs. Becomes possible.

If the enlargement magnification is set to be calculated appropriately in accordance with the size of the input range, an enlarged display depending on the size of the object to be depressed is executed, and the user can input a desired character in a smaller number of times. Can be displayed. Furthermore, if the enlargement magnification is arbitrary, it is possible to cope with different conditions depending on the individual's visual acuity to be used, such as difficulty in identifying each reduced key.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration will be described. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a portable information terminal device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this FIG.
The portable information terminal device 1 includes a CPU 2, a display unit 3, an input unit 4, a transmission control unit 5, a RAM 6, a storage device 7, and a storage medium 8. ing.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2
The application program designated from among the system programs stored in the storage medium 8 and the various application programs corresponding to the system is stored in R
Developed in a program storage area (not shown) in the AM 6 and stores various supports or data input from the input unit 4 in the RAM 6
And temporarily executes various processes in accordance with the application programs stored in the storage device 7 in accordance with the input support and the input data.
6 and displayed on the display unit 3. Then, the processing result stored in the RAM 6 is stored in a storage destination in the storage device 7 which is input and supported by the input unit 4.

When the CPU 2 starts an application relating to text input from a program stored in the storage device 7, the CPU 2 displays a software keyboard as shown in FIG. When a touch input is performed on a touch panel provided integrally with the display screen of the display unit 3, the CPU 2 temporarily stores the coordinate signal input from the input unit 4 in the RAM 6 in accordance with the pressed position. In the memory area. Further, by executing an input determination process (see FIG. 4) described later based on the coordinate signals stored in the memory area, it is determined whether or not one key can be specified from the software keyboard. If the key cannot be specified, a plurality of keys around the pressed and input position are displayed in an enlarged manner, and the key is input again.

The display unit 3 includes a display screen 31 such as a liquid crystal panel, and displays display data input from the CPU 2. FIG. 2 is a front view of the portable information terminal device 1 showing an example in which a user presses and inputs a software keyboard displayed on the display unit 3. In FIG. 3, a display screen 31 of the main body of the portable information terminal device 1 has a key display section 31a for displaying a software keyboard, and an input result display section 31 for displaying a user's input result.
b is displayed.

The input unit 4 is provided on the display screen 3 of the display unit 3.
It is configured by a touch panel or the like provided integrally on the device 1, detects coordinates of a position pressed and input by the user, and outputs the coordinates to the CPU 2 as coordinate signals. As shown in FIG.
When the user presses and inputs “tsu”, for example, the input unit 4
Outputs to the CPU 2 all the coordinate signals detected in the pressed area 31c. FIG. 3 shows the portable information terminal device 1 in a state in which the input determination process for the press input shown in FIG.
FIG.

The transmission control unit 5 includes a modem (MODEM: MO
dulator / DEModulator) or terminal adapter (T
A: Terminal Adapter) and controls communication with an external device via a communication line such as a telephone line or an ISDN line. The modem modulates the digital data processed by the CPU 2 into an analog signal in the frequency band of the telephone line in order to communicate with an external device such as a personal computer via the telephone line,
Further, the terminal adapter is a device for demodulating an analog signal input via a telephone line into a digital signal. The terminal adapter converts an existing interface into an ISDN in order to communicate with an external device such as a personal computer via an ISDN line. This is a device for converting to an interface corresponding to.

A RAM (Random Access Memory) 6 has a work memory area for temporarily storing various data such as input instructions, input data, and processing results when executing a designated application program.

The storage device 7 has a storage medium 8 in which programs and data are stored in advance, and this storage medium 8 is constituted by a magnetic or optical storage medium or a semiconductor memory. The storage medium 8 is fixedly provided in the storage device 7 or is detachably mounted. The storage medium 8 displays various application programs and software keyboards corresponding to the portable information terminal device 1. Then, a program for executing the function, an input determination processing program, data executed by each processing program, document data, and the like are stored.

The programs, data, and the like stored in the storage medium 8 are partially or wholly received from another device such as a server or a client from the transmission control unit 7 via a transmission medium such as a network line. The storage medium may be configured to be stored, and the storage medium 8 may be a storage medium of a server constructed on a network. Further, the program may be configured to be transmitted to a server or a client via a transmission medium such as a network line and installed in these devices.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the input determination process executed by the CPU 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Here, a program for realizing each function described in this flowchart is stored in a storage medium 8 in the form of a readable program code.
Sequentially executes the operation according to the program code. Further, the CPU 2 can also sequentially execute the operation according to the above-described program code transmitted via the transmission control unit 5. That is, an operation specific to this embodiment can be executed using a program / data externally supplied via the transmission control unit 5 in addition to the storage medium 8.

In FIG. 4, the CPU 2 first displays a software keyboard on the display screen 31 of the display unit 3 as shown in FIG. 2 (step S1), and waits for a key input by the user (step S2). Next, when a coordinate signal is input from the input unit 4, the CPU 2 checks the input area from the coordinate signal, obtains a circumscribed rectangle circumscribing the input area (see FIG. 5A), , And calculate the area S (step S3).

When the center point P is obtained in step S3, it is checked whether or not the point P belongs to a range (detection range) occupied by an arbitrary key (step S4). If it also does not belong to, the peripheral key extraction process described later is executed. On the other hand, when the point P belongs to any key, it is determined whether or not the area S of the circumscribed rectangle is larger than the area K of the detection range of the key to which the point P belongs (step S5).

In step S5, if the area S of the circumscribed rectangle is smaller than the area K of the detection range (S <K),
The character to be displayed is determined as the key to which the point P belongs (step S6), and is displayed on the input result display section 31b of the display section 3, and the input determination processing ends. If the input area S is equal to or larger than the detection range K, the process shifts to a peripheral key extraction process (step S7).

As a result of ending the peripheral key extraction processing (step S8), if there is a candidate key in the vicinity, an enlarged display processing described later is executed (step S9), and the process shifts to a key input waiting state. If there are no key candidates to be extracted in the vicinity, the input is invalidated (step S10), and the input determination processing ends.

Next, details of the input determination processing will be described below. The horizontal axis of the coordinates set on the display screen 31 shown in FIG. 2 is X, and the vertical axis is Y. When a coordinate signal is input from the input unit 4, the CPU 2 converts the coordinate signal into a signal shown in FIG.
Is converted into an input area having a width in each of the X and Y directions, and a center point P of the input area is calculated. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5A, a center point P is calculated from a rectangle circumscribing the input area. That is, CPU
2 is the coordinates (X ₁ , Y ₁ ) of each vertex of the circumscribed rectangle,
(X ₂ , Y ₁ ), (X ₁ , Y ₂ ), (X ₂ , Y ₂ ) are detected,
From these coordinates, X ₀ = (X ₁ + X ₂ ) / 2 and Y ₀ = (Y ₁ + Y ₂ ) / 2 are calculated, and these are set as the center point P (X ₀ , Y ₀ ) of the input area. Further, the area S of the circumscribed rectangle is calculated.

After calculating the center point P and the area S, the CPU 2 determines whether there is a key at the position of the point P,
It is determined whether the input area is larger than the detection range of each key. Here, the detection range means a range occupied by any one key with respect to the coordinates of the entire display screen and the coordinates thereof. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5B, the respective keys include a right end right, a left end left, an upper end top, and a lower end bottom.
The coordinates of om are set in advance as the detection range. Judgment as to whether or not the center point P (X ₀ , Y ₀ ) of the circumscribed rectangle in the input area is within the detection range, satisfying right <X ₀ <left, top <Y ₀ <bottom, and the area S of the circumscribed rectangle Is smaller than the area K of the detection range (S <K), the CPU 2 specifies one key from the displayed software keyboard. On the other hand, if at least one of the conditions is not satisfied, it is determined that the key cannot be specified.

When one key can be specified by the above processing, the CPU 2 displays the specified key on the input result display section 31b of the display section 3 shown in FIG. On the other hand, when one key cannot be specified, that is, when there is no key at the point P, or when the input area S is larger than the detection range K,
The CPU 2 executes a peripheral key extraction process to extract a key that is a candidate for enlarged display, and then executes the enlargement process to enlarge the extracted plurality of keys and display the enlarged key on the key display unit 31 a of the display unit 3. It is displayed (see FIG. 3).

As shown in FIG. 6 (a), this peripheral key extraction processing is performed for each vertex of the circumscribed rectangle whose key detection range is the condition right> X ₁ , left <X ₂ , bottom> A key that satisfies at least one of Y ₁ and top <Y ₂ is adopted as a key for enlarged display. That is, all the keys where the key detection range and the circumscribed rectangle overlap are extracted. Also, the enlargement process
As shown in FIG. 6B, the length of one side of the circumscribed rectangle is a, the distance between the center points of the two keys is b, and k = a / b is calculated. This calculation is performed for all keys that are enlarged for the two nearest keys, and the maximum value of k is adopted as the magnification from the center point P. By doing so, it is possible to perform an enlarged display according to the size of an object that is depressed and input by a finger or the like.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention,
When a coordinate signal is input from the input unit 4, the CPU 2 detects an input area from the coordinate signal and calculates a center point P and an area S thereof by an input determination process. Next, it is determined whether or not the center point P belongs to the detection range of the key. Further, by comparing the area S of the input area with the area K of the detection range, one key is determined from the input coordinate signal. It is determined whether it can be determined. If one key cannot be determined, the keys around the input area are displayed in an enlarged scale and the input operation is performed again.

Therefore, when the input is made surely, the normal display is performed, and when a plurality of keys are pressed or an ambiguous position is pressed, the plurality of keys are enlarged and displayed. For this reason, even when the finger for performing the input operation is larger than the size of the key of the software keyboard, it is not necessary to use a sharp-pointed object such as a pen, and the input part such as the touch panel is not damaged. . Alternatively, it is possible to appropriately cope with conditions that vary depending on the individual's visual acuity, such as difficulty in identifying each key, by displaying a plurality of keys in a pressed portion in an enlarged manner.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the contents of the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Although a key that is a candidate for enlarged display is selected based on the rectangle, a circumscribed square having the point P as a center point may be adopted. Further, for simplification, the magnification of the enlarged display may always be a constant value. Furthermore, although the target to which the present invention is applied is a software keyboard,
You may change so that it may apply to the icon displayed on a screen, the selection tool on an application, etc.

[0034]

According to the portable information terminal device of the first aspect and the storage medium of the second aspect, when a plurality of keys are pressed at once, or when an ambiguous position such as between keys is pressed. In response to an input error such as the above, one or a plurality of keys related to the range of the pressed input are enlarged and displayed to prompt the user to input again, so that the user can always perform the desired input operation. In addition, when a correct input is made at a predetermined position, it can be displayed as before. This eliminates the inconvenience of one or more characters being displayed inadvertently in response to an input error, and does not enlarge and display the keys for all inputs. Enable input operations.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a portable information terminal device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a portable information terminal device 1 showing an example in which a user presses and inputs a software keyboard displayed on a display unit 3;
FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the portable information terminal device 1 showing a state in which a peripheral key of “tsu” is enlarged as a result of executing an input determination process for a press input shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an input determination process executed by a CPU 2;

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a rectangle circumscribing an input area and a center point P thereof. (B) is a diagram showing a detection range of an arbitrary key with respect to the coordinate axes X and Y on the display screen 31.

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating an input area, a circumscribed rectangle circumscribing the input area, and a detection range of nine keys overlapping the circumscribed rectangle. (B) is a diagram showing a indicating the length of one side of the circumscribed rectangle and a distance b between the center points of two keys.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the portable information terminal device showing an example in which a software keyboard is displayed on a display screen.

[Description of Signs] 1 portable information terminal device 2 CPU 3 display unit 31 display screen 31a key display unit 31b input result display unit 4 input unit 5 transmission control unit 6 RAM 7 storage device 8 storage medium 9 bus

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A portable information terminal device for displaying a keyboard composed of a plurality of keys on a display screen having a touch panel and performing key input, wherein when a desired input range is input on the keyboard, Discriminating means for discriminating whether or not one key can be specified based on the input range designated by the input; and when it is discriminated that one key can be specified, the input by the specified input key is determined. If it is determined that one key cannot be specified, a plurality of candidate input keys are extracted from the keyboard based on the input range specified by the input, and the extracted keys are displayed on the display screen. Input control means for enlarging and displaying, and input control means for confirming the input of a key instructed from among the plurality of keys displayed in an enlarged manner, End devices. 2. A storage medium storing a computer-executable program for performing input control of a portable information terminal device for displaying a keyboard having a plurality of keys and performing key input on a display screen having a touch panel. When a desired input range is instructed on the keyboard, a computer-executable program code for determining whether or not one key can be specified by the input range instructed; If one key can be identified by this determination, a computer-executable program code for determining the input by the identified input key; and if one key cannot be identified by the determination, the input instruction A plurality of candidate input keys are extracted from the keyboard based on the input range obtained, and the plurality of extracted keys are extracted. On the display screen, and a computer-executable program code for confirming input of a key input-designated among the plurality of keys displayed in an enlarged manner, and a program including: Storage medium.