INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE HAVING TOUCH SCREEN

• US 20140300559A1
• Filed: 03/14/2014
• Published: 10/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: TANIMOTO, Masanori, UESAKA, Shigeki
• Granted Patent: US 9,671,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

The present invention aims at being able to prevent unintentional operation and to improve operating characteristics even if the entirety of a touch panel can be effectively used as a touch operating surface. Specifically, a touch control table that is a table storing thresholds set in accordance with regions on the touch screen is provided, and this touch control table has “Region” and “Threshold” as respective columns. A CPU detects a contact position and area of contact as contact states at the time of touch operation on the screen (touch screen) of a touch input display unit. The CPU identifies the touched region on the basis of the contact position, and thereafter compares the detected area of contact to the threshold set in accordance with the region. The CPU interprets the touch operation on the basis of the comparisons of the region.

Claims

1. An information processing device provided with a touch screen having a touch panel attached thereto, comprising:

a contact detector that detects a contact position and an area of contact when there is a touch operation on the touch screen;

a region identifier that identifies a region on the touch screen that has been touched among a plurality of regions defined on the touch screen, said region being identified on the basis of the contact position detected by the contact detector; and

a controller that compares an area of contact detected by the contact detector to a threshold set in accordance with the region on the touch screen when said region is identified by the region identifier, the controller interpreting the touch operation on the basis of this comparison.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the controller compares the area of contact detected by the contact detector to the threshold set in accordance with the region on the touch screen when said region is identified by the region identifier, the controller recognizing the touch operation on the region to be valid and executing a process corresponding to the contact position with respect to said region if the area of contact is larger than the threshold.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2,

wherein the region on the touch screen is an indicator display region that displays a command indicator, and

wherein the controller issues a command to execute a process corresponding to the command indicator when a touch operation on the command indicator is valid.

4. The information processing device according to claim 2,

wherein the plurality of regions on the touch screen include a whole region that extends over substantially the whole touch screen and another region that is within this whole region, and

wherein the controller compares the area of contact detected by the contact detector to the threshold set in accordance with said another region on the touch screen and further compares said area of contact to the threshold set in accordance with the whole region, the controller executing a process corresponding to the contact position with respect to the whole region instead of said another region if the comparisons respectively indicate that the area of contact is smaller than the threshold of said another region and larger than the threshold of the whole region.

5. The information processing device according to claim 2,

wherein the controller compares the area of contact detected by the contact detector to the threshold set in accordance with the indicator display region and executes another process instead of said process corresponding to the contact position with respect to the region if said comparison indicates that the area of contact is smaller than the threshold.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the region is a screen edge region that is arranged on an edge of the touch screen, and

wherein the controller compares the area of contact detected by the contact detector to the threshold set in accordance with the screen edge region and recognizes the touch operation on the screen edge region to be invalid when said comparison indicates that said area of contact is larger than the threshold.

7. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the contact detector detects a plurality of areas of contact from contact presence during touch operation initialization until contact absence during touch operation termination, and detects an optimum value thereof determined on the basis of the plurality of areas of contact, the optimum value acting as the area of contact at the time of touch operation.

8. The information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a region-specific time measurer that measures a contact time for each region on the touch screen when the region identifier identifies that a plurality of regions have been touched,

wherein, when the region identifier identifies a touch operation has straddled a plurality of regions, the controller interprets the touch operation by determining that said touch operation has contacted one of any of the regions on the basis of the contact time for each region as measured by the region-specific time measurer.

9. The information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a contact time measurer that measures a contact time of the touch operation,

wherein the controller interprets the touch operation on the basis of the contact time measured by the contact time measurer and the comparison of the region.

10. The information processing device according to claim 9,

wherein, when a contact time measured by the contact time measurer is greater than or equal to a prescribed length of time, the controller executes various types of processes on the basis of whether or not the comparison of the area of contact is greater than or equal to the threshold.

11. The information processing device according to claim 9,

wherein, when a contact time measured by the contact time measurer is below a prescribed length of time, the controller executes various types of processes on the basis of whether or not the comparison of the area of contact is greater than or equal to the threshold.

12. The information processing device according to claim 1,

wherein the information processing device includes a plurality of threshold levels set in accordance with the respective regions, and

wherein the controller issues a command to execute various types of processes on the basis of the comparison for each of the threshold levels when the areas of contact are compared.

13. A method of controlling a touch operation in an information processing device, comprising:

detecting a contact position and an area of contact when there is a touch operation on a touch screen having a touch panel attached thereto;

identifying a region on the touch screen that has been touched among a plurality of regions on the touch screen on the basis of the contact position that has been detected; and

interpreting the touch operation on the basis of a comparison of the area of contact when the region on the touch screen is identified, said comparison being obtained when the detected area of contact is compared to a threshold set in accordance with said region.