Inputting method and inputting apparatus

• US 20060152497A1
• Filed: 05/13/2003
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Rekimoto, Junichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,570,277 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

There are provided with a detection sensor 110 for detecting an approach and a contact of a living body or a material body in a predetermined detection region, a control means which outputs a drive signal in a case when an approach is detected by a detection sensor and which performs an input process for accepting an input of a predetermined function in a case when a contact is detected on a predetermined condition, and an actuator 120 being vibrated temporarily by the drive signal outputted by the control means. By doing like this, in a case when, for example, a finger, a pen or the like is approached to the detection region of the sensor while the equipment is held in a hand, the equipment vibrates temporarily by detecting the approach in the sensor 110 and the vibration transmits to the hand holding the equipment such that it becomes possible to comprehend that an input will be carried out by touching the position.

Claims

1. An input method comprising:

a detection step for detecting an approach and a contact of a living body or material body in a predetermined detection region;

a vibration step for generating a vibration which is transmitted to a predetermined region other than said detection region in response to a detection of the approach in said detection step; and

an input step for performing a predetermined input process in response to a detection of the contact on a predetermined condition in said detection step.

2. An input method according to claim 1 further comprising a vibration step for generating a vibration which is transmitted to said contact position in response to a detection of the contact on a predetermined condition in said detection step.

3. An input method according to claim 1, wherein said vibration step performs a process for making a vibration temporarily also in response to a detection of the contact on a predetermined condition in said detection step such that in said vibration step, a vibration condition in a case when the approach is detected is made different from a vibration condition in a case when the contact is detected.

4. An input method comprising:

a detection step for detecting a contact position of a living body or material body in a predetermined detection region;

an input step for accepting a specific input corresponding to a contact position or a change of a contact position which is detected in said detection step; and

a vibration step for vibrating at least a vicinity of said detection region every time when a change of a predetermined amount or more occurs relating to the contact position in said detection step.

5. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the contact detection in said detection step is detected according to strength change by a contact of a signal transmitted between one or a plurality of transmission electrodes disposed in said predetermined detection region and one or a plurality of receiving electrodes.

6. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the contact detection in said detection step detects simultaneous contacts on a plurality of places according to strength change by a contact of a signal transmitted between one or a plurality of transmission electrodes disposed in said predetermined detection region and one or a plurality of receiving electrodes.

7. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the region for performing the contact detection in said detection step is made to be an annular region and the detection is performed according to strength change by a contact of a signal transmitted between one or a plurality of transmission electrodes disposed in the annular detection region and one or a plurality or receiving electrodes.

8. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the region for performing the contact detection in said detection step is made to be an annular region and an operation inside the region where said annular contact detection is performed is detected by another detection step than said detection step.

9. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the region for performing the contact detection in said detection step is made to be an annular region;

an operation inside the region where said annular contact detection is performed is detected by another detection step than said detection step; and

a function for accepting an input in said input step is changed in response to a detection pattern in the two detection steps.

10. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the contact detection in said detection step is detected according to strength change by a contact of a signal transmitted between one or a plurality of transmission electrodes disposed in said predetermined linear detection region and one or a plurality of receiving electrodes.

11. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the contact detection in said detection step is detected according to strength change by a contact of a signal transmitted between one or a plurality of transmission electrodes disposed in a detection region which is disposed linearly adjacent any one side of a display means performing a display of a character or a figure and one or a plurality or receiving electrodes.

12. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the contact detection in said detection step is a process for detecting according to strength change by a contact of a signal transmitted between one or a plurality of transmission electrodes disposed in a detection region which is disposed linearly adjacent any one side of a display means performing a display of a character or a figure and one or a plurality of receiving electrodes;

and an input of a function relating to the display in said display means is accepted by detecting the contact in the detection step.

13. An input method according to claim 4, wherein the contact detection in said detection step is a process for detecting according to strength change by a contact of a signal transmitted between one or a plurality of transmission electrodes disposed in a detection region which is disposed linearly adjacent any one side of a display means performing a display of a character or a figure and one or a plurality of receiving electrodes and is a process for accepting an input of a function relating to the display in said display means by detecting the contact in the detection step;

and an input of a function for changing magnification or reduction of the display in said display means to one or the other is accepted in a case when the contact positions of two places detected approximately simultaneously in said detection step change such as mutually approaching and in a case when they change such as being mutually apart.

14. An input apparatus comprising:

a detection sensor for detecting an approach and a contact of a living body or a material body in a predetermined detection region;

control means for outputting a drive signal in a case when an approach is detected by said detection sensor and performing an input process for accepting an input of a predetermined function in a case when a contact is detected on a predetermined condition; and

an actuator responsive to an instruction from said control means for making a vibration.

15. An input apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said control means performs a process for making a vibration temporarily in said actuator also in a case when a contact on a predetermined condition is detected in said detection sensor.