Information input/output apparatus, information input/output control method, and computer product

• US 6,943,779 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2002
• Issued: 09/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Satoh, Mitsuru
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu, Amare
• Assistant Examiner(s): Said, Mansour M.
• Application Number:
  US10/103,964
• Publication Number:
  US 20020145595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 345158-160, 345/173, 345/177, 345/169, 345/179, 345/87, 345/156, 345/157, 345/162, 345/165, 345/166, 345/174, 345/175, 178 1801- 18, 178 1901- 20, 178/18.03, 178/18.04, 178/18.09, 178/20.01
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0423 using sweeping light beams, e.g. using rotating or vibrating mirror
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Comprises a panel, and a coordinate control section that detects a point touched on the panel and generates a signal according to the detected point. The coordinate control section generates a coordinate signal that shows coordinates of a touched point, when one point touch on the panel has been detected. When simultaneous touches of two or more points on the panel has been detected, the coordinate control section generates a control that shows a control set in advance corresponding to the number of touched points.

Claims

1. An information input/output apparatus, comprising:

a touch panel;

a touch point detecting unit configured to detect at least one point touched on the touch panel;

a distance calculating unit configured to calculate, when the touch point detecting unit detects touches of two or more points on the touch panel, a distance between the detected two or more points; and

a signal generating unit configured to generate a signal according to the at least one point detected by the touch point detecting unit, wherein

the distance calculating unit is configured to calculate (1) a first difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the two or more detected points, and (2) a second difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the two or more detected points, based on a result of the touch point detecting unit.

2. An information input/output apparatus, comprising:

a touch panel;

a touch point detecting unit configured to detect at least one point touched on the touch panel;

a distance calculating unit configured to calculate, when the touch point detecting unit detects touches of two or more points on the touch panel, a distance between the detected two or more points; and

a signal generating unit configured to generate a signal according to the at least one point detected by the touch point detecting unit, wherein

when the touch point detecting unit detects that one point has been touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of the touched point, and when the touch point detecting unit detects that two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to the number of touched points;

when the distance calculated by the distance calculating unit is equal to or larger than a predetermined length, the signal generating unit is configured to not generate the control signal; and

the distance calculating unit is configured to calculate (1) a first difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the two or more detected points, and (2) a second difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the two or more detected points, based on a result of the touch point detecting unit.

3. The information input/output apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the control signal is output to a computer that has a display screen, the control signal causes the computer to display a tool bar on the display screen.

4. The information input/output apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a touch candidate point obtaining unit configured to obtain two or more touch candidate points when two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, wherein

the control signal is configured to cause the tool bar to be displayed in an area on the display screen corresponding to an area encircled by straight lines that pass through the touch candidate points.

5. The information input/output apparatus comprising:

a touch panel;

a touch point detecting unit configured to detect at least one point touched on the touch panel;

a distance calculating unit configured to calculate, when the touch point detecting unit detects touches of two or more points on the touch panel, a distance between the detected two or more points; and

a signal generating unit configured to generate a signal according to the at least one point detected by the touch point detecting unit, wherein

when the touch point detecting unit detects that one point has been touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of the touched point, and when the touch point detecting unit detects that two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to the number of touched points;

when the distance calculated by the distance calculating unit is equal to or larger than a predetermined length, the signal generating unit is configured to not generate the control signal; and

the control signal generating unit is configured to not generate the control signal when at least one of the first difference and the second difference is equal to or larger than the predetermined length.

6. An information input/output control method, comprising:

a touch point detecting step of detecting at least one point touched on a touch panel;

a distance calculating step of calculating a distance between touch points based on a detection result, when touches of two or more points on the touch panel have been detected in the touch point detecting step; and

,

the distance calculating step calculates (1) a first difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the two or more detected points, and (2) a second difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the two or more detected points, based on a result of the touch point detecting step.

7. An information input/output control method, comprising:

a touch point detecting step of detecting at least one point touched on a touch panel;

a distance calculating step of calculating a distance between touch points based on a detection result, when touches of two or more points on the touch panel have been detected in the touch point detecting step; and

a signal generating step of generating a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of a touched point when the touch point detecting step detects one point being touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, wherein the signal generating step comprises generating a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to a number of touched points when the touch point detecting step detects two or more points being touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time,

when the distance calculated by the distance calculating step is equal to or larger than a predetermined length, the signal generating step does not generate the control signal; and

the distance calculating step calculates (1) a first difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the two or more detected points, and (2) a second difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the two or more detected points, based on a result of the touch point detecting step.

8. The information input/output control method according to claim 7, wherein

when the control signal is output to a computer that has a display screen, the control signal causes the computer to display a tool bar on the display screen.

9. The information input/output control method according to claim 8, further comprising:

a touch candidate point obtaining step of obtaining two or more touch candidate points when two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, wherein

the control signal causes the tool bar to be displayed in an area on the display screen corresponding to an area encircled by straight lines that pass through the touch candidate points.

10. An information input/output control method, comprising:

a touch point detecting step of detecting at least one point touched on a touch panel;

a distance calculating step of calculating a distance between touch points based on a detection result, when touches of two or more points on the touch panel have been detected in the touch point detecting step; and

a signal generating step of generating a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of a touched point when the touch point detecting step detects one point being touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, wherein the signal generating step comprises generating a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to a number of touched points when the touch point detecting step detects two or more points being touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, and

the control signal generating step does not generate the control signal when at least one of the first difference and the second difference is equal to or larger than the predetermined length.

11. A computer-readable recording medium recorded with a program for making a computer execute an information input/output control method, comprising:

a touch point detecting step of detecting at least one point touched on a predetermined area set in advance;

a distance calculating step of calculating a distance between touch points based on a detection result, when touches of two or more points on the touch panel have been detected in the touch point detecting step; and

a signal generating step of generating a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of a touched point when the touch point detecting step detects that one point has been touched on the predetermined area within a predetermined period of time, and of generating a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to a number of touched points when the touch point detecting step detects that two or more points have been touched on the predetermined area within the predetermined period of time, and

the distance calculating step calculates (1) a first difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the two or more detected points, and (2) a second difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the two or more detected points, based on a result of the touch point detecting step.

12. A program for making a computer execute an information input/output control method, comprising:

a touch point-detecting step of detecting at least one point touched on a touch panel;

a distance calculating step of calculating a distance between touch points based on a detection result, when touches of two or more points on the touch panel have been detected in the touch point detecting step; and

a signal generating step of generating a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of a touched point when the touch point detecting step detects that one point has been touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, and of generating a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to a number of touched points when the touch point detecting step detects that two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, and

the distance calculating step calculates (1) a first difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the two or more detected points, and (2) a second difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the two or more detected points, based on a result of the touch point detecting step.

13. An information input/output apparatus, comprising:

a touch panel;

a touch point detecting unit configured to detect at least one point touched on the touch panel;

a signal generating unit configured to generate a signal according to the at least one point detected by the touch point detecting unit; and

a touch candidate point obtaining unit configured to obtain two or more touch candidate points when two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, wherein

when the touch point detecting unit detects that one point has been touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of the touched point, and when the touch point detecting unit detects that two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to the number of touched points;

when the control signal is output to a computer that has a display screen, the control signal causes the computer to display a tool bar on the display screen; and

the control signal is configured to cause the tool bar to be displayed on a touch detection point, which is determined based on (1) an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the touch candidate points as an x coordinate, and (2) an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the touch candidate points as a y coordinate.

14. The information input/output apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the control signal is configured to cause the tool bar to be displayed on points on the display screen corresponding to points that are within a predetermined distance of the touch detection point.

15. An information input/output apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the control signal is generated based on at least one of up to ten touch points.

16. An information input/output apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the signal generating unit is configured to generate the control signal only when the touch point detecting unit detects that two or more points have been touched within a preset area on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time.

17. An information input/output apparatus according to claim 13, wherein when the touch point detecting unit detects that two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, the touch point detecting unit is configured to not detect touches on the touch panel until the touch point detecting unit detects that the detected two or more points are no longer being touched.

18. An information input/output apparatus, comprising:

a touch panel;

a touch point detecting unit configured to detect at least one point touched on the touch panel;

a signal generating unit configured to generate a signal according to the at least one point detected by the touch point detecting unit; and

a touch candidate point obtaining unit configured to obtain two or more touch candidate points when two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, wherein

when the touch point detecting unit detects that one point has been touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of the touched point, and when the touch point detecting unit detects that two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, the signal generating unit is configured to generate a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to the number of touched points;

when the control signal is output to a computer that has a display screen, the control signal causes the computer to display a tool bar on the display screen; and

the control signal is configured to cause the tool bar to be displayed in an area on the display screen corresponding to an area encircled by straight lines that pass through the touch candidate points.

19. An information input/output control method, comprising:

a touch point detecting step of detecting at least one point touched on a touch panel;

a signal generating step of generating a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of a touched point when the touch point detecting step detects one point being touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, wherein the signal generating step comprises generating a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to a number of touched points when the touch point detecting step detects two or more points being touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time; and

a touch candidate point obtaining step of obtaining two or more touch candidate points when two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, wherein

when the control signal is output to a computer that has a display screen, the control signal causes the computer to display a tool bar on the display screen; and

the control signal is configured to cause the tool bar to be displayed on a touch detection point, which is determined based on (1) an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value of x coordinates of the touch candidate points as an x coordinate, and (2) an average value of a maximum value and a minimum value of y coordinates of the touch candidate points as a y coordinate.

20. The information input/output control method according to claim 19, wherein

the control signal causes the tool bar to be displayed on points on the display screen corresponding to points that are within a predetermined distance of the touch detection point.

21. An information input/output control method according to claim 19, wherein the control signal is generated based on at least one of up to ten touch points.

22. An information input/output control method according to claim 19, wherein the signal generating step generates the control signal only when the touch point detecting step detects that two or more points have been touched within a pre-set area on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time.

23. An information input/output control method according to claim 19, wherein when the touch point detecting step detects that two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, the touch point detecting step does not detect touches on the touch panel until the detected two or more points are no longer being touched.

24. An information input/output control method, comprising:

a touch point detecting step of detecting at least one point touched on a touch panel;

a signal generating step of generating a coordinate signal indicating coordinates of a touched point when the touch point detecting step detects one point being touched on the touch panel within a predetermined period of time, wherein the signal generating step comprises generating a control signal indicating a preset control corresponding to a number of touched points when the touch point detecting step detects two or more points being touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time; and

a touch candidate point obtaining step of obtaining two or more touch candidate points when two or more points have been touched on the touch panel within the predetermined period of time, wherein

when the control signal is output to a computer that has a display screen, the control signal causes the computer to display a tool bar on the display screen; and

the control signal causes the tool bar to be displayed in an area on the display screen corresponding to an area encircled by straight lines that pass through the touch candidate points.