Touch operation position determination device

Abstract

To allow a user to perform comfortable touch operation on a touch panel input device.SOLUTION: A touch operation position determination device (100) determines a touch operation position of a touch panel input device (300) detecting the touch operation position on a screen, and includes calculation means (120) which calculates an averaged touch operation position by applying averaging processing to the plurality of touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period from start to complete of the touch operation, and first determination means (120) which determines the touch operation position in the touch operation period on the basis of the calculated averaged touch operation position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of a touch operation position determination device capable of determining, for example, a touch operation position on a screen. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mechanisms for inputting information by touch operations on a screen (in short, an operation of touching the screen with a finger) have been adopted in various fields, such as smartphones, car navigation devices, and tablet computers.

[0003] However, in a device employing such a mechanism, erroneous determination of the touch operation position frequently occurs, for example, when the operation targets are small or crowded, etc. Technologies for preventing such erroneous determination are disclosed in, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2.

[0004] According to the mobile terminal device disclosed in Patent Document 1, when there are multiple selection targets (referred to as links in the document) in an area touched by the user, the targets are enlarged and displayed, and the user is then asked to perform a touch operation again. Therefore, it is said that the user can properly and reliably specify the desired selection target by touching it with a finger.

[0005] According to the information processing device disclosed in Patent Document 2, when a user moves a touch position while maintaining a touch state at the touch position, selectable operation targets (operation target items in the document) are determined based on the destination touch position, and display information indicating the operation target items is displayed on the touch panel display based on the destination touch position. In addition, when the touch state changes to a non-touch state, processing based on the operation target items is performed. Therefore, it is believed that a user can reliably operate a desired operation target by moving his / her finger until the desired operation target item is selected. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-73908 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2011-192173 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In devices using such a mechanism, a plurality of touch operations are generally performed in succession.

[0008] Here, the devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 both require the user to perform multiple steps of operation to prevent erroneous determination of the touch operation position. Therefore, when multiple touch operations are performed consecutively, the degree of physical and mental burden on the user is likely to increase. In other words, the above-mentioned conventional technologies have at least a technical problem that comfort is likely to be impaired.

[0009] The present invention has been made in consideration of, for example, such technical problems, and has as at least one problem to be solved to provide a touch operation position determination device that enables a user to perform a comfortable touch operation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the touch operation position determination device is a touch operation position determination device that determines the touch operation position of a touch panel input device that detects a touch operation position on a screen, and includes a calculation means that performs an averaging process on a plurality of the touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period from the start to the end of the touch operation to calculate an average touch operation position, and a first determination means that determines the touch operation position of the touch operation period based on the calculated average touch operation position.

[0011] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the touch operation position determination method is a touch operation position determination method for determining a touch operation position of a touch panel input device that detects a touch operation position on a screen, and includes a calculation step of calculating an average touch operation position by performing an averaging process on a plurality of touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period from the start to the end of the touch operation, and a determination step of determining the touch operation position of the touch operation period based on the calculated average touch operation position.

[0012] In order to achieve the above object, a computer program causes a computer system to function as the above-described touch operation position determination device.

[0013] In order to achieve the above object, a recording medium is characterized in that the above computer program is recorded thereon. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram of an information processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input scene via a touch panel input device. [Diagram 3] 4 is a flowchart of a touch operation position determination process in the information processing device of FIG. 1. [Figure 4] 13 is an example of a timing chart when touch operation position coordinates are stored. [Diagram 5] 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating an example of an input scene via a touch panel input device, relating to the effect of a touch operation position determination process. [Figure 6] 13 is a flowchart of a touch operation position determination process according to a second embodiment. [Figure 7] 7A to 7C are diagrams illustrating a filter process in the touch operation position determination process in FIG. 6. [Figure 8] 13 is a flowchart of a touch operation position determination process according to a third embodiment. [Figure 9]13 is a diagram illustrating one display state of the touch panel input device according to the effect of the third embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] <Embodiments of a touch operation position determination device> An embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention is a touch operation position determination device that determines a touch operation position of a touch panel input device that detects a touch operation position on a screen, and includes a calculation means that performs an averaging process on a plurality of the touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period from the start to the end of the touch operation to calculate an average touch operation position, and a first determination means that determines the touch operation position of the touch operation period based on the calculated average touch operation position.

[0016] According to an embodiment of the touch operation position determination device, a plurality of touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period related to one touch operation performed on a touch panel device are averaged to calculate an average touch operation position, and the touch operation position is determined based on the calculated average touch operation position.

[0017] The averaging process is a concept that includes a process of reflecting a plurality of touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period in a processing result (here, an average touch operation position) according to a predetermined criterion. In this case, the weighting between the individual touch operation positions may be equal or different. In the former case, the averaging process may be, for example, an arithmetic average process of the plurality of touch operation positions.

[0018] By performing such averaging processing, the influence of each of the multiple touch operation positions detected during the touch operation period on the final touch operation position determination is mitigated. For example, the situation in which the touch operation position at the start of the touch operation deviates from the position desired by the user is an event that can frequently occur as a kind of disturbance. However, in a device configuration that does not have the concept of averaging processing, that is, a device configuration that performs a determination based on the touch operation position detected at one point on the time axis, the influence of such an erroneous input unintentionally by the user cannot be mitigated. According to the present embodiment in which the touch operation positions detected at multiple points on the time axis are taken into consideration, it has high robustness against such disturbance. In addition, since a user usually performs a touch operation with a clear intention, the average touch operation position obtained by performing averaging processing on multiple touch operation positions clearly reflects the user's intention and intent. That is, according to the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention, the averaging processing greatly reduces the possibility that the touch operation position is erroneously determined.

[0019] In addition, the number of samples (i.e., touch operation positions) to be used for the averaging process is arbitrary, but if the detection period of the touch operation positions is set in consideration of the operation speed of a person, the number of samples to be used for the averaging process can be sufficiently secured even for a user with a fast operation speed. In other words, according to the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention, the determination accuracy of the touch operation position does not fluctuate significantly depending on the operation speed of the user.

[0020] On the other hand, according to the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device, the touch operation performed by the user to realize the desired input is a single continuous operation, not a multi-step operation. Therefore, the user can perform the operation naturally, and there is less time lag until the touch operation position related to one touch operation is finally determined. In other words, a comfortable operation for the user is realized.

[0021] In one aspect of the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention, the calculation means calculates the average touch operation position by averaging the plurality of touch operation positions.

[0022] According to this aspect, the calculation load on the calculation means is light, which is preferable.

[0023] In this aspect, the calculation means may calculate an average of a touch operation position at a start point of the touch operation period and a touch operation position at an end point of the touch operation period.

[0024] In this way, the computational load on the calculation means can be further reduced.

[0025] In addition, the "touch operation position corresponding to the end of the touch operation period" includes the touch operation position at the end of the touch operation in the strict sense, and also includes the touch operation position last detected by the detection means in one touch operation period.

[0026] In another aspect of the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention, a selection means is provided for selecting a plurality of touch operation positions to be subjected to the averaging process from the plurality of detected touch operation positions in accordance with a predetermined criterion, and the calculation means calculates the average touch operation position by applying the averaging process to the plurality of selected touch operation positions.

[0027] According to this aspect, the selection means can select a touch operation position suitable as a sample to be subjected to the averaging process, and therefore the touch operation position can be determined with higher accuracy.

[0028] For example, the touch operation position suitable for the averaging process may be a point cloud in the middle of an operation excluding the initial and final stages of the operation in a sample point cloud in which a plurality of detected touch operation positions are arranged in a time series. In the initial stage of a touch operation, a user may touch an unintended position, and in the final stage of a touch operation, a user may move a finger to touch the next touch operation position. Either of these may be factors that reduce the accuracy of determining the touch operation position.

[0029] In another aspect of the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention, a second determination means is provided for determining whether or not a touch operation is valid based on a touch operation position corresponding to a start point of the touch operation period, a touch operation position corresponding to an end point of the touch operation period, and the calculated average touch operation position.

[0030] In a device configuration in which information is input by touch operations, the distribution of a plurality of touch operation positions relative to an average touch operation position is small even if the distribution varies in scale over a certain period of time. Therefore, the positional relationship between the average touch operation position and the touch operation position used to calculate the average touch operation position can be used to determine whether a touch operation is valid or invalid.

[0031] According to this aspect, whether or not a touch operation is valid is determined based on a touch operation position corresponding to a start point of a touch operation period, a touch operation position corresponding to an end point of the touch operation period, and the calculated average touch operation position. Therefore, a user can intentionally disable a touch operation, improving comfort.

[0032] In addition, the "touch operation position corresponding to the start time point" includes the touch operation position at the start time point as a typical example, and may further include, for example, one or more touch operation positions (for example, several samples) in the vicinity of the start time point. In this case, the touch operation position at the start time point does not necessarily need to be included in the multiple touch operation positions in the vicinity of the start time point. The same applies to the touch operation position corresponding to the end time point.

[0033] In this aspect, the second determination means may determine whether or not a touch operation is valid based on a comparison between a distance between a touch operation position corresponding to a start point of the touch operation period and the calculated average touch operation position and a distance between a touch operation position corresponding to an end point of the touch operation period and the calculated average touch operation position.

[0034] When it is desired to invalidate a touch operation, regardless of at what point in the touch operation period the user intends to invalidate, the distance between the touch operation position at the start of the touch operation period and the average touch operation position is often different from the distance between the touch operation position at the end of the touch operation period and the average touch operation position.

[0035] Therefore, based on the results of these comparisons, it is possible to accurately determine whether the touch operation is valid or invalid.

[0036] <Embodiment of Touch Operation Position Determination Method> An embodiment of a touch operation position determination method of the present invention is a touch operation position determination method for determining a touch operation position of a touch panel input device that detects a touch operation position on a screen, and includes a calculation step of calculating an average touch operation position by performing an averaging process on a plurality of touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period from the start to the end of the touch operation, and a determination step of determining the touch operation position of the touch operation period based on the calculated average touch operation position.

[0037] According to the embodiment of the touch operation position determination method, each process realizes the same function as each means of the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device, thereby achieving comfortable operation, similar to the embodiment of the touch operation position determination device.

[0038] <Embodiments of the computer program> A computer program according to an embodiment of the present invention causes a computer system to function as an embodiment of a touch operation position determination device.

[0039] According to an embodiment of the computer program of the present invention, the above-mentioned embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention can be realized relatively easily by loading the computer program into a computer system and executing it from a recording medium such as a ROM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or hard disk that stores the computer program, or from a solid-state storage device that is removable from a computer system, such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, or by downloading the computer program into a computer system, for example, via a communication means, and then executing the computer program.

[0040] <Embodiments of Recording Media> The embodiment of the recording medium of the present invention records the embodiment of the computer program.

[0041] According to an embodiment of the recording medium of the present invention, by attaching or connecting the recording medium to a computer system, or by inserting the medium into an appropriate reading device provided in or connected to a computer system, the recorded embodiment of the computer program of the present invention can be read into the computer system and executed, and the above-mentioned embodiment of the touch operation position determination device of the present invention can be realized relatively easily.

[0042] These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the embodiments described hereinafter. EXAMPLES

[0043] Various preferred embodiments for realizing the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings as appropriate.

[0044] In the embodiments described below, the touch operation position determination device according to the present invention is provided in an information processing device 10. The information processing device 10 can take various forms, such as a mobile phone such as a smartphone, a tablet-type personal computer device, a car navigation device, etc. The reason why these are simply collectively expressed as an information processing device is that the touch operation position determination device according to the present invention is a device used to determine the touch operation position of a user via a touch panel input device as an input means, and the specific functional use of the information processing device is unrelated to its effect. Therefore, in the embodiments, the information processing device 10 is merely expressed as an information processing device having a certain function. For example, if the information processing device 10 is a mobile phone, the certain function means a function as a mobile phone including a call function, a WEB browser function, an email function, and an image capture function. The same applies to other embodiments.

[0045] <First Example> <Configuration of the embodiment> First, the configuration of the information processing device 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the information processing device 10.

[0046] In FIG. 1, an information processing device 10 includes a control device 100, a display device 200, and a touch panel input device 300.

[0047] The control device 100 is a control device for the information processing device 10 including a control unit 110, a touch operation position determination unit 120, a display control unit 130, and a function control unit 140, and is an example of a "touch operation position determination device" according to the present invention.

[0048] The control unit 110 is a computer device including a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and the like, and is configured to be capable of controlling the overall operation of each unit of the control device 100.

[0049] The ROM of the control unit 110 stores control programs related to various controls executed by the control unit 110. The control programs include a control program related to a touch operation position determination process, which will be described later. The control program related to the touch operation position determination process is an example of the "computer program" according to the present invention.

[0050] Moreover, this ROM is an example of a "recording medium" according to the present invention. Since the ROM is a non-volatile storage device, in this embodiment, the control program related to the touch operation position determination process is provided in advance in the control unit 110, but this control program may be written in a RAM, a hard disk, or another volatile storage device that may be provided in the control device 100. In this case, updates and maintenance of the control program for the touch operation position determination process can be performed relatively easily. In addition, it is also possible to take measures such as distributing the control program related to the touch operation position determination process over a network, or distributing a recording medium on which the control program related to the touch operation position determination process is recorded.

[0051] The touch operation position determination unit 120 is a control unit, which is an example of the “calculation means” and the “first determination means” of the present invention, configured to be capable of determining the touch operation position of the user via the touch panel input device 300 when the touch operation position determination process is executed.

[0052] The display control unit 130 is a processing device configured to be able to control the display contents of the display device 200 .

[0053] The function control unit 140 is a processing device that controls functions provided in the information processing device 10 according to the functional application (for example, the functions as a mobile phone as described above).

[0054] The display device 300 is a display device equipped with a display screen.

[0055] The touch panel input device 300 is a contact-type input device constructed on the display screen of the display device 300 and is an example of the "touch panel input device" according to the present invention, and is configured to detect a touch operation by a user as an electric signal and output a touch operation position signal corresponding to the two-dimensional coordinate of the touch operation position, i.e., the touch operation position coordinate L consisting of the x coordinate and the y coordinate, at a predetermined period. Note that the configuration of the touch panel input device 300 is well known, so details thereof will be omitted here.

[0056] <Operation of the embodiment> Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

[0057] <Overview of touch operation position determination process> 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input scene via the touch panel input device 300. That is, one point on the touch panel input device 300 is touched by a user's finger.

[0058] Here, in a configuration in which the options selectable via the touch panel input device 300 (in FIG. 2, the individual keys of a pseudo keyboard device are used as an example) are not physically separated, as in the case of the touch panel input device 300, there is a possibility that the touch operation position of the user may be erroneously determined. This tendency is particularly strong when the options are small relative to the fingers and are closely spaced. In this embodiment, the problem of erroneous determination of the touch operation position is solved by the touch operation position determination process executed by the control unit 110.

[0059] <Details of touch operation position determination process> Next, the touch operation position determination process will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the touch operation position determination process. Note that the touch operation position determination process is a process that is constantly executed while the information processing device 10 is in operation.

[0060] 3, first, it is determined whether or not a touch operation has started (step S110). If a touch operation has not started (step S110: NO), the process goes to a standby state in step S110.

[0061] When a touch operation is started (step S110: YES), the touch operation position coordinate L is stored (step S120).

[0062] Here, the touch panel device 300 detects a touch operation position coordinate L at every predetermined period Tspl, and transmits a touch operation position signal corresponding to the touch operation position coordinate L to the control device 100. The control device 100 acquires the transmitted touch operation position signal, and obtains the touch operation position coordinate L. This operation is executed by the control unit 110, for example.

[0063] The touch operation position determination unit 120 temporarily stores, in chronological order, the acquired touch operation position coordinates L. A buffer or the like provided in the touch operation position determination unit 120 is used to store the touch operation position coordinates.

[0064] When the latest touch operation position coordinate L at that time is stored, it is determined whether the touch operation has ended (step S130). If the touch operation has not ended (step S130: NO), the process returns to step S120, and the touch operation position coordinate L is stored sequentially according to the touch operation position signals sequentially sent from the touch panel input device 300.

[0065] This state is shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is an example of a timing chart when touch operation position coordinates are stored.

[0066] 4, touch operation position coordinates L are sent to the control device 100 for each detection period Tspl. In this embodiment, an identifier is used to identify each of the sent touch operation position coordinates L. That is, in FIG. 4, the touch operation position coordinates L are stored in the touch operation position determination unit 120 for a total of n+1 coordinates, starting with the touch operation position coordinate Ls(xs, ys) at the start of the touch operation, followed by L1(x1, y1), L2(x2, y2), . . . , Ln(xn, yn).

[0067] When the touch operation is finished (step S130: YES), an averaging process is performed. The averaging process according to this embodiment is a process of averaging a plurality of touch operation position coordinates L temporarily stored in the touch operation position determination unit 120. More specifically, in the averaging process, the arithmetic average values ​​x_ave and y_ave of the x coordinates are obtained, and the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave(x_ave, y_ave) is determined. The average touch operation position coordinate L_ave is sent to the control unit 110 as a determination result of the touch operation position in one touch operation period, and the process returns to step S110. The touch operation position determination process is performed in this manner.

[0068] When the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave is output, all the touch operation position coordinates temporarily stored in the touch operation position determination unit 120 are discarded in order to perform the next touch operation position determination.

[0069] When the control unit 110 acquires the average touch operation position coordinates L_ave, it instructs the display control unit 130 and the function control unit 140 to perform processing corresponding to the selected option, regarding the option corresponding to the average touch operation position coordinates L_ave as being selected from among a plurality of options displayed on the display screen. For example, if the average touch operation position coordinates L_ave corresponds to the key "G" on the display screen, the display control unit 130 displays the letter "G" at an appropriate position on the display screen. Alternatively, if the average touch operation position coordinates L_ave corresponds to some function selection button on the display screen, the function control unit 130 executes the corresponding function.

[0070] The number of touch operation position coordinates to be subjected to the averaging process is mainly determined by the operation speed of the user and the detection cycle Tspl of the touch operation. For example, if the time during which one touch operation is performed, that is, the length of the touch operation period from the start of the touch operation to the end of the touch operation (that is, corresponding to the operation speed of the user) is 1 sec, and the detection cycle Tspl is 50 msec, approximately 20 touch operation position coordinates are obtained. <Effects of touch operation position determination processing> Next, the effect of the touch operation position determination process will be described with reference to Fig. 5. Here, Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating one scene of input (touch operation) via touch panel input device 300, relating to the effect of the touch operation position determination process.

[0071] 5, (a) shows a state in which a user randomly traces his / her finger around a desired target position p (see the white circle in the figure) on touch panel input device 300. The trajectory of this touch operation is displayed by a thick solid line.

[0072] When the trajectory of the touch operation is random as shown in FIG. 5(a), the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave obtained by the averaging process generally coincides with the position coordinate of the target position p because the user's intention is originally at the target position p.

[0073] 5, (b) shows a state in which a user traces a desired target position p (see the white circle in the figure) on the touch panel input device 300 in a circular shape centered on the target position p with a finger. The trajectory of this touch operation is displayed by a thick solid line.

[0074] When the locus of the touch operation draws a circle as shown in FIG. 5B, the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave obtained by the averaging process roughly coincides with the center of the circle, that is, the position coordinate of the target position p.

[0075] 5, (c) shows a state in which a user traces a desired target position p (see the white circle in the figure) on touch panel input device 300 with a finger in a straight line passing through target position p. The trajectory of this touch operation is displayed by a thick solid line.

[0076] When the locus of the touch operation describes a straight line as shown in FIG. 5C, the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave obtained by the averaging process roughly coincides with the center of the line, that is, the position coordinate of the target position p.

[0077] In this way, according to the touch operation position determination process of this embodiment, the touch operation position of the user's touch operation is determined based on multiple touch operation position coordinates detected during the touch operation period. That is, the touch operation position is not determined only at one point on the time axis. Therefore, the possibility of erroneous determination of the touch operation position can be significantly reduced. On the premise that the user originally desires a touch operation to a target position, it is difficult to perform an accurate touch operation to the target position, while it is natural that the user's touch operation will concentrate in a nearby area centered on the target position. Therefore, if there is a certain number of samples, the position desired by the user can be estimated.

[0078] In addition, according to the touch operation position determination process of this embodiment, the operation required of the user is merely a series of seamless touch operations. That is, no multi-step operation is required, such as a re-touch operation after the enlargement process or a selection operation from a pop-up displayed option. Therefore, the user is unlikely to feel uncomfortable, and there is little time loss. That is, according to the touch operation position determination process of this embodiment, it is possible to improve the comfort of the user when inputting information by touch operation.

[0079] In the case of the touch operation shown in Fig. 5(c), in order to make the average touch operation position L_ave coincide with the position coordinates of the target position p, strictly speaking, the distance between the start position of the line passing through the target position p and the target position p must be equal to the distance between the end position of the line passing through the target position p and the target position p. That is, the touch operation must be performed so that the target position p is located at the center of the line. In this respect, the burden on the user is slightly increased compared to the cases of Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 5(b).

[0080] On the other hand, if it is known in advance that the target position p is located at the center of the line, the touch operation position coordinates required for the averaging process are only the coordinates at the start and end of the touch operation. Referring to Fig. 4, the averaging process is performed by referring only to the touch operation position coordinate Ls and the touch operation position coordinate Ln. That is, in the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave(x_ave, y_ave), x_ave=(xs+xn) / 2 and y_ave=(ys+yn) / 2.

[0081] Therefore, in this case, the processing load on the touch operation position determination unit 120 is reduced in exchange for a slight increase in the burden on the user. <Second Example> Next, a touch operation position determination process according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a flowchart of the touch operation position determination process according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 6, the same reference numerals are used for the same parts as in Fig. 3, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

[0082] In FIG. 6, when the touch operation ends (step S130: YES), the filter process is executed (step S131).

[0083] The filtering process is a process of selecting touch operation position coordinates suitable for averaging process from among a plurality of stored touch operation position coordinates, or a process of excluding touch operation position coordinates not suitable for averaging process. That is, in the second embodiment, the touch operation position determination unit 120 further functions as an example of the "selecting means" according to the present invention.

[0084] Here, the filtering process will be described with reference to Fig. 7. Here, Fig. 7 is a diagram for explaining the filtering process.

[0085] On the left side of FIG. 7, the touch operation position coordinates obtained in one touch operation period are shown in chronological order. Here, the multiple touch operation position coordinates are divided into three groups, a first group G1, a second group G2, and a third group G3. The first group G1 is a group of p points from the touch operation position coordinate Ls at the start of the touch operation to the touch operation position coordinate Lp-1 (p is a natural number). The second group G2 is a group of (qp) points from the touch operation position coordinate Lp to the touch operation position coordinate Lq (q>p). The third group G3 is a group of (nq) points from the touch operation position coordinate Lq+1 to the touch operation position coordinate Ln at the end of the touch operation. Qualitatively, the first group G1 is a group of points at the beginning of the touch operation, the second group G2 is a group of points at the middle of the touch operation, and the third group G3 is a group of points at the end of the touch operation. Note that p and q can be set arbitrarily.

[0086] The right side of Fig. 7 shows the touch operation position coordinates after the filtering process. The hatched touch operation position coordinates indicate the coordinates deleted by the filtering process. That is, Fig. 7 shows a case where 50% of the touch operation position coordinates belonging to the first group G1 and the third group G3 are deleted as the filtering process. As shown in the figure, the deletion of the coordinates is performed alternately so that the adjacent coordinates are not both deleted.

[0087] When such a filtering process is performed, the effect of the second group G2 on the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave obtained in the averaging process is stronger than that of the first group G1 and the third group G3. In other words, the touch operation positions belonging to the first group G1 and the third group G3 are less likely to be reflected in the average touch operation position coordinate L_ave. That is, such a filtering process is an example of a process of weighting each touch operation position coordinate.

[0088] According to the touch operation position determination process of the second embodiment, the filter process makes it difficult to reflect touch operation position coordinates at the beginning and end of a touch operation, where the touch operation position is likely to deviate from the target position p. Therefore, the touch operation position can be determined with higher accuracy.

[0089] Supplementally, the touch operation position determination process according to the second embodiment allows the user to perform a touch operation without being conscious of the start and end positions of the touch operation, as compared to the first embodiment. Therefore, the psychological burden on the user can be reduced.

[0090] In this embodiment, the touch operation position coordinates related to one touch operation detected in the touch panel input device 300 are divided into three. However, this is only an example, and the practical aspects that the filter process can take are ambiguous. For example, the filter process may be a process of deleting a predetermined number of touch operation position coordinates from the start of the touch operation and a predetermined number of touch operation position coordinates going back from the end of the touch operation. Alternatively, the filter process may be a process of dividing the touch operation position coordinates more finely and gradually changing the ratio of thinning out the coordinates. <Third Example> In the first and second embodiments, when a touch operation is performed, the average touch operation position coordinates are always finally determined as the touch operation position for that touch operation. However, in practice, there are cases where it is desired to invalidate a touch operation, such as when a user performs a touch operation by mistake. In such a case, if the average touch operation position is determined as the touch operation position, since the original input is an erroneous input, no matter how accurately the touch operation position is determined, the result will not be in line with the user's intention. In other words, such a situation is also a misjudgment of a touch operation in a broad sense.

[0091] In the third embodiment, a touch operation position determination process for dealing with such a problem will be described with reference to Fig. 8. Fig. 8 is a flowchart of the touch operation position determination process according to the third embodiment. In the figure, the same reference numerals are used for the same parts as in Fig. 3, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

[0092] 8, when the averaging process is performed (step S140), the position deviation of the touch operation position is calculated (step S141). The position deviation of the touch operation position is composed of a start point position deviation Lds and an end point position deviation Lde.

[0093] The start point position deviation Lds is the distance between the touch operation position at the start of the touch operation (i.e., the touch operation position corresponding to the touch operation position coordinate Ls) and the average touch operation position L_ave. The start point position deviation Lds can be calculated by a well-known geometric calculation.

[0094] The end point position deviation Lde is the distance between the touch operation position at the end of the touch operation (i.e., the touch operation position corresponding to the touch operation position coordinate Ln) and the average touch operation position L_ave. The end point position deviation Lde can be calculated by a known geometric calculation.

[0095] After the position deviation is calculated, a determination index value a for determining whether or not the touch operation is valid is calculated (step S142). The determination index value a according to this embodiment is defined as Lde / Lds.

[0096] After the determination index value a is calculated, it is determined whether or not the calculated determination index value a is greater than the reference value a1 (step S143).

[0097] If the judgment index value a is equal to or smaller than the reference value a1 (step S143: NO), the touch operation during this touch operation period is determined to be valid, and the average touch operation position L_ave calculated in step S140 is output as the final touch operation position (step S150). That is, in the third embodiment, the touch operation position determination unit 120 functions as an example of the "second determination means" according to the present invention.

[0098] On the other hand, if the judgment index value a is greater than the reference value a1 (step S143: YES), the touch operation during this touch operation period is determined to be invalid, and the average touch operation position L_ave calculated in step S140 is discarded (step S144). If the touch operation is determined to be invalid, the process returns to step S110. The touch operation position determination process according to the third embodiment is performed in this manner.

[0099] Here, the effect of the third embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating one display state of touch panel input device 300.

[0100] In Fig. 9, the touch operation position at the start of the touch operation is set as a start point s, the touch operation position at the end of the touch operation is set as an end point e, and the average touch operation position corresponding to the average touch operation position coordinate obtained by the averaging process is set as an average point ave. The average point ave is closer to the start point s side, which means that the touch operation position changed significantly to the end point e just before the touch operation ended (in other words, the touch operation ended with a significant change in the touch operation position). Step S143 in Fig. 8 branches to the "YES" side when such an operation is performed, for example. That is, the touch operation is invalid.

[0101] Here, for example, a user's touch operation that may have a trajectory as illustrated in Fig. 5 will be concentrated in the vicinity of a desired position when the user is performing the touch operation with the aim of touching the desired position. Therefore, if the reference value a1 of the judgment index value a is defined so that the touch operation as illustrated in Fig. 9 is determined to be an invalid operation, the user can intentionally invalidate the touch operation without affecting the accuracy of determining the normal touch operation position. For example, the reference value a1 may be a value of about "2".

[0102] It is not certain at what point after the start of a touch operation that the user will want to invalidate the touch operation, and unless the end point is moved significantly intentionally and in a relatively short time with the intention of invalidating the touch operation, the average point ave may move closer to the end point e side than the illustrated position, and the invalidation condition may no longer be met. In view of this, the determination regarding invalidation of the touch operation may be made, instead of or in addition to the condition exemplified in step S143 of Fig. 8, based on whether the end point position deviation Lde is equal to or greater than a predetermined value and / or whether the distance between the start point s and the end point e is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0103] In any case, the invalidation determination function according to the third embodiment allows the user to intentionally invalidate a touch operation, thereby ensuring more comfortable operation of the touch panel input device 300.

[0104] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be modified as appropriate within the scope that does not contradict the gist or concept of the invention that can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and touch operation position determination devices involving such modifications are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0105] 10: information processing device, 100: control device, 110: control unit, 120: touch operation position determination unit, 200: display device, 300: touch panel input device.

Claims

[Claim 1] A touch operation position determination device for determining a touch operation position of a touch panel input device that detects a touch operation position on a screen, comprising: a calculation means for performing an averaging process on a plurality of touch operation positions detected during a touch operation period from a start to an end of the touch operation, and calculating an average touch operation position; a first determination means for determining a touch operation position during the touch operation period based on the calculated average touch operation position; A touch operation position determination device comprising:

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