Portable terminal device and information input method

Abstract

To allow characters to be inputted with a simple operation from a touch panel provided at a display part even in an electronic apparatus having a restraint in a size of the display part.SOLUTION: A portable terminal device includes: a display part displaying, with a matrix array, a third plurality of areas including a first plurality of areas and a second plurality of areas arranged outside thereof; and an input part configured to designate, in response to a contact on the display part, first characters and second characters accompanying the first characters. The first characters are respectively allocated and displayed in the first plurality of areas by character. While detecting a contact being made to one area of the first plurality of areas, the first characters and the second characters accompanying the first characters are displayed at the third plurality of areas, above / below and rightward / leftward of the one area, and a designation and a cancellation of the designation to each of the first characters and the second characters are made acceptable. When a character whose designation is cancelled last is inputted and the first characters are displayed at other areas neighboring the one area, the second characters are displayed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to electronic devices, information input methods and information input control programs used in the electronic devices, and mobile terminal devices, and more particularly to electronic devices suitable for application to mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) that perform predetermined operations when characters are input from a touch panel, information input methods and information input control programs used in the electronic devices, and mobile terminal devices. [Background technology]

[0002] Electronic devices that use a touch panel for character input typically display all 50 hiragana characters on the touch panel. However, portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones and PDAs, have display screens for character input, which are limited in size by their nature. This makes it difficult to secure a suitable area for the touch panel. To address this issue, a method is used in which characters corresponding to character rows (such as the "A" row and the "K" row) are displayed, and the input character is switched, for example, by pressing the "A" row touch panel a set number of times, from "A" to "I" to "U" to "E" to "O." In addition to the above-described method of switching input characters, another method for character input using keys involves displaying "A," "I," "U," "E," and "O" as selection candidates on the display when the "A" row key is pressed once, and then selecting the character a second time.

[0003] As a related technique of this kind, for example, there is a kana character input device described in Patent Document 1.

[0004] In this kana character input device, five characters are defined for each of the multiple keys on the touch panel or keyboard, and one character is selected by selecting the key and the forward / backward / left / right movement direction of the operation point or operation force after selection. Specifically, five kana characters are assigned to each key in order, and one kana character is selected by selecting a row of the gojūon arrangement based on the operation or key pressed. Since five characters are defined for each key, the number of character keys can be significantly reduced, and therefore the area of ​​the touch panel or keyboard can be reduced without reducing the size of the keys. Users can learn input operations by associating them with the gojūon arrangement, making it easy to learn.

[0005] Furthermore, in the kana input method using a liquid crystal touch panel described in Patent Document 2, the character string "a ka sa ta na hama ya ra wa" is superimposed and displayed in a horizontal row on the screen of the liquid crystal touch panel, and in response to touch input on one of these characters, the remaining character string in one of the rows from the "a" row to the "wa" row, including the touched character, is superimposed and displayed in a vertical row below the touched character, and the character is input by touch input on one of the displayed characters lined up in a vertical row including the one character in the horizontal row.

[0006] Furthermore, in the character input device described in Patent Document 3, a hiragana input screen is displayed on the display unit, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) detects the touch panel and the contact state of the stylus pen with the display surface of the display unit via the touch panel, and based on the detection result, when the stylus pen contacts a predetermined area of ​​the touch panel opposite a hiragana input key on the hiragana input screen at one point, a predetermined character assigned to that hiragana input key is input, and when the stylus pen moves while remaining in contact with the predetermined area of ​​the touch panel opposite the hiragana input key, a different character is input, thereby performing a significantly simple selection operation on the hiragana input key and easily inputting a large number of characters.

[0007] Furthermore, in the character input method described in Patent Document 4, in a character input device in which kana characters are input using a numeric keypad to which characters from the "a" row to the "wa" row are respectively assigned, each numeric keypad and symbol key is provided with a contact that detects pressing from the front and contacts that detect pressing from the top, bottom, left and right, and each numeric keypad outputs signals corresponding to five characters: the "a" row character input from the front, and the "i", "u", "e", and "o" row characters input from the four directions of top, bottom, left and right. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0008] [Patent Document 1] JP 2000-112636 A (Abstract, Figure 1) [Patent Document 2] JP 2002-222053 A (Abstract, Figure 6) [Patent Document 3] JP 2003-157144 A (Abstract, Figures 4 and 14) [Patent Document 4] JP 2006-178755 A (Abstract, Figure 4) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] However, the above techniques including those described in the above documents have the following problems.

[0010] That is, the method of switching input characters by pressing the touch panel has the problem that the user must press the key multiple times to display the intended character. Also, even if all of the Japanese alphabet is displayed, it is difficult for the user to instantly find the character they want to input because there are so many characters. Also, when entering characters using keys, the user must press the key multiple times to display the intended character.

[0011] In addition, in the kana character input device described in Patent Document 1, one character is selected by selecting a key and then moving the operation point or operation force forward, backward, left, or right after the selection, but the configuration and processing method are different from those of this invention.

[0012] In the kana input method described in Patent Document 2, a character is input by touching one of the characters displayed in a vertical row, including one character in a horizontal row, but the configuration and processing method differ from those of this invention.

[0013] In the character input device described in Patent Document 3, a selection operation is performed on the hiragana input keys to easily input a large number of characters, but the configuration and processing method are different from those of the present invention.

[0014] In the character input method described in Patent Document 4, each numeric keypad outputs signals corresponding to five characters: the "a" row character input from the front, and the "i", "u", "e", and "o" row characters input from the four directions (top, bottom, left, and right); however, the configuration and processing method differ from those of this invention.

[0015] This invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to provide an electronic device in which characters and information can be input from a touch panel with simple operations even when the size of the display unit is restricted, such as in portable devices such as mobile phones, an information input method and information input control program for use in such electronic device, and a portable terminal device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0016] In order to solve the above problems, a first configuration of the present invention relates to an electronic device having a touch panel for inputting information, the touch panel being divided into a predetermined number of information input frames, and wherein a plurality of pieces of information are assigned to each of the predetermined information input frames and displayed; when any of the information input frames in which each piece of information is displayed is pressed, sub-information associated with the information displayed in the pressed information input frame is displayed in the information input frame adjacent to the pressed information input frame, regardless of whether information is already displayed therein; and wherein an input information confirmation means is provided for, when the press is released after being pressed, confirming as input information the information or sub-information displayed in the information input frame that was pressed immediately before the release.

[0017] A second aspect of the present invention relates to an information input method used in an electronic device having a touch panel for information input, the touch panel being divided into a predetermined number of information input frames, in which a plurality of pieces of information are assigned to each of the predetermined information input frames and displayed, and when any of the information input frames in which each piece of information is displayed is pressed, sub-information associated with the information displayed in the pressed information input frame is displayed in the information input frame adjacent to the pressed information input frame, regardless of whether information is already displayed therein, and when the press is released after being pressed, the information or sub-information displayed in the information input frame that was pressed immediately before the release is confirmed as the input information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0018] According to the configuration of this invention, the input information confirmation means assigns multiple pieces of information to each of the specified information input boxes and displays them, and when one of the information input boxes in which the respective pieces of information are displayed is pressed, sub-information associated with the information displayed in the pressed information input box is displayed in the information input box adjacent to the pressed information input box, regardless of whether or not there is information already displayed therein, and when the pressing is released after the pressing, the information or sub-information displayed in the information input box that was pressed immediately before the release is confirmed as the input information, so that information can be accurately input within the narrow area consisting of the information input box that was pressed first and the adjacent information input box. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a main part of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating the operation of the mobile phone 1 of FIG. [Figure 3] 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a character is selected on the touch panel 11 in FIG. 1. FIG. [Figure 4] 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example of a state in which a character is selected on the touch panel 11 in FIG. [Figure 5] 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example of a state in which a character is selected on the touch panel 11 in FIG. [Figure 6] 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example of a state in which a character is selected on the touch panel 11 in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] The electronic device has a touch panel for character input, the touch panel being divided into a predetermined number of character input boxes, and each character in the "a" column of the Japanese syllabary is assigned to a predetermined character input box and displayed therein, and when one of the character input boxes displaying a character in the "a" column is pressed, the remaining characters of the character row including the character displayed in the pressed character input box are displayed in the character input box adjacent to the pressed character input box, regardless of whether a character is already displayed therein, and when the press is released after the press, an input character confirmation means is provided for confirming, as an input character, the character displayed in the character input box that was pressed immediately before the release. An information input method, an information input control program, and a mobile terminal device are also provided for the electronic device.

[0021] In addition, in this invention, the input character confirmation means is configured to display each character displayed in a character input box adjacent to the pressed character input box, with the relative positional relationship of vowels fixed, for the character displayed in the pressed character input box.

[0022] In addition, in this invention, the input character confirmation means is configured to display each character displayed in the character input box adjacent to the character displayed in the pressed character input box above, below, left and right of the same character input box, with the relative positional relationship of vowels fixed.

[0023] Furthermore, in this invention, the input character confirmation means is configured to display the characters displayed in the character input boxes adjacent to the pressed character input box on the upper left, lower left, upper right and lower right sides, with the relative positional relationship of vowels fixed, relative to the character displayed in the pressed character input box.

[0024] In addition, in this invention, the input character confirmation means has a positional relationship setting unit for arbitrarily setting the relative positional relationship of vowels between the character displayed in the pressed character input box and each character displayed in a character input box adjacent to the same character input box. [Example]

[0025] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the main parts of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] As shown in the figure, the electronic device in this example is a mobile phone 1, and includes a display unit 10, a processing unit 20, and a character database 30. The display unit 10 is configured, for example, with a liquid crystal display device or the like, and functions as a touch panel 11 for character input. The touch panel 11 is divided into a predetermined number of character input boxes by an input box setting signal fa from the processing unit 20, and each character in the "a" column of the Japanese syllabary ("a, ka, sa, ta, na, ha, ma, ya, ra, wa") is assigned to each of the predetermined character input boxes for display. When one of the character input boxes is pressed, the touch panel 11 outputs position information da corresponding to the position of the pressed character input box. When an operation to update the character database 30 is performed, the touch panel 11 outputs a database update signal cd.

[0027] The processing device 20 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 20a as a computer that controls the entire mobile phone 1, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 20b that stores an information input control program for operating the CPU 20a. In particular, in this embodiment, the processing device 20 outputs an input box setting signal fa to the touch panel 11, thereby allocating each character of the "a" column of the Japanese syllabary to a predetermined character input box and displaying it, and when any of the character input boxes in which each character of the "a" column is displayed is pressed, based on position information da output from the touch panel 11, displays the remaining characters of the character row that includes the character displayed in the pressed character input box in a character input box adjacent to the pressed character input box, regardless of whether or not there is already a character displayed therein, and when the press is released after being pressed, determines the character displayed in the character input box that was pressed immediately before the release as the input character.

[0028] Furthermore, the processing device 20 displays characters displayed in character input boxes adjacent to the pressed character input box with a fixed relative positional relationship of vowels to the character displayed in the pressed character input box. For example, the characters to be displayed are fixed so that the vowel "i" is at the bottom, "u" is at the left, "e" is at the top, and "o" is at the right. The relative positional relationships of the vowels of these characters are set in advance and stored in the character database 30. Furthermore, the character input boxes adjacent to the pressed character input box are, for example, adjacent to the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the pressed character input box, or adjacent to the upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right sides. The processing device 20 is also provided with a positional relationship setting unit 21. The positional relationship setting unit 21 sends a positional relationship setting signal ce to the character database 30 based on a database update signal cd output from the touch panel 11 to arbitrarily set the relative positional relationship.

[0029] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating the operation of the mobile phone 1 of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating the state in which characters are selected on the touch panel 11 of FIG.

[0030] With reference to these figures, the processing content of the information input method used in the mobile phone 1 of this example will be described.

[0031] In this mobile phone 1, each character in the "A" column of the Japanese syllabary ("A, Ka, Sa / T, Na, Ha / M, Ya, Ra / Wa") is assigned to a preset character input box and displayed, and when any of the character input boxes displaying each character in the "A" column is pressed, the remaining characters in the character row that includes the character displayed in the pressed character input box are displayed in the character input box adjacent to the pressed character input box, regardless of whether there are characters already displayed therein, and when the press is released after being pressed, the character displayed in the character input box that was pressed immediately before the release is confirmed as the input character.

[0032] That is, as shown in Fig. 2, when a user performs an operation using a function that requires character input, such as composing an email, the processing device 20 is started (step A1), and an input box setting signal fa is output from the processing device 20 to the touch panel 11, and a character input box is set (step A2). On the touch panel 11, character input boxes are displayed as shown in Fig. 3(a), and each character of the "a" string ("a ka sa / t na ha / ma ya ra / wa") is assigned to each of the pre-set character input boxes and displayed (step A3). In this state, for example, when the character input box displaying "a" is pressed (step A4), its position information da is detected and sent to the processing device 20 (step A5).

[0033] The processing device 20 queries the character database 30 based on the position information da (step A6), reads out the relative positional relationship of the characters (step A7), and sends character information cn corresponding to this relative positional relationship to the touch panel 11 (step A8). The touch panel 11 displays the character corresponding to the character information cn (step A9). In this case, as shown in FIG. 3(b), for the character ("a") displayed in the pressed character input box, characters ("i, u, e, o") displayed in the adjacent character input boxes below, to the left, above, and to the right of the pressed character input box are displayed with the relative positional relationship of the vowels set in advance. When the press is released in this state (step A10), "a" is confirmed as the input character (step A11). On the other hand, if you do not release the key in step A10, but instead press the character input box displaying "o" (step A12), release the key on the character input box for "a" and then release the key on the character input box for "o" (step A13), then "o" will be confirmed as the input character (step A14), as shown in Figure 3(c).

[0034] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 4(b), when the character input box displaying "sa" is pressed, the characters ("shi, su, se, so") displayed in the adjacent character input boxes below, to the left, above, and to the right of the character input box are displayed with the relative positional relationships of the vowels similar to those in Figure 3(b). If the press is released in this state, "sa" is confirmed as the input character, whereas if, without releasing the press, the character input box displaying "shi" is pressed, the press on the character input box for "sa" is released, and then the press on the character input box for "shi" is released, then "shi" is confirmed as the input character, as shown in Figure 4(c).

[0035] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 5(b), when the character input box displaying "wa" is pressed, the characters ("wo") displayed in the adjacent character input boxes to the right of the same character input box are displayed with the relative positional relationship of the vowels being the same as in Figure 3(b). If the press is released in this state, "wa" is confirmed as the input character, but if the character input box displaying "wo" is pressed without releasing the press, and the press on the character input box for "wa" is released, and then the press on the character input box for "wo" is released, "wo" is confirmed as the input character, as shown in Figure 5(c).

[0036] Furthermore, when an operation to update the character database 30 is performed on the touch panel 11 (step B1), the touch panel 11 outputs a database update signal cd to the positional relationship setting unit 21. The positional relationship setting unit 21 sends a positional relationship setting signal ce to the character database 30, and the relative positional relationship of the vowels of the stored characters is set arbitrarily. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 6(b), for the character ("a") displayed in the pressed character input box, characters ("i, u, e, o") displayed in each of the character input boxes adjacent to the left, lower left, lower, and lower right of the character input box are displayed. If the press is released in this state, "a" is confirmed as the input character. On the other hand, if the press is not released, for example, the character input box displaying "o" is pressed, the press on the character input box for "a" is released, and then the press on the character input box for "o" is released, then "o" is confirmed as the input character, as shown in FIG. 6(c).

[0037] As described above, in this embodiment, each character in the "a" column ("A, K, S, T, N, H, M, Y, R, W") is assigned to a predetermined character input box and displayed, and when one of the character input boxes displaying each character in the "a" column is pressed, the remaining characters in the character row including the character displayed in the pressed character input box are displayed in the character input box adjacent to the pressed character input box, regardless of whether there are characters already displayed therein, and when the press is released after being pressed, the character displayed in the character input box pressed immediately before the release is confirmed as the character to be input, so that characters can be input accurately within a narrow area consisting of 5 x 6 character input boxes. Also, since there is no need to press the same character input box multiple times to input one character, there is no risk of an operation error, such as pressing it four times when it should have been pressed three times.

[0038] Furthermore, if a character input frame is not provided in the column below "wa" in FIG. 5, character input can be performed within the area consisting of the 5×5 character input frame. Furthermore, if character input frames are not provided in the column above "a" and the column below "wa" in FIG. 6, character input can be performed within the area consisting of the 5×4 character input frame. Furthermore, since a character corresponding to the corresponding character row is displayed for each character in the "a" column ("a, ka, sa, tana, wa, ma, ya, ra, wa"), the user can instantly find the character he or she wants to input. Furthermore, since the relative positional relationship of the vowels between the character displayed in the pressed character input frame and the characters displayed in the adjacent character input frames is fixed, accurate character input can always be performed with one or two routine actions. Furthermore, since the character input method of a general mobile phone is basically followed, the user does not need to learn a new input method. Furthermore, since the relative positional relationship of the vowels is arbitrarily set by the positional relationship setting unit 21, the positional relationship can be set according to the user's preference, improving operability.

[0039] Although an embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and any design changes that do not deviate from the gist of the present invention are also included in the present invention.

[0040] For example, in the above embodiment, characters are input using the touch panel 11, but instead of the character input frame, an information input frame may be provided to select information such as a menu.

[0041] In this case, multiple pieces of information are assigned to each information input box and displayed, and when one of the information input boxes displaying each piece of information is pressed, sub-information associated with the information displayed in the pressed information input box is displayed in the information input box adjacent to the pressed information input box, regardless of whether or not information is already displayed therein (corresponding to claim 1 or 7). [Industrial Applicability]

[0042] The present invention is not limited to mobile phones, but can be applied to electronic devices in general that have touch panels for inputting information and characters, and is particularly effective when used in mobile devices where the size of the touch panel is limited. [Explanation of symbols]

[0043] 1. Mobile phones (electronic devices, mobile terminal devices) 10 Display unit (part of electronic device, part of input information confirmation means, part of input character confirmation means) 11 Touch Panel 20 Processing device (part of input information determination means, part of input character determination means) 20a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (part of input information determination means, part of input character determination means) 20b ROM (Read Only Memory) (Part of the input information confirmation means, part of the input character confirmation means) 21 Positional relationship setting unit (part of input character determination means) 30 Character database (part of input character confirmation method)

Claims

1. a display means having a touch panel for receiving user input; a control means for controlling the display means, The control means in response to detecting a press on the display means in a first area including a portion where a first character is displayed, displaying a highlighted first character, and displaying a second character and a third character, the second character being displayed above the highlighted first character and the third character being displayed below the highlighted first character; the first character comprises a first vowel and a first consonant; the second character comprises a second vowel and a second consonant; the third character is composed of a third vowel and a third consonant; the second consonant and the third consonant are identical to the first consonant; the second vowel is different from the first vowel; the second vowel is different from the third vowel; the third vowel is different from the first vowel; and determining the second character as an input character in response to the release of the press after detecting the press in a second area including at least a portion where the second character is displayed while the press is maintained. Mobile terminal device.

2. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1 , wherein when the second character is highlighted in response to detecting the press in the second area, only the second character is highlighted.

3. the highlighted first character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region is displayed in an emphasized manner compared to the second character and the third character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region.

3. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. the highlighted first character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region is displayed in a highlighted manner compared to the display of the second character and the display of the third character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region; 3. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1 or 2.

5. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1 , wherein the first area is adjacent to the second area in the same column direction.

6. The mobile terminal device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first character is any one of "ka", "sa", "ta", "na", "ha", "ma", "ya", and "ra".

7. An information input method used in an electronic device having a display means with a touch panel that accepts user input, comprising: in response to detecting a press on the display means in a first area including a portion where a first character is displayed, displaying a highlighted first character, and displaying a second character and a third character, the second character being displayed above the highlighted first character and the third character being displayed below the highlighted first character; the first character comprises a first vowel and a first consonant; the second character comprises a second vowel and a second consonant; the third character is composed of a third vowel and a third consonant; the second consonant and the third consonant are identical to the first consonant; the second vowel is different from the first vowel; the second vowel is different from the third vowel; the third vowel is different from the first vowel; and determining the second character as an input character in response to the release of the press after the press is detected in a second area including at least a portion where the second character is displayed while the press is maintained. How to enter information.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein when the second character is highlighted in response to detecting the press in the second area, only the second character is highlighted.

9. the highlighted first character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region is displayed in an emphasized manner compared to the second character and the third character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region.

9. The information input method according to claim 7 or 8.

10. the highlighted first character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region is displayed in a highlighted manner compared to the display of the second character and the display of the third character displayed in response to detecting a press on the display means in the first region; 9. The information input method according to claim 7 or 8.

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