JP7186836B2 - WEARABLE INFORMATION TERMINAL AND CONTROL METHOD - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to wearable information terminals.

In recent years, mobile wireless devices such as wearable information terminals have become popular due to their ease of use that allows them to be used anytime and anywhere. In particular, wearable information terminals are becoming smaller because they are worn on the body for use. Likewise, the displays provided in small terminals are often smaller than smartphones and tablets. Many wearable information terminals employ a touch panel as a display, and selection and input operations can be performed by touch operations using a fingertip, a touch pen, or the like.

As an example of such a wearable information terminal, Patent Literature 1 describes "infrared laser beam scanning means for detecting the direction and distance of a fingertip during handwriting, and a fingertip that receives reflected light from the fingertip. A wristwatch-type electronic memo device (summary excerpt) consisting of means for measuring position, means for detecting skin contact sound for detecting the writing state, means for displaying memo data, and means for generating vibration to appropriately respond to the operator. disclosed.

In addition, Patent Document 2 describes "a wearable information terminal that can be worn by winding it around a user's arm, a display, a touch pad that exists on the outer surface of a position facing the display when worn on the user's arm, A sensor that detects the inclination of the wearable information terminal with respect to the reference axis, and when an operation to the touchpad is detected, a pointer icon is displayed at a position corresponding to the operation position on the display, and if the inclination is within a predetermined range, the touchpad and a controller that switches the display to a power saving mode when an operation to the display is undetected (summary excerpt)” is disclosed.

Japanese Patent No. 4899108 U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015286246

The display of the device disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires an additional optical system on the back of the hand or the surface of the palm to detect the orientation and distance of the fingertips during writing, which is inconvenient. In addition, in the wearable information terminal disclosed in Patent Document 2, the touch pad is arranged on the back side of the display facing the display, that is, through the wrist, so that the input operation is intuitively difficult to understand. Under such circumstances, there is a demand for a device for improving the operability of the wearable information terminal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for improving the operability of a wearable information terminal.

The above objects can be achieved by the structures and functions disclosed in the claims. The present invention includes a plurality of means for solving the above problems. One example is a wearable information terminal that can be worn by a user, comprising a main body and a display that is housed in the main body and has a screen. a device, a control device that is housed in the main body and executes display processing on the screen, and an operation detection unit that detects an input operation of the user on the control device, wherein the operation detection unit includes the It is characterized in that it is arranged at a position different from the screen on the main body.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the technique which improves the operability of a wearable information terminal can be provided. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified in the following embodiments.

Schematic diagram of the configuration of the wearable information terminal according to the present embodiment Exploded view of the frame (plan view) FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view along AA in FIG. 1, where (a) shows an example in which a contact detection unit is provided on the top surface of the frame, and (b) shows an example in which a contact detection unit is provided on the bottom surface of the frame in addition to (a). indicates Block diagram showing hardware configuration of wearable information terminal Block diagram showing the functional configuration of the controller of the wearable information terminal A diagram showing the correspondence relationship between the contact detection units arranged in the frame and the screen area FIG. 7 is a partial enlarged view of FIG. 6, where (a) shows a swipe operation and (b) shows pointer transition in a rotational touch. Diagram showing an example of operation information Flowchart showing flow of processing of wearable information terminal A diagram showing an example of transitioning the desktop screen by frame operation A diagram showing another example of transitioning the desktop screen by frame operation Diagram showing an example of transitioning the browser screen by frame operation Diagram showing an example of transitioning the map screen by frame operation It is a figure which shows the example which changes a map screen by frame operation, (a) shows an example of a standard size display, (b) shows an example of an enlarged display. FIG. 10A is a diagram showing an example of transition of map screens by frame operation, in which (a) shows an example of pinch-in display, and (b) shows an example of pinch-out display. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the wearable information terminal with a square-shaped frame, (a) shows an example of a standard size display, (b) shows an example of an enlarged display. Schematic configuration diagram of the wearable terminal shown in FIG. A diagram showing input signal processing for designating xy coordinates, with the vertical and horizontal axes of the frame as the y-axis and x-axis, respectively. The figure which shows the operation example of the wearable information terminal which uses a pressure sensor as a contact detection part. The figure which shows the other operation example of the wearable information terminal which uses a pressure sensor as a contact detection part. A diagram showing an operation example of a wearable information terminal equipped with a pressure sensor on the back of the frame. Diagram showing another operation example of a wearable information terminal with a pressure sensor on the back of the frame Diagram showing operation example in phone application Diagram showing an example of frame operation (screen scrolling) FIG. 10A is a diagram showing another example of frame operation (screen scrolling), in which (a) is an example of starting a touch from a position corresponding to around 12 o'clock in the frame, and (b) is an example from a position corresponding to around 9 o'clock in the frame. shows an example of touch initiation. FIG. 11A is a diagram showing another example of frame operation (screen scrolling), in which (a) is an example of scrolling the screen downward by touching the lower part of the frame, and (b) is an example of scrolling the screen to the upper right by touching the upper right of the frame. Here is an example of scrolling to . Diagram showing another example of frame operation (screen scrolling) Diagram showing an example of frame operation on the sound controller screen Diagram showing frame operation (screen division) of wearable information terminal It is a figure which shows recovery operation from malfunction of a wearable information terminal, (a) shows the example which double-tap a frame, (b) shows the example which taps a screen. Schematic configuration diagram of wearable information terminal that accepts recovery operation from malfunction It is a figure which shows recovery operation from the malfunction of a wearable information terminal, (a) shows the example of operation which traces a screen with the mounting part, (b) shows the example provided with the hardware button of recovery operation. Schematic diagram of a wearable information terminal equipped with a gyro sensor

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a wearable information terminal according to this embodiment. A wearable information terminal 1 shown in FIG. A contact detection unit 4 is arranged along the outer periphery. Since the contact detection unit detects user operations, it functions as an operation detection unit. As will be described later, as other examples of the operation detection unit, a gyro sensor or a touch panel laminated on the screen may be used.

In FIG. 1, 16 contact detection units 4 are arranged around the screen 2, but the number of contact detection units 4 is not limited to 16. In FIG. 1, a plurality of contact detection units 4 are arranged along the outer circumference of the screen 2. However, if the shape of the contact detection units 4 can be integrally configured along the outer circumference of the screen 2, one It may be configured by one contact detection unit. In addition, although the contact detection unit 4 is arranged so as to surround the outer circumference of the screen 2, it is not limited to the case where the outer circumference is continuously surrounded, and may be partially discontinuously arranged on the outer circumference as shown in FIG. .

The contact detection unit 4 is composed of, for example, a touch sensor. As long as it can detect the touch of a person's finger, hand, other part of the body used for operation, or a touch pen, it can be either a resistive film type or a capacitive type. It doesn't matter which method you use. Furthermore, the contact detection unit 4 may be a pressure sensor. If it is a pressure sensor, it is also possible to detect the strength of pressing in the thickness direction.

Further, although the screen 2 and the frame 3 are circular in FIG. 1, they may be polygonal including triangular and quadrangular. Since the wearable information terminal 1 has the above configuration, the user can operate while confirming the contents of the screen 2 without hiding the display of the screen 2 with the operating finger.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view (plan view) of the frame 3. FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the frame 3 includes a circular plate-shaped bottom surface 3a, an annular side surface 3b protruding along the peripheral edge of the bottom surface 3a, and an upper surface 3c (corresponding to a frame) attached to the top of the side surface 3b. and The upper surface 3c has an opening 3c1 for fitting the screen 2 in its center. Further, a plurality of recesses 3c2 (16 in FIG. 1) for fitting the contact detection unit 4 are provided around the opening 3c1 of the upper surface 3c. Each contact detection part 4 of FIG. 1 is accommodated in each recessed part 3c2 of the upper surface 3c.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along AA in FIG. 1, in which (a) shows an example in which the contact detection part 4a is provided on the upper surface 3c of the frame, and (b) shows an example in which the contact detection unit 4a is provided on the bottom surface 3a of the frame in addition to (a). An example including a contact detection unit 4b is shown. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a controller 20 of the wearable information terminal 1a is accommodated in a space surrounded by the bottom surface 3a, side surfaces 3b, and top surface 3c of the frame 3. FIG. A contact detection portion 4a is accommodated in each concave portion 3c2 of the upper surface 3c, and each contact detection portion 4a is electrically connected to the controller 20 by a bus 31. As shown in FIG. The screen 2 is also electrically connected to the controller 20 via the bus 32 .

Further, in the wearable information terminal 1b shown in FIG. 3B, in addition to the configuration of the wearable information terminal 1a, the rear surface of the bottom surface 3a of the frame 3, that is, the surface of the bottom surface 3a of the frame 3 facing the wearer's wearing site, is further equipped with A pressure sensor 4b as the contact detection unit 4 is provided. The pressure sensor 4 b is also electrically connected to the controller 20 via the bus 33 . Since other configurations are the same as those of the wearable information terminal 1 of FIG. 1, the wearable information terminals 1a and 1b are the same in plan view.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the wearable information terminal 1. As shown in FIG. The wearable information terminal 1 is configured by connecting a controller 20 to a display device 210 including a screen 2, contact detection units 4a and 4b, and a main power switch 220. FIG. The controller 20 includes a CPU 201 as a control/arithmetic device, a RAM 202 as a volatile storage device, a ROM 203 as a non-volatile storage device, an HDD 204 (or SSD), and an interface (I/F) 205. are connected to each other via bus 206 . The I/F 205 is connected to the display device 210 , the contact detection units 4 a and 4 b, and the main power switch 220 .

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the controller 20 of the wearable information terminal 1. As shown in FIG. The controller 20 includes an application control section 21 , an operation conversion section 22 , a display control section 23 , an operation information storage section 24 and a screen management information storage section 25 . The application control unit 21, the operation conversion unit 22, and the display control unit 23 may be configured by the CPU 201 loading software such as an OS and applications stored in the ROM 203 and HDD 204 into the RAM 202 and executing the software. Alternatively, it may be configured by an integrated circuit that realizes these functions. The operation information storage unit 24 stores operation information defining the type of operation detected by the contact detection units 4a and 4b and the corresponding operation content for each type of software stored in the wearable information terminal 1 (FIG. 8). described later.). The screen management information storage unit 25 stores screen information immediately before displayed on the display device 210 and screen division information, which will be described later. The operation information storage unit 24 and the screen management information storage unit 25 are configured by storage devices such as the RAM 202, the ROM 203, and the HDD 204. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the correspondence relationship between the contact detection units arranged in the frame and the screen area. As shown in FIG. 6, the screen 2 has the same number of contact detection units 4 as the contact detection units 4, that is, 16 contact detection units 401 to 416 in the example of FIG. A contact detection unit is provided, and the screen 2 is divided into 16 parts. One contact detection unit is arranged between adjacent radial lines. Information (screen division information) that associates the split screen of the screen 2 surrounded by radial lines, for example, 211 with the contact detection unit 401 at the outer edge of the split screen 211, is stored in the screen management information storage unit 25. Remember.

Then, when the user's finger touches the contact detection unit 401, a touch detection signal (input signal) is output from the contact detection unit 401 to the controller 20, the operation conversion unit 22 refers to the screen division information, and the contact detection unit An operation signal for displaying a pointer (also referred to as a cursor) 100 at the initial setting position of the split screen 211 associated with 401 is generated and output to the display control unit 23 . Furthermore, when the touch position of the finger on the contact detection unit 401 shifts in any two-dimensional direction of up, down, left, or right, the position of the pointer icon 100 shifts according to the amount of change in the touch position.

Although FIG. 6 shows an example in which 16 contact detection units 4 are provided and the screen is divided into 16 screens, the number of contact detection units 4 and the number of screen divisions are not limited to 16. Also, in the above description, the contact detection units and the corresponding split screens are associated on a one-to-one basis, but a plurality of contact detection units may be associated with one split screen.

Among the applications to be executed on the wearable information terminal 1, in an application that preferably has a function of specifying specific coordinates of the screen, the screen division information is stored in advance in the controller 20, and when the application is started, The screen split information may be read out and the correspondence processing between the contact detection unit 4 and the split screen may be executed. , screen division information may be absent. In this case, even if any contact detection unit is touched, the pointer is displayed at a predetermined initial setting position in the screen, and the position of the pointer changes according to the amount of displacement of the touch position. good. Furthermore, even if screen split information is not stored in the wearable information terminal 1 in its initial state, for example, in the shipping state, an application suitable for specifying specific coordinates of the screen is installed in the wearable information terminal 1 ( (including the case of downloading from a network and installing), the screen division information may also be installed.

FIG. 7 is a partial enlarged view of FIG. 6, in which (a) shows a swipe operation, and (b) shows pointer transition in a rotational touch. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the user touches an arbitrary point Tch1 within the contact detection unit 401, a pointer is displayed at the initial setting position P1 of the split screen 211 associated with the contact detection unit 401. FIG. In this state, the user swipes to the point Tch2 of the contact detection unit 401 . Assuming that the distance from Tch1 to Tch2 is d, the display position of the pointer shifts to a position P2 shifted by a distance nd (n>0) in the same direction as the swipe operation. In the example of FIG. 7A, the position P2 is within the split screen 212, but P2 may fit within the split screen 211 depending on the set value of n or the value of the distance d.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7(b), when an arbitrary point Tch1 of the contact detection unit 401 is touched and rotated, the pointer rotates at the initial setting position P1.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of operation information. The operation screen transition correspondence information is information that defines the correspondence between the type of application, the type of touch action when the application is running, and the content of screen transition caused by the touch action. For example, even if the touch action is "tracing the frame", if the desktop screen is displayed, the pointer icon will move and be displayed. The screen scrolls when you perform the "trace" action. As described above, even if the same operation is performed, the content of screen transition differs depending on the activated application, so the correspondence between these is defined in the operation screen transition correspondence information.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing of the wearable information terminal 1. As shown in FIG. When the main power switch 220 is pressed, a power-on signal is output to the controller 20, and when the power is turned on (S01), the application control unit 21 determines the type of application being activated (S02), and the operation information storage unit 24, the operation information corresponding to the type of the application being activated is extracted. The running application here also includes desktop screen display software (which may be configured as a function of the OS) when a specific application is not running and the desktop screen is being displayed.

The operation conversion unit 22 waits for a frame operation (S03/No), outputs a signal (input signal) indicating that the contact detection unit 4 has detected a contact to the controller 20, and when the operation conversion unit 22 acquires it ( S03/Yes), the operation conversion unit 22 refers to the operation information extracted in S01 and converts the input signal into an operation signal (S04). When the input signal is converted into an operation signal indicating an application activation instruction, an application activation signal is output from the operation conversion unit 22 to the application control unit 21 . In the screen splitting process, which will be described later, screen split information that associates the number of screen splits, split positions, and corresponding contact detection units is stored in the screen management information storage unit 25 in advance. to convert the input signal into an operation signal for the split screen.

The input signal is a signal indicating which position of which contact detection unit 4 has been touched. Based on the time-series change of the input signal, the operation conversion unit 22 determines whether the frame touch action is “tracing the frame”, “tracing the frame in the width direction”, “pinch-in/pinch-out, two points of the frame (2 points)”. axis), "touch in the corresponding part of the frame in the direction you want to scroll", "frame touch position + touch operation", or "double tap" (see Figure 8), and operate the input signal. It converts it into a signal and outputs it to the display control unit 23 .

The display control unit 23 outputs a display control signal for performing display according to the operation signal to the display device 210 including the screen 2, and performs display control (S05). In the case of a recovery operation from a malfunction, which will be described later, the display control unit 23 reads the previous screen information from the screen management information storage unit 25 and outputs a display control signal for displaying the previous screen indicated by the information to the display device 210 . The processing from S02 to S05 is repeated until the main power of the wearable information terminal 1 is turned off.

An operation example of each application specified in the operation information of FIG. 8 will be described below.

(desktop 1)
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of transition of desktop screens by frame operation. In FIG. 10, multiple icons are displayed on screen 2 . Since the icons displayed on the small screen 2 are even smaller than the operating finger, it is difficult to accurately touch the target icon from among the plurality of icons with the fingertip, and there is a possibility of erroneous operation. There is In addition, since the target icon is hidden by the operating fingertip, it is difficult for the user to perceive the relative positional relationship between the target icon and his/her fingertip when touching. Therefore, in FIG. 10, a pointer icon 100 is displayed on screen 2 first. The display method of the pointer icon 100 can be arbitrarily designated by the user.

Note that the pointer icon 100 has a role of clarifying the selected portion on the screen 2 to the user in real time. Here, the shape and color of the pointer icon 100 are not particularly limited as long as the currently selected portion can be clearly recognized.

The user can operate the pointer icon 100 by touching the frame 3 . For example, as shown in FIG. 10, tracing the frame 3 horizontally (arrow A1) moves the pointer icon 100 left and right (arrow B1), and tracing the frame 3 vertically (arrow A2) moves the pointer icon 100 can be moved up and down (arrow B2). The wearable information terminal 1 detects that the user's hand 6 has been operated by the contact detection unit 4 arranged in the frame 3 , and moves the pointer icon 100 . As a result, the pointer icon 100 moves from the pre-movement position (indicated by the dotted line pointer icon) to the position of the pointer icon 100 .

As described above, according to the example of FIG. 10, selection operations can be performed while confirming the display contents of the small screen 2, and erroneous operations can be reduced compared to selecting by directly touching the screen 2 with a finger. It is possible to

(Desktop screen 2)
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of transition of desktop screens by frame operation. In the desktop screen of FIG. 11, application icons are displayed on the screen 2 along the circumferential direction of the frame 3 . In this case, when the user traces frame 3 (arrow A3), pointer icon 100 moves along frame 3 (arrow B3). In this example, the pointer icon 100 may be displayed, but may not be displayed. For example, when the pointer icon 100 is not displayed, the selected icon is enlarged and displayed so that the user can clearly understand the current selection.

(browser)
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of transition of browser screens by frame operations. It is assumed that a plurality of folders are overlapped and displayed on the browser screen of FIG. 12, and folder 9 is currently selected with the pointer icon 100 . If the user wishes to select another folder 11 in this situation, the user changes the selected folder by, for example, tracing the frame 3 in the width direction (arrow A4). Here, overlapping folders are taken as an example, but for example, multiple web pages may be activated and displayed in an overlapping manner. According to the example of FIG. 12, the selection operation can be performed while confirming the display contents of the small screen 2, and erroneous operations can be reduced compared to selecting by directly touching the screen 2 with a finger. It is possible.

(map application)
13 to 15 are diagrams showing examples of transition of map screens by frame operations. As shown in FIG. 13, for example, when viewing a map on a small screen 2, a pointer icon 100 is used to select a specific portion of the displayed content. As in the above example, by tracing the frame 3 horizontally (arrow A5) or vertically (arrow A6), the pointer icon 100 moves horizontally (arrow B5) or vertically (arrow B6) on the screen 2. .

After selecting a specific location (the position where the pointer icon 100 is displayed in FIG. 13 corresponds to the specific location), for example, by tracing the frame 3 clockwise as indicated by the arrow C1 in FIG. The initial display size (see FIG. 14(a)) transitions to enlarged display (see FIG. 14(b)).

Also, different functions may be assigned depending on how to trace, such as shrinking by tracing counterclockwise.

Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the frame 3 may be pinched in (see FIG. 15(a)) or pinched out (see FIG. 15(b)) for reduction or enlargement.

As in the past, when performing an operation including reduction or enlargement of the screen by directly touching or swiping the screen 2 with a fingertip, the screen 2 is hidden by the operating fingertip. When scrolling information that does not fit on the screen, there was a problem that it was difficult to understand which part was scrolled in which direction. However, according to this example, while confirming the map displayed on the small screen 2, it is possible to perform operations such as enlarging or reducing the selected location. There is an effect that it is obvious at a glance, and it is possible to reduce erroneous operations. As an additional effect, there is also the advantage that the liquid crystal screen is less susceptible to smudges such as fingerprints.

(square frame)
16A and 16B are diagrams showing operation examples of a wearable information terminal having a rectangular frame, in which FIG. 16A shows an example of standard size display, and FIG. 16B shows an example of enlarged display. Assuming that the vertical and horizontal axes of the frame 3 are the y-axis and x-axis, respectively, xy coordinates are specified. This makes it possible to easily select a specific location. For example, when a user wishes to select a specific location while viewing a map, if the user touches it with a fingertip, the target location is hidden because the screen 2 is small. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 16, the frame 3 of the wearable information terminal 1a is used to simultaneously touch the vertical and horizontal axes with two fingers. By selecting a point determined by taking the touched vertical axis as the y-coordinate and the touched horizontal axis as the x-coordinate, it is possible to select the specified coordinate without touching the small screen 2 directly. is.

17 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the wearable information terminal shown in FIG. 16. FIG. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing input signal processing for designating xy coordinates, with the vertical and horizontal axes of the frame being regarded as the y-axis and the x-axis, respectively. As shown in FIG. 17, the wearable information terminal 1a detects contact with each vertical side of a rectangular frame 3 (a vertical side is a side whose axial direction matches the vertical direction of characters displayed on the screen). Each of the portions 431 and 432 is arranged, and each of the contact detection portions 433 and 434 is arranged on each horizontal side (a horizontal side is a side whose axial direction is aligned with the horizontal direction of characters displayed on the screen). be done.

As shown in FIG. 18, the operation conversion unit 22 acquires an input signal indicating that X1 (x3, y3) on the contact detection unit 434 and Y1 (x1, y1) on the contact detection unit 431 are simultaneously touched. Then, an operation signal is generated indicating that the coordinates P1 (xa3, ya1) on the screen corresponding to the x-coordinate x3 of the point X1 and the y-coordinate y1 of the point Y1 are specified. After that, based on time-series changes in the input signals obtained from the contact detection units 431 and 434, which are output as the touch positions X1 and Y1 transition to the touch positions X2 (x4, y4) and Y2, respectively. , the selected position in screen 2 has changed to P2 (xa4, ya2).

The operation conversion unit 22 calculates the distance from the predetermined origin O to P1 and the distance from the origin O to P2, and calculates (OP1/OP2) as the enlargement ratio. The operation conversion section 22 outputs the magnification rate to the display control section 23 . The display control unit 23 enlarges and displays a rectangular area including the diagonal line OP1 according to this enlargement ratio. Note that FIG. 17 shows an example of enlarged display, but if P2 is closer to the origin O than P1, it may be displayed in reduced size.

In this example, when the operation conversion unit 22 acquires an input signal indicating that each of two different contact detection units, for example, 431 and 434, has detected a user's contact operation, the screen is displayed based on these two input signals. Identify the coordinates of the top point. Then, when the operation conversion unit 22 acquires an input signal indicating that each of the two different contact detection units has detected a user's touch operation and then successively detected an operation of changing the contact position, the operation conversion unit 22 detects the user's touch operation. The screen is enlarged ( or reduce), and the display control unit 23 enlarges or reduces the screen according to the operation signal.

In this example, map display is used as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other applications may be used. Also, in this example, an example in which operations are performed using two sides, vertical and horizontal, has been described, but operations may be performed using three or four sides. In that case, for example, when multiple screens are displayed on the screen 2, it is conceivable to operate a touch sensor or the like capable of independently controlling each screen by utilizing three or four sides.

(Example of using a pressure sensor together)
FIG. 19 shows an operation example of a wearable information terminal using a pressure sensor as the contact detection unit 4. FIG. The wearable information terminal 1b can detect the intensity of a touch by using a pressure sensor as the contact detection unit 4. FIG. Then, it is possible to input, for example, a decision operation by pressing strongly. There is a usage method such as inputting a determination operation by pressing the frame 3 after selecting a specific location by the method described in each example described above.

If the contact detection unit 4 is not a pressure-sensitive sensor, other methods may be used, such as arranging a physical button and inputting a decision operation by pressing the button.

20A and 20B are diagrams showing another operation example of the wearable information terminal 1b using a pressure sensor as the contact detection unit 4. FIG. For example, when the frame 3 is pressed lightly, a screen operation such as screen scrolling is performed (the left diagram in FIG. 20: the screen scrolls to the left), and when the frame 3 is strongly pressed, a determination operation is input (the center diagram in FIG. 20). In the example of FIG. 20, the music screen is activated by selecting the music screen and performing the decision operation (the right figure in FIG. 20).

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an operation example of the wearable information terminal 1c having pressure sensors on the rear surface of the frame. For example, the contact detection unit 4 is arranged not only on the front surface of the frame 3 (around the screen 2), but also on the back surface of the frame 3 (bottom surface 3a), which is in contact with a part of the wearer's body. The hardware configuration for arranging the pressure sensor on the bottom surface 3a of the frame 3 has already been described with reference to FIG. 3(b). As shown in FIG. 21 , the user picks up the frame 3 and presses the part of the body (the arm in the drawing) that is in contact with the wearable information terminal 1c, for example, upward (arrow A7), so that the screen 2 is displayed. Screen operations such as scrolling upward and moving the pointer icon 100 upward are possible.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing another operation example of the wearable information terminal 1c having pressure sensors on the rear surface of the frame. As shown in FIG. 22, the user picks up the frame 3 and presses it, for example, in the depth direction toward a part of the body (the arm in the figure) that is in contact with the wearable information terminal 1c. equivalent), it is possible to input a decision operation.

(phone app)
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an operation example in the telephone application. The wearable information terminal 1 of FIG. 23 divides the circumference of the frame 3 into 12 areas, and arranges the contact detection unit 4 in each of the divided areas of the frame 3 . Each divided area is provided so as to correspond to the position where 1 to 12 are arranged on the dial of the watch. That is, the frame 3 of the wearable information terminal 1d is likened to the dial of a clock, and the contact detection unit corresponding to 1 on the dial outputs an input signal 1 when a touch operation is detected. . . 9 output respective input signals 2, 3, . It should be noted that the contact detection unit at the position corresponding to 10 on the dial may be configured to output an input signal of number 0 upon detection of a touch operation. Further, the contact detection portion at the position corresponding to 11 on the dial may be assigned an ENTER key, a # symbol, or a decimal point when functioning as a calculator.

When used for a phone application, a call can be made by operating frame 3, as shown in FIG. For example, if you want to call "119", you can tap "1" and "9" in frame 3 (left figure in FIG. 23) to call "119" (right figure in FIG. 23). figure).

Note that the phone number does not necessarily have to be three digits. Also, it does not have to be the phone number itself. etc.) is fine. Also, the numbers may or may not be displayed on the screen 2, and the above operation is possible in either case. Furthermore, it is assumed that the above operation is possible even when the screen 2 is not circular but triangular, quadrangular, or polygonal. Also, how to input ``0'', which is not on the dial of a watch but is in a phone number, and ``10'', ``11'', and ``12'', which are on the dial of a watch but are not in a phone number. can be set independently by the user. For example, "0" in a phone number can be replaced with "10" on a clock face, and "11" and "12" on a clock face can be assigned to redials, answering machines, etc. .

As mentioned above, even in a calculator (calculator application) application, by assigning numbers from 1 to 0 to frame 3, it is possible to execute arithmetic processing such as four arithmetic operations by touching the frame.

(screen scroll)
FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of frame operation (screen scrolling). For example, when displaying a screen that does not fit in one screen, such as e-mail, as shown in FIG. ), and the screen can be scrolled downward (arrow B7) (right view in FIG. 24). Since this eliminates the need to directly touch the screen 2 as in the conventional art, it is possible to operate the screen while confirming the displayed contents. In addition to e-mail, applications for which the effects of the present embodiment can be expected include, for example, a memo pad and a telephone directory. In the frame operation of this example, the operation conversion unit 22 receives in advance a position where the contact detection unit 4 is touched and a time-series change in the input signal after that (an input signal indicating movement along the circumferential direction). is converted into a frame screen scroll signal and output to the display control unit 23 .

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing another example of frame operation (screen scrolling). By detecting the position where the frame 3 starts to be traced by the contact detection unit 4, the movement of the finger is reflected in the screen operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 25(a), the screen can be scrolled up and down by starting tracing (arrow C3) from a point corresponding to so-called 12:00 on an analog clock in frame 3. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 25(b), it is possible to scroll the screen left and right by starting tracing from a position corresponding to around 9 o'clock (arrow C4). In the frame operation of this example, the operation conversion unit 22 acquires the position where the contact detection unit 4 is first touched and the input signal output according to the subsequent tracing action, and the time series change (along the circumferential direction) By determining the direction of the touch operation based on the input signal indicating the movement of the screen, determining the screen scroll direction according to the touch operation, generating a screen scroll signal in that direction, and outputting it to the display control unit 23 Realized.

26 and 27 are diagrams showing another example of the frame operation (screen scrolling). When it is desired to scroll the screen 2 downward (in the direction of arrow B8) as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 26(b), when it is desired to scroll the screen 2 to the upper right (in the direction of the arrow B9), the upper right of the frame 3 can be touched.

As shown in FIG. 27, by touching the right side of the frame 3, the display screen may be scrolled to the right (arrow B10 direction). The frame operations in FIGS. 26 and 27 divide the frame 3 radially from the center of the screen 2 in all directions of 360° regardless of the shape such as a circle or a square, and the operation conversion unit 22 touches the screen. Acquire an input signal indicating the touch position of the detection unit 4 , convert the input signal into a screen scroll signal for scrolling the screen along a line connecting the center of the screen 2 and the touch position, and output the signal to the display control unit 23 . It is realized by

(sound controller)
FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of frame operation on the sound controller screen. For example, it is generally known that a sound controller in a video or music playback application allows selection of a playback point in a song, volume, etc. using a displayed bar. However, on a small screen, it is difficult to operate a bar displayed even smaller with a fingertip. Therefore, by tracing the frame 3, the selection position on the bar 60 of the sound controller is shifted according to the amount of tracing by the operation conversion unit 22, and operations such as selecting music, volume, and a playback point in a song are performed. It may be configured so that it can be implemented.

(split screen)
FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a frame operation (screen division) of the wearable information terminal 1. FIG. A plurality of contact detection units 4 are arranged on the frame 3, or one contact detection unit 4 is arranged, and the operation conversion unit 22 logically divides and controls the plurality of contact detection units 4a1 and 4a2 independently. controllable. For example, in the wearable information terminal 1 of FIG. 29, the contact detection units are arranged in an annular shape with respect to the annular frame 3 (see FIG. 6). If the direction perpendicular to the mounting portion 5 is defined as the horizontal direction of the screen, the contact detection portions are divided and arranged in the upper and lower semicircles formed by dividing the frame 3 in the horizontal direction of the screen, and each can be controlled independently. . For example, when the screen 2 is divided vertically into two, in FIG. 6, contact detection units 401, 402, 403, 413, 414, and 415 (collectively referred to as contact detection units 4a1) are used for frame operations on the upper screen. is defined by the operation conversion unit 22, and an input signal indicating that the contact detection unit 4a1 is touched is converted into an operation signal for the upper screen. An input signal indicating that the contact detection units 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, and 409 (collectively referred to as contact detection units 4a2) are touched is converted into an operation signal for the lower screen.

The wearable information terminal 1 configured in this manner has the following effects. For example, when an incoming call is notified while the user is browsing a map, two or more screens are simultaneously displayed on the screen 2 of the wearable information terminal 1 (Fig. 29, left). . When selecting the call operation, the touch sensor arranged on the screen 2 may be pressed, or the contact detection section 4a2 may be pressed to input the determination key. After picking up the phone in this way and entering the state of being on the phone (Fig. 29, center view), if it is desired to enlarge and view the map at the same time, trace the contact detection portion 4a1 with a finger (arrow C5) or the like to perform an enlargement operation. can be input (Fig. 29, left). That is, the effect of this example is that by disposing the contact detection units 4a1 and 4a2 separately in the frame 3, appropriate independent control corresponding to each display screen is possible even in a multi-screen.

In this example, "answering an incoming call" and "enlarging a map" were described as two examples, but the present invention is not limited to this, and multi-screen or multi-operation is possible. Other screen operations may be used under the necessary circumstances.

30 and 32 are diagrams showing recovery operations from malfunction of the wearable information terminal 1. FIG. Also, FIG. 31 is a schematic configuration diagram of a wearable information terminal 1e that receives a return operation from malfunction. The “malfunction” described here means that display content does not transition as intended by the user in response to an operation using a finger, such as touch or tap. If the display content does not transition as intended by the user, the display content can be returned to the original screen by inputting a "return" operation (return operation) by some other operation.

As a specific user operation, double-tap frame 3 as shown in FIG. 30(a). When the contact detection unit 4 detects a double tap and outputs an input signal indicating it to the operation conversion unit 22 , the operation conversion unit 22 converts the double tap input signal into a return signal and outputs it to the display control unit 23 . The display control unit 23 reads the previous screen information stored in the screen management information storage unit 25, and transitions the screen to the previous state based on the screen information.

In the case of the wearable information terminal 1e in which the touch panel 4c is stacked on the screen 2 instead of the double tap (see FIG. 31), the tap on the screen 2 may be the return operation (FIG. 30(b)).

Further, the operation of tracing the screen 2 together with the mounting unit 5 (FIG. 32(a), arrow D1) may be the return operation. In this case, a contact detection unit is further arranged in the periphery of the frame 3 of the mounting unit 5 in advance, and when the operation conversion unit 22 acquires an input signal of the contact detection unit (not shown) arranged in the mounting unit 5, it becomes a return signal. may be converted.

When an operation of tracing the screen 2 together with the mounting part 5 is performed, the contact detection parts 4 arranged on both sides of the screen 2 detect the touch operation within a predetermined time. Therefore, the contact detection unit 4 arranged on both sides of the screen 2 detects the touch operation within the set time (for example, within 1 second) for determining that it is the operation time of the finger tracing the screen 2 together with the wearing unit 5. In this case, the input signal based on those touch actions may be converted by the operation conversion unit 22 into the return signal.

Further, as shown in FIG. 32(b), a physical return operation button 19 is arranged in the frame 3, and the "return" operation is assigned to this return operation button 19, and the input signal of the return operation button 19 is The operation conversion unit 22 may acquire and convert it into a return signal.

In addition, although several examples have been given in this example, it is of course not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the content of the operation for inputting "back" changes depending on the application that the user is running. .

According to this embodiment, by using the frame 3 as an operation member, it is possible to operate the screen while preventing the screen from being hidden by touching the screen directly with a finger at the time of operation. In addition, even when a specific portion of the screen is smaller than the finger, the screen can be operated by operating a frame larger than the specific portion without directly touching the specific portion of the screen. improve sexuality. In addition, since the screen does not need to be directly touched, it is possible to prevent finger smudges caused by touching the screen.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and includes various modifications in addition to the modifications described above. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. Also, part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Moreover, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with another configuration.

Further, each of the configurations, functions, processing units, processing devices, etc. described above may be realized by hardware, for example, by designing them in an integrated circuit. Moreover, each of the above configurations, functions, etc. may be realized by software by a processor interpreting and executing a program for realizing each function.

For example, the screen operation described in this specification means that an icon or the like to be operated displayed on the screen 2 is approximately the same size as a part of the body represented by a finger or the like for operation. Contains all the content that is hard to manipulate because it exists. For example, operations such as screen scrolling, icon selection, input, and determination are performed. Further, in the above embodiment, an example of a wristwatch-type wearable information terminal has been described, but for example, a ring-type shape may be used. Also, the screen 2 and the frame 3 of the wearable information terminal 1 have been described with examples of a circular shape or a square shape. I do not care.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the touch sensor and the pressure-sensitive sensor are used as examples of the contact detection unit 4, but for example, a gyro sensor may also be arranged (see FIG. 33). When a touch sensor or a pressure-sensitive sensor is arranged, for example, in the case of a wristwatch-type wearable information terminal 1, it is necessary to operate it with the fingers of the hand on which it is not worn, and it is necessary to use both hands. A gyro sensor 70 is mounted in the frame 3 and connected to the controller 20 as shown at 33 . If the amount of change in the angular velocity of the wearable information terminal 1f is detected, and the operation conversion unit 22 converts the amount of change in the angular velocity into an operation signal, it will be possible to operate it with only the arm on which it is worn. One hand is free and the degree of freedom of the user is improved. As an example of an operation using a gyro sensor, when the wearable information terminal 1f is moved by moving the arm on which the wearable information terminal 1 is worn so that the wearable information terminal 1f is tilted to the lower right (lower left), the amount of change in the angular velocity at that time is displayed in the right direction of the screen (screen leftward) may be converted into a scroll operation signal. In this case, the gyro sensor realizes the function of detecting the user's operation, so the gyro sensor functions as the operation detection unit. Alternatively, only a pressure sensor (rear surface contact detection unit) may be provided on the rear surface of the bottom surface of the frame 3 as the operation detection unit.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Wearable information terminal 2... Display part 3... Frame 4... Contact detection part 4a... Contact detection part 1
4b... Contact detection unit 2
5 Wearing unit 6 Hand operated by user 7 Hand wearing wearable information terminal 8 Arm wearing wearable information terminal 9 Button 100 Pointer icon

Claims (17)

A wearable information terminal that can be worn on a user's arm,
a touch panel display having a touch panel and a display;
a control unit;
The control unit
displaying a different application in each of multiple regions of the display;
storing a correspondence relationship between each of a plurality of areas of the display and an outer peripheral area of the touch panel;
When an input operation along the outer periphery of the touch panel is detected,
selecting the application displayed in the corresponding area of the display based on the stored correspondence relationship according to the detection position where the input operation is detected;
Predetermined display processing is executed for the selected application based on whether or not the input operation is an operation with a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the touch panel as an operation start position.
A wearable information terminal characterized by: The wearable information terminal according to claim 1,
Predetermined display processing is executed for the selected application based on presence/absence of movement or direction of movement of the detection position of the input operation.
A wearable information terminal characterized by: In the wearable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The outer circumference of the touch panel display is circular.
A wearable information terminal characterized by: The wearable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The predetermined display processing is enlargement display and/or reduction display processing of a predetermined area of the selected application.
A wearable information terminal characterized by: In the wearable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The operation start position is a position corresponding to 12:00, 9:00, 6:00 or 3:00 of an analog clock.
A wearable information terminal characterized by: The wearable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2 ,
further comprising a switch physically provided on the housing of the wearable information terminal,
When pressing of the switch is detected,
Control so that the area in which the selected application is displayed transitions to the previous display state
A wearable information terminal characterized by: The wearable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The control unit can display a pointer icon on the display,
Furthermore, when an input operation along the outer periphery of the touch panel is detected,
controlling the display position of the pointer icon so as to change both x and y of the display coordinates of the pointer icon in accordance with the detection position at which the input operation is detected;
A wearable information terminal characterized by: In the wearable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The control unit can display a pointer icon on the display,
Furthermore, when an input operation along the outer periphery of the touch panel is detected,
controlling the display position of the pointer icon along the perimeter of the display
A wearable information terminal characterized by: In the wearable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The display processing executed by the control unit is control for scrolling display contents of the application being executed vertically or horizontally.
A wearable information terminal characterized by: A control method for a wearable information terminal that can be worn on a user's arm, comprising a touch panel display having a touch panel and a display, and a control unit,
displaying a different application in each of multiple regions of the display;
When an input operation along the outer circumference of the touch panel is detected, each of a plurality of areas of the display stored in advance in a memory and an area of the outer circumference of the touch panel according to the detection position where the input operation is detected. selecting the application displayed in the corresponding area of the display based on the corresponding relationship with
executing a predetermined display process for the selected application based on whether or not the input operation is an operation starting position at a predetermined position on the outer periphery of the touch panel;
A control method comprising: A control method according to claim 10,
executing a predetermined display process for the selected application based on the presence or absence of movement or the direction of movement of the detection position of the input operation;
A control method characterized by : The control method according to claim 10 or 11,
The predetermined display processing is enlargement display and/or reduction display processing of a predetermined area of the selected application.
A control method characterized by : The control method according to claim 10 or 11,
The operation start position is a position corresponding to 12:00, 9:00, 6:00 or 3:00 of an analog clock.
A control method characterized by : The control method according to claim 10 or 11,
The wearable information terminal further comprises a switch physically provided in the housing of the wearable information terminal,
When pressing of the switch is detected,
A step of controlling to transition the area in which the selected application is displayed to the previous display state.
A control method characterized by : The control method according to claim 10 or 11,
a pointer icon can be displayed on the display;
When an input operation along the outer periphery of the touch panel is detected,
controlling the display position of the pointer icon so as to change both x and y of the display coordinates of the pointer icon according to the detection position where the input operation is detected.
A control method characterized by : The control method according to claim 10 or 11,
a pointer icon can be displayed on the display;
When an input operation along the outer periphery of the touch panel is detected,
controlling the display position of the pointer icon along the perimeter of the display;
A control method characterized by : The control method according to claim 10 or 11,
The predetermined display process is a control for vertically or horizontally scrolling display contents of the application being executed.
A control method characterized by :

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