CN102043584A - Input method and device applied to digital terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an input method applied to a digital terminal. The input method comprises the following steps of: highlighting corresponding characters or icons on a user interface when the distance between an operating body and an input device capable of sensing non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold; and selecting the corresponding characters or icons to trigger corresponding preset programs to run when the operating body further contacts an input device capable of sensing contact operation. The invention also discloses an input device applied to the digital terminal; and the inputting accuracy and speed of a touch screen can be improved by utilizing the method and the device provided by the invention.

Description

Input method and device applied to digital terminal

Technical Field

The present invention relates to digital terminal technology, and more particularly, to an input method and apparatus for a digital terminal.

Background

In the present digital electronic industry, because the touch screen is adopted for intuitive and convenient input, what you see is what you get and the display space is not occupied, and the advantages are that the traditional input equipment such as a keyboard and the like is too popular, therefore, the touch screen is more and more commonly used as the input equipment of a user by the man-machine interaction digital terminal. Moreover, with the gradual application of the capacitive touch screen, human-computer interaction enters a finger touch era. By applying the capacitive touch screen, people do not need to worry about the loss of the carried touch pen, and can finish the operation by lifting the finger. In addition, because the application principle of the capacitive touch screen is that touch control is realized by means of capacitive coupling, in some cases, a user can complete a predetermined operation without touching the touch screen.

Currently, there are some drawbacks to using capacitive touch screen input. Taking a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone as an example, when a virtual keyboard or an icon is clicked and input, the occupied area of the keyboard characters or the icon is often small due to the limitation of the whole display space. When a finger is placed on a keyboard character or icon, the problem that the accuracy and speed of user input are affected due to the fact that the character or icon to be selected is shielded by the finger can occur. For this problem, the existing solution is: taking the virtual keyboard as an example, when a finger touches the surface of the touch screen, characters corresponding to the touch position of the finger are amplified and displayed or displayed outside the keyboard, and the characters cannot be selected as long as the finger does not leave the surface of the touch screen, so that the finger can slide on the keyboard for reselection to correct errors of primary selection. However, the above solution still has the following drawbacks: firstly, characters or icons can be selected only by contact, so that a user cannot cancel a selection event in time; secondly, after the finger contacts the touch screen, only after the finger is lifted, namely: the touch screen touch method has the advantages that the selected event is triggered only after the finger does not contact with the touch screen, the habit that the user presses the action to trigger the selected event when using the physical keyboard is completely different, here, the pressing action is equal to the contact action when using the touch screen, and therefore, inconvenience is brought to the user.

As can be seen from the above description, the existing solutions still have the drawback of restricting the accuracy and speed of the touch screen input.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention is directed to an input method and device applied to a digital terminal, which can improve the accuracy and speed of touch screen input.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

the invention provides an input method applied to a digital terminal, which comprises the following steps:

when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value, highlighting corresponding characters or icons on the user interface;

the operating body is further contacted with the input device capable of sensing contact operation, the corresponding character or icon is selected, and the corresponding preset program is triggered to run.

In the foregoing solution, the highlighting the corresponding character or icon on the user interface specifically includes:

the corresponding character or icon on the user interface becomes larger; or,

corresponding characters or icons on the user interface are displayed in other obvious areas; or,

the corresponding character or icon on the user interface becomes larger while the other characters or icons adjacent to the periphery of the corresponding character or icon on the user interface become smaller.

In the above scheme, the highlighting the corresponding character or icon on the user interface includes:

and finding out the characters or icons corresponding to the coordinate values of the operation body according to the preset corresponding relation, and performing highlighting processing on the corresponding characters or icons.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises:

when the operating body is further close to the input device capable of sensing the contact operation and is not in contact with the input device capable of sensing the contact operation, the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface keep a highlighted state.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises:

and when the distance between the operation body and the input device which can sense the non-contact operation is larger than a preset threshold value, the highlighted corresponding character or icon on the user interface is de-highlighted.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises the following steps:

and setting a non-contact touch switch and starting.

The present invention also provides an input device applied to a digital terminal, the device comprising: a detection unit and a processing unit; wherein,

the detection unit is used for reporting an approach message to the processing unit when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value; when the operation body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing the contact operation, a contact message is reported to the processing unit;

the processing unit is used for highlighting the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface after receiving the approach message reported by the detection unit; and after receiving the contact message reported by the detection unit, selecting the corresponding character or icon to trigger the corresponding preset program to run.

In the above scheme, the apparatus further comprises a setting unit for setting the non-contact touch switch.

In the above solution, the apparatus further includes a non-contact touch switch for triggering the detection unit;

the detection unit is used for reporting an approach message to the processing unit after receiving the triggering information of the non-contact touch switch and when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value; and when the operation body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing the contact operation, reporting a contact message to the processing unit.

In the above scheme, the detecting unit is further configured to report a leave message to the processing unit when a distance between the operating body and the input device capable of sensing the non-contact operation is greater than a preset threshold;

and the processing unit is also used for canceling the highlighting of the corresponding highlighted character or icon on the user interface after receiving the leaving message reported by the detection unit.

When the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value, highlighting corresponding characters or icons on a user interface; the operation body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing contact operation, the corresponding character or icon is selected, and the corresponding preset program is triggered to run, so that the accuracy and the speed of input can be improved.

In addition, when the distance between the operation body and the input device capable of sensing the non-contact operation is larger than a preset threshold value, the highlighted corresponding characters or icons on the user interface are not highlighted, so that the input accuracy can be further improved, and the user experience is improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of an input method applied to a digital terminal according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a digital terminal device according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an electric field of a basic unit of a touch screen according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an electric field when a finger is close to a basic unit of a touch screen in the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an electric field when a finger contacts a basic unit of a touch screen in an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an input method applied to a digital terminal according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an enlarged character on a user interface in an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the display of characters on a user interface in other highlighted areas in an embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a display in which both the characters on the user interface and the surrounding characters are changed.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

The input method applied to the digital terminal of the invention, as shown in fig. 1, comprises the following steps:

step 101: when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value, highlighting corresponding characters or icons on the user interface;

here, the operation body may be a user's finger or the like;

the input device capable of sensing the non-contact operation can be a capacitive touch screen, an infrared touch screen and the like;

in practical application, a threshold value can be preset according to user experience, for example, for a touch screen, the distance can be set to be 2-3 mm;

the highlighting processing of the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface may specifically be that the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface become larger, or that the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface are displayed in other distinct areas, or that the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface become larger, and at the same time, other characters or icons adjacent to the periphery of the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface become smaller;

after the highlighting process of the corresponding character or icon on the user interface, if the user recognizes that the highlighted character or icon is incorrect, the input operation may be cancelled, specifically, the highlighted corresponding character or icon on the user interface may be cancelled when the distance of the operator from the input device that can sense the non-contact operation is greater than a preset threshold.

Step 102: the operating body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing contact operation, the corresponding character or icon is selected, and a corresponding preset program is triggered to run;

here, when the operating body is further brought close to the contact-sensible-operation-input device and is not in contact with the contact-sensible-operation-input device, the corresponding character or icon on the user interface remains in a highlighted state; the triggering of the corresponding predetermined program operation refers to triggering the predetermined program operation corresponding to the selected character or icon, for example: and displaying characters in a preset display area or running a program corresponding to the icon.

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to examples.

As shown in fig. 2, the digital terminal device in this embodiment includes amemory 201, amemory controller 202, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 203, aperipheral interface 204, an electromagnetic Frequency (RF)circuit 205, anaudio circuit 206, anexternal port 207, an Input/Output (I/O)subsystem 208, atouch screen 209, adisplay 210, and other Input/Output devices 211. These components communicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines. The Digital terminal device may be any Digital terminal device, such as a handheld computer, a mobile phone, a media player, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and the like, and may also be a combination of two or more of them. It should be understood that the digital terminal device in the present embodiment is only one example of a portable digital terminal device, and in practical use, the digital terminal device may have more or fewer components than those shown in fig. 2, or may have a different configuration of components than those shown in fig. 2. The various components shown in fig. 2 may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware, including one or more signal processing and application specific integrated circuits.

Memory 201 may include random access memory and may further include one or more magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile memory.

Thememory controller 202 may control access to thememory 201 by other components of the digital terminal device, such as theCPU 203 and theperipheral interface 204.

TheCPU 203 may comprise one or more processing units running various software programs stored in thememory 201 in order to perform various functions of the digital terminal device and process data.

Peripheral interface 204 couples input and output peripherals of the digital terminal device toCPU 203 andmemory 201.

TheRF circuit 205 receives and transmits electromagnetic waves, and specifically, theRF circuit 205 converts an electrical signal into an electromagnetic wave and communicates with a communication network and other communication apparatuses via the electromagnetic wave; meanwhile, the received electromagnetic wave is converted into an electrical signal.

Theaudio circuit 206 provides an audio interface between the user and the digital terminal device, theaudio circuit 206 receives audio data from theperipheral interface 204, transforms the audio data into electrical signals, and transmits the electrical signals to a speaker, which transforms the electrical signals into human-audible sound waves; theaudio circuitry 206 also receives electrical signals converted from sound waves by the microphone and converts the electrical signals into audio data, which is communicated to theperipheral interface 204 for processing.

The I/O subsystem 208 provides an interface between input/output peripherals of the digital terminal device, such as atouch screen 209, adisplay 210, and other input/output devices 211, and theperipheral interface 204. The I/O subsystem 208 includes: atouch screen controller 2081, a display controller 2082, and one ormore controllers 2083 for other input/output devices.

Thetouch screen 209 and thedisplay 210 provide an input interface and an output interface, respectively, between the device and the user. Wherein thedisplay 210 displays visual output to a user, which output may include text, graphics, video, and any combination of text, graphics, and video. Thetouch screen 209 is a touch sensitive surface that receives user input, and in conjunction with thetouch screen controller 2081, detects contact on thetouch screen 209 and transforms the detected contact into interaction with user interface objects on thedisplay 210.

The digital terminal device also includes apower system 212 for powering the various components, whichpower system 212 may include a power management system, one or more power sources such as batteries, charging systems, power failure detection circuitry, power converters, and any other components associated with power generation, management, and distribution in the portable device.

Thetouch screen 209 and thetouch screen controller 2081 in the present embodiment support a non-contact touch technology, which is specifically a capacitive technology.

The principle of non-contact operational sensing of capacitive technology is detailed below. Capacitance refers to the ability to accommodate an electric field. A common parallel plate capacitor having a capacitance of C ═ S/d; wherein epsilon is the dielectric constant of the medium between the polar plates, S is the polar plate area, and d is the distance between the polar plates; as can be seen from the expression for capacitance, the capacitance value increases as the distance between the plates decreases. Fig. 3 shows a basic unit of a touch screen, which includes a contactless emitter (Transmitter) and a receiver (Rx) as shown in fig. 3. In the operating state, the touch screen controller first charges the capacitor formed by the emitter and the receiver, as shown in fig. 3, and the black line represents the electric field between the two electrodes. When a finger approaches, as shown in fig. 4, the finger and the emitter and the receiver form a capacitor, respectively, so as to generate an electric field; wherein, because the plate electrode area of the emitter electrode is larger, the electric field between the finger and the emitter electrode is larger than the electric field between the finger and the receiver electrode.

The proximity of the finger weakens the electric field between the emitter and the receiver, i.e.: the voltage value is reduced, and the touch screen controller can detect the touch unit with the reduced voltage value, so that the position touched by the finger is judged; with the distance between the finger and the touch screen gradually approaching, the electric field between the two electrodes of the touch unit is weakened more remarkably, namely: the smaller the voltage value between the two electrodes of the touch unit. Therefore, there is a need to convert a preset distance threshold into a voltage threshold that can be recognized by the device, namely: and setting a voltage threshold value between two electrodes of the touch unit corresponding to a trigger 'approach' event instruction, judging the distance between the finger and the touch screen through the voltage threshold value, and reporting the 'approach' instruction to the CPU when the touch screen controller judges that the voltage value between the two electrodes reaches the set threshold value.

In practical applications, it can be known from the capacitance calculation formula that the distance between the finger corresponding to the set voltage threshold and the touch screen varies due to different fingers of different users.

When the finger continues to approach and finally contacts the touch screen, as shown in fig. 5, the finger attenuates the electric field between the two electrodes more, and at this time, the touch screen controller reports a "contact" event command to the CPU when it determines that the voltage value between the two electrodes reaches a predetermined contact voltage threshold value.

The invention does not exclude other non-contact touch technologies, such as infrared technology, in which the user can operate the touch screen using a suitable object or accessory, not limited to a finger.

The input method applied to the digital terminal in the embodiment, as shown in fig. 6, includes the following steps:

step 601: the digital terminal equipment is set in a state to be input in any preset mode;

here, the to-be-input state refers to a state in which a user interface on a display is in a character input state or an icon selection state.

Step 602: when the finger is continuously close to the touch screen and reaches a voltage threshold value corresponding to the 'approach' event, the touch screen controller reports an 'approach' instruction to the CPU;

here, the "proximity" instruction includes: touch coordinate values; gestures may also be further included; wherein the gesture is a string of characters that specifically highlights a corresponding character or icon on the user interface, such as: the corresponding character or icon on the user interface becomes larger.

Step 603: after receiving the instruction, the CPU finds out the characters or icons corresponding to the reported coordinate values according to the preset corresponding relation and performs highlighting processing on the corresponding characters or icons;

here, the correspondence may be a coordinate correspondence in which the touch screen and the display completely coincide with each other, or may be another correspondence, that is: the corresponding relation can be any other corresponding relation which can find the characters or icons corresponding to the reported coordinate values according to the corresponding relation;

the highlighting process for the corresponding character or icon may be that the corresponding character or icon on the user interface becomes larger, as shown in fig. 7, at this time, although the key triggered by the user is blocked by the finger, the enlarged display of the character D can still pass the finger and be recognized by the user; corresponding characters or icons on the user interface can be displayed in other obvious areas, as shown in fig. 8, at this time, characters D corresponding to reported coordinates on the virtual keyboard are displayed outside the keyboard, and therefore the shielding of fingers is avoided; the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface can be enlarged, and meanwhile, the adjacent other characters or icons around the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface are reduced, as shown in fig. 9, at this time, the characters D corresponding to the reported coordinates on the virtual keyboard are displayed in an enlarged mode, and meanwhile, the characters C and E beside the selected character D are displayed in a reduced mode correspondingly, so that the user display interface not only realizes the clear display of the selected character or icon, but also the enlarged characters or icons cannot shield the visibility of the characters or icons beside the user display interface.

Step 604: when the finger further contacts the touch screen and reaches a voltage threshold corresponding to the contact event, the touch screen controller reports a contact instruction to the CPU;

here, the "touch" instruction includes: a contact point coordinate value;

if the finger is further proximate to the touch screen and the distance corresponding to the voltage threshold corresponding to the "touch" event is not reached, the corresponding character or icon on the user interface remains highlighted.

Step 605: after receiving the instruction, the CPU selects a corresponding character or icon according to the coordinate value of the contact point and triggers a corresponding preset program to run;

here, the triggering of the corresponding predetermined program operation means that a character is displayed in a predetermined display area or a program operation corresponding to an icon.

In practical application, a non-contact touch switch can be further arranged, so that the digital terminal equipment can be switched between the entity key and the virtual key, input is carried out by using a non-contact touch technology after the switch is turned on, and input is carried out by using the entity key after the switch is turned off.

The present invention is also applicable to other input devices capable of sensing touch operations, such as an infrared touch screen, in which, during setting, the set distance threshold is converted into a threshold recognizable by the device, and the threshold is no longer a voltage threshold, but is an intensity of light, in other words, during specific setting, which technology capable of sensing touch operations is adopted, and a corresponding distance threshold is set according to a physical quantity in which technology is adopted.

In order to implement the method, the invention also provides an input device applied to the digital terminal, and the device comprises: a detection unit and a processing unit; wherein,

the detection unit is used for reporting an approach message to the processing unit when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value; when the operation body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing the contact operation, a contact message is reported to the processing unit;

the processing unit is used for highlighting the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface after receiving the approach message reported by the detection unit; and after receiving the contact message reported by the detection unit, selecting the corresponding character or icon to trigger the corresponding preset program to run.

When the device is actually used, the detection unit can be specifically a touch screen controller of the digital terminal device; the processing unit may specifically be a CPU of the digital terminal device.

The apparatus may further include a setting unit for setting the non-contact touch switch.

The device can further comprise a non-contact touch switch for triggering the detection unit;

the detection unit is used for reporting an approach message to the processing unit after receiving the triggering information of the non-contact touch switch and when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value; and when the operation body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing the contact operation, reporting a contact message to the processing unit.

The detection unit is also used for reporting a leaving message to the processing unit when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is larger than a preset threshold value;

and the processing unit is also used for canceling the highlighting of the corresponding highlighted character or icon on the user interface after receiving the leaving message reported by the detection unit.

Here, the specific processing procedures of the detecting unit and the processing unit in the apparatus of the present invention have been described in detail above, and are not described again.

The above description is only exemplary of the present invention and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. that are within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. An input method applied to a digital terminal, the method comprising:

when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value, highlighting corresponding characters or icons on the user interface;

the operating body is further contacted with the input device capable of sensing contact operation, the corresponding character or icon is selected, and the corresponding preset program is triggered to run.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the highlighting of the corresponding character or icon on the user interface specifically includes:

the corresponding character or icon on the user interface becomes larger; or,

corresponding characters or icons on the user interface are displayed in other obvious areas; or,

the corresponding character or icon on the user interface becomes larger while the other characters or icons adjacent to the periphery of the corresponding character or icon on the user interface become smaller.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the highlighting of the corresponding character or icon on the user interface is:

and finding out the characters or icons corresponding to the coordinate values of the operation body according to the preset corresponding relation, and performing highlighting processing on the corresponding characters or icons.

4. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

when the operating body is further close to the input device capable of sensing the contact operation and is not in contact with the input device capable of sensing the contact operation, the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface keep a highlighted state.

5. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and when the distance between the operation body and the input device which can sense the non-contact operation is larger than a preset threshold value, the highlighted corresponding character or icon on the user interface is de-highlighted.

6. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method steps are preceded by further comprising:

and setting a non-contact touch switch and starting.

7. An input device for a digital terminal, the device comprising: a detection unit and a processing unit; wherein,

the detection unit is used for reporting an approach message to the processing unit when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value; when the operation body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing the contact operation, a contact message is reported to the processing unit;

the processing unit is used for highlighting the corresponding characters or icons on the user interface after receiving the approach message reported by the detection unit; and after receiving the contact message reported by the detection unit, selecting the corresponding character or icon to trigger the corresponding preset program to run.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a setting unit for setting the non-contact touch switch.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a non-contact touch switch for triggering the detection unit;

the detection unit is used for reporting an approach message to the processing unit after receiving the triggering information of the non-contact touch switch and when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is equal to a preset threshold value; and when the operation body is further contacted with the input equipment capable of sensing the contact operation, reporting a contact message to the processing unit.

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9,

the detection unit is also used for reporting a leaving message to the processing unit when the distance between the operation body and the input equipment capable of sensing the non-contact operation is larger than a preset threshold value;

and the processing unit is also used for canceling the highlighting of the corresponding highlighted character or icon on the user interface after receiving the leaving message reported by the detection unit.

Images