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AssigneeMurata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
InventorsHidekazu Kano, Hiroaki Kitada, Takafumi Inoue
Estimating the term…
A touch input device includes a sensor for detecting a plurality of touch positions at which a touch operation has been performed on an operation surface, a pressure sensor for detecting a pressing operation which has been performed on the operation surface at at least one of the touch positions, and a control unit. The control unit (a) identifies a first of the touch positions as a support position which is not used to input information into the input device by way of movement of the support position, (b) identifies at least second and third of the touch positions as input touch positions used to input information into the input device by way of movement of the input touch positions, and (c) causes the input device to carry out an operation identified by the movement of the input touch positions.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies the first touch position as a support position as a function of the location of the first touch position on the operation surface.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies the touch position falling within a predetermined area of the operation surface as the support position.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit uses the movement of the input touch positions which occur after a pressing force has been applied at the support position to identify the operation carried out by the input device.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the input device to carry out an operation identified by the movement of the input touch positions only during the time period during which a pressing operation is applied to the operation surface.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the input device to carry out an operation identified by variations in a pressing force applied to the operation surface at the support position.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies first of the touch positions as the support position as a function of the order in which the touch operations were carried out at each of the touch positions.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies each respective touch position as either the support position or one of the input touch positions as a function of (a) whether a pressing operation was carried out the respective touch position and (b) the timing at which a touch operation was performed at the respective touch position.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies the touch position which is the support position as a function of the movements of all of the touch positions.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies the touch position which has the least movement over a predetermined period as the support position.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies the first of the touch positions as the support position by comparing the movement of different sub-combinations of the touch positions to a pre-stored sequence of movements of the input touch positions.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit identifies the first of the touch positions as the support position by comparing the movement of different sub-combinations of the touch positions to a pre-stored set of input operations, each input operation of the set corresponding to a different sequence of movements.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor includes a piezoelectric film made of a chiral polymer.
The touch input device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor for detecting a plurality of touch positions is a capacitive sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.