Information input device, information input method, information input control program, and electronic device

Abstract

The present invention provides an information input device, in which information is inputted by easy operations, even if a display unit size is limited. An information input device of the present invention has: a display unit displaying a plurality of figures; a detecting unit arranged in front of the display unit or behind the display unit, and detecting whether a physical contact from an outside exists or not and a contacted position at which the physical contact exists; and a control unit deciding a figure displayed on the display unit and a position at which the figure is displayed, and inputting information based on a signal from the detecting unit, and when the detecting unit detects the physical contact exists, the control unit determines a first figure displayed at a nearest position to the contacted position in the plurality of figures based on the contacted position and decides a second figure displayed at a position surrounding the contacted position based on a kind of the first figure.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile terminal device comprising:
 a display with a touch panel configured to detect a touch on the touch panel;   a controller comprising at least one processor and a computer-readable memory storing program instructions that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
 display a plurality of first characters and a plurality of second characters on the display, each of the plurality of first characters being associated with two or more of the plurality of second characters and each of the two or more of the plurality of second characters being a different kind of vowel from each other; 
 display the plurality of first characters in a plurality of first regions of the display by allocating each of the plurality of first characters on a one by one basis in the plurality of first regions; 
 in response to detecting touch on one of the plurality of first regions in which one of the first characters is displayed, select the first character displayed in the one of the plurality of first regions and display two or more second characters associated with the first character in two or more of upper, lower, right, and left regions adjacent to the one of the plurality of first regions respectively, each of the two or more second characters being allocated in the two or more of upper, lower, right, and left regions in accordance with the kinds of vowels of the two or more second characters; and 
 when one of two or more second characters is displayed in one of the two or more of the upper, lower, right, and left regions, display on the display the one of the two or more second characters without displaying one of the plurality of first characters other than the selected first character. 
   
     
     
         2 . The mobile terminal of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
 detect a change of position of the touch and when a change of position of the touch from the one of the plurality of the first regions to one of the upper, lower, right, and left regions is detected, change the designation from the first character to one of the two or more second characters during the detecting the touch; and   in response to detecting a release of the touch to the touch panel, input the one of the two or more second characters which is designated at a time of the release.   
     
     
         3 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first characters comprise Japanese characters “a ( )”, “ka ( )”, “sa ( )”, “ta ( )”, “na ( )”, “ha ( )”, “ma ( )”, “ya ( )”, and “ra ( )”. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein the characters of “a ( )”, “ka ( )”, and “sa ( )” are displayed along an upper row in a plurality of first regions;
 the characters of “ta ( )”, “na ( )”, and “ha ( )” are displayed along a middle row located below the upper row; 
 the characters of “ma ( )”, “ya ( )”, and “ra ( )” are displayed along a lower row located below the meddle row. 
 
     
     
         5 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein the different kind of vowel is one of “i”, “u”, “e”, and “o”. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to allocate one of the two or more of second character in one of the two or more of upper, lower, right, and left regions based on a positional relationship between the one of the plurality of first regions and a kind of vowel corresponding to the one of one of the two or more of second character. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the two or more second characters having the “i” vowel is allocated in the left region. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the two or more second characters having the “i” vowel is allocated in one of the upper, lower, right, and left regions in a first direction from the selected first character, and
 wherein one of the two or more second characters having the “u” vowel is allocated in another of the upper, lower, right, and left regions in a second direction from the selected first character, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction. 
 
     
     
         9 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein the positional relationship is fixed. 
     
     
         10 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein when the one of two or more second characters is displayed in the one of the two or more of the upper, lower, right, and left regions, replacing one of the plurality of first characters in the one of the two or more of the upper, lower, right, and left regions with the one of two or more second characters. 
     
     
         11 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein the one of the two or more second characters is overlaid on the one of the plurality of first characters in the one of the two or more of the upper, lower, right, and left regions. 
     
     
         12 . The mobile terminal device according to  claim 1 , wherein the one of the plurality of first characters other than the selected first character is a character displayed on one of the upper, lower, right, and left regions.