WO2003032141A2

WO2003032141A2 - Method for two-handed operation of a flat display and operating unit, a touch screen, hmi device, automation system and computer program product for implementing said method

Info

Publication number: WO2003032141A2
Application number: PCT/DE2002/003439
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roland Melzer
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2001-09-28
Filing date: 2002-09-13
Publication date: 2003-04-17
Also published as: WO2003032141A3

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, whereby the position of at least one virtual activity area on the display and operating unit is defined and at least one release action is associated to said activity area. The position of a central activity area on the display and operating unit is then defined by geometrically linking the positions of a first real activity area and a second real activity area. In a final step, it is checked whether the position of the central activity area corresponds to the position of the virtual activity area. If the positions correspond to each other, the associated release action is then activated. Said method permits a two-handed operation even on a flat display and operating unit, in particular an analog touch screen.

Description

description

Process for two-hand operation of a flat display and control unit, with touch-sensitive display, HMI device, automation system and computer program product to carry out the process

The invention relates to a method for two-hand operation of a flat display and operating unit, in particular for operating a technical device.

Technical devices are increasingly being operated with the aid of programmable devices, which in many cases can represent an automation system or can be a component of such. Technical equipment includes all types of technical devices and systems, both individually and in e.g. Understand data-interconnected arrangement via a fieldbus. For example, under technical facilities to understand individual equipment in the context of an industrial application, e.g. Drives, processing machines. However, an entire production facility is also considered to be a technical facility. an entire technical process with locally distributed resources, e.g. in a chemical plant, a manufacturing plant or a processing plant.

In technical facilities, it is often necessary that certain actions are only triggered for safety reasons when a previous operating action has been carried out by one person using both hands. With two-hand operation of this type, for example in the case of large processing machines, protection of the operator can be made possible by ensuring that the operator has left a possible technical danger area before starting the desired action. With two-handed operation, the safety of an operator voltage can be increased by activating the positive will of an operator to perform a certain operating action. This may make it difficult to make one-handed operations with the "left hand", so to speak.

The programmable devices used for the management of technical facilities have a constantly increasing range of functions. In addition to the decentralization of the resources of such a device and their networking via bus systems, the operability of the devices is becoming increasingly important. In particular, distributed automation systems can have special devices that form the interface between an operator and the automation system.

Such devices are referred to as HMI devices, the term “human machine interface” being abbreviated to HMI. Furthermore, this device class is referred to as devices for “operating and observing technical equipment, abbreviated as“ B + B devices *. These devices, which are often upstream of the devices used for direct control of a technical device, have an increasing functionality. An overview of HMI devices can be obtained e.g. by viewing Internet representations from Siemens AG, Automation & Drives division at http: // www. ad. siemens, de / simatic / html_76 / intro / hmi.htm or http://www.ad.siemens.de/hmi/html_00/index.htm. Furthermore, by activating a conventional internet search engine, e.g. GOOGLE at the address http://www.google.de, e.g. can be found by entering a search query such as “Human Machine Interface * product information on HMI devices.

The term HMI device is to be understood as a generic term and includes all components belonging to this device group, for example “operator panels *”, which are often also abbreviated as “OP *”. HMI devices have increasing functionality and take over, for example, in a networked car. sation system functions that can generally be viewed as pre- and post-processing of data of the technical equipment to be controlled. This not only relieves an additional central control device, for example a programmable logic controller PLC. Rather, HMI devices enable functions that significantly improve the comfort and quality of operation by an operator, ie in particular the overview of the device to be operated and the error-free operation.

HMI devices with flat display and operating units play a special role here. These are combination devices that not only enable the display of current statuses of the technical equipment, that is, they provide the "observe" function. Rather, it is possible to also perform operating actions via the display area and thus to activate triggering actions in the technical device. This not only has the advantage that separate keypads can be omitted. Rather, display content and operating options can be combined. For example, Interactive process images are generated, which enable the triggering of operator actions at selected points in the process image. In practice, in particular touch-sensitive displays are used as flat display and operating units. As an example of this, so-called “touchscreens *” should be mentioned, in particular analog touchscreens.

Such combined, flat display and control units can, however, cause difficulties when performing the two-hand controls described above. With some flat display and control units, it is not possible to touch two different positions at the same time and thus activate two triggering actions synchronously so that the requirements for two-hand operation are met. The reason for this is that the position of an operator on the flat display and control unit, ie whose coordinate value in the x and y direction is transmitted in the form of a resistance value. The position of the operator can be determined via these resistance values, ie a triggering action assigned to this position can be recognized and activated. However, it is not possible to detect the resistance values associated with more than one point of contact on the flat display and operating unit in such a way that these synchronous points of contact can be singularly detected. This problem occurs, for example, particularly with analog touch screens, where the X and Y positions are returned as analog values on the associated display and control surface. It is therefore not easily possible to distinguish between 'two-button operation' and 'one-button operation'.

The invention is based on the object of specifying a method for two-hand operation of a flat display device and for carrying out the method a touch-sensitive display, an HMI device, an automation system and a computer program product.

The object on which the invention is based is achieved in each case with the features of the independent patent claims.

The method according to the invention for two-hand operation of a flat display and control unit has the following steps:

In the method according to the invention, the position of at least one virtual activity area on the display and control unit is therefore first defined. and at least one triggering action is assigned to this virtual activity area. In a practical application, the assigned triggering action would then be activated if the position belonging to the virtual activity area would be recognized as active on the basis of a virtual operation. Furthermore, in the method according to the invention, the positions of a first and second real activity area are then detected on the display and control unit, and the position of an averaged activity area on the display and control unit is determined by geometrically linking the positions of the first and second real activity areas ,

Furthermore, in the method according to the invention, the position of an averaged activity area on the display and control unit is then formed by a geometric link between the position of a first real activity area and the position of a second real activity area. In a practical application, the two real activity areas would be triggered by two-handed operation. The particular advantage of the invention is that the locations of the two real activity areas do not have to be explicitly available individually. Rather, according to the invention, instead of the pair of layers of the two real activity areas, a single geometric position replacement value is formed.

In practice, a multitude of options are available to the person skilled in the art for the specific implementation of the geometric linkage. It is particularly advantageous if the geometric linkage as a substitute position value forms an active activity area that lies spatially between the two real activity areas. This can lie, for example, in the middle of the connecting line between the real activity areas.

According to the invention, a "one-button operation" of a virtual center point, ie the averaged activity area, is used for the detection of a "two-button operation". Such a device can be implemented particularly advantageously with an analog touchscreen, since such a device generally reacts when two points are operated at the same time as if operation on a there is a point exactly halfway between these two points.

In a last step, the method according to the invention then checks whether the position of the averaged activity area matches the position of the virtual activity area. If the positions match, the associated triggering action is then activated.

The method according to the invention makes it possible to provide a “two-hand operation” that meets the requirements, also on a flat display and operating unit, in particular a touch-sensitive display or an analog touchscreen. The method according to the invention is thus particularly suitable for use for two-hand operation of a technical device. The touch-sensitive display, in particular the touchscreen, is advantageously part of an HMI device used for monitoring and operating a technical device. Finally, the HMI device can be an integral or a connected component of an automation system that acts on a technical device.

A display image, which can be in the form of a control button, is advantageously stored on the flat display and control unit, at least in the real activity areas. The real activity areas actually provided for carrying out a “two-hand operation *” can thus be made visible in a simple manner.

The execution of a “two-hand operation *” can be further facilitated if an acknowledgment function is assigned to the first real activity area and a trigger function is assigned to the second real activity area.

Further refinements of the method according to the invention serve to increase the safety of two-hand operation, ie to improve the distinguishability of two-hand operation from one-hand operation or from two or more successive one-hand operations.

For this purpose, with a first further embodiment, the operational safety can advantageously be further increased in that the triggering action is only activated when the two following additional conditions are met without interruption. First, the location of the first real activity area is recorded. If it is then additionally possible to detect a correspondence between the position of an averaged activity area and the position of a virtual activity area without an interruption in the position detection of the first real activity area, then the requirements for the existence of two-hand operation can be regarded as fulfilled. In practice, an operator in this case first operates the first activity area with one hand and then additionally operates the second activity area with the addition of the second hand.

This takes advantage of the fact that real operators can never really operate the two activity areas exactly at the same time. Rather, the first button, i.e. Activity area, pressed and held and then the second button, i.e. Activity area, pressed. A release then also takes place almost simultaneously. This can further increase the security of distinguishing two-button operation from one-button operation.

As an alternative or in addition to the measure described above, a further increase in operating safety can be achieved by activating the triggering action only when the following additional conditions are met. First, the end of the correspondence between the position of the averaged activity area and the position of the virtual activity area is detected. Is the end of the detection of the position of the first or second real activity recognized area, this combination can be viewed as an alternative or cumulative indication of the existence of two-hand operation.

In the last-mentioned embodiments, an operating behavior of operators that is practically common is advantageously integrated into the method according to the invention.

These embodiments of the invention also make use of the fact that, in particular when operating a touchscreen, between operating / pressing a position, i.e. an activity area, and the release of a position can be differentiated. According to these further embodiments of the invention, two-hand operation is always recognized if first one of the two positions alone is recognized as being pressed and then the point lying exactly between the two positions is virtually recognized as being depressed without a release event being recognized in the meantime , As additional security, it can be provided that the virtual center point and then one of the two real positions is released first when the button is released.

The method according to the invention can advantageously be embodied in practice in the form of a computer program product. This contains one or more computer programs with software means for performing the method when the computer program is executed in a touch-sensitive display, an HMI device or an automation system.

The computer program product according to the invention is a commercial manifestation of the computer program which has software means for carrying out a method according to the invention when the computer program is executed in an HMI device or an automation system. These can be fixations on common data media such as floppy disks, CD, DVD, hard drives, emory sticks, tapes and much more. But also files that are in a com Computer servers are stored, for example downloaded with the help of the Internet and then loaded into an HMI device or an automation system, represent computer program products in the sense of the invention.

A preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the figure.

The figure shows a flat display and operating unit D. As a touch-sensitive display, this has, for example, a display field F in the form of a touchscreen TS. The display and operating unit D can be part of an HMI device, which in turn is connected to an automation system used to control a technical device or is integrated into such.

Tripping actions can be activated when the display field F is touched at predefined locations. In the figure there are five such positions in the form of the virtual activity areas VI to V5, which occupy the positions Vx; Vly to Vx; V5y in an x; y coordinate system. Would an operator e.g. touching an activity area from the group of VI to V5 on the display field F with one finger could activate an application-specific triggering action. When used to control a technical facility, e.g. Equipment of the facility can be switched on or off.

In practice, however, it should not be possible for an operator to directly operate these virtual activity areas VI to V5 with one hand. Rather, operation should only be possible using two-hand operation. For this reason, the virtual activity areas VI to V5 are not directly accessible to an operator. Rather, it is to be operated using the method according to the invention. For this purpose, according to the invention, a first real activity area KQ is provided, which is referred to below as the ACKNOWLEDGE key and has the position coordinates Qx; Qy. In order for an operator to be able to recognize the position of this activity area on the display panel, this is advantageous

Place the display image Q of a key for this ACKNOWLEDGE key on the touchscreen TS.

Furthermore, according to the invention, at least one second real activity area KT1 is provided, which is subsequently referred to as

FUNCTION KEY is called Tl and has the position coordinates KTx; Kly. So that an operator can also recognize the position of this activity area on the display panel here, the display image T1 of a key for this FUNCTION KEY is also advantageously output on the touchscreen TS at this point.

If an operator now actuates the two activity areas KT1 and KT2, according to the method according to the invention, the position Vx; Vly of an averaged activity area GQT1 on the display and operating unit D is achieved by geometrically linking the position Qx, Qy of the first real activity area KQ and the position KTx; Kly of the second real activity area KT1 determined. In the example of the figure, the geometric linkage takes place in that the averaged activity area GQT1 lies in the middle of the connecting line between the activity areas KQ and KT1.

In a last step, a check is now made as to whether the position Vx; Vly of the averaged activity area GQT1 matches the position of one of the virtual activity areas VI to V5. This is given in the example of the figure with regard to the virtual activity area VI. If two-hand operation of the FUNCTION KEY T1 takes place with the help of the ACKNOWLEDGE key Q, the averaged activity area GQT1 formed by the method according to the invention lies exactly on the virtual activity area VI. Due to the in accordance with the positions, a triggering treatment assigned to activity area VI is activated. A "two-hand operation" is thus, with the help of the method according to the invention, quasi attributed to "one-hand operation" of a virtual activity area through an averaged activity area.

According to an advantageous, further embodiment of the method according to the invention, the triggering action assigned to the virtual activity area VI is only activated when the following additional conditions are met without interruption.

For this purpose, the position Qx, Qy of the first real activity area KQ is first detected, i.e. a touch of the display image Q on the touch screen by a person. Subsequently, the correspondence between the position Vx; Vly of the averaged activity area GQT1 and the position Vx; Vly of the virtual activity area VI is detected. This is achieved by simultaneously touching the touchscreen at the locations of the activity areas KQ and KT1, i.e. through two-hand operation. This embodiment has the advantage that it can be ruled out that the assigned triggering action could also be triggered in an undesired manner by accidentally touching the virtual activity area VI.

Safety in two-hand operation can be further increased by the fact that the triggering action is only activated when the following conditions are also met.

The end of the detection of the correspondence of the position Vx; Vly of the averaged activity area GQT5 with the position Vx; Vly of the virtual activity area VI is first recognized. In practice, this happens because the operator touches the two activity rich ended. If the end of the detection of the position of the first or second real activity area KQ or KT1 is then also subsequently recognized, this sequence also ensures that two-hand operation was present.

In the example of the figure, the further real activity areas KT2 to KT5 are displayed, their FUNCTION KEYS T2 to T5 having the positions KTx; K2y to KTx; K5y.

If one of these further real activity areas KT2 to KT5 is actuated together with the ACKNOWLEDGE key Q via two-hand operation, the averaged activity areas GQK2 to GQK5 are formed according to the invention. These are in turn, for example, in the middle of the connection line between the ACKNOWLEDGE key Q and the respective FUNCTION KEY T2 to T5. These are each represented by a dashed line in the figure. Furthermore, in the example of the figure, the positions of the FUNCTION KEYS T2 to T5 are selected such that the associated averaged activity areas GQK2 to GQK5 are again exactly on the positions of the virtual activity areas V2 to V5.

In contrast, the two real activity areas Ka and Kb, which have the positions Qx; ay and KTx; by, are also shown in the example of the figure. The above conditions are not met in these areas. If these are touched by a person with two-hand operation, the averaged activity area Gkab is formed according to the invention. Although this is again in the middle on the geometric connecting line L of the two areas, it has a position Vx; aby that does not match the position of a virtual activity area. In this case, no triggering action is activated.

Claims

claims

1. Procedure for two-hand operation of a flat display and control unit (D), with the following steps

a. Definition of the position (Vx; Vly-V5y) of at least one virtual activity area (V1-V5) on the display and operating unit (D) and assignment of at least one triggering action,

b. Determining the position (Vx / aby or Vx; Vly-V5y) of an averaged activity area (Gkab or GQT1-GQT5) on the display and control unit (D) by means of a geometric link (L) of the position (Qx; ay or Qx, Qy) of a first real activity area (Ka or KQ) and the location (KTx; by or KTx; Kly-K5y) of a second real activity area (Kb or KT1-KT5),

c. Check whether the position (Vx; aby or Vx; Vly-V5y) of the averaged activity area (Gkab or GQT1-GQT5) matches the position (Vx; Vly-V5y) of the virtual activity area (V1-V5), and

d. Activation of the triggering action when the positions match.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein on the flat display and control unit (D) at least one real activity area (KQ, KT1 -KT5) is stored with a display image (Q, T1-T5).

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a display image (Q, T1-T5) has the form of a control button.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an acknowledgment function is assigned to the first real activity area (KQ).

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second real activity area (KT1-KT5) is assigned a trigger function.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the triggering action is only activated when the following additional conditions are met without interruption:

a. Detection of the location (Qx, Qy) of the first real activity area (KQ) and subsequently

b. Detection of the correspondence of the position (Vx; Vly-V5y) of the averaged activity area (GQT1-GQT5) with the position (Vx; Vly-V5y) of the virtual activity area (VI-V5).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the triggering action is only activated when the following additional conditions are met:

a. Detection of an end of the detection of the correspondence of the position (Vx; Vly-V5y) of the averaged activity area (GQT1-GQT5) with the position (Vx; Vly-V5y) of the virtual activity area (V1-V5) and subsequently

b. Detection of an end of the detection of the position of the first or second real activity area (KQ, KT1-KT5).

8. Use of a method according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 7 for operating a technical device.

9. Touch-sensitive display, in particular an analog touchscreen, which has means for executing a method for two-hand operation according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 7.

10. HMI device for monitoring and operating a technical device with a touch-sensitive display, in particular a touchscreen, which has means for executing a method for two-hand operation according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 7.

11. Automation system that acts on a technical device and to which at least one HMI device according to claim 10 is connected or integrated into it.

12. Computer program product with at least one computer program which has software means for carrying out the method according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 7 if the computer program is executed in a touch-sensitive display, an HMI device or an automation system.