1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inputting method and an input device suitable to perform an input operation surely by pressing of an operator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A flat input device is used as an input device for electric devices such as a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA).
As an example of such an input device, there is given a flat input device including a capacitance sensor or a pressure sensor and capable of coordinate input. In the input device including a capacitance sensor or a pressure sensor (hereinafter referred to simply as “sensor”), input of a numerical value or a symbol is achieved with just a single touch of the sensor. Therefore, an operator has no sensation of performing an input operation and unintended inputting errors tend to occur.
To solve this problem, an input device is disclosed. The input device has a switch in addition to a sensor. The switch is disposed behind the sensor. The switch responds to a pressing operation of an operator by reaction force. The input device thus makes the operator realize that an input operation is performed, thereby preventing inputting errors. The input device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-123363.
Although the known input device can make an operator realize that an input operation is performed, it has a problem in which what is input is not known until the operator looks at a display displaying the input result (confirmed input) as data (output of the input device).
That is to say, the known input device has a problem in which it is impossible to know whether the input operation is correct or not before looking at the displayed data and therefore an inputting error can occur. The inputting error is that the region actually pressed is different from the intended region, for example, that an adjacent region is pressed by mistake. The smaller the operating portion is, the more often such an inputting error occurs. In the case where such an inputting error occurs, it is necessary to perform a corrective input operation, that is to say, to delete the input data and then to input it again. This is less user-friendly.
Therefore, an inputting method and an input device with which an operator can perform a correct input operation surely and easily and which are user-friendly are needed.