Patent Abstract:
The electronic device has a displaying unit which displays information; an operating unit which accepts a contactless oberation by a user; a detecting unit which detects whether or not on object exists inside the area where the contact less operation is capable, and a lighting unit which lights when the detecting unit detected the existence of the object.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation-in-part application of Patent Cooperation Treaty Patent Application No. PCT JP 2010/062057 (filed on Sep. 30, 2010), which claims priority from Japanese patent application JP 2009-229750 (filed on Oct. 1, 2009). All of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to the electric device capable of user&#39;s operation by contactiess sensing. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    In recent years, the electric device having a touch panel has appeared. In such device, a motion of a user&#39;s finger is detected based on the variation of electric capacity. Conventionally, those touch panels were contacting type inputting device, however, recently a contactless type inputting device is appearing. 
         [0006]    In the contacting type device, user can easily recognize that he or she has actually made operation to the device, because the operation is made when the user actually touch the button or touch panel. On the other hand, in the contactless type device, it is sometimes difficult for user to recognize whether or not he (or she) actually made operation to the device. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    An electronic device according to the present invention has a displaying unit which displays information; an operating unit which accepts a contactless oTgeration by a user; a detecting unit which detects whether or not an Object exists inside the area where the cohtactiess operation is capable, and a lighting unit which lights when the detecting unit detected the existence of the object. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a perspective diagram of the television receiver  1 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the television receiver  1 . 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the television receiver 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a figure showing the configuration of the contactless operating unit  20 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a figure showing the detection area  31  of the contactless operating unit  20 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0013]    A television receiver  1  according Lo an embodiment of the present invention is described below. 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  show the exterior views of the television receiver  1 .  FIG. 1  is its perspective view and  FIG. 2  is its side view. 
         [0015]    As shown in these figures, the television, receiver  1  has a display  13 , a casing  2 , a stand  3 , a touch panel  21 , and LED  24 . 
         [0016]    The display  13  typically has LCD (Liquid Crystal. Display) panels or PDP (Plasma Display Panel), for example, and displays an image. The casing  2  stores the display  13 . The stand  3  functions as a supporting member for the display  13  and the housing  2 . The stand  3  comprises a supporting portion  3   a  and a base portion  3   d.  The touch panel  21  is arranged under the housing  2 , and above the base portion  3   b . The LED  24  is arranged under the casing  2 . 
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the television receiver  1 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , the receiver  1  has a receiving unit  11 , a processing unit  12 , the display  13 , a speaker  14 , a control unit  15 , and inputting unit  16 . 
         [0018]    The receiving unit  11  has a tuner which tunes the signal inputted from an antenna for selecting the channel of television broadcasting. The tuning in the tuner is achieved by an instruction from the control unit  15 , based on an input from the inputting unit  16 . 
         [0019]    The processing unit  12  demodulates the signal tuned by the unit  11 , and divides the demodulated signal into an image signal and an audio signal. Then, each of the divided signals is decoded. The decoded image signal is transmitted to the display  13 , and the decoded audio signal is transmitted to the speaker  14 . 
         [0020]    The control unit  15  is constituted by CPU (Central Processing Unit) or DSP (Digital Signal Processor). 
         [0021]    The inputting unit  16  comprises a button switch equipped on the casing  2  or a remote controller. 
         [0022]    Further, the inputting unit  16  includes a contactiess inputting unit  20 . 
         [0023]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , the contactiess inputting unit  20  comprises a touch panel  21 , a sensor controlling unit  22 , CPU  23 , and the LED  24 . 
         [0024]    A touch panel  21  has a structure that the touch pad  21   a  is covered by a cover  21   b.  When a user&#39;s finger approaches the touch panel  21 , the electric capacity varies. The amount the variation becomes large as the finger approaches the touch pad  21   a.    
         [0025]    The sensor controlling unit  22  detects the variation amount of the electric capacity in a touch panel  21 , and transmits the variation amount !information to CPU  23 . 
         [0026]    When the variation detected by the sensor controlling unit  22  is larger than a predetermined value, the CPU  23  determines that an object (finger) exists near the touch panel  21  (in other words, inside of the detecting area  31  shown in  FIG. 5 ), and transmits this information to the control unit  15 . 
         [0027]    Further, when the variation detected in the unit  22  is larer than the predetermined value, the CPU  21  outputs a predetermined signal to LED  24 . 
         [0028]    In detail, the CPU  23  generates the PUN (Pulse Width Modulated) signal according to the variation of the electric capacity, and transmits the generated signal to the LED  24 . 
         [0000]    Then, LED  24  irradiates the object inside the area  31 . Thereby, the user can recognize whether or not he (or she) can melee contactless operation to the touch panel  21 . 
         [0029]    On the other hand, it the object leaves away from the touch panel  21 , the variation of the electric capacity decreases. As a result, it is determined that the object has moved outside the detecting area  31 , and the CPU  23  controls LED  24  to turn it off. Thereby, the user can recognize that contactiess input to the touch panel  21  is unavailable. 
         [0030]    According to the present embodiment, the user can recognize whether his (or her) operation to the contactless inputting device is available or not 
         [0031]    The embodiment of the present invention is described as above. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited, thereto, and the present invention may be implemented by being subjected to various modifications without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7