DEVICE IDENTIFICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS, DEVICE INFORMATION PROVISION METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUMS HAVING RECORDED THEREON PROGRAMS FOR EXECUTING THE DEVICE IDENTIFICATION METHOD AND THE DEVICE INFORMATION PROVISION METHOD

• US 20090128517A1
• Filed: 11/20/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Hark-joon, Yang, Pil-seung, HAN, Kuk-hyun
• Granted Patent: US 8,773,361 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Provided are a touch-screen based device identification and information provision method and apparatus, and computer-readable recording mediums having recorded thereon programs for executing the touch-screen based device identification method and the information provision method. The device identification method for a touch screen device includes propagating a signal induced by touching a touch screen surface to an external device via the person, receiving information about the signal detected by the external device and an identification (ID) of the external device through a communication channel, and identifying the external device by using the received information about the detected signal and the received ID of the external device. Thus, the touch screen device and the external device can be connected to each other in real time by a simple and physical touch.

Claims

1. A device identification method for a touch screen device, the device identification method comprising:

propagating a signal induced by touching a touch screen surface of the touch screen device to an external device through the person;

receiving, at the touch screen device, information about the signal which is detected by the external device and an identification (ID) of the external device through a communication channel; and

identifying, at the touch screen device, the external device based on the received information about the detected signal and the received ID of the external device.

2. The device identification method of claim 1, wherein the signal is a micro-current signal including a scan frequency component.

3. The device identification method of claim 1, wherein the identifying the external device comprises determining that the touch screen device is connected with the external device having the received ID via the person if a scan frequency component included in the information about the signal is the same as a scan frequency component of the signal induced by touching the touch screen surface.

4. The device identification method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface; and

mapping the identified external device to the calculated first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface.

5. The device identification method of claim 4, further comprising:

executing a user verification for allowing the external device to access the touch screen device or to access an object displayed on the first coordinates using user verification information if the user verification information is stored in the external device.

6. The device identification method of claim 1, wherein the external device is another touch screen device distinct from the touch screen device, and the device identification method further comprises:

calculating first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface; and

mapping second coordinates of touched touch screen surface of another touch screen device to the first coordinates, wherein the mapping is performed through the communication channel.

7. The device identification method of claim 6, further comprising:

executing application services, which link the first coordinates with the second coordinates, based on the mapping result.

8. The device identification method of claim 2, further comprising repeating the propagating the signal to the external device and the receiving the information through the communication channel after changing a scan frequency of the signal.

9. The device identification method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a confirmation request signal for identifying whether the touch screen surface of the touch screen device is touched or not from the external device through the communication channel; and

transmitting a confirmation response signal which denotes that the touch screen surface of the touch screen device is touched to the external device through the communication channel.

10. The device identification method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel is a wired or wireless channel using a plug and play (PnP) protocol including a universal PnP (UPnP) protocol.

11. The device identification method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel is a wireless communication channel, and the wireless communication channel includes one or more selected from a wireless local area network (LAN), a wireless internet platform for interoperability (WIPI), Bluetooth, infrared communication, near field communication (NFC), and Zigbee, and the external device exchanges information about the wireless communication channel with the touch screen device.

12. The device identification method of claim 1, wherein the external device is a portable mobile device, and the portable mobile device is one of a cellular phone, a digital camera, a camcorder, a personal digital assistant, an MP3 player, and a portable multimedia player.

13. A device identification apparatus for a touch screen device, the device identification apparatus comprising:

a touch sensing unit which generates a signal induced by touching a touch screen surface of the touch screen device;

a reception unit which receives information about the signal propagated to the external device through the person and detected by an external device and an identification (ID) of the external device through a communication channel; and

an identification unit which identifies the external device based on the received information about the signal and the received ID of the external device.

14. The device identification apparatus of claim 13, wherein the signal is a micro-current signal including a scan frequency component.

15. The device identification apparatus of claim 13, wherein the identification unit determines that the touch screen device is connected with the external device having the received ID via the person if a scan frequency component included in the information about the signal is the same as a scan frequency component of the signal induced by touching the touch screen surface.

16. The device identification apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a coordinates calculation unit which calculates first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface; and

a mapping unit which maps the identified external device to the calculated first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface.

17. The device identification apparatus of claim 13, wherein the external device is another touch screen device distinct from the touch screen device, and the device identification apparatus further comprises:

a coordinate calculating unit calculating first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface; and

a mapping unit mapping second coordinates of touched touch screen surface of another touch screen device to the first coordinates,

wherein the mapping unit performs the mapping operation through the communication channel.

18. The device identification apparatus of claim 13, wherein the touch screen device executes application services, which link the first coordinates with the second coordinates, based on the mapping result.

19. The device identification apparatus of claim 13, wherein the communication channel is a wired or wireless channel using a plug and play (PnP) protocol including a universal PnP (UPnP) protocol.

20. A device information provision method for an external device, the device information provision method comprising:

detecting a scan frequency component from a signal induced by touching a touch screen surface of a touch screen device and propagated to the external device through the person;

generating information about the scan frequency component and identification (ID) information of the external device; and

transmitting the information about the scan frequency component and the ID information from the external device to the touch screen device through a communication channel.

21. The device information provision method of claim 20, wherein the signal is a micro-current signal including a scan frequency component.

22. The device information provision method of claim 20, wherein the detecting the scan frequency component comprises:

performing band-pass filtering on the signal by using the scan frequency component as a center frequency; and

performing tone-decoding on the band-pass filtered signal.

23. The device information provision method of claim 20, wherein if the external device is identified by the touch screen device and is mapped to first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface of the touch screen device and stores user verification information, the device information provision method further comprises:

executing a user verification for allowing the external device to access the touch screen device or to access an object displayed on the first coordinates using the user verification information.

24. The device information provision method of claim 20, wherein the external device is another touch screen device distinct from the touch screen device, and the device information provision method further comprises:

calculating first coordinates of the touched touch screen surface; and

mapping second coordinates of touched touch screen surface of another touch screen device to the first coordinates,

wherein the mapping is performed through the communication channel.

25. The device information provision method of claim 20, further comprising:

executing application services, which link the first coordinates with the second coordinates, based on the mapping result.

26. The device information provision method of claim 21, further comprising repeating the detecting the scan frequency component, the generating the information and the ID information, and the transmitting the information and the ID information if the scan frequency component of the signal is changed.

27. The device information provision method of claim 20, further comprising:

transmitting a confirmation request signal for identifying whether the touch screen surface of the touch screen device is touched or not to the touch screen device through the communication channel; and

receiving a confirmation response signal which denotes that the touch screen surface of the touch screen device is touched from the touch screen device through the communication channel to identify the touch screen device.

28. The device information provision method of claim 20, wherein the communication channel is a wired or wireless channel using a plug and play (PnP) protocol including a universal PnP (UPnP) protocol.

29. The device information provision method of claim 20, wherein the communication channel is a wireless communication channel, and the wireless communication channel includes one or more selected from a wireless local area network (LAN), a wireless internet platform for interoperability (WIPI), Bluetooth, infrared communication, near field communication (NFC), and Zigbee, and the external device exchanges information about the wireless communication channel with the touch screen device.

30. The device information provision method of claim 20, wherein the external device is a portable mobile device, and the portable mobile device is one of a cellular phone, a digital camera, a camcorder, a personal digital assistant, an MP3 player, and a portable multimedia player.

31. A device information provision apparatus for an external device, the device information provision apparatus comprising:

a detection unit which detects a scan frequency component from a signal induced by touching a touch screen surface of a touch screen device and propagated to the external device through the person;

an information generation unit which generates information about the scan frequency component and identification (ID) information of the external device; and

a transmission unit which transmits the information about the scan frequency component and the ID information to a touch screen device through a communication channel.

32. The device information provision apparatus of claim 31, wherein the signal is a micro-current signal including a scan frequency component.

33. The device information provision apparatus of claim 31, wherein the detection unit comprises:

a band-pass filter which performs band-pass filtering on the signal by using the scan frequency component as a center frequency; and

a tone-decoder which performs tone-decoding on the band-pass filtered signal.

34. The device information provision apparatus of claim 31, wherein the external device is another touch screen device in addition to the touch screen device, and the device information provision apparatus further comprises:

a coordinate calculating unit calculating second coordinates of the touched touch screen surface of another touch screen device; and

a mapping unit mapping the second coordinates of the touched touch screen surface to the first coordinates of the touch screen device, wherein the mapping unit performs the mapping operation through the communication channel.

35. The device information provision apparatus of claim 34, wherein the external device executes application services, which link the first coordinates with the second coordinates, based on the mapping result.

36. The device information provision apparatus of claim 31, wherein the communication channel is a wired or wireless channel using a plug and play (PnP) protocol including a universal PnP (UPnP) protocol.

37. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing a device identification method for a touch screen device, the device identification method comprising:

propagating a signal induced by touching a touch screen surface of the touch screen device to an external device through the person;

receiving, at the touch screen device, information about the signal which propagated to and detected by the external device and an identification (ID) of the external device through a communication channel; and

identifying, at the touch screen device, the external device based on the received information about the detected signal and the received ID of the external device.

38. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing a device information provision method for an external device, the device information provision method comprising:

detecting, at the external device, a scan frequency component from a signal induced by touching a touch screen surface of a touch screen device and propagated to the external device through the person;

generating, at the external device, information about the scan frequency component and identification (ID) information of the external device that has received the signal; and

transmitting the information about the scan frequency component and the ID information from the external device to the touch screen device through a communication channel.