TOUCH SENSOR DEVICE AND POINTING COORDINATE DETERMINATION METHOD THEREOF

• US 20110037727A1
• Filed: 05/22/2008
• Published: 02/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ATLab, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ATLab, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Sang-Jin, Joung, Chul-Yong, Lee, Bang-Won
• Application Number:
  US12/921,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20110037727A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184

Abstract

Provided are a touch sensor device and a pointing coordinate determination method thereof. The touch sensor device includes a touch panel, a touch sensing unit that receives a touch signal, senses touch information according to a simple touch or touch strength of a touch object, and outputs an electrical signal, a touch data storage that stores touch data in response to the electrical signal, a template storage that pre-stores templates for various outlines of the touch object in response to the electrical signal, and a touch data processor that senses an outline of the touch object according to a distance difference related to the touch object by receiving the touch data, and determines pointer coordinates of a pointing device by receiving and mapping a stored template of the touch object.

Claims

1. A touch sensor device comprising:

a touch panel that receives an input signal generated by touching a surface and generates a touch signal from a variation of electrostatic capacitance;

a touch sensing unit that receives the touch signal, senses touch information according to a simple touch or touch strength of a touch object, and outputs an electrical signal from an electrical state variation;

a touch data storage that stores touch data on a touch pattern and a touch direction of the touch object in response to the electrical signal;

a template storage that prestores templates for various outlines of the touch object differing according to the touch pattern and the touch direction in response to the electrical signal; and

a touch data processor that senses an outline of the touch object by receiving the touch data and selecting coordinates of previous touch data or coordinates of current touch data according to a spatial distance difference when the spatial distance difference between the previous touch data and the current touch data of the touch object is used, and determines pointer coordinates of a pointing device by receiving and mapping a stored template of the touch object.

2. The touch sensor device of claim 1, wherein the touch data processor senses and computes the outline of the touch object by receiving the touch data and selecting the coordinates of the previous touch data or the coordinates of the current touch data according to a time difference when the time difference between the previous touch data and the current touch data of the touch object is used, and determines the pointer coordinates of the pointing device.

3. The touch sensor device of claim 1, wherein the touch data processor includes:

a data stabilizer that computes the spatial distance difference by sensing coordinates of a point touched by the touch object and filters noise of the touch data by comparing the spatial distance difference to a given distance value;

a touch object outline sensor that receives the noise-filtered touch data and senses and computes the outline of the touch object;

a template mapper that receives the stored template of the touch object and compares and maps the received stored template to the computed outline of the touch object; and

a pointer coordinate determinator that determines the pointer coordinates of the pointing device by computing the touch pattern and the touch direction of the touch object from the mapped template of the outline of the touch object.

4. The touch sensor device of claim 3, wherein the data stabilizer computes a time difference by sensing a touch time of the touch object and filters noise of the touch data by comparing the computed time difference to a given time value.

5. The touch sensor device of claim 4, wherein when there are a plurality of touch objects,

the template storage stores templates for outlines differing according to touch patterns and touch directions of the touch objects,

the touch object outline sensor computes the outlines of the touch objects by individually recognizing a plurality of input signals of the touch objects,

the template mapper one-to-one maps the templates stored in the template storage and the computed outlines of the touch objects, and

the point coordinate determinator computes the number of touch objects, geometric centers, template vertices, and touch positions according to a form of the touch input signal.

6. The touch sensor device of claim 5, wherein each of the outlines of the touch objects includes a boundary line of a touch object corresponding to a 1-bit signal output from the touch panel according to a simple touch thereof and a contour line of the touch object corresponding to a multi-bit signal output from the touch panel according to touch strength thereof.

7. The touch sensor device of claim 6, wherein the touch sensing unit computes center point coordinates of a touched point by presetting coordinate values of representative touch regions among a plurality of regions to be actually touched.

8. The touch sensor device of claim 7, wherein the coordinate values of the plurality of representative touch regions are top-left point coordinates, bottom-right point coordinates, center point coordinates, and representative point coordinates in the outline of the touch object, and include vertex coordinates of the outline when the touch object is a finger.

9. The touch sensor device of claim 8, wherein the touch sensing unit recognizes a minimum coordinate value when a region actually touched by the touch object has the top-left point coordinates of the outline of the touch object,

recognizes a maximum coordinate value for the bottom-right point coordinates of the outline of the touch object, and

computes the center point coordinates of the touched point by computing an average value of X coordinate values and an average value of Y coordinate values with respect to the top-left point coordinates and the bottom-right point coordinates.

10. The touch sensor device of claim 7, wherein the coordinate values of the plurality of representative touch regions are top-left point coordinates, top-right point coordinates, bottom-left coordinates, bottom-right coordinates, and center point coordinates of the outline of the touch object.

11. The touch sensor device of claim 10, wherein the touch sensing unit recognizes first to fourth coordinate values when a region actually touched by the touch object has the top-left point coordinates, the top-right point coordinates, the bottom-left coordinates, and the bottom-right coordinates of the outline of the touch object, and recognizes a fifth coordinate value for the center point coordinates of the outline of the touch object.

12. The touch sensor device of claim 6, wherein the touch sensing unit computes the center point coordinates of the touched point by deriving an X or Y coordinate of the center point coordinates from X or Y coordinates of coordinate values of representative touch regions at an edge of regular boundaries close thereto according to a position of the touched point after presetting regular top, bottom, left, and right boundaries at an edge of an entire touch panel or regular internal region.

13. The touch sensor device of claim 12, wherein the coordinate values of the plurality of representative touch regions are top-left point coordinates, top-right point coordinates, bottom-left coordinates, bottom-right coordinates, and center point coordinates on the touch panel.

14. The touch sensor device of claim 13, wherein the touch sensing unit directly maintains the X coordinate of the center point coordinates of the actually touched point and derives the Y coordinate thereof from Y coordinates of the top-left point coordinates and the top-right point coordinates when an outline of a region actually touched by the touch object is located between the top-left point coordinates and the top-right point coordinates or between the bottom-left point coordinates and the bottom-right point coordinates at the edge of the regular boundaries, and

the touch sensing unit directly maintains the Y coordinate of the center point coordinates of the actually touched point and derives the X coordinate thereof from X coordinates of the top-left point coordinates and the bottom-left point coordinates when the outline of the region actually touched by the touch object is located between the top-left point coordinates and the bottom-left point coordinates or between the top-right point coordinates and the bottom-right point coordinates at the edge of the regular boundaries.

15. The touch sensor device of claim 6, wherein the touch sensing unit computes electrostatic capacitance values for a plurality of coordinates of regions actually touched by the touch object on the touch panel, selects a coordinate axis of a largest electrostatic capacitance value and coordinate values of more than a threshold electrostatic capacitance value, selects coordinates of a point having the largest electrostatic capacitance value among the coordinate values, and determines the center point coordinates of the touched point.

16. The touch sensor device of claim 15, wherein the touch sensing unit determines that the touch object has not touched when the electrostatic capacitance value at the touched point on the touch panel is less than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value, and

determines that the touch object has touched only when the electrostatic capacitance value is more than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value.

17. The touch sensor device of claim 16, wherein the touch sensing unit generates the contour line by measuring electrostatic capacitance distributions step by step with respect to the plurality of coordinates of the actually touched regions,

retrieves a plurality of coordinate axes having a plurality of electrostatic capacitance values for the contour line and a plurality of coordinate values of the actually touched regions, and,

after first selecting a coordinate axis having a largest electrostatic capacitance value among the plurality of coordinate axes and coordinate values of more than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value,

determines the center point coordinates of the touched point by selecting point coordinates having a largest electrostatic capacitance value among the coordinate values of more than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value on the coordinate axis having the largest electrostatic capacitance value.

18. The touch sensor device of claim 17, wherein the data stabilizer filters noise in a space domain by maintaining the coordinates of the previous touch data if the spatial distance difference is less than the given distance value and selecting the coordinates of the current touch data if the spatial distance difference is more than the given distance value when the spatial distance difference is used, and filters noise in a time domain by maintaining a previous touch time if the time difference is less than a given time value and selecting a new touch time if the time difference is more than the given time value when the time difference is used.

19. The touch sensor device of claim 18, wherein the touch object outline sensor computes the boundary line of the touch object with respect to the simple touch according to an area touched by the touch object and computes the contour line of the touch object with respect to the touch strength of the touch object.

20. The touch sensor device of claim 19, wherein when an arbitrary touch object intermittently repeats touch and non-touch operations on the same touch region in a short time in a state in which a plurality of touch objects touch the touch panel, the template mapper selects an outline of the arbitrary touch object, and

compares and maps the selected outline to the stored template for the outline of the touch object.

21. The touch sensor device of claim 20, wherein the pointer coordinate determinator computes the touch pattern and the touch direction according to a coarse level of the boundary line of the touch object when the touch signal is the 1-bit signal, and

computes the touch pattern and the touch direction according to a dense level of the contour line of the touch object when the touch signal is the multi-bit signal.

22. The touch sensor device of claim 21, wherein the touch sensor device selects and executes a menu when only one object touches the touch panel,

scrolls an entire screen image according to movement directions of two touch objects or zooms in or out of the screen image according to interval adjustment between the two touch objects when the two touch objects touch and move on the touch panel, and

performs an operation designated according to an execution instruction preset by a user when the plurality of touch objects touch the touch panel.

23. A pointing coordinate determination method of a touch sensor device, comprising:

a touch signal generation step of receiving an input signal generated by touching a surface of a touch panel and generating a touch signal from a variation of electrostatic capacitance;

a touch sensing step of receiving the touch signal, sensing touch information according to a simple touch or touch strength of the touch object, and outputting an electrical signal from an electrical state variation;

a touch data storage step of storing touch data on a touch pattern and a touch direction of the touch object in response to the electrical signal;

a template storage step of prestoring templates for various outlines of the touch object differing according to the touch pattern and the touch direction in response to the electrical signal; and

a touch data processing step of sensing an outline of the touch object by receiving the touch data and selecting coordinates of previous touch data or coordinates of current touch data according to a spatial distance difference when the spatial distance difference between the previous touch data and the current touch data of the touch object is used, and determining pointer coordinates of a pointing device by receiving and mapping a stored template of the touch object.

24. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 23, wherein the touch data processing step includes:

sensing the outline of the touch object by receiving the touch data and selecting the coordinates of the previous touch data or the coordinates of the current touch data according to a time difference when the time difference between the previous touch data and the current touch data of the touch object is used; and

determining the pointer coordinates of the pointing device.

25. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 23, wherein the touch data processing step includes:

a data stabilization step of computing the spatial distance difference by sensing coordinates of a point touched by the touch object and filtering noise of the touch data by comparing the spatial distance difference to a given distance value;

a touch object outline sensing step of receiving the noise-filtered touch data and sensing and computing the outline of the touch object;

a template mapping step of receiving the stored template of the touch object and comparing and mapping the received stored template to the computed outline of the touch object; and

a pointer coordinate determination step of determining the pointer coordinates of the pointing device by computing the touch pattern and the touch direction of the touch object from the mapped template of the outline of the touch object.

26. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 25, wherein the data stabilization step includes:

computing a time difference by sensing a touch time of the touch object; and

filtering noise of the touch data by comparing the computed time difference to a given time value.

27. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 26, wherein when there are a plurality of touch objects for the touch sensor device,

the template storage step stores templates for outlines differing according to touch patterns and touch directions of the touch objects,

the touch object outline sensing step computes the outlines of the touch objects by individually recognizing a plurality of input signals of the touch objects,

the template mapping step one-to-one maps the templates stored in the template storage and the computed outlines of the touch objects, and

the point coordinate determination step computes the number of touch objects, geometric centers, template vertices, and touch positions according to a form of the touch input signal.

28. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 27, wherein the touch sensing step includes:

computing center point coordinates of a touched point by presetting coordinate values of representative touch regions among a plurality of regions to be actually touched.

29. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 28, wherein the coordinate values of the plurality of representative touch regions are top-left point coordinates, bottom-right point coordinates, center point coordinates, and representative point coordinates in the outline of the touch object.

30. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 29, wherein the touch sensing step includes:

recognizing a minimum coordinate value when a region actually touched by the touch object has the top-left point coordinates of the outline of the touch object;

recognizing a maximum coordinate value for the bottom-right point coordinates of the outline of the touch object; and

computing the center point coordinates of the touched point by computing an average value of X coordinate values and an average value of Y coordinate values with respect to the top-left point coordinates and the bottom-right point coordinates.

31. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 27, the touch sensing step includes:

presetting regular top, bottom, left, and right boundaries at an edge of an entire touch panel or regular internal region; and

computing the center point coordinates of the touched point by deriving an X or Y coordinate of the center point coordinates from X or Y coordinates of coordinate values of representative touch regions at an edge of regular boundaries close thereto according to a position of the touched point.

32. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 31, wherein the coordinate values of the plurality of representative touch regions are top-left point coordinates, top-right point coordinates, bottom-left coordinates, bottom-right coordinates, and center point coordinates on the touch panel.

33. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 32, wherein the touch sensing step includes:

directly maintaining the X coordinate of the center point coordinates of the actually touched point and deriving the Y coordinate thereof from Y coordinates of the top-left point coordinates and the top-right point coordinates when an outline of a region actually touched by the touch object is located between the top-left point coordinates and the top-right point coordinates or between the bottom-left point coordinates and the bottom-right point coordinates at the edge of the regular boundaries; and

directly maintaining the Y coordinate of the center point coordinates of the actually touched point and deriving the X coordinate thereof from X coordinates of the top-left point coordinates and the bottom-left point coordinates when the outline of the region actually touched by the touch object is located between the top-left point coordinates and the bottom-left point coordinates or between the top-right point coordinates and the bottom-right point coordinates at the edge of the regular boundaries.

34. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 27, wherein the touch sensing step includes:

computing electrostatic capacitance values for a plurality of coordinates of regions actually touched by the touch object on the touch panel;

selecting a coordinate axis of a largest electrostatic capacitance value and coordinate values of more than a threshold electrostatic capacitance value;

selecting coordinates of a point having the largest electrostatic capacitance value among the coordinate values; and

determining the center point coordinates of the touched point.

35. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 34, wherein the touch sensing step includes:

determining that the touch object has not touched when the electrostatic capacitance value at the touched point on the touch panel is less than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value; and

determining that the touch object has touched only when the electrostatic capacitance value is more than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value.

36. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 35, wherein the touch sensing step includes:

generating the contour line by measuring electrostatic capacitance distributions step by step with respect to the plurality of coordinates of the actually touched regions;

retrieving a plurality of coordinate axes having a plurality of electrostatic capacitance values for the contour line and a plurality of coordinate values of the actually touched regions;

first selecting a coordinate axis having a largest electrostatic capacitance value among the plurality of coordinate axes and coordinate values of more than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value; and

determining the center point coordinates of the touched point by selecting point coordinates having a largest electrostatic capacitance value among the coordinate values of more than the threshold electrostatic capacitance value on the coordinate axis having the largest electrostatic capacitance value.

37. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 36, wherein the data stabilization step includes:

filtering noise in a space domain by maintaining the coordinates of the previous touch data if the spatial distance difference is less than the given distance value and selecting the coordinates of the current touch data if the spatial distance difference is more than the given distance value when the spatial distance difference is used; and

filtering noise in a time domain by maintaining a previous touch time if the time difference is less than a given time value and selecting a new touch time if the time difference is more than the given time value when the time difference is used.

38. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 37, wherein the touch object outline sensing step includes:

computing the boundary line of the touch object with respect to the simple touch according to an area touched by the touch object; and

computing the contour line of the touch object with respect to the touch strength of the touch object.

39. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 38, wherein when an arbitrary touch object intermittently repeats touch and non-touch operations on the same touch region in a short time in a state in which a plurality of touch objects touch the touch panel,

the template mapping step includes:

selecting an outline of the arbitrary touch object; and

comparing and mapping the selected outline to the stored template for the outline of the touch object.

40. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 39, wherein the pointer coordinate determination step includes:

computing the touch pattern and the touch direction according to a coarse level of the boundary line of the touch object when the touch signal is the 1-bit signal; and

computing the touch pattern and the touch direction according to a dense level of the contour line of the touch object when the touch signal is the multi-bit signal.

41. The pointing coordinate determination method of claim 40, further comprising:

selecting and executing a menu when only one object touches the touch panel;

scrolling an entire screen image according to movement directions of two touch objects or zooming in or out of the screen image according to interval adjustment between the two touch objects when the two touch objects touch and move on the touch panel; and

performing an operation designated according to an execution instruction preset by a user when the plurality of touch objects touch the touch panel.