TOUCH SENSOR DEVICE AND THE METHOD OF SWITCHING OPERATION MODE THEREOF

• US 20110050638A1
• Filed: 05/23/2008
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ATLab, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ATLab, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Bang-Won
• Application Number:
  US12/991,061
• Publication Number:
  US 20110050638A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• 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 method of switching an operation mode in the touch sensor. The touch sensor device includes a touch panel for receiving an input signal generated by a touch on a surface of the touch panel and generating a touch signal on the basis of a change in internal capacitance; and a touch sensor chip for receiving the touch signal, calculating touch information, generating sense data, comparing the sense data with previously stored pattern signals, and controlling the touch sensor device to perform an operation corresponding to the received input signal.

Claims

1. A touch sensor device, comprising:

a touch panel for receiving an input signal generated by a touch on a surface of the touch panel and generating a touch signal on the basis of a change in internal capacitance; and

a touch sensor chip for receiving the touch signal, calculating touch information, generating sense data, comparing the sense data with previously stored pattern signals, and controlling the touch sensor device to perform an operation corresponding to the received input signal.

2. The touch sensor device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor chip comprises:

a touch sensor unit for receiving the touch signal, sensing the touch information, and outputting a change in electrical state using an electrical signal;

a sense data generator for receiving the electrical signal, calculating and storing the touch information, and when a touch state on the touch panel ends, synthesizing the stored touch information and generating and outputting the sense data corresponding to the input signal; and

a sense data analyzer for previously storing the pattern signals, receiving the sense data, comparing the pattern signals with the sense data, and controlling the touch sensor device to perform the operation denoted by the input signal according to whether or not the same pattern signal as the sense data exists.

3. The touch sensor device of claim 2, wherein the sense data analyzer comprises:

a data storage for previously storing the pattern signals capable of switching the touch sensor device to an awake mode in which the operation corresponding to the received input signal is started; and

a comparator for extracting the sense data at regular intervals, receiving the previously stored pattern signals, comparing the sense data with the previously stored pattern signals, and determining whether or not the same pattern signal as the sense data exists in the data storage.

4. The touch sensor device of claim 3, wherein the comparator outputs an awake mode switch signal for performing the operation denoted by the input signal when the same pattern signal as the sense data exists in the data storage, and waits in a pseudo sleeping mode until another input signal is input to the touch panel when the same pattern signal as the sense data does not exist in the data storage.

5. The touch sensor device of claim 4, wherein the comparator outputs the awake mode switch signal for starting various operations without an operation mode switch to input different types of input signals, such as a letter signal, a number signal and a shape signal, to the touch panel in common use.

6. The touch sensor device of claim 5, wherein the input signal, the pattern signals and the sense data are letter, number and shape signals, and the touch information is a position of an initially touched point, a movement direction and a movement path.

7. The touch sensor device of claim 3, wherein the touch sensor unit comprises:

a plurality of touch sensors electrically connected with respective touch electrodes, receiving the touch signal generated by the touch on the touch panel and delayed for a first time, receiving a delay signal obtained by delaying a reference signal for a different time from the first time, and outputting the electrical signal using a phase difference between the touch signal and the delay signal.

8. The touch sensor device of claim 7, wherein each of the touch sensors comprises:

a reference signal generator for generating a clock signal as the reference signal;

a first signal generator for receiving and delaying the reference signal for the first time regardless of whether or not an object touches the touch panel to generate a first signal;

a second signal generator for receiving the reference signal, generating a second signal without delaying the reference signal when a touch pad does not sense a touch of an object, and delaying the reference signal for a longer time than the first time to generate the second signal when the touch pad senses a touch of an object; and

a sense signal generator for sampling and latching the second signal in synchronization with the first signal to generate a sense signal and then outputting the sense signal to outside.

9. The touch sensor device of claim 1, wherein the touch panel comprises:

a plurality of touch electrodes arranged in a matrix form on a plane, receiving the input signal, and outputting the touch signal; and

an insulating layer for electrically insulating the touch electrodes and forming a specific capacitance when an object touches the insulating layer.

10. The touch sensor device of claim 4, wherein in the pseudo sleeping mode, the touch sensor unit keeps operating at lower frequency than in normal operation, and the data storage, the sense data generator and the comparator are maintained in a sleeping mode.

11. The touch sensor device of claim 7, wherein the touch sensor unit outputs a value of a change in capacitance caused by the touch and can include the value of a change in capacitance in the previously stored pattern signals.

12. A method of switching an operation mode in a touch sensor device having a touch panel receiving an input signal generated by a touch on a surface of the touch panel and transferring touch information to a touch sensor chip, the method comprising:

a sense data generation step of receiving an input signal generated by a touch on the surface of the touch panel, calculating and storing touch information, and, when a touch state on the touch panel ends, synthesizing the stored touch information, and generating and outputting sense data corresponding to the input signal;

a sense data analysis step of previously storing pattern signals, receiving the sense data, comparing the pattern signals with the sense data, and controlling the touch sensor device to perform an operation denoted by the input signal according to whether or not the same pattern signal as the sense data exists; and

an operation mode switch step of outputting, at the touch sensor chip, an awake mode switch signal when the same pattern signal as the sense data exists, and maintaining a pseudo sleeping mode when the same pattern signal as the sense data does not exist.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the sense data generation step comprises:

a touch signal generation step of receiving the input signal and generating the touch signal on the basis of a change in internal capacitance; and

a touch sensing step of sensing the touch information and outputting a change in electrical state using an electrical signal.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the sense data analysis step comprises:

a data storage step of previously storing the pattern signals capable of switching the touch sensor device to an awake mode in which the operation corresponding to the input signal is started; and

a signal comparison step of extracting the sense data at regular intervals, receiving the previously stored pattern signals, comparing the previously stored pattern signals with the sense data, and determining whether or not the same pattern signal as the sense data exists in a data storage.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the signal comparison step comprises:

outputting an awake mode switch signal for starting various operations without an operation mode switch to input different types of input signals, such as a letter signal, a number signal and a shape signal, to the touch panel in common use.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the operation mode switch step comprises:

outputting the awake mode switch signal for starting the operation denoted by the input signal and displaying a screen required for the operation on the touch panel when the same pattern signal as the sense data exists; and

waiting in the pseudo sleeping mode until another input signal is input to the touch panel when the same pattern signal as the sense data does not exist.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the operation mode switch step comprises:

after a specific time, determining whether or not it is possible to switch to the pseudo sleeping mode during operation;

when it is possible to switch to the pseudo sleeping mode during operation, determining whether or not another touch is made on the touch panel for a specific period during operation; and

when it is not possible to switch to the pseudo sleeping mode during operation, displaying a screen required for the operation denoted by the input signal on the touch panel.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining whether or not another touch is made comprises:

when it is determined that another touch is made on the touch panel for the specific period, displaying the screen required for the operation denoted by the input signal; and

when it is determined that another touch is not made on the touch panel for the specific period, waiting until another input signal is input to the touch panel.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the input signal, the pattern signals and the sense data are letter, number and shape signals, and the touch information is a position of an initially touched point, a movement direction and a movement path.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the touch sensing step comprises:

a reference signal generation step of generating a clock signal as a reference signal;

a first signal generation step of receiving and delaying the reference signal for a first time regardless of whether or not an object touches the touch panel to generate a first signal;

a second signal generation step of receiving the reference signal, generating a second signal without delaying the reference signal when a touch pad does not sense a touch of an object, and delaying the reference signal for a longer time than the first time to generate the second signal when the touch pad senses a touch of an object; and

a sense signal generation step of sampling and latching the second signal in synchronization with the first signal to generate a sense signal and then outputting the sense signal to outside.