OPTICAL TOUCH PANEL AND TOUCH DISPLAY PANEL AND TOUCH INPUT METHOD THEREOF

• US 20110298753A1
• Filed: 02/21/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Inventors: Chuang, Hsing-Jung, Fan, Fu-Cheng, Hu, Jia-Wei
• Granted Patent: US 8,669,951 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0428 by sensing at the edges of the touch surface the interruption of optical paths, e.g. an illumination plane, parallel to the touch surface which may be virtual sensing beam interruptions in a planar beam grid of an optical touch-screen G06F3/0421

Abstract

An optical touch panel includes a substrate, a single planar light generator, at least a retro reflector device, and a single photo sensor array. The substrate has a surface. The single planar light generator is disposed outside the surface of the substrate for generating a planar light, where the illuminating range of the planar light covers the range of the surface of the substrate. The retro reflector device is disposed on a side of the substrate for reflecting the planar light. The single photo sensor array is disposed outside the surface of the substrate for sensing the reflected planar light and generating reflected light distribution information.

Claims

1. An optical touch panel, comprising:

a substrate, having a surface;

a single planar light generator, disposed outside the surface of the substrate for generating a planar light;

wherein an illuminating range of the planar light covers a range of the surface of the substrate;

at least a retro reflector device, disposed on at least a side of the substrate for reflecting the planar light; and

a single photo sensor array, disposed outside the surface of the substrate for sensing the reflected planar light and generating reflected light distribution information.

2. The optical touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising a touch input device for implementing touch input on the surface of the substrate.

3. The optical touch panel according to claim 1, further comprising a signal processing unit for calculating a coordinate of a touch input position based on the reflected light distribution information generated by the single photo sensor array.

4. The optical touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the planar light generator is disposed on a corner of the substrate.

5. The optical touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the planar light generator includes an infrared light generator or a laser light generator.

6. The optical touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the photo sensor array includes a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) photo sensor array or a charge-coupled device (CCD) photo sensor array.

14. A touch input method, including:

providing the optical touch panel according to claim 1;

implementing touch input on the surface of the substrate with a touch input device, wherein as touch input is processing, a part of the planar light is hindered from reflecting to the single photo sensor array by the touch input device; and

performing a touch input calculating procedure with a signal processing unit for calculating a coordinate of a touch input position based on the reflected light distribution information generated by the single photo sensor array.

15. The touch input method according to claim 14, wherein the touch input calculating procedure includes:

providing a radius (a) of the touch input device;

determining a central azimuth angle (θ

), a first boundary azimuth angle (θ

1), and a second boundary azimuth angle (θ

2) of the touch input position based on the reflected light distribution information;

calculating a distance (R) between the single photo sensor array and the touch input position by an equation 1;

16. The touch input method according to claim 15, further comprising a calibrating procedure processing before the touch input calculating procedure to calculate the radius (a) of the touch input device.

17. The touch input method according to claim 16, wherein the calibrating procedure includes:

disposing the touch input device on a calibrating position of the surface of the substrate, wherein the calibrating position and the single photo sensor array have a distance (r);

performing a calibration calculation step with the signal processing unit to calculate a first boundary azimuth angle (α

1) and a second boundary azimuth angle (α

2) of the calibrating position based on the reflected light distribution information of the single photo sensor array; and

calculating the radius (a) of the touch input device by an equation 4;

7. A touch display device, comprising:

a display panel; and

an optical touch panel disposed on the display panel, the optical touch panel comprising;

a substrate, having a surface;

a single planar light generator, disposed outside the surface of the substrate for generating a planar light;

wherein an illuminating range of the planar light covers a range of the surface of the substrate;

at least a retro reflector device, disposed on at least a side of the substrate for reflecting the planar light; and

a single photo sensor array, disposed outside the surface of the substrate for sensing the reflected planar light and generating reflected light distribution information.

8. The touch display device according to claim 7, wherein the substrate is a substrate of the display panel and the surface of the substrate is a display side of the display panel.

9. The touch display device according to claim 7, further comprising a touch input device for implementing touch input on the surface of the substrate.

10. The touch display device according to claim 7, further comprising a signal processing unit for calculating a coordinate of a touch input position based on the reflected light distribution information generated by the single photo sensor array.

11. The touch display device according to claim 7, wherein the planar light generator is disposed on a corner of the substrate.

12. The touch display device according to claim 7, wherein the planar light generator includes an infrared light generator or a laser light generator.

13. The touch display device according to claim 7, wherein the photo sensor array includes a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) photo sensor array or a charge-coupled device (CCD) photo sensor array.