ADAPTIVE USER INPUT DEVICE

• US 20160103609A1
• Filed: 10/09/2015
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Decentralized Motion Intelligence Company
• Original Assignee: Touchplus information Corp.
• Inventors: HU, Shih-Hsien, Wei, Yi-Feng, Chuang, Yao-Chih, Lin, Chao-Fu
• Granted Patent: US 10,409,485 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/30 User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/9622 using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard

Abstract

A user input device for use with a controlled device. The user input device includes a substrate; a plurality of sensing electrodes disposed separately on or in the substrate for sensing an object; and a controller electrically coupled to the sensing electrodes and stored therein at least one virtual key allocation table, wherein the controller executes a converting operation to generate a sensed object information according to a capacitance data realized from the sensing electrodes, and generates an input command associated with a specified key in the virtual key allocation table, which corresponds to the sensed object information, for controlling the controlled device. The same sensed object information can be designed to correspond to keys of different definition under different virtual key allocation tables, and/or derive different input commands in different operational.

Claims

1. A user input device for use with a controlled device, comprising:

a substrate;

a plurality of sensing electrodes disposed separately on or in the substrate for sensing an object; and

a controller electrically coupled to the sensing electrodes and stored therein at least one virtual key allocation table, wherein the controller executes a converting operation to generate a sensed object information according to a capacitance data realized from the sensing electrodes, and generates an input command associated with a specified key in the virtual key allocation table, which corresponds to the sensed object information, for controlling the controlled device.

2. The user input device according to claim 1, wherein the controller stores therein at least a first virtual key allocation table and a second virtual key allocation table, which are selectively referred to for generating the input command, and the input command varies with the virtual key allocation table.

3. The user input device according to claim 1, wherein the virtual key allocation table is stored in a non-volatile memory of the controller, and is revisable to change number and/or definition of keys.

4. The user input device according to claim 1, wherein the virtual key allocation table is downloaded from an external device and revisable by way of the controlled device.

5. The user input device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is a rigid or flexible insulating plate disposed inside a frame of the controlled device, and a user executes a touch control operation with the object on or above a flat or curved outer wall of the frame.

6. The user input device according to claim 1, wherein when an operational state of the controller changes, the virtual key allocation table referred to for the converting operation is changed.

7. The user input device according to claim 1, further comprising a first connecting terminal and a second connecting terminal disposed at two ends of the substrate and electrically connected to the controller, wherein one or both of the first connecting terminal and the second connecting terminal are optionally electrically connected to another user input device or other user input devices to extend a sensing area.

8. The user input device according to claim 1, wherein the sensed object information is a coordinate data.

9. The user input device according to claim 1, wherein the sensed object information is a distribution pattern of capacitance differences.

10. A user input device for use with a controlled device, comprising:

a substrate;

a plurality of sensing electrodes disposed separately on or in the substrate for sensing an object; and

a controller electrically coupled to the sensing electrodes, wherein the controller executes a first converting operation to obtain a first sensed object information according to a first capacitance data realized from the sensing electrodes, and generates a first input command corresponding to the first sensed object information when being in a first operational state, and the controller executes a second converting operation to obtain a second sensed object information according to a second capacitance data realized from the sensing electrodes, and generates a second input command corresponding to the second sensed object information when being in a second operational state,

wherein the first input command generated when the object is sensed at a specified position in the first operational state is different from the second input command generated when the object is sensed at the same specified position in the second operational state.

11. The user input device according to claim 10, wherein the first sensed object information corresponds to a touch position of the object, and the second sensed object information corresponds to a movement track of the object.

12. The user input device according to claim 11, wherein the controller enters the second operational state once the first input command is generated in the first operational state.

13. The user input device according to claim 10, wherein each of the first capacitance data and the second capacitance data is a distribution pattern of capacitance differences between adjacent sets of the sensing electrodes.

14. The user input device according to claim 13, wherein each set of the sensing electrodes consists of one, two or three adjacent sensing electrodes.

15. The user input device according to claim 10, wherein the first input command corresponding to the first sensed object information is generated according to a first virtual key allocation table stored in the controller, and the second input command corresponding to the second sensed object information is generated according to a second virtual key allocation table stored in the controller.

16. The user input device according to claim 10, further comprising a first connecting terminal and a second connecting terminal disposed at two ends of the substrate and electrically connected to the controller, wherein one or both of the first connecting terminal and the second connecting terminal are optionally electrically connected to another user input device or other user input devices to extend a sensing area.

17. A method of controlling a controlled device with a user input device, comprising steps of:

generating a sensed object information in response to a touch-sensing operation on or above the user input device;

generating an input command according to the sensed object information and a converting rule; and

transmitting both the input command and the sensed object information to the controlled device, which conducts a specified operation according to the input command and/or the sensed object information.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the sensed object information is a raw data or a series of raw data generated at different time points.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the raw data and the input command are transmitted to the controlled device in a packet.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the raw data is a digital data array correlating to capacitance values realized in response to the touch-sensing operation.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein the raw data indicates an image data of an object conducting the touch-sensing operation.

22. The method according to claim 17, wherein the converting rule is implemented with a virtual key allocation table.

23. The method according to claim 17, wherein the converting rule is a coordinate converting rule.

24. The method according to claim 17, wherein the converting rule is an operation converting rule.

25. The method according to claim 17, wherein the converting rule is a state-switching rule.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the converting rule refers to a current state information.

27. A method of controlling a controlled device with a user input device, comprising steps of:

generating a sensed object information in response to a touch-sensing operation on or above the user input device;

generating a first input command according to the sensed object information and a first converting rule;

generating a second input command according to the sensed object information and a second converting rule; and

transmitting both the first input command and the second input command to the controlled device to be selected by the controlled device, wherein said controlled device conducts a specified operation according to the selected first or second input command.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein selection of the first input command and the second input command is made according to an operational state information.

29. A touch-sensing control system, comprising:

a user input device, comprising;

a touch sensor sensing a touch-sensing operation of an object on or above the user input device; and

a conversion module in communication with the touch sensor, generating a first input command according to a sensed object information realized from the touch sensor in response to the touch-sensing operation and a converting rule; and

at least one controlled device receiving both the input command and the sensed object information from the user input device, and conducting a specified operation according to the input command and/or the sensed object information.

30. The touch-sensing control system according to claim 29, wherein the touch-sensing control system comprises a plurality of controlled devices, and the controlled devices conduct different operations according to the sensed object information.

31. A touch-sensing control system, comprising:

a user input device, comprising;

a touch sensor sensing a touch-sensing operation of an object on or above the user input device; and

a conversion module in communication with the touch sensor, generating a first input command according to a sensed object information realized from the touch sensor in response to the touch-sensing operation and a first converting rule, generating a second input command according to the sensed object information and a second converting rule, and transmitting both the first input command and the second input command to the controlled device to be selected by the controlled device; and

a controlled device receiving both the first input command and the second input command from the user input device, and conducting a specified operation according to the selected first or second input command.