Method for multi-touch control and associated apparatus

• US 9,134,845 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2012
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ili Technology Corp. (MediaTek, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MStar Semiconductor Incorporated (MediaTek, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yeh, Ting-Hao, Hung, Guo-Kiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Giesy, Adam R
• Assistant Examiner(s): HEYI, HENOK G
• Application Number:
  US13/419,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20120235936A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes

Abstract

A method for multi-touch control and associated apparatus is provided. The method includes indentifying two peak sensing values from a plurality of sensing values of a touch panel, providing a threshold according to intrinsic characteristics of the touch panel and features of the sensing values, comparing whether the sensing values between the two peak sensing values are lower than the threshold, and selectively reporting multi-touch events.

Claims

1. A multi-touch control method, comprising:

sensing a plurality of sensing values associated with a touch panel;

providing a threshold;

identifying two peak sensing values from the plurality of sensing values;

comparing each of the sensing values located between the two peak sensing values with the threshold to generate a comparison result; and

selectively reporting a multi-touch event according to the comparison result,

wherein no multi-touch event is reported when the sensing values between the two peak sensing values are not lower than the threshold, and

wherein the multi-touch event corresponding to the two peak sensing values is reported when at least one of the sensing values between the two peak sensing values is lower than the threshold.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sensing values respectively correspond to a plurality of coordinate positions.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing the threshold provides the threshold according to a difference between coordinate positions corresponding to the two peak sensing values.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing the threshold provides the threshold according to magnitudes of the two peak sensing values.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing the threshold comprises:

providing two group sensing values according to the two peak sensing values and a plurality of neighboring sensing values; and

providing the threshold according to magnitudes of the two group sensing values.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel comprises a plurality of sensing electrodes, and the step of providing the threshold provides the threshold according to shapes and positions of the sensing electrodes.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel comprises a stacked structure and the step of providing the threshold provides the threshold according to the stacked structure and a sensing value triggered at the stacked structure by a predetermined touching object.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the touch panel further comprises a plurality of sensing electrodes, and the step of providing the threshold comprises:

providing an expected sensing value distribution according to the sensing value incurred at the stacked structure by the predetermined touching object;

providing a touch resolution distance according to the expected sensing value distribution; and

providing the threshold according to the touch resolution distance, the expected sensing value distribution, and shapes and position distributions of the sensing electrodes.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel comprises a stacked structure and a plurality of sensing electrodes, and the step of providing the threshold comprises:

providing a plurality of expected sensing value distributions according to sensing values incurred at the stacked structure by a plurality of predetermined touching objects, respectively;

providing a plurality of corresponding touch resolution distances according to the expected sensing value distributions, respectively;

providing a plurality of corresponding expected valley sensing values according to the expected sensing value distributions, the corresponding touch resolution distance, and shapes and position distributions of the sensing electrodes, respectively; and

providing the threshold according to the expected sensing value distributions and the expected valley sensing values.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined touching objects are differently sized.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of providing the threshold further comprises:

comparing the two peak sensing values with the sensing values incurred at the touch panel by the predetermined touching objects to generate a comparison result; and

providing the threshold according to the comparison result and the expected valley sensing values of the predetermined touching objects.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of providing the threshold further comprises:

performing curve fitting according to sizes of the predetermined touching objects and the valley sensing values to provide a curve; and

providing the threshold according to the curve.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing the threshold further comprises:

providing a predetermined number of sensing value intervals;

providing a plurality of expected value sensing values corresponding to the sensing value intervals, respectively;

providing two group sensing values according to the two peak sensing values and a plurality of sensing values among the sensing values neighboring to the two peak sensing values;

comparing the two group sensing values with the predetermined number of sensing value intervals, and identifying a matching sensing value interval from the predetermined number of sensing value intervals; and

providing the threshold according to the matching sensing value interval and the corresponding expected valley sensing value.

14. A multi-touch control apparatus, coupled to a touch panel, comprising:

a peak value identification module, for receiving a plurality of sensing values sensed by the touch panel, and identifying two peak sensing values from the sensing values;

a comparison module, for comparing each of the sensing values located between the two peak sensing values with a threshold to generate a comparison result; and

a reporting module, for selectively reporting a multi-touch event according to the comparison result,

wherein the reporting module reports no multi-touch event when the comparison module determines by comparison that the sensing values between the two peak sensing values are not lower than the threshold, and

wherein the reporting module reports the multi-touch event, which corresponds to the two peak sensing values, when the comparison module determines by comparison that at least one of the sensing values between the two peak sensing values is lower than the threshold.

15. The multi-touch control apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a threshold module for providing the threshold.

16. The multi-touch control apparatus according to claim 14, wherein:

the peak value identification module respectively provides two group sensing values according to the two peak sensing values and the sensing values neighboring to the two peak sensing values; and

the threshold module provides a predetermined number of sensing value intervals, and a plurality of corresponding expected valley sensing values for the predetermined number of sensing values, respectively;

compares the two group sensing values with the predetermined number of sensing value intervals to identify a matching sensing value interval; and

provides the threshold according to the corresponding expected valley sensing value of the matching sensing value interval.