Electronic device for recognizing asynchronous digital pen and recognizing method thereof

• US 9,285,901 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2013
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Rhee, Bong-Jae
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): Iluyomade, Ifedayo
• Application Number:
  US14/096,577
• Publication Number:
  US 20140191967A1
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0433 in which the acoustic waves are either generated by a movable member and propagated within a surface layer or propagated within a surface layer and captured by a movable member

Abstract

An electronic device for receiving an input by a digital pen having a waveform generation means is provided. The electronic device includes at least three reception sensors and a processor. The at least three reception sensors are installed in the electronic device at positions that are separated from one another, and are configured to receive a waveform generated by the waveform generator of the digital pen. The processor is configured to calculate an input coordinate of the digital pen using a difference of velocities and reception times of the waveform received by the at least three reception sensors.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising a digital pen, the electronic device comprising:

at least three reception sensors installed in the electronic device at positions that are separated from one another, the at least three reception sensors configured to receive a waveform generated by a waveform generator of the digital pen; and

a processor configured to determine an input coordinate of the digital pen using a difference of velocities and reception times of the waveform received by each of the at least three reception sensors,

wherein the processor is configured to determine the input coordinate of the digital pen by calculating a 2-Dimensional (2D) input coordinate of the digital pen using a difference between transfer times of at least two cases of waveforms received by the at least three reception sensors, and

wherein the input coordinate of the digital pen is calculated using non-linear simultaneous equations comprising;

1) d1−

d2=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₂Vs

2) d1−

d3=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₃Vs

where d1, d2, d3 are respective distances from three reception sensors to a currently input position of the digital pen, (x₁, y₁) is a coordinate of a first reception sensor, (x₂, y₂) is a coordinate of a second reception sensor, and (x₃, y₃) is a coordinate of a third reception sensor, Vs is a velocity of an ultrasonic wave set in advance and used for a calculation equation in the electronic device, x and y is a 2D input coordinate of the digital pen to detect, Δ

t₁₂ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the reception second sensor, and Δ

t₁₃ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the third reception sensor.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least three reception sensors is not disposed on a line between at least two other of the at least three reception sensors.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the waveform generator comprises an ultrasonic wave generating unit, and the at least three reception sensors comprise ultrasonic reception sensors.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the waveform generator comprises a vibration generating unit, and the at least three reception sensors comprise vibration reception sensors.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the waveform is generated in a form of a pulse or in a form of a modulated continuous wave.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein correction of a 2-Dimensional (2D) input coordinate of the digital pen and a velocity of an actual waveform are calculated using a difference between transfer times of at least three cases of waveforms received by at least four reception sensors.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the correction of the input coordinate of the digital pen and the velocity of the actual waveform are calculated by comparing a first input coordinate of the digital pen calculated by first non-linear second degree simultaneous equations with a second input coordinate of the digital pen calculated by second non-linear second degree simultaneous equations,

wherein the first non-linear second degree simultaneous equations comprise:

1) d1−

d2=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₂Vs

2) d1−

d3=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₃Vs

where d1, d2, d3 are respective distances from three reception sensors to a currently input position of the digital pen, (x1, y1) is a coordinate of a first reception sensor, (x2, y2) is a coordinate of a second reception sensor, and (x3, y3) is a coordinate of a third reception sensor, Vs is a velocity of an ultrasonic wave set in advance used for a calculation equation in the electronic device, x and y is a second input coordinate of the current digital pen to detect, Δ

t₁₂ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the second reception sensor, and Δ

t₁₃ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the third reception sensor, and

wherein the second non-linear second degree simultaneous equations comprise;

1) d1−

d2=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₂Vs

2) d1−

d4=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₄)²+(y−

y₄)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₄Vs

where d1, d2, d4 are respective distances from three reception sensors comprising a fourth reception sensor to a currently input position of the digital pen, (x₁, y₁) is the coordinate of the first reception sensor, (x₂, y₂) is the coordinate of the second reception sensor, and (x₄, y₄) is a coordinate of the fourth reception sensor, Vs is the velocity of the ultrasonic wave set in advance used for the calculation equation in the electronic device, x and y is the second input coordinate of the current digital pen to detect, Δ

t₁₂ is the difference between the waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the second reception sensor, and t₁₄ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the fourth reception sensor.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein, when the first input coordinate and the second input coordinate calculated by the first non-linear second degree simultaneous equations and the second non-linear second degree simultaneous equations, respectively, are different, the velocity of the waveform is sequentially changed such that the first input coordinate and the second input coordinate coincide, so that the input coordinate of the digital pen is corrected.

16. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least three reception sensors are disposed in a region of the electronic device other than a display region of a display unit of the electronic device.

9. A method for calculating an input coordinate of a digital pen having a waveform generator in an electronic device comprising at least three reception sensors, the method comprising:

determining a difference of at least two reception times of waveforms received from each of the at least three reception sensors; and

determining an input coordinate of the digital pen using the determined difference of at least two reception times and a velocity of the waveform set in advance,

wherein the determining of the input coordinate of the digital pen comprises calculating a 2-Dimensional (2D) input coordinate of the digital pen using a difference between at least two cases of waveforms received by the at least three reception sensors, and

wherein the input coordinate of the digital pen is calculated using non-linear simultaneous equations comprising;

1) d1−

d2=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₂Vs

2) d1−

d3=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₃Vs

where d1, d2, d3 are respective distances from three reception sensors to a currently input position of the digital pen, (x₁, y₁) is a coordinate of a first reception sensor, (x₂, y₂) is a coordinate of a second reception sensor, and (x₃, y₃) is a coordinate of a third reception sensor, Vs is a velocity of an ultrasonic wave set in advance and used for a calculation equation in the electronic device, x and y is a 2D input coordinate of the digital pen to detect, Δ

t₁₂ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the reception second sensor, and Δ

t₁₃ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the third reception sensor.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein for the waveform generator, an ultrasonic wave generating unit is used, and for the at least three reception sensors, ultrasonic reception sensors are used.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein for the waveform generator, a vibration generating unit is used, and for the at least three reception sensors, vibration reception sensors are used.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

performing correction of a 2-Dimensional (2D) input coordinate of the digital pen and calculation of a velocity of an actual waveform using a difference between transfer times of at least three cases of waveforms received by at least four reception sensors.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the correction of the input coordinate of the digital pen and the velocity of the actual waveform are calculated by comparing a first input coordinate of the digital pen calculated by first non-linear second degree simultaneous equations with a second input coordinate of the digital pen calculated by second non-linear second degree simultaneous equations,

wherein the first non-linear second degree simultaneous equations comprise:

1) d1−

d2=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₂Vs

2) d1−

d3=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₃)²+(y−

y₃)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₃Vs

where d1, d2, d3 are respective distances from three reception sensors to a currently input position of the digital pen, (x₁, y₁) is a coordinate of a first reception sensor, (x₂, y₂) is a coordinate of a second reception sensor, and (x₃, y₃) is a coordinate of a third reception sensor, Vs is a velocity of an ultrasonic wave set in advance used for a calculation equation in the electronic device, x and y is a second input coordinate of the current digital pen to detect, Δ

t₁₂ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the second reception sensor, and Δ

t₁₃ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the third reception sensor, and

wherein the second non-linear second degree simultaneous equations comprise;

1) d1−

d2=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₂)²+(y−

y₂)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₂Vs

2) d1−

d3=[(x−

x₁)²+(y−

y₁)²]^1/2−

[(x−

x₄)²+(y−

y₄)²]^1/2=Δ

t₁₄Vs

where d1, d2, d4 are respective distances from three reception sensors comprising a fourth reception sensor to a currently input position of the digital pen, (x₁, y₁) is the coordinate of the first reception sensor, (x₂, y₂) is the coordinate of the second reception sensor, and (x₄, y₄) is a coordinate of the fourth reception sensor, Vs is the velocity of the ultrasonic wave set in advance used for the calculation equation in the electronic device, x and y is the second input coordinate of the current digital pen to detect, Δ

t₁₂ is the difference between the waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the second reception sensor, and Δ

t₁₄ is a difference between waveform transfer times received by the first reception sensor and the fourth reception sensor.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein, when the first input coordinate and the second input coordinate calculated by the first non-linear second degree simultaneous equations and the second non-linear second degree simultaneous equations, respectively, are different, the velocity of the waveform is sequentially changed such that the first input coordinate and the second input coordinate coincide, so that the input coordinate of the digital pen is corrected.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising, in a case where at least four reception sensors are used:

when the digital pen contacts a display screen of the electronic device, correcting an input coordinate and a velocity of the waveform; and

when the digital pen is spaced apart from the display screen of the electronic device, correcting a 3-Dimensional (3D) input coordinate of the digital pen or a 3D input coordinate and the velocity of the waveform.