Determining touch data for one or more objects on a touch surface

• US 9,430,079 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2010
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FlatFrog Laboratories AB
• Original Assignee: FlatFrog Laboratories AB
• Inventors: Christiansson, Tomas, Bryborn Krus, Mattias
• Primary Examiner(s): Yodichkas, Aneeta
• Assistant Examiner(s): FOX, JOSEPH PATRICK
• Application Number:
  US13/502,698
• Publication Number:
  US 20120212441A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,148 Days
• Field of Search: 345/175
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04109 FTIR in optical digitiser, i.e. touch detection by frustrating the total internal reflection within an optical waveguide due to changes of optical properties or deformation at the touch location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen

Abstract

A touch-sensing apparatus comprises a light transmissive panel, in which sheets of light are propagated by internal reflection between a touch surface and an opposite surface from an incoupling site to an outcoupling site. The touch-sensing apparatus is configured such that objects touching the touch surface cause a local attenuation of at least two sheets of light. A light sensor arrangement is optically connected to the outcoupling site to measure transmitted light energy. A data processor is connected to the light sensor arrangement and configured to execute a touch determination process. The process operates on at least one projection signal which is indicative of a spatial distribution of light within the outcoupling site.

Claims

1. A method for determining touch data in a touch-sensing apparatus, said apparatus including a light transmissive panel that defines a touch surface and an opposite surface, a light source arrangement for providing sheets of light inside the panel, wherein each sheet includes light that propagates by internal reflection between the touch surface and the opposite surface from an incoupling site to an outcoupling site, said apparatus further including a light sensor arrangement for detecting light reaching the outcoupling site, wherein the touch-sensing apparatus is configured such that one or more objects touching the touch surface causes a local attenuation of at least two sheets of light, said method comprising:

obtaining at least one projection signal which is indicative of a spatial distribution of light within said outcoupling site;

processing said at least one projection signal for identification of signal profiles representing said attenuation;

identifying, based on the signal profiles, one or more candidate touch areas on the touch surface;

processing, after identifying the one or more candidate touch areas, said at least one projection signal to reconstruct a two-dimensional distribution of signal values only within said one or more candidate touch areas, the two-dimensional distribution of signal values being a two-dimensional image of signal energy attenuation values associated with the at least one projection signal; and

determining touch data for the or each object by processing the reconstructed signal values within the candidate touch areas.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises:

determining, for each signal profile, an attenuation path across the touch surface, wherein the attenuation path has a width which is determined based on the signal profile; and

identifying, as a function of a set of thus-determined attenuation paths, said one or more candidate touch areas on the touch surface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifying comprises intersecting the attenuation paths.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the obtaining includes,

obtaining a plurality of projection signals, each projection signal being associated with a set of dead zones on the touch surface, in which the projection signal is insensitive to objects touching the touching surface; and

the identifying further includes,

intersecting the attenuation paths with the dead zones.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the obtaining includes,

obtaining a plurality of projection signals; and

the identifying includes,

generating, for each projection signal, a path map which represents the location of the related attenuation paths on the touch surface, and

intersecting the generated path maps.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each path map is associated with one of said sheets of light, wherein the identifying comprises:

forming pairs of path maps so as to minimize the angle between light rays in the associated sheets; and

intersecting said pairs of path maps.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the intersecting involves geometrically aligning the path maps and executing a logical AND operation on the path maps.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein each path map further represents the location of dead zones on the touch surface, in which the projection signal is insensitive to objects touching the touching surface.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein

the obtaining includes,

obtaining a plurality of projection signals;

and

the identifying includes,

generating, for pairs of projection signals, a path map which represents intersections of the attenuation paths determined for the pair of projection signals, and

intersecting the generated path maps.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each projection signal is associated with one of said sheets of light, wherein the identifying comprises:

forming said pairs of projection signals so as to maximize the angle between light rays in the associated sheets.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the attenuation path comprises:

determining limits of the signal profile;

identifying a light path across the touch surface corresponding to the signal profile; and

retracing the limits across the touch surface based on the identified light path.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the retracing the limits comprises:

applying a width function which is representative of a dependence of signal profile width on distance to the incoupling site due to light scattering.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the width function represents the factual width of the object given the width of the signal profile, as a function of distance to the incoupling site.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining the attenuation path comprises:

representing each attenuation path by a polygon.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the polygon is a convex polygon.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the sheets of light are generated by sweeping a first set of beams of light along a first incoupling site, thereby causing the first set of beams to be swept across the touch surface in a first main direction, and by sweeping a second set of beams of light along a second incoupling site, thereby causing the second set of beams to be swept across the touch surface in a second main direction.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the sheets of light are generated in the form of beams that expand in the plane of the touch surface in a direction away from a respective incoupling site.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein each projection signal is associated with one of said sheets of light.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the projection signal comprises:

obtaining an energy signal representative of the spatial distribution of light energy within the outcoupling site; and

normalizing the energy signal by a background signal, wherein

the background signal represents the spatial distribution of light energy within the outcoupling site without objects touching the touch surface.

20. A tangible computer-readable medium storing computer code which, when executed on a data-processing system, causes the data-processing system to carry out the method of claim 1.

21. A device for determining touch data for one or more objects on a touch surface included in a touch-sensing apparatus, said touch-sensing apparatus including a light transmissive panel that defines the touch surface and an opposite surface, a light source arrangement for providing sheets of light inside the panel, wherein each sheet includes light that propagates by internal reflection between the touch surface and the opposite surface from an incoupling site to an outcoupling site, a light sensor arrangement for detecting light reaching the outcoupling site, wherein the touch-sensing apparatus is configured such that each object touching the touch surface locally attenuates at least two sheets of light, said device comprising:

an element for obtaining at least one projection signal which is indicative of a spatial distribution of light within said outcoupling site;

an element for processing said at least one projection signal for identification of signal profiles representing said attenuation;

an element for identifying, based on the signal profiles, one or more candidate touch areas on the touch surface;

an element for processing, after identifying the one or more candidate touch areas, said at least one projection signal to reconstruct a two-dimensional distribution of signal values only within said one or more candidate touch areas, the two-dimensional distribution of signal values being a two-dimensional image of signal energy attenuation values associated with the at least one projection signal; and

an element for determining touch data for the or each object by processing the reconstructed signal values within the candidate touch areas.

22. A method for determining touch data in a touch-sensing apparatus, said apparatus including a light transmissive panel that defines a touch surface and an opposite surface, a light source arrangement for providing sheets of light inside the panel, wherein each sheet includes light that propagates by internal reflection between the touch surface and the opposite surface from an incoupling site to an outcoupling site, said apparatus further including a light sensor arrangement for detecting light reaching the outcoupling site, wherein the touch-sensing apparatus is configured such that one or more objects touching the touch surface causes a local attenuation of at least two sheets of light, said method comprising:

obtaining at least one projection signal which is indicative of a spatial distribution of light within said outcoupling site;

processing said at least one projection signal for identification of signal profiles representing said attenuation;

determining, for each signal profile, an attenuation path across the touch surface, wherein the attenuation path has a width which is determined based on the signal profile;

identifying, as a function of a set of thus-determined attenuation paths, one or more candidate touch areas on the touch surface;

processing, after identifying the one or more candidate touch areas, said at least one projection signal to reconstruct a two-dimensional distribution of signal values only within said one or more candidate touch areas, the two-dimensional distribution of signal values being a two-dimensional image of signal energy attenuation values associated with the at least one projection signal; and

determining touch data for the or each object by processing the reconstructed signal values within the candidate touch areas.