Multimedia device for having touch sensor and method for controlling the same

• US 9,703,412 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2013
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Seo, Bokil, Lee, Jaehun, Kang, Eunsuk, Kim, Younghwan, Lee, Manho
• Primary Examiner(s): Watko, Julie Anne
• Application Number:
  US14/082,467
• Publication Number:
  US 20140139463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,331 Days
• Field of Search: 345173
• 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 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• 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 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A multimedia device and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. A method for controlling a multimedia device, which includes an area based touch sensor, comprises the steps of recognizing at least one of a palm and a finger of a user through a touch sensor; determining at least one of a shape and a size of a touched area in accordance with the recognized result of the touch sensor; accessing a specific function stored in a memory module in accordance with the determined result; and outputting at least one of video data and audio data corresponding to the accessed specific function, wherein the determining step includes detecting the touched area and deciding whether the current touched area is a palm, on the basis of the detected touched area.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a multimedia device, which includes an area based touch sensor, the method comprising the steps of:

performing at least one mode in the multimedia device;

recognizing at least a palm or a finger of a user through a touch sensor;

determining at least a shape, a size or a number of fingers of a touched area in accordance with the recognized result of the touch sensor;

accessing a specific function stored in a memory module in accordance with the determined result and a type of the at least one mode;

outputting at least video data or audio data corresponding to the accessed specific function,

wherein the determining step further includes merging at least one node within a detected area to another node,

wherein the merging step further includes extracting a distance between three adjacent nodes (a distance between a first node and a second node is D1, a distance between the second node and a third node is D2, and a distance between the third node and the first node is D3) and estimating the three nodes to be one node if D2 is greater than D1, D2 is less than a previously set value, and D3 is greater than the previously set value,

wherein the determining the number of fingers further includes

if an edge point of the touched area becomes farther away in a counterclockwise direction from a start point, firstly estimating it to be a positive value or a negative value, wherein the start point is decided by a minimum Y position value and a maximum X position value at the minimum Y position of the touched area,

if the edge point of the touched area becomes closer to the start point in the same counterclockwise direction, secondly estimating it to be a negative value or a positive value opposite to the firstly estimated value,

estimating an interval where positive numbers and negative numbers are repeated to be one period, and

estimating the number of fingers within the touched area to be a number of periods.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of performing a control operation to implement a first function stored in the memory module in accordance with directionality of the current touched area.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of tracking variations of an area touched at a first timing and an area touched at a second timing, and controlling an operation to implement a second function stored in the memory module in accordance with directionality of the variations as a result of the tracking.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the specific function is changed depending on the type of the at least one mode even though the touched area is unchanged.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia device performs a memo function if a first touched area is recognized during a call mode of the multimedia device, and the multimedia device performs a function for deleting a text of the recognized touched area during a memo input mode.

6. A multimedia device, the multimedia device comprising:

a touch sensor configured to recognize at least a palm or a finger of a user;

a controller configured to determine at least a shape, a size or a number of fingers of a touched area in accordance with the recognized result of the touch sensor;

a memory configured to store a first function corresponding to a first touch pattern and a second function corresponding to a second touch pattern;

a memory controller configured to access a specific function stored in the memory module in accordance with the determined result of the controller and a type of at least one mode in the multimedia device;

an output module configured to output at least video data or audio data corresponding to the accessed specific function,

wherein the controller is configured to detect the touched area, and merge at least one node within the detected area to another node, and

wherein the controller is further configured to extract a distance between three adjacent nodes (a distance between a first node and a second node is D1, a distance between the second node and a third node is D2, and a distance between the third node and the first node is D3) and estimate the three nodes to be one node if D2 is greater than D1, D2 is less than a previously set value, and D3 is greater than the previously set value,

if at least one of a consecutive edge point of the touched area becomes farther away in a counterclockwise direction from a start point, the controller is further configured to firstly estimate it to be a positive value or a negative value, wherein the start point is decided by a minimum Y position value and a maximum X position value at the minimum Y position of the touched area,

if at least one of a consecutive edge point of the touched area becomes closer to the start point in the same counterclockwise direction, the controller is further configured to secondly estimate it to be a negative value or a positive value opposite to the firstly estimated value,

wherein the controller is further configured to estimate an interval where positive numbers and negative numbers are repeated to be one period, and

wherein the controller is further configured to estimate the number of fingers within the touched area as a number of periods.

7. The multimedia device according to claim 6, wherein the controller performs a control operation to implement the first function stored in the memory module in accordance with directionality of the current touched area.

8. The multimedia device according to claim 7, wherein the controller tracks variations of an area touched at a first timing and an area touched at a second timing, and controls an operation to implement a second function stored in the memory module in accordance with directionality of the variations as a result of the tracking.

9. The multimedia device according to claim 6, wherein the specific function is changed depending on the type of the at least one mode even though the touched area is unchanged.

10. The multimedia device according to claim 9, wherein the multimedia device perform a memo function if a first touched area is recognized during a call mode of the multimedia device, further the multimedia device performs a function for deleting a text of the recognized touched area during a memo input mode.