OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING WIDE LIGHT BEAMS

• US 20100238139A1
• Filed: 04/15/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Neonode, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Neonode, Inc.
• Inventors: Shain, Joseph, Goertz, Magnus, Eriksson, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US12/760,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20100238139A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/042 by opto-electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0425 using a single imaging device like a video camera for tracking the absolute position of a single or a plurality of objects with respect to an imaged reference surface, e.g. video camera imaging a display or a projection screen, a table or a wall surface, on which a computer generated image is displayed or projected tracking a projected light spot to determine a position on a display surface G06F3/0386
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0428 by sensing at the edges of the touch surface the interruption of optical paths, e.g. an illumination plane, parallel to the touch surface which may be virtual sensing beam interruptions in a planar beam grid of an optical touch-screen G06F3/0421

Abstract

A touch screen system, including a screen, a plurality of light sources coupled with the screen, for emitting light, a plurality of photo diodes coupled with the screen, for detecting the light emitted by the light sources, and for identifying the location of a touch on the screen when an absence of the emitted light is detected, and a plurality of lenses coupled respectively with the plurality of light sources to generate wide beams of light over a portion of the screen wherein substantially connected areas of the screen are covered by neighboring wide beams.

Claims

1. A touch screen system, comprising:

a display screen for displaying a plurality of buttons at designated horizontal and vertical screen coordinates thereon;

a plurality of photo diodes coupled with said display screen, for detecting received light; and

a plurality of lenses coupled with said display screen,

wherein the designated horizontal and vertical screen coordinates span a touch sensitive sub-area of said display screen, wherein said photo diodes and lenses are positioned so as to detect a touch of said display screen at the touch sensitive sub-area, and wherein the remainder of said display screen is non-functional for detecting screen coordinates of a touch thereof.

2. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area comprises less than 25% of the area of said display screen.

3. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area comprises less than 10% of the area of said display screen.

4. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area is situated in a corner of said display screen.

5. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein said touch sensitive sub-area is surrounded on four sides by portions of the remainder of said display screen.

6. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein said display screen is between 6″

and 9″

in length.

7. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein said display screen is at least 30″

in length.

8. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein said display screen is at least 40″

in length.

9. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein said photo diodes are spaced approximately 10 mm apart.

10. The touch screen system of claim 1 wherein a first coordinate of a touch location is determined based on light detected by at least one of said photo diodes, and a second coordinate of the touch location is determined by correlating the detected light with an activation of at least one of said light sources.

11. A touch screen system, comprising:

a display screen comprising a touch sensitive sub-area;

a plurality of photo diodes coupled with said display screen, for detecting received light; and

a plurality of lenses coupled with said display screen, wherein said photo diodes and said lenses are positioned so as to detect the position of a touch of said display screen within said touch sensitive sub-area, and wherein the remainder of said display screen is non-functional for detecting the location of a touch thereof.

12. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area comprises less than 25% of the area of said display screen.

13. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area comprises less than 10% of the area of said display screen.

14. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area is situated in a corner of said display screen.

15. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein said touch sensitive sub-area is surrounded on four sides by portions of the remainder of said display screen.

16. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein said lenses are operative to focus wide beams of light onto said photo diodes, the touch screen further comprising a processor connected to said photo diodes for calculating a position of a pen tip that touches said display screen within one of the wide beams.

17. The touch screen system of claim 16 wherein said processor calculates the position of the pen tip based upon a light intensity detected by at least one of said photo diodes.

18. The touch screen system of claim 16 wherein said processor calculates the position of the pen tip along one axis based upon light intensities detected by the photo diodes along a single axis.

19. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein said display screen is between 6″

and 9″

in length.

20. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein said display screen is at least 30″

in length.

21. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein said display screen is at least 40″

in length.

22. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein said photo diodes are spaced approximately 10 mm apart.

23. The touch screen system of claim 11 wherein a first coordinate of a touch location is determined based on light detected by at least one of said photo diodes, and a second coordinate of the touch location is determined by correlating the detected light with an activation of at least one of said light sources.

33. The touch screen system of claim 22 wherein said processor calculates the location of the pen tip based upon a light intensity detected by at least one of said photo diodes.

34. The touch screen system of claim 22 wherein said processor calculates the location of the pen tip along one axis based upon light intensities detected by said photo diodes along a single axis.

24. A touch screen system, comprising:

a screen;

a plurality of light sources coupled with said screen, for emitting light;

a plurality of photo diodes coupled with said screen, for detecting the light emitted by said light sources, and for identifying the location of a touch on said screen when an absence of the emitted light is detected; and

a plurality of lenses coupled respectively with said plurality of light sources to generate wide beams of light over a portion of said screen wherein substantially connected areas of said screen are covered by neighboring wide beams.

25. The touch screen system of claim 24 further comprising a second plurality of lenses coupled respectively with said plurality of photo diodes to narrow the wide beams onto said photo diodes.

26. The touch screen system of claim 25 wherein said second lenses are placed at least 4 mm away from respective ones of said photo diodes.

27. The touch screen system of claim 26 wherein said photo diodes and said second lenses are placed adjacent to an edge of said screen.

28. The touch screen system of claim 26 wherein said light sources are placed under said screen and said second lenses are placed adjacent to an edge of said screen.

29. The touch screen system of claim 24 wherein a first set of the wide beams span the length of said screen and a second set of the wide beams span the width of said screen, wherein an overlap between the first and second sets defines a touch-sensitive sub-area of said screen, and wherein the remainder of said screen is non-functional for detecting the location of a touch thereon.

30. The touch screen system of claim 29 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area is situated in a corner of said screen.

31. The touch screen system of claim 29 wherein the touch sensitive sub-area is surrounded on four sides by portions of the remainder of said screen.

32. The touch screen system of claim 24 further comprising a processor connected to said photo diodes for calculating a location of a pen tip that touches said screen within one of the wide beams.

35. The touch screen system of claim 24 wherein said screen is between 6″

and 9″

in length.

36. The touch screen system of claim 24 wherein said screen is at least 30″

in length.

37. The touch screen system of claim 24 wherein said screen is at least 40″

in length.

38. The touch screen system of claim 24 wherein said photo diodes are spaced approximately 10 mm apart.

39. The touch screen system of claim 24 wherein a first coordinate of a touch location is determined based on light detected by at least one of said photo diodes, and a second coordinate of the touch location is determined by correlating the detected light with an activation of at least one of said light sources.

40. The touch screen system of claim 24 wherein said lenses are placed at least 4 mm way from respective ones of said light sources.

41. The touch screen system of claim 40 wherein said light sources are placed under said screen and said first lenses are placed adjacent to an edge of said screen.

42. The touch screen system of claim 40 wherein said light sources and said first lenses are placed adjacent to an edge of said screen.