MOBILE TERMINAL AND TOUCH RECOGNIZING METHOD THEREIN

• US 20120169670A1
• Filed: 11/01/2011
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industry Foundation Of Chonnam National University (Chonnam National University), LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: KIM, Minjoo, Kwak, Jaedo, Lee, Chilwoo, Seo, Yungho, Oh, Chimin, Kim, Jonggu
• Granted Patent: US 9,128,527 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/175
• 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 3/0425 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A mobile terminal and touch recognizing method therein are disclosed, by which a multi-touch can be recognized. The present invention includes receiving a plurality of touches simultaneously using a touchscreen, consecutively receiving a plurality of images including a plurality of the received touches for a predetermined time using a camera provided under the touchscreen, determining patterns and pattern changes of a plurality of the touches included in a plurality of the images, respectively, and recognizing a gesture by a plurality of the touches in accordance with a result of the determining step. Moreover, the touch pattern includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a touch number, a touch point, a touch size and a touch figure.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a touchscreen receiving a plurality of touches simultaneously;

a camera provided under the touchscreen, the camera consecutively receiving a plurality of images including a plurality of the received touches for a predetermined time; and

a controller determining patterns and pattern changes of a plurality of the touches included in a plurality of the images, respectively, the controller recognizing a gesture by a plurality of the touches in accordance with a result of the determination.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the touch pattern comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a touch number, a touch point, a touch size and a touch figure.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller determines a touch point change of each of a plurality of the touches and determines at least one selected from the group consisting of a shift distance, a shift direction and a space distance (from another touch) of each of a plurality of the touches based on each of the determined touch point changes.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein if the shift direction of each of a plurality of the touches is a direction for gathering into a prescribed point, the controller recognizes a reducing gesture and, wherein if the shift direction of each of a plurality of the touches is s direction receding from the prescribed point, the controller recognizes an enlarging gesture.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein if the shift direction of each of a plurality of the touches is a 1^st direction, the controller recognizes a rotating gesture in the 1^st direction.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the controller generates at least one touch group including at least two touches having the determined shift directions equal/similar to each other and recognizes the at least two touches included in the generated at least one touch group as a representative touch.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the controller recognizes at least one of a shift gesture and a scroll gesture to correspond to a representative shift distance and a representative shift direction of the recognized representative touch.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein if the generated touch group includes a first touch group and a second touch group, the controller determines a representative space distance between a first representative touch corresponding to the first touch group and a second representative touch corresponding to the second touch group, wherein if the determined representative space distance increases, the controller recognizes an enlarging gesture, and wherein if the determined representative space distance decreases, the controller recognizes a reducing gesture.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller determines a touch size change of each of a plurality of the touches, wherein if the touch size of each of a plurality of the touches increases, the controller recognizes an enlarging gesture, and wherein if the touch size of each of a plurality of the touches decreases, the controller recognizes a reducing gesture.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the controller determines a touch figure change of each of a plurality of the touches and wherein if the touch figure of each of a plurality of the touches rotates in a first direction, the controller recognizes a rotating gesture in the first direction.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising a memory storing information on the gesture corresponding to the touch pattern and the touch pattern change.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the touchscreen to control a display operation corresponding to the recognized gesture.

13. A method of recognizing a touch in a mobile terminal, comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of touches simultaneously using a touchscreen;

consecutively receiving a plurality of images including a plurality of the received touches for a predetermined time using a camera provided under the touch screen;

determining patterns and pattern changes of a plurality of the touches included in a plurality of the images, respectively; and

recognizing a gesture by a plurality of the touches in accordance with a result of the determining step,

wherein the touch pattern comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a touch number, a touch point, a touch size and a touch figure.

14. The method of claim 13, the determining step comprising the steps of:

determining a touch point change of each of a plurality of the touches; and

determining at least one selected from the group consisting of a shift distance, a shift direction and a space distance (from another touch) of each of a plurality of the touches based on each of the determined touch point changes.

15. The method of claim 14, the recognizing step comprising the steps of:

if the shift direction of each of a plurality of the touches is a direction for gathering into a prescribed point, recognizing a reducing gesture;

if the shift direction of each of a plurality of the touches is s direction receding from the prescribed point, recognizing an enlarging gesture; and

if the shift direction of each of a plurality of the touches is a 1^st direction, recognizing a rotating gesture in the 1^st direction.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

generating at least one touch group including at least two touches having the determined shift directions equal/similar to each other; and

recognizing the at least two touches included in the generated at least one touch group as a representative touch.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining step comprises the step of determining a representative shift distance and a representative shift direction of the recognized representative touch and wherein the gesture recognizing step comprises the step of recognizing at least one of a shift gesture and a scroll gesture to correspond to the recognized representative shift distance and the recognized representative shift direction.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining step comprises the step of if the generated touch group includes a first touch group and a second touch group, determining a representative space distance between a first representative touch corresponding to the first touch group and a second representative touch corresponding to the second touch group and wherein the gesture recognizing step comprises the steps of if the determined representative space distance increases, recognizing an enlarging gesture and if the determined representative space distance decreases, recognizing a reducing gesture.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining step comprises the step of determining at least one of a touch size change and a touch figure change of each of a plurality of the touches and wherein the recognizing step comprises the steps of if the touch size of each of a plurality of the touches increases, recognizing an enlarging gesture, if the touch size of each of a plurality of the touches decreases, recognizing a reducing gesture, and if the touch figure of each of a plurality of the touches rotates in a first direction, recognizing a rotating gesture in the first direction.