TOUCH-CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20130271429A1
• Filed: 06/06/2013
• Published: 10/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: SU, TZUNG-MIN, LIN, CHIH-HSIN, KAO, MING-TSAN
• Application Number:
  US13/912,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20130271429A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/175
• 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 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• 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
• 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-control system adapted to be used with a plurality of pointers is provided. The touch-control system includes a touch-control panel, a first pointer sensing module, a second pointer sensing module and a processing circuit. The first pointer sensing module is configured to sense a first set of image information of the pointers and accordingly calculate a first candidate coordinate group of the pointers. The second pointer sensing module is configured to sense a second set of image information of the pointers. The processing circuit is electrically coupled to the first and second pointer sensing modules and configured to select, according to the second set of image information, two or more coordinate positions in the first candidate coordinate group to as actual coordinate positions of the pointers.

Claims

1. A touch-control system, comprising:

a touch-control panel;

a first pointer sensing module, comprising;

a first image sensing apparatus; and

a second image sensing apparatus, wherein an extension line of a center of a sensing range of the first image sensing apparatus and that of the second image sensing apparatus are configured to have a first angle therebetween;

a second pointer sensing module, comprising;

a first pointer sensing apparatus disposed on a side of the touch-control panel; and

a second pointer sensing apparatus disposed on a side of the touch-control panel, wherein the extension line of the center of the sensing range of the first pointer sensing apparatus and that of the second pointer sensing apparatus are configured to have a second angle therebetween; and

a processing circuit electrically coupled to the first and second pointer sensing modules, wherein the processing circuit is configured to, when the touch-control panel is being touched by a first pointer and a second pointer, calculate possible coordinate positions of the first and second pointers according to pointer images sensed by the first pointer sensing module and thereby referring the calculated possible coordinate positions of the first and second pointers derived from the first pointer sensing module to as a first candidate coordinate group;

the processing circuit is further configured to calculate possible coordinate positions of the first and second pointers according to pointer information sensed by the second pointer sensing module and thereby referring the calculated possible coordinate positions of the first and second pointers derived from the second pointer sensing module to as a second candidate coordinate group; and

the processing circuit is further configured to obtain an intersection of the first and second candidate coordinate groups and thereby referring elements in the intersection to as the actual coordinate positions of the first and second pointers.

2. The touch-control system according to claim 1, wherein a mean of obtaining, by the processing circuit, the intersection of the first and second candidate coordinate groups comprises steps of:

determining that whether or not there exist a coordinate position in the first candidate coordinate group having a distance, respective to one coordinate position in the second candidate coordinate group, less than a predetermined distance; and

referring the pair of coordinate positions in the first and second candidate coordinate groups having a distance therebetween less than the predetermined distance to as one element in the intersection of the first and second candidate coordinate groups.

3. The touch-control system according to claim 1, wherein a mean of obtaining, by the processing circuit, the intersection of the first and second candidate coordinate groups comprises steps of:

determining that whether or not there exist a coordinate position in the second candidate coordinate group having a distance, respective to one coordinate position in the first candidate coordinate group, less than a predetermined distance; and

referring the pair of coordinate positions in the first and second candidate coordinate groups having a distance therebetween less than the predetermined distance to as one element in the intersection of the first and second candidate coordinate groups.

4. The touch-control system according to claim 1, wherein the touch-control panel is configured to have a quadrilateral structure, which is defined by a first side, a second side, a third side and a fourth side sequentially connected.

5. The touch-control system according to claim 4, wherein the first image sensing apparatus is disposed in an corner resulted by the first and fourth sides, and the second image sensing apparatus is disposed in an corner resulted by the first and second sides.

6. The touch-control system according to claim 5, wherein the first and second pointer sensing apparatuses are implemented by a first and second photosensitive apparatuses, respectively, the first and second photosensitive apparatuses are disposed on any connected two of the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, the first and second photosensitive apparatuses both include a plurality of photosensitive elements, each is configured to sense lights on the touch-control panel and accordingly output a respective sensing signal, the processing circuit is further configured to refer the sensing signals outputted from the first and second photosensitive apparatuses to as the pointer information and thereby obtaining the second candidate coordinate group based on the pointer information.

7. The touch-control system according to claim 6, further comprising at least three illuminating apparatuses disposed on any three of the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, and configured to illuminate toward the touch-control panel, wherein the illuminating apparatus and the photosensitive apparatus are arranged to be superimposed to each other if both are disposed on the same side of the touch-control panel.

8. The touch-control system according to claim 6, further comprising at least three reflective apparatuses disposed on any three of the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, and configured to reflect lights toward the touch-control panel, wherein the reflective apparatus and the photosensitive apparatus are arranged to be superimposed to each other if both are disposed on the same side of the touch-control pane, the first and second image sensing apparatuses each comprise an infra-red (IR) illuminating apparatus and an IR-pass apparatus, and the first and second image sensing apparatuses are configured to capture images on the touch-control panel via the IR-pass apparatus.

9. The touch-control system according to claim 5, wherein the first and second pointer sensing apparatuses are implemented by a third and fourth image sensing apparatuses, respectively, the third and fourth image sensing apparatuses are disposed on any connected two of the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, the processing circuit is further configured to refer the pointer images sensed by the third and fourth image sensing apparatuses to as the pointer information and thereby obtaining the second candidate coordinate group based on the pointer information.

10. The touch-control system according to claim 9, further comprising at least three illuminating apparatuses disposed on any three of the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, and configured to illuminate toward the touch-control panel, wherein the illuminating apparatus and the image sensing apparatus are arranged to be superimposed to each other if both are disposed on the same side of the touch-control panel.

11. The touch-control system according to claim 9, further comprising at least three reflective apparatuses disposed on any three of the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, and configured to reflect lights toward the touch-control panel, wherein the reflective apparatus and the image sensing apparatus are arranged to be superimposed to each other if both are disposed on the same side of the touch-control pane, the first and second image sensing apparatuses each comprise an infra-red (IR) illuminating apparatus and an IR-pass apparatus, and the first and second image sensing apparatuses are configured to capture images on the touch-control panel via the IR-pass apparatus.

12. The touch-control system according to claim 9, further comprising a third pointer sensing module, the third pointer sensing module comprising:

a fifth image sensing apparatus disposed in a corner resulted by the third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel; and

a sixth image sensing apparatus disposed in a corner resulted by the second and third sides of the touch-control panel.

13. The touch-control system according to claim 5, wherein the first pointer sensing apparatus is implemented by either the first or the second image sensing apparatus, the second pointer sensing apparatus is implemented by a third image sensing apparatus, the third image sensing apparatus is disposed either in a corner resulted by the second and third sides or a corner resulted by the third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, the third image sensing apparatus and the image sensing apparatus in the first pointer sensing apparatus are disposed in the two adjacent corners of the touch-control panel, respectively, the processing circuit is further configured to refer the pointer images sensed by the image sensing apparatus in the first pointer sensing apparatus and the third image sensing apparatus to as the pointer information and thereby obtaining the second candidate coordinate group based on the pointer information.

14. The touch-control system according to claim 13, further comprising four illuminating apparatuses disposed on any the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, and configured to illuminate toward the touch-control panel, wherein the illuminating apparatus and the image sensing apparatus are arranged to be superimposed to each other if both are disposed on the same side of the touch-control panel.

15. The touch-control system according to claim 13, further comprising four reflective apparatuses disposed on the first, second, third and fourth sides of the touch-control panel, respectively, and configured to reflect lights toward the touch-control panel, wherein the reflective apparatus and the image sensing apparatus are arranged to be superimposed to each other if both are disposed on the same side of the touch-control pane, each image sensing apparatus comprises an infra-red (IR) illuminating apparatus and an IR-pass apparatus, and each image sensing apparatus is configured to capture images on the touch-control panel via the IR-pass apparatus.

16. A touch-control system adapted to be used with a plurality of pointers, the touch-control system comprising:

a touch-control panel;

a first pointer sensing module configured to sense a first set of image information of the pointers and accordingly calculate a first candidate coordinate group of the pointers;

a second pointer sensing module configured to sense a second set of image information of the pointers; and

a processing circuit electrically coupled to the first and second pointer sensing modules and configured to select, according to the second set of image information, two or more coordinate positions in the first candidate coordinate group to as actual coordinate positions of the pointers.

17. The touch-control system according to claim 16, wherein the first pointer sensing module comprises:

a first image sensing apparatus disposed on a side of the touch-control panel; and

a second image sensing apparatus disposed on a side of the touch-control panel, wherein an extension line of a center of a sensing range of the first image sensing apparatus and that of the second image sensing apparatus are configured to have a first angle therebetween.

18. The touch-control system according to claim 17, wherein the second pointer sensing module comprises:

a first pointer sensing apparatus disposed on a side of the touch-control panel; and

a second pointer sensing apparatus disposed on a side of the touch-control panel, wherein the extension line of the center of the sensing range of the first pointer sensing apparatus and that of the second pointer sensing apparatus are configured to have a second angle therebetween.