ELECTRONIC APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM

• US 20150378478A1
• Filed: 02/13/2014
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: SUGITA, Yasuhiro, KIMURA, Tomohiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,727,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• 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

Abstract

A receiving device (1a) includes a position/angle determining section (505) for determining a position of a transmitting device (1b) in relation to the receiving device (1a) by judging which of a plurality of sense lines (SL) provided in a touch panel (14) of the receiving device has received at least one of pulse signals transmitted from a touch panel (14) included in the transmitting device (1b).

Claims

1. An electronic device serving as a receiving device, comprising:

a receiving-end touch panel being a capacitive touch panel which detects contact of a target object or approach thereof, the receiving-end touch panel including receiving-end sense lines each capable of receiving at least one of pulse signals applied to respective transmitting-end drive lines which are provided in a transmitting-end touch panel, being a capacitive touch panel, of a transmitting device having contacted or approached the electronic device; and

a determining section for determining a position of the transmitting device in relation to the electronic device by judging which of the receiving-end sense lines has received the at least one of the pulse signals transmitted from the respective transmitting-end drive lines.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1 wherein

the determining section performs the judgment by detecting a change in capacitance value which change occurs in at least one of the receiving-end sense lines due to a coupling capacitance that has occurred between the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines and at least one of the transmitting-end drive lines.

3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein

the determining section determines a positional relation of the at least one of the transmitting-end drive lines to the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines, by generating distribution of capacitance values which have occurred at the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines due to the coupling capacitance, the distribution showing a relationship between (i) the capacitance values and (ii) a position of at least one of the receiving-end touch panel and the transmitting-end touch panel, at which touch panel the capacitance values have occurred.

4. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein:

the pulse signals are applied to the respective transmitting-end drive lines in accordance with a predetermined application pattern indicative of a combination of values of voltages which are simultaneously applied, per period, to the respective transmitting-end drive lines and which are equal in number to the transmitting-end drive lines;

the application pattern is defined such that a pattern of capacitance values which are obtained when coupling capacitances occur in accordance with the predetermined application pattern and which are equal in number to the transmitting-end drive lines, matches one of a predetermined number of particular patterns indicative of respective combinations of the capacitance values, the particular patterns being associated in advance with a respective predetermined number of positional relations of the at least one of the transmitting-end drive lines to the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines;

the determining section determines the positional relation of the at least one of the transmitting-end drive lines to the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines by determining which of the particular patterns matches the pattern of the capacitance values obtained at the occurrence of the coupling capacitances at the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein

out of a plurality of receiving-end detection electrodes of which each of the receiving-end sense lines is made up, a receiving-end detection electrode provided along an outer edge of the receiving-end touch panel receives the at least one of the pulse signals.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein

the determining section determines an angle, in an operation screen of the receiving-end touch panel, between (i) a reference line set within an operation screen of the transmitting-end touch panel and (ii) a reference line set within the operation screen of the receiving-end touch panel.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a receiving-end drive control section for controlling application of pulse signals for detecting the contact of the target object or the approach thereof to respective receiving-end drive lines provided in the receiving-end touch panel,

the receiving-end drive control section stopping the application of the pulse signals to the respective receiving-end drive lines, in a case where the determining section determines the position of the transmitting device.

8. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a receiving-end casing into which the receiving-end touch panel is incorporated,

a minimum distance between the receiving-end touch panel and an outside surface of the receiving-end casing is not larger than a detectable distance within which the receiving-end touch panel is capable of detecting the contact of the target object with the outside surface or the approach thereof to the outside surface.

9. The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein

the receiving-end touch panel is provided so as to overlap a receiving-end display screen.

10. An electronic device serving as a transmitting device, comprising:

a transmitting-end touch panel being a capacitive touch panel which detects contact of a target object or approach thereof, the transmitting-end touch panel including transmitting-end drive lines; and

a transmitting-end casing into which the transmitting-end touch panel is incorporated,

wherein a minimum distance between the transmitting-end touch panel and an outside surface of the transmitting-end casing is not larger than a detectable distance within which the transmitting-end touch panel is capable of detecting the contact of the target object with the outside surface or the approach thereof to the outside surface,

wherein at least one of pulse signals for detecting the contact of the target object or the approach thereof, the pulse signals having been applied to the respective transmitting-end drive lines, is received by a receiving-end touch panel, which is a capacitive touch panel provided in a receiving device capable of receiving the at least one of the pulse signals, when the receiving device approaches or contacts the electronic device, in order that the receiving device is allowed to determine a position of the electronic device.

11. The electronic device according to claim 10, further comprising:

a transmitting-end drive control section for carrying out drive control with respect to transmitting-end sense lines in order that a change in capacitance formed between at least one of the transmitting-end drive lines and at least one of the transmitting-end sense lines is detected,

the transmitting-end drive control section applying the pulse signals to the respective transmitting-end drive lines in accordance with a predetermined application pattern indicative of a combination of values of voltages which are simultaneously applied, per period, to the respective transmitting-end drive lines and which are equal in number to the transmitting-end drive lines.

12. The electronic device according to claim 11, wherein

the transmitting-end drive control section stops the drive control carried out with respect to the transmitting-end sense lines, in a case where the position of the electronic device is determined by the receiving device.

13. The electronic device according to claim 10, wherein

the transmitting-end touch panel is provided so as to overlap a transmitting-end display screen.

19. An information processing system comprising:

an electronic device serving as a receiving device, the electronic device including;

a receiving-end touch panel being a capacitive touch panel which detects contact of a target object or approach thereof, the receiving-end touch panel including receiving-end sense lines each capable of receiving at least one of pulse signals applied to respective transmitting-end drive lines which are provided in a transmitting-end touch panel, being a capacitive touch panel, of a transmitting device having contacted or approached the electronic device; and

a determining section for determining a position of the transmitting device in relation to the electronic device by judging which of the receiving-end sense lines has received the at least one of the pulse signals transmitted from the respective transmitting-end drive lines; and

an electronic device, recited in claim 10, which transmits the pulse signal.

14. An electronic device serving as a receiving device, comprising:

a receiving-end touch panel being a capacitive touch panel which detects contact of a target object or approach thereof, the receiving-end touch panel including receiving-end sense lines and receiving-end drive lines, the receiving-end sense lines being each capable of receiving at least one of pulse signals applied to respective transmitting-end drive lines which are provided in a transmitting-end touch panel, being a capacitive touch panel, of a transmitting device having contacted or approached the electronic device; and

a changing section for changing a timing with which pulse signals are applied to the respective receiving-end drive lines, in accordance with a correlation value between (i) the at least one of the pulse signals applied to the respective transmitting-end drive lines, which one is received by at least one of the receiving-end sense lines, and (ii) a predetermined pattern signal corresponding to at least one of pulse signals applied to the respective receiving-end drive lines of the receiving-end touch panel.

15. The electronic device according to claim 14, wherein:

in a case where it is determined that the correlation value is a value around 0 (zero), the changing section determines that the at least one of the pulse signals which one is received by the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines is not synchronized with the at least one of the pulse signals applied to the respective receiving-end drive lines;

in a case where it is determined that the correlation value is a maximum value, the changing section determines that the at least one of the pulse signals which one is received by the at least one of the receiving-end sense lines is synchronized with the at least one of the pulse signals applied to the respective receiving-end drive lines.

16-18. -18. (canceled)