Display and control device for a motor vehicle and method for operating the same

• US 8,952,902 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2009
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Wller, Christoph, Bendewald, Lennart, Wengelnik, Heino, Dalchow, Jan-Lars, Bachfischer, Katharina, Heimermann, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Quan-Zhen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lin, Chun-Nan
• Application Number:
  US12/936,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20110109578A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-184
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A display device (3) is coupled to a touch-sensitive position detection unit (5) and a control unit (6) is coupled to the display device (3) and the position detection unit (5). The control unit has an evaluation logic (8) that evaluates touched positions (9) detected by the position detection unit (5) and uses the positions to influence the control of the representation of information on the display device (3) and the calling up of functions and/or the control of systems (11) that can be operated via the display and control device (1). The evaluation logic (8) is designed to evaluate the detected touched positions (9) in a time-resolved manner.

Claims

1. A display and control device for a motor vehicle, comprising:

at least one display device of the motor vehicle,

a touch-sensitive position detection unit coupled to the at least one display device, and

a control unit coupled to the at least one display device and the position detection unit and comprising an evaluation logic which evaluates touched positions detected by the position detection unit and hereby influences a control of a representation of information on the at least one display device and a calling up of at least one of functions and a control of systems that can be operated via the display and control device,

wherein the control unit assigns corresponding physical properties to a plurality of objects displayed on a display area of the at least one display device of the motor vehicle, the assigned physical properties related to a value for inertia or friction of each one of the plurality of objects affecting movement of the discrete object on the display area in combination with a detected operating impulse;

wherein the evaluation logic is operable to;

evaluate the detected touched positions in a time-resolved manner; and

identify at least one sequential series of detected touched positions that continuously merge into a touch trace generated by a grazing actuation movement across the display area of the at least one display device; and

wherein the evaluation logic includes a differentiator configured to detect, for each identified touch trace, at least one of a speed and an acceleration of the respective touch trace, and control a representation of information on the at least one display device based on the detected at least one of a speed and an acceleration of each identified touch trace.

2. The display and control device according to claim 1,

wherein the one touch-sensitive position detection unit is operable to detect the touched positions of at least two simultaneously occurring touches spaced apart from each other, and the evaluation logic is operable to evaluate the differing touched positions in coincidence.

3. The display and control device according to claim 1,

wherein the evaluation logic is operable to evaluate at least one of a direction of the touch trace, a form of the touch trace, a speed of a grazing actuation movement generating the touch trace, and an acceleration of the grazing actuation movement (grazing acceleration) generating the touch trace, respectively in order to identify a gesture.

4. The display and control device according to claim 1,

wherein the evaluation logic is operable to evaluate a plurality of simultaneously detected touch traces with respect to predetermined patterns to identify differing gestures and to influence the control according to the identified gestures.

5. The display and control device according to claim 1,

wherein the evaluation logic detects an operating impulse on the basis of a detected acceleration, with which the grazing actuation movement generating the touch trace is accomplished, and at least one direction of the touch trace as well as where applicable further properties of at least one of the touch trace and the movement generating the touch trace, and an object, in whose display area or activation area the touch trace starts, is moved on the display device according to a trajectory calculated on the basis of the assigned physical properties and the detected operating impulse.

6. The display and control device according to claim 1,

wherein at least one second further display area formed separate from a display area of the at least one display device is provided for and the control unit is designed to display an object, whose trajectory by a predetermined minimum length points out of the display area in a direction in which the at least one further display area is located, on the further display area.

7. The display and control device according to claim 1,

wherein a touched position detected in a display area or activation area of an object displayed on the display device causes an initiation of a function assigned to the object only if the touched position is a point of origin of a touch trace.

8. The display and control device according to claim 1,

wherein in the case of more than one simultaneously detected touch traces taking a course substantially in parallel towards each other, at least one of the detected operating impulse, a detected operating speed, and a detected touch trace length of one of the touch traces are increased.

9. The display and control device according to claim 1, wherein in the case of more than one simultaneously detected touch traces taking a course substantially in parallel towards each other, at least one of the detected operating impulse, a detected operating speed, and a detected touch trace length of one of the touch traces are multiplied.

10. A method for operating a display and control device of a motor vehicle, wherein the display and control device comprises a display device, a touch-sensitive position detection unit coupled to the display device and a control unit coupled to the display device and the position detection unit, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

detecting touched positions by the touch-sensitive position detection unit of the motor vehicle,

evaluating the detected touched positions by an evaluation logic of the control unit of the motor vehicle,

assigning corresponding physical properties to a plurality of objects displayed on a display area of the display device of the motor vehicle based on the evaluation of the detected touched positions, the assigned physical properties related to a value for inertia or friction of each one of the plurality of objects affecting movement of the discrete object on the display area in combination with a detected operating impulse;

identifying, by the evaluation logic of the control unit, at least one sequential series of detected touched positions that continuously merge into a touch trace generated by a grazing actuation movement across the display area of the at least one display device; and

applying, by the evaluation logic of the control unit, a differentiation algorithm to detect, for each identified touch trace, at least one of a speed and an acceleration of the respective touch trace, and, based on the detected at least one of a speed and an acceleration of each identified touch trace, to at least one control a representation of information on the at least one display device and control a system that can be operated via the display and control device.

11. The method according to claim 10, comprising detecting touched positions of at least two simultaneously occurring touches spaced apart from each other by the touch-sensitive position detection unit and evaluating the differing touched positions in coincidence by the evaluation logic.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the evaluation detects at least one of a direction of the touch trace, a form of the touch trace, a speed of a grazing actuation movement generating the touch trace, and an acceleration of the grazing actuation movement (grazing acceleration) generating the touch trace to identify a gesture dependent therefrom.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein a plurality of simultaneously detected touch traces are evaluated with respect to predetermined patterns to identify different gestures.

14. The method according to claim 10, further comprising assigning physical properties to objects displayed on a display area on the basis of a detected acceleration, with which a grazing actuation movement generating the touch trace is accomplished, and detecting an operating impulse from at least one direction of the touch trace as well as where applicable further properties of at least one of the touch trace and a movement generating the touch trace, and moving an object, in whose display area or activation area the touch trace begins, on the display device according to a trajectory calculated on the basis of the assigned physical properties and the detected operating impulse.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the display and control device comprises at least two display areas formed separate from each other, and an object, whose trajectory points out of one of the display areas by a predetermined minimum length in a direction in which the at least one other of the display areas is located, is displayed in the other of the at least two display areas.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein for a touched position detected in a display area or an activation area of an object displayed on the display device an initiation of a function assigned to the object is caused only if the touched position is a point of origin of a touch trace.

17. The method of according to claim 10, further comprising detecting by the evaluation logic, in the case of more than one simultaneously detected touch traces which take a course substantially in parallel towards each other, at least one of the detected operating impulse, a detected operating speed, a detected touch trace length of one of the touch traces and increasing the respective values of the one touch trace.

18. The method of according to claim 10, further comprising detecting by the evaluation logic, in the case of more than one simultaneously detected touch traces which take a course substantially in parallel towards each other, at least one of the detected operating impulse, a detected operating speed, a detected touch trace length of one of the touch traces and multiplying the respective values of the one touch trace.