Patent Application
20140085217
1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure generally relates to an electronic apparatus and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to an electronic apparatus with a touch sensor and a strength sensor and a control method thereof
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of science and technology, many consumer electronic apparatuses are available on the market, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and e-books. These electronic apparatuses are not only to facilitate the lives of people, but also to play an indispensable role in the life, and these electronic apparatuses have a smaller size and a light weight in order to easily carry by handholding.
Taking the mobile phone as an example, with the progress of the touch display technology, the mobile phone's touching display function has gradually replaced the function of the traditional physical keys. Further, in order to achieve the purpose of usage convenience, still some physical keys are used and disposed on the case of the mobile phone for controlling different function. For example, the physical key for controlling volume is disposed on a side surface of the case to allow the user to facilitate adjusting the volume during the call. However, when too many physical keys are disposed on the electronic apparatus, the disadvantages are obvious that the aesthetic feeling of overall appearance is spoiled and it prevents the overall thinner design of the electronic apparatus.
Accordingly, the disclosure is directed to an electronic apparatus, which has virtual keys to replace the traditional physical keys for producing a control signal.
The disclosure is also directed to a control method, which is capable of producing a control signal by using the virtual keys of the electronic apparatus to replace the traditional physical keys.
The disclosure provides an electronic apparatus, which includes a case, a touch sensor, a strength sensor and a controller. The touch sensor is disposed at the case and capable of sensing whether the case is touched. The strength sensor is disposed at the case and capable of sensing whether the case is pressed. The controller is disposed in the case and electrically couple to the touch sensor and the strength sensor. According to the touch sensor for sensing whether the case is touched and according to the strength sensor for sensing whether the case is pressed, the controller produces a control signal.
The disclosure provides a control method adapted to an electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus includes a case, a touch sensor, a strength sensor and a controller. The touch sensor, the strength sensor and the controller are disposed at the case, and the controller is electrically couple to the touch sensor and the strength sensor. The touch sensor senses whether the case is touched and the strength sensor senses whether the case is pressed. According to the touch sensor for sensing whether the case is touched and according to the strength sensor for sensing whether the case is pressed, the controller produces a control signal.
Based on the description above, the electronic apparatus of the disclosure has a touch sensor, a strength sensor and a controller all disposed at the case. The touch sensor is capable of sensing whether the case is touched, the strength sensor is capable of sensing whether the case is pressed and the controller is capable of producing a control signal to execute a specific function, for example, a power switching function, a volume adjusting function or a frame scrolling function. Using the above-mentioned design, the touch sensor and the strength sensor can replace the traditional physical keys to make the electronic apparatus have better appearance and to facilitate forming a thinner shape.
In order to make the features and advantages of the present disclosure more comprehensible, the present disclosure is further described in detail in the following with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings.
The touch sensor 120a is disposed in the case 110 and capable of sensing whether the case 110 is touched. The strength sensor 130 is disposed in the case 110 and capable of sensing whether the case 110 is pressed. The controller 140 is disposed in the case 110 and electrically couple to the touch sensor 120a and the strength sensor 130. According to the touch sensor 120a for sensing whether the case 110 is touched and according to the strength sensor 130 for sensing whether the case 110 is pressed, the controller produces a control signal produces a control signal to execute a specific function, for example, a power switching function, a volume adjusting function or a screen scrolling function.
The electronic apparatus 100 of the embodiment, for example, further includes a speaker 150 disposed in the case 110 and electrically couple to the controller 140. After the touch sensor 120a senses out the case 110 is touched and the strength sensor 130 senses out the case 110 is pressed against with the pressing force P1, the control signal (volume adjusting signal) produced by the controller 140 is delivered to the speaker 150 for adjusting the volume of the speaker 150.
Referring to
For example, when the finger F1 does not touch the case 110 at the specific area 110a, the touch sensor 120a will not deliver the touching signal to the controller 140. After the finger F1 touches the case 110 at the specific area 110a and the pressing force of the finger F1 produces a deformation with the case 110, the touch sensor 120a and the strength sensor 130 respectively deliver the touching signal and the pressing signal to the controller 140. When the deformation of the case 110 is greater than the threshold (deformation amount) of the controller 140, the controller 140 produces the control signal. As a result, by that the finger F1 touches the specific area 110a of the case 110 and the pressing force of the case 110 is greater than the threshold of the controller 140, it can avoid a wrong action of the corresponding electronic component due to mis-touching the controller 140.
In addition, under the following cases, the controller 140 in the embodiment can also produce a control signal.
In addition, the touch sensor 120a in the embodiment is capable of sensing whether the touching point on the case 110 moves. When the touch sensor 120a senses out the touching point on the case 110 moves, the controller 140 would produce the control signal according to the moving direction of the touching point. For example, after the controller 140 produces the control signal to adjust the volume of the speaker 150 and the finger F1 moves along a first direction D1 parallel to the longitudinal direction of the case 110, the control signal of the controller 140 drives the speaker 150 to adjust the volume.
In summary, the touch sensor of the disclosure is capable of sensing whether the case is touched, the strength sensor is capable of sensing whether the case is pressed. Therefore, under different cases, the controller can produce different control signal corresponding to different electronic component. Using the above-mentioned design, the touch sensor and the strength sensor can form a virtual key to provide the functions of the conventional physical keys, which can reduce the physical keys disposed on the case to maintain the aesthetic feeling of appearance of the electronic apparatus. In addition, since no more physical key is on the surface of the case, it also facilitates forming a thinner shape. In addition, when the touch sensor is disposed at a specific area of the case and the pressing force the of case is greater than the threshold of the controller, it can avoid wrong action of the corresponding electronic component due to mis-touching the controller.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the descriptions above are several preferred embodiments of the disclosure only, which does not limit the implementing range of the disclosure. Various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. The claim scope of the disclosure is defined by the claims hereinafter.
