1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method and controller for identifying a movement simulating the button keys of a mouse and particularly to a method for identifying a single tap, double taps and a drag and a controller of a touch device employing the method.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
The Graphical User Interface (GUI), which is a program operation interface developed by PARC research lab of ZEROX CO., can work with a pointing device such as the mouse. An action desired by a user is performed easily by means of a pointer type mouse with clicking the button key on the mouse to overcome the inconvenience resulted from the conventional character mode, which requires to input complicated instructions. Hence, the GUI has been adopted by Apple Computer Co. and Microsoft Co., respectively, and has become a mainstream mode in all the operation systems. Therefore, it is essential that the electronic equipment such as the desktop computer, the laptop computer, the tablet computer, the personal digital assistant (PDA) and etc. adapted with the GUI provides the pointing device.
The currently available pointing devices are the mouse, which is externally disposed, the locus ball and the touch panel, which are built in the portable computer system respectively, and the touch panel, which is associated with the screen. The mouse is the earliest developed pointing device and, hereinafter, it is taken as an example to explain the function of the pointing device. The mouse is capable of controlling the pointer on the screen of the electronic device, i.e., the pointer moves in accordance with the mouse. Then, the executed target on the screen is pointed with mouse and the control key is pressed by the user to instruct the electronic device to carry out a certain function. However, the electronic equipment is currently designed to pursue smallness, shortness, lightness and thinness. For instance, the laptop computer has replaced the desktop computer gradually such that the small sized touch device such as the touch panel becoming the most popular pointing device is a trend in the near future.
The touch device can he classified into the capacitance type, resistance type, electromagnet type, pressure type, inductance type, surface sound wave type, supersonic types and optics type based on the applied techniques. When an object such as the finger moves on the touch device, the pointer is controlled to move along with the moving direction of the object. In addition, the pointing device has a function of instructing an execution.
The operation of the mouse is explained hereinafter. When the pointer moves to a target such as a program or a document, which is going to be started, a button key can be clicked once (the default button key is the left key) to select the target and the button key can be clicked one after another to select and start the target. Further, when the button key is kept pressing and the mouse is moved at the same time, the target is dragged to another spot. Nevertheless, it is possible to define a specific gesture of the object on the touch device to perform the same purpose as the preceding operation of the mouse.
Referring to
Referring to
As the foregoing, in order to improve the responding time while identifying the single tap, the double taps and the drag under a condition of keeping the simpler determination way for lowering the setup cost of the logic circuit is a subject worth to breakthrough.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a method for identifying a single tap.
A method for identifying a single tap during an object contacting a touch device according to the primary object of the present invention comprises the following steps: (a) detecting a first hit-movement being conducted by the object touching the touch device; (b) starting a time-counting if a detected result of step (a) is “YES”; (c) detecting if said object leaves the touch device within a first reference time interval; (d) generating an operation signal to represent a start of the hit-movement at the time of the first reference time interval ending if a detected result of step (c) is “YES”; (e) detecting if a second hit-movement is conducted by the object touching said touch device within a second reference time interval after said the reference time interval; (f) maintaining the operation signal to represent the second hit-movement being conducted if a detected result of step (e) is “YES”; and (g) terminating said operation signal at the time of the second reference time interval ending to represent a cease of the second hit-movement if a detected result of step (e) is “NO” for completing the single tap.
Next, the second object of the present invention is to provide a controller for a touch device.
A controller, which is capable of identifying a movement of an object on a touch device, according to the second object of the present invention comprises: a touch-detect unit detecting a first hit-movement of the object touching said touch device and generating a touch signal corresponding to the first hit-movement; a timer unit to count a time duration from the object initially contacting said touch device till the object leaving the touch device; and a gesture-operation unit determining if an operation signal is generated at the time of a first reference time interval ending to represent a start of said first hit-movement based on a detected result of the touch-detect unit showing the first hit-movement occurring within the first reference time interval, maintaining the operation signal in a second reference time interval based on another detected result of the object touching said touch device showing a second hit-movement occurring within the second reference time interval, and terminating the operation signal at the time of the second reference time interval ending if the second hit-movement does not occur within the second reference time interval.
Further, the third object of the present invention is to provide a method for identifying double taps.
A method for identifying double taps during an object contacting a touch device according to the third object of present invention comprises following steps: (a) detecting a first hit-movement of the object touching the touch device; (b) starting a time-counting if a detected result of step (a) is “YES”; (c) detecting if the object leaves the touch device within a first reference time interval; (d) generating a first operation signal to represent a start of the first hit-movement at the time of said first reference time interval ending if a detected result of step (c) is “YES”; (e) detecting if a second hit-movement of the object touching the touch device and then leaving the touch device within a second reference time interval after the first reference time interval; (f) terminating the first operation signal to represent a cease of the first hit-movement during the second reference time interval if a detected result of step (e) is “YES”; and (g) generating a second operation signal and then terminating the second operation signal to represent the second hit-movement for completing the double taps.
Further, the fourth object of the present invention is to provide a controller of a controller.
A controller, which is capable of identifying a movement of an object on a touch device, according to the fourth object of the present invention comprises: a touch-detect unit detecting a first hit-movement of the object touching the touch device and generating a touch signal corresponding to the first hit-movement; a timer unit counting a time duration from an initiation of the hit-movement till a cease of the first hit-movement; and a gesture-operation unit determining if a first operation signal is generated at the time of a first reference time interval ending to represent a start of the first hit-movement based on a detected result of the touch-detect unit showing the first hit-movement occurring within the first reference time interval, terminating the first operation signal at the time of a second reference time interval to represent the cease of the first hit-movement based on another detected result of the touch-detect unit showing a second hit-movement of the object touching the touch device and then leaving the touch device within the second reference time interval, and generating and terminating a second operation signal to represent a start and a cease of the second hit-movement for completing the double taps.
Further, the fifth object of the present invention is to provide a method for identifying a drag.
A method for identifying a drag according to the fifth object of the present invention comprises following steps: (a) detecting if a first hit-movement being conducted by the object touching said touch device; (b) starting a time-counting if a detected result of step (a) is “YES”; (c) detecting if the object leaves the touch device within a first reference time interval; (d) generating a first operation signal to represent a start of the first hit-movement at the time of the first reference time interval ending if a detected result of step (c) is “YES”, (e) detecting if a second hit-movement being conducted by the object touching the touch device and then leaves the touch device within a second reference time interval after the first reference time interval; and (f) generating a second operation signal continuously till a cease of the second hit-movement has been detected by the touch-detect device for completing the drag.
Further, the sixth object of the present invention is to provide a controller for a touch device.
A controller, which is capable of identifying a movement of an object on a touch device, according to the sixth object of the present invention comprises: a touch-detect unit detecting a first hit-movement of the object touching the touch device and generating a touch signal corresponding to the first hit-movement; a timer unit counting a time duration from the object initially contacting the touch device till the object leaving the touch device; and a gesture-operation unit determining if a first operation signal is generated at the time of a first reference time interval ending to represent a start of said first hit-movement based on a detected result of the touch-detect unit showing the first hit-movement occurring within the first reference time interval, determining a second hit-movement of the object occurring within a second reference time without leaving the touch device based on another detected result of the touch-detect device and continuously generating a second operation signal from the second reference time interval ending till a cease of the second hit-movement for completing the drag.
In short, the effect of a method for identifying a single tap, double taps and a drag according to the present invention is capable of improving the responding time while identifying the single tap, the double taps and the drag and keeping the simpler determination way for lowering the setup cost of the logic circuit.
The detail structure, the applied principle, the function and the effectiveness of the present invention can be more fully understood with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
The object 2 is used for contacting the touch device 3, that is, movements of the object 2 on the touch device 3 induce the controller 1 to emit operation signals, which correspond to the movements, to the main frame 4. Generally, the operation signals are relating to changes of coordinates, a single tap, double taps, a drag, a move, a scrolling, a left key, a right key, a middle key, and etc. to further simulate the behaviors of the mouse and the keyboard. Of course, the object 2 and the touch device 3 are required to correspond to each other. For instance, the touch device 3 is a capacitance type touch device and the object 2 should be a conductor such as a finger of the human.
The main frame 4 can be an electronic device such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cell phone, a remote control or any input devices capable of adapting to the touch device 3.
A preferred embodiment of the controller 1 includes an analog/digital converting unit 11, a coordinates-calculating unit 12, a touch-detect unit 13, a gesture-operation unit 14, an encoding unit 15, a transmission-interface unit 16 and a timer unit 17.
Due to multiple conductor lines being distributed along X-axis and Y-axis of the touch device 3, a capacitance change is generated on the touch device 3 at the time of the object 2 touching the touch device 3. Hence, the voltage change can be measured and values such as coordinates can be figured out correspondingly.
The analog/digital converting unit 11 is connected to the touch device 3 to convert different voltages into corresponding digital signals for further processing. The coordinates-calculating unit 12 receives the digital signals from the analog/digital converting unit 11 and decodes the digital signals as the absolute coordinates (X, Y) corresponding to the digital signals.
The touch-detect unit 13 is capable of detecting if the touch device 3 is pressed by the object 2 instantly, i.e., the touch-detect unit 13 can detect where the object 2 contacting the touch device 3 according to the X and Y voltage signals transmitted by the touch device 3 and then produces a corresponding touch-signal. In other words, the touch-detect unit 13 generates the touch-signal, which is the wave of the first time interval T1 as shown in
The gesture-operation unit 14 is connected to both of the coordinates-calculating unit 12 and the touch-detect unit 13 to determine if the movements of the object 2 meet the criteria of a single tap, double taps, or a drag based on the result detected by the touch-detect unit 13 in association with a built-in identifying logic. The identifying logic utilizes a first reference time interval TLB1 and a second reference time interval TLB2 shown in
The gesture-operation unit 14 offers relative displacements in addition to identifying the movements, i.e., the gesture-operation unit 14 is capable of figuring out the relative displacements of the object 2 on the touch device 3 in accordance with the differences between the fore-coordinates and the after-coordinates when multiple absolute coordinates are sent to the gesture-operation unit 14. Even more, the parameters such as velocity, direction and distance can be figured out as well. As for that the absolute coordinates or the relative displacements should be sent to the main frame 4, it depends on the application need of the main frame 4.
The encoding unit 15 is connected the gesture-operation unit 14 to receive the absolute coordinates signals, the relative displacement signals or the operation signals (the signals related to movements including a single tap, double taps and a drag). The encoding unit 15 encodes the different signals as a hand-writing input protocol or a standard mouse protocol such as the mouse standard protocol of Microsoft Co. or the PS/2 mouse standard protocol of IBM available for being processed with operation system of the main frame 4.
The transmission-interface unit 16 is used to send the encoded signals to the main frame 4 serially. Taking the desktop computer as an example, the encoded signals are transmitted to a controller of the keyboard (not shown) or to the south bridge chip (not shown) and an interrupt request can be emitted to a processor of the main frame 4. In this way, it allows the main frame 4 to acquire the required parameters such as locations of the coordinates and performed movements for further carrying out the movement of the pointor, selection of the program or execution of the program.
Referring to
First of all, step 51 shows that the touch-detect unit 13 has detected a movement of the object 2 on the touch device 3 and generates a corresponding touch signal. It can be seen in
Next, step 52 shows that the gesture-operation unit 14 monitors if the touch-detect unit 13 has detected that the movement of the object 2 on the touch device 3 is terminated within the first reference time interval TLB1 (the temperate state of the low reference level changing to the high reference level). If termination of the movement of the object 2 on the touch device 3 has not been detected by the touch-detect unit 13, the process is back to step 51 and the touch-detect unit 13 starts over to detect the movement of the object 2 on the touch device 3.
If the termination of the movement of the object 2 on the touch device 3 is detected by the touch-detect unit 13, then step 53 is processed and the gesture-operation unit 14 figures out the wave shape change performed by the finger within the first time interval T1 via the timer unit 17 and generates a negative margin (the temperate state of the high reference level changing to the low reference level) as shown in
Further, step 54 is processed and the gesture-operation unit 14 determines if the object 2 touches the touch device 3 the second time within the second reference time interval TLB2 according to the result detected by the touch-detect unit 13 within the second reference time interval TLB2. Under this circumference, the preceding operation signal, which represents the hit-movement being started, is maintained in the second reference time interval TLB2.
If another touch of the object 2 on the touch device 3 is not operated within the second reference time interval TLB2, step 55 is processed and the operation signal is ceased at the time of the second reference time interval TLB2 ending and it represent the termination of a hit-movement for completing a single tap.
It is noted that although the gesture-operation unit 14 sending out the operation signal represents the single tap, the integral determination done by the gesture-operation unit 14 is based on all the movements of the object 2 on the touch device 3 within the first reference time interval TLB1 and the second reference time interval TLB2. Hence, if the touch-detect unit 13 has detected other touch signals (the detected result is “YES” in step 54) within the second reference time interval TLB2, the preceding operation signal is changed to the double taps, which are processed with step 56 or the drag, which is processed with step 57.
Step 56 in company with
Another situation extended from the detected result being “YES” in step 54 is shown in step 57 in company with
It is appreciated that a method for identifying a single tap, double taps and a drag and a controller employing the method according to the present invention has the following advantages:
(1) Comparing to the prior art of the first mentioned cited references, the method and the controller of the present invention are capable of identifying the single tap, the double taps and the drag simply without an arrangement of multiple counters such that less complicated circuit design can be obtained to lower the fabrication cost effectively.
(2) Comparing to the prior art of the second mentioned cited references, if the detection time interval Tdetect keeps the same, the method and controller of the present invention for identifying the single tap can provide the operation signal for allowing the timing of the second reference time interval TLB2 being earlier than the prior art of the second mentioned cited references does.
(3) Comparing to the prior art of the second mentioned cited references, if the detection time interval Tdetect keeps the same, the method and controller of the present invention for identifying the double taps can send out the first operation signal TLB2 earlier than the prior art of the second mentioned cited references does such that the time for sending the signal is significantly reduced.
(4) Comparing to the prior art of the second mentioned cited references, if the detection time interval Tdetect keeps the same, the method and controller of the present invention for identifying the drag allows the first reference time interval TLB1 being earlier than the prior art of the second mentioned cited references does.
(5) It can be understood that it is advantageous from the preceding advantages (2), (3) and (4) that the method and controller of the present invention enhance the response speed for operating the touch device 3.
While the invention has been described with referencing to preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that modifications or variations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of this invention which is defined by the appended claims.