Patent Application
20170123560
The present invention relates to user-input detection, and more particularly to a method for performing user-input control in an electronic device, and an associated apparatus. For example, as a result of implementing the electronic device according to the method and the apparatus, one or more operations of the electronic device may be activated with aid of virtual force detection of a user input applied to the electronic device.
According to the related art, a conventional electronic device maybe equipped with a touch-sensitive module such as a touch-screen, to allow a user of the conventional electronic device to interact with the conventional electronic device through touching the touch-sensitive module. However, some problems may occur. For example, the touch-sensitive module cannot detect the pressure that a finger of the user applied to the touch-sensitive module. Although integrating pressure sensors into the touch-sensitive module may be proposed, associated costs (e.g. material and labor costs) may be increased due to adding the pressure sensors. In addition, this design may lead to an increased thickness of the touch-sensitive module, where there should be a physical limitation when trying to make the touch-sensitive module compact. Thus, a novel method and associated architecture are required for performing user-input control with aid of virtual force detection.
It is an objective of the claimed invention to provide a method for performing user-input control in an electronic device, and an associated apparatus, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.
It is another objective of the claimed invention to provide a method for performing user-input control in an electronic device, and an associated apparatus, in order to control the electronic device with aid of virtual force detection.
According to at least one preferred embodiment, a method for performing user-input control in an electronic device is provided, where the method may comprise the steps of: obtaining at least one touch parameter of a touch event regarding a touch-sensitive module of the electronic device, wherein the touch-sensitive module does not comprise a pressure sensor; determining a touch force value associated with the touch event according to the at least one touch parameter; and selecting a predetermined operation from a plurality of predetermined operations according to the touch force value, to control the electronic device to perform the predetermined operation in response to the touch force value. For example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event may be obtained from the touch-sensitive module. In another example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event may be obtained by processing one or more detection signals received from the touch-sensitive module.
According to at least one preferred embodiment, an apparatus for performing user-input control in an electronic device is provided, where the apparatus may comprise at least one portion (e.g. a portion or all) of the electronic device. For example, the apparatus may comprise a processing circuit that is positioned within the electronic device and coupled to a touch-sensitive module of the electronic device. The processing circuit may be arranged for obtaining at least one touch parameter of a touch event regarding the touch-sensitive module of the electronic device, determining a touch force value associated with the touch event according to the at least one touch parameter, and selecting a predetermined operation from a plurality of predetermined operations according to the touch force value, to control the electronic device to perform the predetermined operation in response to the touch force value, wherein the touch-sensitive module does not comprise a pressure sensor. For example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event may be obtained from the touch-sensitive module. In another example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event may be obtained by processing one or more detection signals received from the touch-sensitive module, where the processing circuit may process the aforementioned one or more detection signals received from the touch-sensitive module, to generate the at least one touch parameter of the touch event.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the present invention method and apparatus can guarantee the overall performance of the whole system. In addition, the present invention method and apparatus can perform virtual force detection. As a result, the related art problems may no longer be an issue.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims, which refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, electronic equipment manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not in function. In the following description and in the claims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but not limited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical connection. Accordingly, if one device is coupled to another device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections.
As shown in
In Step 210, the processing circuit 110 may obtain at least one touch parameter (e.g. one or more touch parameters) of a touch event regarding the touch-sensitive module 120 of the electronic device. For example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter may include, but not limited to, an estimated touch point (e.g. the location thereof), an estimated area, an estimated duration, an estimated proximity value, an estimated touch action (e.g. down, up, move, etc.), and any of other types of parameters associated with the touch event. According to some embodiments, the processing circuit 110 may receive one or more detection signals from the touch-sensitive module 120 and process the one or more detection signals to generate the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event. Thus, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event may be obtained by processing the one or more detection signals received from the touch-sensitive module 120. According to some embodiments, at least one internal component of the touch-sensitive module 120 may process the one or more detection signals to generate the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event. Thus, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event may be obtained from the touch-sensitive module 120.
In Step 220, the processing circuit 110 may determine a touch force value associated with the touch event according to the aforementioned at least one touch parameter, the touch force value may indicate the force that the user of the electronic device applies to the touch-sensitive module 120 in the touch event. For example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter may comprise an estimated area associated with the touch event, such as the area that the fingertip of a finger of the user touches the touch-sensitive module 120, where the touch force value maybe positively correlated with the estimated area. In another example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter may comprise an estimated duration associated with the touch event, such as the duration that the fingertip of a finger of the user touches the touch-sensitive module 120, where the touch force value may be positively correlated with the estimated duration. In yet another example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter may comprise an estimated proximity value associated with the touch event, such as the distance between the fingertip of a finger of the user and the touch-sensitive module 120, where the touch force value may be positively correlated with the estimated proximity value.
In Step 230, the processing circuit 110 may select a predetermined operation from a plurality of predetermined operations according to the touch force value, to control the electronic device to perform the predetermined operation in response to the touch force value. For example, there maybe a plurality of candidate touch force values corresponding to different ranges of the aforementioned at least one touch parameter, and the processing circuit 110 may select one of the plurality of candidate touch force values as the touch force value according to the range(s) that the touch parameter(s) (e.g. the estimated area, the estimated duration, and/or the estimated proximity value) falls within. In another example, the processing circuit 110 may calculate the touch force value according to the touch parameter(s).
In general, the processing circuit 110 may be arranged for obtaining the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event regarding the touch-sensitive module 120 of the electronic device. For example, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter maybe obtained by processing the aforementioned one or more detection signals received from the touch-sensitive module 120, where the processing circuit 110 may process the aforementioned one or more detection signals received from the touch-sensitive module 120, to generate aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event. This is for illustrative purposes only, and is not meant to be a limitation of the present invention. According to some embodiments, the architecture of the electronic device may vary. For example, in a situation where the touch sensor controller is positioned outside the processing circuit 110, the touch sensor controller may be integrated into the touch-sensitive module 120. As a result, the aforementioned at least one touch parameter of the touch event may be obtained from the touch-sensitive module 120, rather than being obtained from internal of the processing circuit 110. According to one or more of these embodiments, while the touch sensor controller may perform the operation of Step 210, an application processor within the aforementioned at least one processor and/or a processor core of the application processor may perform the operation of Step 220 and the operation of Step 230. For brevity, similar descriptions for these embodiments are not repeated in detail here.
In Step 310, the processing circuit 110 (e.g. the touch panel controller) may detect a touch event such as that mentioned above.
In Step 320, the processing circuit 110 (e.g. the touch panel controller) may report touch parameter(s) to a framework and/or an application, where the framework and/or application can be taken as examples of the program modules mentioned in some of the above embodiments.
In Step 330, the processing circuit 110 (e.g. the framework and/or application running on the aforementioned at least one processor or the aforementioned at least one processor core) may compute the touch force value associated with the touch event according to one or more of the touch parameters, such as an estimated touch point (e.g. the location thereof), an estimated area, an estimated duration, an estimated proximity value, an estimated touch action (e.g. down, up, move, etc.), and any of other types of parameters associated with the touch event.
In Step 340, the processing circuit 110 may generate the touch force value.
In Step 350, the processing circuit 110 may do action(s) (e.g. one or more of the plurality of predetermined operations) according to the touch force value. Examples of the action(s) may include, but not limited to, vibration, sound, change user interface (UI), and any of other types of actions.
According to some embodiments, the touch panel controller may be positioned outside the processing circuit 110, where the touch panel controller may detect the touch event in Step 310, and may report the touch parameter(s) to the framework and/or an application. For brevity, similar descriptions for these embodiments are not repeated in detail here.
According to some embodiments, in Step 330, the processing circuit 110 (e.g. the framework and/or application running on the aforementioned at least one processor or the aforementioned at least one processor core) may define multiple ranges of touch area such as the three ranges of touch area {TA_SMALL, TA_MEDIUM, TA_BIG}, multiple ranges of touch duration such as the three ranges of touch duration {TD_SHORT, TD_MEDIUM, TD_LONG}, and multiple touch force values such as the two touch force values {TF_LIGHT, TF_HEAVY}, which may have the following relationships:
TA_SMALL<TA_MEDIUM<TA_BIG;
TD_SHORT<TD_MEDIUM<TD_LONG; and
TF_LIGHT<TF_HEAVY;
where the number of ranges of touch area, the number of ranges of touch duration, and the number of touch force values may vary in different examples. In one example, the processing circuit 110 may compute the touch force value as shown in the following pseudo codes:
where the parameters touch_area, touch_duration, and touch_force may represent the estimated area, the estimated duration, and the touch force value, respectively. In this example, when the estimated area falls within the range TA_SMALL and the estimated duration falls within the range TD_SHORT, the touch force value may be determined as TF_LIGHT, which may mean the touch event is determined as a light touch. When the estimated area falls within the range TA_BIG and the estimated duration falls within the range TD_LONG, the touch force value may be determined as TF_HEAVY, which may mean the touch event is determined as a heavy touch. For brevity, similar descriptions for these embodiments are not repeated in detail here.
According to some embodiments, the touch event may comprise a touchless user-input (e.g. the fingertip of a finger of the user maybe close to but not contact the touch-sensitive module 120), where at least one portion of the aforementioned at least one touch parameter may indicate a degree of proximity that the user of the electronic device applies to the touch-sensitive module 120 in the touch event. For example, in a situation the touch-sensitive module 120 such as the touch screen belongs to a capacitive type, the one or more detection signals may correspond to the strength of electric fields and/or variations of the strength of electric fields, to allow the processing circuit 110 to detect the degree of proximity that the user of the electronic device applies to the touch-sensitive module 120 in the touch event. In some embodiments, the touch force value maybe positively correlated with the estimated proximity value. For example, when the proximity value is large, which may mean the fingertip of the user is very close to the touch-sensitive module 120, the touch event may be determined as a heavy touch. In another example, when the proximity value is small, which may mean the fingertip of the user is not very close to the touch-sensitive module 120, the touch event may be determined as a light touch. For brevity, similar descriptions for these embodiments are not repeated in detail here.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/249,659, which was filed on Nov. 2, 2015, and is included herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62249659 | Nov 2015 | US |
