Patent Application
20140209783
This application claims the benefit from the priority to Taiwan Patent Application No. 102103385 filed on Jan. 30, 2013, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides an optical pointing device and a detecting method thereof, and more particularly, to an optical pointing device for use in a digital mobile device and a detecting method thereof.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
Compared to conventional desktop computers, digital mobile devices, such as notebook computers, have become the preferred choice for most consumers because of the good portability and performance that has gradually become comparable to that of desktop computers.
However, in consideration of portability, most notebook computers only have the keypad as a basic text input device, and have replaced the conventional mouse with a track pad. This makes the operation of the cursor unintuitive and makes it inconvenient to drag objects onto a screen.
In an attempt to allow users to operate the cursor more quickly, some notebook computers have a cursor pointing button in the keypad area. However, the cursor pointing button operates through mechanical movement and pressure, so it is difficult to make a quick response in real time despite the movement for the user's hands.
Aside from the notebook computers that have been described above, other kinds of digital mobile devices, such as mobile phones, have limited screen sizes and limited keypad areas. Even if such digital mobile devices are provided with a cursor pointing button similar to what has been described above, they cannot be provided with the mechanical movement and pressure sensing element. As a result, digital mobile devices are unable to sense the movement of the users' hands and thereby, unable to respond quickly.
Accordingly, it is important to provide an optical pointing device that is capable of sensing the movement of the users' hands and making a quick response in real time; in addition, a detection method thereof is needed as well.
An objective of the present invention is to provide an optical pointing device, which is adapted to sense the movement of the users' hands and respond with a corresponding force.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a detection method for use in an optical pointing device. When the optical pointing device is continuously pressed by the user's finger towards a specific direction, the device can still perform phase detection to move the cursor.
To achieve the aforesaid objectives, the optical pointing device of the present invention comprises a cover, a light source and a sensor. The cover comprises a press portion with a first surface and second surface opposite the first surface, and a side wall extending downwards from the periphery of the second surface. The light source projects a main beam to the press portion of the cover. The main beam then forms a first beam passing through the press portion and a second beam reflected by the second surface. The sensor is adapted to receive the second beam reflected by the second surface, and detect the second beam by an algorithm to output the first displacement position. The light source and the sensor are covered by the cover, while the side wall is a flexible side wall.
The detailed technology and preferred embodiments implemented for the subject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanying the appended drawings for people skilled in this field to well appreciate the features of the claimed invention.
As shown in
As shown, the optical pointing device 100 of the present invention comprises a cover 110, a light source 120 and a sensor 130. The cover 110 has a press portion 112 and a side wall 114. The press portion 112 has a first surface 112a and a second surface 112b opposite the first surface 112a. The side wall 114 extends downwards from the periphery of the second surface 112b. The light source 120 is adapted to project a main beam 122 to the press portion 112 of the cover 110. The main beam 122 then forms a first beam 122a passing through the press portion 112 and a second beam 122b reflected by the second surface 112b. It should be noted that for the convenience of describing the present invention, the sizes of the finger 200 and the optical pointing device 100 in the drawing are shown only for illustration but not to limit the actual scale. Moreover, the light source 120 and the sensor 130 are both covered by the cover 110. The side wall 114 is a flexible side wall.
With further reference to
Meanwhile, the first beam 122a passing through the press portion 112 is adapted to be reflected by the user's finger 200, while the sensor 130 is adapted to receive the first beam 122a reflected by the finger 200 and detect the first beam 122a by the algorithm to output a second displacement position P2. In this way, the sensor 130 can calculate the change in the cursor position more accurately according to the second displacement position P2 in addition to the first displacement position P1.
Furthermore, since the side wall 114 in this application is a flexible side wall, the side wall 114 is resiliently deformed in response to a horizontal movement of the press portion 112 when the user's finger 200 presses the cover 110 as shown in
In the present invention, the light source 120 is preferably, but is not limited to, a light emitting diode (LED) light source or an infrared light source. Furthermore, the second surface 112b of the press portion 112 may be formed with a plurality of patterns so that the second surface 112b is patterned to cause significant variations in brightness of the second beam 122b reflected by the second surface 112b. This can assist the sensor 130 in performing the location detection by the algorithm more precisely when receiving the second beam 122b.
Preferably, the side wall 114 is made of a material selected from the group consisting of rubber, Polyurethane (PU) and the combination thereof to provide the flexibility required in the present invention so that the resilient deformation and a good sense of movement to the user's hands can be obtained. In other words, the side wall 114 may also be formed to sense the movement of the user's hands by mixing materials such as rubber, PU and the like in different proportions by those of ordinary skill in the art. As a result, the cover 110 will respond with different force levels from which the users can choose their option. On the other hand, the press portion 112 of the cover 110 is made of a material selected from a group consisting of Polycarbonate (PC), Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and the combination thereof to provide an appropriate reflection/transmission interface for the main beam 122.
As shown in
On the other hand, in case the optical pointing device 100 is continuously pressed by the user's finger 200 towards a specific direction, the first displacement position P1 is outputted continuously so that the cursor can move continuously in the specific direction when the sensor 130 detects that the second beam 122b is reflected in a specific direction and has a specific area, as shown in step 306.
Furthermore, the detection method described above may further comprise the following steps: as shown in step 307, the first beam 122a is reflected by the user's finger 200; as shown in step 308, the first beam 122a reflected by the finger 200 is received by the sensor 130; and as shown in step 309, the first beam 122a is detected by the aforesaid algorithm to output a second displacement position P2. Accordingly, since the sensor 130 can receive the second beam 122b reflected by the second surface 112b of the press portion 112 and the first beam 122a reflected by the finger 200 simultaneously, the method for detecting an optical pointing of the present invention allows the optical pointing device 100 to perform locating operations more precisely to drive the cursor by calculating the first displacement position P1 and the second displacement position P2 respectively.
Similarly, in case the optical pointing device 100 is continuously pressed by the user's finger 200 towards a specific direction, the second displacement position P2 is outputted continuously so that the cursor can move continuously in the specific direction when the sensor 130 detects that the first beam 122a is reflected in a specific direction and has a specific area, as shown in step 310.
According to the above descriptions, when the cover 110 is pressed by the user's finger 200, the optical pointing device 100 disclosed in the present invention senses the user's hands and responds with a corresponding force level to the user's operation because of the action of the flexible side wall 114. On the other hand, the method for detecting an optical pointing disclosed in the present invention can also locate the cursor more precisely by detecting the first beam 122a and the second beam 122b by the aforesaid algorithm. In addition, even when the optical pointing device 100 is continuously pressed by the user's finger 200 towards a specific direction, the sensor 130 can still perform the phase detection to move the cursor, thereby making the operation more intuitive.
The above disclosure is related to the detailed technical contents and inventive features thereof. People skilled in this field may proceed with a variety of modifications and replacements based on the disclosures and suggestions of the invention as described without departing from the characteristics thereof. Nevertheless, although such modifications and replacements are not fully disclosed in the above descriptions, they have substantially been covered in the following claims as appended.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102103385 | Jan 2013 | TW | national |
