Patent Grant
9195344
The field of the present invention is light-based touch screens.
Many consumer electronic devices are now being built with touch sensitive screens, for use with finger or stylus touch user inputs. These devices range from small screen devices such as mobile phones and car entertainment systems, to mid-size screen devices such as notebook computers, to large screen devices such as check-in stations at airports.
Most conventional touch screen systems are based on resistive or capacitive layers. Such systems are not versatile enough to offer an all-encompassing solution, as they are not easily scalable.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Advantages of resistive touch screens are their low cost, low power consumption and stylus support.
A disadvantage of resistive touch screens is that as a result of the overlay, the screens are not fully transparent. Another disadvantage is that pressure is required for touch detection; i.e., a pointer that touches the screen without sufficient pressure goes undetected. As a consequence, resistive touch screens do not detect finger touches well. Another disadvantage is that resistive touch screens are generally unreadable in direct sunlight. Another disadvantage is that resistive touch screens are sensitive to scratches. Yet another disadvantage is that resistive touch screens are unable to discern that two or more pointers are touching the screen simultaneously, referred to as “multi-touch”.
Reference is made to
Advantages of surface capacitive touch screens are finger touch support and a durable surface.
A disadvantage of surface capacitive touch screens is that as a result of the overlay, the screens are not fully transparent. Another disadvantage is a limited temperature range for operation. Another disadvantage is a limited capture speed of pointer movements, due to the capacitive nature of the touch screens. Another disadvantage is that surface capacitive touch screens are susceptible to radio frequency (RF) interference and electromagnetic (EM) interference. Another disadvantage is that the accuracy of touch location determination depends on the capacitance. Another disadvantage is that surface capacitive touch screens cannot be used with gloves. Another disadvantage is that surface capacitive touch screens require a large screen border. As a consequence, surface capacitive touch screens cannot be used with small screen devices. Yet another disadvantage is that surface capacitive touch screens are unable to discern a mufti-touch.
Reference is made to
Advantages of projective capacitive touch screens are finger mufti-touch detection and a durable surface.
A disadvantage of projected capacitive touch screens is that as a result of the overlay, the screens are not fully transparent. Another disadvantage is their high cost. Another disadvantage is a limited temperature range for operation. Another disadvantage is a limited capture speed, due to the capacitive nature of the touch screens. Another disadvantage is a limited screen size, typically less than 5″. Another disadvantage is that surface capacitive touch screens are susceptible to RF interference and EM interference. Yet another disadvantage is that the accuracy of touch location determination depends on the capacitance.
It will thus be appreciated that conventional touch screens are not ideal for general use with small mobile devices and devices with large screens. It would thus be beneficial to provide touch screens that overcome the disadvantages of conventional resistive and capacitive touch screens described above.
The present invention provides touch screens that overcome the drawbacks of conventional resistive and capacitive touch screens.
Aspects of the present invention relate to various embodiments of touch screens, including inter alia, (i) touch screens with wide light beams, (ii) touch screens with shift-aligned emitters and receivers, (iii) touch screens with highly refractive lenses, (iv) touch screens with a low bezel, (v) light-based touch screens using long thin light guides, (vi) pressure-sensitive light-based touch screens, and (vii) touch screens that use a reflected image to calculate a pointer location in three dimensions. Further aspects of the present invention relate to methods for touch screens, including inter alia (viii) methods for touch detection, and (ix) methods for calibrating touch screen components. Still further aspects of the present invention relate to precise placement and alignment of elements as required in certain embodiments of the present invention, as well as in other applications. Such aspects include (x) forming inter-fitting blocks that combine an emitter or receiver element and a lens, and (xi) methods for guiding an element during device assembly using a capillary effect.
Touch Screens with Wide Light Beams
In these embodiments of the present invention light from a narrow source, such as a near infrared LED, is widened, using lenses or reflective elements, to project over a wide swath of screen area. In order to widen a narrow cone of light, the light source is placed at a relatively long distance away from the screen edge. In one embodiment, the light source is placed underneath the screen, at an appropriate distance from the screen edge to allow for a gradual widening of the beam. The widened beam is reflected above the screen surface by reflectors placed near the screen edge.
In another embodiment of the present invention the light source is placed along a screen edge. Reflectors that reflect light over the screen surface are also placed along the same screen edge, at a suitable distance away from the light source, to allow for a gradual widening of the light beam before it is reflected over the screen surface. The light source emits a narrow cone of light substantially along the screen edge, and the light is reflected as a wide beam over the screen surface. A pointer, such as a finger or stylus, touching the screen blocks some of the emitted light. By measuring the blocked light, the location of the pointer on the screen is determined.
In an embodiment of the present invention the wide beam converges onto a narrow light detector after traversing the screen, via reflectors placed a suitable distance away from respective light detectors. The light detectors are placed either underneath the screen, or along a screen edge.
Touch Screens with Shift-Aligned Emitters and Receivers
In these embodiments of the present invention an arrangement of light emitters send light over the screen surface to an arrangement of light receivers, where the emitters are shift-aligned with the opposing receivers. As such, instead of light from each emitter being detected by one opposite receiver, light from each emitter arrives at two opposite receivers. Similarly, instead of each receiver detecting light from one opposite emitter, each receiver detects light from two opposite emitters. Such overlapping detection ensures that a touch on the screen is detected by at least two emitter-receiver pairs. In some embodiments an arrangement of shift-aligned lenses is used to ensure that light from each emitter arrives at two opposite receivers, and that each receiver detects light from two opposite emitters.
There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a row of light pulse emitters, mounted in the housing, that transmit light pulses over the display, a row of light pulse receivers, mounted in the housing, that receive the light pulses, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, that determines a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers, wherein the emitters are shift-aligned with the receivers.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a frame of collimating lenses surrounding the display, wherein the collimating lenses along a first edge of the frame are shift-aligned with the collimating lenses along an opposite edge of the frame, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that transmit light pulses over the display through the collimating lenses of the first edge, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that receive the light pulses through the collimating lenses of the opposite edge, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, to determine a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing and surrounding the display, wherein the collimating lenses along a first edge of the display are shift-aligned with the collimating lenses along an opposite edge of the display, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that transmit light pulses over the display through the collimating lenses of the first edge, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that receive the light pulses through the collimating lenses of the opposite edge, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, to determine a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
Aspects of the present invention employ a novel collimating lens coupled with a surface of micro-lenses that refract light to form multiple wide divergent beams. When the surface of micro-lenses is on a surface not facing an emitter or receiver element, such a collimating lens transmits light in two stages. As light passes through the body of the lens, light beams are collimated, as with conventional collimating lenses. However, as the light passes through the surface of micro-lenses, the light is refracted into multiple wide divergent beams. When the surface of micro-lenses is on a surface facing an emitter or receiver element, such a collimating lens outputs beams substantially similar to those produced by a collimating lens having an outer surface of micro-lenses.
Touch Screens with Highly Refractive Lenses
In these embodiments of the present invention an arrangement of one or more light emitters send light over the screen surface to an arrangement of one or more light receivers. The light emitters and the light receivers use highly refractive lenses. Light passing through the lenses on the emitter side creates a pattern of highly divergent light beams that traverse the screen, thus ensuring that (a) a pointer touching the screen will block multiple light beams originating along a large section of the emitter edge, and (b) at any point along the receiver edge of the screen, multiple light beams originating along a large section of the emitter edge converge. As such, a touch on the screen is detected by each of multiple beams along a large section of the receiver edge. The lenses on the receiver side refract multiple incoming light beams to ensure that the beams converging at each point along the receiver edge are detected by the receivers.
There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a light guide frame surrounding the display, the frame including patterns of micro-lenses along two opposing sides of the frame for refracting incoming light in multiple directions, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that transmit light pulses over the display through the patterns of micro-lenses along a first edge of the frame, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that receive the light pulses through the patterns of micro-lenses along the opposite edge of the frame, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, to determine a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, two light guides mounted in the housing and arranged along two opposite edges of the display, each light guide including a pattern of micro-lenses for refracting incoming light in multiple directions, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that transmit light pulses over the display through a first light guide, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that receive the light pulses through a second light guide, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, to determine a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
Further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the light emitters and light receivers are positioned below the screen surface, and light is directed above and across the screen surface by a first light guide positioned along a first screen edge, the light guide including a collimating lens for each light emitter, each collimating lens having a plurality of micro-lenses etched thereon. The collimating lenses are positioned below the screen surface.
Yet further, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a second light guide is positioned along a second screen edge opposite the first screen edge, to direct light beams from the first light guide to the light receivers below the screen surface. Moreover, the second light guide may be substantially similar to the first light guide, including a lens with a plurality of micro-lenses etched thereon for each light receiver.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen system, including a plurality of light emitters and light receivers that are positioned along respective opposite edge of the screen, and not below the screen surface. Light is directed from the emitters across the screen surface by collimating lenses that have a plurality of micro-lenses etched thereon, and directed to the receivers by similar lenses.
Touch Screens with a Low Bezel
In these embodiments of the present invention an arrangement of one or more light emitters send light over the screen surface to an arrangement of one or more light receivers. Both the light emitters and the light receivers are placed below the screen surface. Light from the emitters is reflected over the screen by a reflective light guide that extends above the screen. Similarly, light that has passed over the screen surface is reflected onto the receivers by a reflective light guide. The height of these reflective light guides above the screen creates a bezel surrounding the screen. A conventional reflective light guide has a substantially flat reflective surface inclined at a 45° angle to the screen surface. Light beams vertical to the screen are re-directed by the light guide to a plane substantially parallel with the screen surface. However, substantially all of the reflective surface extends above the screen surface, forming a bezel around the screen. In order to reduce the bezel height, embodiments of the present invention use a light guide having a parabolic reflective surface and a corresponding refractive elliptical surface to re-direct the light beams. The parabolic reflective surface does not extend substantially above the screen surface, thus reducing the bezel height around the screen. Furthermore, the conventional light guide generally has a second surface substantially vertical to the screen surface through which light beams enter and exit. The abrupt vertical edge makes the bezel prominent and may be difficult to clean. The elliptical refractive surface used in embodiments of the present invention is less prominent, and is easier to clean. In some embodiments the elliptical refractive surface is part of the screen glass.
There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing below the display, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing below the display, a first light guide, mounted in the housing along a first edge of the display, having a substantially parabolic reflective surface and a substantially elliptical refractive surface for, respectively, reflecting and refracting light pulses transmitted by the emitters over the display, a second light guide, mounted in the housing along an opposite edge of the display, having a substantially elliptical refractive surface and a substantially parabolic reflective surface for, respectively, refracting and reflecting light pulses transmitted over the display to the receivers, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, to determine a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing below the display, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing below the display, a light guide frame mounted in the housing and surrounding the display, having a substantially parabolic reflective surface and a substantially elliptical refractive surface along each edge for, respectively, reflecting and refracting light pulses transmitted by the emitters over the display to the receivers, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, to determine a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch system, including a plurality of light emitters and light receivers positioned below the screen surface, and light is directed above and across the screen surface by light guides that each have at least two units; namely, a first unit having a collimating lens at one end and a plurality of micro-lenses along a surface at the other end, and a second unit that re-directs light over the screen surface.
Yet further, the second unit includes at least two active surfaces; namely, a first surface that is a parabolic or a quasi-parabolic reflective surface that folds incoming light beams into a focal location, and a second surface that is a complementary elliptical or quasi-elliptical surface having the same focal location, wherein the second surface directs the folded light beams over the screen surface.
There is moreover provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen system, including a plurality of light emitters and light receivers positioned below a display screen, and a first light guide along at least one edge of the screen that reflects light from the emitters above the screen. The light guide includes at least two active surfaces; namely, a first surface that is a parabolic or a quasi-parabolic reflective surface that folds incoming light beams into a focal location, and a second surface that is a complementary elliptical or quasi-elliptical surface having the same focal location. The second surface directs the folded light beams over the screen surface.
Additionally, a second light guide is positioned opposite the first light guide across the screen, to direct light beams from the first light guide to light receivers below the screen. The second light guide may be substantially similar to the first light guide.
Touch Screens using Long Thin Light Guides
There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing and arranged along a first edge of the display, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and serially transmit light pulses through the collimating lenses over the display, a light guide mounted in the housing along the edge of the display opposite the first edge, for receiving the light pulses, the light guide including a reflective strip that reflects light pulses received along the length of the light guide to one end of the light guide, a light pulse receiver mounted in the housing near the one end of the light guide, for receiving the reflected light pulses, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receiver, for determining a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receiver.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a light guide mounted in the housing along a first edge of the display, the light guide including a reflective strip that reflects light pulses received along the length of the light guide to both ends of the light guide, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing near each end of the light guide, for receiving the reflected light pulses, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing along the edge of the display opposite the first edge, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and emit light pulses over the display though the collimating lenses, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, for determining a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a light guide mounted in the housing along a first edge of the display, the light guide including a reflective strip that reflects light pulses received at one end of the light guide, a light pulse emitter mounted in the housing near the one end of the light guide, for transmitting light pulses through the light guide, wherein the reflective strip reflects the light pulses over the display, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing along the edge of the display opposite the first edge, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and receive light pulses through the collimating lenses, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, for determining a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitter, based on outputs of the receivers.
There is yet further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a light guide mounted in the housing along a first edge of the display, the light guide including a reflective strip that reflects light pulses received at either end of the light guide, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing near each end of the light guide, for transmitting light pulses through the light guide, wherein the reflective strip reflects the light pulses over the display, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing along the edge of the display opposite the first edge, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and receive light pulses through the collimating lenses, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, for determining a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.
Touch Screens using a Reflected Image to Determine a Height of a Pointer above a Touch Screen
There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen system including a reflective display surface, a camera mounted so as to capture an image of (i) the reflective display surface, (ii) a pointer approaching the reflective display surface, and (iii) a reflection of the pointer on the reflective display surface, and a processor coupled with the camera that determines a three-dimensional location of the pointer relative to the reflective display surface, based on the positions of the pointer and the reflection of the pointer in the image captured by the camera.
Pressure-Sensitive Light-Based Touch Screens
There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a light-based touch screen that discriminates between hard touches and soft touches. In one embodiment, a rigidly mounted screen is surrounded by emitters and receivers. A hard touch is discriminated from a soft touch by an increase in detected light at a plurality of receivers, the increase resulting from a bending of the rigidly mounted screen caused by the hard touch. In another embodiment, a screen is flexibly mounted in a housing surrounded by rigidly mounted emitters and receivers. The pressure of the touch lowers the screen into the housing, resulting in an increase in detected light at a plurality of the receivers. Different amounts of pressure correspond to differences in the increased amounts of detected light.
Methods for Touch Detection
There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method of calculating a touch coordinate on a touch screen, including providing a display, a row of light pulse emitters that transmit light pulses over the display, and a row of light pulse receivers that receive the light pulses and that output signals representing the received light pulses, wherein the emitters are shift-aligned with corresponding receivers, detecting a touch on the display that partially blocks the light pulses, based on the receiver outputs, selecting a maximum touch detection receiver output, identifying the emitter-receiver pair corresponding to the maximum touch detection receiver output, selecting at least one emitter-receiver pair to the left, and at least one emitter-receiver pair to the right of the maximum touch detection emitter-receiver pair, for each of the at least three emitter-receiver pairs, identifying a respective corresponding touch screen coordinate, for each of the at least three emitter-receiver pairs, calculating a product of the emitter-receiver pair coordinate and its respective touch detection output signal, calculating a first sum of the products, calculating a second sum of the receiver outputs, calculating a spatially-filtered touch coordinate by dividing the first sum by the second sum, providing a reference touch coordinate based on previous touch detection signals, calculating a temporally-filtered touch coordinate based on the spatially-filtered touch coordinate and the reference touch coordinate, and assigning either (i) the temporally-filtered touch coordinate value, or (ii) a value that combines the temporally-filtered touch coordinate and the reference touch coordinate, to the reference touch coordinate.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen system, including a plurality of light emitters and light receivers, wherein light from each emitter is detected by more than one receiver, and each receiver detects light from more than one emitter. Further, a touch location is determined based on (a) signal difference at two receivers that detect light from the same emitter, and/or (b) signal difference at a receiver that detects light from two emitters. Alternatively, a touch location is determined based on (a) signal differences at three or more receivers that detect light from the same emitter, and (b) signal differences at a receiver that detects light from three or more emitters. Yet further, each emitter is situated opposite a midpoint between two receivers, and each receiver is situated opposite a midpoint between two emitters, with the exception of emitters and receivers at or near screen corners.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen system operable to disambiguate a mufti-touch operation. Certain mufti-touch operations generate two or more touch x-coordinates and two or more touch y-coordinates. In such situations it is essential to resolve which x-coordinate is associated with which y-coordinate. E.g., when two touches performed simultaneously are not aligned vertically or horizontally, the two touches generate two touch x-coordinates and two touch y-coordinates. Similarly, in response to a rotation gesture, where two fingers touch the screen and glide in a circular pattern around an axis, the screen display, or a screen element display, is rotated either clockwise or counter-clockwise, according to the sense of the rotation gesture. As such, it is essential to resolve whether the sense of the rotation gesture is clockwise or counter-clockwise. Aspects of the present invention provide a touch screen system that uses intensities of touch detections to resolve mufti-touch touch locations, and to resolve the sense of a rotation gesture as being clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Methods for Calibrating Touch Screen Components
There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method of calibrating optical components in a light-based touch screen, including providing a display, a row of light pulse emitters that transmit light pulses over the display according to pulse current and pulse duration controls, and a row of light pulse receivers that receive the light pulses and that output signals representing the received light pulses, determining whether a touch event occurred on the display that partially blocks the light pulses, based on the receiver outputs, if the determining determines that a touch event has not occurred, then further determining if the receiver outputs are stable, if the further determining determines that the receiver outputs are stable, then yet further determining if each receiver output is within a respective designated deviation from a respective reference value of the receiver, if the yet further determining determines that at least one receiver output is not within its designated deviation from its reference value, then modifying at least one emitter pulse current and pulse duration, and if the yet further determining determines that all receiver outputs are within their respective designated deviations from their respective reference values, then assigning the respective receiver outputs to their respective reference values.
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method of calibrating optical components in a light-based touch screen, including providing a display, a row of light pulse emitters that transmit light pulses over the display, and a row of light pulse receivers that receive the light pulses and that output signals representing the received light pulses, determining whether a touch event occurred on the display that partially blocks the light pulses, based on some of the receiver outputs, if the determining determines that a touch event has occurred, then further determining if the remaining receiver outputs are stable, if the further determining determines that the remaining receiver outputs are stable, then yet further determining whether the remaining receiver outputs are within respective designated deviations from respective reference values of the receivers, and if the yet further determining determines that the remaining receiver outputs are within their respective designated deviations from their respective reference values, then assigning the respective remaining receiver outputs to their respective reference values.
Inter-Fitting Lens Blocks
There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a touch screen assembled from pre-fabricated lens blocks. Each block is comprised of infra-red transmissive plastic, and is formed as a collimating lens or as a multi-directional collimating lens. Each block includes an embedded emitter or receiver that is precisely positioned vis-à-vis the collimating lens. The blocks are formed with curved edges that fit into one another, and whereby light from each block enters a neighboring block.
Precision Placement of Elements using a Capillary Effect
There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method of assembling components including inter alia emitters, receivers and lenses, in a device, wherein a component is placed into a cavity on the device substrate or guide mold, and a solder pad is placed near the cavity. When the device is inserted into an oven, the solder pad melts and the capillary effect of the molten solder near the cavity guides the element deep into the cavity.
The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
For reference to the figures, the following index of elements and their numerals is provided. Elements numbered in the 100's generally relate to light beams, elements numbered in the 200's generally relate to light sources, elements numbered in the 300's generally relate to light receivers, elements numbered in the 400's and 500's generally relate to light guides, elements numbered in the 600's generally relate to displays, elements numbered in the 700's generally relate to circuit elements, elements numbered in the 800's generally relate to electronic devices, and elements numbered in the 900's generally relate to user interfaces. Elements numbered in the 1000's are operations of flow charts.
Similarly numbered elements represent elements of the same type, but they need not be identical elements.
Aspects of the present invention relate to light-based touch screens and light-based touch surfaces.
For clarity of exposition, throughout the present specification the term “touch screen” is used as a generic term to refer to touch sensitive surfaces that may or may not include an electronic display. As such, the term “touch screen” as used herein includes inter alia a mouse touchpad as included in many laptop computers, and the cover of a handheld electronic device. The term “optical touch screen” is used as a generic term to refer to light-based touch screens, including inter alia screens that detect a touch based on the difference between an expected light intensity and a detected light intensity, where the detected light intensity may be greater than or less than the expected light intensity. The term “screen glass” is used as a generic term to refer to a transparent screen surface. The screen may be constructed inter alia from glass, or from a non-glass material including inter alia crystal, acrylic and plastic. In some embodiments of the present invention, the screen allows near-infrared light to pass through, but is otherwise non-transparent.
For clarity of exposition, throughout the present specification, the term “emitter” is used as a generic term to refer to a light emitting element, including inter alia a light-emitting diode (LED), and the output end of a fiber optic or tubular light guide that outputs light into a lens or reflector that directs the light over a display surface. The term “receiver” is used as a generic term to refer to a light detecting element, including inter alia a photo diode (PD), and the input end of a fiber optic or tubular light guide that receives light beams that traversed a display surface and directs them to a light detecting element or to an image sensor, the image sensor being inter alia a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.
Reference is made to
According to embodiments of the present invention, a light-based touch screen includes one or more emitters, including inter alia infra-red or near infra-red light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and a plurality of receivers, including inter alia photo diodes (PDs), arranged along the perimeter surrounding the touch screen or touch surface. The emitters project light substantially parallel to the screen surface, and this light is detected by the receivers. A pointer, such as a finger or a stylus, placed over a portion of the screen blocks some of the light beams, and correspondingly some of the receivers detect less light intensity. The geometry of the locations of the receivers, and the light intensities they detect, suffice to determine screen coordinates of the pointer. The emitters and receivers are controlled for selective activation and de-activation by a controller. Generally, each emitter and receiver has I/O connectors, and signals are transmitted to specify which emitters and which receivers are activated.
In an embodiment of the present invention, plural emitters are arranged along two adjacent sides of a rectangular screen, and plural receivers are arranged along the other two adjacent sides. In this regard, reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
When two or more pointers touch screen 800 simultaneously along a common horizontal or vertical axis, the positions of the pointers are determined by the receivers 300 that are blocked. Pointers 901 and 902 in
Pointers 901 and 902 shown in
Discriminating between
In case (ii), the UI arranges its icons, or is otherwise configured, such that only one of the touch patterns
In case (iii), a finger closer to a receiver blocks more light from reaching the receiver than does a finger that is farther from the receiver. In part, this is due to the closer finger blocking more ambient light from reaching the receiver than does the farther finger. The light intensities detected at receivers e and f are compared with the light intensities detected at receivers g and h. Similarly, the light intensities detected at receivers a and b are compared with the light intensities detected at receivers c and d. If the light detected at receivers e and f and at receivers c and d is greater than the light detected at receivers g and h and at receivers a and b, then it is inferred that the fingers are positioned as shown in
The number of receivers in each sum depends on the sequence of blocked, or at least partially blocked, receivers. The number of receivers may be different for each sequence. E.g., a sum of four receivers may be compared to a sum of six receivers. In one embodiment of the present invention the minimum receiver value in each sequence is used. The minimum receiver value corresponds to the receiver that is most blocked within a sequence of blocked receivers, and is a good indicator of proximity of the blocking finger to the sequence of receivers.
Determining locations of a diagonally oriented mufti-touch is discussed further hereinbelow with reference to shift-aligned arrangements of emitters and receivers.
Reference is now made to
When pointers 901 and 902 are aligned in a common vertical or horizontal axis, there is no ambiguity in identifying glide patterns. When pointers 901 and 902 are not aligned in a common vertical or horizontal axis, there may be ambiguity in identifying glide patterns, as illustrated in
Associating the same meaning to both glide patterns may be performed in a pinch zoom gesture, whereby a user places two fingers on the screen and spreads the fingers apart along a diagonal of the screen. Such a gesture activates a zoom-in operation, for increasing the magnification of graphics displayed on the screen. Such a gesture has the same meaning irrespective of whether the pinch zoom is performed along a top-left to bottom-right diagonal, or along a top-right to bottom-left diagonal.
Similar considerations apply to a zoom-out gesture, whereby a user places two fingers on the screen and brings the fingers closer together along a diagonal of the screen, for decreasing the magnification of graphics displayed on the screen. This gesture, too, has the same meaning irrespective of along which diagonal of the screen the gesture is performed.
Reference is made to
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the emitters are controlled via a first serial interface, which transmits a binary string to a shift register 720. Each bit of the binary string corresponds to one of the emitters, and indicates whether to activate or deactivate the corresponding emitter, where a bit value “1” indicates activation and a bit value “0” indicates deactivation. Successive emitters are activated and deactivated by shifting the bit string within shift register 720.
Similarly, the receivers are controlled by a second serial interface, which transmits a binary string to a shift register 730. Successive receivers are activated and deactivated by shifting the bit string in shift register 730. Operation of shift registers 720 and 730 is described in applicant's co-pending application, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/371,609 filed on Feb. 15, 2009 and entitled LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 1
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Without the wide beam, there are generally spaces between beams that go undetected, making it impossible to distinguish between a user dragging a fine-point stylus across the beams, and the user tapping on different beams with a fine-point stylus. Moreover, with widely spaced narrow beams the pointer touch must be very precise in order to cross a narrow beam.
Reference is made to
The emitters and receivers shown in
Also shown in
Reflectors 437 collimate the light as wide beams 144 across a swath of screen surface. A wide beam 144 reaches a reflector 438, which (i) redirects the light beam below screen 800, and (ii) narrows the wide beam 144 into an arc 143. As such, wide beam 144 converges onto the surface of one of receivers 300 below the surface of screen 800. The light intensity detected by each of receivers 300 is communicated to calculating unit 770.
The configuration of
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 2
Configurations 2-5 use multiple emitter-receiver pairs to precisely identify a touch position. In some of the configurations described hereinabove there are opposing rows of emitters and receivers, each emitter being opposite a respective receiver. In configurations 2-5 the emitters are shift-aligned with the receivers. For example, each emitter may be positioned opposite a midpoint between two opposing receivers. Alternatively, each emitter may be off-axis aligned with an opposite receiver, but not opposite the midpoint between two receivers.
Embodiments of the present invention employ two types of collimating lenses; namely, (i) conventional collimating lenses, and (ii) collimating lenses coupled with a surface of micro-lenses that refract light to form multiple wide divergent beams. As used throughout the present specification, the term “collimating lens” includes both types of lenses. When a light source is positioned at the focus of a conventional collimating lens, the lens outputs light in substantially parallel beams, as illustrated inter alia in
Reference is made to
Also shown in
Also shown in
Reference is made to
Also shown in
Also shown in
Collimating lenses coupled with an outer surface of micro-lenses, which face away from emitters or receivers, transmit light in two stages. As light passes through the bodies of the lenses, light beams are collimated as with conventional collimating lenses. However, as the light passes through the surface of micro-lenses, the light is refracted into multiple wide divergent beams, as illustrated inter alia in
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
As used through the present specification, the term “collimating lens” includes a mufti-directional collimating lens.
Reference is made to
It is desirable that the light beam from each emitter covers its two opposite receiver lenses. Such a condition is achieved by positioning each emitter between its lens and its lens' focal point. As such, the emitter is not in focus and, as a result, its light is spread, instead of being collimated, by its lens. Each receiver is similarly positioned between its lens and its lens' focal point.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is now made to
Reference is made to
Shown in
It is noted that the detected light intensities at the edges of the light beam are strictly positive, thus ensuring that a touch at these edges is detected.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Determining the position of touch point 980 requires determining a position along an axis parallel to the edge along which the emitters are positioned, say, the x-axis, and along an axis perpendicular to the edge, say, the y-axis. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an approximate y-coordinate is first determined and then, based on the expected attenuation values for a point having the thus determined y-coordinate and based on the actual attenuation values, a precise x-coordinate is determined. In turn, the x-coordinate thus determined is used to determine a precise y-coordinate. In cases where the touch point 980 is already touching the screen, either stationary or in motion, previous x and y coordinates of the touch point are used as approximations to subsequent x and y coordinates. Alternatively, only one previous coordinate is used to calculate a first subsequent coordinate, with the second subsequent coordinate being calculated based on the first subsequent coordinate. Alternatively, previous coordinates are not used.
Reference is made to
In order to remedy the non-convergence, a fine pattern of micro-lenses is integrated with the receiver lenses, at many points long the surfaces of the lenses. The micro-lenses distribute incoming light so that a portion of the light arriving at each micro-lens reaches the receivers. In this regard, reference is made to
Reference is made to
In order to remedy this detection problem, micro-lenses are integrated with the emitter lenses at many points along the surface of the lenses. The micro-lenses distribute outgoing light so that a portion of the light reaches the desired receivers. In this regard, reference is made to
Micro-lens patterns integrated with emitter and receiver lenses thus generate numerous overlapping light beams that are detected. Each point on the touch screen is traversed by multiple light beams from multiple micro-lenses, which may be on the same emitter lens. The micro-lenses ensure that the multiple light beams reach the desired receivers. Reference is made to
In some cases it is of advantage to avoid having micro-lenses on the outermost surfaces of the emitter and receiver lenses. Since the outermost surfaces are visible to a user, it may be less aesthetic to have the micro-lenses on these surfaces, in order that the visible surfaces appear smooth. Moreover, outermost surfaces are susceptible to scratching and to accumulation of dust and dirt, which can degrade performance of the micro-lenses. As such, in embodiments of the present invention, the micro-lenses are integrated on surfaces that are not exposed to the user, as shown below in
Reference is made to
The surface of section 445 has a feather pattern for scattering incoming light beams 100 from an emitter 200. Reflective surfaces 451 and 452 reflect light beams 100. Reflective surface 451 is concave, and reflective surface 452 is a flat reflector oriented at a 45° angle with respect to incoming light beams 100.
Light beams 100 exit light guide 450 through flat surface 453. Surface 454 serves to connect light guide 450 to outer casing 827. Surface 454 is located above the plane of active light beams used by the touch system, and is angled for aesthetic purposes.
The reflective characteristics of surface 452 require that dust and dirt not accumulate on surface 452, and require that outer casing 827, which may be made inter alia of metal or plastic, not make contact with surface 452; otherwise, reflectivity of surface 452 may be impaired. As such, outer casing 827 is placed above surface 452, thereby protecting surface 452 from dust and dirt, and outer casing 827 is not flush with surface 452, so that casing material does not touch surface 452. Being a flat reflector at a 45° angle relative to incoming light beams, surface 452 is positioned above the upper surface of display 637. As such, the device height, H3, above display 637 due to light guide 450, comprises the height, H1, of surface 452 plus the thickness, H2, of outer casing 827.
At the receiving side, a light guide similar to 450 is used to receive light beams 100 that are transmitted over screen 637, and to direct them onto corresponding one or more receivers. Thus, light beams enter light guide 450 at surface 453, are re-directed by surface 452 and then by surface 451, and exit through the micro-lens patterned surface of section 445 to one or more receivers. At the receiving side, the surface of section 445 has a pattern that scatters the light beams as described hereinabove.
Reference is made to
Similar light guides are used for receiving beams that have traversed the screen, to focus them onto receivers. In this case, light beams enter at surface 459, are reflected below the screen surface by internal reflective section 456, are re-focused onto a receiver by collimating lens 457, and re-distributed by micro-lenses 458. In general, the same lens and micro-lenses are used with an emitter and a detector, in order that the light beam be directed at the receiving side in reverse to the way it is directed at the emitting side.
Collimating lens 457 has a rounded bottom edge, as shown at the bottom of
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 3
Several challenges arise in the manufacture of the micro-lenses in configuration no. 2. One challenge is the difficulty of accurately forming the fan-shaped feather pattern of micro-lenses. It is desirable instead to use micro-lenses arranged parallel to one another, instead of the fan/feather pattern.
A second challenge relates to the mold used to manufacture the light guide in configuration no. 2. Referring to
A third challenge is the constraint that, for optimal performance, the micro-lenses be positioned accurately relative to their corresponding emitter or receiver. The tolerance for such positioning is low. As such, it is desirable to separate section 445 of the light guide so that it may be positioned accurately, and to allow more tolerance for the remaining portions of the light guide as may be required during assembly or required for robustness to movement due to trauma of the electronic device.
Configuration no. 3, as illustrated in
Reference is made to
In configuration no. 2, the curved shape of the collimating lens necessitated a fan/feather pattern for the micro-lenses etched thereon. In distinction, in configuration no. 3 the micro-lenses are etched on rectangular surface 466, and are arranged as parallel rows. Such a parallel arrangement, referred to herein as a “tubular arrangement”, is shown in
An advantage of configuration no. 3 is that the flat upper surface of the light guide may be molded as nearly parallel with the screen surface as possible, since the mold is one flat surface that lifts off the top of light guide 464. Furthermore, in configuration no. 3, only portion 464 of the light guide has a low tolerance requirement for positioning. Portion 463 has a higher tolerance, since its surfaces are not placed at a focal point of an element.
As shown in
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 4
Configuration no. 4 uses a reflective light guide and lens that reduce the height of a light guide above a display. The reflective light guide and lens of configuration 4 are suitable for use with the feather pattern lenses of configuration no. 2 and with the tubular pattern lenses of configuration no. 3. Many electronic devices are designated with a display surface that is flush with the edges of the devices. This is often an aesthetic feature and, as such, when integrating optical touch screens with electronic devices, it is desirable to minimize or eliminate the raised rims. Less visibly prominent rims result in sleeker, more flush outer surfaces of the devices.
Moreover, in optical touch screens, the raised rim occupies a width around the display, beyond the edges of the display. Many electronic devices are designed with display surfaces that seamlessly extend to the edges of the devices. This is often an aesthetic feature and, as such, when integrating optical touch screens with electronic devices, it is desirable to design the reflective raised rims in such a way that they appear as seamless extensions of the display.
Configuration no. 4 achieves these objectives by reducing bezel height and providing a seamless transition between a display edge and an outer border of a device, resulting in a more appealing aesthetic design. The light guide of configuration no. 4 integrates with an outer casing having an elongated rounded edge, thereby softening sharp angles and straight surfaces.
Configuration no. 4 employs two active mirror surfaces; namely, a parabolic reflective surface that folds and focuses incoming light to a focal location, and an elliptical refractive surface that collects light from the focal location and collimates the light into beams across the screen.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
On the emitter side, light beams enter the light guide, and parabolic mirror 473 reflects the beams to a focal point inside the light guide. Refracting elliptical lens 474 has the same focal point as parabolic mirror 473. Elliptical lens 474 refracts the light from the focal point into collimated light beams over display 637. On the receiver side, collimated light beams enter the light guide, and are refracted by elliptical lens 474 into a focal point. Parabolic mirror 473 reflects the beams from the focal point inside the light guide, to collimated output beams.
Surface 469 in
Surfaces 469 and 470 use internal reflections to fold light beams. Thus these surfaces need to be protected from dirt and scratches. In
Using configuration no. 4, substantially all of reflective surface 473 is located below the upper surface of display 637. Thus, this configuration adds less height to an electronic device than does configuration no. 2. Referring back to
The convex shape of surface 471 of
Some electronic devices are covered with a flat sheet of glass that extends to the four edges of the device. The underside of the glass is painted black near the devices edges, and the display is viewed through a clear rectangular window in the middle of the glass. Examples of such devices include the IPHONE®, IPOD TOUCH® and IPAD®, manufactured by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., and also various models of flat-panel computer monitors and televisions. In some cases, the light guides surrounding the various touch screens described herein may appear non-aesthetic, due to (a) the light guide being a separate unit from the screen glass and thus the border between them is noticeable, and (b) the light guide extending below the screen and thus, even if the underside of the light guide is also painted black, the difference in heights between the bottom of the light guide and the screen glass is noticeable. Embodiments of the present invention employ a two-unit light guide to overcome this problem.
In one such embodiment, the upper unit of the light guide is merged with the screen glass. In this regard, reference is made to
In some cases, the cost of manufacturing a protective glass cover with an integrated reflective lens may be expensive. As such, in an alternative embodiment of the present invention, a black object is placed between the upper and lower units of the light guide. The height of the black object is aligned, within the electronic device, with the height of the black paint on the underside of the protective glass. In this regard, reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
As explained hereinabove with reference to
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 5
Configuration no. 5 relates to increasing the resolution of an optical touch screen, to yield high resolution touch sensitivity throughout an active screen area, including the edges of the screen. Configuration 5 is useful for simplifying the process of integrating touch screen components, and minimizing the tolerance chain, for a manufacturer, by preparing modular blocks containing a lens and an emitter or a receiver. These modular blocks are formed so as to be easily positioned together in a row along an edge of a display, for fast assembly of a touch screen. The high tolerance requirements of placing an emitter or receiver in exactly the correct position vis-á-vis a lens, are handled during manufacture of the modular blocks, thus removing the burden of high tolerance assembly from a device manufacturer.
High resolution touch sensitivity is achieved by combining two or more emitter-receiver pair signals that span a common area, as described hereinabove with reference to configurations nos. 2 and 3. A technique for calculating a precise touch location is described hereinbelow.
Simplified manufacturing is achieved by integrating optical elements and electronic components into a single unit. As such, complex surfaces may be gathered into one component, thereby reducing the need for high assembly tolerances.
Reference is made to
Light beams from emitter 235 exit optical component 489 through a tight-fitting surface 491, and enter optical component 488 through a tight-fitting surface 490.
Lens 493 has several surfaces designed to mix and reflect the light from the two sources. In one embodiment of the present invention, lens 493 has micro-lenses that spread incoming light in the manner described hereinabove with reference to the feather and tubular patterns of configuration nos. 2 and 3.
An optical component 494 is similar to optical component 488, except that an LED 237 is side-facing instead of forward-facing.
Optical component 495 is optical component 488 as viewed from the front.
Similar optical components (not shown) are also provided for receiving light beams that traverse the screen surface. For these components, the emitters are replaced by receivers, and the electrical components handle the receiver signals. Such optical components receive parallel light beams that enter a lens, and direct the beams onto two different receivers.
Reference is made to
In the touch screen of
The first type of redirection requires that the emitter or receiver be positioned at a specific location relative to the focal point of the lens. As such, the positioning of the emitter and lens, or receiver and lens, is sensitive to variations in placement. Thus the assembly of the emitter or receiver together with its corresponding lens, has a low tolerance of error. The second type of redirection, involving reflection, is robust to variations in position of the reflector or the light guide. Thus assembly of this portion of the light guide has a high tolerance for error.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the feather or tubular pattern of micro-lenses is included within an optical element that contains the emitter or the receiver, such as optical elements 496 and 497 of
The light guides that reflect light above the screen surface may be manufactured separately and assembled with other touch screen components. Thus in
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 6
Configuration no. 6 uses a reduced number of components by coupling an emitter or a receiver to one end of a long thin light guide situated along an edge of the screen. Such a light guide is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,333,095 entitled ILLUMINATION FOR OPTICAL TOUCH PANEL.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Embodiments of the present invention improve upon the light guide of U.S. Pat. No. 7,333,095, by etching or otherwise forming micro patterns 516 on the outer surface of the light guide, in order to widely refract outgoing light beams 101 of
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 7
Configuration no. 7 enables detecting pressure on a touch screen, as applied during a touch operation. Detecting pressure enables discrimination between a light touch and a hard press, and is useful for user interfaces that associate separate actions to a touch and a press. E.g., a user may select a button or icon by touching it, and activate the function associated with the button or icon by pressing on it. Such a user interface is described in applicants' co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/486,033, entitled USER INTERFACE FOR MOBILE COMPUTER UNIT.
In some embodiments of the present invention, a touch enabled device includes a base plane, such as a PCB, a light guide frame rigidly mounted on the base plane, and a resilient member attached to the base plane to suspend or “float” a non-rigidly mounted touch screen inside the light guide frame. A press on the touch screen deflects the floating touch screen along a z-axis, exposing more of the light guide frame. A light guide frame reflector, which directs light over the screen as described hereinabove, is formed so that the exposure allows more light to traverse the screen. In this way, when a hard press on the screen occurs, many of the receivers detect a sudden increase in detected light. Moreover, detection of a hard press may be conditioned upon a touch being detected at the same time, thus preventing false detection of a hard press due to a sudden increase in ambient light. When the downward pressure is released, the resilient member returns the screen to its original position within the light guide frame.
Reference is made to
In some embodiments, the light guide frame includes protruding lips 520 and 521, shown in
In other embodiments, the touch screen is not displaceable relative to the frame. However, the screen flexes or bends somewhat in response to a hard press. The bending of the screen causes a sudden increase in detected light in many of the receivers, indicating a hard press on the screen. As indicated hereinabove, detection of a hard press may be conditioned upon a touch also being detected at the same time, thus preventing false detection of a hard press in response to trauma to the device.
Reference is made to
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 8
Configuration no. 8 provides a touch screen with at least one camera positioned under the screen surface, to capture an image of the screen surface and of a pointer, or a plurality of pointers, touching the screen surface. In some embodiments of the present invention, the screen pixels include light sensors, each of which generates a pixel of an image of the underside of the screen glass, the image being referred to herein as the “screen glass image”.
As described hereinbelow, methods according to embodiments of the present invention determine precise touch coordinates using spatial and temporal filters. Application of these methods to configuration no. 8 yields sub-pixel precision for touch coordinates.
Pixels in the screen glass image at the center of a touch location are generally completely blocked; i.e., the level of light detected at each such pixel is below a designated threshold, indicating that the pixel is occluded by a touch object. Pixels in the screen glass image along the edges of a touch location are generally only partially blocked; i.e., the level of light detected at each such pixel is above the designated threshold, indicating that the pixel is only partially occluded by the touch object.
A calculating unit that receives the screen glass image data assigns a relative weight to each pixel coordinate, based on a touch detection intensity associated with that pixel, as indicated by the pixel's value. The calculating unit further interpolates the pixel coordinates, based on their associated weights, to determine a touch coordinate. In some embodiments, the calculating unit calculates a touch area having a perimeter, wherein the edges of the touch area are calculated on a sub-pixel level based on the above interpolations. The temporal filters described hereinbelow are applied inter alia when a series of connected touches are concatenated into a glide movement over a time duration.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Touch Screen System Configuration No. 9
Configuration no. 9 provides a touch screen with means to determine a three-dimensional position of a pointer relative to the touch screen. In this configuration, a low cost touch screen uses cameras to determine depth information. One or more cameras are mounted on a side of the touch screen, so as to capture a mirrored image of an active touch area, and the mirrored image is processed to determine a height of the pointer above the touch screen. The present invention may be embodied on an arbitrary size touch screen having a glossy surface.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
The image captured by camera 844 generally includes both a pointer, and a reflection of the pointer on the surface of the touch screen. Based on the locations of the pointer and its reflection within the captured image, the pointer position may be determined when the pointer is positioned on the screen, or even above the screen. When the pointer touches the screen, the pointer and its reflection in the captured image are tangent to one another, as illustrated in
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the captured image may be analyzed relative to an x-axis along the bottom edge of the image, and a y-axis in the screen surface along the camera's line of vision. When the pointer is touching the screen, the pointer's x- and y-coordinates may be determined by projecting the position of a pointer in the captured image along the x- and y-axes.
When the pointer is positioned above the screen, not touching the screen, the pointer's x-coordinate may be determined as above; namely, by projecting the position of the pointer in the captured image along the x-axis. To determine, the pointer's y-coordinate an appropriate location is selected along the line joining the positions of the pointer and the reflected pointer in the captured image, and the position of the location is projected along the y-axis. In some instances, the appropriate location is the mid-point of the line joining the positions of the pointer and the reflected pointer. In other instances, the appropriate location is based upon the azimuthal angle at which the camera is orientated relative to the screen surface.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the height of the pointer above the screen surface may be determined based upon the distance between the pointer and the pointer's reflection in the captured image.
Use of multiple cameras provides additional information, such as mufti-touch information and stylus information that may be obscured by a hand. Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, stylus 903 in
Reference is made to
When the camera position is known or fixed, relative to the screen, as is the case inter alia when the screen is manufactured with the camera rigidly mounted, the image-to-screen transformation, from image coordinates to screen coordinates, may be determined. When the position of the camera relative to the screen is unknown, such as is the case inter alia if the camera is mounted manually by a user, then in order to determine the image-to-screen transformation a procedure to determine camera orientation is required. One such procedure is to display a series of touch icons on the screen at known screen coordinates. Reference is made to
Operation of Configurations Nos. 2-8
The following discussion relates to methods of operation for arrangements of the optical elements shown in configurations nos. 2-8, around a touch screen, to achieve accurate touch detection. These methods are of advantage for pen and stylus support, which have fine touch points. In particular, these methods are not required for single touch finger support. As such, for systems designed with only finger support, these methods may be applied without micro-lenses being etched onto primary lenses. In some cases, such as multi-touch detection, these methods apply to finger touch as well.
Reference is made to
To conserve power, when the touch screen is idle only one set of beams, namely, beams 176 or beams 177, are scanned in a scanning sweep, and only for the axis with the smallest number of emitters 200. The scanning toggles between beams 176 and beams 177, and thus two scanning sweeps along the axis activate every emitter-receiver pair along the axis. The other axis, with the larger number of emitters, is only scanned when either a touch is present, or when a signal differs from its reference value by more than an expected noise level, or when an update of reference values for either axis is being performed. Reference values are described in detail hereinbelow.
Reference is made to
Similarly, in a system such as the system shown in
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, at least one surface of optical emitter lens 506 is textured with a plurality of ridges. Each ridge spreads a beam of light that spans the two opposing receiver lenses 508 and 509. As such, light from each of many points along the surface of optical emitter lens 506 reaches both opposing receiver lenses 508 and 509, and the light beams detected by adjacent receivers overlap. In configuration no. 2 these ridges form a feather pattern, and in configuration no. 3 these ridges form a tubular pattern.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the ridges form micro-lenses, each having a pitch of roughly 0.2-0.5 mm, depending on the touch screen configuration. In the case of a feather pattern, the ridges form a fan, and their pitch narrows as the ridges progress inward and become closer together. In the case of a tubular pattern, the pitch of each micro-lens remains constant along the length of the micro-lens.
At least one surface of each receiver lens 508 and 509 is similarly textured, in order that at least a portion of light arriving at each of many points along the receiver lens surface, arrive at the receiver photo diode.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the output x and y coordinates are filtered temporally and spatially. The following discussion relates to determination of the x-coordinate, and it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the same method applies to determination of the y-coordinate.
Configurations nos. 2 and 3 show that a touch location is detected by at least two emitter-receiver pairs.
In order to determine the x-coordinate Xp of object 900's touch location (Xp, Yp), an initial y-coordinate, Yinitial, is determined corresponding to the location along the y-axis of the emitter-receiver pair having the maximum touch detection signal among all emitter-receiver pairs along the y-axis. In
XP=(WaXa+WbXb)/(Wa+Wb), (1)
where the weights Wa and Wb are normalized signal differences for beam 178 and beam 179, respectively. The signal difference used is the difference between a baseline, or expected, light value and the actual detected light value. Such difference indicates that an object is touching the screen, blocking a portion of the expected light. Calibration and normalization of the weights is described hereinbelow. A similar weighted average is used to determine the y-coordinate YP.
If the pointer 900 is detected by more than two emitter-receiver pairs, then the above weighted average is generalized to
XP=Σ(WnXn)/(ΣWn), (2)
where the weights Wn are normalized signal differences, and the Xn are weight positions.
In one embodiment of the present invention, where the pointer 900 is a small object, the largest signal difference is used in conjunction with the two closest signals to calculate the position. This compensates for the fact that the signal differences for small objects are small, and noise thus becomes a dominant error factor. Use of the two closest signals reduces error due to noise. In another embodiment of the present invention, only the two largest signal differences are used.
Reference is made to
To reduce error due to signal noise, the final coordinate is determined as the output of a temporal filter, using the spatially filtered current coordinate value, determined as above, and a previous coordinate value. The higher the filter weight given to the current x-coordinate, the closer the output will be to that value, and the less will be the impact of the filter. Generally, use of substantially equal weights for both coordinate values results in a strong filter. In one embodiment of the present invention, the temporal filter is a low-pass filter, but other filters are also contemplated by the present invention. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, different pre-designated filter weight coefficients may be used in different cases. In an alternative embodiment, the filter weight coefficients are calculated as needed.
Choice of appropriate filter coefficients is based on scanning frequency, the speed at which a touch object is moving across the screen, whether the object motion is along a straight line or not, and the size of the touch object.
Generally, the higher the scanning frequency, the nearer the current coordinate value is to the previous coordinate value, and a stronger filter is used. Scanning frequency is used to estimate the speed and direction of movement of an object. Based on the scanning frequency, a threshold distance is assigned to two input values, the threshold indicating fast movement. If the difference between the current and previous coordinate values is greater than the threshold distance, a weaker filter is used so that the output coordinate not lag considerably behind the actual touch location. It has been found by experiment that the filter
output_val= 1/10*previous_val+ 9/10*current_val (3)
provides good results in this case. In addition, the lag value, described hereinbelow, is reset to equal the output value in this case.
If the difference between the current and previous coordinate values is less than the threshold distance, then a lag value is determined. The lag value indicates speed and direction along an axis. In has been found by experiment that the value
lag=⅚*lag+⅙*current_val (4)
provides good results in this case. The filter weight coefficients are selected based on the difference between the lag value and the current coordinate value. Generally, the greater this difference, which indicates either fast motion or sudden change in direction, the weaker the filter.
For example, if the touch object is stationary, the lag value eventually is approximately equal to the current coordinate value. In such case, signal noise may cause small differences in the spatially calculated touch position, which in turn may cause a disturbing jitter effect; i.e., the touch screen would show the object jittering. Use of a strong temporal filter substantially dampens such jittering.
If the touch object is moving fast or makes a sudden change in direction, a strong temporal filter may create a perceptible lag between the actual touch location and the displayed touch location. In the case of a person writing with a stylus, the written line may lag behind the stylus. In such cases, use of a weak temporal filter reduces such lagging.
When the touch object covers a relatively large screen area, such as a finger or other blunt object touching the screen, the lag between the actual finger motion and the displayed trace of the motion is less perceptible, because the finger covers the area of the lag. In such case, a different temporal filter is used.
The type of object, finger vs. stylus, being used may be inferred by knowing expected user behavior; e.g., a user interface intended for finger touch assumes a finger being used. The type of object may also be inferred by the shadowed area created by the object. The size of the touch area as determined based on shadowed emitter signals, is therefore also a factor used in selecting temporal filter weight coefficients.
Reference is made to
If, at operation 1022, the difference between the current coordinate value and previous coordinate value is greater than the threshold distance, then weak filter weight coefficients are selected at operation 1026. At operation 1027, the temporal filter is applied to calculate an output coordinate value, as in Eq. (3). At operation 1028 the lag value is set to the output coordinate value.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for detecting a mufti-touch operation whereby two touches occur simultaneously at two corners of a touch screen. An example of such a mufti-touch is a rotation gesture, shown in
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, data from receivers along a first axis is used to determine a touch location along two axes. Reference is made to
According to an embodiment of the present invention, determination of location of a multi-touch is based on the patterns indicated in TABLE I. Thus, referring back to
In addition to evaluation of detection points independently, the various detection patterns may be ranked, to determine which touch point is closer to the emitters or to the receivers.
Moreover, when a rotate gesture is performed, from touch points 971 to touch points 972, movement of detections discriminates whether the gesture glides away from the emitters and toward the receivers, or vice versa. In particular, subsequent detections are compared, and discrimination is based on whether each detection pattern is becoming more like type 1 or 3, or more like type 2 or 4.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
At operation 1043, the x-glide detections are ranked according to touches that occurred closer to or farther from a designated screen edge, based on the patterns of detections determined at operation 1042, and based on the “Touch Location” column of TABLE I. Operation 1043 relates to series of connected touch detections over a time interval. Each series generally includes touch detections of patterns 1 and 3, or of patterns 2 and 4, listed in TABLE I, depending on whether the glide was closer to or further away from the designated edge. In addition to analyzing the individual detections that comprise a glide, the series of touch detections is also analyzed to determine if the glide is moving closer to or farther from the designated edge, based on comparison of intensities of detections over time. E.g., in one series of detections having multiple pattern 1 detections, if the amount of blocked light increases over time, then it is inferred that the glide is moving toward the receivers, otherwise the glide is moving toward the emitters.
The y-coordinates represent distances from a designated edge, such as the edge of emitters. At operation 1044 each ranked x-axis glide is paired with a corresponding y-axis glide. Operations 1045-1047 are performed for the y-axis glide, similar to operations 1042-1044 performed for the x-axis glide. At operation 1048 the two sets of results are compared. At step 1049 a discrimination is made as to whether the rotation gesture is clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Calibration of Touch Screen Components
Reference is made to
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, calibration is performed by individually setting (i) pulse durations, and (ii) pulse strengths, namely, emitter currents. For reasons of power consumption, a large current and a short pulse duration is preferred. When a signal is below the pre-designated range, pulse duration and/or pulse strength is increased. When a signal is above the pre-designated range, pulse duration and/or pulse strength is decreased.
As shown in
Reference signal values for each emitter/receiver pair are used as a basis of comparison to recognize a touch, and to compute a weighted average of touch coordinates over a neighborhood. The reference signal value for an emitter/receiver pair is a normal signal level. Reference signal values are collected at boot up, and updated when a change, such as a change in ambient light or a mechanical change, is detected. In general, as shown in
A touch inside the touch area of a screen may slightly bend the screen surface, causing reflections that influence detected signal values at photo diodes outside of the touch area. Such bending is more pronounced when the touch object is fine or pointed, such as a stylus. In order to account for such bending, when a touch is detected (operation 1053), all stable signals (operation 1058) outside the touch area undergo a reference update (operation 1059). When no touch is present and all signals are stable (operation 1054), but a signal along an axis differs from the reference value by more than the expected noise level (operation 1055), the emitters are calibrated (operation 1051). Recalibration and updating of reference values require stable signals in order to avoid influence of temporary signal values, such as signal values due to mechanical stress by bending or twisting of the screen frame.
To further avoid error due to noise, if the result of an emitter/receiver pair differs from a previous result by more than an expected noise level, a new measurement is performed, and both results are compared to the previous result, to get a best match. If the final value is within the expected noise level, a counter is incremented. Otherwise, the counter is cleared. The counter is subsequently used to determine if a signal is stable or unstable, when updating reference values and when recalibrating.
After each complete scan, signals are normalized with their respective reference values. If the normalized signals are not below a touch threshold, then a check is made if a recalibration or an update of reference values is necessary. If a normalized signal is below the touch threshold, then a touch is detected (operation 1053).
To reduce risk of a false alarm touch detection, due to a sudden disturbance, the threshold for detecting an initial point of contact with the screen, such as when a finger first touches the screen, is stricter than the threshold for detecting movement of a point of contact, such as gliding of a finger along the screen while touching the screen. I.e., a higher signal difference is required to detect an initial touch, vis-à-vis the difference required to detect movement of an object along the screen surface. Furthermore, an initial contact is processed as pending until a rescan verifies that the touch is valid and that the location of the touch remains at approximately the same position.
To determine the size of a touch object (operation 1057), the range of blocked signals and their amplitudes are measured. For large objects, there is a wait for detecting an initial point of contact with the screen, until the touch has settled, since the touch of a large object is generally detected when the object is near the screen before it has actually touched the screen. Additionally, when a large object approaches the screen in a direction not perpendicular to the touch area, the subsequent location moves slightly from a first contact location.
However, objects with small contact areas, such as a pen or a stylus, are typically placed directly at the intended screen location. As such, in some embodiments of the present invention, the wait for detecting an initial contact of a fine object is shortened or skipped entirely.
It has been found advantageous to limit the size of objects that generate a touch, in order to prevent detection of a constant touch when a device with a touch screen is stored in a pouch or in a pocket.
At operation 1053, it is also necessary to distinguish between signals representing a valid touch, and signals arising from mechanical effects. In this regard, reference is made to
Reference is made to
The control circuit of
Reference is made to
As shown in
Assembly of Touch Screen Components
As described hereinabove, a minimum of tolerances are required when aligning optical guides that after the shape of a wide light beam with respective light emitters and light receivers, in order to achieve accurate precision on an optical touch screen. A small misalignment can severely degrade accuracy of touch detection by altering the light beam. It is difficult to accurately place a surface mounted receiver and transmitter such that they are properly aligned with respective light guides.
Because of this difficulty, in an embodiment of the present invention, a light guide and transmitter or receiver are combined into a single module or optical element, as described above with reference to
In some instances it may be of advantage not to combine an emitter or a receiver into an optical element, e.g., in order to use standard emitter and receiver components. In such instances precision placement of components is critical.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the optical lens that includes the feather pattern is part of a frame that fits over the screen.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
The process described with reference to
The present invention has broad application to electronic devices with touch sensitive screens, including small-size, mid-size and large-size screens. Such devices include inter alia computers, home entertainment systems, car entertainment systems, security systems, PDAs, cell phones, electronic games and toys, digital photo frames, digital musical instruments, e-book readers, TVs and GPS navigators.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific exemplary embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
This application claims priority benefit of the following five U.S. provisional patent applications, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/317,255, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN WITH WIDE BEAM TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS, filed on Mar. 24, 2010 by inventor Magnus Goertz; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/317,257, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN USING A MIRROR IMAGE FOR DETERMINING THREE-DIMENSIONAL POSITION INFORMATION, filed on Mar. 24, 2010 by inventor Magnus Goertz;U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/379,012, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING REFLECTED LIGHT, filed on Sep. 1, 2010 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson, Joseph Shain, Anders Jansson, Niklas Kvist and Robert Pettersson;U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/380,600, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING REFLECT LIGHT, filed on Sep. 7, 2010 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson, Joseph Shain, Anders Jansson, Niklas Kvist and Robert Pettersson; andU.S. Provisional Application No. 61/410,930, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING REFLECT LIGHT, filed on Nov. 7, 2010 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson, Joseph Shain, Anders Jansson, Niklas Kvist, Robert Pettersson and Lars Sparf. This application is a continuation of U.S. Application No. 13/052,511, entitled LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN WITH SHIFT-ALIGNED EMITTER AND RECEIVER LENSES, filed on Mar. 21, 2011 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson, Joseph Shain, Anders Jansson, Niklas Kvist, Robert Pettersson, Lars Sparf and John Karlsson. This application is a continuation-in-part of the following five U.S. patent applications, the disclosures of which are also hereby incorporated herein by reference. U.S. application Ser. No. 12/371,609, entitled LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN, filed on Feb. 15, 2009 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson and Joseph Shain, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/494,055, entitled ON A SUBSTRATE FORMED OR RESTING DISPLAY ARRANGEMENT, filed on Apr. 29, 2004 by inventor Magnus Goertz, which is a national phase of PCT Application No. PCT/SE02/02000, entitled ON A SUBSTRATE FORMED OR RESTING DISPLAY ARRANGEMENT, filed on Nov. 4, 2002 by inventor Magnus Goertz, which claims priority from Swedish Application No. 0103835-5, entitled PEKSKÄRM FÖR MOBILETELEFON REALISERAD AV DISPLAYENHET MED LJUSSÄNDANDE, filed on Nov. 2, 2001 by inventor Magnus Goertz;U.S. application Ser. No. 12/486,033, entitled USER INTERFACE FOR MOBILE COMPUTER UNIT, filed on Jun. 17, 2009 by inventors Magnus Goertz and Joseph Shain, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/315,250, filed on Dec. 10, 2002 by inventor Magnus Goertz, and which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/132,469, entitled IMPROVED KAYPAD FOR CHINESE CHARACTERS, filed on Jun. 19, 2008 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Robert Pettersson, Staffan Gustafsson and Johann Gerell;U.S. application Ser. No. 12/667,692, entitled SCANNING OF A TOUCH SCREEN, filed on Jan. 5, 2010 by inventor Magnus Goertz, which is a national phase application of PCT Application No. PCT/SE2007/050508, entitled SCANNING OF A TOUCH SCREEN, filed on Jul. 6, 2007 by inventor Magnus Goertz;U.S. application Ser. No. 12/760,567, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING REFLECTED LIGHT, filed on Apr. 15, 2010 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson and Joseph Shain, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/169,779, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN, filed on Apr. 16, 2009 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson and Joseph Shain, and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/171,464, entitled TOUCH SCREEN USER INTERFACE, filed on Apr. 22, 2009 by inventor Magnus Goertz, and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/317,255 entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN WITH WIDE BEAM TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS, filed on Mar. 24, 2010 by inventor Magnus Goertz; andU.S. application Ser. No. 12/760,568, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING WIDE LIGHT BEAMS, filed on Apr. 15, 2010 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson and Joseph Shain, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/169,779, entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN, filed on Apr. 16, 2009 by inventors Magnus Goertz, Thomas Eriksson and Joseph Shain, and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/171,464, entitled TOUCH SCREEN USER INTERFACE, filed on Apr. 22, 2009 by inventor Magnus Goertz, and from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/317,255 entitled OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN WITH WIDE BEAM TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS, filed on Mar. 24, 2010 by inventor Magnus Goertz.
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