Patent Application
20150136946
This application claims the priority benefit of China application serial no. 201310578272.5, filed on Nov. 15, 2013. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a touch apparatus and control method thereof. Particularly, the invention relates to an optical touch apparatus and a touch method thereof.
2. Related Art
In an optical touch panel, light sources and light sensors are generally disposed at an edge of a screen. And a touch position can be calculated by using a triangulation location method according to analysis of sensing results of the light sensors and distances between the light sources. Although the aforementioned optical touch panel may reach a certain degree of touch accuracy in most cases, in case of a multi-touch operation, a problem that a touch point cannot be accurately determined still exists.
Patents related to the optical touch panel are U.S. Patent Publication No. 20110261016, U.S. Patent Publication No. 20100201637 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 20120205166.
The invention is directed to an optical touch apparatus and a touch method thereof, by which one or more ghost points generated during a multi-touch operation are eliminated to achieve better accuracy of the touch positions.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description of the techniques disclosed in the invention.
To achieve one of or all aforementioned and other advantages, an embodiment of the invention provides an optical touch apparatus, which is applied to a touch surface. The optical touch apparatus includes a first scanning light source, a second scanning light source, a plurality of first light sensing units and a control unit. The first scanning light source emits a first scanning beam, and the second scanning light source emits a second scanning beam. The second scanning beam emitted from the second scanning light source and the first scanning beam emitted from the first scanning light source scan the touch surface in alternation. The first light sensing units, the first scanning light source and the second scanning light source are disposed at a first side of the touch surface. The first light sensing units are located between the first scanning light source and the second scanning light source for sensing a first scattered light generated by an input tool when the first scanning beam and the second scanning beam scan the input tool. The first light sensing units respectively correspond to a plurality of first sensing regions of the touch surface. The control unit is electrically connected to the first light sensing units, and determines the first sensing region where the input tool is located according to an intensity of the first scattered light sensed by the first light sensing units.
In an embodiment of the invention, each of the first light sensing units includes a plurality of light sensing diodes arranged at the first side of the touch surface in parallel.
In an embodiment of the invention, each of the light sensing diodes has a corresponding oblique angle according to a distance between a center point of the first scanning light source and the second scanning light source and the corresponding light sensing diode.
In an embodiment of the invention, the optical touch apparatus further includes a third scanning light source, a fourth scanning light source and a plurality of second light sensing units. The third scanning light source emits a third scanning beam. The fourth scanning light source emits a fourth scanning beam. The fourth scanning beam emitted from the fourth scanning light source, the first scanning beam emitted from the first scanning light source, the second scanning beam emitted from the second scanning light source and the third scanning beam emitted from the third scanning light source scan the touch surface in alternation. The second light sensing units are electrically connected to the control unit. The second light sensing units, the third scanning light source and the fourth scanning light source are disposed at a second side of the touch surface. The second light sensing units are located between the third scanning light source and the fourth scanning light source. The second light sensing units are used for sensing a second scattered light generated by the input tool when the third scanning beam and the fourth scanning beam scan the input tool, where the second light sensing units respectively correspond to a plurality of second sensing regions. The control unit determines the second sensing region where the input tool is located according to an intensity of the second scattered light sensed by the second light sensing units.
In an embodiment of the invention, each of the second light sensing units includes a plurality of light sensing diodes arranged at the second side of the touch surface in parallel.
In an embodiment of the invention, each of the light sensing diodes has a corresponding oblique angle according to a distance between a center point of the third scanning light source and the fourth scanning light source and the corresponding light sensing diode.
In an embodiment of the invention, the optical touch apparatus further includes a plurality of light blocking elements, and each of the light blocking elements is disposed at a side of the corresponding light sensing diode.
In an embodiment of the invention, the second side is opposite to the first side.
In an embodiment of the invention, the control unit determines the first sensing region where the input tool is located by ignoring sensing results obtained by the second light sensing units when the first scanning beam or the second scanning beam scans the touch surface, and the control unit determines the second sensing region where the input tool is located by ignoring sensing results obtained by the first light sensing units when the third scanning beam or the fourth scanning beam scan the touch surface.
The invention provides a touch method of an optical touch apparatus, wherein the optical touch apparatus is applied to a touch surface. The optical touch apparatus includes a first scanning light source, a second scanning light source, and a plurality of first light sensing units. The first light sensing units, the first scanning light source and the second scanning light source are disposed at a first side of the touch surface, and the first light sensing units are located between the first scanning light source and the second scanning light source, and the first light sensing units respectively correspond to a plurality of first sensing regions of the touch surface. The touch method of the optical touch apparatus includes following steps. The first scanning light source is used to emit a first scanning beam, and the second scanning light source is used to emit a second scanning beam. The first light sensing units are used to sense a first scattered light generated by an input tool when the first scanning beam and the second scanning beam scan the input tool, where the second scanning light source and the first scanning light source scan the touch surface in alternation. The first sensing region where the input tool is located is determined according to an intensity of the first scattered light sensed by the first light sensing units.
In an embodiment of the invention, the optical touch apparatus further includes a third scanning light source, a fourth scanning light source and a plurality of second light sensing units. The second light sensing units, the third scanning light source and the fourth scanning light source are disposed at a second side of the touch surface, and the second light sensing units are located between the third scanning light source and the fourth scanning light source. The second light sensing units respectively correspond to a plurality of second sensing regions. The touch method further includes following steps. The third scanning light source is used to emit a third scanning beam, and the fourth scanning light source is used to emit a fourth scanning beam, wherein the first scanning beam emitted from the first scanning light source, the second scanning beam emitted from the second scanning light source, the third scanning beam emitted from the third scanning light source and the fourth scanning beam emitted from the fourth scanning light source scan the touch surface in alternation, and the second light sensing units are used to sense a second scattered light generated by the input tool when the third scanning beam and the fourth scanning beam scan the input tool.
In an embodiment of the invention, the touch method further includes determining the second sensing region where the input tool is located according to an intensity of the second scattered light sensed by the second light sensing units.
In an embodiment of the invention, the touch method further includes determining the first sensing region where the input tool is located by ignoring a sensing result obtained by the second light sensing units when the first scanning beam and the second scanning beam scan the touch surface, and determining the second sensing region where the input tool is located by ignoring a sensing result obtained by the first light sensing units when the third scanning beam and the fourth scanning beam scan the touch surface.
According to the above descriptions, by configuring a plurality of the first light sensing units between the first scanning light source and the second scanning light source, an actual touch position of the input tool is determined according to the intensity of the first scattered light sensed by the first light sensing units. In this way, besides that the ghost point generated during the multi-touch operation is eliminated, the first sensing region where the input tool is located is also accurately determined from a plurality of first sensing regions of the touch surface.
In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the invention comprehensible, several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
Other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will be further understood from the further technological features disclosed by the embodiments of the present invention wherein there are shown and described preferred embodiments of this invention, simply by way of illustration of modes best suited to carry out the invention.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
It is to be understood that other embodiment may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and “mounted,” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings.
The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. The terms used herein such as “above”, “below”, “front”, “back”, “left” and “right” are for the purpose of describing directions in the figures only and are not intended to be limiting of the invention.
According to the above descriptions, the first scanning light source 104, the second scanning light source 106, and the light sensing units 108, 110 are disposed at one side of the touch surface 102, as that shown in
In the embodiment, the first scanning light source 104 and the second scanning light source 106 can respectively emit a first scanning beam and a second scanning beam according to a time sequence, and the first scanning beam emitted from the first scanning light source 104 and the second scanning beam emitted from the second scanning light source 106 scan a touch region on the touch surface 102 in alternation. As that shown in
The light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 may perform light sensing during a scanning period of the first scanning light source 104 and the second scanning light source 106, and the control unit 112 may analyze signals received by the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 when an input tool performs a touch operation according to a triangulation location method, so as to obtain a touch position of the input tool, wherein the input tool is a finger, a stylus or other object capable of reflecting the scanning beam to perform the touch operation. However, as that shown in
According to the above descriptions, the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 may sense a scattered light generated from the input tool when the first scanning beam and the second scanning beam irradiate the input tool. The light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 respectively have a corresponding sensing region. In detail, a sensing region 108A correspondingly sensed by the light sensing unit 108 is a left region of the touch surface 102, and a sensing region 110A correspondingly sensed by the light sensing unit 110 is a right region of the touch surface 102. In this way, the control unit 112 can determine the sensing region where the actual touch position of the input tool is located according to the scattered light intensity respectively sensed by the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110. For example, the control unit 112 can calculate each position of the touch points P1 and P2 and the ghost points GP1 and GP2 according to the sensing results of the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110. Further, by comparing the sensing results of the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110, it can be determined that the points P1 and P2 are actual touch points, and the points GP1 and GP2 are ghost points. In detail, after the first scanning beam sequentially scans the points P1 and P2, and the second scanning beam sequentially scans the points P2 and P1, since the first scanning beam and the second scanning beam are intersected at the points GP1 and GP2 during scanning, the intensities of the light scattered from the two points GP1 and GP2 sensed by the light sensing unit 108 are all relatively stronger, and the intensities of the light at the two intersected points GP1 and GP2 sensed by the light sensing unit 110 are all relatively weaker. Namely, the two points GP1 and GP2 calculated by the control unit 112 according to the sensing results of the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 are all located at the left region. By comparing the sensing results of the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110, it is known that such sensing results are unreasonable, so that it is determined that the points GP1 and GP2 are all ghost points. On the other hand, determination details of the touch points P1 and P2 may refer to descriptions of a following table one.
The table 1 lists sensing results of the scattered light intensities sequentially sensed by the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 at time points t1, t2, t2, t3 and t4, where the scattered light intensities sensed at the time points t1 and t2 are caused by the first scanning beam, and the scattered light sensed at the time points t3 and t4 are caused by the second scanning beam. When the light intensities sensed by the light sensing unit 108 is relatively strong, it represents that the touch position of the input tool is located at the left sensing region 108A on the touch surface 102. Comparatively, when the light intensities sensed by the light sensing unit 110 is relatively strong, it represents that the touch position of the input tool is located at the right sensing region 110A on the touch surface 102. Referring to the table 1, it is known that the actual touch positions of the input tool obtained according to the sensing results of the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 are respectively located at the left region and the right region. The control unit 112 calculates that the positions of the points GP1 and GP2 are all located at the left region (which is not described in the table 1) according to the sensing results of the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110, so that the compared sensing results of the light sensing unit 108 and the light sensing unit 110 are not matched. Therefore, it is learned that the points GP1 and GP2 are ghost points which are required to be eliminated, and then the actual touch points P1 and P2 are determined.
Moreover, since the control unit 112 can accurately eliminate the ghost points, in some implementations, the touch surface 102 can be divided into two independent touch regions according to user's setting, i.e. a left touch region and a right touch region. In this way, two users can simultaneously perform touch operations by using the touch surface 102, so as to enhance the application of the touch surface 102. Moreover, when the user originally operated on the left touch region cross-touches the right touch region (or when the user originally operated on the right touch region cross-touches the left touch region), the control unit 112 interprets the touch operation as invalid, so as to avoid occurrence of false operations.
Further, the light sensing units 108, 110 may respectively include a plurality of light sensing diodes arranged at the side of the touch surface 102 in parallel. For example, in the embodiment of
For example,
On the other hand, in
Moreover, although two light sensing units 108 and 110 are taken as an example for descriptions in the embodiment of
As that described above, the light sensing unit 406 and the light sensing unit 408 are sequentially disposed between the third scanning light source 402 and the fourth scanning light source 404, and the light sensing unit 406 is located between the third scanning light source 402 and the light sensing unit 408. The control unit 112 is electrically connected to the light sensing unit 108, the light sensing unit 110, the light sensing unit 406 and the light sensing unit 408. Similarly, the third scanning light source 402 and the fourth scanning light source 404 can respectively emit the third scanning beam and the fourth scanning beam, and the first scanning light source 104, the beams emitted from the second scanning light source 106, the third scanning light source 402 and the fourth scanning light source 404 scan the touch region of the touch surface 102 in alternation. Moreover, the light sensing units 108, 110, 406 and 408 can respectively sense the light scattered from the input tool when the first scanning beam, the second scanning beam, the third scanning beam and the fourth scanning beam scan the input tool, and the light sensing unit 108, the light sensing unit 110, the light sensing unit 406 and the light sensing unit 408 respectively have the corresponding sensing region on the touch surface 102, where the sensing regions corresponding to the light sensing units 108, 110, 406 and 408 are, for example, respectively an upper left region, an upper right region, a lower left region and a lower right region of the touch surface 102, though the invention is not limited thereto. Implantations of the light sensing unit 406 and the light sensing unit 408 may refer to the embodiments of
Similar to the embodiment of
However, in the embodiment of
Moreover, the number of the light sensing units between the first scanning light source 104 and the second scanning light source 106 and the number of the light sensing units between the third scanning light source 402 and the fourth scanning light source 404 are not limited by the invention. In some implementations, the number of the light sensing units between the first scanning light source 104 and the second scanning light source 106 and/or the number of the light sensing units between the third scanning light source 402 and the fourth scanning light source 404 can be more than three. When greater the number of the light sensing unit is, the more sensing regions the touch surface 102 may have.
In other embodiments, the optical touch apparatuses according to the above embodiments can be tiled and merged (not shown) to increase a touch operation area of the sensing region.
According to the above descriptions, the touch method of the optical touch apparatus further includes following steps. The third scanning light source is used to emit a third scanning beam (step S602), the fourth scanning light source is used to emit a fourth scanning beam (step S604), a plurality of the second light sensing units are used to sense a second scattered light generated by the input tool when the third scanning beam and the fourth scanning beam scan the input tool (step S606). Then, a sensing region where the input tool is located is determined according to intensities of the first scattered light and the second scattered light sensed by the first light sensing units and the second light sensing units (step S608). The embodiments of
In summary, the actual touch position of the input tool is determined according to the configuration of a plurality of light sensing units between the first scanning light source and the second scanning light source and the intensity of the scattered light sensed by the light sensing units. Besides that the ghost points generated during the multi-touch operation are eliminated, the sensing region where the input tool is located is also accurately determined from a plurality of sensing regions on the touch surface. In some implementations, the third scanning light source, the fourth scanning light source and the light sensing units can be further disposed at a side opposite to the side where the first scanning light source, the second scanning light source and the light sensing units are located, so as to further increase the number of the sensing regions of the optical touch apparatus. Moreover, the aforementioned light sensing units can be implemented by light sensing diodes, and the accuracy for determining the actual touch position of the input tool can be further enhanced by disposing the light blocking elements adjacent to the light sensing diodes or adjusting the configuration direction of the light sensing diodes.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. Moreover, any embodiment of or the claims of the invention is unnecessary to implement all advantages or features disclosed by the invention. Moreover, the abstract and the name of the invention are only used to assist patent searching and are not used to limit the invention. The terms “first”, “second”, etc. mentioned in the specification and the claims are merely used to name the elements and should not be regarded as limiting the upper or lower bound of the number of the components/apparatuses.
The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form or to exemplary embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, the foregoing description should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. The embodiments are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its best mode practical application, thereby to enable persons skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use or implementation contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. Therefore, the term “the invention”, “the present invention” or the like does not necessarily limit the claim scope to a specific embodiment, and the reference to particularly preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention does not imply a limitation on the invention, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The invention is limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The abstract of the disclosure is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract, which will allow a searcher to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure of any patent issued from this disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Any advantages and benefits described may not apply to all embodiments of the invention. It should be appreciated that variations may be made in the embodiments described by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Moreover, no element and component in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element or component is explicitly recited in the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201310578272.5 | Nov 2013 | CN | national |
