TWI442287B - Detecting input device and input method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Sensing input device and input method thereof

The invention relates to a sensing input device and an input method thereof, in particular to a sensing input device for simulating a touch panel and an input method thereof.

With the popularity of computers, keyboards and mice have become the most accepted information input devices. However, due to the large size of the keyboard and the mouse, it is not easy to carry, and the input is slightly complicated. In recent years, the technology manufacturers have developed the input technology of the touch panel. The touch panel provides a simple input method for the user compared to the mouse or keyboard, and also reduces the size of the conventional input device. Since the design of electronic products is currently designed in a light, thin and short direction, it is driving the demand for touch panels.

According to the working principle, the touch panel can be roughly divided into a resistive type, a capacitive type and a surface acoustic wave type, each having its advantages and disadvantages. Among them, the resistive touch panel reduces the brightness and contrast of the display screen due to poor light transmittance. In contrast, the capacitive touch panel has good light transmittance, but it is more susceptible to temperature, humidity or grounding conditions during operation, so the stability is slightly worse. The surface acoustic wave type touch panel has good light transmittance and resolution, and is poor in water repellency, and the surface may be slow or even erroneous after being wetted.

And in the technology of touch panels in the past few years, most of them Touch technology can only report single point issues. In other words, conventional touch panels lack the ability to track multiple touch points simultaneously. For example, resistive and capacitive techniques determine the average of all simultaneous touch points and report a single point that falls somewhere between the touch points. In addition, whether it is corresponding to single-touch or multi-touch, the touch panel currently developed has a high cost problem.

In order to solve the above problems, a sensing input device and an input method thereof are proposed. The sensing input device includes a plurality of first distance sensing units, a plurality of second distance sensing units, and a processing unit. The first distance sensing unit and the second distance sensing unit form a detection area.

The input method of the sensing input device includes: detecting, by the first distance detecting unit, a plurality of objects in the detecting area by a first side of the detecting area, and using the second distance sensing unit by the detecting area a second side detects the objects; reading a first detection distance value of each of the first distance sensing units and a second detection distance value of each second distance sensing unit; and according to the first The position of the sensing unit, the position of the second distance sensing unit, the first detection distance value, and the second detection distance value are used to calculate an object position of each object in the detection area.

Each of the first distance sensing unit or the second distance sensing unit may include an infrared emitter and an image receiver. The infrared emitter is used to emit an infrared ray; the image receiver is paired with the infrared ray emitter to receive the reflected infrared ray.

According to an embodiment, the pair of first distance sensing units are paired The infrared emitter and the image receiver are both disposed on the first side of the detection area, and the pair of infrared emitters and image receivers of the second distance sensing unit are disposed on the second side of the detection area.

When any distance sensing unit detects any object in the detection area, the distance sensing unit that detects any object can calculate the distance between the distance sensing unit and the detected object as the detection distance value. When any distance sensing unit does not detect any object in the detection area, the distance sensing unit that does not detect any object can set a default value as the detection distance value. To indicate that no objects have been detected.

The processing unit may first obtain N candidate coordinates according to the position of the first distance sensing unit and the first detection distance value, obtain M candidate coordinates according to the position of the second distance sensing unit and the second detection distance value, and shift Except for the recurring part of this (N+M) candidate coordinates, the remaining candidate coordinates are taken as the object position.

In addition, the sensing input device may further include a transmission unit, and the transmission unit transmits the position of the object to an electronic device in a wireless or wired manner.

In summary, the sensing input device and its input method detect multiple objects located in the detection area and provide single touch or multi-touch operation. The sensing input device is light in weight, small in size and convenient to carry, and the cost of the infrared emitter and the image detector is lower than that of the conventional touch panel, and thus is more competitive.

10‧‧‧Sensitive input device

11,11a,11b,11c,11d,11e‧‧‧first distance sensing unit

12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, 12e‧‧‧ second distance sensing unit

13‧‧‧Infrared emitter

14‧‧‧Image Receiver

16‧‧‧Processing unit

18‧‧‧Transportation unit

20‧‧‧Detection area

30, 30a, 30b‧‧‧ objects

40‧‧‧Electronic devices

42‧‧‧ cursor

44‧‧‧Screen objects

Figure 1A is a block diagram of a sensing input device of an embodiment.

Figure 1B is a block diagram of a sensing input device of another embodiment.

2 is a schematic diagram of a distance sensing unit of an embodiment.

Figure 3 is a flow chart of an input method of a sensing input device of an embodiment.

Figure 4A is a schematic illustration of a single point slide of an embodiment.

Figure 4B is a schematic diagram of a multi-point slide of an embodiment.

Figure 5A is a schematic diagram of a sensing input device of an embodiment.

Figure 5B is a schematic diagram of a sensing input device of an embodiment.

Figure 5C is a schematic diagram of a sensing input device of an embodiment.

The detailed features and advantages of the present invention are set forth in the Detailed Description of the Detailed Description of the <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> </ RTI> </ RTI> <RTIgt; The objects and advantages associated with the present invention can be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

The invention provides a sensing input device and an input method thereof, which can be used to simulate an input device such as a conventional touch panel. Please refer to FIG. 1A, which is a block diagram of a sensing input device of an embodiment. The sensing input device 10 includes a plurality of first distance sensing units 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, and 11e (hereinafter collectively referred to as a first distance sensing unit 11), a plurality of second distance sensing units 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d and 12e (hereinafter collectively referred to as second distance sensing unit 12) and a processing unit 16.

The first distance sensing unit 11 and the second distance sensing unit 12 form a detection area 20; the detection area 20 can simulate the operation of the touch panel to provide a single or multi-touch operation for the user. The detection area 20 in the following embodiments is rectangular, but is not limited thereto. The arrangement of the first distance sensing unit 11 and the second distance sensing unit 12 may be changed to correspond to the detection area 20 designed for different trapezoids, circular triangles, and the like.

According to an embodiment, each of the distance sensing units (including the first distance sensing unit 11 and the second distance sensing unit 12) may have an infrared emitter 13 and an image receiver 14 in an adjacent configuration and paired, such as "Figure 2" is shown. The infrared emitter 13 is used to emit an infrared ray, and the image receiver 14 is used to receive the reflected infrared ray.

It is possible that a plurality of objects 30a and 30b (hereinafter collectively referred to as objects 30) fall within the detection area 20, and the emitted infrared rays hit the object 30 to be reflected back to the pair of image receivers 14. Therefore, the distance sensing unit can determine whether any object 30 is detected according to whether the emitted infrared rays are blocked (reflected). And by the intensity of the reflected infrared light received by the image receiver 14, the distance sensing unit can know the distance between the object 30 and itself. According to another embodiment, the distance sensing unit can also detect using ultrasonic technology.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a flow chart of an input method of a sensing input device according to an embodiment.

First detecting the detection area by using the first distance sensing unit 11 from the first side of the detection area 20 (for example, above the detection area 20 in the "A1") Two objects 30 in 20, and the second distance sensing unit 12 detects the same two objects 30 from the second side of the detecting area 20 (for example, the left side of the detecting area 20 in "1A") (Step S100).

The pair of infrared emitters 13 and the image receivers 14 of all the first distance sensing units 11 are disposed on the first side of the detection area 20, and the paired infrared emitters of all the second distance sensing units 12 13 and the image receiver 14 are disposed on the second side of the detection area 20. In other words, the pair of infrared emitters 13 and the image receivers 14 are disposed on the same side.

The object 30 can be, for example, the user's finger or the tip of the stylus. It should be noted that the size of the detection area 20 can be set by the processing unit 16, not the sensing range of the distance sensing unit capabilities. For example, a general infrared distance detector can achieve a sensing range of 5 cm to 45 cm, but the side length of the detecting area 20 of the sensing input device 10 can be set to 5 cm to 30 cm as required. between. In other words, although a single distance sensing unit can physically detect an object 30 between 5 cm and 45 cm, the sensing input device 10 can only judge whether or not an object 30 falls within a distance of 5 cm to 30 cm. The detection area 20 between. If an object 30 located outside the detection area 20 is detected, it can be ignored.

In order to determine an object position of each object 30 in the detection area 20, the processing unit 16 reads a first detection distance value of each of the first distance sensing units 11 and one of each of the second distance sensing units 12 The second detected distance value (step S110). Wherein the distance sensing unit can be fixed periodically emitting infrared rays, receiving The infrared rays are calculated and the detected distance values are read by the processing unit 16. The distance sensing unit may also be triggered by the command issued by the processing unit 16 to start the detection.

According to an embodiment, when any distance sensing unit detects any object 30 in the detection area 20, the distance sensing unit of the object 30 is detected to calculate the distance between the object 30 and the detected object 30. As the detection distance value. For example, the first distance sensing unit 11a in the "1A" image detects the object 30a and reports the distance between the first distance sensing unit 11a and the object 30a as the detection distance value. Similarly, the second distance sensing unit 12b detects the object 30a and reports the distance between the second distance sensing unit 12b and the object 30a as the detection distance value. The first distance sensing unit 11d detects the object 30b and reports the distance between the first distance sensing unit 11d and the object 30b as the detection distance value.

When any of the distance sensing units does not detect any object 30 in the detection area 20, the distance sensing unit of the object 30 is not detected (for example, the first distance sensing unit 11b in FIG. 1A). The 11c, 11e and the second distance sensing side units 12a, 12c, 12d, 12e) may set a default value as the detection distance value to indicate that the object 30a or 30b is not detected.

After the detection distance value of each distance sensing unit is obtained, the processing unit 16 determines the position of the first distance sensing unit 11, the position of the second distance sensing unit 12, the first detection distance value, and the second detection distance value. The object position of each object 30 in the detection area 20 is calculated (step S120).

The processing unit 16 may first obtain N candidate coordinates according to the position of the first distance sensing unit 11 and the first detection distance value. Processing unit 16 can detect The position of the first distance sensing unit 11 of the object 30 is used as a horizontal coordinate of the candidate coordinate; and the detected distance value of the first distance sensing unit 11 of the object 30 is detected as an ordinate of the object position. Similarly, M candidate coordinates can be obtained according to the position of the second distance sensing unit 12 and the second detection distance value. The processing unit 16 can detect the position of the second distance sensing unit 12 of the object 30 as the ordinate of the candidate coordinate; and detect the detected distance value of the second distance sensing unit 12 of the object 30 as the object position. The horizontal coordinates.

The processing unit 16 then removes the portion of the (N+M) candidate coordinates that is repeated, and uses the remaining candidate coordinates as the identified object position. In this case, in order to avoid a slight misdetection caused by misdetecting the same object 30 as a different object 30, each candidate coordinate can be appropriately expanded. For example, different candidate coordinates whose distance is less than a threshold (for example, 1 cm) can be regarded as the same one.

Take the example of "Picture 1A". It is assumed that the first distance sensing units 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, and 11e are horizontally disposed at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 centimeters from the upper edge of the detecting area 20, respectively, and the second distance sensing unit 12a 12b, 12c, 12d, and 12e are vertically disposed at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 centimeters from the left edge of the detection area 20, respectively. It is assumed that the detection distance value of the first distance sensing unit 11a is 10 cm; the detection distance value of the first distance sensing unit 11d is 10 cm; and the detection distance value of the second distance sensing unit 12b is 11 cm.

The processor can learn from the above data that there may be objects in the detection area 20 at the candidate coordinates (10, 10), (25, 10), and (11, 10). but The candidate coordinates (10, 10) and (11, 10) are very close, and therefore are determined to correspond to the same object 30. Therefore, the alternate coordinates (10, 10) and (11, 10) are considered to be repeated and are selected for deletion. In this way, the processing unit 16 can know that there are two objects 30a and 30b having the object positions (10, 10) and (25, 10) in the detection area 20.

After the step S120, the processing unit 16 can transmit the position of the object corresponding to all the objects 30 to an electronic device 40 through a transmission unit 18 in a wireless or wired manner, such as "FIG. 1B". The electronic device 40 can be a mobile device such as a mobile phone or a tablet computer that is not conducive to configuring a physical keyboard or a mouse.

Through the above sensing input device 10, a multi-touch operation interface of the user can be provided. Further, the sensing input device 10 can detect a single point sliding or a multi-point sliding of the object 30, as shown in "FIG. 4A" and "FIG. 4B".

In the embodiment of "Fig. 4A", the object 30 slides to the right. The processing unit 16 can continuously calculate the object location of the object 30 and send it to the electronic device 40. The electronic device 40 can calculate the vector of the movement of the object 30 and know that the object 30 slides to the right, and correspondingly moves a cursor 42 to the right. However, the action of detecting the movement can also be performed by the processing unit 16. The processing unit 16 can also determine the instruction corresponding to the action (for example, moving the cursor 42 to the right), and then transmit the command to the electronic device 40 for execution. In addition, when the object 30 slides, the infrared rays emitted by the first distance detecting units 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, and 11e are sequentially and sequentially blocked, so that the processing unit 16 can also judge that the object 30 slides to the right and then the object. 30 slides to the right" or The command corresponding to the data is sent to the electronic device 40.

In the embodiment of "Fig. 4B", the objects 30a and 30b slide to the left and right, respectively. Similarly, the processing unit 16 can learn the movement information of the objects 30a and 30b by the change of the position of the object or the situation that the respective distance detecting units are continuously shielded, and send the information to the electronic device 40. The electronic device 40 can then amplify a screen object 44 according to the received mobile information.

It should be noted that the above single-slide, multi-slide, and corresponding commands are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In addition, the type input device can have various implementation examples, as shown in "5A" to "5C". The example of the embodiment of the fifth distance sensing unit 11 is exemplified, and the configuration of the second distance sensing unit 12 can be analogized.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5A, the infrared emitter 13 of the first distance sensing unit 11 can emit infrared light horizontally. When the first distance sensing unit 11 does not detect any object 30 in the detection area 20, the preset default value may be used as the detection distance value to indicate that the object 30 is not detected.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5B, the infrared emitter 13 of the first distance sensing unit 11 emits infrared light slightly downward; the emitted infrared light is blocked by the edge object such as the desktop at the edge of the detection area 20. When the first distance sensing unit 11 does not detect any object 30 in the detection area 20, the detection distance value is naturally a threshold value that can be obtained to indicate that the object 30 is not detected.

Preferably, the first distance sensing unit 11 is disposed close to the desktop, etc. Lower position, so as not to sense the user's palm or other unrelated objects and be misjudged.

If the detection area 20 required by the user is larger than the physical sensing range of the single first distance sensing unit 11, the sensing input device 10 can use the upper and lower two sets of first distance sensing units 11 in combination. Unit, such as "5C". After the processing unit 16 reads the detection distance values of all the first distance sensing units 11 of the left and right groups, the processing unit 16 performs step S120 to obtain the object position corresponding to the object 30 in the detection area 20.

In summary, in summary, the sensing input device and the input method thereof use the sensing unit capable of detecting the distance to detect the object located in the detection area, and accordingly provide the user with a single touch or more Touch operation. The infrared emitter and the image detector of the sensing input device occupy a small body, so the weight is light, the volume is small, and it is convenient to carry. Moreover, the cost of the infrared emitter and the image detector is much lower than that of the conventional touch panel, and is not easily damaged, so that it can be utilized for low-priced products such as gifts or toys.

The above detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention is intended to provide a further understanding of the scope of the invention. On the contrary, the intention is to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements within the scope of the invention as claimed.

10‧‧‧Sensitive input device

11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, 11e‧‧‧ first distance sensing unit

12a, 12b, 12c, 12d, 12e‧‧‧ second distance sensing unit

16‧‧‧Processing unit

18‧‧‧Transportation unit

20‧‧‧Detection area

30‧‧‧ objects

40‧‧‧Electronic devices

Claims (10)

A sensing input device has a detection area, and the sensing input device includes: a plurality of first distance sensing units, wherein the first distance sensing units detect a plurality of objects in the detection area and individually Returning a first detection distance value; a plurality of second distance sensing units, the first distance sensing unit and the second distance sensing units forming the detection area, and the second distance sensing units Detecting the objects and individually transmitting a second detection distance value; and a processing unit, reading the first detection distance value of each of the first distance sensing units and each of the second distance sensing The second detection distance value of the unit, and according to the positions of the first distance sensing units, the positions of the second distance sensing units, the first detection distance values, and the second detection distances a value, calculating an object position of the object in the detection area, wherein when any of the distance sensing units does not detect any of the objects in the detection area, no object is detected The distance sensing unit sets a default value as the detection distance Value to indicate to either not detected the object. The sensing input device of claim 1, wherein each of the first distance sensing unit or the second distance sensing unit comprises: an infrared emitter for emitting an infrared ray; and an image receiver Paired with the infrared emitter to receive the reflected infrared light. The sensing input device of claim 1, further comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the position of the objects to an electronic device in a wireless or wired manner. The sensing input device of claim 1, wherein the processing unit obtains N candidate coordinates according to the positions of the first distance sensing units and the first detection distance values, according to the second The position of the sensing unit and the second detecting distance values obtain M candidate coordinates, and the repeated parts of the (N+M) candidate coordinates are removed, and the remaining candidate coordinates are used as the Object location. A method for inputting a sensing input device includes: detecting, by a plurality of first distance sensing units, a plurality of objects in the detecting area by a first side of a detecting area, and using a plurality of second distances The sensing unit detects the objects from a second side of the detecting area; and reads a first detecting distance value of each of the first distance sensing units and one of each of the second distance sensing units a second detection distance value; and calculating, according to the positions of the first distance sensing units, the positions of the second distance sensing units, the first detection distance values, and the second detection distance values Each of the objects is in an object position of the detection area, wherein when any of the distance sensing units does not detect any of the objects in the detection area, the distance of any of the objects is not detected. The sensing unit sets a default value as the detected distance value to indicate that no object is detected. The input method of the sensing input device of claim 5, wherein the position of the first distance sensing unit, the position of the second distance sensing units, and the first detection distance are The value and the second detection distance value, after the step of calculating the position of the object in the detection area, the method further includes: transmitting the object positions to an electronic device in a wireless or wired manner. The input method of the sensing input device of claim 5, wherein each of the first distance sensing unit or the second distance sensing unit comprises an infrared emitter for emitting an infrared ray, and The infrared emitters are paired and receive an image receiver of the reflected infrared light. The input method of the sensing input device of claim 5, wherein the first distance sensing units have N, and the second distance sensing units have M, and N and M are greater than 1. a positive integer; calculating each object according to the positions of the first distance sensing units, the positions of the second distance sensing units, the first detection distance values, and the second detection distance values The step of the object in the detecting area includes: obtaining, according to the positions of the first distance sensing units and the first detecting distance values, N candidate coordinates; according to the second distance sensing units Position and the second detected distance values to obtain M candidate coordinates; The repetitive parts of the (N+M) candidate coordinates are removed, and the remaining candidate coordinates are taken as the object positions. A sensing input device has a detection area, and the sensing input device includes: a plurality of first distance sensing units, wherein the first distance sensing units detect a plurality of objects in the detection area and individually Returning a first detection distance value; a plurality of second distance sensing units, the first distance sensing unit and the second distance sensing units forming the detection area, and the second distance sensing units Detecting the objects and individually transmitting a second detection distance value; and a processing unit, reading the first detection distance value of each of the first distance sensing units and each of the second distance sensing The second detection distance value of the unit, and according to the positions of the first distance sensing units, the positions of the second distance sensing units, the first detection distance values, and the second detection distances a value, a position of each object in the detection area is calculated, wherein the processing unit obtains N candidate coordinates according to the positions of the first distance sensing units and the first detection distance values, according to the The position of the second distance sensing unit and the first The second detection distance value obtains M candidate coordinates, and removes the repeated parts of the (N+M) candidate coordinates, and then uses the remaining candidate coordinates as the object positions. A method of inputting a sensing input device, comprising: Detecting, by a plurality of first distance sensing units, a plurality of objects in the detection area by a first side of a detection area, and using a plurality of second distance sensing units by a second of the detection areas The side detects the objects; and reads a first detection distance value of each of the first distance sensing units and a second detection distance value of each of the second distance sensing units; and according to the Calculating an object of the object in the detection area, the position of the sensing unit, the position of the second distance sensing unit, the first detection distance value, and the second detection distance values Position, wherein the first distance sensing units have N, the second distance sensing units have M, and N and M are positive integers greater than 1; according to the positions of the first distance sensing units, The step of calculating the position of each object in the detection area by the positions of the second distance sensing units, the first detection distance values, and the second detection distance values includes: according to the The position of the first distance sensing unit and the first detection distance values obtain N Complementing the coordinates; obtaining M candidate coordinates according to the positions of the second distance sensing units and the second detection distance values; and removing the recurring portions of the (N+M) candidate coordinates, and The remaining candidate coordinates are used as the location of the objects.