TWI579753B - Control device and operation mode altering method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Control device and operation mode conversion method thereof

The present invention relates to a control device and an operation mode conversion method thereof.

With the advancement of digital television, the user interface that can be run on television has become more diverse, so that the remote control used to control the user interface must meet the needs of diverse instruction inputs. However, the conventional remote control device with the button as the main input device cannot flexibly control the user interface which is currently in the form of a window. Therefore, how to develop a remote control device that can meet the requirements of diversified command input has become a focus of research and development.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a control device including a housing and first and second touch sensing devices. The first touch sensing device is disposed in the housing and provides a first touch sensing surface to sense an object moving state, and the second touch sensing device is also disposed in the housing and provides a second touch sensing surface to sense an object moving state. And the first touch sensing surface and the second touch sensing surface are disposed at different positions on the surface of the housing.

According to the above concept, the first touch sensing surface and the second touch sensing surface may be disposed on opposite sides of the outer side of the housing.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a control method of the above control device. The control method defines a corresponding instruction of the touch track of one of the first touch sensing device and the second touch sensing device, and the corresponding instruction includes a fast rotation, a page turning, a screen size change, and a mouse Wheel function At least one of them.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a control device operation mode conversion method suitable for converting an operation mode of a control device having both a touch sensing device and a button device. The control device operating mode conversion method causes the touch sensing device to sense the moving state of the touch object on the touch sensing device to generate a corresponding touch track, and determines the touch sensing device or the button device according to the touch track. Receive input instructions.

According to the above concept, when the touch track is held for a predetermined period of time within a certain area, it may be decided to receive an instruction by the touch sensing device.

According to the above concept, when the touch track is that the touch object is not detected for a preset time, it is decided to receive the command by the button device.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a battery remaining capacity warning method of a control device, which is suitable for use in a control device using a battery. The remaining battery capacity warning method first determines whether the remaining capacity of the battery is less than a preset capacity, and when the remaining capacity of the battery is less than the preset capacity, causes the controlled device controlled by the remote control to issue a warning content.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a control device, including: a housing; and a first touch sensing device disposed in the housing and providing a first touch sensing surface to sense an object moving state, wherein the first The touch sensing surface is a smooth surface structure, and the first touch sensing device is configured to respond to a plurality of capacitance value changes corresponding to a user's control gesture, and output a quantity according to the capacitance value change amount. Corresponding instructions to the functional circuit are used to control the operation of the functional circuit.

According to the above concept, the functional circuit can be a plurality of light emitting diode units, and the first touch sensing device can include seven hexagonal sensing electrodes separated from each other, and the capacitance value changes can be integrated into After the three-dimensional data, it is converted into the corresponding instruction including the RGB data representing the three primary colors.

According to the above concept, wherein the smooth surface structure can be a dome structure.

The invention provides a control device with a touch function, so that the control device can be more suitable for using various input interfaces. In addition, the conversion between different input modes is very simple, making it easy to use in different input requirements. The battery capacity warning function allows the user to know early that the battery should be replaced to make the touch function work properly, which is very practical.

10, 20‧‧‧ control device

100, 200‧‧‧ shell

102, 104, 202‧‧‧ surface

102a, 102b‧‧‧ side casing

110, 120‧‧‧ touch sensing device

112, 122, 212, 230‧‧‧ touch sensing surface

114, 124‧‧‧ Signal Processing Unit

164, 168, 170, 182‧‧ ‧ induction electrodes

160‧‧‧Electronic signal isolation layer

180, 190‧‧‧ substrate

184, 186‧‧‧ transmission interface

235‧‧‧Center Sensing Area

240, 2150, 2152, 2154, 2156, 2158, 2200‧‧‧ buttons

250‧‧‧Arc moving

260‧‧‧ Radial movement

29‧‧‧Dome structure

41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47‧‧‧ sense electrodes

S300~S310‧‧‧ Implementation steps of an embodiment of the present case

S400~S410‧‧‧ Implementation steps of an embodiment of the present case

1A is a circuit block diagram of a control device according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1B is a circuit block diagram of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

1C is a schematic view showing the position of an electronic component of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

1D is a schematic view showing the position of an electronic component of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a schematic diagram of the appearance of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

2B is a schematic side view of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

2C is a schematic view showing the appearance of the other side of the control device of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2B.

2D is a schematic diagram of the appearance of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

2F is a schematic view of an embodiment of the above plurality of sensing electrodes in the present case.

3 is a flow chart of a method for converting a mode of operation of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flow chart of a battery remaining capacity alerting method in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1A, which is a circuit block diagram of a control device according to an embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment, the control device 10 includes a housing 100, a touch sensing device 110, and a touch sensing device 120. As shown, both the touch sensing device 110 and the touch sensing device 120 are disposed within the housing 100. The touch sensing device 110 includes a touch sensing surface 112 and a signal processing unit 114. The touch sensing surface 112 is located on the surface 102 of the housing 100 for sensing the moving state of the object and generating a corresponding electronic signal according to the moving state of the object. The electronic signal generated by the touch sensing surface 112 is transmitted to the signal processing unit 114, and processed by the signal processing unit 114 to generate corresponding data to indicate the moving state of the sensed object, and the signal processing unit 114 is in a period of time. The accumulated data is generally referred to as the "touch trajectory of the object sensed by the touch sensing surface 112".

Similarly, the touch sensing device 120 includes a touch sensing surface 122 and a signal processing unit 124. The touch sensing surface 122 is located on the surface 104 of the housing 100, and is also used to sense the moving state of the object and generate corresponding electronic signals according to the moving state of the object. The electronic signal generated by the touch sensing surface 122 is transmitted to the signal processing unit 124 and processed by the signal processing unit 124 to generate corresponding data to indicate the moving state of the sensed object. The data accumulated by the signal processing unit 124 in a period of time is generally referred to as the "touch track of the object sensed by the touch sensing surface 122".

In this embodiment, one control device 10 includes two touch sensing devices 110 and 120, and the touch sensing surface 112 of the touch sensing device 110 and the touch sensing surface 122 of the touch sensing device 120 are located in the housing. The opposite surfaces 102 and 104 of 100. It should be noted that although the touch sensing surfaces 112 and 122 in this embodiment are located on opposite surfaces of the housing 100. 102 and 104, but in fact, the touch sensing surfaces 112 and 122 can meet the operational requirements as long as they have independent sensing regions. That is to say, the touch sensing surfaces 112 and 122 may be respectively located on different surfaces of the housing 100, or may be located at different positions on the same surface of the housing 100. In addition, although the touch sensing surfaces 112 and 122 in the embodiment slightly protrude the surfaces 102 and 104 respectively, this is not an absolute requirement in design, and those skilled in the art can make the touch sensing surfaces 112 and 122 Under the premise of proper presence of the object, the positional relationship between the touch sensing surface and the surface on which it is located can be freely adjusted.

Furthermore, different touch sensing devices can be preset in different ways of use. For example, the touch sensing device 110 can be set to a general mouse function, that is, the same function as a touch pad generally manufactured on a notebook computer. In contrast, the touch sensing device 120 can be defined as executing a specific command with a specific touch track, such as one of a screen rotation, a page turning, a screen size change, and a mouse wheel function. That is to say, the continuous light point can be defined as the page turning function in the touch sensing device 120, and the left and right sliding functions as the screen fast turning function and the like. Of course, the manner in which the two touch sensing devices 110 and 120 are used is interchangeable and is not limited to the above.

According to the above definition, each touch sensing surface should actually include a surface in contact with the object to be sensed, and an inductive electrode for actually sensing physical changes such as capacitance changes. Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B simultaneously, wherein FIG. 1B is a circuit block diagram of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in order to prevent the sensing processes of the touch sensing devices 110 and 120 on the two sides from interfering with each other, an electronic device capable of blocking the arbitrary transmission of electronic signals can be generally provided between the two touch sensing devices 110 and 120. The signal isolation layer 160 is, for example, a metal plate or a printed circuit board. The sensing electrode 164 is included in the touch sensing surface 112, and the sensing electrode 168 is included in the touch sensing surface 122, and is caused by the presence of the electronic signal isolation layer 160 and the object close to the touch sensing surface 112. Physical changes, you can only be inductive The pole 164 is sensed without affecting the sensing electrode 168 on the other side. In contrast, by the presence of the electronic signal isolation layer 160, the physical change caused by the object approaching the touch sensing surface 122 can be sensed only by the sensing electrode 168 without affecting the sensing electrode 164 on the other side. .

The sensing electrode 164 can be formed by a single-sided metal layer or a double-sided metal layer on the printed circuit board for subsequent etching to define a desired shape, and then a coating is coated on the surface of the structure to complete the touch sensing. The outer surface of the faces 112, 122 that are to be in contact with the inductive object. The above coating method can be completed by using a common mold and injection molding.

Please refer to FIG. 1C , which is a schematic diagram of the position of an electronic component of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, only the position of the electronic components of the touch sensing device 110 in FIG. 1A is illustrated. If other touch sensing devices exist in the same control device, the electronic components of the touch sensing device can be It is configured in a manner similar to the electronic components of the touch sensing device 110 or in any other manner. As shown in FIG. 1C, the signal processing unit 114 is disposed on the substrate 190, and the sensing electrode 170 is disposed on a surface of the side case 102a opposite to the substrate 190. From another point of view, the signal processing unit 114 and the sensing electrode 170 are both located in the housing 100 shown in FIG. 1A, and both are located on the same side of the substrate 190. In addition, the signal processing unit 114 and the sensing electrode 170 are stably disposed on different carriers. It should be noted that although the signal processing unit 114 in this embodiment is stably disposed on the substrate 190, and the sensing electrode 170 is stably disposed on the side case 102a, this is not the only arrangement. For example, the sensing electrode 170 may be disposed on another substrate, and the substrate provided with the sensing electrode 170 may be placed between the side housing 102a and the substrate 190, and the sensing electrode 170 may face the side shell. The surface of the body 102a functions to smoothly complete the position of the touch sensing surface 112 to sense the object.

Next, please refer to FIG. 1D, which is a schematic diagram of the position of an electronic component of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention. Again, in this picture only For example, the position of the electronic component of the touch sensing device 110 in FIG. 1A is illustrated. If other touch sensing devices exist in the same control device, the electronic components of the touch sensing device can be used with the touch sensing device. The electronic components of 110 are configured in a similar manner or in any other manner.

As shown, the signal processing unit 114 in this embodiment is disposed on the substrate 190, and the sensing electrode 182 is disposed on the substrate 180, and the sensing electrode 182 and the substrate 180 are both located inside the side housing 102b. The physical changes sensed by the sensing electrodes 182 are converted to electronic signals that are transmitted through the circuit layout and associated circuitry in the substrate 180 to the transmission interface 184 located on the side housing 102b. The transmitted electronic signals are then passed from the transmission interface 184 to the transmission interface 186 via the transmission line and, in turn, to the signal processing unit 114 for computational use. It should be noted that although the sensing electrode 182 in this embodiment is disposed on the substrate 180, this is not the only arrangement. For example, the sensing electrode 182 can be directly disposed on the inner side surface of the side case 102b, and the sensing electrode 182 can face the surface of the side case 102b to smoothly complete the function of sensing the position of the object by the touch sensing surface 112.

Please refer to FIG. 2A, which is a schematic diagram of the appearance of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the control device 20 can be mainly applied to the control of the graphical user interface. The common form of the control device 20 is a television, a computer, a CD player, a set-top box, or a touch or floating touch function. The wired/wireless remote controller used in the image playback system such as the smart display, and the graphical user interface refers to the image operation interface output by the image playback system and displayed on the display. The control device 20 mainly has a housing 200 for covering its main electronic circuit components (such as the circuits of the touch sensing devices 110 and 120 shown in FIG. 1 , which are not shown in the figure). A surface of the housing 200 is provided with a touch sensing surface 212, which functions as the touch sensing surface 112 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A.

Further, a plurality of buttons are further disposed on the control device 20 Keys, such as buttons 2150, 2152, 2154, 2156, 2158, and 2200. These buttons 2150~2200 are exposed on the surface 202 of the housing 200 and form a button device. The button device is mainly used for generating a height difference with respect to the surface of the casing in response to the user's pressing behavior of the buttons 2150~2200, and issuing a control command related to the graphical user interface. For example, the buttons 2150~2156 in this embodiment can be set as the direction keys, and the buttons 2158 can be set as the confirmation keys, so that the user can adjust the graphical user interface by pressing the buttons 2150~2158. The various parameter sizes are confirmed and confirmed.

In addition, in this embodiment, the buttons 2150~2158 are disposed above the touch sensing device (not shown in the figure) and integrated with the touch sensing surface 212, that is, the unpressed button 2150~2158 The surface and touch sensing surface 212 will be on the same plane or arc surface, or the surface of the unpressed buttons 2150~2158 will be slightly higher than the touch sensing surface 212. In this way, the touch sensing device can sense the touch track of the user on the surface of the button 2150~2158 to generate a control command related to the graphical user interface. For example, when the user's finger slides and slides on the surface of the button 2150~2158 or a small distance above the touch sensor, the touch sensing device senses the touch track and sends a signal to control the graphical user interface. The cursor produces a corresponding movement.

2B and 2C, which are schematic diagrams of the appearance of a control device according to another embodiment of the present invention. 2B is the front appearance of the control device, and FIG. 2C is the rear appearance of the control device. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C, only the general button 240 is present on the front side of the control device, and a touch sensing surface 230 is provided on the back side. There is a central sensing area 235 in the touch sensing surface 230. When operating, if there is a situation in which the object stays in the center sensing area 235 or moves in the center sensing area 235, these conditions are judged as the object is stationary. If there is an object in the touch sensing surface 230 and moves outside the center sensing area 235, Then, the manner in which the movement is performed is an arc movement mode 250 or a radial movement mode 260, which respectively give different operation definitions.

Since the operation at the same position may be the operation of the button device, or it may be the operation of the touch sensor device, there must be a mechanism for confirming the operation object; or, in other words, there must be a A method of converting an operation mode of the control device between a button device operation mode and a touch sensor device operation mode.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a flowchart of a control device operation mode conversion method according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the touch sensing device is used to sense the touch track generated by the touch object on the touch sensing device (step S300), and then the subsequent input command is determined according to the generated touch track. It is to be received by the button device or the touch sensor device (step S310).

For example, when the touch track is kept for a predetermined period of time within a certain area, it is determined that the touch sensor receives the command; or, relatively, the touch track is not detected. When the touch object has a preset time, it is decided to receive the command by the button device. In more detail, if the control device 20 shown in FIG. 2A is used in conjunction with the control device operation mode switching method disclosed in FIG. 3, when the user puts a finger on the area where the button 2158 is located for a certain period of time (for example, 3 seconds), the operation mode of the control device 20 can be converted into a touch sensing mode, and the touch sensing device is used to receive subsequent input commands (gesture operations). From another point of view, if the control device 20 is already in the touch sensing mode, the control device 20 can be changed to the button mode once a period of time (for example, 5 seconds) does not sense the presence of the touch object. The button device is used to receive subsequent input commands (key press state).

Further, if the touch sensing surface 230 shown in FIG. 2C is used to replace the touch sensing surface 212 shown in FIG. 2A, and the center sensing area 235 is used. The position of the button 2158 matches the position of the button 2158, so that even if the touch object moves slightly on the button 2158, it does not cause the control device to regard it as a change in the position of the touch object. With such a change, it is possible to greatly reduce the defect that the finger or the touch object causes the indicator to move incorrectly and select the wrong option due to careless shaking during pressing.

In this way, when the user wants to use the touch sensing device to operate, as long as the finger is continuously touched in a certain area for a certain period of time, the touch sensing device can be used to input the command; If the user wants to input a command by using a button device, it is only necessary to let the finger leave the touch sensing plane for a while, and then start pressing the button to input the command. Of course, there are still many ways to make the control device switch between different modes, such as switching with a switch, using a specific touch track such as drawing a pentagram, continuously tapping several times, etc. The way the mode is switched. There are many ways to do it, so I won't go into details here.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2D, the original touch sensing surface 212 can be directly formed by a smooth surface structure of a Dome 29 without any buttons on the top. In this way, such a control device can be used to control a number of different functional circuits, such as a light source that is implemented in a three primary color light emitting diode. Of course, the smooth surface structure can also be finished with protrusions, planes, recesses or other ergonomic shapes.

Referring to FIG. 2E, which is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the plurality of sensing electrodes, wherein the sensing electrodes 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47 are seven hexagonal arrays separated from each other. The sum of the capacitance values sensed by a pair of adjacent sensing electrodes, and the difference between the sum of the capacitance values sensed by another pair of sensing electrodes, can define 12 data. After pairing 12 data into three data, it can be converted into RGB data representing the three primary colors. In short, the touch state generated by the user's finger or palm or other touch object will be above the sensing electrodes. Generating data having three-dimensional data, the signal processing unit 114, 124 can generate a corresponding instruction according to the three-dimensional data, and transmit the corresponding instruction to a function circuit (not shown) completed by the remote three-primary color LED. In turn, the brightness and color of the functional circuit are controlled. In addition, the touch point coordinates and the movement track sensed by the sensing electrodes can also be used to input the command input of the graphical user interface, for example, controlling the cursor on the function circuit with the display or switching the page or the Z-axis distance change. And other behaviors.

However, since the use of the existing touch sensing device relies on the magnitude of the potential change to determine whether there is a touch object, a stable reference potential is important, which is why the current touch sensing devices are designed to be powerful. The reason for stabilizing the environment in which the power supply exists. In contrast, in the control device, generally only a portable battery can be used, so the stability of the battery power becomes the key to whether the touch sensing device can operate correctly.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a flowchart of a battery remaining capacity warning method according to an embodiment of the invention. In the present embodiment, it is first determined whether the remaining capacity of the battery is less than a preset capacity (step S400). If the remaining capacity of the battery is not less than the preset capacity, no other operations are performed or return to step S400 to repeat the determination; conversely, if the remaining capacity of the battery is less than the preset capacity, the remote control device is remotely controlled. The mode controlled controlled device issues a warning content (step S410).

For example, when the method provided by the embodiment is applied to a television remote controller, the television is the aforementioned controlled device. Therefore, once the battery capacity of the TV remote control is too low, the TV remote control will operate the TV to issue a warning. Such warning content may be a specific function provided by the controlled device (here, the television), such as the function of displaying the menu, and the repeated operation. In order to make the control device suitable for controlled devices of different brands, the selected warning content should select the function that most controlled devices have.

In summary, the embodiments provided by the present invention have touch The functional control device makes the control device more suitable for various input interfaces. In addition, the conversion between different input modes is very simple, making it easy to use in different input requirements. The battery capacity warning function allows the user to know early that the battery should be replaced to make the touch function work properly, which is very practical.

10‧‧‧Control device

100‧‧‧shell

110, 120‧‧‧ touch sensing device

112, 122‧‧‧ touch sensing surface

114, 124‧‧‧ Signal Processing Unit

102, 104‧‧‧ surface

Claims (10)

A control device operation mode conversion method is suitable for converting an operation mode of a control device, wherein the control device has a touch sensing device and a button device, and the control device operation mode conversion method comprises: causing the touch sensing device to sense a touch Controlling a moving state of the touch sensing device to generate a touch track; and determining, according to the touch track, receiving an instruction by the touch sensing device or the button device. The control device operation mode conversion method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the command by the touch sensing device or the button device according to the touch track comprises: when the touch track is in a specific area When the range is kept for a preset time, it is decided to receive the command by the touch sensing device. The control device operating mode switching method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the command by the touch sensing device or the button device according to the touch track comprises: when the touch track is undetected When the touch object is at a preset time, it is decided to receive the command by the button device. The control device operation mode switching method of claim 1, further comprising a battery remaining capacity warning method, comprising: determining whether the control device has a remaining capacity of the battery that is less than a predetermined capacity; If the remaining capacity of the battery is less than the preset capacity, a controlled device that is remotely controlled by the control device issues an alert content. The control device operation mode switching method of claim 4, wherein the controlled device that is remotely controlled by the control device issues an alert content, including: causing a specific function provided by the controlled device to be repeatedly operated. , where the specific function is to display the menu. A control device includes: a touch sensing device that senses a moving state of a touch object on the touch sensing device to generate a touch track; and a button device, and the control device is The touch track determines whether the command is received by the touch sensing device or the button device. The control device of claim 6, wherein the receiving of the command by the touch sensing device or the button device is determined according to the touch track, and the touch track is kept stopped within a specific area. When the time is preset, it is decided to receive the command by the touch sensing device. The control device of claim 6, wherein the receiving the command by the touch sensing device or the button device according to the touch track is that the touch track is not detected by the touch object. When the time is preset, it is decided to receive the command by the button device. The control device of claim 6, wherein the control device further determines whether the remaining capacity of the battery is less than a predetermined capacity; and if the remaining capacity of the battery is less than the preset capacity, The control device issues a warning content with a controlled device remotely controlled. The control device of claim 9, wherein the controlled device that is remotely controlled by the control device issues an alert content, including: A specific function provided by the controlled device is repeatedly operated, wherein the specific function is a display menu.