JP2006092428A - Pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect a fingerprint pattern in a short time by associating a touch panel function with a fingerprint sensor having an easy structure as a person specifying and recognizing means. <P>SOLUTION: The touch panel function is associated with the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor to instantaneously detect the coordinate of a press-down position by wide-pitch scanning, and only the periphery of the detected coordinate is scanned again at a narrow pitch. Whether the resulting data are fingerprint data or not is determined, and when the fingerprint data are determined, detection of fingerprint pattern is performed. According to this, since press-down can be performed on the whole panel surface, the detection of fingerprint pattern can be performed in a short time on the whole panel surface even if the panel is enlarged. Further, since a plurality of press-down points can be detected simultaneously on the whole panel surface by the touch panel function, a plurality of collations of fingerprints can be performed at once, and the collation rate can be further increased. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention provides a touch panel function to a device comprising a fingerprint sensing unit that detects a fingerprint pattern from the strength of pressure when a finger is pressed and a detection circuit unit that extracts a difference in pressure due to unevenness of the fingerprint pattern as a potential difference. The present invention relates to a pressure fingerprint sensor.

Conventionally, a pressure sensitive fingerprint consisting of a fingerprint sensing unit that detects the fingerprint pattern from the strength of the pressure when the film is laminated on the substrate and the finger is pressed, and a detection circuit unit that extracts the difference in pressure due to the unevenness of the fingerprint pattern as a potential difference In the sensor, after pressing the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, the entire surface of the sensor was scanned at a narrow pitch to detect the pressed position and the fingerprint pattern.
JP 2004-138416 A

  However, when the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor configured as described above is enlarged, the entire surface of the sensor is scanned at a narrow pitch, so that it takes time to detect the pressed position and the fingerprint pattern.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a potential difference between a fingerprint sensing unit that detects a fingerprint pattern from the strength of pressure when a film is laminated on a substrate and a finger is pressed, and a pressure difference due to the unevenness of the fingerprint pattern. In the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor comprising a detection circuit section to be taken out, a touch panel function is attached to the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, and an arbitrary position of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is pressed, and then the entire surface of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is scanned at a wide pitch. Then, it is determined whether the obtained data is a fingerprint sensor, and either the touch panel or the fingerprint sensor is operated.

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The entire surface of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is scanned at a wide pitch. In the fingerprint sensor mode, the entire surface of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is scanned at a wide pitch, and then only the vicinity of the pressed position is scanned again at a narrow pitch and the obtained data Therefore, it is possible to detect the pressed position and fingerprint data in a short time and to control the fingerprint sensor control device with a low load by this efficient scanning. Can be manufactured with inexpensive parts.
(2) A touch panel function is attached to the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, and the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is scanned in the X and Y directions at a wide pitch of several 1/10 mm to several mm with the fingerprint sensor control device. Since pressing of a plurality of points can be detected, fingerprints can be collated a plurality of points at a time, and the collation rate can be further increased.

  According to the present invention, the touch panel function is attached to the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, so that when the panel is pressed, the coordinates are instantaneously detected by scanning at a wide pitch, and only the vicinity of the detected coordinates is narrowly pitched. Then, it is scanned again, it is determined whether the pressed data is fingerprint data, and the pressed position and fingerprint data can be detected in a short time.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor of the present invention. TFTs are formed in a grid of lower electrodes made of a glass surface. Y electrodes are connected to the base of the transistor and X electrodes are connected to the collector of the transistor. The emitter is an electrode made of a transparent electric film, and has a structure that comes into contact when an upper electrode made of a film surface entirely covered with a transparent conductive film is pressed.

  FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the structure of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor of the present invention. A transparent pressure-sensitive sheet 1 is disposed on the upper portion, a transparent pressure-sensitive sheet transparent electrode 2 is formed on the lower surface of the transparent pressure-sensitive sheet 1, and a sensor main body is disposed on the upper surface of the transparent sensor main body 4 as an opposing transparent substrate. The transparent electrode 3 is formed, the transparent pressure sensitive sheet 1 and the transparent sensor main body 4 are laminated, and the pressure detection type fingerprint sensor 6 is reinforced by reinforcing the appearance case 5, so that the fingerprint detection unit 9 becomes transparent, and other display screens Can be stacked on top.

  For this reason, a spacer 7 is provided under the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor 6 in which the fingerprint detection unit 9 becomes transparent, and can be laminated and integrated with a display device 8 incorporating a display element. A pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor can be obtained that can be used without impairing the visibility required for shapes such as symbols.

  In addition, since the fingerprint detection unit 9 is transparent, the spacer 7 is provided under the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor 6 and can be laminated and integrated with the display device 8 incorporating the display element. A sensor can be provided.

  FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor of the present invention. This shows the time when the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is used in a display device of a certain size such as a PDA or a mobile computer. On the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor 23, a rubber is formed by removing the central portion in consideration of the visible area and forming a frame shape. A flexible material 22 such as a sheet is provided and sandwiched by the cover 21, a display device 25 is provided under the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor 23 via a spacer 24, and a bottom plate 26 fitted to the cover 21 is provided under the display device 25. Arrange. The size of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor 23 has been increased, and the number of fingerprints that have been conventionally performed one by one can be increased in number at a time to maintain a higher verification rate. Further, the inside of the fingerprint detection unit 27 of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor 23 is also used as a position detection touch panel, and can be used as a high-performance information input terminal, and a display with a pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor that forms a plurality of functions independently. Provide modules.

  For detection of the pressed position, as shown in FIG. 4, the fingerprint sensor control device scans the fingerprint sensor in the X and Y directions at a wide pitch of several tenths to several millimeters. For example, a signal is applied from Y0 to Yn while a signal is applied to X0. Next, while applying a signal to X1, a signal is applied from Y0 to Yn. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated until Xn, and this operation is repeated between X0 and Xn. For scanning, a signal is applied from X0 to Xn while a signal is applied to Y1. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated until Yn, and this operation is repeated between Y0 and Yn, and X and Y can be exchanged or scanning can be performed in the order of Xn → X0 and Yn → Y0. In this way, the pressed position is detected.

  Next, an operation example will be described. First, it is not determined in advance whether the fingerprint sensor operates as a fingerprint area or a touch panel area, and a method of operating as a fingerprint area or a touch panel area according to the acquired press data is shown in FIG. 6 will be described.

  In FIG. 5, the touch panel area and the fingerprint area are not limited to each other, and in the idle state, the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is scanned in the X and Y directions at a wide pitch of several tenths to several millimeters with the fingerprint sensor control device ( 101). Next, when the fingerprint sensor is pressed (102), the pressed part and its peripheral part are determined as the pressed area (103). Taking FIG. 6 as an example, X3 to X4 and Y2 to Y4 are pressed, so the pressed areas are X2 to X5 and Y1 to Y5. Further, in FIG. 5, the pressed area is scanned again in the X and Y directions at a narrow pitch on the order of several micrometers to several hundred micrometers by the fingerprint sensor control device (104), and detailed data of the pressed area is obtained ( 105). It is determined whether or not the obtained data is fingerprint data (106). If it is determined as fingerprint data, fingerprint data transmission to the host computer, noise processing, feature point extraction, fingerprint data registration, match / mismatch determination, etc. are performed. And processing as fingerprint data is performed (108). If not determined as fingerprint data, noise processing, position information is transmitted to the host computer, mouse emulation is performed on the host side, and processing as a touch panel operation is performed (107). The position where the fingerprint sensor is pressed may be an arbitrary position, and there may be a plurality of pressing areas, and a combination of a plurality of fingerprint data and a plurality of non-fingerprint data may be simultaneously input to the fingerprint sensor.

  Next, an operation example 2 will be described in which the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is a touch panel area and the position of the fingerprint area is not fixed. Initially, the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is operated as a touch panel area. If necessary, the fingerprint area operation is started by interruption in the program, selection by a mode selection window, an external switch, an external signal, etc., and fingerprint data is acquired from the pressed position. For example, an example in which the fingerprint area is driven by a mode selection window displayed by the host computer will be described using the system configuration example of FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, a mode selection window is displayed at an arbitrary position of the display, and the touch panel mode and the fingerprint mode can be switched by clicking this window as necessary. Thereby, for example, the operation is normally performed in the touch panel mode, and the fingerprint mode is selected only when the fingerprint data is necessary, and the fingerprint data can be detected.

  When the touch panel mode is selected, the entire touch panel area is displayed as shown in FIG. 9, and in the idle state (201) as shown in FIG. 10, the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is spaced by several tenths to several millimeters by the fingerprint sensor control device. Scanning in the X and Y directions at a wide pitch and when the fingerprint sensor is pressed (202), the sensor pressing position is acquired by the fingerprint sensor control device (203), noise processing is performed, and the position information is sent to the host computer. Then, on the host computer side, sensor pressing position information processing such as mouse emulation is performed (204).

  When the fingerprint mode is selected, as shown in FIG. 11, when the fingerprint sensor is not pressed, the position of the fingerprint area is not yet determined, and the idle state is performed while scanning the X and Y directions at intervals of several tenths to several millimeters. (301). When the fingerprint sensor is pressed (302), it is determined as a fingerprint area including its peripheral coordinates (303). For example, in FIG. 6, since X3 to X4 and Y2 to Y4 are pressed, the fingerprint areas are determined as X2 to X5 and Y1 to Y5. The determined fingerprint area is scanned in the X and Y directions at a narrow pitch on the order of several micrometers to several hundred micrometers by the fingerprint area control device (304), fingerprint data acquisition (305), and fingerprint data processing (306) is performed. However, as described in the operation example 1, the number of fingerprint areas may be plural, and the pressed position is not limited.

  Next, an example in which the fingerprint area is fixed in at least one place will be described as an operation example 3. As an example, as shown in FIG. 12, a mode selection window is displayed at an arbitrary position on the display screen, and the touch panel mode, the touch panel, and the fingerprint sharing mode are selected by clicking this icon as necessary. Can do.

  When the touch panel mode is selected, as described in the operation example 2, the entire touch panel area is formed as shown in FIG. 9, and in the idle state (201) as shown in FIG. The X and Y directions are scanned at a wide pitch of millimeters to several millimeters. When the fingerprint sensor is pressed (202), the sensor pressing position is acquired by the fingerprint sensor control device (203), noise processing is performed, The position information is transmitted to the host computer, and the host computer side performs sensor pressing position information processing such as mouse emulation (204).

  When the touch panel or fingerprint sharing mode is selected, a fingerprint area is disposed and fixed at least at one location of the fingerprint sensor. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 13, in the idle state, the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is scanned in the X and Y directions at a wide pitch of several tenths to several millimeters (401). As in the other operation examples, the scanning method applies signals from Y0 to Yn while applying a signal to X0. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated from X0 to Xn after repeating similarly to Xn. In scanning, a signal is applied from X0 to Xn while a signal is applied to Y1. Thereafter, X and Y may be exchanged so that Yn is repeated in the same manner and this operation is repeated between Y0 and Yn. It is also possible to scan in the order of Xn → X0 and Yn → Y0. If the fingerprint sensor is not pressed, it remains in the idle state.

  When the touch panel area is pressed (403), the sensor pressing position information is acquired (404), and the obtained information is subjected to noise processing by the sensor control device, the positional information is transmitted to the host computer, and processing such as mouse emulation is performed on the host computer side. (405).

  When the fingerprint area is pressed (406), the scanning interval of several tenths to several millimeters is scanned in the X and Y directions at a narrow pitch of several to hundreds of micrometers, and fingerprint data is acquired ( 408), fingerprint data processing (409) such as fingerprint data transmission to the host computer, noise processing, fingerprint data registration, match / mismatch determination, etc. is performed.

  Next, as an operation example 4, an example in which the fingerprint area is fixed at a fixed position in advance is shown. An example of the system configuration is the same as in FIG. When a fingerprint sensor is arranged on the screen of the display device and the fingerprint sensor is pressed, the sensor pressing position is acquired by the control device, and noise control as a touch panel, control of sending position information to the host computer, etc. are performed. The host computer computer performs mouse emulation. FIG. 16 shows a detailed view of an embodiment performed using this configuration example. The upper left part of the sensor is a fingerprint area, and the other is a touch panel area. In order to prevent the user from being confused, the fingerprint area and the touch panel area are distinguished on the display screen by colors, characters, and the like.

  When the fingerprint area is pressed as shown in FIG. 14, the fingerprint sensor is scanned in the X and Y directions at a narrow pitch of several micrometers to several hundred micrometers by the fingerprint sensor control device to detect fingerprint data.

  When a touch panel area other than the fingerprint area is pressed, as in the touch panel mode of the operation example 2, the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is X and Y directions at a wide pitch of several tenths to several millimeters by the fingerprint sensor control device. When the fingerprint sensor is pressed, the sensor pressing position is acquired by the fingerprint sensor control device, the noise processing is performed, the position information is transmitted to the host computer, and the host computer side presses the sensor such as mouse emulation. Perform position information processing.

  The sensor control flow by the fingerprint sensor control apparatus when the system configuration example of FIG. 7 is used is the same as in FIG. 13, and in the idle state, the entire surface of the fingerprint sensor is in the X and Y directions with a wide pitch of several tenths to several millimeters. Both are scanned (401). As in the other operation examples, the scanning method applies signals from Y0 to Yn while applying a signal to X0. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated from X0 to Xn after repeating similarly to Xn. In scanning, a signal is applied from X0 to Xn while a signal is applied to Y1. Thereafter, X and Y may be exchanged so that Yn is repeated in the same manner and this operation is repeated between Y0 and Yn. It is also possible to scan in the order of Xn → X0 and Yn → Y0. If the fingerprint sensor is not pressed, it remains in the idle state.

  When the touch panel area is pressed (403), the sensor pressing position information is acquired (404), and the obtained information is subjected to noise processing by the sensor control device, the positional information is transmitted to the host computer, and processing such as mouse emulation is performed on the host computer side. (405).

  When the fingerprint area is pressed (406), the fingerprint data is acquired by scanning in the X and Y directions at a narrow pitch of several to hundreds of micrometers on the interval that has been scanned several tens of millimeters to several millimeters until now. (408) Fingerprint data processing (409) such as fingerprint data transmission to the host computer, noise processing, fingerprint data registration, match / mismatch determination is performed.

  As another system configuration example 1, as shown in FIG. 15, the fingerprint sensor may be controlled only by the control device or the host computer computer.

  As another system configuration example 2, as shown in FIG. 16, a control device may be built in the host computer computer.

  As another system configuration example 3, there is a case where the distinction display of the fingerprint area and the touch panel area as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 17 as an operation example 5, the fingerprint area is not limited to the upper left, and can be set at any position within the fingerprint sensor.

  As an operation example 6, as shown in FIG. 18, the fingerprint area is not limited to one place, and there may be a plurality of fingerprint areas. These positions can be set to arbitrary positions within the fingerprint sensor.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

It is a simplified diagram of a pressure sensitive fingerprint sensor of the present invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the structure of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor of this invention. It is a detailed view of the pressure sensitive fingerprint sensor of the present invention. It is an operation | movement flow of the fingerprint sensor control apparatus in the operation example 1 of this invention. It is detail drawing of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor in the operation example 1 and the operation example 2 of this invention. It is a system configuration example in the present invention. It is detail drawing of the indicator in the operation example 2 of this invention. It is detail drawing of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor at the time of touch-panel mode selection in the operation example 2 and the operation example 3 of this invention. It is an operation | movement flow of the fingerprint sensor control apparatus at the time of the touchscreen mode selection in the operation example 2 and the operation example 3 in this invention. It is an operation | movement flow of the fingerprint sensor control apparatus at the time of fingerprint mode selection in the operation example 2 in this invention. It is detail drawing of the indicator in the operation example 3 of this invention. It is an operation | movement flow of the fingerprint sensor control apparatus at the time of the touchscreen in the example 3 of operation | movement of this invention, and fingerprint shared mode selection. It is a detailed view of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor in the operation example 4 of the present invention. It is the other system configuration example 1 of this invention. It is the other system configuration example 2 of this invention. It is detail drawing of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor in the operation example 5 of this invention. It is detail drawing of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor in the operation example 6 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transparent pressure sensitive sheet 2 Transparent pressure sensitive sheet Transparent electrode 3 Sensor main body transparent electrode 4 Transparent sensor main body 5 Appearance case 6, 23 Pressure sensitive fingerprint sensor 7, 24 Spacer 8, 25 Display device 9, 27 Fingerprint detection part 10 Display area 21 Cover 22 Flexible material 26 Bottom plate

Claims (3)

  A pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor comprising a fingerprint sensing unit that detects a fingerprint pattern from the strength of pressure when a finger is pressed and a detection circuit unit that extracts a pressure difference due to the unevenness of the fingerprint pattern as a potential difference. A touch panel function is attached, and after pressing an arbitrary position of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, the entire surface of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is scanned with a wide pitch, and after detecting the pressed position, only the periphery of the pressed position is scanned again with a narrow pitch. A pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor that determines whether the obtained data is fingerprint data and performs either a touch panel operation or a fingerprint sensor operation.   A touch panel function is attached to the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, and after pressing any position of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, the entire surface of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is scanned at a wide pitch to detect the pressing point, and then only around the pressing point 2. The pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor according to claim 1, wherein the fingerprint data obtained by scanning at a narrow pitch is processed by a fingerprint sensor control device for controlling the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor and a host computer.   A touch panel function is attached to the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor, and at least one fingerprint area for detecting a fingerprint is provided on the fingerprint sensor. When the touch panel area other than the fingerprint area is pressed, the entire pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor has a wide pitch. When the fingerprint area is pressed, the entire area of the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor is scanned with a wide pitch, and after detecting the pressed point, only the vicinity of the pressed point is scanned again with a narrow pitch. 2. The pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor according to claim 1, wherein fingerprint data is processed by a fingerprint sensor control device that controls the pressure-sensitive fingerprint sensor and a host computer.

Images