JP4979608B2 - How to measure multiple touches on the touchpad - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for measuring a touch operation of a touch pad, and more particularly, to a method for measuring a plurality of touches of a touch pad.

  Currently, with the development trend of increasingly complex multimedia systems, more and more functions are provided, the operation interface becomes more complicated and more functions are required. It is necessary to install a lot of related operation keys, but under the situation where precision is also required as each system gets smaller, these keys can not install all numbers on the system It is. Therefore, the current related developers operate the touch pad technology to save the space required for a large number of operation keys.

  In simple terms, the touchpad uses a finger or other object (eg, a touch pen) to the user and touches and slides directly on the faceplate or presses a key with a touch of force on the display. In addition, the touchpad is light and thin, so it is always on a notebook computer, PDA, digital player, or other electronic device with limited installation space. Used in combination.

However, a conventional touchpad is a device that commands by detecting the touch, movement, and withdrawal of a single finger, and is not already suitable for use in current electronic product operations. Has recently studied a technical method of how the touchpad discriminates and instructs a plurality of finger touches, and in US Pat. No. 5,825,352 (Patent Document 1) “simulation and operation of mouse keys on a touchpad”. `` Multiple finger contact sensing method for emulating mouse buttons and mouse operations on a touch sensor pad '' discloses a method for discriminating finger touches using the touch pad sensor amount waveform .
As shown in FIG. 1, the finger touch sensor method is first formed by providing a maximum threshold value 10 and a minimum critical value 20 and measuring a change in capacitance or resistance generated on the scanning line of the touch pad 1. It is determined whether or not the peak of the waveform 101 of the sensor amount to be applied is larger than the maximum threshold 10, and when only the sensor amount waveform 101 is present on the scanning line and is smaller than the maximum threshold 10, When the two sensor amount waveforms 101 and 102 are formed on the scanning line, it is determined whether the peaks of the two waveforms 101 and 102 are smaller than the maximum threshold value 10, respectively, and only one sensor amount waveform is obtained. Is matched, and when both of the peaks of the two waveforms 101 and 102 are smaller than the maximum threshold 10, a shape is formed between the two waveforms 101 and 102. The valley of waveforms examines continuously whether greater than the minimum critical value of 20, If so, determines two independent touch with.

However, as shown in FIG. 2, the touch pad 1 discriminating technique disclosed above is easy to make a misjudgment because the touch pad 1 is subjected to noise interference. When it is used to determine whether or not the touch is greater than the maximum threshold 10, that is, it is erroneously determined to be a finger touch, and actually has a slight touch pressure of one finger 11 in FIG. Since it is mistakenly judged as a tactile pressure of two fingers due to noise interference, a person skilled in the art has developed how to improve the detection method of the touch pad 1 and effectively prevent erroneous judgment caused by noise interference. It is in the direction of research.
US Pat. No. 5,825,352

  An object of the present invention was made in view of misjudgment caused by noise interference in the above-described method for measuring the touch of a touch pad, and can avoid noise interference and can be used for a plurality of touches on the touch pad. It is to provide a one-dimensional inspection method for recognizing.

The touchpad of the method for measuring touches of the touchpad of the present invention includes a plurality of scan lines and includes the following steps:
(A) The scanning line is scanned.
(B) It is checked whether or not a plurality of sensor values larger than the threshold value are generated in the scanning line , and if they are generated, the next step is performed.
(C) Check whether at least two of the scanning lines whose sensor values are larger than the threshold value are adjacent to each other, and if so, find at least one group, and each of the at least one group is sensor value corresponds to a large least two adjacent scanning lines than the threshold value, based on the quantity of the at least one group, to have a touch reference fingers corresponding to the number of the at least one group in said scan line judge.
(D) Inspecting whether the number of scanning lines that generate a sensor value in the reference finger touch is not greater than a reference value, and if not, assuming that the reference touch to be inspected is an actual finger touch; If so, it is determined that the reference touch to be inspected includes a plurality of actual touches.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a two-dimensional inspection method that avoids noise interference and identifies multiple touches on a touchpad.

The touchpad of the method for measuring multiple touches of the touchpad of the present invention includes a plurality of first scan lines and a plurality of second scan lines intersecting with the first scan lines, and includes the following steps:
(A) The first scanning line and the second scanning line are scanned.
(B) It is checked whether or not the first scanning line has generated a plurality of sensor values larger than a threshold value, and if so, the next step is performed.
(C) check if there are at least two adjacent ones in the first scan line where the sensor value is greater than the threshold, and if there are adjacent ones, then at least one corresponding Find the first group of scan lines and perform the following steps:
(D) It is checked whether or not the second scanning line has generated a plurality of sensor values larger than a threshold value, and if so, the next step is performed.
(E) It is checked whether or not the second scanning lines having the sensor value larger than the threshold value are adjacent to each other, and if they are adjacent, at least one corresponding second group of scanning lines is found.
(F) It is compared whether or not the quantities of the first and second groups are the same, and if they are the same, a reference finger corresponding to the quantity of the first group is placed on the first scanning line and the second scanning line. If they are not the same, a group with a small quantity is determined as a reference touch.
(G) It is checked whether or not the number of first and second scanning lines that generate sensor values within the reference touch is larger than the reference value. If not, each reference touch is an actual touch. And if so, each reference touch determines a plurality of touches.

  According to the method of measuring a plurality of touches of the touchpad according to the present invention, a threshold value is set, and the magnitudes of sensor values generated by individual touches on each scan line of the touchpad are compared and collated. By searching for a group of lines and performing a finger touch measurement determination, it is possible to efficiently reduce misjudgment caused by noise interference and accurately determine the state of each finger touch on the touch pad.

With regard to the above and other technical contents / features and operational effects of the present invention, two preferred embodiments will be clearly described below in the detailed description with reference to the drawings.
In addition, before explaining the present invention in detail, it should be noted that similar members are denoted by the same reference numerals in the following description.

[First embodiment]
3, 4, and 5 show a first preferred embodiment of the touchpad multiple finger touch method according to the present invention. The touchpad 4 may be a capacitive type, a resistance type, a radio wave, a light wave, a sound wave, or the like. The sensor-type touchpad 4 can be used, and includes a plurality of scanning lines 40.
A method for measuring a plurality of touches of the touchpad according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6, which includes sequentially executing the following steps.
First, as shown in step 21, the scanning line 40 is scanned.
Next, as shown in step 22, it is checked whether or not each scanning line 40 has generated a plurality of sensor values 61 larger than the threshold 60, and if so, step 23 is performed. The sensor values 61 of the two scanning lines 41 and 42 in 4 are both larger than the threshold value 60. In the preferred embodiment, the sensor value 61 is converted into various methods such as an equivalent circuit, voltage, and current surveying without actually measuring the capacitance value, resistance value, and sensor value in a general design. This is not a feature of the present invention and will not be described in detail here.
In the touch pad 4, the scanning method of the scanning lines 40 is a sampling method in which the scanning lines 40 are scanned one by one, for example, the odd-numbered scanning lines 40 are scanned first, and then the even-numbered scanning is performed. The embodiment discloses that the line 40 is scanned, or that all the scan lines 40 are subjected to a full scan simultaneously, which can be easily varied depending on the background of the related field that they normally have. It is not limited to things.

  Here, a supplementary explanation is that when each scanning line 40 does not inspect the sensor value 61 larger than the threshold 60 during step 22, the process returns to step 21 and the scanning of the scanning line 40 is continued. The threshold value 60 is a change value in which the sensor amount (voltage, current, etc.) at the contact position is generated when the user's finger 71 touches the touch pad 4, and the surveying, average, and evaluation are performed. It is that it is a reference set value obtained by.

As shown in step 23, it is examined whether at least two scan lines are “adjacent” to each other in a scan line 40 where these sensor values 61 are greater than the threshold 60.
If the determination is “adjacent”, as shown in step 25, the corresponding at least one operation line group 45 is found, and the group 45 is placed on the scanning line 40 based on the quantity of the group 45. It is determined that the reference finger touch 46 corresponding to the quantity is held, and step 26 is performed.
For example, if the sensor value 61 of the scanning line 41 in FIG. 4 is larger than the threshold value 60 and the sensor value 61 of another scanning line 42 adjacent to the scanning line 41 is also larger than the threshold value 60, it is detected as one group 45. To do. Also, on these scan lines 40, when detecting that each of the three sets of at least two adjacent scan lines 40 has a sensor value 61 greater than the threshold 60, three groups 45 are formed, ie 3 This represents a point having two reference finger touches 46.

It should be noted that when the above-described inspection in step 23 is performed and no scanning line 40 having a sensor value 61 greater than the threshold 60 is adjacent, the sensor value 61 generated on the scanning line 40 is shown in FIG. As shown in step 24 of FIG.
In other words, the present embodiment determines whether or not the touch pad 4 is touched by the concept of detecting the group of scanning lines 40. The application of this principle is that the human finger 71 is usually applied to the touch pad 4. At a certain time, a contact pressure of a certain area is formed on the touch pad 4, that is, two or more adjacent scanning lines 40 are pushed at least at the same time, and the adjacent scanning lines 40 pressed are subjected to capacitance or resistance. Since this causes a change on the sensor, in the present embodiment, when it is determined that this is caused by the noise 400 rather than the touch of the actual finger 71, the present invention ignores the noise 400 and performs filtering. Returning to step 21, the scanning of the scanning line 40 is continued.

  Subsequently, as shown in step 26, it is checked whether the number of scanning lines 40 that generate the sensor value 61 in the reference finger touch 46 is not larger than the reference value. Each reference finger touch 46 includes a plurality of actual finger touches 47.

  Step 26 will be further described. In this embodiment, even when two adjacent fingers 71 as shown in FIG. 5 touch the touch panel 4, based on the discrimination method from the above step 21 to step 25. Although only distinguishable as reference fingers 46 (ie, one group 45), step 26 analyzes each reference finger 46 more deeply, for example, after measurement, a normal person's actual finger 71 is usually When the number of scanning lines 40 to be touched does not exceed three, the above-mentioned reference value is set to 3, and accordingly, the number of scanning lines 40 of the sensor value 61 generated in the reference finger 46 to be measured Can be determined to include more than one actual touch 47 in the reference touch 46.

  Finally, as shown in step 27, each centroid position 48 is obtained based on the determined sensor value 61 in each actual finger touch 47, and each centroid position 48 is marked as a finger touch source. In the present embodiment, the method of obtaining the center of gravity position 48 to be presented is to first place a weight mark on each scanning line 40, and then further onto the scanning line 40 having a sensor value that matches the threshold value in each group. Multiply by the amount of sensor change that occurs (for example, the amount of change in current, voltage, etc.), add them to each other, and divide by the sum of all sensor changes. Scanning lines 40 and weights of 1 to 8, and among these scanning lines 40, there is a change in capacitance on the scanning lines 40 having codes 2 and 3 in one group 45. When the sensor change values are both 0.5, the centroid position 48 is (2 × 0.5 + 3 × 0.5) / (0.5 + 0.5) = 2.5. Is the location of 2.5 and the scanning lines of code 2 and code 3 In the middle of 40, for practical application, after adding the coordinate positions of the scanning lines 40 having sensor values 61 larger than the respective threshold values 60 and adjacent to each other, a method for obtaining an average is simply used. It can be obtained, or other calculation methods can be used, and the description of this embodiment is not limited.

[Second Embodiment]
7, 8, 9, and 10 show a second embodiment of the touchpad multiple finger touch measurement method of the present invention, and its operation principle and structure are substantially the same as the method described in the first embodiment. The same and the same parts are not described here again, and the different places are that the scanning lines on the touchpad 4 are installed in a two-dimensional manner, that is, the touchpad 4 of this embodiment includes a plurality of touchpads. The first scanning line 402 and a plurality of second scanning lines 401 intersecting with the first scanning line 402 are included.
The method for detecting a plurality of touches of the touchpad according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 9 and 10 and includes sequentially executing the following steps.
In FIG. 9, first, as shown in step 301, the first scanning line 402 and the second scanning line 401 are scanned.

  It should be noted that the first scanning line 402 or the second scanning line 401 is not necessarily parallel to each other, and the intersection between the first scanning line 402 and the second scanning line 401 is , Which may be either “vertical” or “non-vertical” with respect to each other, and in an actual application, each type of touchpad 4 may have a different shape change.

  Next, as shown in step 302, it is checked whether or not the first scanning line 402 has generated a plurality of sensor values 61 greater than the threshold value 60. If so, step 303 is performed. When each of the first scanning lines 402 cannot detect a sensor value 61 larger than the threshold value 60, the process returns to step 301 to continue scanning the first scanning line 402 and the second scanning line 401.

  Thereafter, as shown in step 303, it is checked whether or not the sensor line 61 “has” at least two mutually adjacent ones in the first scanning line 402 that is larger than the threshold value 60.

  If the determination result in step 303 is “not present”, it is determined that the sensor value 61 is noise 400 as shown in step 304.

  When the determination result in step 303 is “has”, as shown in step 305, the corresponding at least one scanning line first group 49 is searched for, and the code 41 in the first scanning line 402 shown in FIG. , 42, the two first groups 49 are distinguished.

  Step 307 is performed to check whether or not the second scanning line 401 has generated a sensor value 61 greater than the threshold value 60.

  If the determination result in step 307 is “not generated”, the sensor value 61 is also determined as noise 400 as shown in step 306.

  If the determination result in step 307 is “occurring”, whether the sensor value 61 has at least two neighbors in the second scanning line 401 larger than the threshold 60 as shown in step 309. Check for no.

  If the determination result in step 309 is “not present”, the sensor value 61 generated on the first scanning line 402 and the second scanning line 401 is determined as noise 400 as shown in step 308.

  When the determination result in step 309 is “has”, in FIG. 10, as shown in step 310, at least one corresponding scan line second group 50 is searched for, and in the second scan line 401 in FIG. 7. These are distinguished as one second group 50, such as two codes 43 and 44.

  As shown in step 311, whether or not the quantities of the first and second groups 49 and 50 are the same is compared, and if they are the same, the first scan line 402 and the second scan line 401 are It is determined that the reference finger touch 46 corresponding to the quantity of the first group 49 is shared. If the reference finger touch 46 is not the same, the group having a small quantity is determined as the reference finger touch 46. For example, when two first groups 49 are distinguished on the first scanning line 402, but only one second group 50 is distinguished on the second scanning line 401, Since the quantity is smaller than the quantity of the first group 49, it can be determined as the reference finger touch 46.

  Subsequently, as shown in step 312, whether or not the quantity of the first scanning line 402 and the second scanning line 401 that generate the sensor value 61 in the reference finger touch 46 is larger than the reference value is checked. , Each reference finger touch 46 is an actual finger touch 47, otherwise each reference finger touch 46 includes a plurality of actual finger touches 47. In the present embodiment, the method of determining the number of the reference touch 46 and the actual touch 47 is also as described in step 26 in the first embodiment, and details are not described here.

  Finally, as shown in step 313, based on the determined sensor value 61 in each actual finger touch 48, each barycentric position 48 is obtained, and each barycentric position is marked as a finger touch source. In the present embodiment, the method of obtaining the center of gravity position 48 is based on the related calculation explanation described in step 27 in the first embodiment.

  In addition, the technical features presented in the first and second embodiments are applied to the stretching function of the current touch pad 4, and for example, the noise 400 is filtered to determine the reliable pressure of the finger 71. Then, using the above-described method for obtaining the position of the center of gravity, the position of the sensed user's finger 71 is sent to a discriminating device (not shown), and the discriminating device is used to further move the user's finger 71. , Determine whether the hand movement is received or overlooked, send out the received hand movement with a time difference, and determine whether this is a continuous movement or two independent hand movements. The determination of the movement of the hand is not the focus of the technology of the present invention and is well known to those skilled in the art, so the operating principle will not be described in detail here.

  Introducing the above, the method for measuring a plurality of touches of the touchpad of the present invention sets the threshold 60, and two or more adjacent scanning lines 40 on the touchpad have the finger 71 on the touchpad 60. It is checked whether or not a larger sensor value 61 is generated, and it is determined whether or not the sensor value 61 generated on the touch pad 4 is generated from the finger 71 or just noise 400. The misjudgment caused by the interference of 400 is efficiently avoided, the state of the finger 71 on the touch pad 4 is accurately judged, and the object of the present invention is reliably achieved.

  In the present invention, the preferred embodiments have been disclosed as described above, but these are not intended to limit the present invention in any way, and anyone who is familiar with the technology can make an equivalent scope without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Of course, various fluctuations and hydration colors can be added.

It is explanatory drawing of the state touched with the finger | toe of the conventional touchpad sensor. It is explanatory drawing of the state which the conventional touchpad received noise interference. It is explanatory drawing of embodiment of 1st Example which test | inspects the several finger touch of the touchpad of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the form at the time of the measurement of 1st Example. It is explanatory drawing of the form which carries out the censoring of the two aligned fingers of 1st Example. It is a figure of the flowchart of the inspection step of 1st Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of embodiment of the 2nd Example which bundles a plurality of finger touches of the touchpad of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the mode at the time of the measurement of 2nd Example. It is a figure of the flowchart of the test measurement first half part of 2nd Example. It is a figure of the flowchart of the latter half part of the measurement step of 2nd Example.

Explanation of symbols

21 to 27 Steps 301 to 313 Step 4 Touch pad 40 Scan line 400 Noise 402 First scan line 401 Second scan line 41 to 44 Scan line 45 Group 46 Reference finger 47 Actual finger 48 Center of gravity position 49 First group 50 First 2 groups 60 Threshold 61 Sensor value 71 Finger

Claims (12)

A method of measuring a plurality of touches of a touchpad, the touchpad including a plurality of scan lines, the method comprising:
(A) scanning the scan line;
(B) Inspecting whether or not a plurality of sensor values larger than the threshold value are generated in the scanning line , and if so, the next step is performed,
(C) Check whether at least two of the scanning lines whose sensor values are larger than the threshold value are adjacent to each other, and if so, find at least one group, and each of the at least one group is sensor value corresponds to a large least two adjacent scanning lines than the threshold value, based on the quantity of the at least one group, to have a touch reference fingers corresponding to the number of the at least one group in said scan line the judgment,
(D) Inspecting whether the number of scanning lines that generate a sensor value in the reference finger touch is not greater than a reference value, and if not, assuming that the reference touch to be inspected is an actual finger touch; If so, determine that the reference touch to be inspected includes a plurality of actual touches;
A method of measuring a plurality of touches of a touchpad, wherein steps (a) to (b) are sequentially executed.   2. The touch pad according to claim 1, wherein, in the step (c), when there is no adjacency between the scanning lines generating the sensor value, it is determined that the sensor value generated on the scanning line is noise. To measure multiple finger touches.   Further, after the step (d), (e) a step (e) of obtaining each centroid position based on a sensor value in each actual finger touch and marking each centroid position as a finger touch source. The method for measuring a plurality of finger touches of the touch pad according to claim 1, further comprising:   2. The method of measuring touches of a plurality of touchpads according to claim 1, wherein step (a) is repeated when the scanning line does not detect a sensor value larger than the threshold value during step (b). . In the step (a), the scanning line scanning method scans the scanning lines one by one, or first scans the odd-numbered scanning lines and then scans the even-numbered scanning lines, or the plurality of scans. 2. The method for detecting a plurality of touches of a touch pad according to claim 1 , wherein scanning can be performed for each line . A method for measuring a plurality of finger touches of a touch pad, the touch pad including a plurality of first scan lines and a plurality of second scan lines intersecting with the first scan lines, and the following steps:
(A) scanning the first scanning line and the second scanning line;
(B) Inspecting whether or not the first scanning line has generated a plurality of sensor values larger than a threshold, and if so, the following steps are performed:
(C) check if there are at least two adjacent ones in the first scan line where the sensor value is greater than the threshold, and if there are adjacent ones, then at least one corresponding Find the first group of scan lines and perform the following steps:
(D) Inspecting whether or not the second scanning line has generated a plurality of sensor values larger than a threshold, and if so, the following steps are performed:
(E) Inspecting whether or not the second scanning lines whose sensor values are larger than the threshold value are adjacent to each other, and if adjacent, search for at least one corresponding second group of scanning lines;
(F) It is compared whether or not the quantities of the first and second groups are the same, and if they are the same, a reference finger corresponding to the quantity of the first group is placed on the first scanning line and the second scanning line. If it is not the same, the group with a small quantity is determined as the reference touch ,
(G) It is checked whether or not the number of first and second scanning lines that generate sensor values within the reference touch is larger than the reference value. If not, each reference touch is an actual touch. And if so, each reference touch determines multiple touches,
A method for detecting a plurality of touches of a touch pad, wherein the steps (a) to (g) are sequentially executed.   The sensor value generated on the first scan line is determined to be noise when there is no adjacency between the first scan lines generating the sensor value during the step (c). A method for measuring a plurality of finger touches of the touchpad described.   The sensor value generated on the second scan line is determined to be noise when there is no adjacency between the second scan lines generating the sensor value during the step (e). A method for measuring a plurality of finger touches of the touchpad described.   Further, after the step (g), (h) a step (h) of finding each centroid position based on the sensor value in each actual finger touch and marking each centroid position as a finger touch source. The method for measuring a plurality of touches of the touchpad according to claim 6, further comprising:   7. The touchpad touch detection of claim 6, wherein step (a) is repeated when the first scanning line does not detect a sensor value greater than the threshold value during step (b). how to.   7. The touchpad touch detection of claim 6, wherein step (a) is repeated when the second scanning line does not detect a sensor value larger than the threshold during step (d). how to. In the step (a), the scanning line scanning method scans the scanning lines one by one, or first scans the odd-numbered scanning lines and then scans the even-numbered scanning lines, or the plurality of scans. 7. The method of measuring a plurality of touches of a touch pad according to claim 6 , wherein scanning is performed for each line .

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