KR101092060B1 - Optical touch detecting system - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a touch panel and a touch recognition system using the same to improve light transmittance, improve durability, enable multi-touch recognition, reduce cost, reduce size, and minimize response time. According to the present invention, the light transmittance is lowered by the flexible conductive upper and lower layers in the resistive touch panel, and durability is lowered due to damage of the upper and lower thin films due to frequent touches. Due to the analog-to-digital converter for changing the analog current received in response to the variable resistance value, which is changed to the digital data value, it is difficult and light and short, there is a problem that the responsiveness is lowered.

Keypad, Optical Point, OPTICAL, Touch

Description

Optical touch recognition system {OPTICAL TOUCH DETECTING SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to a method of further securing the durability and responsiveness of a touch panel, and more particularly, to accurately recognize and display a touch position so that a user can identify the touch position and manufacture a device using the touch panel. And an optical touch recognition system capable of further improving durability and responsiveness.

Conventional touch panels are manufactured in various ways such as resistive film type, capacitive type, and LED optical type, and touch recognition systems using such touch panels have been widely used in electronic devices in recent years.

However, the resistive touch panel of the touch panel is provided with two ITO film layers which are normally conductive on the ITO glass, and because the dots are finely printed at regular intervals on the lower ITO film layer, The ITO film layers are maintained at regular intervals so that the two ITO film layers are insulated.

At this time, when touching a predetermined position with a pen or a hand, the two ITO film layers of the touch position are energized, and the current flowing due to the energization is converted into a digital form since the analog flow is supplied to the position calculator.

Therefore, the resistive touch panel has a low light transmittance due to a predetermined gap formed by the flexible conductive upper and lower ITO film layers and the space dots therebetween, and the durability decreases due to damage of the upper and lower ITO film layers during frequent touches. At this time, since the amount of current that is energized is variable, the accuracy of the touch position is lowered. In addition, since the position calculation is executed after the current provided in the analog form is changed to the data value in the digital form, the installation of the analog-to-digital converter makes it difficult to reduce the light weight of the device, the response is degraded, and the multi-touch cannot be recognized. There was a problem.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to level a touch panel in an optical touch recognition system that recognizes a touch position based on a light pattern reflected when a subject comes into contact with a touch surface. It is formed in a slope and a plane with respect to the direction and stepped so as not to overlap with the vertical direction, so that the touch position can be accurately recognized, the multi-touch can be recognized, and the existing resist layer is removed, thereby improving durability. In addition, since the existing analog-to-digital converter is eliminated, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical touch recognition system capable of light and small size reduction.

Another object of the present invention is to form a touch panel of an optical touch system that recognizes a touch point based on a light pattern reflected when a subject contacts the touch surface, with a prism installed at predetermined intervals with respect to the horizontal direction, and with respect to the vertical direction. By varying the height of the prism, the touch position can be accurately recognized, the multi-touch can be recognized, and the existing resistive layer is removed, so the durability can be further improved, and the analog-to-digital converter is removed, so that the light and small size can be reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical touch recognition system.

Touch panel system according to the technical problem of the present invention for achieving the above object,

The light emitting unit is provided as a light emitting element that emits light and

A touch panel that reflects the light guided by the light emitting unit through the touch surface on which the subject is located when the subject touches the touch surface;

An imaging system for focusing and transferring the reflected light of the touch panel;

It includes a sensor unit for receiving the light pattern of the touch panel by using the light focused through the imaging system to display the touch position displacement amount,

The touch panel

A touch member having a touch surface;

In order to display the touch position in the form of polar coordinates, it has an inclined plane and a plane having an angle of upward reflection of the light guided from the light emitting unit, and gradually increases with respect to the height of the inclined plane with respect to the vertical direction and is constant with respect to the plane length. A coating member that is formed and reflects the light guided by the light emitting part from the touch surface to output a polar pattern-shaped light pattern based on an inclined surface and a plane;

And a housing member which is formed under the coating member and keeps the medium constant so as to form an image formed under the coating member on the touch member.

Preferably the touch panel,

Touch position conversion, which is formed by cutting the side surface of the coating member at a predetermined angle and converts a light pattern of polar coordinates (radius, angle) collected by the coating member into Cartesian coordinates (X-axis, Y-axis). The member may further include.

Preferably, the cutting may be made of one of circular, planar, and microlens array surfaces.

Preferably the coating member of the touch panel,

It has an angle that can reflect the light guided by the light emitting portion in the upward direction with respect to the horizontal direction, and is formed in the shape of a prism having an increasing height with respect to the vertical direction, the prism at a predetermined interval increasing with respect to the vertical direction And at regular intervals with respect to the horizontal direction.

Preferably the light emitting device

At least one of at least one LED (light emitting diode) mounted at a predetermined position of the imaging system and the touch panel, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Diplay) installed under the touch panel, and natural light supplied from the outside.

Preferably, the imaging system may include at least one lens having one of a spherical surface, an aspherical surface, and a diffractive surface, and may include a filter for transmitting only light reflected from the coating member and removing ambient light. .

Preferably the sensor unit,

A horizontal pixel formed of pixels in the vertical direction having a number equal to or greater than the number of inclined surfaces with respect to the polar axis (radius r), and having a larger number of pixels than the pixel number of the polar axis to have a linear resolution with respect to the polar axis (angle). It can be formed of pixels in the direction.

Preferably, the sensor unit,

It is characterized in that it is formed integrally with the imaging system.

Preferably the sensor unit,

A first correction module for correcting the light pattern collected by the imaging system based on the distortion amount of the imaging system;

A second correction module for correcting the collected light pattern when the amount of reflected light is less than the reference value by touch recognition of the proximity portion and the wet hand;

A multi-touch recognition module for determining a multi-touch and outputting a light pattern for each touch position when a plurality of reflected light quantities are collected; And

A data processing module configured to process the optical pattern output from the first correction module, the second correction module, and the multi-touch recognition module to generate a touch position displacement amount, and display the generated touch position displacement amount on a screen;

Preferably the sensor unit

And a light emitting unit power control module for controlling power supply or blocking of the light emitting unit.

According to the present invention, a flexible conductive upper and lower ITO film layer in a conventional resistive touch panel improves light transmittance lowered by a predetermined gap formed by space dots therebetween, and damages the upper and lower ITO film layers during frequent touches. This further improves the durability that is degraded, and further improves the accuracy of the touch position that is degraded according to the amount of current that is varied due to the damaged ITO upper and lower film layers. In addition, since the existing analog-to-digital converter is removed, the productivity is further improved, the device can be made thin and light, and the response is further improved.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings that illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the optical touch recognition system has been described as being applied to a conventional keypad as an example, but it is obvious that the optical touch recognition system can be applied to various devices.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view showing the configuration of an optical touch system according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the touch panel 30 shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the optical touch system of FIG. As shown therein, the optical touch recognition system according to the present invention horizontally patternes the pattern member of the touch panel in the optical touch recognition system that recognizes the amount of displacement of the touch position based on the light pattern reflected when the subject touches the touch surface. It is provided so as to be formed in a plane with an inclined surface with respect to the direction and stepped so as not to overlap in the vertical direction, the system includes a light emitting portion 10, a touch panel 30, an imaging system 50, and a sensor portion And 70. The stepped shape in the vertical direction may be provided as a circular step with respect to the radius R of the polar coordinate system, as shown in FIG. 4. That is, the touch position is formed as a circular step to appear in the form of polar coordinates having a radius and an angle.

In addition, the light emitting unit 10 may include at least one light emitting device that emits light to sense a touch of a subject, and the light emitting device may be provided at a predetermined position of the imaging system 50 and the touch panel 30. A light emitting diode (LED) installed in at least one of the lower portions of the touch panel 30, and mounted at a predetermined position of the imaging system 50 and the touch panel 30, the lower portion of the touch panel 30. It is provided with one of a liquid crystal display (LCD) to be installed and natural light provided from the outside.

Here, the LED is installed at a corner close to the position where the imaging system 50 is installed among the four corners of the touch panel 50, and the LCD is installed at the lower portion of the touch panel 50. In addition, the light emitting unit 10 may be provided separately a member for adjusting the amount of light.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described as an LED mounted at a predetermined position of the imaging system 50.

The touch panel 30 is provided to reflect the light guided by the light emitter 10 through the touch surface 31 on which the subject is located when the subject comes into contact with the touch surface 31.

That is, the touch panel 30 reflects the light reflected upward through the touch panel 30 by the light emitter 10 when the subject touches the touch surface 31 as shown in FIG. 2. And a touch member 31, a coating member 33, and a housing member 35.

The coating member 33 of the touch panel 30 has an inclined surface and a plane having an angle capable of reflecting the light guided by the light emitting part 11 in the upward direction with respect to the horizontal direction, and overlaps with respect to the vertical direction. It is formed stepped to prevent. In this case, the inclined surface is formed to have an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the direction in which light is irradiated. The plane length of the coating member 33 is provided to be constant or variable.

In addition, the housing member 35 of the touch panel 30 is provided to keep the medium constant so as to form an image formed on the lower portion of the coating member 33 and the image formed on the lower portion to the touch member. That is, the image is deformed by the coating member 33, and this deformation is not accurately represented in the touch member 31. Accordingly, the phenomenon in which the image positioned below the coating member 33 is deformed by the coating member 33 is applied to the housing member 35 having a medium for transmitting the image to the touch member 31 at an optically identical transmission distance. Is prevented by

In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the touch panel 30 is formed by cutting the side surface of the coating member 33 at a predetermined angle and collects the polar coordinates collected by the coating member 33. And a touch position converting member 37 for converting a light pattern having a radius and an angle into Cartesian coordinates (X-axis, Y-axis). The cutting surface may be formed in a circular or flat surface and a microlens array surface.

Accordingly, the touch position converting member 37 converts the light pattern of the coating member 330 having the displacement of the radius r and the angle θ into the light pattern with respect to the rectangular coordinates of the horizontal (X) and the vertical (Y). To convert.

The touch position detecting member 37 will be described in more detail. After setting the corner of the touch position detecting member 37 as a reference point, the received light pattern is a whole light pattern having a polar coordinate (radius r, angle θ). It is provided to detect within an angle of 90 degrees.

The imaging system 50 is provided to focus and transmit the reflected light of the touch panel, and is provided with at least one lens having one of a spherical surface, an aspheric surface, and a diffractive surface, and is reflected from the coating member. It may further include a filter 51 for transmitting only light and removing ambient light.

The sensor unit 70 is provided to receive the light pattern passing through the filter 51 to generate the touch position displacement amount and to display the touch position displacement amount on the screen.

In this case, the sensor unit 70 sets pixels of a predetermined interval or a variable interval to have an increasing resolution of the light pattern with respect to the coordinate axis (radius r), and the resolution on the coordinate side (angle θ) with respect to the angle is constant. Set more pixels than the number of pixels for radius r to have as linear a value as possible for radius r.

Here, the imaging system 50, the filter 51, and the sensor unit 70 may be provided as a camera that forms and displays an image touched by the received light pattern.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the sensor unit 70 includes a first correction module 73 for correcting the light pattern collected by the imaging system based on the distortion amount of the imaging system, and touch recognition of the proximity part. The second correction module 75 corrects the collected light pattern when the amount of reflected light is above or below the reference value by the wet hand, and when a plurality of reflected light amounts are collected, it is determined as multi-touch to determine the light pattern for each touch position. And a multi-touch recognition module 77 for outputting.

In addition, the second correction module 75 may be provided to correct the collected light pattern even when the shape of the reflected light changes, the amount of reflected light changes rapidly, or the reflected light amount is greater than or equal to the reference value.

In addition, the touch pattern displacement is generated by processing the light pattern output from the first correction module 73, the second correction module 75, and the multi-touch recognition module 77, and the generated touch position displacement is displayed on the screen. And a data processing module 71 to process the data, and in addition, the sensor unit 70 may further include a light emitting unit power control module 79 for controlling power supply or blocking of the light emitting unit.

In addition, when the imaging system 50 is not present, imaging may be performed using a micro lens of the sensor unit 70. At this time, the light collected through the touch panel 30 passes through the filter 18 and is imaged in the order of the micro lens and the sensor.

Although the coating member 33 of the touch panel 30 in the embodiment of the present invention has been described as having a stepped coating member, as shown in FIG. 6, each letter, number, letter, and / or symbol is used. It is provided in the form of a prism having an angle capable of refracting the light guided by the light emitting portion 10 in the upward direction with respect to the horizontal direction, and is also formed to have an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the direction in which the light is irradiated and in the vertical direction The height of the prism is provided to increase with respect to the vertical direction so that the light pattern does not always overlap with respect to the vertical direction, but the spacing of the prism may be provided to be constant with respect to the vertical direction.

According to this configuration, the light reflected from the LED mounted at the predetermined position of the imaging system 70 or the touch panel 30 is reflected on the inclined surface of the coating member 33 of the touch panel 30 and reflected upward. .

At this time, the light pattern reflected from the touch member 31 is displayed in the form of polar coordinates of a radius r and an angle θ. At this time, the position displacement amount in the form of polar coordinates is displayed in the form of Cartesian coordinates (X, Y) through the touch position converting member 37.

On the other hand, when the coating member 33 of the touch panel 30 is in the form of a prism is operated in the same manner as described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, the light reflected by the touched subject and the touch surface 31 is collected by the imaging system 50 again through the inclined surface.

The light collected by the imaging system 50 is removed through the filter 51 and then supplied to the sensor unit 70. The first correction module 73 of the sensor unit 70 corrects the touch position data with respect to the collected light pattern by the amount of distortion of the imaging system 50, and the second correction module 75 of the sensor unit 70. Corrects the touch position data according to the amount of reflected light received when the amount of reflected light is above or below the reference value by the touch recognition of the proximity part and the wet hand, and the multi-recognition module 77 collects a plurality of reflected light when the reflected light is collected. The multi-touch recognition module 77 determines that multi-touch is performed, and the displacement amount or corrected touch position data for each touch position is processed by the data processing module 71 and then displayed on the screen.

In addition, the second correction module 75 may correct the collected light pattern even when the shape of the reflected light changes, the amount of reflected light changes rapidly, or the amount of reflected light is greater than or equal to the reference value.

In addition, the sensor unit 70 may control power supply or cutoff of the light emitting device through the light emitting unit power control module 79.

As such, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will understand that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without changing to the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be understood in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is indicated by the following claims rather than the above description, and it should be construed that all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are included in the scope of the invention. .

1 is a view showing the configuration of an optical touch system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of the touch panel of FIG. 1.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the optical touch recognition system of FIG.

4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the sensor unit of FIG. 1.

5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an optical touch system according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

 Description of the Related Art [0002]

10: light emitting unit

30: touch panel

31: touch member

33: coating member

35: housing member

37: touch position conversion member

50: imaging system

70: sensor

Claims (10)

The light emitting unit is provided as a light emitting element that emits light and A touch panel that reflects the light guided by the light emitting unit through the touch surface on which the subject is located when the subject touches the touch surface; An imaging system for focusing and transferring the reflected light of the touch panel; It includes a sensor unit for receiving the light pattern of the touch panel by using the light focused through the imaging system to display the touch position displacement amount, The touch panel A touch member having a touch surface; In order to display the touch position in the form of polar coordinates, it has an inclined plane and a plane having an angle of upward reflection of the light guided from the light emitting unit, and gradually increases with respect to the height of the inclined plane with respect to the vertical direction and is constant with respect to the plane length. A coating member that is formed and reflects the light guided by the light emitting part from the touch surface to output a polar pattern-shaped light pattern based on an inclined surface and a plane; And And a housing member which is formed under the coating member and keeps the medium constant so as to form an image formed under the coating member on the touch member in the same manner. The method according to claim 1, wherein the touch panel, Touch position conversion, which is formed by cutting the side surface of the coating member at a predetermined angle and converts a light pattern of polar coordinates (radius, angle) collected by the coating member into Cartesian coordinates (X-axis, Y-axis). The optical touch recognition system further comprises a member. The optical touch recognition system of claim 2, wherein the cutting comprises one of a circular, a flat, and a microlens array surface. The method according to claim 2, The coating member of the touch panel, The light guided by the light emitting portion is refracted in the upward direction with respect to the horizontal direction is formed in a prism shape having an increasing height with respect to the vertical direction, the prism is at a predetermined interval increasing with respect to the vertical direction Optical touch recognition system, characterized in that formed. The method of claim 1, wherein the light emitting device At least one of at least one LED (light emitting diode) mounted at a predetermined position of the imaging system and the touch panel, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) installed at the bottom of the touch panel, and natural light supplied from the outside. Optical touch recognition system. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imaging system includes at least one lens having one of a spherical surface, an aspheric surface, and a diffractive surface, and includes a filter for transmitting only light reflected from the coating member and removing ambient light. Optical touch recognition system, characterized in that. The method according to claim 1, The sensor unit, Pixels in the vertical direction having a number equal to or greater than the number of inclined surfaces with respect to the polar axis (radius r), and in the horizontal direction having a larger number of pixels than the number of pixels in the polar axis in order to have a linear resolution with respect to the polar axis (angle). Optical touch recognition system, characterized in that formed by pixels. The method according to claim 1, The sensor unit, Optical touch recognition system, characterized in that formed integrally with the imaging system. The method according to claim 1, The sensor unit, A first correction module for correcting the light pattern collected by the imaging system based on the distortion amount of the imaging system; A second correction module for correcting the collected light pattern when the amount of reflected light is less than the reference value by touch recognition of the proximity portion and the wet hand; A multi-touch recognition module for determining a multi-touch and outputting a light pattern for each touch position when a plurality of reflected lights are collected; And And a data processing module configured to process the optical pattern output from the first correction module, the second correction module, and the multi-touch recognition module to generate a touch position displacement amount, and to display the generated touch position and displacement amount on a screen. An optical touch recognition system. The method of claim 9, wherein the sensor unit And a light emitting unit power control module for controlling power supply or blocking of the light emitting unit.

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