KR101873416B1 - Method for sensing the touch and device thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of calculating a plurality of simultaneously received touch positions in a static pressure sensor, in which at least two touches are simultaneously applied, wherein at least two touches simultaneously applied are received Calculating a touch position of any one of the received touches by using a standard touch location estimation algorithm for at least one of the received touches, Calculating a signal related to the one touch and the other touch using the detected signal and the signal sensed according to the touch and using the signal related to the other touch calculated, And calculating a touch position of the other touch.

Description

METHOD FOR SENSING THE TOUCH AND DEVICE THEREOF FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001]

The present invention relates to a method of calculating a plurality of simultaneously received touch positions in a static pressure sensor.

A terminal can be divided into a mobile terminal (mobile / portable terminal) and a stationary terminal according to whether the terminal can be moved. The mobile terminal can be divided into a handheld terminal and a vehicle mounted terminal according to whether the user can directly carry the mobile terminal.

The functions of mobile terminals are diversified. For example, there are data and voice communication, photographing and video shooting through a camera, voice recording, music file playback through a speaker system, and outputting an image or video on a display unit. Some terminals are equipped with an electronic game play function or a multimedia player function. In particular, modern mobile terminals can receive multicast signals that provide visual content such as broadcast and video or television programs.

Such a terminal has various functions, for example, in the form of a multimedia device having multiple functions such as photographing and photographing of a moving picture, reproduction of a music or video file, reception of a game and broadcasting, etc. .

In order to support and enhance the functionality of such terminals, it may be considered to improve the structural and / or software parts of the terminal.

Also, the terminal may be provided with a touch sensor for sensing a user's touch. The terminal senses various touch methods using the touch sensors and can perform various functions through the various touch methods.

On the other hand, the touch sensor can sense touch by electrostatic or static pressure. An example of the static pressure type touch sensor is a piezo sensor. On the other hand, in the piezo sensor, when a multi-touch is detected, a method of distinguishing each signal due to the multi-touch has not been developed, and thus there is a need for development of such a method.

The present invention is proposed to meet the above-mentioned need, and it is possible to provide a method of calculating the position of at least two touches simultaneously received.

In addition, the present invention can perform various controls using at least two touch positions and touch distances by calculating at least two touch positions received at the same time.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of determining a touch position in which at least two taps are simultaneously applied, the method comprising: receiving at least two taps simultaneously applied; Calculating a touch position of one of the touches using a standard touch location estimation algorithm, detecting a signal associated with the calculated one of the touch positions, detecting the detected signal and the signal sensed according to the touch Calculating a signal related to any one of the touches and the other touches and calculating a touch position of the other touches using a signal related to the calculated other touches, do.

In one embodiment, the signal related to any one of the touches is calculated by applying a BBS algorithm to a plurality of signals induced by the at least two taps.

In one embodiment, the step of calculating the touch position of the other touch may include calculating a similarity value between the calculated signals, generating a probability map using the similarity value, Estimating the detected probability area as a touch position, and estimating a periphery of the estimated touch position as a next position of the calculated signal.

In one embodiment, the step of detecting the probability area may include setting a probability area around the probability area having the largest value in the probability map to a predetermined size, and estimating the next position in the area of the predetermined size .

In one embodiment, there is provided a touch panel including: a static pressure touch panel that simultaneously receives at least two shocks by a user; a sensing unit that simultaneously senses at least two shocks applied to the static pressure touch panel; And a controller for detecting the impact position and detecting a touch position corresponding to the at least two impacts using a probability map related to the detected impact position.

The present invention sets at least one of at least two touches as a reference signal in order to sense at least two touched touches and detects a touch position of one of the at least two touched touches using the signal . Accordingly, the present invention has high accuracy at low cost and can calculate each touch position even when at least two touches are simultaneously applied.

Further, the present invention may be advantageous in that it is more economical than the conventional touch panel by detecting a plurality of touch positions without increasing the size of the touch panel.

1 is a block diagram showing a touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional method for sensing a touch position of a single touch.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of sensing a touch position of a touch sensor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flow chart illustrating an additional calculation method according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the results calculated by the method of FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to designate identical or similar elements, and redundant description thereof will be omitted. The suffix "module" and " part "for the components used in the following description are given or mixed in consideration of ease of specification, and do not have their own meaning or role. In the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of related arts will be omitted when it is determined that the gist of the embodiments disclosed herein may be blurred. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. , ≪ / RTI > equivalents, and alternatives.

Terms including ordinals, such as first, second, etc., may be used to describe various elements, but the elements are not limited to these terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The present invention relates to a touch sensor that senses a touch, and a method of calculating a position of each of the plurality of touches when a plurality of touches are sensed at the same time.

A piezo sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention uses a piezoelectric element (or piezo element) to change the pressure applied to the sensor to a voltage. The piezo sensor can detect the intensity of the changed voltage by changing the pressure applied to the sensor to a voltage. At this time, the controller 120 may perform various controls according to the changed voltage intensity.

On the other hand, the piezo sensor can not distinguish the position of each of the plurality of sensed touches when a plurality of touches are simultaneously sensed by one sensor. That is, the piezo sensor recognizes all of the plurality of touches as one touch, and can sense only the sum of the plurality of touches. Therefore, the piezo sensor can not discriminate a plurality of touch positions.

Hereinafter, a method of distinguishing the positions of the plurality of touches when the plurality of touches are detected will be described. 1 is a block diagram showing a touch sensor capable of sensing touch positions of the plurality of touches. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of calculating a single touch location by the plurality of touches when a plurality of touches are detected. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of calculating a touch position of each of a plurality of touches in the touch sensor of FIG.

In one embodiment of the present invention, in order to calculate the position of each of a plurality of touches, the present invention includes a touch panel 100 that senses a touch of a user, at least three touches that detect a touch received by the touch panel 100, And a control unit 120 for performing various controls by using signals sensed by the sensing unit 110. [

The control unit 120 may be a control unit 120 for controlling the apparatus including the touch sensor of the present invention and may include a controller for controlling the sensing unit 110 included in the touch sensor, 120). Here, when the touch sensor is limited and controlled, the controller 120 may control the position of the touch, the intensity of the touch, and the on / off function of the touch sensor.

The touch panel 100 may receive a touch applied by a user. The touch panel 100 may be composed of a static pressure element (for example, a piezo element). That is, the touch panel 100 may perform a role similar to a user input unit.

The sensing unit 110 may be connected to the touch panel 100. At this time, the sensing unit 110 may be connected to the touch panel 100 in order to calculate the position of the touch sensed by the touch panel 100. [

The control unit 120 may estimate the position of the signal using the signals sensed by the at least three sensing units. At this time, the method of determining the position of the signal includes various methods such as a triangulation method and a time difference measurement method. In the present invention, the method of calculating the touch position calculates the position using the standard touch location estimation algorithm, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the position can be calculated by various modifications.

In the present invention, at least two touches may be received for the touch panel (S310).

The touch panel may be a static pressure touch panel. The pressure-sensitive touch panel may be a sensor that detects the magnitude of the voltage by changing the pressure applied to the sensor to a voltage. For example, the pressure-sensitive touch panel may be a piezo sensor.

On the other hand, in the conventional static pressure type touch panel, when a plurality of touches are simultaneously applied, it is difficult to detect the touch position of each of the plurality of touches. For example, the piezo sensor can change the sum of the pressures of the plurality of touches to a voltage, even though a plurality of touches are detected in one piezo sensor. That is, the piezo sensor can recognize a single pressure instead of sensing each of the plurality of touches.

The present invention can also calculate the touch position of each of the plurality of touches when a plurality of touches are simultaneously applied to the static pressure touch panel.

When at least two taps are received, the present invention may calculate a touch position associated with at least two taps using a standard touched position estimation algorithm (S320).

That is, the sensing unit of the present invention can detect the sum of the at least two touches instead of sensing at least two touches even when at least two touches are received. Accordingly, the controller 120 may calculate one touch position related to a sum of at least two taps.

The controller 120 may use a standard touch location estimation algorithm to calculate one touch location associated with the sum of the at least two taps. Here, the standard touch location estimation algorithm may use the following method.

First, the control unit 120 divides the touch panel, which senses touches from the user, into virtual lattices including N X M pieces. Thereafter, the control unit 120 may receive signals from the two sensing units 110 of at least three sensing units 110, respectively. For example, referring to FIG. 2A, at least two signals 210 and 220 may be sensed in each of the two sensors.

The control unit 120 may then reconfigure the undistributed signal detected at a target location (e.g., (n, m) location in the grid) of the at least two received signals. At this time, the target position may be set arbitrarily or may be set by the user. For example, the target position may be preset to the center of the N X M grating.

For example, referring to FIG. 2B, the touch sensor may detect a signal at a target position among the at least two detected signals 210 and 220, and reconstruct the detected signal. Here, the detected signal may be a signal detected over time. At this time, the control unit 120 can reconstruct the signal detected according to the time as a signal with respect to frequency through Fourier transform. In particular, the controller 120 may quantize the signals using FFT-type Fourier transform.

The control unit 120 may calculate the similarity between the at least two signals 210 and 220 using the reconstructed signal. At this time, the similarity may have a large value when the sensed touch is detected at the target position. On the other hand, the similarity may have a smaller value as the sensed touch moves away from the target position.

Thereafter, the control unit 120 may calculate the similarity for all the gratings. At this time, the control unit 120 may generate a probability map (or similarity distribution map) using the similarity value. For example, referring to FIG. 2C, the controller 120 generates a probability map using similarity values. In FIG. 2C, although the probability map is expressed by brightness and darkness, it can be expressed in various colors. In addition, the color of the probability map may represent each probability value. For example, an area represented by a dark color in a probability map represented by light and dark may be a region having a large probability value.

The probability map is a map showing a probability that a touch sensed by the touch panel is located. That is, the position of the touch sensed in the probability map may be a position having a high probability (or similarity value).

Meanwhile, the controller 120 may generate the probability map for each sensor pair when there are at least three sensors. At this time, the controller 120 may generate a total probability map by adding the probability maps generated for each sensor pair. For example, if there are three sensors, three sensor pairs can be created, and a probability map can be generated for each sensor pair. At this time, the controller 120 may generate a total probability map by summing the three generated probability maps. For example, referring to FIG. 2D, the controller 120 may generate a total probability map by summing the probability maps generated for each sensor pair.

At this time, the controller 120 may calculate the area having the largest probability value as the touch position where the touch is detected, by using the entire probability map. For example, as shown in FIG. 2D, the controller 120 can calculate the area 230 having the largest probability value as the touch position.

After calculating one touch position related to the at least two touches, the touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention may proceed to a step of detecting a signal related to the calculated touch position (S330).

After calculating the position of the touch received on the touch panel using the standard touch location estimation algorithm, the controller 120 determines which one of the at least two signals related to the touch position And a touch associated with the touch. At this time, any one of the signals may be a signal located in an area having the greatest similarity value among similarity values calculated using the standard touch location estimation algorithm.

In addition, the controller 120 may set any one of the touches related to the one of the signals as a reference touch, and may set any one of the signals as a reference signal. For example, the control unit may set the signal located in the region having the largest similarity value to s1, and set the position of s1 to p1.

Thereafter, the controller 120 may calculate the reference signal as a function of time using the following equation (1) as a function of the signal detected by the touch panel at the position p1 of the signal set as the reference signal.

[Equation 1]

: 파수,

: 감지부에서 p1 까지의 거리)a function of the time of the signal s sensed by the touch panel; S (w): a function of the signal s;

: Wave number,

: Distance from the sensing part to p1)

The calculated signal y1 (t, p1) is a mixed signal of s1 signals, and the controller 120 can detect s1 from the mixed signal using a BSS (Blind Source Separation) algorithm. Here, the BSS algorithm is a known algorithm. In the present invention, various algorithms for calculating a specific signal in a mixed signal other than the BSS algorithm can be used.

After the signal related to the touch position is calculated, the touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention calculates a signal related to the touch different from the calculated touch position using the calculated signal and the signal received from the touch panel (S340). ≪ / RTI >

The control unit 120 may calculate a signal using the touch position and then calculate a signal related to the touch different from the calculated touch position using the calculated signal and the signal received from the touch panel. That is, the other touch may be a touch different from the reference touch s1.

를 생성할 수 있다. 이때, 상기

은 수학식 2를 이용하여 생성할 수 있다.On the other hand, in order to calculate a signal related to the other touch, the controller 120 uses the distance r (p1) from the sensing unit of the s1 signal to calculate a dispersion signal

Lt; / RTI > At this time,

Can be generated using Equation (2).

&Quot; (2) "

: s1의 퓨리에 트랜스 폼)(

: s1 < / RTI >< RTI ID =

을 이용하여, S2의 분산 신호를 계산할 수 있다. Thereafter, the control unit 120 determines whether or not the above-

The dispersion signal of S2 can be calculated.

&Quot; (3) "

That is, the control unit 120 may calculate the signal s2 related to another touch using the calculated signal s1 and the received signal s.

The touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention may calculate the position of the other touch using the signal related to the other touch (S350).

When the s2 is calculated, the controller 120 may calculate the touch position of another touch related to the s2 using the standard touch location estimation algorithm. Here, the standard touch position estimation algorithm is the same algorithm as the above-described algorithm.

Accordingly, when a plurality of taps are applied, the controller 120 can calculate the position of each of the plurality of taps.

In the above, a method of calculating the position of each of the plurality of touches when a plurality of touches are simultaneously applied to the static pressure sensor has been described. Accordingly, the present invention can detect a plurality of taps even at a low cost.

Hereinafter, a method of performing additional calculation in order to increase the accuracy of the touch position calculation will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for performing the additional calculation, and FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a result value by the control method of FIG.

On the other hand, the controller 120 may perform an additional algorithm to avoid omission of the touch position and to improve the accuracy of the calculated touch position.

The additional algorithm may be a local processing algorithm. That is, the local analysis algorithm is an algorithm that performs a calculation on the local position in the calculated probability map. The local analysis algorithm has the advantage of reducing the execution time of the algorithm by reducing the amount of computation to be performed.

First, in order to perform the local analysis algorithm, the controller 120 may perform a step of detecting the movement of the received signal (S410). Thereafter, the controller 120 may generate a probability map related to the moving signal (S420). Steps S410 and S420 may be performed simultaneously. Here, the probability map can be generated using the previously calculated similarity value, and the same probability map as the probability map generated in the above-described algorithm can be used.

Thereafter, the controller 120 may proceed to a step of detecting a probability area having the largest value 500 in the probability map (S430). Here, the largest value 500 may mean a large value of the similarity value of the signals sensed by the two sensing units. That is, if the similarity value is large, it means that both the sensors at the above positions have detected the touch.

If an area having the largest value 500 is detected in the probability map, the controller 120 may set the surrounding area of the detected probability area as a calculation area 510 having a preset size (S440). For example, referring to FIG. 5 (a), the controller 120 sets the surrounding area including the area having the largest similarity value in the calculated probability map as a calculation area 510 of a predetermined size . Here, the predetermined size may be changeable by the user. In addition, the larger the predetermined size, the longer the execution time of the algorithm.

Thereafter, the controller 120 may detect an area having a value similar to the largest value in the calculation area 510 of the preset size, and may estimate the next area as the next touch position of the moving signal (S450).

For example, referring to FIG. 5B, the controller 120 may set a region having a value 520 similar to the largest value 500 in a calculation region having a predetermined size to a next touch position Can be estimated.

On the other hand, referring to FIG. 5B, it can be seen that a region having a value similar to the largest value in the probability map is included in a predetermined size region 510. That is, it can be seen that the touch position can be accurately calculated by analyzing the local area alone. Therefore, the present invention is advantageous over other algorithms in terms of time and economy by calculating the touch position through local analysis.

The present invention sets at least one of at least two touches as a reference signal in order to sense at least two touched touches and detects a touch position of one of the at least two touched touches using the signal . Accordingly, the present invention has high accuracy at low cost and can calculate each touch position even when at least two touches are simultaneously applied.

Further, the present invention may be advantageous in that it is more economical than the conventional touch panel by detecting a plurality of touch positions without increasing the size of the touch panel.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.

The present invention described above can be embodied as computer-readable codes on a medium on which a program is recorded. The computer readable medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of the computer-readable medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, and the like, and also implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet) . Also, the computer may include a control unit 180 of the terminal.

Accordingly, the above description should not be construed in a limiting sense in all respects and should be considered illustrative. The scope of the present invention should be determined by rational interpretation of the appended claims, and all changes within the scope of equivalents of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (7)

A method of determining a touch position in which at least two touches are simultaneously applied,
Receiving at least two touches simultaneously applied;
Calculating a touch position of any one of the received at least two taps using the standard touched position estimation algorithm;
Detecting a signal associated with any one of the calculated touch positions;
Calculating a signal related to the one touch and the other touch using the detected signal and the signal sensed according to the touch; And
And calculating the touch position of the other touch using the calculated signal related to the other touch. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the signal related to any one of the touches is calculated by applying a BBS algorithm to a plurality of signals induced by the at least two taps. The method according to claim 1,
The step of calculating the touch position of the other touch
Calculating a similarity value between the calculated signals;
Generating a probability map using the similarity value;
Detecting a probability region having a highest value in the probability map;
Estimating the detected probability area as a touch position; And
And estimating a periphery of the estimated touch position as a next position of the calculated signal. The method of claim 3,
In the step of detecting the probability area,
Setting a probability area around the probability area having a largest value in the probability map to a predetermined size,
And estimating the next position within the region of the predetermined size. A static pressure touch panel for simultaneously receiving at least two touches by a user;
A sensing unit for simultaneously sensing at least two touches applied to the touch panel; And
And a controller for detecting a touch position of at least two touches sensed by the sensing unit and detecting a touch position of the at least two touches using a probability map related to the detected touch position, Touch sensor. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing units,
The control unit
Wherein the plurality of sensing units are configured in pairs to calculate a similarity value of each signal using a signal corresponding to a touch sensed in each pair and generate a probability map using the similarity value, , The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the controller identifies a position having a largest value on the probability map as a touch position.

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