WO2013167091A2

WO2013167091A2 - Tactile feedback device and terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2013167091A2
Application number: PCT/CN2013/080430
Authority: WO
Inventors: 韩正渭
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2012-12-12
Filing date: 2013-07-30
Publication date: 2013-11-14
Also published as: CN103034331A; WO2013167091A3; CN103034331B

Abstract

Disclosed are a tactile feedback device and terminal. The tactile feedback device comprises: a tactile feedback layer located on one side of the touch screen and comprising an insulation material and a controlled circuit inserted into the insulation material, the controlled circuit comprising at least two contact electrodes which can be touched by a human body; and a control module configured to control the controlled circuit, so that an electric stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode in the at least two contact electrodes. Provided is an electro-tactile feedback function, thereby enabling a user to feel electro-tactile feedback safely.

Description

Tactile feedback device and terminal

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of electronic technologies, and in particular, to a haptic feedback device and a terminal. Background technique

With the development of mobile communication terminals and personal computer technologies, touch screens have been more and more widely applied to these electronic device terminals. Even in some household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, etc., it is also seen that touch screens have become more and more widely used.

However, current touch screens are used for information input and human-computer interaction, and there are still some shortcomings relative to physical buttons. One of the main drawbacks is that when a character is input using a virtual button on the touch screen, there is no pressing touch of the physical button, and the user cannot intuitively determine whether an effective button action has been completed, reducing the input speed.

A common way to solve the above problems is to use a flexible approach. Common means include: A, using sound and light feedback, when a valid button action is detected, a changed button image is displayed on the corresponding button of the screen, and a specific sound signal can be sent to inform the user that the device has accepted the present The second button; B, using vibration feedback, when detecting a valid button action, by driving the vibration device inside the device, the user can feel the vibration of the device, thereby obtaining the information that the button has been accepted by the device.

However, it turns out that the above feedback means is still inferior to the traditional physical button in character input efficiency. To this end, many companies such as Microsoft and Apple are developing flexible screen and force feedback technologies to provide mechanical tactile feedback, such as Microsoft's patent LIGHT-INDUCED SHAPE-MEMORY POLYMER DISPLAY SCREEN. Polymer display) and so on. In order to achieve screen deformation and force feedback, such touch screens use a large amount of new materials and new structures. Not only is the production cost very expensive, but there are still many difficulties that have not been solved. At present, the entire industry is in the initial stage of development and has not entered commercial use. Summary of the invention

In view of this, it is an object of embodiments of the present invention to provide a tactile feedback device and a terminal to provide an electrical tactile feedback mode.

To solve the above technical problem, the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention is as follows:

The embodiment of the present invention provides a haptic feedback device, which is applied to a terminal provided with a touch screen, and the haptic feedback device includes:

a haptic feedback layer on one side of the touch screen, comprising an insulating material and a controlled circuit embedded in the insulating material; wherein the controlled circuit comprises at least two contact electrodes that can be touched by a human body;

And a control module configured to control the controlled circuit such that an electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode of the at least two contact electrodes.

Preferably, the control module includes:

a determining unit, configured to determine the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode; wherein the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode correspond to a first touch area;

a first control unit configured to control the controlled circuit such that the electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode.

Preferably, the controlled circuit is connected with a controlled switch, and the control module comprises: a second control unit configured to control the controlled circuit by controlling the controlled switch, so that the first contact electrode and The electrical stimulation signal is generated between the second contact electrodes.

Preferably, the at least two contact electrodes are M contact electrodes, and the controlled circuit includes

N controlled branches, where M and N are both natural numbers, M≥N>1;

The M contact electrodes are distributed on the N controlled branches; wherein the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode are respectively in a first controlled branch of the N controlled branches and Second controlled branch;

The controlled switch includes N controlled switches connected to the N controlled branches; The first controlled switch and the second controlled switch of the controlled switch are respectively connected to the first controlled branch and the second controlled branch;

The second control unit includes:

And a control subunit configured to generate the electrical stimulation signal between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode by closing the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch.

Preferably, the electrical stimulation signal is a voltage signal or a current signal.

Preferably, the electrical stimulation signal is a direct current signal or an alternating current signal.

Preferably, the at least two contact electrodes are separated by the insulating material.

Preferably, the control module includes:

a third control unit configured to apply a voltage signal to the controlled circuit such that voltage signals at the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode have different amplitudes; or

A fourth control unit is configured to apply a current signal to the controlled circuit such that the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode are capable of forming a current loop.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a terminal, where the terminal includes:

touch screen;

The first processor is configured to determine a first touch area according to the touch detection signal collected by the touch screen;

a second processor configured to control the controlled circuit such that an electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode of the at least two contact electrodes; wherein the first contact electrode and the first The two contact electrodes correspond to the first touch area.

Preferably, the controlled circuit is connected with a controlled switch, and the second processor is configured to control the controlled circuit by controlling the controlled switch, so that the first contact electrode and the The electrical stimulation signal is generated between the second contact electrodes.

Preferably, the at least two contact electrodes are M contact electrodes, and the controlled circuit includes N controlled branches, wherein M and N are both natural numbers, M≥N>1;

The controlled switch includes N controlled switches connected to the N controlled branches, wherein the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch of the controlled switch are respectively associated with the first a controlled branch and the second controlled branch are connected;

The second processor is configured to cause the electrical stimulation signal to be generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode by closing the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch.

Preferably, the second processor is configured to apply a voltage signal to the controlled circuit such that voltage signals at the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode have different amplitudes; or The controlled circuit applies a current signal such that the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode can form a current loop.

As can be seen from the above, the embodiment of the present invention has at least the following technical effects: by controlling a controlled circuit included in the haptic feedback layer on one side of the touch screen, so that the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode can be touched by the human body An electrical stimulation signal is generated between them to provide an electrical tactile feedback mode. DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a tactile feedback screen;

2 is a schematic diagram of the principle of a tactile feedback screen. detailed description

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments.

A first embodiment of the present invention provides a haptic feedback device, which is applied to a terminal provided with a touch screen, and the device includes:

It can be seen that by controlling the controlled circuit included in the haptic feedback layer on one side of the touch screen, an electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode touched by the human body, thereby providing an electrical tactile feedback mode.

The touch screen can be a flat screen or a curved screen.

The touch screen can be a capacitive screen, a resistive screen, an infrared screen, or the like.

The control module can be implemented by a driving circuit, and the driving circuit can control the controlled circuit after receiving the trigger signal to generate an electrical stimulation signal between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode. The trigger signal may be generated by a user touch operation detecting device in the terminal when detecting a user touch operation. Specifically, the user touch operation detecting means can determine the touch operation of the user based on the touch detection signal from the touch screen.

The electrical stimulation signal can be a preset signal.

The electrical stimulation signal may be a voltage signal; or, in consideration of the manner in which the voltage signal is generated, the adjustment of the electrical tactile feedback effect may be disadvantageous. To this end, the electrical stimulation signal may also be a current signal, and the amplitude of the current signal. It can be adjusted by the user, so that similar electrical tactile feedback effects can be generated for the fingers of different users, or the user can adjust the amplitude of the current signal. The degree to which the electrical tactile feedback effect that satisfies the user's needs can be generated.

In addition, the electrical stimulation signal may be a direct current signal; or, considering that the human body is more sensitive to alternating current, the electrical stimulation signal may also be an alternating current signal, thereby providing a better electrical tactile feedback effect for the user.

Of course, in the specific implementation, taking into account the actual characteristics of the human body, the amplitude of the electrical stimulation signal should be within the safe range that the human body can withstand, usually the voltage should not be higher than 36V, and the current should not be greater than 10mA, such as 24V/50HZ AC. Voltage or 2mA/50Hz AC current; and / or,

Considering the sensitivity of the human body to electricity, since the sensitivity of different human bodies to electricity is different, as an example, the voltage can be higher than 6V and the current can be greater than 0.1mA.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the control module may include:

The first touch area may be determined by a touch area detection module connected to the touch screen according to a signal from the touch detection electrode of the touch screen; or, the haptic feedback layer may be disposed with the at least two The touch electrode is separated by the insulating material and connected to the determining unit, and the first touch area may also be determined by the determining unit according to a signal from the touch detecting electrode of the haptic feedback layer.

When the number of the at least two contact electrodes is greater than two, different combinations of the contact electrodes of the at least two contact electrodes may match different touch regions, for example, discharges corresponding to specific combinations in the different combinations There is an overlap or a inclusion or inclusion relationship between the region and the specific touch region of the different touch regions, or the ratio of the overlapping portion of the discharge region to the specific touch region occupies the discharge region is greater than a predetermined percentage . Where the different combination The number of contact electrodes in each of the combinations is at least 2 and less than or equal to the number of the at least two contact electrodes.

In an embodiment of the invention, the control module may generate an electrical stimulation signal between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode by applying a voltage signal or a current signal to the controlled circuit. E.g,

The controlled circuit may be connected to a controlled switch, and the control module may include: a second control unit configured to control the controlled circuit by controlling the controlled switch such that the first contact electrode and the The electrical stimulation signal is generated between the second contact electrodes. Specifically, you can have:

The at least two contact electrodes are M contact electrodes, and the controlled circuit includes N controlled branches, wherein M and N are both natural numbers, M≥N>1;

The second control unit includes:

For the case of N>2, other controlled switches other than the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch of the controlled switch may be in an open state, so that only the first contact electrode and the first An electrical stimulation signal is generated between the two contact electrodes. Thus, by controlling a portion of the controlled switch to close and another portion of the controlled switch to open, a portion of the at least two contact electrodes contact the electrode to produce the electrical stimulation signal. In the embodiment of the present invention, there may be contact between different contact electrodes of the at least two contact electrodes; or, the at least two contact electrodes may be separated by the insulating material.

In addition, the control module may include:

A fourth control unit is configured to apply a current signal to the controlled circuit such that the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode form a current loop.

In this way, the user's finger will generate a specific small current due to the difference in the amplitude of the signal of the contact electrode that is touched, so that the user can safely and clearly feel the electric tactile feedback.

In an embodiment of the invention, the position of the at least two contact electrodes and the touch detection electrodes is such that the touch detection function and the haptic feedback function are not affected. For example, for the contact surface of the haptic feedback layer with the touch screen, the projection of the at least one contact electrode on the contact surface does not overlap the projection of the touch detection electrode at the contact surface.

The electrical tactile feedback mode of the embodiment of the present invention is compared with the deformable screen and the force feedback technology, and the main advantages are as follows:

Can be produced based on existing screen materials and manufacturing processes, production equipment does not require large-scale upgrades, and screen costs are close to ordinary non-feedback touch screens;

It is made of materials that have been tested for long-term use, and has a simple screen structure, does not contain relatively movable parts, and is relatively resistant to vibration shocks and is durable.

A second embodiment of the present invention provides a terminal, where the terminal includes:

touch screen;

a haptic feedback layer on one side of the touch screen, comprising an insulating material and a controlled circuit embedded in the insulating material; wherein the controlled circuit comprises at least two contact electrodes that can be touched by a human body; The first processor is configured to determine a first touch area according to the touch detection signal collected by the touch screen;

It can be seen that by controlling the controlled circuit included in the haptic feedback layer on one side of the touch screen, the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode touched by the human body generate an electrical stimulation signal, thereby providing an electrical tactile feedback mode.

The first processor may be a central processing unit (CPU).

The second processor may be a CPU.

The first processor and the second processor may be the same or different.

When the number of the at least two contact electrodes is greater than two, different combinations of the contact electrodes of the at least two contact electrodes may match different touch regions, for example, discharges corresponding to specific combinations in the different combinations There is an overlap or a inclusion or inclusion relationship between the region and the specific touch region of the different touch regions, or the ratio of the overlapping portion of the discharge region to the specific touch region occupies the discharge region is greater than a predetermined percentage . Wherein, the number of contact electrodes in each combination of the different combinations is at least 2 and less than or equal to the number of the at least two contact electrodes.

The touch screen can be a flat screen or a curved screen.

The electrical stimulation signal can be a preset signal. The electrical stimulation signal can be a voltage signal or a current signal. The electrical stimulation signal can be a direct current signal or an alternating current signal. The description of the electrical stimulation signal is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment of the present invention, and details are not described herein again.

The controlled circuit is coupled to a controlled switch, and the second processor is specifically configurable to control the controlled circuit by controlling the controlled switch such that the first contact electrode and the second The electrical stimulation signal is generated between the contact electrodes.

More specifically, there can be:

The second processor is specifically configured to: generate the electrical stimulation signal between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode by closing the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch .

For the case of N>2, other controlled switches other than the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch of the controlled switch may be in an open state, so that only the first contact electrode and the first An electrical stimulation signal is generated between the two contact electrodes. Thus, by controlling a portion of the controlled switch to close and another portion of the controlled switch to open, a portion of the at least two contact electrodes contact the electrodes to generate the electrical stimulation signal.

Furthermore, there may be contact between different ones of the at least two contact electrodes; or, the at least two contact electrodes may be separated by the insulating material.

In addition, the second processor may be specifically configured to:

Applying a voltage signal to the controlled circuit such that voltage signals at the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode have different amplitudes; or

A current signal is applied to the controlled circuit such that the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode form a current loop. In this way, the user's finger will generate a specific small current due to the difference in the amplitude of the signal of the contact electrode that is touched, so that the user can safely and clearly feel, and realize the electric tactile feedback.

Furthermore, the positional setting of the at least two contact electrodes and the touch detection electrodes should be such that the touch detection function and the haptic feedback function are not affected. For example, for the contact surface of the haptic feedback layer with the touch screen, the projection of the at least one contact electrode at the contact surface does not overlap with the projection of the touch detection electrode at the contact surface.

In order to more clearly describe the above two embodiments, the preferred embodiments of the above two embodiments are given below.

In the preferred embodiment, the touch screen and the haptic feedback layer constitute a tactile feedback screen. The touch screen is a conventional capacitive multi-touch screen, and the tactile feedback layer covers the human body contact surface of the capacitive multi-touch screen, wherein the insulating material and the electrodes are transparent.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a haptic feedback screen. Referring to FIG. 1, the haptic feedback screen is composed of three parts from bottom to top, namely, an LCD display module 11, a capacitive touch detection layer 12, and a haptic feedback layer 13. The structure and function of the first two parts are the same as those of the traditional capacitive multi-touch screen. The difference lies in the third part.

The third part is the tactile feedback layer 13. Referring to Figure 1, a plurality of haptic feedback electrodes of the haptic feedback layer 13 are exposed to the outside of the screen of the haptic feedback screen, and the non-touchable portions of the haptic feedback electrodes are isolated by an insulating material. These haptic feedback electrodes are arranged in the gap between adjacent capacitive touch detection electrodes, and the two electrodes do not overlap each other, ensuring that the function of the capacitive touch detection layer is not affected.

We call the part where the electrode can be touched by the human body as the contact of the electrode, and the terminal contains a dedicated driving circuit to apply a voltage or current that the human body can feel between the contacts. Further, the drive circuit can selectively apply a voltage or current to a specific position of the screen by controlling switches connected to the horizontal and vertical electrodes of the matrix without applying a σ voltage and a voltage to other positions of the screen. When the terminal detects a valid key operation through the touch screen, the drive circuit immediately applies a voltage or current to the desired screen position, and discharges through the contact portion of the finger. Thus, when a particular small current passes through the user's finger, the user will feel safely but clearly, so that tactile feedback can be achieved. Because the human body is more sensitive to alternating current, alternating current can be used instead of direct current to increase the effect of tactile feedback. In order to produce similar feedback effects on the fingers of different individual users, current drive can be used instead of voltage drive, and the magnitude of the current can be adjusted by the user.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the principle of the haptic feedback screen. Among them, the tactile feedback screen consists of 24 electrodes, which are arranged vertically and horizontally. They are divided into two categories: one is marked with a dotted line, and the vertical line is connected to the X-axis edge. A total of 3歹ij, each 歹|J 4, numbered Xm — n ( m=l~3, n=l~4 ); —The class is indicated by a solid line, connected to the Y-axis edge with a horizontal line, a total of 3 lines, 4 per line, numbered Ym—n( m= l~3, n=l~4).

Among them, the X axis has three switches SX1~SX3, which controls whether the three columns of X1~X3 on the X axis are connected to the power supply; the Y axis also has three switches SY1~SY3, and controls the three lines Y1~Y3 on the Y axis. Whether the electrode is powered on. A total of nine intersections are formed in the three rows and three columns of electrodes. These nine intersections define nine discharge regions, as shown by the shaded regions in the figure, which are the discharge regions i or determined by the electrodes of columns Χ3 and Υ2.

When the touch detection layer detects an effective touch action, the haptic feedback drive circuit is notified to apply a voltage to the corresponding screen area. Taking the shaded area in the figure as an example, when the finger touches the area, it is detected by the touch detection layer, and then the haptic feedback drive circuit inside the terminal turns on the switches SX3 and SY2 while leaving the other switches open. At this time, on the four electrodes X3-2, X3-3, Y2-3, and Y2-4 around the shadow, due to contact with the finger, there will be current passing through the finger and being felt by the human body. As for other electrodes, such as X3-1 and Y2-2, although a voltage is applied, since the distance is long, even if there is a finger contact, since the resistance is large, almost no current flows.

Here, there are currents passing through the fingers on the four electrodes X3-2, X3-3, Y2-3 and Y2-4, specifically between the electrodes X3 2 and Y2-3, between the electrodes X3-2 and Y2-4 , electrode X3-3 and A current through the finger is generated between Y2_3, between the electrodes Χ3-3 and Υ2-4. The above is only an embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make some improvements and refinements without departing from the principles of the embodiments of the present invention. Retouching should also be considered as the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

claims

1. A tactile feedback device, applied to a terminal equipped with a touch screen, the tactile feedback device includes:

The tactile feedback layer located on one side of the touch screen includes an insulating material and a controlled circuit embedded in the insulating material; wherein the controlled circuit includes at least two contact electrodes that can be touched by the human body;

A control module configured to control the controlled circuit so that an electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode among the at least two contact electrodes.

2. The tactile feedback device according to claim 1, wherein the control module includes: a determining unit configured to determine the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode; wherein the first contact electrode and The second contact electrode corresponds to a first touch area;

The first control unit is configured to control the controlled circuit so that the electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode.

3. The tactile feedback device according to claim 1, wherein the controlled circuit is connected to a controlled switch, and the control module includes:

The second control unit is configured to control the controlled circuit by controlling the controlled switch, so that the electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode.

4. The tactile feedback device according to claim 3, wherein the at least two contact electrodes are M contact electrodes, the controlled circuit includes N controlled branches, where M and N are both natural numbers, M>N>1;

The M contact electrodes are distributed on the N controlled branches; wherein, the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode are respectively on the first controlled branch and the N controlled branch. On the second controlled branch road;

The controlled switch includes N controlled switches, connected with the N controlled branches; The second control unit includes:

The control subunit is configured to generate the electrical stimulation signal between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode by closing the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch.

5. The tactile feedback device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical stimulation signal is a voltage signal or a current signal.

6. The tactile feedback device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical stimulation signal is a direct current signal or an alternating current signal.

7. The tactile feedback device according to claim 1, wherein the at least two contact electrodes are separated by the insulating material.

8. The tactile feedback device according to claim 1, wherein the control module includes: a third control unit configured to apply a voltage signal to the controlled circuit, so that the first contact electrode and the second The voltage signal amplitude at the contact electrodes is different; or,

The fourth control unit is configured to apply a current signal to the controlled circuit, so that the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode form a current loop.

9. A terminal, the terminal includes:

touchscreen;

A first processor configured to determine the first touch area based on the touch detection signal collected by the touch screen;

The second processor is configured to control the controlled circuit so that an electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode among the at least two contact electrodes; wherein, the first The contact electrode and the second contact electrode correspond to the first touch area.

10. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein the controlled circuit is connected to a controlled switch, and the second processor is configured to control the controlled circuit by controlling the controlled switch, so that the controlled circuit The electrical stimulation signal is generated between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode.

11. The terminal according to claim 10, wherein the at least two contact electrodes are M contact electrodes, and the controlled circuit includes N controlled branches, where M and N are both natural numbers, M> N>1;

The controlled switches include N controlled switches, connected to the N controlled branches; wherein, the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch among the controlled switches are respectively connected to the third controlled switch. A controlled branch is connected to the second controlled branch;

The second processor is configured to generate the electrical stimulation signal between the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode by closing the first controlled switch and the second controlled switch.

12. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein the electrical stimulation signal is a voltage signal or a current signal.

13. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein the electrical stimulation signal is a direct current signal or an alternating current signal.

14. The terminal according to claim 9, wherein the second processor is configured to apply a voltage signal to the controlled circuit such that the voltage at the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode Signal amplitudes are different;

Alternatively, a current signal is applied to the controlled circuit so that the first contact electrode and the second contact electrode form a current loop.