U.S. patent application number 14/746945 was filed with the patent office on 2015-12-24 for multi-phase touch-sensing electronic device.
The applicant listed for this patent is Touchplus Information Corp.. Invention is credited to Yao-Chih CHUANG, Shih-Hsien HU, Yi-Feng WEI.
Application Number | 20150370404 14/746945 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 54869622 |
Filed Date | 2015-12-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150370404 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HU; Shih-Hsien ; et
al. |
December 24, 2015 |
MULTI-PHASE TOUCH-SENSING ELECTRONIC DEVICE
Abstract
A touch-sensing electronic device includes a housing having a
first touch-sensing surface, a second touch-sensing surface and a
third touch-sensing surface; a touch-sensing unit accommodated by
the housing for generating at least one control signal in response
to touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the
first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and
the third touch-sensing surface; and at least one functional
circuit disposed in the housing and being in communication with the
touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to
the control signal. The touch-sensitive electronic device supports
multi-phase touch-sensing.
Inventors: |
HU; Shih-Hsien; (New Taipei,
TW) ; WEI; Yi-Feng; (New Taipei, TW) ; CHUANG;
Yao-Chih; (Tainan, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Touchplus Information Corp. |
New Taipei City |
|
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
54869622 |
Appl. No.: |
14/746945 |
Filed: |
June 23, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
345/174 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/044 20130101;
G06F 1/1692 20130101; H03K 17/962 20130101; G06F 3/04166 20190501;
G06F 3/014 20130101; G06F 3/0445 20190501; G06K 9/0002 20130101;
H03K 2217/94052 20130101; G06F 1/1633 20130101; G06F 3/0488
20130101; H03K 2217/94036 20130101; G06F 3/0416 20130101; G06F
3/04886 20130101; H03K 17/9618 20130101; G06F 2203/04101 20130101;
G06F 3/0448 20190501 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/041 20060101
G06F003/041; G06F 1/16 20060101 G06F001/16; G06F 3/044 20060101
G06F003/044 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 23, 2014 |
CN |
201410282001.X |
Claims
1. A touch-sensing electronic device, comprising: a housing having
a first touch-sensing surface, a second touch-sensing surface and a
third touch-sensing surface; a touch-sensing unit accommodated by
the housing for generating at least one control signal in response
to touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the
first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and
the third touch-sensing surface; and at least one functional
circuit disposed in the housing and being in communication with the
touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to
the control signal.
2. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein the first touch-sensing surface is a top surface of the
housing, the second touch-sensing surface is a side surface of the
housing, and the third touch-sensing surface is a bottom surface of
the housing.
3. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein the touch-sensing unit comprises: a substrate disposed in
said housing or partially or entirely packed by the housing
material, and extensively disposed under the first, second and
third touch-sensing surfaces; a first conductive structure for
receiving power, formed on a surface of the substrate and being in
communication with the functional circuit; a second conductive
structure including a plurality of sensing electrodes distributed
to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces, and having
capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations
respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface,
the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing
surface; and a controller in communication with the first
conductive structure and the second conductive structure for
generating and outputting the at least one control signal to the at
least one functional circuit in response to the capacitance
changes.
4. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 3,
wherein the sensing electrodes are formed on the same surface of
the substrate where the first conductive structure is disposed, and
grouped into at least three sensing electrode arrays corresponding
to the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces,
respectively.
5. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 4,
wherein there is an air gap between a surface of the substrate and
at least one of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces
of the housing.
6. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 4,
wherein the substrate is made of a flexible material and bent to
have the three sensing electrode arrays facing the first, second
and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively.
7. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein the touch-sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing
electrodes distributed to three regions corresponding to the first,
second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively, and having
capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations
respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface,
the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing
surface, wherein the sensing electrodes distributed to at least one
of the three regions are disposed on a surface of a battery
casing.
8. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein the touch-sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing
electrodes distributed to three regions corresponding to the first,
second and third touch-sensing surfaces, respectively, and having
capacitance changes in response to the touch-sensing operations
respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface,
the second touch-sensing surface and the third touch-sensing
surface, wherein the sensing electrodes distributed to at least one
of the three regions are attached onto a patch antenna which is
embedded into the housing.
9. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
comprising a display on the first touch-sensing surface, and the
touch-sensing unit comprises a sensing electrode array within the
display area for touch-sensing on or over the first touch-sensing
surface.
10. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein the control signal includes a three-dimensional data for
controlling three parameters of the functional circuit.
11. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein the housing includes two recesses or bumps disposed on the
third touch-sensing surface and used as reference points for the
touch-sensing operations.
12. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 11,
further comprising optical sensing modules disposed in the recesses
or installed in the bumps for image pickup of fingerprints prior to
or accompanying the touch-sensing operation.
13. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein at least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing
surfaces are portions of the same surface of the housing, which are
incontiguous with each other.
14. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
further comprising an operational state sensor in communication
with the touch-sensing unit for detecting an operational state of
the electronic device so as to add a parameter indicative of the
operational state into the control signal.
15. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 14,
wherein the operational state sensor is an attitude sensor, and a
resistance or capacitance change of the attitude sensor resulting
from an attitude change of the electronic device is combined with a
capacitance change resulting from the touch-sensing operations
performed on or over the first, second and third touch-sensing
surfaces into the control signal.
16. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 14,
wherein the operational state sensor is a thermo-sensor, and a
resistance or capacitance change of the thermo-sensor resulting
from an environmental temperature change surrounding the electronic
device is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the
touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and
third touch-sensing surfaces into the control signal.
17. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 1,
wherein the touch-sensing operations on or over at least two of the
first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are detected to
determine a gripping pattern, and information of the gripping
pattern is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the
touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and
third touch-sensing surfaces into the control signal.
18. A portable touch-sensing electronic device, comprising: a
housing having a first touch-sensing surface and a second
touch-sensing surface; a touch-sensing unit accommodated by the
housing for generating control signals in response to touch-sensing
operations respectively performed on or over the first
touch-sensing surface and the second touch-sensing surface, and
including a substrate extensively disposed under the first
touch-sensing surface and the second touch-sensing surface; and at
least one functional circuit disposed in the housing and being in
communication with the touch-sensing unit for performing specific
functions in response to the control signals.
19. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 18,
wherein the substrate is made of a flexible material and disposed
thereon the at least one functional circuit.
20. The touch-sensing electronic device according to claim 18,
wherein the substrate is disposed thereon a plurality of sensing
electrodes distributed to the first and second touch-sensing
surfaces, and having capacitance changes in response to the
touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the
first and second touch-sensing surfaces.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a touch-sensitive
electronic device, and more particularly to a touch-sensitive
electronic device supporting multi-phase touch-sensing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] With the development of interactive electronic devices,
particularly portable electronic communication devices,
touch-sensing is more and more popular as a human interface. For
keeping improving touch-sensing functions and effects under
commonly existing structures of electronic devices, development of
multi-phase touching-sensing would be one of the solutions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Therefore, the present invention provides a touch-sensitive
electronic device supporting multi-phase touch-sensing.
[0004] In an aspect of the present invention, a touch-sensitive
electronic device includes a housing having a first touch-sensing
surface, a second touch-sensing surface and a third touch-sensing
surface; a touch-sensing unit accommodated by the housing for
generating at least one control signal in response to touch-sensing
operations respectively performed on or over the first
touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and the
third touch-sensing surface; and at least one functional circuit
disposed in the housing and being in communication with the
touch-sensing unit for performing specific functions in response to
the control signal.
[0005] In an embodiment, the first, second and third touch-sensing
surfaces are three different surfaces of the housing. For example,
the first touch-sensing surface is a top surface of the housing,
the second surface is a side surface of the housing, and the third
surface is a bottom surface of the housing. In another embodiment,
at least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces
are portions of the same surface of the housing, and incontiguous
with each other.
[0006] In an embodiment, the touch-sensing unit comprises: a
substrate disposed in said housing or partially or entirely packed
by the housing material, and extensively disposed under the first,
second and third touch-sensing surfaces; a first conductive
structure formed on a surface of the substrate and being in
communication with the functional circuit for receiving power
therethrough; a second conductive structure including a plurality
of sensing electrodes distributed to the first, second and third
touch-sensing surfaces, and having capacitance changes in response
to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over
the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface
and the third touch-sensing surface; and a controller in
communication with the first conductive structure and the second
conductive structure for generating and outputting the at least one
control signal to the at least one functional circuit in response
to the capacitance changes.
[0007] In an embodiment, the sensing electrodes are formed on the
same surface of the substrate where the first conductive structure
is disposed, and grouped into at least three sensing electrode
arrays corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing
surfaces, respectively.
[0008] In an embodiment, there is an air gap between the surface of
the substrate and at least one of the first, second and third
touch-sensing surfaces of the housing.
[0009] In an embodiment, the substrate is made of a flexible
material and bent to have the three sensing electrode arrays facing
the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces,
respectively.
[0010] In an embodiment, the touch-sensing unit comprises a
plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to three regions
corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing
surfaces, and having capacitance changes in response to the
touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over the
first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface and
the third touch-sensing surface, wherein the sensing electrodes
distributed to at least one of the three regions are disposed on a
surface of a battery casing.
[0011] In an embodiment, the touch-sensing unit comprises a
plurality of sensing electrodes distributed to three regions
corresponding to the first, second and third touch-sensing
surfaces, respectively, and having capacitance changes in response
to the touch-sensing operations respectively performed on or over
the first touch-sensing surface, the second touch-sensing surface
and the third touch-sensing surface, wherein the sensing electrodes
distributed to at least one of the three regions are attached onto
a patch antenna which is embedded into the housing.
[0012] In an embodiment, the touch-sensing electronic device
further comprises a display on the first touch-sensing surface, and
the touch-sensing unit comprises a sensing electrode array within
the display area for touch-sensing on or over the first
touch-sensing surface.
[0013] In an embodiment, the control signal includes a
three-dimensional data for controlling three parameters of the
functional circuit.
[0014] In an embodiment, the housing includes two recesses or bumps
disposed on the third touch-sensing surface and used as reference
points for the touch-sensing operations.
[0015] In an embodiment, the touch-sensing electronic device
further comprises optical sensing modules disposed in the recesses
or installed in the bumps for image pickup of fingerprints prior to
or accompanying the touch-sensing operation.
[0016] In an embodiment, at least two of the first, second and
third touch-sensing surfaces are portions of the same surface of
the housing, which are incontiguous with each other.
[0017] In an embodiment, the touch-sensing electronic device
further comprises an operational state sensor in communication with
the touch-sensing unit for detecting an operational state of the
electronic device so as to add a parameter indicative of the
operational state into the control signal.
[0018] In an embodiment, the operational state sensor is an
attitude sensor, and a resistance or capacitance change of the
attitude sensor resulting from an attitude change of the electronic
device is combined with a capacitance change resulting from the
touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first, second and
third surfaces into the control signal.
[0019] In an embodiment, the operational state sensor is a
thermo-sensor, and a resistance or capacitance change of the
thermo-sensor resulting from an environmental temperature change
surrounding the electronic device is combined with a capacitance
change resulting from the touch-sensing operations performed on or
over the first, second and third surfaces into the control
signal.
[0020] In an embodiment, the touch-sensing operations on or over at
least two of the first, second and third touch-sensing surfaces are
detected to determine a gripping pattern, and information of the
gripping pattern is combined with a capacitance change resulting
from the touch-sensing operations performed on or over the first,
second and third surfaces into the control signal.
[0021] In another aspect of the present invention, a portable
touch-sensing electronic device, comprising: a housing having a
first touch-sensing surface and a second touch-sensing surface; a
touch-sensing unit accommodated by the housing for generating
control signals in response to touch-sensing operations
respectively performed on or over the first touch-sensing surface
and the second touch-sensing surface, and including a substrate
extensively disposed under the first touch-sensing surface and the
second surface; and at least one functional circuit disposed in the
housing and being in communication with the touch-sensing unit for
performing specific functions in response to the control
signals
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0022] The invention will become more readily apparent to those
ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following
detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
[0023] FIG. 1 is schematic diagram illustrating a touch-sensing
electronic device supporting multi-phase touch-sensing according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a gaming pad, which is an
example of the multi-phase touch-sensing electronic device
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0025] FIG. 3 is a schematic bottom view of the gaming pad shown in
FIG. 2;
[0026] FIG. 4 is schematic circuit block diagram illustrating
circuitry disposed on a substrate for touch-sensing according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0027] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flexible
substrate disposed in the housing of the electronic device
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0028] FIG. 6 is an exemplified configuration of a repetitive unit
of the sensing electrodes according to an embodiment of the present
invention; and
[0029] FIG. 7 is schematic circuit block diagram illustrating
circuitry disposed on a substrate for touch-sensing according to
another embodiment of the present invention, wherein an operational
state sensor is provided for detecting the operational state of the
electronic device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0030] The invention will now be described more specifically with
reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the
following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention
are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description
only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the
precise form disclosed.
[0031] Referring to FIG. 1, a touch-sensing electronic device
supporting multi-phase touch-sensing according to the present
invention is schematically illustrated. The touch-sensing
electronic device includes a housing 10, and conducts multi-phase
touch-sensing by way of a first touch-sensing surface 101, a second
touch-sensing surface 102 and a third touch-sensing surface 103 of
the housing 10. Inside the housing 10, there is a touch-sensing
unit 100 and at least one functional circuit 109. The touch-sensing
unit 100 detects touch operations on or gestures over one or more
of the first touch-sensing surface 101, the second touch-sensing
surface 102 and the third touch-sensing surface 103 so as to
generate corresponding control signals. The control signals are
transmitted to corresponding functional circuit 109 to have the
functional circuit 109 conduct associated operations accordingly.
For example, the functional circuit 109 may be a main circuit of
the electronic device or a circuit of a specific functional module.
The specific functional module, for example, may be a
light-emitting diode, a speaker, a radio, a timing module such as
clock, timer or alarm, a mouse, a project virtual keyboard, a
lighting element, a global positioning system (GPS), a game
console, a smart phone or a tablet computer, a combination of any
two or more of the above-mentioned modules, or any other suitable
one which can be integrated with the electronic device and
controlled by way of touch-sensing operations. Furthermore, for
example, the first touch-sensing surface 101, the second
touch-sensing surface 102 and the third touch-sensing surface 103
can be, but are not limited to, top, side and bottom surfaces of
the housing 10, respectively.
[0032] It is to be noted that the term "touch-sensitive" or
"touch-sensing" means not only to be sensitive to a sliding or
touching gesture actually acting on a specified surface but also
sensitive to an air gesture floatingly acting over the specified
surface. The air gesture may be a vertically moving action and/or a
horizontally moving action within a specified range, or a
holding-still action for a specified period of time. The
horizontally moving action, for example, moves a cursor on the
controlled device; the vertically moving action (movement in
Z-axis), for example, simulates a pressing operation on a virtual
key; and the holding-still action, for example, wakes the
touch-sensing electronic device up from a suspension or sleep
state. Hereinafter, fingers are exemplified as the tool for
executing the gestures. However, any other suitable tool capable of
conducting a capacitance change may be used depending on practical
requirements and size of the touch-sensing electronic device. For
example, palms or conductive objects may also be used instead. For
large-area touch sensing, a plurality of touch sensing units may be
combined to detect a capacitance change so as to effectively
enhance the sensitivity and effective sensible distance. For
example, a combination of seven touch sensing electrodes, as
illustrated in FIG. 6, would have a larger sensible distance than a
combination of three touch sensing units.
[0033] The term "multi-phase" used herein indicates a variety of
touch-sensing associated conditions such as touch-sensing modes
and/or touch-sensing operations. For example and for illustration
only, different objectives are controlled through different
touch-sensing surfaces with different hands, fingers or objects.
The touch-sensing operations may be performed independently on or
over different touch-sensing surfaces, or a touch-sensing operation
may be performed crossing more than one touch-sensing surface to
accomplish one control action.
[0034] The terms "top surface", "bottom surface" and "side surface"
used herein are defined based on a common operational state. Taking
a cell phone which is substantially in a shape of cuboid as an
example, the top surface is the surface where information is
displayed, the side surface is the surface where button control is
performed, and the bottom surface is the surface where a back cover
is disposed. In this example, the three surfaces are three
contiguous surfaces. Alternatively, the three surfaces may be
separate from one another, for example, if the housing is a
polyhedron with more surfaces than a cuboid. Furthermore, the
first, second and third surfaces may be portions of the same or
different surfaces of the housing, where touch-sensing operations
are performed with different hands or different fingers. Of course,
an electronic device having more than three contiguous or
incontiguous touch-sensing surfaces could also support multi-phase
touch-sensing according to the present invention.
[0035] The touch-sensing functions respectively performed via the
first, second and third surfaces, e.g. top, side and bottom
surfaces, may be the same or different. Take a smart phone or
tablet computer for example. By way of touch actions on or gestures
over the top surface, where a display is disposed, common
touch-sensing functions can be performed. For example, frame
scrolling and/or icon clicking may be executed by touch actions on
or gestures over the top surface with either or both thumbs of the
user. The keys or buttons conventionally allocated on the side
surface for volume and/or zoom effect control can be omitted and
replaced with touch-sensing virtual keys and manipulated with
either or both index fingers. In spite the omission of physical
keys or buttons reduces manufacturing cost and laboring, the
physical keys or buttons may still be reserved on the side surface,
depending on practical requirement, without affecting the
touch-sensing operations. Furthermore, via the bottom surface, page
turning and/or cursor shift may be performed with either or both
index or middle fingers. It is to be noted that the above examples
are just for illustration only, and other function-surface
correspondence may be defined.
[0036] Taking a gaming pad 2 as shown in FIG. 2 as an example, a
left directional pad 21, a middle display 20 and a right
directional pad 23 on the top surface 201 may serve as three
touch-sensing surfaces, on or over which touch-sensing operations
are performed with, for example, thumbs of left and/or right hands.
If desirable, the side surface 202 where control buttons 24 are
disposed may serve as a fourth touch-sensing surface manipulated
with, for example, index fingers of left and/or right hands, and
the bottom surface (not shown) may serve as a fifth touch-sensing
surface, on or over which touch-sensing operations are performed
with, for example, index and/or middle fingers of left and/or right
hands. In a case that the housing has no definite edges, e.g. is
spherically shaped, the three surfaces may be three portions of the
rounding surface, which are differentially touch-sensed, or the
three surfaces may be defined according to the orientations
relative to the user. Since there are diverse examples, it is not
to be redundantly described, and hereinafter, the first, second and
third surfaces 101, 102 and 103 are specified as the top, side and
bottom surfaces of the housing 10 for illustration only. The
details about touch-sensing operations over a keypad and associated
control methods may refer to a co-pending U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 14/594,273. Contents of the application are incorporated
herein for reference.
[0037] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an example of the
configuration of the electronic device 2 on the bottom surface 203.
As shown, there are two recesses 31 and 32, or bumps, arranged on
the bottom surface 203 and used as reference points for
touch-sensing operations. Since the user cannot look at the bottom
surface 203 to perform touch-sensing operations on or over the
bottom surface 203 while using the electronic device, it is
desirable, but not essential, to have one or more reference points
on the bottom surface 203 so as to facilitate the touch-sensing
operations. In a preferred embodiment, optical sensing modules 33
and 34 are disposed in the recesses 31 and 32 or installed in the
bumps for image pickup of fingerprints. Accordingly, fingerprint
identification may be performed prior to or accompanying the
touch-sensing operation.
[0038] For conducting touch-sensing, a touch-sensing unit 100
according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a
controller 44 and a sensing electrode circuit 42 including a
plurality of sensing electrodes 421.about.42n, as shown in FIG. 4,
typically arranged as one or more arrays for touch-sensing of
different touch-sensing surfaces. In an embodiment, the sensing
electrode array includes repetitive units, each including six
sensing electrodes 62-67 surrounding one sensing electrode 61, as
shown in FIG. 6. Although one controller 44 is exemplified above
for touch-sensing control of all the three touch-sensing surfaces,
more than one controller 44 may be provided for touch-sensing
control of respective touch-sensing surfaces. The controller 44,
for example, may be an IC chip. The sensing electrodes
421.about.42n are physically divided into three sensing electrode
arrays, e.g. formed on three separate substrates, or virtually
divided into three sensing electrode arrays, e.g. formed on the
same substrate, for touch-sensing on or over three touch-sensing
surfaces, respectively. When the sensing electrodes 421.about.42n
are formed on the same substrate 4, the substrate 4 is preferably
flexible to have the three sensing electrode arrays facing
corresponding touch-sensing surfaces, respectively. An example of
the flexible circuit board 50 serving as the flexible substrate 4,
where the sensing electrodes are formed, is shown in FIG. 5.
Details will be given in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4-6
hereinafter.
[0039] Referring to FIG. 4, a schematic block diagram of circuitry
formed on the flexible substrate 4 is illustrated. The substrate 4
may be accommodated in the inner space of the housing 10. In
another example, the substrate 4 may be partially or entirely
packed by the housing material by way of, for example, injection
molding or any other suitable packaging technique, so as to be
inserted inside the material of the housing 10. Preferably, the
substrate 4 extensively underlies the first, second and third
touch-sensing surfaces 101, 102 and 103 to have the sensing
electrode arrays distributed corresponding to the three
touch-sensing surfaces 101, 102 and 103 for touch-sensing. On the
same flexible substrate 4, the functional circuit 109 may be
disposed. The substrate 4 may be a single-layer single-face circuit
board which is advantageous in low cost and simple manufacturing
process. Of course, it can also be a single-layer double-face
circuit board, or any other substrate adapted for the above
objectives. The circuitry formed on the substrate 4 includes a
first conductive structure 41 and a second conductive structure 42
in addition to the controller 44 and the functional circuit 109. In
this embodiment, the first conductive structure 41, the second
conductive structure 42, the controller 44 and the functional
circuit 109 are disposed on the same surface of the substrate
4.
[0040] The functional circuit 109 is electrically coupled to the
first conductive structure 41 for receiving power, and electrically
coupled to the controller 44 for receiving control signals. The
second conductive structure 42 includes the sensing electrodes
421.about.42n mentioned above, which are divided into top sensing
electrodes, side sensing electrodes and bottom sensing electrodes,
constituting top sensing array, side sensing array and bottom
sensing array, respectively. Different touch-sensing operations on
or over the top, side and/or bottom surfaces cause capacitance
changes of the sensing electrodes so as to generate different
sensing signals. In response to the sensing signals obtained from
the sensing electrode arrays, the controller 44 outputs the control
signals to the function circuit 109 to control corresponding work.
The second conductive structure 42 should be electrically isolated
from the first conductive structure 41. Therefore, at the
intersections of the sensing electrodes 421.about.42n and the power
lines 411 and 412, jumper wires 49 may be used for connecting the
sensing electrodes. Alternatively, other suitable means which
electrically interconnects the sensing electrodes while
electrically isolating the sensing electrodes 421.about.42n from
the power lines 411 and 412 may also be used, or the connecting
lines between the sensing electrodes may just bypass the power
lines 411 and 412, or the power lines 411 and 412 may bypass the
sensing electrodes 421.about.42n. For example, the jumper wires 49
and the connecting lines to the functional circuit 109 and/or the
controller 44 may be provided on the substrate 4 by Surface Mount
Technology (SMT) in the same process. If the substrate 4 is a
single-layer double-face circuit board, via holes properly arranged
may be used for the connecting and isolating purposes.
[0041] In prior art, the sensing electrode layer are attached onto
the outer surface of a display panel for touch-sensing operations,
which is so-called as "out cell". In the above-described
embodiment, if the electronic device has an display on any of the
first, second and third surfaces 101, 102, 103, the sensing
electrodes 421.about.42n disposed in the inner space of the housing
10 may be attached onto the inner surface of the display panel or
integrated into the display panel, which is so-called as "on cell"
or "in cell". On the other hand, if the electronic device has no
display, or for the surfaces where no display is disposed, the
sensing electrodes 421.about.42n may be attached onto the inner
surfaces of the housing 10. In other words, the sensing electrode
layer underlies and contacts with the housing portions
corresponding to the first, second and third surfaces 101, 102 and
103. Alternatively, taking advantage of the touch-sensing technique
previously developed by the inventors, the sensing electrode layer
is allowed to have air gaps from the inner surfaces of the housing
10, i.e. from the first, second and third surfaces 101, 102 and
103. Therefore, the sensing electrode layer may be formed on an
existing element inside the housing 10 instead of the specific
substrate 4. For illustration only, the sensing electrodes
421.about.42n, as well as the functional circuit 109, may be
integrated into the existing circuit board of the electronic
device, formed on a battery casing, or attached onto a patch
antenna which could be embedded into the back cover of the housing
and having a shape consistent to the shapes of the sensing
electrodes. In further examples, the controller 44 and/or the
functional circuit 109 may be carried by an existing element inside
the housing 10 instead of the substrate 4 where the first
conductive structure 41 and/or the second conductive structure 42
are disposed, and electrically coupled to the first conductive
structure 41 and the second substrate 42 via, for example, a flat
cable. FIG. 5 schematically exemplifies a configuration that the
controller 44 and the functional circuit 109 are disposed on the
flexible circuit board 50, which is bendable inside the housing
10.
[0042] In a case that the housing of the electronic device is made
of a metallic material, the sensing electrodes covered by the
housing would lose sensing capability due to the electrostatic
shielding effect. Therefore, in an embodiment, non-metallic
material, e.g. plastic material, is inserted into and replaces
portions of the housing at positions corresponding to the first,
second and/or third touch-sensing surfaces so as to
electrostatically expose the touch-sensing electrodes. Accordingly,
the touch-sensing operations can be successfully performed. The
non-metallic portions may be designed to have specific shapes or
contours for decoration or identification purposes. For example, a
logo of the product or manufacturer may be shown. If the
non-metallic portions are further made transparent or translucent,
a light-emitting element such as an LED may be used to brighten the
logo, or a visible or invisible light such as an infrared ray may
be used to trigger a sounding effect.
[0043] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates one of the repetitive units
of the sensing electrode array, each six sensing electrodes 62-67
surrounding one sensing electrode 61. The sensing electrodes 61,
62, 63, 64, 65, 66 and 67 are shaped as seven hexagons which are
separated from one another. Every two adjacent sensing electrodes
are grouped into one sensing pair. The overall capacitance value
sensed by one sensing pair and the overall capacitance value sensed
by another sensing pair next to the one sensing group are realized
and the difference therebetween is calculated. Accordingly, twelve
pre-data can be defined. Three calculated data are then obtained by
properly processing the twelve pre-data, which represent RGB data
of the three primary colors. In other words, in response to the
touching action conducted by a palm or one or more fingers of a
user or any other suitable touching objects, three-dimensional data
can be realized with these sensing electrodes. The controller 44
then outputs a control signal, via the first conductive structure
41, to the functional circuit 109 implemented with the light
emitting diodes of three primary colors according to the
three-dimensional data. The three-dimensional data can be directly
referred to for adjusting the three primary colors, e.g.
controlling brightness and/or colors of the functional circuit 109.
In another example, the functional circuit 109 is a speaker, and
the three-dimensional data can be directly referred to for
controlling bass, treble and loudness of the speaker in addition to
volume. Furthermore, if the functional circuit 106 is a display,
the three-dimensional data can be directly referred to for
controlling zooming in/out, rotation angles and brightness instead
of only one variable. Alternatively, the seven sensing electrodes
shown in FIG. 6 may also be simplified to three sensing electrodes.
The sensed three capacitance values can be used to define the
three-dimensional data. Another three-dimensional data can also be
obtained in response to touch-sensing action on the back surface.
For example, the three-dimensional data may be used for mixing
light of the light-emitting diodes, mixing sound such as volume,
pitch or sound field, photographing control such as zooming in and
zooming out, and/or displaying effects of pictures, e.g. zooming
in/out and rotation of images.
[0044] In addition, the movement track and the coordinate of the
touch point detected by the sensing electrodes could be used to
input instructions to the graphical user interface to control, for
example, a cursor, page-switching or movement in z-axis. In other
words, the touch-sensing operation can be conducted not only by the
horizontal touching action or gesture on or over the touch-sensing
surface but also by the gesture with a vertical shift along z-axis
over the touch-sensing surface. Accordingly, the function like a
virtual key can be performed. Furthermore, the overall capacitance
variation sensed by the plurality of sensing electrodes allows a
relatively long sensible distance of the touch-sensing device
relative to the user's finger or palm or the conductive object so
as to facilitate non-contact touch sensing. The effective sensible
distance varies with the amount of the sensing electrodes. For
example, a sensing unit with seven sensing electrodes would have
more significant capacitance variation and longer sensible distance
above the touch-sensing surface than a sensing unit with only three
sensing electrodes. The details of other grouping effects may refer
to a co-pending US Patent Application Publication Nos. 2014/0035865
A1 and 2014/0097885 A1. Contents of the applications are
incorporated herein for reference.
[0045] On the other hand, the sensible distance over the
touch-sensing surface would be affected by the area of the sensing
electrodes on the touch-sensing surface, and vice versa, affect the
optimal area of the touch-sensing surface. Furthermore, by sensing
the vertical movement of the finger, palm or conductive object over
the touch-sensing surface at different time points, a scanning
effect similar to the scanning effect horizontally performed on the
touch-sensing surface can be obtained. If the vertical movement of
the finger, palm or conductive object toward the touch-sensing
surface is to simulate the operation of clicking on an icon, the
image of the icon starts to visibly change, e.g. bend or distort,
once the distance between the finger, palm or conductive object and
the icon is decreased to a threshold value. If the distance is
further decreased to a preset ratio to the threshold value, e.g.
50%, the image of the icon may be subjected to an animation effect,
e.g. explosion, to represent the successful actuation.
[0046] In an extensive embodiment, the touch-sensing result on or
over the touch-sensing surfaces can be used to determine how the
electronic device is used. For example, when simultaneous
touch-sensing actions on or over two or more touch-sensing surfaces
are detected, a gripping gesture can be determined. That is, a user
is gripping the electronic device. Meanwhile, a gripping pattern
can also be detected to determine what the user is using the
electronic device for. For example, when the electronic device is a
smart phone, a gripping pattern showing that the smart phone is
gripped by the user with a palm could mean that the user is
watching or listening to the smart phone. On the other hand, a
gripping pattern showing that the smart phone is gripped by the
user with fingers could mean that the user is conducting payment
with the smart phone.
[0047] Since the touch-sensing unit 100 is capable of performing
non-contact touch-sensing in addition to conventional contact
touch-sensing, the touch-sensing operations may be performed with
or without an air gap from touch-sensing surface, e.g. the first
touch-sensing surface 101, the second touch-sensing surface 102 or
the third touch-sensing surface 103. Moreover, since an additional
parameter such as gripping gesture and/or gripping pattern can be
used to realize the operational condition of the electronic device,
respective functions can be executed with similar touch-sensing
operations under different operational conditions so as to be
advantageous in design flexibility.
[0048] In another extensive embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, an
attitude sensor 71, e.g. a G-sensor or a gyroscope, a thermo-sensor
72, e.g. a thermistor, and/or any other suitable sensing element
can be used with the touch-sensing unit of the present invention.
The attitude sensor 71 and the thermo-sensor 72 are electrically
coupled to the controller 44. The controller 44 combines the
resistance or capacitance change of the attitude sensor 71
resulting from the attitude change of the electronic device and/or
the resistance or capacitance change of the thermo-sensor 72
resulting from the environmental temperature change with the
touch-sensing result on or over the first, second and third
touch-sensing surfaces into a set of control instructions, which
can be used to provide diversified interfaces and functions. For
example, assume the electronic device includes a headphone/speaker
dual-functional element. If the attitude sensor 71 included in the
electronic device detects that the electronic device is placed on a
supporting plane, the controller 44 controls the headphone/speaker
dual-functional element to function as a speaker. Accordingly, the
speaker in the functional circuit 109 is controlled within a first
volume range. On the other hand, if the attitude sensor 71 detects
an attitude change and determines it is the headphone working, it
is changed to a second volume range. The second volume range
overlaps with the lower part of the first volume range. The volume
can be tuned by a touch-sensing operation corresponding to volume
adjustment on or over the touch-sensing surface. In addition to
controlling volume, the sensing result of the attitude sensor 71
may also be used to control sound features like direction, field,
quality or pitch. In another example, the electronic device is a
musical instrument or a toy. The attitude sensing result shows the
operational condition of the electronic device, and touch-sensing
operations corresponding to the operational condition are performed
to control functions of the electronic device, e.g. quality, volume
or pitch of sound.
[0049] In a further extensive embodiment, the electronic device is
a sports ring integrated therewith the attitude sensor 71 and the
thermo-sensor 72. In response to the sports conditions, the
controller 44 combines the resistance or capacitance change of the
attitude sensor 71 resulting from the attitude change of the
electronic device and/or the resistance or capacitance change of
the thermo-sensor 72 resulting from the environmental temperature
change with the touch-sensing result on or over the first, second
and third touch-sensing surfaces into a set of control
instructions, which can be used to provide diversified interfaces
and functions for the sports ring. For example, the sports ring may
exhibit functions of monitoring body-temperature or calculating
consumed calories, and a touch-sensing input interface may be
provided for the sports ring.
[0050] By way of the present invention, touch-sensing operations
can be done through three surfaces of the electronic device, so
more and more touch-sensing functions can be conducted. The
touch-sensing functions can be further improved and diversified by
detecting the operational state of the electronic device and adding
a parameter indicative of the operational state into the control
signals. Accordingly, the control signals could be defined in more
ways.
[0051] Furthermore, if the three touch-sensing surfaces are
reachable by three fingers of one hand, a single hand can control
multiple touch-sensing phases conventionally achieved by both
hands. In addition, the conventional physical side keys or buttons
can be omitted to reduce cost and laboring.
[0052] While the invention has been described in terms of what is
presently considered to be the most practical and preferred
embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be
limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is
intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements
included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which
are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to
encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
* * * * *