U.S. patent application number 16/924231 was filed with the patent office on 2021-10-21 for stylus, touch electronic device, and touch system.
This patent application is currently assigned to Acer Incorporated. The applicant listed for this patent is Acer Incorporated. Invention is credited to Chih-Chiang Chen, Jia-Yu Lin.
Application Number | 20210325980 16/924231 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005880502 |
Filed Date | 2021-10-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210325980 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lin; Jia-Yu ; et
al. |
October 21, 2021 |
STYLUS, TOUCH ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND TOUCH SYSTEM
Abstract
A stylus, a touch electronic device, and a touch system are
provided. The touch electronic device includes a touch panel and a
haptic actuation device, and the haptic actuation device is
connected to the touch panel. The stylus includes a pressure sensor
and a pen tip. The touch electronic device encodes transmission
information into a vibration signal, determines a vibration force
of the vibration signal with respect to at least one
synchronization time point, and controls the haptic actuation
device to drive the touch panel to output the vibration signal. The
pen tip of the stylus receives the vibration signal, and the
pressure sensor senses the vibration force of the vibration signal.
The stylus decodes the vibration signal according to the vibration
force with respect to the synchronization time point to obtain the
transmission information, and the stylus performs a function
according to the transmission information.
Inventors: |
Lin; Jia-Yu; (New Taipei
City, TW) ; Chen; Chih-Chiang; (New Taipei City,
TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Acer Incorporated |
New Taipei City |
|
TW |
|
|
Assignee: |
Acer Incorporated
New Taipei City
TW
|
Family ID: |
1000005880502 |
Appl. No.: |
16/924231 |
Filed: |
July 9, 2020 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/03545 20130101;
G06F 3/0414 20130101; G06F 3/0416 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/0354 20060101
G06F003/0354; G06F 3/041 20060101 G06F003/041 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 15, 2020 |
TW |
109112707 |
Claims
1. A stylus, comprising: a pen tip, receiving a vibration signal; a
pressure sensor, connected to the pen tip and sensing a vibration
force of the vibration signal; a controller, coupled to the
pressure sensor, the controller decoding the vibration signal
according to the vibration force with respect to a synchronization
time point to obtain transmission information and performing a
function according to the transmission information, wherein a
pressure value sensed by the pressure sensor is positively
correlated to the vibration force of the vibration signal; and a
signal transmitter coupled to the controller, wherein the
controller, in response to receiving a beacon signal, sends a
synchronization confirmation signal through the signal transmitter,
and decodes the vibration signal according to the vibration force
after sending the synchronization confirmation signal, wherein the
beacon signal comprises another vibration signal which corresponds
to a preset vibration force and is maintained for a preset
duration.
2. (canceled)
3. (canceled)
4. The stylus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission
information comprises at least one of a protocol setting command
and a frequency setting command, and the function comprises a
function of switching at least one of a communication protocol and
an operating frequency of the stylus.
5. The stylus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage
device, wherein the transmission information comprises stroke
setting data, and the function comprises a function of recording
the stroke setting data into the storage device.
6. A touch electronic device, comprising: a touch panel; a haptic
actuation device, connected to the touch panel; a storage device;
and a processor, coupled to the touch panel, the haptic actuation
device, and the storage device, wherein the processor encodes
transmission information into a vibration signal, determines a
vibration force of the vibration signal with respect to at least
one synchronization time point according to the transmission
information, and controls the haptic actuation device to drive the
touch panel to output the vibration signal, so that a stylus
obtains the transmission information through receiving the
vibration signal, wherein the processor controls the touch panel to
output a beacon signal to receive a synchronization confirmation
signal from the stylus through the touch panel, wherein the beacon
signal comprises another vibration signal which corresponds to a
preset vibration force and is maintained for a preset duration.
7. (canceled)
8. (canceled)
9. The touch electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the
transmission information comprises at least one of a protocol
setting command and a frequency setting command, and the processor
generates the protocol setting command according to a communication
protocol of the touch panel and generates the frequency setting
command according to a driving frequency of the touch panel.
10. The touch electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the
transmission information comprises stroke setting data, and the
processor, in response to an operation of a user, generates the
stroke setting data according to a current setting state of the
stylus.
11. A touch system, comprising: a touch electronic device,
comprising a touch panel and a haptic actuation device, the haptic
actuation device being connected to the touch panel; and a stylus,
comprising a pressure sensor and a pen tip, the pressure sensor
being connected to the pen tip, wherein the touch electronic device
encodes transmission information into a vibration signal and
controls the haptic actuation device to drive the touch panel to
output the vibration signal, the pen tip of the stylus receives the
vibration signal, the pressure sensor senses a vibration force of
the vibration signal, the stylus decodes the vibration signal
according to the vibration force to obtain the transmission
information, and the stylus performs a function according to the
transmission information, wherein the transmission information
comprises at least one hexadecimal value, and the stylus performs a
command search based on the hexadecimal value to decide to perform
the function.
12. The touch system according to claim 11, wherein the stylus
decodes the vibration signal according to the vibration force with
respect to a synchronization time point to obtain the transmission
information, and a pressure value sensed by the pressure sensor is
positively correlated to the vibration force of the vibration
signal.
13. The touch system according to claim 11, wherein the stylus
further comprises a signal transmitter, the stylus, in response to
receiving a beacon signal, sends a synchronization confirmation
signal through the signal transmitter, and the stylus decodes the
vibration signal according to the vibration force after sending the
synchronization confirmation signal.
14. The touch system according to claim 13, wherein the beacon
signal comprises another vibration signal which corresponds to a
preset vibration force and is maintained for a preset duration.
15. The touch system according to claim 13, wherein the touch panel
output the beacon signal and then the touch electronic device
receives the synchronization confirmation signal from the stylus
through the touch panel.
16. The touch system according to claim 11, wherein the
transmission information comprises a frequency setting command, and
the function comprises a function of switching an operating
frequency of the stylus.
17. The touch system according to claim 11, wherein the
transmission information comprises a protocol setting command, and
the function comprises a function of switching a communication
protocol of the stylus.
18. The touch system according to claim 11, wherein the stylus
further comprises a storage device, the transmission information
comprises stroke setting data, and the function comprises a
function of recording the stroke setting data into the storage
device.
19. The touch system according to claim 11, wherein the touch
electronic device determines the vibration force of the vibration
signal with respect to at least one synchronization time point
according to the transmission information.
20. (canceled)
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan
patent application serial no. 109112707, filed on Apr. 15, 2020.
The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is
hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of this
specification.
BACKGROUND
Technical Field
[0002] The disclosure relates to an electronic device, and in
particular to a stylus, a touch electronic device, and a touch
system.
Description of Related Art
[0003] With the development of the industry of mobile electronic
devices, in order to ensure device operation to be more convenient
and intuitive and make light and compact devices, touch devices
acting as input and output interfaces have become the mainstream of
the electronic devices. Such electronic devices equipped with the
touch devices include, for instance, mobile phones, tablet
computers, electronic drawing boards, notebook computers, and so
on. In general, fingers and styluses are the most commonly used
input tools for users to perform touch operations. Since the
styluses may create fine and accurate strokes, in recent years,
more and more users have been using the styluses to replace the
function of handwriting input.
[0004] Recently, with the advancement of technologies and increase
in market demands, the application of an active stylus has become
more and more common. A tip of the active stylus emits an electric
signal, and touch sensing electrodes of a touch panel receive the
electric signal to detect touch positions and achieve communication
transmission, which implies that the active stylus and the touch
panel require a specific communication protocol for receiving and
recognizing the electric signal sent by the active stylus, whereby
the communication and touch input functions may be accomplished.
However, the commercially available electronic devices may support
different stylus communication protocols. If the communication
protocol supported by the active stylus and the communication
protocol supported by the electronic device are inconsistent, a
user is unable to perform input operations with use of the stylus.
At present, although some active styluses on the market support
multiple communication protocols, the user in an attempt to switch
between the communication protocols needs to manually press certain
buttons, which brings inconvenience to the user.
SUMMARY
[0005] The disclosure provides a stylus, a touch electronic device,
and a touch system to provide a vibration signal with transmission
information through driving a touch panel by a haptic actuator, so
that a stylus may obtain the transmission information from the
touch electronic device according to a decoding result of the
vibration signal.
[0006] An embodiment of the disclosure provides a stylus which
includes a pen tip, a pressure sensor, and a controller. The pen
tip is configured to receive a vibration signal, and the pressure
sensor is connected to the pen tip. The pressure sensor senses a
vibration force of the vibration signal. The controller is coupled
to the pressure sensor. The controller decodes the vibration signal
according to the vibration force with respect to the
synchronization time point to obtain the transmission information
and performs a function according to the transmission information.
A pressure value sensed by the pressure sensor is positively
correlated to the vibration force of the vibration signal.
[0007] An embodiment of the disclosure provides a touch electronic
device which includes a touch panel, a haptic actuation device, a
storage device, and a processor. The haptic actuation device is
connected to the touch panel. The processor is coupled to the touch
panel, the haptic actuation device, and the storage device. The
processor encodes transmission information into a vibration signal,
determines a vibration force of the vibration signal with respect
to at least one synchronization time point according to the
transmission information, and controls the haptic actuation device
to drive the touch panel to output the vibration signal, so that a
stylus obtains the transmission information through receiving the
vibration signal.
[0008] An embodiment of the disclosure provides a touch system
which includes a touch electronic device and a stylus. The touch
electronic device includes a touch panel and a haptic actuation
device, and the haptic actuation device is connected to the touch
panel. The stylus includes a pressure sensor and a pen tip, and the
pressure sensor is connected to the pen tip. The touch electronic
device encodes transmission information into a vibration signal and
controls the haptic actuation device to drive the touch panel to
output the vibration signal. The pen tip of the stylus receives the
vibration signal, and the pressure sensor senses a vibration force
of the vibration signal. The stylus decodes the vibration signal
according to the vibration force to obtain the transmission
information, and the stylus performs a function according to the
transmission information.
[0009] Based on the above, in one or more embodiments of the
disclosure, the haptic actuation device drives the touch panel to
provide the vibration signal with the transmission information, and
the stylus may sense the vibration force by sensing the pressure
applied to the pen tip by the vibration signal. The stylus may
obtain the transmission information from the touch electronic
device according to the sensed pressure corresponding to vibration
force, so as to perform subsequent functions according to the
transmission information. Thereby, the active stylus and the touch
electronic device may perform a function of two-way
communication.
[0010] Several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are
described in detail below to further describe the disclosure in
details.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further
understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate
embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description,
serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
[0012] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a touch system according to
an embodiment of the disclosure.
[0013] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of sensing a vibration signal
by a stylus according to an embodiment of the disclosure.
[0014] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an operation of a touch
system according to an embodiment of the disclosure.
[0015] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of decoding a vibration signal
according to an embodiment of the disclosure.
[0016] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of pairing a communication signal to a
communication protocol according to an embodiment of the
disclosure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0017] Some embodiments provided in the disclosure will be
described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Reference numbers or symbols are used to represent elements in the
following description, and the same reference numbers or symbols in
different drawings represent the same or similar elements. These
embodiments are only a part of the disclosure and are not all the
embodiments of the disclosure. Rather, these embodiments are only
examples of devices and systems within the scope of projection
provided in the claims.
[0018] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a touch system according to
an embodiment of the disclosure. With reference to FIG. 1, a touch
system 10 includes a stylus 120 and a touch electronic device 110.
The touch electronic device 110 is, for instance, an electronic
device capable of performing a touch input function, such as a
mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, an electronic
drawing board, an e-book, a game console, and so forth, which
should not be construed as a limitation in the disclosure. A user
may use the stylus 120 to perform a touch input operation on the
touch electronic device 110.
[0019] In an embodiment, the touch electronic device 110 includes a
touch panel 111, a haptic actuation device 112, a storage device
113, and a processor 114.
[0020] The touch panel 111 has a plurality of touch sensing
electrodes arranged in an array and may be a capacitive touch
panel. The touch panel 111 may detect touch events applied on the
touch panel 111 through the touch sensing electrodes. In addition,
the touch sensing electrodes of the touch panel 111 may receive an
electric signal .mu.l coming from the stylus 120 through
electrostatic induction or electromagnetic induction. In an
embodiment, the touch panel 111 and a display may be integrated to
form a touch screen. In an alternative embodiment, the touch panel
111 may be a touch handwriting tablet. For instance, the user may
touch the touch panel 111 of the touch electronic device 110
through the stylus 120 and slide the stylus 120 on the touch panel
111 to cooperate with application software for writing or
drawing.
[0021] The haptic actuation device 112 is connected to the touch
panel 111. The haptic actuation device 112 is equipped with one or
more haptic actuators. In an embodiment, vibration characteristics
generated by the haptic actuator are editable. The haptic actuator
is, for instance, a PowerHap piezoelectric actuator, an
electroactive polymer (EAP) actuator, a magnetostrictive actuator,
a voice coil motor actuator, a linear-resonance actuator (LRA), an
electromagnetic actuator, or any other haptic actuator, which
should however not be construed as a limitation in the disclosure.
In an embodiment, the haptic actuation device 112 is configured to
generate a vibration and drive the touch panel 111 to output a
vibration signal V1 by directly or indirectly touching the touch
panel 111.
[0022] The storage device 113 is configured to store data and
program codes for the processor 114 to access, such as an operating
system, an application, a driver, etc., and the storage device 113
may be, for instance, any type of fixed or movable random access
memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, or a
combination thereof.
[0023] The processor 114 is coupled to the touch panel 111, the
haptic actuation device 112, and the storage device 113, and the
processor 114 is, for instance, a central processing unit (CPU) or
any other programmable general-purpose or special-purpose
microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP), programmable
controller, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC),
programmable logic device (PLD), any other similar device, or a
combination thereof. The processor 114 may access and execute the
program codes and software recorded in the storage device 113, so
as to carry out a method of communicating with the stylus 120
through the vibration signal as provided in an embodiment of the
disclosure.
[0024] On the other hand, in an embodiment, the stylus 120 is an
active stylus and includes a pen tip 121, a pressure sensor 122, a
controller 123, a signal transmitter 124, and a storage device
125.
[0025] The pen tip 121 is made of a conductive material, and the
pen tip 121 is configured to input touch events to the touch panel
111. In an embodiment, the pen tip 121 is configured to emit the
electric signal .mu.l to the touch panel 111, so that touch sensing
electrodes of the touch panel 111 may receive the electric signal
.mu.l and detect the touch position. The pen tip 121 is configured
to communicate with the touch sensing electrodes of the touch panel
111 electromagnetically or electrostatically.
[0026] The pressure sensor 122 is connected to the pen tip 121. The
pressure sensor 122 is usually made of a piezoelectric material.
When the pen tip 121 of the stylus 120 is in contact with the touch
panel 111, the pressure sensor 122 may sense the pressure of
pushing the pen tip 121 toward the inside of the pen tube. In an
embodiment, when the user holds the stylus 120 and places the pen
tip 121 on the touch panel 111, the pressure sensor 122 may output
a corresponding voltage signal to the controller 123 in response to
the pressure sensed by the pen tip 121.
[0027] The signal transmitter 124 is connected to the pen tip 121
and configured to generate the electric signal .mu.l transmitted to
the touch electronic device 110. In an embodiment, the touch panel
111 may detect the touch position of the stylus 120 in response to
the electric signal .mu.l generated by the signal transmitter 124.
For instance, according to a capacitance sensing result of the
touch sensing electrodes arranged in an array, the touch panel 111
may detect the touch position of the stylus 120 in response to the
electric signal emitted by the pen tip 121. In addition, in an
embodiment, the signal transmitter 124 may also transmit the
electric signal .mu.l carrying specific data or commands to the
touch electronic device 110. It should be mentioned that the stylus
120 and the touch electronic device 110 need to use the same active
pen communication protocol for communication. The foregoing active
pen communication protocol is, for instance, the Microsoft Pen
Protocol (MPP), the Wacom AES protocol, or any other active pen
communication protocol on the market, which should however not be
construed as a limitation in the disclosure.
[0028] The storage device 125 is configured to store data and may
be, for instance, any type of fixed or movable RAM, ROM, flash
memory, or a combination thereof.
[0029] The controller 123 is coupled to the pressure sensor 122,
the signal transmitter 124, and the storage device 125 to control
the overall operation of the stylus 120. The related functions of
the controller 123 may be implemented in various logic blocks,
modules, and circuits in one or more controllers, microcontrollers,
microprocessors, ASICs, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays
(FPGA), and/or any other processing unit.
[0030] However, in addition to the pen tip 121, the pressure sensor
122, the controller 123, the signal transmitter 124, and the
controller 123, the stylus 120 may also include elements not shown
in FIG. 1, such as signal receivers, power circuits, tilt angle
sensors, other communication elements, and so forth, which should
however not be construed as a limitation in the disclosure.
[0031] In an embodiment, the stylus 120 may perform a two-way
communication function with the touch electronic device 110 by
transmitting the electric signal .mu.l and receiving the vibration
signal V1. As described above, the stylus 120 may send the electric
signal .mu.l through the pen tip 121, so that the touch sensing
electrodes of the touch panel 111 may receive the electric signal
.mu.l. It is worth mentioning that the touch electronic device 110
may encode transmission information into the vibration signal V1,
determine a vibration force of vibration signal V1 with respect to
at least one synchronization time point according to the
transmission information, and control the haptic actuation device
112 to drive the touch panel 111 to output the vibration signal V1.
The pen tip 121 of the stylus 120 receives the vibration signal V1,
and the pressure sensor 122 senses the vibration force of the
vibration signal V1. The stylus 120 decodes the vibration signal V1
according to the vibration force to obtain the transmission
information, and the stylus 120 may perform a function according to
the transmission information.
[0032] For instance, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of sensing a
vibration signal by a stylus according to an embodiment of the
disclosure. With reference to FIG. 2, in an embodiment, a touch
controller C1 is coupled between the processor 114 and the touch
panel 111. In an embodiment, the touch controller C1 may be a touch
integrated circuit (IC) packaged into a chip. The touch controller
C1 is configured to control the overall operation of the touch
panel 111. In an embodiment, the touch controller C1 may report the
touch information sensed by the touch panel 111 to the operating
system or application software executed by the processor 114. In an
embodiment, a memory circuit in the touch controller C1 may record
panel information of the touch panel 111.
[0033] In addition, the haptic actuation device 112 may include a
haptic actuator 112_1 and an actuation controller C2. The haptic
actuator 112_1 connected to the touch panel 111 is controlled by a
driving signal sent by the actuation controller C2, and the
actuation controller C2 may output the driving signal in form of a
pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. The haptic actuator 112_1 may
provide a vibration according to oscillation conditions required by
the PWM signal. In other words, by controlling a voltage amplitude
and a pulse width of the PWM signal, the vibration characteristics
of the haptic actuator 112_1 may be controlled. The vibration
characteristics may include the vibration force (i.e., vibration
intensity) and a vibration frequency.
[0034] As shown in FIG. 2, when the processor 114 determines to
provide the transmission information to the stylus 120, the
processor 114 may determine the vibration force (i.e., the
vibration intensity) and the vibration frequency of the vibration
signal V1 according to the transmission information. The
transmission information may be any command or data, which should
however not be construed as a limitation in the disclosure. The
different vibration forces may correspond to different commands,
codes, data, or character symbols. In other words, the processor
114 may encode the transmission information according to a preset
encoding rule to determine the vibration force of the vibration
signal V1. Next, the processor 114 may control the haptic actuation
device 112 to vibrate according to a vibration encoding result to
drive the touch panel 111 to output the vibration signal V1.
[0035] Correspondingly, the pen tip 121 touching the touch panel
111 may receive the vibration signal V1 and transmit the vibration
signal V1 to the pressure sensor 122. The pressure sensor 122 may
sense the vibration force of the vibration signal V1. To be
specific, the pressure sensor 122 may sense a pressure value
applied to the pen tip 121 by the vibration signal V1, and the
pressure value sensed by the pressure sensor 122 is positively
correlated to the vibration force of the vibration signal V1. In
other words, the greater the vibration force of the vibration
signal V1, the greater the pressure value sensed by the pressure
sensor 122. The smaller the vibration force of the vibration signal
V1, the smaller the pressure value sensed by the pressure sensor
122. Accordingly, in response to the pressure value reported by the
pressure sensor 122, the controller 123 may learn the vibration
force of the vibration signal V1 and decode the vibration signal V1
according to the vibration force with respect to the
synchronization time point to obtain the transmission
information.
[0036] For instance, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an operation
of a touch system according to an embodiment of the disclosure.
With reference to FIG. 3, in light of the foregoing description,
the touch electronic device 110 may output a vibration signal 31
through the touch panel 111. A vibration force of the vibration
signal 31 may vary together with time. In response to the pressure
of pushing the pen tip 121 toward the inside of the stylus 120 by
the vibration signal 31, the pressure sensor 122 may output a
pressure sensing result 32 to the controller 123 according to a
specific sensing sampling frequency. The specific sensing sampling
frequency and the vibration frequency of the vibration signal 31
may be designed according to actual needs. It may be seen that the
pressure sensing result 32 reflects the vibration force of the
vibration signal 31. Therefore, the controller 123 may decode the
transmission information provided by the touch electronic device
110 according to the pressure sensing result 32.
[0037] According to an embodiment, note that the touch controller
C1 may provide the panel information of the touch panel 111 (such
as the communication protocol, specification data, or hardware
characteristics supported by the touch panel 111) to the processor
114, and the processor 114 may encode the panel information as the
transmission information into the vibration signal V1. In other
words, the transmission information may include the panel
information of the touch panel 111. Accordingly, the stylus 120 may
obtain the panel information of the touch panel 111 through the
vibration signal V1 to facilitate other subsequent
applications.
[0038] In an embodiment, the transmission information may include
at least one of a protocol setting command and a frequency setting
command. The processor 114 may generate at least one of the
protocol setting command and the frequency setting command
according to at least one of the driving frequency and the
communication protocol of the touch panel 111. Correspondingly, the
functions performed by the stylus 120 in response to the
transmission information include a function of switching at least
one of the communication protocol and the operating frequency of
the stylus.
[0039] In an embodiment, the transmission information may include
the protocol setting command, and functions performed by the stylus
120 according to the transmission information include a function of
switching the communication protocol of the stylus 120.
Correspondingly, the processor 114 generates the protocol setting
command according to the communication protocol supported by the
touch panel 111. In detail, the touch electronic device 110 may
notify the stylus 120 of the specific communication protocol
supported by the touch panel 111 through the vibration signal V1,
so that the stylus 120 may switch the communication protocol
according to the transmission information carried by the vibration
signal V1.
[0040] In an embodiment, the transmission information may include
the frequency setting command, and functions performed by the
stylus 120 according to the transmission information include a
function of adjusting the operating frequency of the stylus 120.
Correspondingly, the processor 114 generates the frequency setting
command according to the driving frequency of the touch panel 111.
In detail, the touch electronic device 110 may notify the stylus
120 of the current driving frequency (also known as a touch scan
frequency) of the touch panel 111 through the vibration signal V1,
so that the stylus 120 may adjust the operating frequency of the
stylus 120 according to the transmission information carried by the
vibration signal V1. When the driving frequency of the touch panel
111 matches the operating frequency (or referred to as a carrier
frequency or a transmission frequency) of the stylus 120, the touch
panel 111 may effectively receive the electric signal generated by
the signal transmitter 124. Therefore, when the touch panel 111
adjusts the driving frequency in response to noise measurement, the
stylus 120 may also be adjusted to be operated at an appropriate
operating frequency according to the transmission information.
[0041] However, the transmission information is not limited to the
panel information provided by the touch controller C1. For
instance, in an embodiment, the transmission information may
include stroke setting data, and functions performed according to
the transmission information include a function of recording the
stroke setting data into the storage device 125 of the stylus 120.
The stroke setting data may include color, stroke thickness, stroke
type, and so on. Specifically, the processor 114, in response to an
operation of the user (such as clicking a function key on a
software program interface, pressing a physical key on the stylus
120, or the like), generates the stroke setting data according to a
current setting state of the stylus 120. The processor 114 may
transmit the current stroke setting data to the stylus 120 through
the vibration signal V1 to store the preferred stroke settings of
the user in the storage device 125 of the stylus 120. As such, it
is no longer necessary for the user to perform the stroke setting
again whenever the stylus 120 is used, so the user may personalize
the settings of the stylus 120 and may also apply the same stroke
settings to another touch electronic device.
[0042] In an embodiment, the processor 114 may determine the
vibration force of the vibration signal V1 with respect to at least
one synchronization time point according to the transmission
information. Correspondingly, the controller 123 of the stylus 120
may decode the vibration signal V1 according to the vibration force
with respect to the synchronization time point to obtain the
transmission information. In detail, the touch electronic device
110 and the stylus 120 may perform encoding and decoding operations
according to the synchronization time information and the
corresponding vibration force after completing the time
synchronization procedure. The time synchronization procedure
described above may include steps of sending a beacon signal to the
stylus 120 by the touch electronic device 110, and feeding a
synchronization confirmation signal back to the touch electronic
device 110 by the stylus 120.
[0043] In the time synchronization procedure, in response to the
receipt of the beacon signal by the stylus 120 (the beacon signal
is sent by the touch electronic device 110), the controller 123 may
send the synchronization confirmation signal through the signal
transmitter 124. Correspondingly, the processor 114 of the touch
electronic device 110 controls the touch panel 111 to send the
beacon signal and receives the synchronization confirmation signal
from the stylus 120 through the touch panel 111. Next, the
processor 114 may control the touch panel 111 to output the
vibration signal V1 after receiving the synchronization
confirmation signal, and the controller 123 decodes the vibration
signal V1 according to the vibration force to obtain the
transmission information after sending the synchronization
confirmation signal. The beacon signal may be implemented in form
of a wireless radio frequency signal, an electric signal, or a
vibration signal. It should be mentioned that the beacon signal
provided in an embodiment of the disclosure includes another
vibration signal which corresponds to a preset vibration force and
is maintained for a preset duration.
[0044] For instance, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of decoding a
vibration signal according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Note
that the transmission information is in a hexadecimal ASCII format,
for instance, which should however not be construed as a limitation
in the disclosure. It should be mentioned that the vibration force
is divided into 16 force rankings, which should however not be
construed as a limitation in the disclosure. The controller 123 may
learn the force ranking of the vibration force according to the
pressure sensing value reported by the pressure sensor 122. With
reference to FIG. 4, when the touch electronic device 110 intends
to transmit the transmission information to the stylus 120 through
the vibration of the touch panel 111, the touch electronic device
110 and the stylus 120 may execute the time synchronization
procedure during a time synchronization period P1 and perform a
data transmission process during a data transmission period P2.
[0045] During the time synchronization period P1, the touch
electronic device 110 controls the haptic actuation device 112 to
drive the touch panel 111 to output a vibration signal V0 as a
beacon signal. A preset vibration force of the vibration signal V0
has "ranking 16" and is maintained for a preset duration T1
(approximately two synchronization time points). In response to the
pressure sensor 122 of the stylus 120 sensing the vibration signal
V0, the stylus 120 may determine that the beacon signal is
received. However, the preset vibration force and the preset
duration T1 of the vibration signal acting as the beacon signal may
be designed according to actual needs, which should not be
construed as a limitation in the disclosure. Next, the stylus 120
may send the synchronization confirmation signal to the touch
electronic device 110 through the signal transmitter 122 at a
synchronization time point 4.
[0046] After the time synchronization period P1 and during the data
transmission period P2, the touch electronic device 110 controls
the haptic actuation device 112 to drive the touch panel 111 to
output the vibration signal V1 to transmit the transmission
information. A first vibration force of the vibration signal V1 at
a first synchronization time point 5 is "ranking 2", and a second
vibration force at a second synchronization time point 9 is
"ranking 11". Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, it may be learned that
the stylus 120 may acquire the hexadecimal value "01" based on the
first vibration force of the vibration signal sensed at the first
synchronization time point 5 and acquire the hexadecimal value "4A"
based on the second vibration force of the vibration signal sensed
at the second synchronization time point 9. Thereby, the stylus 120
may perform a command search based on the hexadecimal values "01"
and "4A" and decide to execute a specific function. For instance,
the stylus 110 may switch to a specific communication protocol or
change the operating frequency of the stylus. Table 1 is an
exemplary command search table, which should however not be
construed as a limitation in the disclosure.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Command Operation 01 Switch to a first
protocol (e.g., MPP) 02 Switch to a second protocol (e.g., AES) 03
Switch to a third protocol (e.g., USI) 4A Frequency hopping to a
first operating frequency A 4B Frequency hopping to a second
operating frequency B 4C Frequency hopping to a third operating
frequency C
Based on the exemplary Table 1, when the stylus 120 decodes the
vibration signal V1 and obtains the hexadecimal values "01" and
"4A", the stylus 120 switches to the first communication protocol
(e.g., MPP) and hops to the first operating frequency A, so as to
perform an active pen touch detection together with the touch
electronic device 110 in accordance with the same communication
protocol, and since the operation is done at the first operating
frequency A, noise of the touch panel 111 may be avoided to ensure
good touch quality.
[0047] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of pairing a communication signal to a
communication protocol according to an embodiment of the
disclosure. With reference to FIG. 5, a method provided in the
embodiment is adapted to the touch system 10 depicted in FIG. 1,
and the detailed steps of the method of updating the settings of
the stylus are described below with reference to the elements of
the touch system 10.
[0048] With reference to FIG. 5, in step S501, the touch controller
of the touch electronic device 110 provides the panel information
to the processor 114 of the touch electronic device 110. The panel
information may include the communication protocol and the driving
frequency supported by the touch panel 111. In step S502, the
processor 114 of the touch electronic device 110 generates the
transmission information (i.e., the protocol setting command and
the frequency setting command) according to the panel information,
so as to determine the vibration characteristics of the vibration
signal according to the transmission information. In step S503, the
haptic actuation device 112 receives the vibration characteristics
of the vibration signal from the processor 114.
[0049] In step S504, the haptic actuation device 112 drives the
touch panel 111 to output the vibration signal as a beacon signal.
In step S505, in response to detection of the beacon signal by the
pressure sensor 122, the stylus 120 sends the synchronization
confirmation signal through the pen tip 121. In step S506, the
touch sensing electrodes of the touch panel 111 receive the
synchronization confirmation signal. In step S507, the haptic
actuation device 112 drives the touch panel 111 to output the
vibration signal including the transmission information (i.e., the
protocol setting command and the frequency setting command). In
step S508, the stylus 120 senses the vibration force of the
vibration signal through the pressure sensor 122. In step S509, the
stylus 120 decodes the vibration signal according to the vibration
force to obtain the transmission information (i.e., the protocol
setting command and the frequency setting command). In step S510,
the stylus 120 performs a command search according to the
transmission information to switch the communication protocol and
adjust the operating frequency.
[0050] To sum up, in one or more embodiments of the disclosure, the
haptic actuation device drives the touch panel to output the edited
vibration signal, and the pressure sensor of the stylus may sense
the vibration force by sensing the pressure applied to the pen tip
by the vibration signal. The stylus may obtain the transmission
information from the touch electronic device according to the
sensed pressure corresponding to vibration force. Thereby, the
active stylus may transmit information to the stylus through the
vibration of the touch panel. Besides, if the transmission
information carried by the vibration signal includes the panel
information, the stylus may, in response to the receipt of the
vibration signal, spontaneously complete the pairing of the
communication protocol and adjust the operating frequency of the
stylus, which significantly facilitates the use and improves the
touch quality.
[0051] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various
modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed
embodiment without departing from the scope or spirit of the
disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the
disclosure covers modifications and variations provided that they
fall within the scope of the following claims and their
equivalents.
* * * * *