Floating touch method and touch device

{
  "publication_number": "US10528185B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Floating touch method and touch device",
  "abstract": "A floating touch method and a touch device are provided. The touch device includes a capacitive touch panel and a sensor circuit. The capacitive touch panel includes separate electrode units and connecting traces corresponding to the separate electrode units one-on-one. At first, the sensor circuit controls the capacitive touch panel to sense a control object within different sensing ranges at different time points to determine a distance-related value between the control object and the capacitive touch panel. Then, the sensor circuit controls the capacitive touch panel to detect a floating touch action of the control object based on the distance-related value. Subsequently, the sensor circuit issues a control signal corresponding to the floating touch action to enable the touch device or the capacitive touch panel to perform a specific function.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A floating touch method used with a capacitive touch panel comprising a plurality of separate electrode units and a plurality of connecting traces corresponding to the separate electrode units one-on-one, wherein each of the separate electrode unit is electrically connected to one and only one of the connecting traces corresponding thereto, the floating touch method comprising steps of: controlling the capacitive touch panel to sense a control object within different sensing ranges at different time points to determine a distance-related value between the control object and the capacitive touch panel, the controlling step comprising: dividing the electrode units into a plurality of first electrode unit groups wherein each of the first electrode unit groups has a first number of the electrode units, detecting the first electrode unit groups individually, and determining whether the control object is located within a first sensing range corresponding to the first electrode unit groups; dividing the electrode units into a plurality of second electrode unit groups wherein each of the second electrode unit groups has a second number of the electrode units, detecting the second electrode unit groups individually, and determining whether the control object is located within a second sensing range corresponding to the second electrode unit groups, the second sensing range being greater than the first sensing range when the second number is greater than the first number; and determining the distance-related value using the first sensing range and the second sensing range, wherein the distance-related value corresponds to the first sensing range when the control object is determined to be located within both the first sensing range and the second sensing range and the distance-related value corresponds to the second sensing range when the control object is determined to be solely in the second sensing range; controlling the capacitive touch panel to detect a floating touch action of the control object based on the distance-related value; and issuing a control signal corresponding to the floating touch action, the floating touch method further comprising steps of: deducing, on the capacitive touch panel, a first virtual projected region of the control object at a first position according to a strength distribution of a sensing signal on the electrode units, the first virtual projected region having a specific shape substantially conformal to a projected shape of the control object; scaling-up the first virtual projected region to obtain a second virtual projected region when the control object is located at a second position wherein the first position is closer to the capacitive touch panel than the second position; and providing a plurality of third electrode unit groups, each of which has the specific shape and has a size corresponding to the second virtual projected region for detecting the floating touch action of the control object at the second position.",
    "2. The floating touch method according to claim 1, wherein when the control object is determined to be located within the first sensing range, the distance-related value corresponds to a boundary of the first sensing range.",
    "3. The floating touch method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of showing an operation menu and a cursor in response to the floating touch action of the control object.",
    "4. The floating touch method according to claim 3, wherein the floating touch action of the control object is a hover action and the distance-related value determined during the hover action is recorded as a distance reference.",
    "5. The floating touch method according to claim 4, further comprising a step of issuing the control signal to make an icon of the operation menu deform when the cursor is controlled to stay on the icon and the control object moves toward the capacitive touch panel.",
    "6. The floating touch method according to claim 5, further comprising a step of performing a function corresponding to the icon when the determined distance-related value of the control object is smaller than a specific value or a specific proportion of the distance reference.",
    "7. The floating touch method according to claim 1, wherein each of the third electrode unit groups further comprises at least one partial electrode unit arranged at an edge of the capacitive touch panel, between two separate electrode units or between two other partial electrode units.",
    "8. A touch device comprising: a capacitive touch panel comprising a plurality of separate electrode units and a plurality of connecting traces corresponding to the separate electrode units one-on-one, wherein each of the separate electrode units is electrically connected to one and only one of the connecting traces corresponding thereto; and a sensor circuit electrically connected to the connecting traces, configured to control the capacitive touch panel to sense a control object within different sensing ranges at different time points to determine a distance-related value between the control object and the capacitive touch panel, configured to control the capacitive touch panel to detect a floating touch action of the control object based on the distance-related value, and configured to issue a control signal corresponding to the floating touch action, wherein the sensor circuit: divides the electrode units into a plurality of first electrode unit groups which are detected individually to determine whether the control object is located within a first sensing range corresponding to the first electrode unit groups; divides the electrode units into a plurality of second electrode unit groups which are detected individually to determine whether the control object is located within a second sensing range corresponding to the second electrode unit groups, wherein each of the first electrode unit groups has a first number of the electrode units while each of the second electrode unit groups has a second number of the electrode units, the second sensing range being greater than the first sensing range when the second number is greater than the first number; and determines the distance-related value using the first sensing range and the second sensing range, wherein the distance-related value corresponds to the first sensing range when the control object is determined to be located within both the first sensing range and the second sensing range, and the distance-related value corresponds to the second sensing range when the control object is determined to be solely in the second sensing range, wherein the sensor circuit repetitively divides the electrode units into electrode unit groups with different sizes to perform an outward scanning or an inward scanning to determine the distance-related value by gradually increasing the sensing ranges or gradually decreasing the sensing ranges.",
    "9. The touch device according to claim 8, wherein the capacitive touch panel comprises a plurality of partial electrode units smaller than the separate electrode units and disposed around edges of at least one of the separate electrode units.",
    "10. The touch device according to claim 9, wherein the partial electrode units are arranged at edges of the capacitive touch panel, between the separate electrode units or between other partial electrode units.",
    "11. The touch device according to claim 8, wherein the sensor circuit shows an operation menu and a cursor on a display device.",
    "12. The touch device according to claim 11, wherein the floating touch action of the control object is a hover action and the distance-related value determined during the hover action is recorded as a distance reference.",
    "13. The touch device according to claim 12, wherein the sensor circuit issues the control signal to make an icon of the operation menu deform when the cursor is controlled to stay on the icon and the control object moves toward the capacitive touch panel, and the sensor circuit enables the touch device to perform a function corresponding to the icon when the determined distance-related value of the control object is smaller than a specific value or a specific proportion of the distance reference."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present disclosure relates to a touch sensing method for a touch device, and particularly to a floating touch method and a touch device operated with the floating touch method.\n\nWith rapid development of touch sensing technology, many electronic apparatuses such as mobile phones, notebook computers or tablet computers take advantage of touch devices to provide intuitive operation and easy human-machine interface. These electronic apparatuses hugely enter modern lives and great business opportunities are created. There are two known touch sensing technologies, i.e. capacitive sensing and resistive sensing.\n\nFor capacitive sensing, when the touch device is touched with a human finger or a conductive object, a capacitor is temporarily formed on the electrode corresponding to the touched position. Therefore, equivalent capacitance of the corresponding electrode changes. A sensor circuit can determine the touched position on the touch device according to the equivalent capacitance change of the corresponding electrode.\n\nFor resistive sensing, when an object such a human finger or a stylus presses down onto a surface of the touch device, the upper electrode and the lower electrode are electrically connected at the pressed position so that the electrodes behave as a voltage divider circuit. Therefore, the sensor circuit can determine the pressed position on the touch device according to the voltage change of the upper electrode and the lower electrode.",
  "cpc": [
    "G06F 3/04886",
    "G06F 2203/04101",
    "G06F 2203/04809",
    "G06F 3/0416",
    "G06F 3/041661",
    "G06F 3/044",
    "G06F 3/0443",
    "G06F 3/0446",
    "G06F 3/0448"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "G06F 3/041",
    "G06F 3/044",
    "G06F 3/0488"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Touchplus Information Corp"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Shih-Hsien Hu",
    "Yaosheng Chou"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2016-08-22",
  "publication_date": "2020-01-07",
  "grant_date": "2020-01-07",
  "priority_date": "2013-09-23",
  "application_number": "US-201615243004-A",
  "family_id": "57451087",
  "cited_by_count": 3,
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}