With Alignment Or Calibration Capability (i.e., Parallax Problem) Patents (Class 345/178)
  • Patent number: 8373675
    Abstract: A display panel includes an array substrate and an opposite substrate. The array substrate includes a plurality of data lines, a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of first signal lines, a plurality of second signal lines and a plurality of pixels. Each of the pixels includes a pixel electrode and a common electrode insulated from the pixel electrode. The opposite substrate includes a plurality of connecting members. At least one of the connecting members is electrically connected to at least one of the first signal lines and the second signal lines by an externally provided pressure. Thus, when an externally provided pressure is applied to the display panel in order to perform a touch screen function, an alignment of the liquid crystal molecules disposed on the array substrate may not be substantially changed, and a display quality may be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jin Jeon, Hyung-Guel Kim
  • Publication number: 20130027360
    Abstract: A positioning and calibration method is applied in the positioning and calibration of a projection system with touch control function. The projection system includes a touch device and a projection device. The touch device has touch plates, which can be combined and formed into a plane. The projection device has projection units, which project images onto projection areas of the plane, respectively, so as to form a projection image on the plane. The positioning and calibration method includes the steps of projecting positioning markers onto the plane by the projection device; disposing a calibration element at or around each of the positioning markers; and locating and calibrating the corresponding projection unit according to a positioning signal of the calibration element delivered by the touch device. The invention makes the projection system, having touch plates, projection units and the touch control function, have the good location function.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2012
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Inventors: Jar-Ferr Yang, Chi-Kun Lin, Cheng-Mao Li
  • Publication number: 20130027361
    Abstract: A method for noise reduction in a digitizer includes determining a location of a stylus with a known frequency of emission over a first sampling period, sampling output from a plurality of detecting elements over a second sampling period, identifying detecting elements with sampled output in the second sampling period above a defined threshold in a selected frequency, the selected frequency being close to but different than the known frequency of the stylus, selecting as a candidate carrier of mere noise a detecting element from the detecting elements identified that is spaced away from the determined location of the stylus, and reducing values of output sampled over the second sampling period from at least one other detecting element, in accordance with the output sampled over the second sampling period from the detecting element selected as the candidate carrier of mere noise.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2012
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Applicant: N-trig Ltd.
    Inventors: Haim Perski, Ori Rimon
  • Patent number: 8363018
    Abstract: An integrated touch panel has a display pixels arranged in a two-dimensional array of rows and columns connected to a plurality of gate lines and data lines. Each gate line receives a gate line signal for controlling the pixels in a row, and each data lines provides display data to the pixels in a column. The touch panel is connected to a sensing module having a plurality of shift registers connected in series. The touch panel has a plurality of sensor units arranged in sensor rows and sensor columns. Each sensor row receives gate line signals from a gate line, and each sensor column is connected to a sensor signal line for providing a touch signal to a shift register in the sensing module such that the shift registers connected to two adjacent sensor signal lines are separated by a different shift register is the series.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
    Inventors: Chun-Jong Chang, Kuei-Sheng Tseng, Ming-Chang Shih
  • Publication number: 20130021303
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus relating to touch sensing display devices that include a sensing device and a display device. In one aspect, a touch sensing display device can include adaptive addressing architecture to adjust an addressing characteristic based at least in part in a sensing characteristic of a sensing device. In another aspect, a touch sensing display device can include adaptive sensing architecture to adjust a sensing characteristic of a sensing device based at least in part on an addressing characteristic of a display device and/or on an electrical interference characteristic altered by an addressing circuit of the display device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2011
    Publication date: January 24, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM MEMS Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Russel A. Martin, William J. Cummings
  • Publication number: 20130009915
    Abstract: A communications terminal comprises a and a touch-sensitive display for displaying content generated by a software application associated with the processor and for receiving touch-based interactions for use with said software application. A display controller is operable to selectively accept and reject touch-based interactions in one or more predetermined sub-region(s) of the touch-sensitive display. Interactions in said sub-region(s) are rejected in response to said software application being woken from an idle state by an event triggered independent of user interaction and subsequently accepted in response to a predetermined event, for example by user action in an active zone outside of the sub-region(s).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2011
    Publication date: January 10, 2013
    Applicant: NOKIA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Jean-Marc Hering
  • Patent number: 8350821
    Abstract: Pre-stored no-touch or no-hover (no-event) sensor output values can initially be used when a sensor panel subsystem is first booted up to establish an initial baseline of sensor output values unaffected by fingers or other objects touching or hovering over the sensor panel during boot-up. This initial baseline can then be normalized so that each sensor generates the same output value for a given amount of touch or hover, providing a uniform response across the sensor panel and enabling subsequent touch or hover events to be more easily detected. After the initial normalization process is complete, the pre-stored baseline can be discarded in favor of a newly captured no-event baseline that may be more accurate than the pre-stored baseline due to temperature or other variations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Brian Richards Land, Wayne Carl Westerman, Steve Porter Hotelling
  • Publication number: 20130002601
    Abstract: A method for recognizing a gesture made on a touch sensitive device is provided. The method includes obtaining a record of positions for a touch from a touch device using a pad and initializing a vote count to select each of a plurality of gestures; selecting a method from a plurality of gesture identification methods; for each of the selected methods obtaining a measure of the touch from the touch device using the record of positions; updating the vote count according to the obtained measure; determining the gesture from the touch when a plurality of votes is obtained for the vote count for one of the plurality of gestures; and determining the gesture from the touch according to the gesture having a maximum vote count. Touch sensitive devices for using the above method are provided. A method for ranking gesture identification methods in a device as above is also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2011
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Inventor: David Harold McCracken
  • Patent number: 8342696
    Abstract: A multi projector imaging system is provided. The system includes a plurality of projectors and a computing device in communication with the plurality of projectors. The computing device includes a projector platform module providing output to the plurality of projectors such that the plurality of projectors display partially overlapping output as a cohesive display. The projector platform module includes a projection player module having media drawers for preparing frames of data that are drawn into a frame buffer for eventual display through the plurality of projectors. The projection platform also includes a remote desktop controller. The remote desktop controller manages remote computing devices communicating with the projector platform, wherein the remote desktop controller specifies a resolution and aspect ratio for image data provided by the remote computing devices, and wherein the provided image data is stored in the frame buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Victor Ivashin, Steve Nelson, Sean Miceli
  • Patent number: 8345022
    Abstract: A linear compensation method of a touch panel is utilized to a touch control computer system. According to the method, a compensation reference table, including reference temperatures and reference surface resistances at pre-determined reference points having known coordinates at the reference temperatures, is obtained at first. Then, a set of user calibration resistance at the pre-determined reference points is obtained through a user calibration process, so as to obtain ratios of the user calibration resistances to interpolation surface resistances as correction weights. Under different temperature, interpolation surface resistances corrected by utilizing the correction weight to derive the current correction surface resistances that are corrected and nearly identical to actual surface resistances. Therefore, relatively precise coordinates are obtained through resistance-coordinate conversion process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Getac Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Chang-Han Shen
  • Publication number: 20120319987
    Abstract: The embodiments described herein provide devices, systems and methods that facilitate improved performance in an input device. The input device, for example, may include an input surface configured to be touched by input objects, a haptic mechanism configured to provide a haptic effect to the input surface, a force sensor configured to sense force applied to the input surface, and a processing system communicatively coupled to the haptic mechanism and the force sensor. The processing system may be configured to actuate the haptic mechanism to apply a first force to the input surface, determine a representation of the first force using the force sensor, and determine a calibration parameter for at least one of the haptic mechanism and force sensor based at least in part upon the representation of the first force.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2011
    Publication date: December 20, 2012
    Applicant: SYNAPTICS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Alfred WOO
  • Publication number: 20120313901
    Abstract: A touch sensor that can operate normally while located within a distance that would otherwise cause an antenna used for communication with a contact less smart card to interfere with operation of the touch sensor by providing a means for the touch sensor to compensate for the interference caused by the antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Publication date: December 13, 2012
    Applicant: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Brian Monson
  • Patent number: 8325143
    Abstract: A portable device is provided having a touch sensitive display (100) comprising an active matrix display element (101) and a touch sensitive element (103). The touch sensitive element (103) is disposed on the viewer distal side of the active matrix display element (101) thereby not affecting the display properties. The touch sensitive element (103) comprises a first and second conductive layer (113, 115) each having a plurality of conductors. The conductive layers (113, 115) sandwich a pressure sensitive layer (117) which modifies an electrical conductivity between two conductors of the two conductive layers (113, 115) in response to a pressure point resulting from an applied pressure. Thus, accurate position detection is achieved. The conductors may be aligned with the active matrix and the requirement for calibration may be obviated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Creator Technology B.V.
    Inventors: Galileo June Adeva Destura, Hjalmar Edzer Ayco Huitema, Martinus Hermanus Wilhelmus Maria Van Delden, Jozef Thomas Martinus Van Beek, Antonius Lucien Adrianus Maria Kemmeren
  • Publication number: 20120299880
    Abstract: Determining a compensated phase matrix for a multi-stimulus demodulation process is provided. A first drive line of a multi-stimulus sensing system is selected, and a stimulation signal is transmitted on the selected drive line. A channel gain resulting from the stimulation signal is measured from a received sense signal resulting from the stimulation signal. The measured channel gain is compared with a known channel gain to obtain an individual phase compensation for the selected drive line. A compensated phase matrix is formed of the individual phase compensation values for multiple drive lines.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2012
    Publication date: November 29, 2012
    Inventor: Christoph H. KRAH
  • Patent number: 8319745
    Abstract: A method of estimating a position of nib of a pen relative to an optical sensor mounted on the pen. The method comprises the steps of: (a) placing the nib in contact with a coded surface; (b) capturing, using the sensor, at least two images of the coded surface at different rotations of the pen relative to the surface; (c) determining, from a perspective distortion of the coded surface in each image, an estimated rotation and viewing distance for each image; and (d) estimating, from the estimated rotations and viewing distances, the position of the nib relative to the optical sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Paul Lapstun, Kia Silverbrook, Tobin Allen King
  • Publication number: 20120287087
    Abstract: The invention discloses a method for obtaining calibration parameters of a touch screen comprising displaying at least two preset calibration reference points on a LCD; obtaining physical coordinates of sampling points obtained by clicking on positions corresponding to the calibration reference points on the touch screen and displaying the sampling points according to the physical coordinates and the calibration parameters; and if it is determined that the displayed sampling points are not coincident with their corresponding calibration reference points, adjusting distances between the sampling points and their corresponding calibration reference points, determining a minimal deviation between the adjusted sampling points and their corresponding calibration reference points and applying the minimal deviation to update the calibration parameters. The invention also provides an apparatus for obtaining calibration parameters of a touch screen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 15, 2010
    Publication date: November 15, 2012
    Applicant: ZTE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kai Lu, Jun Xie
  • Patent number: 8310465
    Abstract: A resistive film type touch panel includes first and second resistive films respectively provided on the inner surfaces of a pair of substrates on the touch side and the opposite side, protruding contacts which are provided on the first resistive film so as to protrude to a predetermined height, and come into contact with the second resistive film upon bending/deformation of the touch-side substrate by a touch to electrically connect the touch-side substrate to the second resistive film, insulating spacers which are arranged between the substrates except the positions of the protruding contacts, and define the space between the substrates to a height higher than that of protruding contacts, and a liquid or liquid crystal sealed in the space between the substrates. This arrangement reduces the bending/deformation amount of the touch-side substrate and the refraction of transmitted light at a portion bent/deformed by a touch on the touch-side substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Iwasaki, Toshiharu Nishino, Kazuhiro Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20120280946
    Abstract: A touch input device includes a touch panel, a driving and sensing circuit, a data memory, and a processor. The touch panel is adapted to receive a touch trace including at least one touch point. The driving and sensing circuit is adapted to drive the touch panel and detect actual signal value Vi. The data memory is adapted to store a look up table including a plurality of position coordinates and a plurality of calibrating rules f each corresponding to each of the position coordinates. Each of the calibrating rules f can be used to convert actual signal value V0i of the touch point of a basic contact area A0 to a standard signal value Vs. The processor is adapted to calculate the position coordinate and calibrate the actual signal value Vi of the at least one touch point to a calibrated signal value V?i.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Publication date: November 8, 2012
    Applicant: SHIH HUA TECHNOLOGY LTD.
    Inventors: PO-SHENG SHIH, CHIEN-YUNG CHENG
  • Publication number: 20120280945
    Abstract: A touch display device includes a touch panel, a driving and sensing circuit, a data memory, a processor and a display apparatus. The touch panel is adapted to receive a touch trace including at least one touch point. The driving and sensing circuit is adapted to detect an actual signal value Vi of the at least one touch point. The data memory is adapted to store a look up table including a plurality of position coordinates and calibrating rules f each corresponding to each of the position coordinates and can be used to convert actual signal value V0i of a basic contact area A0 to a standard signal value Vs. The processor is adapted to calculate the position coordinate and calibrate the actual signal value Vi to a calibrated signal value V?i. The display apparatus is adapted to display the touch trace.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Publication date: November 8, 2012
    Applicant: SHIH HUA TECHNOLOGY LTD.
    Inventors: PO-SHENG SHIH, CHIEN-YUNG CHENG
  • Patent number: 8305355
    Abstract: A portable electronic device with a touch screen display for photo management is disclosed. One aspect of the invention involves a computer-implemented method in which the portable electronic device displays an array of thumbnail images corresponding to a set of photographic images. The device replaces the displayed array of thumbnail images with a user-selected photographic image upon detecting a user contact with a corresponding thumbnail image in the array. The user-selected photographic image is displayed at a larger scale than the corresponding thumbnail image. The portable device displays a different photographic image in replacement of the user-selected photographic image in accordance with a scrolling gesture. The scrolling gesture comprises a substantially horizontal movement of user contact with the touch screen display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Matas, Greg Christie, Paul D. Marcos, Scott Forstall, Marcel Van Os, Bas Ording, Imran Chaudhri
  • Patent number: 8300019
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for normalizing the effects of the changes to the parasitic capacitive coupling that can occur in touch sensor panels so as to reduce or eliminate the appearance of erroneous touch events. In some embodiments, at some time prior to regular device use (e.g. during factory calibration), a conductive sheet is initially positioned so as to entirely cover a touch surface of a touch sensor panel. A set of sensed signals may be determined upon driving the drive lines and sensing the sense lines of the panel. Correctional coefficients may then be calculated based in part upon the difference between a sensed signal and an expected signal. The correctional coefficients may then be stored in the device and used to determine signal corrections for a set of measured signals during normal operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: John G. Elias, Steve Porter Hotelling
  • Patent number: 8294557
    Abstract: A method, apparatus and system of synchronous haptic communications between an active user and a passive user through a network is provided. An image from an imaging device is captured of the passive user. Geometry or position data is determined from the captured image by utilizing a depth component of the capture image. Haptic feedback is generated to a haptic interface used by the active user based upon the determined geometry or position data. Haptic data is captured from the haptic interface used by the active user and tactile output is generated to a tactile display associated with the passive user wherein the tactile output is based upon the haptic data in correlation with the geometry or position data to determine collisions therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: University of Ottawa
    Inventors: Abdulmotaleb El Saddik, Jongeun Cha, Mohamad Ahmad Eid, Fawaz Abdulaziz A Alsulaiman, Atif Mohammad Alamri, Lara Rahal, Daniel J. Martin
  • Patent number: 8294675
    Abstract: A touchpad assembly for use in an electronic device is provided. The touchpad assembly may include a touchpad frame operative to be placed within an opening in an electronic device frame. The touchpad assembly may include a support plate for supporting a touchpad, and a bracket for receiving a pick button. The support plate and bracket may be manufactured into a same component to increase the rigidity of the touchpad assembly. The pick button may include a varying height to prevent the pick button from deflecting and to make the pick button travel for providing a selection instruction uniform. The pick button may be coupled to the frame using any suitable approach, including using springs connected the ends of the pick button to the frame. The frame may also include pads to muffle the sound of the pick button when it returns to its initial position after having been pressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Dinesh Mathew, Chris Ligtenberg, Brett William Degner, Thomas W. Wilson, Jr., John Brock
  • Patent number: 8294693
    Abstract: Provided are a portable input device for inputting coordinates, a method of calibrating the device, and a computer readable recording medium storing a computer program for making a computer perform the method. The portable input device includes two digital cameras, a calibration tool, a storage section, and a controller for calculating coordinates of an object on an input surface based on images taken by the two digital cameras based on images taken by the two digital cameras so as to include the calibration tool. The controller also calibrates positions and widths of a detection band which corresponds to a detection zone defined in a vicinity of the input surface. The positions and the widths of the detection band are stored in the storage section in relationship to positions on the input surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Per-Erik Walberg, Chao King, John Randall Christ
  • Patent number: 8294047
    Abstract: This is related to user input devices that accept complex user input including a combination of touch and push (or pick) input. The invention provides for selective ignoring or rejection of input received from such devices in order to avoid interpreting unintentional user actions as commands. Furthermore, some input signals can be modified. The selective rejection or modification can be performed by the user interface device itself or by a computing device that includes or is attached to the user interface device. The selective rejection or modification may be performed by a module that processes input signals, performs the necessary rejections and modifications and sends revised input signals to higher level modules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wayne Carl Westerman, Christopher Tenzin Mullens
  • Publication number: 20120262756
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a position detecting apparatus including a display device includes three receiving units provided on the rear surface side of the display device and configured to receive a radio signal from a device provided on the front surface side of the display device, an intensity detecting device configured to detect the intensity of the radio signal from the device received by the receiving units, and a control unit configured to calculate the position of the device from the intensity of the radio signal received by the receiving units and display, on the display device, a guide screen for aligning the device with specific one receiving unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2011
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicants: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA, KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Kazuo Sasama
  • Patent number: 8289277
    Abstract: A handheld electronic device includes a housing having a surface; a first input component having input members disposed external to the surface; a second touch sensitive input component disposed about the input members, the touch sensitive input component being separate and distinct from the input members and the first input component and being structured to provide one of: a contact point with respect to the surface responsive to actuation of a first number of the input members, and a number of responses responsive to actuation of a second number of the input members. A processor cooperates with the first input component and the touch sensitive input component to determine if a plurality of the input members are actuated contemporaneously and to output a representation of a single one of the input members based upon one of: the contact point, and the number of responses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Research In Motion Limited
    Inventors: Vahid Moosavi, Steven H. Fyke, Alexander Kornilovsky, John Jong-Suk Lee, Roman Rak
  • Patent number: 8279476
    Abstract: An input device including a frame in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped body which is supported by a base and which is movable between a first angular position in which an angle of a lower surface of the frame with respect to a horizontal upper surface of the base is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, and a second angular position in which the angle of the lower surface of the frame as seen in the first angular position with respect to the horizontal upper surface of the base is not smaller than the threshold value, a first input portion disposed on an upper surface of the frame as seen when the frame has a horizontal posture in the first angular position, in which a lower surface of the frame is parallel to the horizontal upper surface of the base, a second input portion disposed on a side surface of the frame as seen when the frame has the horizontal posture; and a detecting portion configured to detect an operation by an operator of the input device on at least one of the first and second
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masahiko Kimura
  • Patent number: 8279202
    Abstract: The present invention relates to methods of making and using and apparatus for providing touch screen capability using an LCD screen without an extra touch screen layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Chrontel International Ltd.
    Inventor: David Soo
  • Patent number: 8279197
    Abstract: Several different methods of testing the integrity and proper operation of the drive and sense electrodes in a mutual capacitance sensing device such as a touchscreen or touchpad are disclosed herein. According to one embodiment, measured values of mutual capacitance corresponding to individual cells in a mutual capacitance sensing device are compared to one another and to predetermined thresholds. The results of the comparison are employed to determine whether any of the traces forming the electrodes in the device are defective. By way of example, traces can be defective if they are broken, too thin, too thick, or shorted together. The various embodiments of the methods disclosed herein may be used for touchscreen or touchpad quality control in a manufacturing setting, or may be used to test touchscreens or touchpads that have already been incorporated into electronic devices. The various methods disclosed herein lower manufacturing costs, increase product quality and yield, and may be carried out quickly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: PixArt Imaging Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Murphy, Kevin Rathburn, Keen Hun Leong, Sarangan Narasimhan
  • Patent number: 8274480
    Abstract: A contact sensitive device (10) comprising a member (12) capable of supporting bending waves, a first sensor (16) mounted on the member for measuring bending wave vibration in the member, the sensor (16) determining a first measured bending wave signal and a processor which calculates information relating to a contact on the member (12) from the measured bending wave signal, the processor applying a correction based on the dispersion relation of the material of the member (12) supporting the bending waves, characterized in that the device (10) comprises a second sensor (16) to determine a second measured bending wave signal which is measured simultaneously with the first measured bending wave signal and the processor calculates a dispersion corrected function of the two measured bending wave signals which is selected from the group consisting of a dispersion corrected correlation function, a dispersion corrected convolution function, a dispersion corrected coherence function and other phase equivalent functio
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Assignee: New Transducers Limited
    Inventor: Darius Martin Sullivan
  • Patent number: 8274489
    Abstract: A readout apparatus and a multi-channel readout apparatus for a touch panel are provided to integrate different types of readout circuit. The readout apparatus set to a first mode reads the touch panel with a small amount of charges through an integrator. The readout apparatus set to a second mode reads a sensing current of a current type touch panel through a current to voltage converting unit and an inverting amplifier, so as to save a chip area. The multi-channel readout apparatus set to a third mode applies multiple channels to alternatively share an integrator to read the touch panel with a large amount of charges, so that an amount of feedback capacitors (integral capacitors) having a great area can be greatly reduced. Therefore, readout apparatus of the present invention can not only reduce a chip area, but can also be applied to various types of the touch panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Assignee: Himax Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Kai-Lan Chuang, Guo-Ming Lee, Ying-Lieh Chen
  • Patent number: 8274497
    Abstract: A data input device comprises a microprocessor electrically connected to a camera device, a mirror installed in front of a lens of the camera device to allow the camera device to take a reference image reflected by the mirror. When the microprocessor detects that the camera device takes that a user touches the reference image in at least one input zone of an image, it then generates a corresponding input signal according to that the camera device takes that the user touches input images in at least one input zone. The data input device according to the present invention can more accurately and quickly generate input signal corresponding to an input operation processed by the user and saves the production cost more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Assignee: Era Optoelectronics Inc.
    Inventors: Chih-Hsiung Lin, Yi-Ping Hung
  • Patent number: 8259080
    Abstract: An information handling system includes two touch screens. In one embodiment, one of the touch screens is incorporated in a base of the information handling system and the other is incorporated in a lid of the information handling system. An application can display different informational views in each touch screen, allowing a user to interact with the data in each screen independently.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Mark Casparian, Reginald Rego, Frank Azor, David Estrada, Antonios Berry, Brian Cooper, Jeffrey Cubillos, Gabriel Gonzalez
  • Publication number: 20120218231
    Abstract: There is provided an electronic device and method for calibration of a touch screen using a biometric sensor. The touch screen includes a display and a touch sensor associated with the display. The biometric sensor is configured to detect a user input. The display and/or the touch sensor of the touch screen are calibrated based on the user input detected at the biometric sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2011
    Publication date: August 30, 2012
    Applicant: Motorola Mobility, Inc.
    Inventors: Jiri Slaby, Roger W. Ady, John Krahenbuhl
  • Patent number: 8253692
    Abstract: A top-emitting OLED display having a transparent touch panel includes a substrate, an upper cover plate, an OLED display device, a capacitive touch device and a sealant layer. The OLED device is stacked on the substrate, the capacitive touch device is stacked on the upper cover plate, and the sealant layer combines the substrate and the upper cover plate such that the OLED device and the capacitive touch device are enclosed between the substrate and the upper cover plate. The capacitive touch device includes a first transparent conductive layer, an isolating layer, a second transparent conductive layer and an electromagnetic shielding layer sequentially formed on the upper cover plate. The electromagnetic shielding layer can effectively reduce the electromagnetic interfering between the OLED device and the capacitive touch device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: RITDISPLAY Corporation
    Inventor: Yuang Wei Lai
  • Patent number: 8253744
    Abstract: The system (13, 15) for virtually drawing on a physical surface of the invention comprises electronic circuitry, wherein the electronic circuitry is operative to detect movements of a physical object over the physical surface and project a drawing (11) corresponding to the movements on the physical surface. The computer program product of the invention enables a programmable device to function as the system of the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventors: Marko Macura, Thomas Marzano, Kyriakos Mama
  • Patent number: 8248376
    Abstract: Apparatus comprising one or more inputs configured to receive a configurable control signal from a configurable signal generator; and a non-calibrated touch input signal from a touch sensor. Said non-calibrated touch input signal generated by detecting both internal and external forces applied to the touch sensor. The apparatus also comprises a calibrator configured to process the non-calibrated touch input signal and the configurable control signal to remove the contribution of the internal forces from the non-calibrated signal to generate a calibrated signal, the calibrated signal for use in the detection of an external force applied to the touch sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Murray Brown, Simon Cox, Graham Clay
  • Patent number: 8242877
    Abstract: The disclosure is related to a touch panel with discontinuous chain of resistances. It is formed by an internal series of electrodes of the conducting layer formed by a chain of discontinuous resistances. The design of the chain of discontinuous resistances can compensate for the voltage compensation by the voltage drop generated by the distance of chain of electrodes wherein the chain of discontinuous resistances is located at the interface of the series electrodes, and the length chain of discontinuous resistances is calculated by the specific equation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Higgstec Inc.
    Inventors: Herng-Ming Yeh, Yi-Ta Chen
  • Patent number: 8239155
    Abstract: In a trajectory information processing apparatus (201) for equalizing the sensitivity of input near a starting point of a trajectory input to the extent possible, regardless of direction of movement, the trajectory information processing apparatus (201) including an input receiving unit (202) receives input of coordinate information of a trajectory at a first definition, a correcting unit (203) corrects the coordinate information of the trajectory based on a pair of coordinates of a starting point of the trajectory at the first definition and a pair of coordinates of the starting point of the trajectory at a second definition lower than the first definition, a converting unit (204) converts the corrected trajectory coordinate information to the second definition and outputs the converted coordinate information, the correcting unit (203), if the starting point locates on an edge of an area which includes the starting point at the first definition, and includes pairs of coordinates which are to be converted to
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Kawabata
  • Patent number: 8239784
    Abstract: A user interface method is disclosed. The method includes detecting a touch and then determining a user interface mode when a touch is detected. The method further includes activating one or more GUI elements based on the user interface mode and in response to the detected touch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steve Hotelling, Brian Q. Huppi, Joshua A. Strickon, Duncan Robert Kerr, Bas Ording, Imran Chaudhri, Greg Christie, Jonathan P. Ive
  • Publication number: 20120188197
    Abstract: Touchscreen testing techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a piece of conductor (e.g., metal) is positioned as proximal to a touchscreen device and the touchscreen device is tested by simulating a touch of a user. This technique may be utilized to perform a variety of different testing of a touchscreen device, such as to test latency and probabilistic latency. Additional techniques are also described including contact geometry testing techniques.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2011
    Publication date: July 26, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Aleksandar Uzelac, David A. Stevens, Weidong Zhao, Takahiro Shigemitsu, Briggs A. Willoughby, John Graham Pierce, Pravin Kumar Santiago, Craig S. Ranta, Timothy Allen Wright, Jeffrey C. Maier, Robert T. Perry, Stanimir Naskov Kirilov, Andrey B. Batchvarov
  • Patent number: 8228304
    Abstract: A touch system includes a touch surface and at least two cameras associated with the touch surface. The at least two cameras acquire images of the touch surface from different locations and having overlapping fields of view. A digital signal processor is associated with each camera. The digital signal processors process pixel data acquired by selected pixel subsets of the at least two digital cameras to generate pointer characteristic data when a pointer exists in the acquired images. The pointer characteristic data identifies edges of the pointer. A master digital signal processor triangulates the edge information in the pointer characteristic data to determine a bounding area that represents a pointer perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: SMART Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Gerald Morrison, Trevor Akitt, Scott Su
  • Patent number: 8223130
    Abstract: A touch-sensitive sheet member contains a first raw material member having predetermined hardness and a second raw material member that presents sense of touch. The second raw material member is disposed in the first raw material member. The second raw material member has hardness different from the hardness of the first raw material member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Kouichiro Takashima, Shun Kayama, Yukiko Shimizu, Takashi Sawada
  • Patent number: 8212791
    Abstract: There are included a protection panel main body configured by a transparent plate, a lower electrode sheet laminated onto an upper surface of the protection panel main body, an upper electrode sheet bonded to the lower electrode sheet at peripheral edges thereof with a gap being formed between electrodes, a decorative sheet laminated onto an upper surface of the upper electrode sheet, and an FPC that has an end inserted between the lower electrode sheet and the upper electrode sheet and is connected by thermal compression bonding to output ends of an upper circuit and a lower circuit. Further, the protection panel main body is provided with a thermal compression head inserting space at a portion corresponding to a portion bonded with the FPC by thermal compression so that a thermal compression heater is allowed to be brought closer to the lower electrode sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Nissha Printing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuji Kusuda, Takeshi Asakura, Koji Okamoto, Toshiyuki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20120162144
    Abstract: An apparatus, method and computer-readable medium for determining a location of at least one object on a touch surface of a light transmissive panel. The method comprises the steps of: introducing light into the panel for propagation by internal reflection between the touch surface and an opposite surface; receiving the light propagating in the panel; and iteratively i) determining a current signal profile of light received by the light detection arrangement, ii) updating, when a condition is met, a background signal profile of light received by the light detection arrangement, iii) calculating a current compensated signal profile as a function of the background signal profile and the current signal profile and iv) determining, when the object touches the touch surface and thereby attenuates the light propagating in the panel, the location as a function of the compensated signal profile.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2010
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Applicant: FLATFROG LABORATORIES AB
    Inventors: Christer Fåhraeus, Tomas Christiansson, Henrik Wall, Ola Wassvik
  • Publication number: 20120154339
    Abstract: Normalization of regions of a sensor panel capable of detecting multi-touch events, or a sensor panel capable of detecting multi-hover events, is disclosed to enable each sensor in the sensor panel to trigger a virtual button in a similar manner, given the same amount of touch or hover. Each sensor produces an output value proportional to the level or amount of touch or hover. However, due to processing, manufacturing and physical design differences, the sensor output values can vary from region to region or panel to panel for a given amount of touch or hover. To normalize the sensor output values across regions, gain and offset information can be obtained in advance, stored in nonvolatile memory, and later used to normalize the sensor output values so that all regions in the sensor panel can trigger virtual buttons similarly, providing a uniform “response function” at any location on the sensor panel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2012
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Inventors: Brian Richards Land, Steve Porter Hotelling, Richard Wei Kwang Lim
  • Publication number: 20120146956
    Abstract: A touch screen testing platform may be used to perform repeatable testing of a touch screen enabled device using a robotic device tester and a controller. Prior to running a test, the controller and/or robot may be calibrated to determine a planar surface of the touch screen and to establish a relative coordinate system across the touch screen. The controller may then be programmed to allow a robot to engage the touch screen using known input zones designated using the coordinate system. The platform may employ object recognition to determine and interact with content rendered by the device. The platform may use various types of tips that engage the touch screen, thereby simulating human behavior. The platform may perform multi-touch operations by employing multiple tips that can engage the touch screen simultaneously.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2010
    Publication date: June 14, 2012
    Applicant: T-MOBILE USA, INC.
    Inventor: David Ross Jenkinson
  • Patent number: 8199130
    Abstract: The fixing structure of the invention capable of connecting to a pen with a slot comprises a main body, a slide piece, and a push module. The main body comprises a slide slot and an opening. The slide piece can slide into the slide slot. The slide piece comprises a first slide unit and a second slide unit. The first slide unit comprises a first pressing element. The push module comprises a second pressing element, and the push module has a loose state and a tight state. When the push module is in the loose state, at least a portion of the first pressing element is in the opening; when the push module is in the tight state, the second pressing element connects to the second slide unit, and the first pressing element connects to the slot of the pen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Wistron Corporation
    Inventors: Tsung-Lung Tang, Wei-Jung Luo, Yi-Chieh Luo, Cheng-Min Hsiu
  • Patent number: 8194043
    Abstract: A mobile communication terminal includes a display unit comprising a plurality of displays, one of which being formed as a touch panel, and a controller for analyzing a signal inputted through the touch panel to determine whether movement distance of data satisfies pre-set conditions, and outputting a control signal for displaying the corresponding data through a different display region according to the corresponding result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Jee-Young Cheon, Yeon-Woo Park, Sang-Hyuck Lee