Ultrasonic touch device and MEl'hod, display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11221713-B2
Application number	US-201816302044-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2018
Priority date	Jul 26, 2017
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an ultrasonic touch device and a method. The ultrasonic touch device is disposed at a periphery of a display area of an electronic equipment. The ultrasonic touch device includes an ultrasonic ranging module. The ultrasonic ranging module includes a plurality of ultrasonic ranging units detected. The ultrasonic touch device includes a first position determining unit configured to determine a distance between a touch object and the ultrasonic ranging module, and determine a position of the touch object in a first coordinate direction of the display area according to the distance. The ultrasonic touch device includes a second position determining unit configured to determine a position of the touch object in a second coordinate direction of the display area according to a position of an ultrasonic ranging unit that receives the reflected ultrasonic waves in the ultrasonic ranging module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasonic touch device, disposed at a periphery of a display area of an electronic equipment, and the ultrasonic touch device comprising:
an ultrasonic ranging module, comprising a plurality of ultrasonic ranging units arranged in a second coordinate direction at only a part of the periphery of the display area of the electronic equipment, wherein each ultrasonic ranging unit is configured for transmitting an ultrasonic wave in a first coordinate direction to the display area and receiving a reflected ultrasonic wave reflected in a direction opposite to the first coordinate direction by a touch object on the display area, and the ultrasonic ranging module is configured for recording a time interval between transmitting the ultrasonic wave and receiving the reflected ultrasonic wave, wherein the first coordinate direction is perpendicular to the second coordinate direction;
a first position determining unit, configured to determine a distance in the first coordinate direction between the touch object and the ultrasonic ranging module according to the time interval, and determine a first position of the touch object in the first coordinate direction of the display area according to the distance; and
a second position determining unit, configured to determine a second position of the touch object in the second coordinate direction of the display area according to a coordinate origin and a position in the second coordinate direction of an ultrasonic ranging unit that receives the reflected ultrasonic waves, wherein one of the plurality of ultrasonic ranging units is located at the coordinate origin, and wherein each ultrasonic ranging unit comprises an ultrasonic transmitter and an ultrasonic receiver that is disposed in a laminated manner with the ultrasonic transmitter and parallel to a plane of the display area.

2. The ultrasonic touch device of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic touch device further comprises:
a touch range determining unit, configured to determine an effective touch range of the touch object according to an amount of the ultrasonic ranging units that receive the reflected ultrasonic wave.

3. The ultrasonic touch device of claim 2 , wherein the ultrasonic touch device further comprises:
a preventing mistakenly touching unit, configured to stop transmitting the determined first and second positions of the touch object on the display area to the electronic equipment when the effective touch range is not within a preset range.

4. The ultrasonic touch device of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic touch device further comprises:
a communication unit, connected to the electronic equipment, comprising one or more of a wired communication unit or a wireless communication unit, and configured to transmit the determined first and second positions of the touch object on the display area to the electronic equipment.

5. The ultrasonic touch device of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic touch device further comprises:
a wireless communication unit, connected to the electronic equipment, and configured to transmit the determined first and second positions of the touch object on the display area to the electronic equipment, wherein the wireless communication unit comprises one or more of Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Wifi.

6. The ultrasonic touch device of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic touch device is disposed at a periphery of the electronic equipment by pasting, nesting or clamping.

7. The ultrasonic touch device of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic touch device has an ultrasonic frequency of 20,000 Hz or more.

8. The ultrasonic touch device of claim 1 , wherein the touch object comprises one or more of a pencil, a pen, a ballpoint pen, a writing brush, an active pen, a passive pen, a toothpick, a cotton swab and a key.

9. A display device, comprising a display panel and an ultrasonic touch device,
wherein the ultrasonic touch device is disposed at a periphery of a display area of an electronic equipment, and the ultrasonic touch device comprises:
an ultrasonic ranging module, comprising a plurality of ultrasonic ranging units arranged in a second coordinate direction at only a part of the periphery of the display area of the electronic equipment, wherein each ultrasonic ranging unit is configured for transmitting an ultrasonic wave in a first coordinate direction to the display area and receiving a reflected ultrasonic wave reflected in a direction opposite to the first coordinate direction by a touch object on the display area, and the ultrasonic ranging module is configured for recording a time interval between transmitting the ultrasonic wave and receiving the reflected ultrasonic wave, wherein the first coordinate direction is perpendicular to the second coordinate direction;
a first position determining unit, configured to determine a distance in the first coordinate direction between the touch object and the ultrasonic ranging module according to the time interval, and determine a first position of the touch object in the first coordinate direction of the display area according to the distance; and
a second position determining unit, configured to determine a second position of the touch object in the second coordinate direction of the display area according to a coordinate origin and a position in the second coordinate direction of an ultrasonic ranging unit that receives the reflected ultrasonic waves in the ultrasonic ranging module, wherein
one of the plurality of ultrasonic ranging units is located at the coordinate origin, and
each ultrasonic ranging unit comprises an ultrasonic transmitter, and an ultrasonic receiver that is disposed in a laminated manner with the ultrasonic transmitter and parallel to a plane of the display area.

10. An ultrasonic touch method, applied to a display device comprising a display panel and an ultrasonic touch device,
wherein the ultrasonic touch device is disposed at a periphery of a display area of an electronic equipment, and the ultrasonic touch device comprises:
an ultrasonic ranging module, comprising a plurality of ultrasonic ranging units arranged in a second coordinate direction at only a part of the periphery of the display area of the electronic equipment, wherein each ultrasonic ranging unit is configured for transmitting an ultrasonic wave in a first coordinate direction to the display area and receiving a reflected ultrasonic wave reflected in a direction opposite to the first coordinate direction by a touch object on the display area, and the ultrasonic ranging module is configured for recording a time interval between transmitting the ultrasonic wave and receiving the reflected ultrasonic wave, wherein the first coordinate direction is perpendicular to the second coordinate direction;
a first position determining unit, configured to determine a distance in the first coordinate direction between the touch object and the ultrasonic ranging module according to the time interval, and determine a first position of the touch object in the first coordinate direction of the display area according to the distance; and
a second position determining unit, configured to determine a second position of the touch object in the second coordinate direction of the display area according to a coordinate origin and a position in the second coordinate direction of an ultrasonic ranging unit that receives the reflected ultrasonic wave in the ultrasonic ranging module, wherein
one of the plurality of ultrasonic ranging units is located at the coordinate origin, and
each ultrasonic ranging unit comprises an ultrasonic transmitter, and an ultrasonic receiver that is disposed in a laminated manner with the ultrasonic transmitter and parallel to a plane of the

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Hefei Boe Optoelectronics Tech

Inventors

• Hu Yansheng
• Sha Jin
• Jiang Zhaobo
• Hou Chengcheng
• Yang Guanglei

Classifications

• G06F3/043 Primary

  using propagating acoustic waves · CPC title

• G06F2203/04101

  2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup · CPC title

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title