Touch screen with soft key enabling electromagnetic resonance input

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9811195-B2
Application number	US-201213544378-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2012
Priority date	Jul 12, 2011
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A touch screen and a method for controlling the touch screen are provided. The touch screen includes a user interface including a display area and at least one soft key; a touch sensor unit disposed under the display area and the at least one soft key of the user interface, for sensing a touch on the display area or the at least one soft key; a display unit disposed under the touch sensor unit, for outputting a display screen; a first electromagnetic sensor unit disposed under the display unit, for sensing an electromagnetic field incident on the display area; and a second electromagnetic sensor unit physically separated from the first electromagnetic sensor unit, for sensing at least one electromagnetic field incident on the at least one soft key.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A touch screen comprising:
a user interface including a display area and at least one soft key, wherein the display area and the at least one soft key are in different sections of the user interface;
a touch sensor unit disposed under the display area and the at least one soft key of the user interface, for sensing a touch on the display area or the at least one soft key;
a display unit disposed under the touch sensor unit, for outputting a display screen;
a first electromagnetic sensor unit disposed under the display unit, for sensing an electromagnetic field incident on the display area by using a plurality of first loop units included in the first electromagnetic sensor unit, wherein each of the plurality of first loop units is overlapped with each other; and
a second electromagnetic sensor unit physically separated from the first electromagnetic sensor unit, for sensing at least one electromagnetic field incident on the at least one soft key by using at least one second loop unit included in the second electromagnetic unit, wherein the at least one second loop unit is disposed at a position corresponding to the at least one soft key.

2. The touch screen of claim 1 , wherein the first electromagnetic sensor unit includes:
a first Printed Circuit Board (PCB); and
at least one Input/Output (I/O) channel of a controller configured to control electromagnetic sensing of the first electromagnetic sensor unit,
wherein the plurality of first loop units are disposed on a part of the first PCB, and extend from the at least one I/O channel, for outputting a voltage induced by the electromagnetic field.

3. The touch screen of claim 1 , wherein the second electromagnetic sensor unit comprises:
a second Printed Circuit Board (PCB) including at least one sub-area, each sub-area corresponding to one of the at least one soft key; and
at least one Input/Output (I/O) channel of a controller configured to control electromagnetic sensing of the second electromagnetic sensor unit,
wherein the at least one each second loop unit is disposed on one sub-area of the second PCB and extended from the at least one I/O channel, for outputting a voltage induced by the electromagnetic field.

4. The touch screen of claim 3 , wherein a predetermined current is conducted through the at least one second loop unit during a first time period, to discontinue current conduction during a second time period.

5. The touch screen of claim 3 , wherein the second electromagnetic sensor unit further comprises a driving loop unit disposed on the second PCB, for receiving a driving voltage for electromagnetic induction,
wherein the at least one second loop unit senses an electromagnetic field.

6. The touch screen of claim 1 , wherein when the user interface receives a touch input locking command, the touch sensor unit is disabled.

7. The touch screen of claim 6 , wherein when the user interface receives a touch input unlocking command, the touch sensor unit is enabled.

8. The touch screen of claim 1 , further comprising a light emitter unit disposed under the at least one soft key of the user interface, for emitting light,
wherein the light emitter unit illuminates a touched soft key.

9. A touch screen comprising:
a user interface including a display area and at least one soft key, wherein the display area and the at least one soft key are in different sections of the user interface;
a touch sensor unit disposed under the display area of the user interface, for sensing a touch on the display area;
a display unit disposed under the first touch sensor unit, for outputting a display screen;
a first electromagnetic sensor unit disposed under the display unit, for sensing an electromagnetic field incident on the display area by using a plurality of first loop units included in the first electromagnetic sensor unit, wherein each of the plurality of first loop units is overlapped with each other; and
a sensor unit physically apart from the first electromagnetic sensor unit, for sensing at least one an electromagnetic field incident on the at least one soft key by using at least one second loop unit included in the sensor unit, and a touch on the at least one soft key, wherein the at least one second loop unit is disposed at a position corresponding to the at least one soft key.

10. The touch screen of claim 9 , wherein the sensor unit includes:
a second touch sensor unit for sensing a touch on the at least one soft key;
a second electromagnetic sensor unit for sensing an electromagnetic field incident on the at least one soft key; and
a controller for controlling the second touch sensor unit and the second electromagnetic sensor unit.

11. The touch screen of claim 10 , wherein the controller includes:
a first sub-controller for controlling the second touch sensor unit; and
a second sub-controller for controlling the second electromagnetic sensor unit,
wherein the second touch sensor and the second electromagnetic sensor are controlled independently.

12. The touch screen of claim 10 , wherein when the user interface receives a touch input locking command, the first and second touch sensor units are disabled.

13. The touch screen of claim 10 , wherein when the user interface receives a touch input unlocking command, the first and second touch sensor units are enabled.

14. The touch screen of claim 9 , wherein the sensor unit includes:
a second touch sensor disposed near to a bottom surface of the at least one soft key of the user interface;
a second electromagnetic sensor unit disposed under the second touch sensor unit; and
a connector for connecting the second touch sensor to the second electromagnetic sensor unit.

15. The touch sensor of claim 14 , further comprising a light emitter unit disposed on a top surface of the second electromagnetic sensor unit under the second touch sensor, for emitting light.

16. A method, performed by an electronic device including a touch screen that has a display area and at least one soft key and is capable of sensing a touch and an electromagnetic field, for controlling the touch screen, the method comprising:
determining whether a touch input locking command has been received; and
disabling touch sensing of the display area and the at least one soft key and enabling electromagnetic sensing of the display area and the at least one soft key, upon receipt of the touch input locking command, wherein the display area and the at least one soft key are in different sections of the touch screen.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
determining whether a touch input unlocking command has been received; and
enabling touch sensing of the display area and the at least one soft key, upon receipt of the touch input unlocking command.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the touch input unlocking command is generated by applying an electromagnetic field to a predetermined part of the display area.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein disabling the touch sensing of the display area and the at least one soft key includes disabling touch sensing of a remaining area except for at least one predetermined part of the display area, and
wherein the touch input unlocking command is generated by touching the predetermined part or applying an electromagnetic field to the predetermined part.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the touch input locking command is generated by touching a predetermined part of the display area or applying an electromagnetic field to the predetermined

Assignees

• Lee Joo-Hoon
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Joo-Hoon

Classifications

• G06F3/046

  by electromagnetic means · CPC title

• G06F2203/04106

  Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection · CPC title

• G06F3/044

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F3/0416 Primary

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title