Abstract:
The present invention discloses an optical touch panel system, an optical sensing module, and an operation method using for the same system. The system recognizes a track of an object moving on or above a touch control surface to determine a corresponding gesture function; it includes a touch control surface, at least one image sensor, and a processor. The touch control surface includes at least two touch control areas. The image sensor captures a plurality of continuous pictures including the images of the objects. The processer determines which touch control area the object is moving on or above according to a starting position or a path of the track, and executes a gesture function corresponding to the track and the touch control area.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE 
     The present invention claims priority to TW 100137822, filed on Oct. 19, 2011. The present invention is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 13/561,759, filed on Jul. 30, 2012, and a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 13/606,942, filed on Sep. 7, 2012. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to an optical touch panel apparatus, an optical sensing module, and an operation method thereof, in particular to such optical touch panel apparatus and operation method which execute gesture functions by means of plural touch control areas. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Touch screen apparatuses are a kind of interactive apparatuses for users to directly and intuitively operate application software on screen. There are various types of touch screen apparatuses, and one of which is the optical touch panel. 
       FIG. 1  shows a prior art optical touch panel system  1  which is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,328. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the optical touch panel system  1  comprises two sensors  11  for capturing the images of an object  13  on a touch control area  12 . A processor  14  is coupled to the two sensors  11 , and calculates the sensing paths  15  linking the object  13  with the two sensors  11  by analyzing the images outputted by the sensors  11 . The processor  14  also calculates the coordinates of the position of the object  13  according to the sensing paths  15 . This optical touch panel system  1  requires two sensors  11  and therefore its cost is high. 
       FIG. 2  shows another prior art optical touch panel system  2  disclosed by Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 201003477, counterpart U.S. Pat. No. 7,689,381 B2. The optical touch panel system  2  comprises a mirror  21 , two light sources  22 , an image sensor  23  and a processor  24 . The mirror  21  and the two light sources  22  are located around a touch control area  28 . The mirror  21  is used to reflect the object  25  to generate a mirror image  26  of the object  25 . The image sensor  23  captures the image of the object  25  and the mirror image  26 . The processor  24  analyzes the sensing paths  27  passing the image of the object  25  and the mirror image  26 , and calculates the coordinates of the object  25  according to the two sensing paths  27 . The optical touch panel system  2  only needs one image sensor  23 , and thus the cost is reduced. 
     Even though both of the foregoing optical touch panel systems ( 1 ,  2 ) can recognize the track of the object (which may be a finger or a device) and executes a corresponding gesture function such as page changes, display rotation or pulling down a menu, the prior art systems only use a single touch control area, and hence the available patterns of the track (e.g. horizontal sliding, up-down sliding, and circling, etc.) are limited and their corresponding gesture functions are also limited. Such conventional systems cannot provide more touch control functions or more gesture functions to meet various requirements, so they are less flexible and useful. 
     In view of above, the present invention overcomes the foregoing drawbacks by providing an optical touch panel apparatus, an optical sensing module, and an operation method which execute gesture functions by means of plural touch control areas. Different gesture functions can be defined in association with different touch control areas, and even the same track pattern can be defined as different gesture functions for different touch control areas, such that the number of the gesture functions can be multiplied. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An objective of the present invention is to provide an optical touch panel apparatus having multiple gesture functions. 
     Another objective of the present invention is to provide an operation method of an optical touch panel system. 
     Another objective of the present invention is to provide an optical sensing module used in the optical touch panel system. 
     To achieve the foregoing objectives, in one aspect, the present invention provides an optical touch panel system for recognizing a track of an object to determine a corresponding gesture function, comprising: a touch control surface for the object to move on or above to form the track, the touch control surface including at least two touch control areas; at least one image sensor for capturing a plurality of continuous pictures including images of the object; and a processor for determining which touch control area is active according to the track of the object in the pictures, and recognizing the track to execute a corresponding gesture function which is pre-defined in association with the active touch control area. 
     In one of embodiments, the processor determines a touch control area to be active when a starting point of the track is in this touch control area. 
     In one of embodiments, the processor determines a touch control area to be active according to a location of the image of the object in a first one of the pictures in an image-sensing window of the image sensor. 
     In one embodiment, the processor determines a touch control area to be active according to whether the track has a higher ratio existing in this touch control area than existing in another touch control area. 
     In one embodiment, the processor determines a touch control area to be active according to whether the track has a higher ratio existing in a corresponding region of an image-sensing window of the image sensor than existing in another region of an image-sensing window of the image sensor. 
     In one embodiment, at least one gesture function which is pre-defined in association with the one touch control area is different from at least one gesture which is pre-defined in association with another inactive touch control area. 
     In one embodiment, the number of the image sensors is two, and the two image sensors are disposed at two ends of one side of the touch control surface; the system further comprises a reflective element and at least one light emitting device disposed on two other sides of the touch control surface respectively. 
     In the foregoing embodiment, the two image sensors capture the image of the object, and the processor analyzes sensing paths through the images of the object to calculate the coordinates of the object. 
     In yet another aspect, the present invention provides an operation method of an optical touch panel system for recognizing a track of an object to determine a corresponding gesture function, comprising: providing a touch control surface for the object to move on or above to form the track, the touch control surface including at least two touch control areas; capturing a plurality of continuous pictures including images of the object; determining which touch control area is active according to the track; and recognizing the track to execute a corresponding gesture function which is pre-defined in association with the active touch control area. 
     In one embodiment, the track has a plurality of sampling points and a plurality of subsequent vectors for determining that the track belongs to the active touch control area. 
     In yet another aspect, the present invention provides an optical touch panel system for recognizing a track of an object to determine a corresponding gesture function, comprising: a touch control surface for the object to move on or above to form the track; at least one image sensor for capturing a plurality of continuous pictures including images of the object; and a processor for recognizing the track according to the images of the object in the pictures, and determining a corresponding gesture function according to a starting point of the track or a path of the track. 
     In yet another aspect, the present invention provides an optical sensing module for use in an optical touch panel system for identifying a track of an object, comprising: at least one image sensor for capturing a plurality of continuous pictures including images of the object; and a processor recognizing the track according to the images of the object in the pictures, and generating an output signal according to a starting point and a path of the track. 
     In one embodiment, the processor determines that the starting point or the path of the track is located in a predetermined touch control area of the touch control surface of the optical touch panel system, and the output signal of the processor includes information related to the touch control area. 
     The objectives, technical details, features, and effects of the present invention will be better understood with regard to the detailed description of the embodiments below, with reference to the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a prior art optical touch panel system. 
         FIG. 2  shows another prior art optical touch panel system. 
         FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an optical touch panel system of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3B  is a schematic diagram illustrating a different operation of the optical touch panel system in  FIG. 3A . 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an optical touch panel system of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5A  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a touch control surface of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5B  shows an image-sensing window of the image sensor in  FIG. 5A . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The application is improvement over the conventional touch panel systems in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . That is, the present invention can be applied to a touch panel system having a single or plural image sensors. 
       FIG. 3  shows a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an optical touch panel system of the present invention. When an object  35  (e.g. a finger or a stylus pen) is on or above the touch control surface  38  of an optical touch panel system  3 , the system can calculate the coordinate of the object  35  to position it. The optical touch panel system  3  comprises a first image sensor  331 , a second image sensor  332 , and a processor  34 . The touch control surface  38  includes plural touch control areas; in this embodiment it is divided into a first touch control area  381  and a second touch control area  382 . The first image sensor  331  and the second image sensor  332  are used to capture the image of the object  35  staying on or above either the first touch control area  381  or the second touch control area  382 . In this embodiment, the first touch control area  381  is the inner area of the touch control surface  38 , and the second touch control area  382  is the outer peripheral area of the touch control surface  38 . However, the present invention is not limited to this arrangement; the pattern and the number of the divided areas can be modified. 
     The processor  34  is coupled to the two image sensors ( 331 ,  332 ), and it determines the sensing paths  37  linking the two image sensors ( 331 ,  332 ) to the object  34  by analyzing the images generated by the image sensors ( 331 ,  332 ). Moreover, according to the sensing paths  37 , the coordinates of the position of the object  35  can be obtained. That is, the coordinates of the object  35  is the intersection of the sensing paths  37 . 
     When the user rightwards slides the object  35  from a starting point to an ending point, the two image sensors ( 331 ,  332 ) continuously capture multiple frames (or pictures) including the images of the object  35 . In this embodiment, the processor  34  determines in which touch control area ( 381  or  382 ) the object  35  exists according to the starting position (the leftest point at which the solid-line object  35  is) of the object  35  appearing in the first one of the pictures. Moreover, the track  39  of the images of the object  35  is recognized to execute a corresponding gesture function which is pre-defined in association with the active touch control area. In this case, the processor  34  of the embodiment determines that the starting position of the object  35  is in the first touch control area  381 , so the touch control area is active, and the processor  34  identifies the track  39  of the object  35  as a rightwards linear slide. Thus, for example, the corresponding gesture function may be defined as: changing the currently displayed page to a next one. 
       FIG. 3B  is a schematic diagram illustrating a different operation of the optical touch panel system in  FIG. 3A . The processor  34  in this figure determines that the starting position of the object  35  is in the second touch control area  382 , and identifies the track  39 ′ of the object  35  as a rightwards linear slide. Thus, a different gesture function which is pre-defined in association with the touch control area  382  is executed, such as pulling down the items of a menu. Compared with the operation of the optical touch panel system in  FIG. 3A , even though the object  35  moves along the same track, the corresponding gesture functions are different. Different gesture functions corresponding to the track are pre-defined in association with different touch control areas ( 381  or  382 ), and which touch control area is active is determined by the starting position of the object  35 . However, in a different embodiment, the object  35  can move along the same specified track in the different touch control areas ( 381  or  382 ), and the corresponding gesture function is the same for both touch control areas ( 381  and  382 ). 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an optical touch panel system of the present invention. When the object  35  is on or above the touch control surface  48  of an optical touch panel system  4 , the system can calculate the coordinates of the object  35  for positioning it. The optical touch panel system  4  comprises a reflective element  41 , a first light emitting device  421 , a second light emitting device  422 , an image sensor  43 , and a processor  44 . The reflective element  41  is disposed on the first side  481  of the touch control surface  48 , and the first light emitting device  421  and the second light emitting device  422  are respectively disposed on the second side  482  and the third side  483  of the touch control surface  48 , wherein the second side  482  and the third side  483  are adjacent to each other. In the shown embodiment, there is no reflective element or light emitting device disposed on the fourth side  484  of the touch control surface  48 , but the patent scope of the present invention is not limited to the shown embodiment. The lengths and the numbers of the reflective element and the lighting emitting device can be rearranged, and the patent scope of the present invention should also cover these variations. The reflective element  41  may be, but is not limited to, a plane mirror. Each of the first light emitting device  421  and the second light emitting device  422  may be, but is not limited to, a linear light source capable of emitting invisible light. The image sensor  43  includes an image-sensing window and preferably a filter. 
     The reflective element  41 , the first light emitting device  421 , and the second light emitting device  422  are disposed on the sides of the touch control surface  48 . The reflective element  41  is used to generate a mirror image of the object  35  (not shown in this figure; please refer to  FIG. 2 ). The image sensor  43  can capture the image and the mirror image of the object  35 . The processor  44  analyzes the sensing paths  47  (not shown in this figure; please refer to  FIG. 2 ) passing the image of the object  35  and the mirror image, and calculates the coordinates of the object  35  according to the two sensing paths  47 . 
     In this embodiment, the touch control surface  48  is divided into the first touch control area  48   a  and the second touch control area  48   b . The image sensor  43  captures the image of the object  35  on or above either the first touch control area  48   a  or the second touch control area  48   b . In the shown embodiment, the first touch control area  48   a  is the left half area of the touch control surface  48 , and the second touch control area  48   b  is the right half area of the touch control surface  48 ; however, the present invention is not limited to this arrangement. The division pattern and the number of the divided areas are not limited to what are shown in the embodiment. 
     When the user downwards slides the object  35  from a starting point to an ending point along the curve track  49  in this figure, the image sensor  43  continuously captures plural pictures including the images of the object  35 . Then, the processor  44  checks the starting position (the point at which the solid line object  35  is) of the object  35  appearing in the first one of the picture, and estimates which touch control area ( 48   a  or  48   b ) the track  49  covers more. Moreover, the track  49  of the images of the object  35  is recognized to execute a corresponding gesture function which is pre-defined in association with the active touch control area. For example, the processor  44  in this embodiment determines that the starting position of the object  35  is in the first touch control area  48   a . But, by taking sampling points of the track  49  and calculating sequential vectors according to the sampling points, it is found that the majority portion (such as more than 50%) of the track  49  is located in the second touch control area  48   b  except the starting point and the ending point. That is, the active touch control area is determined by the proportion or ratio of the track  49 , and the ratio of the track  49  in the second touch control area  48   b  to the overall track is higher than the ratio of the track  49  in the first touch control area  48   a  to the overall track. Furthermore, the track  49  of the object  35  is identified as a clockwise curve. Thus, for example, the currently displayed page is clockwise rotated by 180 degrees. The executed gesture function is pre-defined in association with the second touch control area  48   b . If all or the majority portion of the track  49  falls in the first touch controls area  48   a , the system can determine to execute gesture functions pre-defined in association with the first touch control area  48   a , such as undoing the last change in the current screen and going back the previous one, or certain other specified function. This embodiment can be applied to an application where there is no physical indication of the boundary of the touch control areas, such as when the touch control surface  48  is one screen, and where the touch control surface have many areas. The user accordingly can easily input the gesture functions pre-defined in association with the touch control areas without precisely knowing the boundaries between them. 
     Calculating the position coordinates of the object  35  is only one of the possible ways to determine the touch control area in which the track exists. In another embodiment, since the object image occupies one or more pixels in the image-sensing window of the image sensor, where the pixels of the object image are located in the image-sensing window of the image sensor can also be used to directly determine the touch control area in which the track exists, and in this case it is not necessary to calculate the position coordinates of the object  35 .  FIG. 5A  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a touch control surface of the present invention, and  FIG. 5B  shows an image-sensing window of the image sensor in  FIG. 5A . The touch control surface  58  is divided into a first touch control area  58   a , a second touch control area  58   b , and a third touch control area  58   c . The image-sensing window  50  of the image sensor (or a frame taken by the image sensor) can be divided into a left area  51 , a middle area  52 , and a right area  53 , wherein the left area  51  corresponds to the first touch control area  58   a  near the four side  484  of the touch control surface  48 , the right area  53  corresponds to the third touch control area  58   c  near the third side  483  of the touch control surface  48 , and the middle area  51  corresponds to the second touch control area  58   b . As shown in  FIG. 5B , the image  55  of the object  35  is located in the left area  51 . Thus, the system determines that the object  35  exists in the first touch control area  58   a  near the fourth side  484 . A track (not shown) of the object  35  can be recognized and an active touch control area can be determined according to for example but not limited to one of the methods described in the above, and a corresponding pre-defined gesture function can be executed. 
     In one embodiment, the processor can generate an output signal according to the starting point of the track or the path of the track, and the output signal includes information related to the active touch control area. In one embodiment, the system can further comprise a host (not shown in this figure), and the host executes a specified gesture function corresponding to the active touch control area according to the output signal. 
     The present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof. It should be understood that the description is for illustrative purpose, not for limiting the scope of the present invention. Those skilled in this art can readily conceive variations and modifications within the spirit of the present invention. For example, the present invention is not limited to the division patterns and the numbers of the divided areas as shown in the foregoing embodiments, and they can be different. Furthermore, a touch control area can be determined to be active according to other ways to estimate the proportion or the ratio of the track existing in the touch control areas, and a specified gesture function corresponding to the area is executed. Thus, the present invention should cover all such and other modifications and variations, which should be interpreted to fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.