Remote controller with touchpad for receiving handwritten input functions

A remote controller comprises a touchpad having a handwriting region to be operated to generate an input signal, a driver coupled with the touchpad, and a microcontroller coupled with the driver to respond to the input signal to generate a control signal for a controlled apparatus, so as to give a command to the controlled apparatus, or to name a file or to search a file on the controlled apparatus. On the touchpad, several key patterns may be provided or one or more regions may be arranged, to provide various input functions of key mode, mouse mode, scroll mode or graphic mode.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related generally to a remote controller and more particularly, to a remote controller having a touchpad for implementing input functions of the remote controller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Remote controllers have been widely used in various equipments in daily life, such as televisions (TV), video recorder/players, air-conditioners, cars, motorcycles, electric scrolling gates, lights, and projectors. Though remote controllers have the advantages of simple operation and low cost, they can only be operated with realistic keys and are thus limited for operational functions and other applications. Improvements to remote controllers have been made to expand the functionality, such as selecting a program list on a television. However, complicated operations of pressing the realistic keys keep users from using them. Moreover, users can only select programs or items from a fix list that is provided on a display, but not allowed to input words or symbols at his own choice. Thus, the resultant low controllability and poor flexibility could not satisfy the usages in future home entertainment audio/video (AV) products.

On the other hand, touchpads are well-known and low-cost devices, which are mainly used to provide mouse function in notebook computers. In spite of the advantages of a touchpad, its application is limited in computers and cannot be extended.

Therefore, it is desired to provide a new remote controller from a different point of view to increase the function of the remote controller enormously with the presumption of light, thin and low cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an aspect of the present invention to provide a remote controller having a touchpad for input operations.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a remote controller with more flexible operations.

It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a remote controller having a handwriting input function.

It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide a remote controller having improved functions.

According to the present invention, a remote controller comprises a touchpad having a handwriting region to be operated thereon, so as to generate an input signal, a driver coupled with the touchpad, and a microcontroller coupled with the driver to respond to the input signal to thereby generate a control signal for a controlled apparatus, so as to give a command to the controlled apparatus, or to name a file or to search a file on the controlled apparatus.

Alternatively, a plurality of key patterns are provided on the touchpad for input operations, and the key patterns serving as virtual keys behave as a realistic keyboard to implement keying input function. A mode switch is provided by one of the key patterns or a realistic key not on the touchpad, to switch the touchpad to a key mode or a handwriting mode.

Alternatively, the remote controller further comprises a recognition module to recognize the trace written on the touchpad or the number of fingers touching on the handwriting region for operating the controlled apparatus.

Alternatively, one or more regions are programmed on the touchpad to implement input functions such as mouse mode, scroll mode or graphic mode. A mode switch is provided by one of the key patterns or a realistic key not on the touchpad, to switch the touchpad between the various operational modes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1shows an embodiment of a remote controller according to the present invention, which comprises a microcontroller10coupled with a touchpad12by a driver14. The touchpad12may be a capacitive touchpad or a resistive touchpad, and it is used to generate an input signal16in response to operations thereon. In response to the input signal16, the driver14asserts address data or a data signal20to the microcontroller10. The microcontroller10is coupled with a signal generator22that is used to generate a remote control signal for operating a controlled apparatus in accordance with the input signal16or the operations on the touchpad12. In other embodiments, the driver14and the microcontroller10can be integrated together. The specific circuitry of the driver14depends on the type of the touchpad12, e.g., a capacitive touchpad or a resistive touchpad. In this embodiment, the driver14is used to drive the touchpad12and to transform the electronic signal16to address data or the data signal20for the microcontroller10. The address data includes the information of the location and the motion of the user's finger operating on the touchpad12. However, different touchpads have different driving methods. For example, if the touchpad12is a capacitive touchpad, the driver14will provide a sourcing or sinking current to charge or discharge the sensor of the touchpad12, and if the touchpad12is a resistive touchpad, the driver14will apply a voltage to the sensor of the touchpad12. The detailed components and operational principles of the touchpad12and the driver14are well known to those skilled in the art. The requirement to the driver14is the capability of driving the touchpad12to work, and the following processing to the output16of the touchpad12such as transforming the signal16to address data and reorganizing the information included in the signal16, to implement various functions such as handwriting reorganization, graphic input, cursor control and scroll bar control, can all be performed in the microcontroller10or the driver14, or one part in the microcontroller10and the other part in the driver14.

The signal generator22may be an infrared (IR) generator or a radio frequency (RF) generator, to transmit a remote control signal with a communication format compatible with the controlled apparatus to proceed remote control operations. The remote controller may further comprise a display24coupled to the microcontroller10with a control bus26and a data bus27. When a user operates the touchpad12, the display24may display the input content or a prompt message for the user. The display24may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display or an electro-luminescent (EL) display. In different embodiments, the display24can be integrated on the remote controller or on the controlled apparatus. For entertainment appliances, for instance, the display24can be on the stereo panel, or otherwise, the display panel of a television or a video recorder/player that is operated by the remote controller may be serving as the display24when operating the remote controller.

The touchpad12has several key patterns28thereon, and each key pattern28simulates a realistic key such that the touchpad12functions as a keyboard. The key patterns28can be ones directly printed on the touchpad12or stamps attached on the touchpad12. Fluorescent patterns may be used for the key patterns28to provide indication in a dark environment. The key patterns28on the touchpad12may be used to replace the realistic keys on a conventional remote controller. Since a typical touchpad is as thin as 1 mm, the thickness of the remote controller according to the present invention can be dramatically reduced. Moreover, a touchpad is a plate-like device, and no extra openings with predetermined sizes for the realistic keys are required on the case of a remote controller according to the present invention. The mechanism and the assembly of the remote controller are thus simplified. The key patterns28on the touchpad12can implement more functions, such as defining a new function key, a hot key integrated with multiple functions, or a fast key for user-defined menu. In other embodiments, in addition to the simulation of a keyboard, the touchpad12may be switched to other input modes, such as handwriting mode, graphic mode, mouse mode and scroll mode to perform other operations. In this case, a mode switch is provided on the remote controller to switch the touchpad12between different operational modes, and the mode switch can be a realistic key or a predefined virtual key using a key pattern28on the touchpad12. Under a key mode, the touchpad12is programmed to serve as a keyboard as shown inFIG. 1, for keying operations with the key patterns28. Under a handwriting mode, a part of or all the operatable region of the touchpad12becomes a handwriting region, andFIG. 2is an illustration of the touchpad12for this mode. The most of the operatable region on the touchpad12becomes a handwriting region30, and only the top four key patterns are left for simulating a mode switch32, a menu key34, a clear key36, and an enter key38. Under the handwriting mode, words, numbers, symbols or graphics inputted on the handwriting region30are recognized by a recognition module and shown on the display24. The recognition module for the input on the handwriting region30may be integrated in the driver14or the microcontroller10, or may be an individual part coupled to the driver14or the microcontroller10. Pressing the mode switch32will determine the operational mode of the touchpad12. The menu key34is used to call a predetermined menu or data list. The clear key36is used to clear or correct the words, numbers, symbols or graphics inputted on the handwriting region30or displayed on the display24. Words, numbers, symbols or graphics inputted on the handwriting region30are sent to the microcontroller10for the recognition module thereof to recognize and display on the display24. After finishing an input of a single word or a word string, by pressing the enter key38, the word or word string will be transmitted to the controlled apparatus by the signal generator22.

As shown inFIG. 3, a remote controller40including the apparatus shown inFIG. 1is used to operate a controlled apparatus42. In addition to some realistic keys, the remote controller40provides a key function and a handwriting function by the touchpad12thereon. During an operation, the input on the touchpad12is shown on the display24of the remote controller40. The controlled apparatus42may be a digital AV equipment such as video recorder/player, digital AV disk player, digital video disc (DVD) player, stereo player, and home theater system, a digital information apparatus such as multimedia personal computer (PC), projector, and set-top-box (STB), or a home appliance such as television and air conditioner. In addition to usual operations, the remote controller40may provide more operational functions for manipulating the controlled apparatus42, such as searching programs or songs on digital AV disk, set-top-box, high-definition television (HDTV) or digital television, or in system of movie-on-demand (MOD), video-on-demand (VOD), or multimedia-on-demand (MMOD). However, unlike a conventional remote controller, a user can input a keyword on the touchpad12for preceding a search command to search a file, a program or a song on the controlled apparatus42. To name or rename a file is another function that a conventional remote controller could not provide. After selecting a specific file, a new file name is given thereto by writing it on the touchpad12. These operational functions make a user to control or operate the controlled apparatus42more easily, and make the remote controller40to be more powerful, to create a user-defined program list and to name or rename a recorded program or a song.

FIG. 4shows another embodiment of a remote controller according to the present invention, which also comprises the microcontroller10, the driver14and the signal generator22. In this embodiment, however, a touchpad52does not provide a key function. Instead, a realistic keyboard54coupled to the microcontroller10provides the key function. The touchpad52provides each mentioned function in the first embodiment except for the key function. The keyboard54is coupled to the microcontroller10with a bus50to generate a keying signal to the microcontroller10in response to user's operations. Two recognition modules56and58are included hereof. The recognition module56is used to detect the number of fingers touching on the touchpad52, and as shown inFIG. 5for example, a signal detected by the touchpad52has a waveform60including three peaks62divided by two valleys64, which indicates there are three fingers touching on the touchpad52at the same time. Different numbers of fingers may stand for different commands to simplify the user's operations. On the other hand, the recognition module58is used to recognize the trace on the touchpad52, and as shown inFIG. 6for example, a trace66written on the touchpad52is recognized by the recognition module58into words, numbers, symbols or graphics. In other embodiments, the recognition modules56and58can be integrated in the driver14or the microcontroller10.

As shown inFIG. 7, a remote controller68including the apparatus shown inFIG. 4is used to operate a controlled apparatus70. No display is provided on the remote controller68, and instead, a display72on the controlled apparatus70is used to display the words, numbers, symbols or graphics inputted on the touchpad52.FIG. 8is provided to illustrate a further function of the remote controller68. Written on the touchpad52, an upward pen stroke74, a downward pen stroke78, a leftward pen stroke78and a rightward pen stroke80are defined as four different commands, respectively. For example, the upward pen stroke74and the downward pen stroke76represent to scroll a menu upward and downward, respectively, the leftward pen stroke78represents an undo command, and the rightward pen stroke80represents an enter command. In other embodiments, the leftward pen stroke78and the rightward pen stroke80may be defined as forward motion and backward motion of a program on an AV apparatus, such as video recorder/player and DVD player. With the functions implemented by the touchpad52, users will operate the controlled apparatus70more easily.

More operational modes may be further provided by a touchpad on a remote controller according to the present invention. As shown inFIG. 9, the touchpad52can be programmed to have one or more regions. By operating a mode switch on the remote controller68, the touchpad52can be switched to a mouse mode, a scroll mode or a graphic mode. When the touchpad52is switched to the mouse mode, there are a cursor region, a horizontal scroll region and a vertical scroll region for a user to control the movement of a cursor on a monitor by operating on the cursor region and to scroll the horizontal and vertical scroll bars of a window on the monitor by operating on the horizontal and vertical scroll regions. Alternatively, under a mouse mode, only a cursor region is provided for the control of a cursor on a monitor. When the touchpad52is switched to the scroll mode, the whole operatable region of the touchpad52becomes a scroll region, on which a user may slip his finger to directly control a window on a monitor to scroll upward, downward, leftward and rightward, and/or to directly control a menu on the controlled apparatus70to move forward and backward, and/or to change menus on the controlled apparatus70. Different from the scroll regions under the mouse mode, the operations on the scroll region under the scroll mode may directly scroll a window, move on a menu, or jump between menus. When the touchpad52is switched to the graphic mode, the whole operatable region of the touchpad52becomes a graphic region for graphic inputs thereon. By operating with fingers or pens directly on the graphic region, users are allowed to sketch drawings, edit drawings and send them to the controlled apparatus70. The graphic mode is significantly different from the handwriting mode. Under the handwriting mode, when a user stops to write on the touchpad52for a while, the recognition module58of the remote controller68will automatically recognize the trace on the touchpad52for the input. However, the response time to determine the handwriting input may be adjusted upon user's request. While under the graphic mode, it is an enter command issued by the user to complete the graphic input on the touchpad52.

In some embodiments, protrusion may be formed at one or more key patterns on a touchpad for the purpose of increasing the touch feeling of the operational finger, and with proper signal compensation, the operations of a handwriting input or under other operational modes will be the same as the operations on a planar touchpad.FIG. 10is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment for the touchpad12shown inFIG. 1, on which protrusions82are formed at where the virtual keys are defined by the key patterns28. When operating on the touchpad12, the user may have much feeling of pressing the virtual keys from the protrusions82. Alternatively, other profiles such as waving curved surfaces and rough surfaces may be formed on the touchpad52to increase the touch feeling for the user's finger.