Abstract:
A display apparatus is provided. The display apparatus comprises a display module and an antenna module. The display module is adapted to display a plurality of function icons. When the antenna module detects the approaching of an input device, such as the finger of the user or a metal element, the display module displays an indicator. The indicator is able to overlap at least one of the plurality of function icons, and the user can conveniently and correctly choose the function icon he or she needs without touching the display apparatus.

Description:
This application claims priority to Taiwan Patent Application No. 097136293 filed on Sep. 22, 2008, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention provides a display apparatus, and more particularly, provides a display apparatus with an antenna module so that users can select a function without touching the display apparatus. 
     2. Descriptions of the Related Art 
     With the coming of the information age, various portable electronic apparatuses are widely used. To enhance the competitiveness of the products, almost all manufacturers of portable electronic apparatuses are making efforts to integrate various new functions into the products. Users often need to use various objects as media to control electronic products. Generally, when using a portable electronic apparatus such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or any other wireless communication device, a display apparatus, e.g., a touch display or a non-touch display, will display a plurality of function icons for a user&#39;s selection. For example, touch panels generally fall into four categories: resistive touch panels, capacitive touch panels, surface acoustic wave touch panels and optical touch panels, which are adapted to sense different objects so that the user is allowed to properly select a desired function properly. On the other hand, in order for the user to select a desired function, non-touch displays mostly require the use of a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or a keyboard or any other similar device) for controlling an indicator on the display. 
     Portable electronic apparatuses can only be provided with small-sized displays in consideration of the size of the portable electronic apparatuses themselves. In application, if a function icon presented on the display is relatively small or if the indicator fails to give a stable indication, the user might touch the wrong icon, making it difficult to select the desired function and causing unnecessary problems. The problem is especially common when the user uses a finger as the object to operate the capacitive touch display. 
     Currently, some portable electronic apparatuses that have incorporated capacitive touch displays are using application software. When the user clicks a certain function icon, a local area around the function icon is magnified so that through the magnified image, the user may easily select a key corresponding to the desired function, thereby reducing errors and mistakes. However, in application, the user has to enable the local image magnifying function before he or she can select a desired function to be enabled, leading to an overall decreased operational efficiency. Furthermore, the locally magnified image also indirectly interferes with the normal presentation of other images on the display. 
     Accordingly, it is highly desirable in the art to provide a display apparatus for use in a touch display and/or non-touch display that allows users to properly select a desired function without interfering with the presentation of original images on the display. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One objective of this invention is to provide a display apparatus in which at least one electromagnetic induction space is established by an antenna module, so that the antenna module can detect a relative position of an object when the object enters the at least one electromagnetic induction space. In this way, by using the object, the user is able to move an indicator displayed on the display apparatus to a desired function icon. 
     Another objective of this invention is to provide a display apparatus that, by means of at least one electromagnetic induction space established by an antenna module, allows the user to select a function without touching the display apparatus. 
     This invention provides a display apparatus, which comprises a display panel, a display module, an antenna module and a control circuit. The display module is disposed inside the display panel, and is configured to display a plurality of function icons via the display panel for selection by the user. The antenna module is adapted to establish at least one electromagnetic induction space outside the display panel. The antenna module is adapted to generate at least one electromagnetic induction signal in response to the position of the object. The control circuit is configured to generate a relative position signal in response to the at least one electromagnetic induction signal. The display module is configured to display an indicator on the display module in response to the relative position signal, and is configured to select and activate a function icon in the region indicated by the indicator. 
     The detailed technology and preferred embodiments implemented for the subject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanying the appended drawings for people skilled in this field to well appreciate the features of the claimed invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view illustrating the internal circuitry of the first embodiment of a display apparatus according to this invention; 
         FIG. 2   a  is a schematic perspective view of the first embodiment of the display apparatus according to this invention; 
         FIG. 2   b  is a schematic side view of the first embodiment of a display apparatus according to this invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of a window illustrating an operation of the display module according to this invention; 
         FIG. 4   a  is a schematic side view of the second embodiment of the display apparatus according to this invention; and 
         FIG. 4   b  is a schematic side view of the third embodiment of the display apparatus according to this invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In the following description, this invention will be explained with reference to embodiments thereof. This invention relates to a display apparatus which, by use of an antenna module, allows the user to select the desired function without having to touch the display apparatus. However, these embodiments are not intended to limit this invention to any specific environment, applications or particular implementations described in these embodiments. Therefore, the description of these embodiments is only for a purpose of an illustration rather than to a limitation. It should be noted that in the following embodiments and attached drawings, elements not related directly to this invention are omitted from depiction; and dimensional relationships among individual elements in the attached drawings are illustrated only for ease of understanding, but not to limit the actual scale. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic view of the internal circuitry of the first embodiment of a display apparatus  1  according to this invention. The display apparatus  1  comprises a display panel  11  (illustrated in  FIG. 2   a , which depicts a schematic perspective view of the display apparatus of this invention), a display module  12 , an antenna module  13  and a control module  14 . The display apparatus of this invention is applicable to portable electronic apparatuses that incorporate a touch display and/or a non-touch display. 
       FIG. 2   a  illustrates a schematic perspective view of the first embodiment of the display apparatus according to this invention. The display module  12 , which is disposed inside the display panel  11 , is configured to display a plurality of function icons via the display panel  11 . For example, the display module  12  may display the time zone and time data pertaining to a region where the user lives, as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     In addition,  FIG. 2   b  illustrates a schematic side view of the first embodiment of the display apparatus according to this invention to facilitate the description of the electromagnetic induction space established by the antenna module. In this embodiment, the antenna module  13  is disposed adjacently to the display panel  11 . The antenna module  13  is adapted to sequentially establish a first electromagnetic induction space  21 , a second electromagnetic induction space  23  and a third electromagnetic induction space  25  outside the display panel  11 . The antenna module  13  comprises four sensing antennas  131 ,  132 ,  133  and  134  disposed inside the display panel  11  at the four corners thereof. In other embodiments, the antenna module  13  may also comprise at least two sensing antennas to establish each of the aforesaid electromagnetic induction spaces and to sense the position of the object  16 . The sensing antennas  131 ˜ 134  may be implemented by a printed circuit board (PCB) formed with metal wiring, which is simple in structure and sensitive to the object. 
     Then, when the object  16  enters the first electromagnetic induction space  21 , the antenna module  13  is adapted to generate a first electromagnetic induction signal. When the object  16  moves in the first electromagnetic induction space  21 , the antenna module  13  will generate a first electromagnetic induction signal that varies with the positions of the object  16 . For example, in this embodiment, when the object  16  is closer to the sensing antenna  131  but further away from the sensing antenna  134 , the sensing antenna  131  will excite relatively stronger electromagnetic induction while the sensing antenna  134  will excite relatively weaker electromagnetic induction. In response to the movement of the object  16 , the sensing antennas  131 ˜ 134  jointly excites the first electromagnetic induction signal that is varying. The control circuit  14  is electrically connected to the antenna module  13 , and is configured to generate a relative position signal representing the relative position of the object relative to the display panel  11  in response to the first electromagnetic induction signal. The display module  12  is adapted to display an indicator in response to the relative position signal. Thus, as the object  16  moves in the first electromagnetic induction space  21 , the indicator moves within the display panel accordingly in response to a change in a position of the object  16 . In this way, the user is able to move the indicator to a desired position, i.e., the user can have at least a portion of the indicator overlap one of the plurality of function icons. 
     The second electromagnetic induction space  23  is located between the first electromagnetic induction space  21  and the display panel  11 . When the object  16  keeps at least a portion of the indicator overlapped with one of the plurality of function icons presented on the display module and enters the second electromagnetic induction space  23 , the antenna module  13  is adapted to generate a second electromagnetic induction signal. Then in response to the second electromagnetic induction signal, the control circuit  14  generates a select signal for the object  16  relative to the display panel  11  so that the display module  12  is adapted to select one of the plurality of function icons according to the relative position signal and the select signal. 
     The third electromagnetic induction space  25  is located between the second electromagnetic induction space  23  and the display panel  11 . When the object  16  keeps the indicator at a status where one of the plurality of function icons is selected and enters the third electromagnetic induction space  25 , the antenna module  13  is adapted to generate a third electromagnetic induction signal. Then in response to the third electromagnetic induction signal, the control circuit  14  generates the activation signal for the object  16  relative to the display panel  11  so that the display module  12  is adapted to select one of the plurality of function icons according to the relative position signal, the select signal and the activation signal. 
     In particular, when the position of the object  16  is adapted to keep the selected function icon under the selected status, the selected function icon can be activated successfully once the object  16  enters the third electromagnetic induction space  25 . 
     In this embodiment, the first electromagnetic induction space  21 , the second electromagnetic induction space  23  and the third electromagnetic induction space  25  respectively have an average vertical dimension of substantially about 3 cm, 2 cm and 2 mm; i.e., the first electromagnetic induction space  21 , the second electromagnetic induction space  23  and the third electromagnetic induction space  25  respectively have an effective detection range of about 3 cm, 2 cm and 2 mm in the vertical direction. The effective detection ranges of the electromagnetic induction spaces depend on the dimensions of the display panel. These average vertical dimensions are provided only for purpose of illustration, rather than to limit this invention. In other embodiments, depending on different designs, the electromagnetic induction spaces may have average vertical dimensions larger than those of this embodiment by even an order of magnitude. For example, an average vertical dimension is 20-30 cm for the first electromagnetic induction space when the display apparatus is used in an on-board portable electronic apparatus. 
       FIG. 3  depicts an exemplary process where this invention is applied. An indicator  30  generated on the display module  12  is a cursor-like arrow, which can be moved by a user by moving the object  16 . In this embodiment, the user is desired to select a function icon  32 , i.e., a date icon. When the object  16  enters the first electromagnetic induction space  21  at a distance of about 5 cm above the display panel  11 , entrance of the object  16  will be detected by the antenna module  13 . In response to this, the antenna module  13  generates a first electromagnetic induction signal. The control circuit  14  generates a relative position signal for the object  16  relative to the display panel  11  while the display module  12  displays the indicator  30  in response to this relative position signal. When the object  16  enters the second electromagnetic induction space  23 , a frame appears around the function icon  32  as shown in  FIG. 3  to inform the user that the function icon  32  has been properly selected. Once the object  16  further enters the third electromagnetic induction space  25 , the function icon  32  is activated to allow the alteration of the date. 
     It should be noted that apart from the manner described above, the selected function icon may also be activated in other manners, which will be described respectively hereinbelow. 
       FIG. 4   a  illustrates a schematic side view of the second embodiment of the display apparatus according to this invention. The display apparatus  4  of this embodiment has the same internal circuitry as that of  FIG. 1 . The first electromagnetic induction space  42  and second electromagnetic induction space  43  are established outside the display panel  41 . This embodiment differs from the first embodiment mostly in that the third electromagnetic induction space is unnecessary in the second embodiment. When an object  46  approaches the display panel  41  from above, the control circuit detects a staying time for the object  46  in the second electromagnetic induction space  43 . If the staying time is longer than the predetermined time, the control circuit generates an activation signal so that the display module is adapted to activate the function icon in response to the relative position signal, the select signal and the activation signal. That is, in this embodiment, once a function icon is selected, the display apparatus  4  can activate the selected function icon by determining the staying time of the object that stays in the second electromagnetic induction space  43  without establishing the third electromagnetic induction space. 
       FIG. 4   b  illustrates a schematic side view of the third embodiment of the display apparatus according to this invention. The display apparatus  5  of this embodiment has the same internal circuitry as that of  FIG. 1 . The first electromagnetic induction space  52  and second electromagnetic induction space  53  are established outside the display panel  51 . This embodiment differs from the first embodiment mostly in that the third electromagnetic induction space is unnecessary in the third embodiment. When an object  56  is positioned above the display panel  51  and then moves away from the second electromagnetic induction space  53  in a direction away from the display panel  51 , the control circuit generates an activation signal so that the display module is adapted to activate the function icon in response to the relative position signal, the select signal and the activation signal. That is, in this embodiment, once the user selects a function icon and moves the object away from the display panel  51 , the selected function icon can be activated without establishing a third electromagnetic induction space. 
     In all the embodiments described above, the objects are unable to emit signals in an active way, and are selected from one of the following groups: a user&#39;s finger; and a metal object. All the embodiments described above are applicable to touch displays and/or non-touch displays. The above disclosure is related to the detailed technical contents and inventive features thereof. People skilled in this field may proceed with a variety of modifications and replacements based on the disclosures and suggestions of the invention as described without departing from the characteristics thereof. Nevertheless, although such modifications and replacements are not fully disclosed in the above descriptions, they have substantially been covered in the following claims as appended.