Patent Publication Number: US-2009231288-A1

Title: Hand-held electronic device and combined input method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electronic device and an input method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hand-held electronic device and a combined input method thereof. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     With the fast development of hand-held electronic devices, such as laptops, PDA, digital cameras, digital displays, mobile phones etc, the hand-held electronic devices usually have a touch panel. The touch panel is the apparatus attached to a screen of the hand-held electronic device. The user can lightly touch the option displayed on the screen, such that the hand-held electronic device may transmit data or show a message. 
     In the principle of induction, the touch panel may be a capacitive touch panel, a resistive touch panel, an infrared touch panel or an acoustic wave touch panel. In the field of the hand-held electronic devices, the resistive touch panel is widely used for handwriting and the capacitive touch panel has become more popular. 
     However, users may ergonomically operate the resistive touch panel using the stylus. Nevertheless, touch sensing of the resistive touch panel is commonplace for single point of contact. On the other hand, multi-touch sensing enables the user to interact with the capacitive touch panel with more than one finger at a time. Nevertheless, it is not desirable that the capacitive touch panel is used for handwriting because the area of induction is too large. 
     For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a new hand-held electronic device and a combined input method thereof, such that the user may conveniently and quickly operate the new hand-held electronic device by executing the combined input method. 
     SUMMARY 
     It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a hand-held electronic device. 
     In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the hand-held electronic device comprises a first touch panel module, a second touch panel module and a central processing unit. The first touch panel module generates a first touch signal when touched, transforms the first touch signal into a first digital voltage and outputs the first digital voltage. The second touch panel module generates a second touch signal when touched, transforms the second touch signal into a second digital voltage and outputs the second digital voltage. The central processing unit coupled with the first touch panel module and the second touch panel module receives the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage, performs a function calculation based on the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage to perform a first function, a second function or a third function selectively. Moreover, a combined input method for the hand-held electronic device is also disclosed in specification. 
     It is another objective of the present invention to provide a combined input method for the hand-held electronic device. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a combined input method comprises the following steps. A first touch signal is generated when touched, the first touch signal is transformed into a first digital voltage, and the first digital voltage is outputted. A second touch signal is generated when touched, the second touch signal is transformed into a second digital voltage, and the second digital voltage is outputted. Then, the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage are received. Last, a function calculation is performed based on the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage, and a first function, a second function or a third function is selectively performed. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a hand-held electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chat of a combined input method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a hand-held electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The hand-held electronic device  100  may comprise a first touch panel module  102 , a second touch panel module  104 , a central processing unit (CPU)  106  and a memory  112 . The central processing unit  106  is coupled with the first touch panel module  102 , the second touch panel module  104  and the memory  112 . If the user wants to operate the hand-held electronic device  100 , he or she may touch the first touch panel module  102 . When touched the first touch panel module  102  generates a first touch signal, transforms the first touch signal into a first digital voltage and outputs the first digital voltage. Alternatively, or additionally, if the user wants to operate the hand-held electronic device  100 , he or she may touch the second touch panel module  104 . When touched the second touch panel module  104  generates a second touch signal when touched, transforms the second touch signal into a second digital voltage and outputs the second digital voltage. Then, the central processing unit  106  receives the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage, performs a function calculation based on the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage, where the function calculation may transform the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage into a first position data and a second position data, respectively. Then, the central processing unit  106  may perform a corresponding function selected from the group consisting of a first function, a second function and a third function according to the function calculation. For example, the central processing unit  106  may perform the first function according to the first position data. Alternatively, the central processing unit  106  may perform the second function according to the second position data. Alternatively, the central processing unit  106  may perform the third function according to the first set of second position data and the second position data, where the third function corresponds to a combination of the first and second position data stored in the memory  112 . Thus, the user may touch the first touch panel module  102  and/or the second touch panel module  104  and then the central processing unit  106  may perform the first function, the second function or the third function, which achieves an objective to operate the hand-held electronic device  100 . 
     In  FIG. 1 , the first touch panel module  102  may comprise a first touch area  107  and a first analog-to-digital converter  108 . The first touch area  107  is electrically coupled with the first analog-to-digital converter  108 . The first touch area  107  generates the first touch signal when touched and outputs the first touch signal to the first analog-to-digital converter  108 . Then, the first analog-to-digital converter  108  receives the first touch signal, transforms the first touch signal into a first digital voltage, and outputs the first digital voltage to the central processing unit  106 . Additionally, the second touch panel module  104  may comprise a second touch area  109  and a second analog-to-digital converter  110 . The second touch area  109  is electrically coupled with the second analog-to-digital converter  110 . The second touch area  109  generates the second touch signal when touched and outputs the second touch signal to the second analog-to-digital converter  110 . Then, The second analog-to-digital converter  110  receives the second touch signal, transforms the second touch signal into a second digital voltage, and outputs the second digital voltage to the central processing unit  106 . 
     In an embodiment, if the user touches the first touch panel module  102 , the first touch panel module  102  outputs the first digital voltage. Then, the central processing unit  106  receives the first digital voltage and transforms the first digital voltage into the first position data. After the first position data is received, the central processing unit  106  performs the function calculation that may determine whether the second position data is received during a first predetermined period. Then, the central processing unit  106  performs the first function according to the first position data when the second position data is not received during the first predetermined period. For example, the first predetermined period is 2 seconds. After the user touches the first touch panel module  102 , however, she or he doesn&#39;t touch the second touch panel module  104  during the 2 seconds. For this reason, the central processing unit  106  performs the first function. On the other hand, the central processing unit  106  performs the function calculation that may determine whether the first position data is received between a period of receiving two sequential second position data when the first position data is received during the first predetermined period. For example, if the user changes the points of contact that he or she touched on the second touch area  109  of the second touch panel module  104 , the second set of second position data may be generated. Alternatively, if the user&#39;s finger or the stylus leaves the second touch area  109  of the second touch panel module  104 , the central processing unit  106  performs the function calculation anew. On the other hand, the central processing unit  106  performs the second function according to the second position data when the first position data is not received between the period of receiving two sequential second position data. In contrast, the central processing unit  106  searches for the third function corresponding with the first and second position data when the first position data is received between the period of receiving two sequential second position data, where the third function is stored in the memory, and performs the third function. Thus, the user can selectively touch the first touch panel module  102  and/or the second touch panel module  104 , such that the hand-held electronic device  100  performs the corresponding function. It is convenient for the user to quickly operate the hand-held electronic device  100 . 
     It should be noted that the first touch panel module  102  may be a capacitive touch panel module, a resistive touch panel module, an infrared touch panel module or an acoustic wave touch panel module. Alternatively, or additionally, the second touch panel module  104  may be also a capacitive touch panel module, a resistive touch panel module, an infrared touch panel module or an acoustic wave touch panel module. It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that touch panel modules may be varied while remaining within the scope of the present invention. 
     For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a flow chat of a combined input method for the hand-held electronic device  100  according to an embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 2 , if the user touches the first touch panel module  102 , the first touch area  107  generates the first touch signal when touched and outputs the first touch signal to the first analog-to-digital converter  108  in step  210 . Then, the first analog-to-digital converter  108  receives the first touch signal, transforms the first touch signal into a first digital voltage, and outputs the first digital voltage to the central processing unit  106  in step  220 . Then, the central processing unit  106  receives the first digital voltage and transforms the first digital voltage into the first position data in step  240 . Alternatively, or additionally, if the user touches the second touch panel module  104 , the second touch area  109  generates the second touch signal when touched and outputs the second touch signal to the second analog-to-digital converter  110  in step  212 . Then, the second analog-to-digital converter  110  receives the second touch signal, transforms the second touch signal into a second digital voltage, and outputs the second digital voltage to the central processing unit  106  in step  222 . Then, the central processing unit  106  receives the second digital voltage and transforms the second digital voltage into the second position data in step  242 . 
     In an embodiment, the central processing unit  106  may perform the function calculation based on the first digital voltage and the second digital voltage and then the central processing unit  106  may selectively perform the first function, the second function or the third function according to the function calculation. First, after the first position data is received, the function calculation is capable of determining whether the second position data is received during the first predetermined period in step  250 . Then, the central processing unit  106  performs the first function when the second position data is not received during the first predetermined period in step  252 . Alternatively, in step  260 , the function calculation is capable of determining whether the first position data is received between a period of receiving two sequential second position data when the first position data is received during the first predetermined period. For example, if the user changes the points of contact that she or he touched on the second touch area  109  of the second touch panel module  104 , the second set of second position data may be generated, alternatively, if the finger or the stylus of the user leaves the second touch area  109  of the second touch panel module  104 , the function calculation is performed anew. Then, in step  262 , the central processing unit  106  performs the second function according to the second position data when the first position data is not received between the period of receiving two sequential second position data. In contrast, in step  270 , the central processing unit  106  searches for the third function corresponding with the first and second position data when the first position data is received between the period of receiving two sequential second position data, where the third function is stored in a memory. Finally, the central processing unit  106  performs the third function in step  280 . Thus, it is convenient for the user to quickly operate the hand-held electronic device  100  by executing the combined input method. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.