CN101882029B - Optical touch system and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides an optical touch system which comprises an optical touch device, a control device and a rotating device. When the control device receives a mode switching signal, the control device selects a corresponding specific use mode from a plurality of preset use modes according to the mode switching signal, and the specific use mode corresponds to a specific rotation angle. The rotating device rotates the optical touch device by the specific rotating angle, so that the optical touch device rotates from a first position to a second position, and a user can input actions to the optical touch device according to the specific using mode. The invention also provides a method for operating the optical touch device.

Description

Optical touch system and operating method thereof

technical field

The present invention relates to a touch control system, in particular to an optical touch control device capable of rotating an optical touch device from above the screen to another appropriate position by using a rotation mechanism, so as to provide users with various simulated input modes. control system and its method of operation.

Background technique

In recent years, with the continuous development of technology related to image display, various new types of display devices appearing on the market gradually replace traditional cathode ray tube displays. Among them, the touch-sensitive liquid crystal display device not only saves power and does not take up space, but also has the advantage of directly using the contact method for input, so it can be loved by ordinary consumers and has become the mainstream in the display market and is widely used. In various electronic products, such as automatic teller machines, point-of-sale terminals, visitor guidance systems or industrial control systems, etc.

Generally speaking, currently common touch devices include resistive touch devices, capacitive touch devices, and optical touch devices, which use different detection principles and methods to detect single or multiple touch points. Among the various types of touch devices mentioned above, optical touch devices have become another alternative to traditional resistive touch devices and capacitive touch devices due to their good light transmission properties. Common techniques.

However, traditional optical touch devices must be equipped with many light source emitters and light receivers around the panel for detection of touch points, which will cause additional space requirements for the entire panel device, making it impossible to further reduce its volume. Its production cost is considerable, and high-resolution touch detection cannot be achieved. Recently, some people have applied the triangulation measurement method to the optical touch technology to detect touch points. Although this method improves the resolution of touch input and reduces the number of light source transmitters and light receivers, it still cannot solve the problem of additional space requirements, and instead brings cumbersome calculations and the need for frame reflection strips. precise positioning etc.

In addition, due to the ever-changing technology and the actual needs of modern people's busy lives, the 3C products currently on the market must emphasize the advantages of lightness, lightness, shortness, and portability. It is not easy to carry, and it is difficult to be favored by ordinary consumers. For example, notebook computers, which have become more and more popular in recent years, continue to follow the trend of thin, light and small. However, as shown in FIG. 1 , since the base 12 of the traditional notebook computer 1 still needs to be provided with input units such as a keyboard 120 and a touch panel 122 for the user to perform input operations, the thickness of the base 12 It is difficult for d1 to continue to shrink, and it is bound to become a major obstacle to the development of ultra-thin notebook computers.

Therefore, the present invention proposes an optical touch system and its operating method to solve the above problems.

Contents of the invention

The present invention proposes an optical touch system capable of rotating an optical touch device from above the screen to another proper position by using a rotation mechanism, so as to provide users with various simulated input modes and an operation method thereof. Since the rotated optical touch device can replace the functions of input units such as keyboards and touch pads originally installed on the base of the notebook computer, it can effectively save the space of the base of the notebook computer and reduce the size of the entire notebook computer. thickness of. The first specific embodiment according to the present invention is an optical touch system. In this embodiment, the optical touch system includes an optical touch device, a control device and a rotation device. Wherein, the rotating device is respectively connected to the optical touch device and the control device. When the control device receives the mode switch signal, the control device selects a corresponding specific use mode from a plurality of preset use modes according to the mode switch signal, and the specific use mode corresponds to a specific rotation angle. The rotating device rotates the optical touch device by the specific rotation angle, causing the optical touch device to rotate from the first position to the second position, thereby providing the user with the optical touch device according to the specific use mode. The action of making an input.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, further comprising: a mode switching device connected to the control device, when the mode switching device is pressed or touched, the mode switching device generates the mode switching signal to the control module.

According to the optical touch control system of the present invention, the specific use mode is an input mode of a simulated keyboard, an input mode of a simulated touchpad/handwriting pad or an input mode of a simulated joystick.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, wherein when the specific use mode is the simulated keyboard input mode, the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, the base is provided with an input area, and the input area includes A plurality of sub-input areas, when an object approaches or touches the first sub-input area in the plurality of sub-input areas, if the first sub-input area corresponds to the first keyboard key, the data processing device will display the corresponding character, symbol or function associated with the first keyboard key.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, when the specific use mode is the simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode, the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, and the base is provided with an input area , for an object to approach or touch the input area for handwriting input or function selection.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, when the specific use mode is the simulated joystick input mode, the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, and the base is provided with a positioning point, when an object When approaching or touching the positioning point, the optical touch device starts to sense multiple tilt angles of the object at different times and determines the rotation angle and rotation direction of the object according to the multiple tilt angles. The data processing The object displayed on the device will move correspondingly according to the rotation angle and the rotation direction.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, wherein the optical touch device includes a transmitting module and a receiving module, the transmitting module and the receiving module are respectively arranged on the first side of the surface of the optical touch device and opposite to the On the second side of the first side, the transmitting module is used to uniformly emit multiple rays of light, the receiving module is used to receive the multiple rays of light, and at least a part of the transmitting module and/or the receiving module has a light guiding function. composed of optical units.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, wherein the optical touch device includes a first optical module and a first light sensing module, the first optical module and the first light sensing module are respectively arranged on the optical touch The first side of the surface of the control device and the second side opposite to the first side, the first optical module receives the first light source and uniformly emits a plurality of first direction light rays, when the plurality of first direction light rays When the at least one ray of light in the first direction is blocked by an object above the surface, the first photo-sensing module generates a first sensing result according to the receiving conditions of the plurality of ray of light in the first direction.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, wherein the first optical module includes a plurality of light guide units, the first light sensing module includes a plurality of photoelectric sensing units, and the first photoelectric sensing units in the plurality of photoelectric sensing units The sensing unit corresponds to the first light guide unit and the first position of the plurality of light guide units, and is used for receiving light in a first direction emitted by the first light guide unit.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, wherein the optical touch device further includes a second optical module, a second photo-sensing module and a processing module, the second optical module and the second photo-sensing module are respectively arranged on On the third side of the surface and on the fourth side opposite to the third side, the second optical module receives the second light source and uniformly emits a plurality of second-direction rays of light, when at least one of the plurality of second-direction rays of light When a ray of light in the second direction is blocked by the object above the surface, the second photo-sensing module generates a second sensing result according to the receiving conditions of the multiple ray of light in the second direction, and the processing module generates a second sensing result according to the first sensing Determine the position of the touch point corresponding to the object on the surface based on the detection result and the second sensing result.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, the optical touch device further includes a rotating light source emitting module for emitting the first light source and the second light source to the first optical module and the second optical module respectively .

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, the rotating light source emitting module also sequentially emits multiple scanning rays, and the multiple scanning rays are evenly distributed on the surface, the first light sensing module and The second photo-sensing module receives the multiple scanning rays and generates a third sensing result and a fourth sensing result according to the receiving conditions of the multiple scanning rays, and the processing module generates the third sensing result according to the first sensing result , the second sensing result, the third sensing result and the fourth sensing result determine the position of the touch point on the surface.

According to the optical touch system of the present invention, after the processing module determines the position of the touch point, the processing module will find out the specific function corresponding to the position of the touch point according to the lookup table, and execute the specific function.

The second specific embodiment according to the present invention is an operation method of an optical touch system. In this embodiment, the optical touch system includes an optical touch device, a control device and a rotation device. The method includes the following steps: (a) when the control device receives a mode switch signal, the control device selects a corresponding specific use mode from a plurality of preset use modes according to the mode switch signal, wherein the specific use mode Corresponding to a specific rotation angle; (b) the rotating device rotates the optical touch device by the specific rotation angle, causing the optical touch device to rotate from the first position to the second position, thereby allowing the user to rotate the optical touch device according to the specific rotation angle; The action of using the mode to input to the optical touch device.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein the specific usage mode is an input mode of a simulated keyboard, an input mode of a simulated touchpad/handwriting pad or an input mode of a simulated joystick.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein when the specific use mode is the simulated keyboard input mode, the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, the base is provided with an input area, and the input area includes a plurality of sub-input areas , when an object approaches or touches the first sub-input area among the plurality of sub-input areas, if the first sub-input area corresponds to the first keyboard key, the data processing device will display the The character, symbol, or function of a keyboard key.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein when the specific use mode is the simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode, the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, and the base is provided with an input area for An object approaches or touches the input area for handwriting input or function selection.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein when the specific use mode is the simulated joystick input mode, the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, the base is provided with an anchor point, when an object approaches or touches When the positioning point is reached, the optical touch device starts to sense multiple tilt angles of the object at different times and determines the rotation angle and rotation direction of the object according to the multiple tilt angles, and the data processing device displays the The object will move according to the rotation angle and the rotation direction.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein the optical touch device includes a transmitting module and a receiving module, the transmitting module and the receiving module are respectively arranged on the first side of the surface of the optical touch device and opposite to the first side On the second side, the transmitting module is used to uniformly emit multiple rays of light, the receiving module is used to receive the multiple rays of light, and at least a part of the transmitting module and/or the receiving module is covered by an optical unit with a light guiding function constitute.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein the optical touch device includes a first optical module and a first light sensing module, the first optical module and the first light sensing module are respectively arranged on the surface of the optical touch device The first side of the first side and the second side opposite to the first side, the first optical module receives the first light source and uniformly emits a plurality of first-direction rays of light, when at least one of the plurality of first-direction rays of light When a directional ray is blocked by an object above the surface, the first photo-sensing module generates a first sensing result according to the receiving conditions of the plurality of first directional rays.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein the first optical module includes a plurality of light guiding units, the first optical sensing module includes a plurality of photoelectric sensing units, and the first photoelectric sensing unit in the plurality of photoelectric sensing units corresponds to The first light guide unit and the first position among the plurality of light guide units are used to receive the light in the first direction emitted by the first light guide unit.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein the optical touch device further includes a second optical module, a second photo-sensing module and a processing module, the second optical module and the second photo-sensing module are respectively arranged on the first surface of the surface On the third side and the fourth side relative to the third side, the second optical module receives the second light source and uniformly emits a plurality of second direction light rays, when at least one of the plurality of second direction light rays is in the second direction When the light is blocked by the object above the surface, the second photo-sensing module generates a second sensing result according to the receiving conditions of the plurality of second-directional light rays, and the processing module generates a second sensing result according to the first sensing result and the The second sensing result determines the position of the touch point corresponding to the object on the surface.

According to the method of the present invention, the optical touch device further includes a rotating light emitting module for emitting the first light source and the second light source to the first optical module and the second optical module respectively.

According to the method of the present invention, wherein the rotating light source emitting module also sequentially emits multiple scanning rays, the multiple scanning rays are uniformly distributed above the surface, the first light sensing module and the second light The sensing module receives the multiple scanning rays and generates a third sensing result and a fourth sensing result according to the receiving conditions of the multiple scanning rays, and the processing module generates the third sensing result and the fourth sensing result according to the first sensing result, the second The sensing result, the third sensing result and the fourth sensing result determine the position of the touch point on the surface.

The present invention also provides an optical touch system, comprising:

optical touch device;

a rotating device connected to the optical touch device; and

The control device is connected to the rotation device. When the rotation device rotates the optical touch device from the first position to the second position by a specific rotation angle, the control device selects a corresponding one from a plurality of preset use modes. A specific usage mode for the user to perform an input action on the optical touch device according to the specific usage mode.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention can be further understood through the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a traditional notebook computer with a keyboard and a touch panel disposed on a base.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of an optical touch system according to a first specific embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 (A) shows the schematic diagram that the optical touch device is located around the screen of the notebook computer; Fig. 3 (B) shows that the optical touch device controls the touch point T Schematic diagram of sensing.

FIG. 4(A) and FIG. 4(B) are schematic diagrams showing that the rotating device rotates the optical touch device from a first position to a second position according to a specific rotation angle.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the operation of the optical touch device in the simulated keyboard input mode.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the operation of the optical touch device in the simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode.

7 (A) to (C) respectively show schematic diagrams of placing the stylus on the positioning point P and further tilting the stylus to the left or right at a certain angle with the positioning point P as the fulcrum.

8(A)-(D) are schematic diagrams showing that the optical touch device needs to install a light sensing module on the same side of the light emitting module to determine the rotation angle of the contacting object.

FIG. 9 shows a flow chart of the operation method of the optical touch system according to the second specific embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The optical touch system and its operation method proposed by the present invention can use the rotation mechanism to rotate the optical touch device from above the screen to another appropriate position, so as to provide various simulated input modes to the user. It is worth noting that since the rotated optical touch device can simulate and replace the functions of input units such as keyboards and touch pads originally installed on the base of the notebook computer, it can effectively save space on the base of the notebook computer , so as to reduce the thickness of the entire notebook computer, thereby achieving the effect of saving materials and production costs.

The first specific embodiment according to the present invention is an optical touch system. In this embodiment, the optical touch system can be applied to notebook computers or other data processing devices, and has touch input and simulates various input devices (such as keyboards, touch pads, handwriting pads, joysticks, etc.) ) function. Please refer to FIG. 2 , which shows a functional block diagram of the optical touch system.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the optical touch system 2 includes a mode switching device 20 , a control device 22 , a rotating device 24 and an optical touch device 26 . The mode switching device 20 is connected to the control device 22 ; the control device 22 is connected to the rotating device 24 ; and the rotating device 24 is connected to the optical touch device 26 . Assuming that the optical touch system 2 is applied to a notebook computer, in a general screen touch mode, the optical touch device 26 is located around the screen of the notebook computer, and uses optical sensing to enable the screen to have The function of touch input.

Please refer to FIG. 3(A), which shows a schematic diagram of the optical touch device 26 located around the screen of the notebook computer. As shown in FIG. 3(A), the optical touch device 26 includes a rotating light source emitting module 260, a first optical module 261, a second optical module 262, a first light sensing module 263, a second light sensing module 264 and Processing module (not shown in figure). The rotating light source emitting module 260 respectively emits the first light source and the second light source to the first optical module 261 and the second optical module 262 . The first optical module 261 and the first light-sensing module 263 are respectively arranged on the first side and the opposite second side of the surface of the screen; the second optical module 262 and the second light-sensing module 264 are respectively arranged on the surface of the screen The third side and the opposite fourth side. The first optical module 261 and the second optical module 262 respectively include four first light guide units E5 - E8 and four second light guide units E1 - E4 . Wherein, the first light guide units E5-E8 respectively emit first-direction light rays L _x1 -L _x4 parallel to each other; the second light-guide units E1-E4 respectively emit second-direction light rays L _y1 -L _y4 parallel to each other. The first photo-sensing module 263 includes four first photo-sensing units D5-D8; the second photo-sensing module 264 includes four second photo-sensing units D1-D4.

Please refer to FIG. 3(B), which shows a schematic diagram of the optical touch device 26 sensing the touch point T in a general screen touch mode. In fact, the touch point T can be formed by any object, such as a finger, a stylus, etc., and even the object forming the touch point T does not have to touch the surface of the screen, as long as it can block the light on the surface of the screen. Can. As shown in FIG. 3(B), the first photo-sensing module 263 and the second photo-sensing module 264 respectively according to whether the first photo-sensing units D5-D8 and the second photo-sensing units D1-D4 receive the first The directional light and the second directional light generate a first sensing result and a second sensing result.

Then, the processing module of the optical touch device 26 obtains the information that the first photoelectric sensing unit D6 and the second photoelectric sensing unit D2 failed to receive light according to the first sensing result and the second sensing result, and according to Look up the table to get that the first photoelectric sensing unit D6 corresponds to the first light guiding unit E6 and the coordinate X ₂ on the horizontal axis, and the second photoelectric sensing unit D2 corresponds to the second light guiding unit E2 and the vertical axis coordinate Y ₂ . Therefore, the processing module can determine according to the above information that the two-dimensional coordinates of the touch point formed by the object on the surface of the screen should be (X ₂ , Y ₂ ).

The above is the situation where the optical touch device 26 senses the touch point T in the normal screen touch mode. In fact, in some special screen touch situations, in addition to emitting the first light source and the second light source to the first optical module 261 and the second optical module 262 respectively, the rotating light source emitting module 260 can also sequentially A plurality of scanning rays are emitted, and the plurality of scanning rays are evenly distributed on the surface. The first photo-sensing module 263 and the second photo-sensing module 264 receive the multiple scanning rays and generate a third sensing result and a fourth sensing result respectively according to the receiving conditions of the multiple scanning rays. Then, the processing module determines the position of the touch point on the surface according to the first sensing result, the second sensing result, the third sensing result and the fourth sensing result.

In this embodiment, when the user does not want to continue to use the general screen touch mode, but wants to use the optical touch device 26 for other input modes, the user can use a finger or a stylus to press or touch Switching device 20. When the mode switching device 20 is pressed or touched, the mode switching device 20 will generate a mode switching signal and send it to the control module 22 .

When the control device 22 receives the mode switch signal, the control device 22 will select a corresponding specific use mode from a plurality of preset use modes according to the mode switch signal, and the specific use mode corresponds to a specific rotation angle. For example, assuming that the plurality of default usage modes include a simulated keyboard input mode, a simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode and a simulated joystick input mode, and the user wants to select the simulated keyboard input mode, then the control The specific use mode selected by the device 22 is the simulated keyboard input mode, and the specific rotation angle corresponding to the simulated keyboard input mode takes the rotating device 24 (such as a pivot or other device with a rotating function) as the center from the first position (above the screen 30 of the notebook computer 3 ) starts to rotate to the second position (above the base 32 of the notebook computer 3 ), as shown in FIGS. 4(A)-(B).

Then, the rotating device 24 rotates the optical touch device 26 from the first position to the second position according to the specific rotation angle, thereby allowing the user to input the optical touch device according to the specific use mode, Please refer to Fig. 4(A)-(B) for the situation before and after its rotation. It should be noted that, compared with the thickness d1 of the base 12 of the conventional notebook computer 1 shown in FIG. 1, the thickness d2 of the base 32 of the notebook computer 3 shown in FIG. Small. This is because the notebook computer 3 has adopted the optical touch device 26 and the rotating device 24 of the present invention, so the base 32 of the notebook computer 3 need not be provided with a keyboard 120 the same as the base 12 of the traditional notebook computer 1 and the touchpad 122, so the space for setting many buttons, the touchpad and the complex circuit board structure below it can be saved, so that the thickness of the base can be reduced from d1 to d2.

Please refer to FIG. 5 , which shows an example of the operation of the optical touch device 26 in the simulated keyboard input mode. As shown in FIG. 5 , if the base 32 is provided with an input area 33 , and the input area 33 includes a plurality of sub-input areas, wherein the first sub-input area 330 corresponds to the first key K of the keyboard. When the stylus 34 approaches or touches the first sub-input area 330, the optical touch device 26 will detect that the position approached or touched by the stylus 34 falls in a manner similar to FIG. 3(B). Inside the first sub-input area 330 . Since the first sub-input area 330 corresponds to the first keyboard key K, that is, the user intends to press the keyboard key K, therefore, the screen 30 of the notebook computer 3 will display "K".

In practical applications, after the optical touch device 26 has completed the touch point determination, the optical touch device 26 will find out the function, character or symbol corresponding to the sub-input area according to the lookup table, and The function is executed or the character or symbol is displayed on the screen 30 . In fact, the corresponding relationship between the sub-input area and these functions, characters or symbols can be the default value of the system or be set by the user without any limitation.

As for the operation of the optical touch device 26 in the simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode, it is similar to the above-mentioned simulated keyboard input mode, and the base 32 is also provided with an input area 33, which is used for fingers or stylus to approach or Touch the input area 33 to perform handwriting input or function selection. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the user can use the stylus 34 to write a "big" character in the input area 33, and the optical touch device 26 can generate the optical detection result and send it to the notebook computer 3. After the notebook computer 3 performs calculations according to the detection results, it judges that the input character is "big", and displays "big" on the screen 30 .

As for the operation situation of the optical touch device 26 in the simulated joystick input mode, it is more complicated than the above two situations. Please refer to FIG. 7(A)-FIG. 7(C). FIG. 7(A)-FIG. 7(C) respectively show that the stylus 34 is placed on the positioning point P and the stylus 34 is further positioned at the positioning point P. It is a schematic diagram of the fulcrum leaning to the left or right at a certain angle. As shown in FIG. 7(A), a positioning point P is provided on the base 32 of the notebook computer 3 . In fact, the positioning point P may have a concave portion, so as to facilitate the stylus 34 or other objects against the concave portion and use it as a fulcrum to shake. When the user makes the tip of the stylus 34 perpendicular to the base 32 approach or touch the positioning point P, the optical touch device 26 starts to activate the simulated joystick input mode.

Assuming that the object S currently displayed on the screen 30 is the object manipulated by the simulated joystick, as shown in FIG. When the direction of 32 is inclined to the right by an angle θ ₁ , the object S displayed on the screen 30 will move to the right from the original position by a distance m ₁ corresponding to the inclination angle θ ₁ . Similarly, as shown in FIG. 7(C), when the user uses the nib of the stylus 34 as a fulcrum to tilt the stylus from the direction originally perpendicular to the base 32 to the left by an angle _θ2 , the screen 30 displays The object S will move from the original position to the left by a distance m ₂ corresponding to the tilt angle θ ₂ . In fact, the corresponding relationship between the inclination angles θ ₁ , θ ₂ and the distances m ₁ , m ₂ can be a system default value or be set by the user, and is not subject to certain restrictions. Similarly, if the stylus 34 is tilted toward/away from the screen at a certain angle from the original vertical direction of the base 32, the object S displayed on the screen 30 will also move upward/downward corresponding to the angle from the original position. distance.

In this embodiment, when the nib of the stylus 34 approaches or touches the positioning point P, the optical touch device 26 actually senses the multiple inclination angles generated by the stylus 34 at different times and according to the These inclination angles determine the rotation angle and direction of the stylus 34, and then, the optical touch device 26 provides information such as these rotation angles and directions to the notebook computer 3, and the notebook computer 3 then compares the rotation angle and direction according to the rotation angle and direction. The corresponding moving distance and direction of the object control the movement of the object S displayed on the screen 30 . Thus, the user can use the optical touch system 2 to realize the function of simulating the manipulation of the joystick.

It is worth noting that, in the simulated joystick input mode, the optical touch device 26 must locate the rotation angle of the contact object. In addition to N1, light sensing modules N2 and N3 also need to be installed on the same side of the light emitting module, so that the rotation angle of the contacting object can be successfully judged, as shown in Figure 8(A)-(D). In addition, in the present invention, it is also possible to do some special patterning treatment on the surface of the stylus 34 (for example, processing such as partly transparent and partly opaque) or to do certain patterns on the geometric shape of the stylus 34. Some special changes (such as various patterns, circles, squares, octagons, and even different types of depressions or protrusions, etc., these changes are not limited), thus improving the calculation of the optical touch device 26 The accuracy of the tilt angle of the stylus 34.

It is worth noting that the above-mentioned optical touch system 2 is only an embodiment of automatically rotating according to the mode switching signal, and in practical applications, the optical touch system 2 may also have other operation situations. For example, the user can also manually switch between different usage modes. Assuming that the optical touch device 26 is originally located around the screen of the notebook computer, and the optical touch device 26 corresponds to the general screen touch input mode, when the user manually moves the optical touch device 26 from When moving around the screen to the base of the notebook computer, the control device 22 can judge that the user wants to switch to another mode of use (such as the emulation keyboard input mode), so the control device 22 will turn the optical touch device 26 The use mode of the device is automatically converted into a simulated keyboard input mode for the user to perform input actions. From the above, it can be seen that the optical touch system 2 of the present invention can be operated automatically or manually, and there is no certain limitation.

The second specific embodiment according to the present invention is an operation method of an optical touch system. In this embodiment, the optical touch system includes a mode switching device, an optical touch device, a control device and a rotation device. Please refer to FIG. 9 , which shows a flow chart of the operation method of the optical touch system. As shown in FIG. 9 , in step S10 , when the mode switching device is pressed or touched, the mode switching device generates a mode switching signal. Next, in step S12, when the control device receives the mode switch signal, the control device selects a corresponding specific use mode from a plurality of preset use modes according to the mode switch signal, wherein the specific use mode corresponds to at a specific angle of rotation. In fact, the plurality of preset usage modes may include a simulated keyboard input mode, a simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode, or a simulated joystick input mode, but is not limited thereto.

Then, in step S14, the rotating device rotates the optical touch device by the specific rotation angle, so that the optical touch device rotates from the first position to the second position. In step S16, when the user touches the optical touch device according to the specific use mode, the optical touch device optically detects which preset area the position of the touch point falls in. In step S18, after the optical touch device determines the preset area where the touch point is located, the optical touch device will find out the function, character or character corresponding to the preset area according to the lookup table. symbol. In addition, the optical touch device can further execute the function or display the character or symbol on the screen of the data processing device. As for the detailed operation of the optical touch device, please refer to the relevant description and illustrations in the first embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

Compared with the prior art, the optical touch system and its operation method according to the present invention can use the rotation mechanism to rotate the optical touch device from above the screen to another appropriate position, so as to provide users with various simulated input mode. The user can simulate the functions of input devices such as a keyboard, a touch pad, and a joystick by using a touch mode by switching the use mode. It is worth noting that since the rotated optical touch device can simulate and replace the functions of input units such as keyboards and touch pads originally installed on the base of the notebook computer, it can effectively save space on the base of the notebook computer , so as to reduce the thickness of the entire notebook computer, so that the volume of the notebook computer can be lighter, thinner and shorter.

Through the above detailed description of the preferred specific embodiments, it is hoped that the features and spirit of the present invention can be described more clearly, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited by the preferred specific embodiments disclosed above. On the contrary, the intention is to cover various modifications and equivalent replacements within the protection scope of the claims for which the present invention is intended.

Description of main component symbols

S10～S18: process steps

1, 3: notebook computer 12, 32: base

120: Keyboard 122: Touchpad

d1, d2: base thickness 2: optical touch system

20: Mode switching device 22: Control device

24: Rotating device 26: Optical touch device

260: Rotating light source emission module 261: The first optical module

262: The second optical module 263: The first light sensing module

264: Second light sensing module E5～E8: First light guide unit

E1～E4: Second light guide unit L _x1 ～L _x4 : Light from the first direction

L _y1 ~L _y4 : light rays in the second direction D5 ~ D8: first photoelectric sensing unit

D1～D4: Second photoelectric sensing unit T: Touch point

30: Screen 33: Input area

330: The first sub-input area K: The first keyboard key

34: Stylus P: Positioning point

S: Object θ ₁ , θ ₂ : Slope angle

m ₁ , m ₂ : distance E: light emitting module

N1, N2, N3: light sensing modules.

Claims (17)

1. An optical touch system, comprising: optical touch device; A control device, when the control device receives a mode switch signal, the control device selects a corresponding specific use mode from a plurality of preset use modes according to the mode switch signal, wherein the specific use mode corresponds to a specific angle of rotation; and a rotating device connected to the optical touch device and the control device, the rotating device rotates the optical touch device by the specified rotation angle, causing the optical touch device to rotate from the first position to a second position, the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, for the user to perform an input action on the optical touch device according to the specific use mode, Wherein the specific use mode is an emulated keyboard input mode, an emulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode or an emulated joystick input mode, When the specific use mode is the simulated keyboard input mode, an input area is set on the base, and the input area includes a plurality of sub-input areas, when an object approaches or touches the plurality of sub-input areas In the case of the first sub-input area, if the first sub-input area corresponds to the first keyboard key, the data processing device will display the character, symbol or function corresponding to the first keyboard key; or When the specific use mode is the simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode, the base is provided with an input area for an object to approach or touch the input area for handwriting input or function choose; or When the specific use mode is the simulated joystick input mode, the base is provided with a positioning point, and the optical touch device includes a light sensing module arranged on the opposite side of the light source emitting module and arranged on the light source The light sensing module on the same side as the emitting module, when an object approaches or touches the positioning point, the optical touch device starts to sense multiple tilt angles of the object at different times and according to the Multiple tilt angles determine the rotation angle and rotation direction of the object, and the object displayed by the data processing device will move correspondingly according to the rotation angle and the rotation direction. 2. The optical touch system according to claim 1, further comprising: A mode switching device is connected to the control device, and when the mode switching device is pressed or touched, the mode switching device generates the mode switching signal to the control module. 3. The optical touch system according to claim 1, wherein the optical touch device comprises a transmitting module and a receiving module, and the transmitting module and the receiving module are respectively arranged on the sides of the optical touch device On the first side of the surface and on the second side opposite to the first side, the transmitting module is used to uniformly emit multiple rays of light, the receiving module is used to receive the multiple rays of light, the transmitting module and/or Or at least a part of the area of the receiving module is formed by an optical unit having a light guiding function. 4. The optical touch system according to claim 1, wherein the optical touch device comprises a first optical module and a first light sensing module, the first optical module and the first light sensing The modules are respectively arranged on the first side of the surface of the optical touch device and the second side opposite to the first side, the first optical module receives the first light source and emits a plurality of channels in the first direction uniformly light, when at least one of the multiple first-direction rays of light is blocked by an object above the surface, the first photo-sensing module receives the multiple first-direction rays according to its The receiving situation produces a first sensing result. 5. The optical touch system according to claim 4, wherein the first optical module comprises a plurality of light guiding units, the first light sensing module comprises a plurality of photoelectric sensing units, and the plurality of photoelectric sensing units The first photoelectric sensing unit in the sensing unit corresponds to the first light guiding unit and the first position of the plurality of light guiding units, and is used to receive light in a first direction emitted by the first light guiding unit . 6. The optical touch system according to claim 4, wherein the optical touch device further comprises a second optical module, a second light sensing module and a processing module, the second optical module and the first Two light sensing modules are respectively arranged on the third side of the surface and the fourth side opposite to the third side, the second optical module receives the second light source and uniformly emits a plurality of light rays in the second direction, When at least one of the plurality of second-direction rays of light is blocked by the object above the surface, the second photo-sensing module receives the plurality of second-direction rays of light according to the reception of the plurality of second-direction rays of light The situation generates a second sensing result, and the processing module determines a position of a touch point corresponding to the object on the surface according to the first sensing result and the second sensing result. 7. The optical touch system according to claim 6, wherein the optical touch device further comprises a rotating light emitting module for emitting the light to the first optical module and the second optical module respectively. The first light source and the second light source. 8. The optical touch system according to claim 7, wherein the rotating light emitting module also sequentially emits a plurality of scanning rays, and the plurality of scanning rays are evenly distributed on the surface, The first photo-sensing module and the second photo-sensing module receive the multiple scanning rays and generate a third sensing result and a fourth sensing result respectively according to the receiving conditions of the multiple scanning rays. As a result, the processing module determines the position of the touch point on the surface according to the first sensing result, the second sensing result, the third sensing result and the fourth sensing result . 9. The optical touch system according to claim 6, wherein after the processing module determines the position of the touch point, the processing module will find out the position corresponding to the touch point according to the lookup table. a specific function, and perform the specific function. 10. A method of operating an optical touch system, the optical touch system comprising an optical touch device, a control device and a rotating device, the method comprising the following steps: When the control device receives a mode switch signal, the control device selects a corresponding specific use mode from a plurality of preset use modes according to the mode switch signal, wherein the specific use mode corresponds to a specific rotation angle ;as well as The rotating device rotates the optical touch device by the specific rotation angle, so that the optical touch device rotates from a first position to a second position, and the second position is located above the base of the data processing device, so that For users to perform input actions on the optical touch device according to the specific use mode, Wherein the specific use mode is an emulated keyboard input mode, an emulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode or an emulated joystick input mode, When the specific use mode is the simulated keyboard input mode, an input area is set on the base, and the input area includes a plurality of sub-input areas, when an object approaches or touches the plurality of sub-input areas In the case of the first sub-input area, if the first sub-input area corresponds to the first keyboard key, the data processing device will display the character, symbol or function corresponding to the first keyboard key; or When the specific use mode is the simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode, the base is provided with an input area for an object to approach or touch the input area for handwriting input or function choose; or When the specific use mode is the simulated joystick input mode, the base is provided with a positioning point, and the optical touch device includes a light sensing module arranged on the opposite side of the light source emitting module and arranged on the light source The light sensing module on the same side as the emitting module, when an object approaches or touches the positioning point, the optical touch device starts to sense multiple tilt angles of the object at different times and according to the Multiple tilt angles determine the rotation angle and rotation direction of the object, and the object displayed by the data processing device will move according to the rotation angle and the rotation direction. 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the optical touch device comprises a transmitting module and a receiving module, the transmitting module and the receiving module are respectively arranged on the first surface of the optical touch device side and the second side relative to the first side, the transmitting module is used to uniformly emit multiple rays of light, the receiving module is used to receive the multiple rays of light, the transmitting module and/or the receiving At least a part of the area of the module is composed of an optical unit with a light guiding function. 12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the optical touch device comprises a first optical module and a first photo-sensing module, the first optical module and the first photo-sensing module are respectively arranged on The first side of the surface of the optical touch device and the second side opposite to the first side, the first optical module receives the first light source and uniformly emits a plurality of first direction light rays, when the When at least one of the plurality of first-direction rays of light is blocked by an object above the surface, the first photo-sensing module generates a second A sensing result. 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the first optical module comprises a plurality of light guiding units, the first light sensing module comprises a plurality of photoelectric sensing units, and among the plurality of photoelectric sensing units The first photoelectric sensing unit corresponds to the first light guiding unit and the first position of the plurality of light guiding units, and is configured to receive light in a first direction emitted by the first light guiding unit. 14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the optical touch device further comprises a second optical module, a second light sensing module and a processing module, the second optical module and the second light sensing The modules are respectively arranged on the third side of the surface and the fourth side opposite to the third side, the second optical module receives the second light source and uniformly emits a plurality of light rays in the second direction, when the plurality of When at least one light ray in the second direction is blocked by the object above the surface, the second light sensing module generates a second As for the sensing result, the processing module determines the position of the touch point corresponding to the object on the surface according to the first sensing result and the second sensing result. 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the optical touch device further comprises a rotating light source emitting module for emitting the first light source to the first optical module and the second optical module respectively and the second light source. 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the rotating light source emitting module also emits multiple scanning rays sequentially, the multiple scanning rays are evenly distributed above the surface, and the first The photo-sensing module and the second photo-sensing module receive the multiple scanning rays and generate a third sensing result and a fourth sensing result respectively according to the receiving conditions of the multiple scanning rays. The processing module determines the position of the touch point on the surface according to the first sensing result, the second sensing result, the third sensing result and the fourth sensing result. 17. An optical touch system, comprising: optical touch device; a rotating device connected to the optical touch device; and a control device connected to the rotating device, when the rotating device rotates the optical touch device from a first position to a second position by a specific rotation angle, the control device selects from a plurality of preset use modes Selecting a corresponding specific use mode, wherein the second position is located above the base of the data processing device for the user to perform an input action on the optical touch device according to the specific use mode, Wherein the specific use mode is an emulated keyboard input mode, an emulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode or an emulated joystick input mode, When the specific use mode is the simulated keyboard input mode, an input area is set on the base, and the input area includes a plurality of sub-input areas, when an object approaches or touches the plurality of sub-input areas In the case of the first sub-input area, if the first sub-input area corresponds to the first keyboard key, the data processing device will display the character, symbol or function corresponding to the first keyboard key; or When the specific use mode is the simulated touchpad/handwriting pad input mode, the base is provided with an input area for an object to approach or touch the input area for handwriting input or function choose; or When the specific use mode is the simulated joystick input mode, the base is provided with a positioning point, and the optical touch device includes a light sensing module arranged on the opposite side of the light source emitting module and arranged on the light source The light sensing module on the same side as the emitting module, when an object approaches or touches the positioning point, the optical touch device starts to sense multiple tilt angles of the object at different times and according to the Multiple tilt angles determine the rotation angle and rotation direction of the object, and the object displayed by the data processing device will move correspondingly according to the rotation angle and the rotation direction.

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