Touch Signal Processing Method and Related Touch Device

Abstract

A touch signal processing method is used for a touch display integrated device. The touch display integrated device includes a plurality of touch display units, and each touch display unit includes a touch microcontroller unit. The touch signal processing method includes: sensing, by a sensing module of each touch display unit, an entity area corresponding to each touch display unit to generate a plurality of sensed raw data; receiving, by each touch microcontroller unit, the plurality of sensed raw data; and determining, by each touch microcontroller unit, coordinate information of a processing area corresponding to a touch position according to the plurality of sensed raw data corresponding to the entity area and the plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping area.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a touch signal processing method and a related touch device, and more particularly to a touch signal processing method and a related touch display integrated device for efficiently processing touch signals. Background Art

[0002] Existing capacitive touch devices are widely used and have evolved from small-sized touch devices to large-sized touch devices. Large-sized touch devices can be applied to, for example, notebook computers, automobiles, or televisions. In the application of small-sized touch devices, a single microcontroller unit (MCU) can be used to process touch algorithms. However, when a large-sized touch device composed of multiple small-sized devices processes its touch signals with only a single microcontroller unit, higher processing speed, computing power, and more memory resources are necessary. In other words, the algorithms and computing loads of the touch device are concentrated on a single microcontroller unit.

[0003] Therefore, it is necessary to efficiently process the touch signals of existing large-sized touch devices. Summary of the Invention

[0004] A touch signal processing method and a related touch display integrated device efficiently process touch signals of the touch display integrated device in a distributed method and architecture.

[0005] An embodiment of the present invention discloses a touch signal processing method for a touch display integrated device. The touch display integrated device includes a plurality of touch display units, where the plurality of touch display units are connected in series and each touch display unit includes a touch microcontroller unit (MCU). The touch signal processing method includes sensing, by a sensing module of each touch display unit of the plurality of touch display units, an entity area corresponding to each touch display unit to generate a plurality of sensed raw data; receiving, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, the plurality of sensed raw data; transmitting, by the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, a plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to an overlapping area of the entity area to an nth touch microcontroller unit; and determining, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, coordinate information of a touch position corresponding to a processing area based on the plurality of sensed raw data corresponding to the entity area and the plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping area.

[0006] Another embodiment of the present invention discloses a touch display integrated device, which includes a plurality of touch display units. The plurality of touch display units are connected in series, and each touch display unit includes a sensing module for sensing a physical area corresponding to each touch display unit to generate a plurality of sensed raw data; and a touch microcontroller unit (MCU) for receiving the plurality of sensed raw data and determining coordinate information of a touch position corresponding to a processing area according to the plurality of sensed raw data corresponding to the physical area and the plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to an overlapping area. Among them, the plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping area of the physical area are transmitted from the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units to the nth touch microcontroller unit. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a large-size touch display integrated device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0008] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of a plurality of touch display units and corresponding physical areas according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0009] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of a processing area of each touch display unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the resolution of a large-size touch display integrated device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of a touch example of a large-size touch display integrated device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of a touch signal processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] Figure 7 AND Figure 8 Schematic diagram of another panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a large touch display integrated (LTDI) device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The LTDI device 10 includes a panel 102, a printed circuit board (PCB) 104, and a main system 106. The printed circuit board 104 may include a level shifter, a timing controller (TCON), and a power supply IC for controlling the panel 102, but is not limited thereto. The panel 102 may be an in-cell liquid-crystal display panel, which includes a plurality of touch display units 102_0 - 102_i, where the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i are connected in series for sensing and displaying. Each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i may include a sensing module, a touch analog front-end circuit, and a touch microcontroller unit (MCU). The sensing module is used to sense a physical area corresponding to each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i to generate a plurality of sensed raw data. The touch microcontroller unit is used to receive the sensed raw data and determine coordinate information of a touch position corresponding to a processing area based on the sensed raw data corresponding to the physical area and a plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to an overlapping area. The touch microcontroller unit of each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i is used to collect and process the sensed raw data to determine the coordinate information of the touch position and transmit the coordinate information to a main touch display unit. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the touch display unit 102_0 is the main touch display unit having a main touch microcontroller unit. It should be noted that the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit according to the embodiment of the present invention may collect the coordinate information of other touch display units and process the junction between the touch microcontroller units of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i.

[0015] Specifically, please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i of an embodiment of the present invention and the corresponding physical regions PA_0 - PA_i. In FIG. 2, the panel 102 includes a row of touch display units 102_0 - 102_i, which can respectively correspond to the physical regions PA_0 - PA_i. In other words, the physical regions PA_0 - PA_i can correspond to the panel 102 of the LTDI device 10. In addition, the touch display units 102_1 - 102_i are serially connected and connected to the main touch display unit 102_0 through a serial peripheral interface (SPI). In this way, the main touch display unit 102_0 can collect coordinate information from the other touch display units 102_1 - 102_i, process the junction of the touch microcontroller units of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i, and transmit the processed touch information to the main system 106.

[0016] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the processing region of each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i of an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, a processing region PAR_0 of the main touch display unit 102_0 is the same as the physical region of the main touch display unit 102_0, and it includes an overlapping region OA_0. The sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping region OA_0 is transmitted to the touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_1. A processing region PAR_1 of the touch display unit 102_1 includes an overlapping region OA_0 and a physical region PA_1, and the physical region PA_1 includes an overlapping region OA_1. The sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping region OA_1 is transmitted to the touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_2. Similarly, a processing region PAR_2 of the touch display unit 102_2 includes an overlapping region OA_1 and a physical region PA_2, where the physical region PA_2 includes an overlapping region OA_2. The sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping region OA_2 is transmitted to the touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_3. Therefore, the overlapping sensed raw data of the overlapping regions corresponding to the physical regions is transmitted from an (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit to an nth touch microcontroller unit. In other words, each touch microcontroller unit of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i receives the sensed raw data corresponding to the physical regions from the sensing module and simultaneously transmits the overlapping regions to the next touch microcontroller unit.

[0017] Next, each touch microcontroller unit of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i is used to determine the coordinate information of the touch position corresponding to the processing area. Specifically, when the touch position is within a reporting area corresponding to one of the touch display units, the corresponding touch microcontroller unit reports the coordinate information corresponding to the touch position to the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_0. In one embodiment, the reporting area of the nth touch microcontroller unit is composed of a part of the overlapping area of the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit and a part of the overlapping area of the (n + 1)th touch microcontroller unit. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a reporting area RA_1 of a touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_1 is composed of half of the overlapping area OA_0 and half of the overlapping area OA_1. Similarly, a reporting area RA_2 of a touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_2 is composed of half of the overlapping area OA_1 and half of the overlapping area OA_2. It should be noted that the sensed data of the overlapping area OA_0 is transmitted to the touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_1 to determine the touch information to reduce the load of the main touch microprocessor unit, such that a reporting area RA_0 of the main touch microprocessor unit of the touch display unit 102_0 is composed only of the physical area PA_0 without including the overlapping area OA_0.

[0018] To determine the touch information, each touch microcontroller unit of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i determines at least one valid block of the processing area, and clusters the at least one valid block of the processing area to distinguish touches on the panel 102, where a block can be one or more pixels of the touch display unit. Next, each touch microcontroller unit of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i determines the centroid coordinates of each cluster of the at least one valid block.

[0019] When the centroid coordinates of each cluster belong to the reporting area of the corresponding processing area, the centroid coordinates of each cluster are reported to the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_0. In this way, the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_0 can be used to arrange the coordinate information corresponding to the touch position from each touch microcontroller unit of the touch display units 102_1 - 102_i, and notify the main system 106 of the LTDI device 10 to collect the coordinate information of the touch position.

[0020] It should be noted that since the return area of each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i does not overlap with that of other touch display units, the situation of repeatedly returning touch coordinate information can be avoided. In addition, the overlapping area of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i does not need to be half of the physical area, and overlapping areas less than or equal to half of the physical area are applicable to the present invention. In this way, the return area corresponding to each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i is less than or equal to the processing area corresponding to each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i, so that the overlapping area of finger touches can be sensed.

[0021] In one embodiment, it is assumed that each touch display unit includes 32 * 20 channels, and each touch display unit has a resolution of 1920 * 1080, as shown in Figure 4. For the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_0, the return area RA_0 corresponding to the main touch display unit 102_0 is from 0 to (1920 - 480) in the x-axis direction and from 0 to 1080 in the y-axis direction. For the touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_1, the return area RA_1 corresponding to the touch display unit 102_1 is from -480 to (1920 - 480) in the x-axis direction and from 0 to 1080 in the y-axis direction. For the touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_i, the return area RA_i corresponding to the touch display unit 102_i is from -480 to 1920 in the x-axis direction and from 0 to 1080 in the y-axis direction.

[0022] In one embodiment, the horizontal width of one of the overlapping areas of the physical area is greater than the diameter of one of the maximum support touch areas of the touch display unit. When a touch area is larger than the overlapping area, the touch microcontroller units of the touch display units 102_0 - 102_i do not return the coordinate information corresponding to the touch position. Assume that the sensor pitch of the panel is 4 mm, and the horizontal width (i.e., in the y-axis direction) of one of the overlapping areas of the physical area is 32 mm. In other words, when the sensed values of more than eight consecutive channels (i.e., the processing area of one cluster) of the panel 102 are higher than a sensing threshold, this cluster is regarded as a partial palm, and this cluster will not be returned to the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_0. Therefore, when the touch area is larger than the overlapping area, touch information can be sensed at the junction between cascaded touch display units, and the touch information is regarded as a partial palm, without returning the sensed raw data to the main touch microprocessor unit.

[0023] In another embodiment, when the touch area corresponding to a cluster is less than eight consecutive channels, that is, the touch area is less than the overlapping area, the complete touch area can be detected by the touch microprocessor unit of a single touch display unit and reported to the main touch microprocessor unit.

[0024] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a touch example of the LTDI device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. A touch area TA_A with a diameter of 66 mm is located in the overlapping area OA_1. Since the touch area TA_A is larger than the overlapping area OA_1, the touch area TA_A is regarded as a partial palm and will not be reported to the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_0. Touch areas TA_B and TA_C with a diameter of 32 mm are located in the overlapping area OA_0 and are smaller than the overlapping area OA_0. Since the centroid coordinates of the touch areas TA_B and TA_C are within the processing area PA_1, the touch areas TA_B and TA_C will be reported by the touch microcontroller unit of the touch display unit 102_1. A touch area Touch area TA_D with a diameter of 32 mm is located in the overlapping area OA_0 and is smaller than the overlapping area OA_0. Since the centroid coordinates of the touch area TA_D are within the processing area PA_0, the touch area TA_D will be reported by the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_0.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 6, the operation method of the LTDI device 10 can be summarized as a touch signal processing method 60 for configuration setting of the LTDI device 10. The touch signal processing method 60 for the LTDI device 10 includes the following steps:

[0026] Step 602: Start.

[0027] Step 604: Sense the physical area corresponding to each touch display unit 102_0 - 102_i to generate sensed raw data.

[0028] Step 606: Receive the sensed raw data.

[0029] Step 608: Transmit the overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping area of the physical area to the nth touch microcontroller unit.

[0030] Step 610: Determine the coordinate information of the touch position corresponding to the processing area according to the sensed raw data corresponding to the physical area and the overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping area.

[0031] Step 612: End.

[0032] The above embodiments describe that the panel 102 of the LTDI device 10 includes a row of cascaded touch display units 102_0 - 102_i. In another embodiment, the panel may include multiple rows of cascaded touch display units. Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a schematic diagram of a panel 702 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The panel 702 is another embodiment of the panel 102, and the panel 702 includes cascaded touch display units 102_00 - 102_ij in the 0 - jth rows and the 0 - ith columns. As shown in FIG. 7, the 0th row includes cascaded touch display units 102_00 - 102_i0, the 1st row includes cascaded touch display units 102_01 - 102_i1, and the jth row includes cascaded touch display units 102_0j - 102_ij, and each touch display unit 102_00 - 102_ij is connected through SPI.

[0033] Differing from the above embodiments, the touch display units 102_00 - 102_ij of the panel 702 transmit the sensed raw data of the overlapping regions of each row (from the 0th row to the jth row) to the next touch display unit in the x - axis direction at a first time point. For example, the touch display unit 102_10 transmits the sensed raw data of an overlapping region OA_r0_12 to the touch display unit 102_20, and the touch display unit 102_01 transmits the sensed raw data of an overlapping region OA_r1_01 to the touch display unit 102_11.

[0034] At a second time point, as shown in FIG. 8, each column (from the 0th column to the ith column) of the touch display units 102_00 - 102_ij of the panel 702 transmits the sensed raw data of the overlapping regions to the next touch display unit. For example, the touch display unit 102_00 transmits the sensed raw data of an overlapping region OA_c0_01 to the touch display unit 102_01, and the touch display unit 102_10 transmits the sensed raw data of an overlapping region OA_c1_01 to the touch display unit 102_11. It should be noted that the above first time point and the second time point are slightly different time points, or, in another embodiment, the first time point and the second time point are the same.

[0035] Therefore, each touch display unit 102_00 - 102_ij determines the touch position according to the corresponding processing region, and then, when the centroid coordinates of the touch position belong to the return region corresponding to the processing region, returns the centroid coordinates corresponding to the touch position to the main touch - microprocessor unit of a main touch display unit 102_00.

[0036] In this way, after the main touch microprocessor unit of the main touch display unit 102_00 on the panel 702 has collected all the touch information from the touch display units 102_00 - 102_ij, the main touch microprocessor unit arranges the coordinate information corresponding to the touch position from the touch display units 102_00 - 102_ij, and notifies the main system 106 of the LTDI device 10 to collect the coordinate information of the touch position.

[0037] It should be noted that those skilled in the art can appropriately design the touch signal processing method and the LTDI device according to different requirements. For example, the overlapping area is not limited to half of the physical area of the touch display unit, and the main touch display unit can also be other touch display units except the touch display unit 102_00, which all fall within the scope of the present invention.

[0038] In summary, the present invention provides a touch signal processing method and a related LTDI device to evenly share the computing load of the touch microcontroller units of the touch display units and the load of the main touch microprocessor unit by using a distributed architecture.

[0039] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made according to the scope of the patent application of the present invention shall fall within the scope covered by the present invention.

Claims

1. A touch signal processing method for a touch display integrated device, the touch display integrated device including a plurality of touch display units, wherein the plurality of touch display units are connected in series and each touch display unit includes a touch microcontroller unit (MCU), and the touch signal processing method includes: Sensing, by a sensing module of each touch display unit of the plurality of touch display units, a physical area corresponding to each touch display unit to generate a plurality of sensed raw data; Receiving, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, the plurality of sensed raw data; Transmitting, by the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, a plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to an overlapping area of the physical areas of the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit and the nth touch microcontroller unit to the nth touch microcontroller unit; Determining, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, coordinate information of a touch position corresponding to a processing area according to the plurality of sensed raw data corresponding to the physical area and the plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to the overlapping area; Reporting, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, the coordinate information corresponding to the touch position to a main touch microcontroller unit of a main touch display unit; Arranging, by the main touch microcontroller unit, the coordinate information corresponding to the touch position from each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units; and Informing a main system of the touch display integrated device to collect the coordinate information of the touch position.

2. The touch signal processing method according to claim 1, wherein a horizontal width of the overlapping area of the physical area is greater than a diameter of a maximum supportable touch area.

3. The touch signal processing method according to claim 1, wherein each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units is used to report the touch position of a reporting area within the processing area.

4. The touch signal processing method according to claim 3, wherein the reporting area corresponding to the nth touch microcontroller unit is composed of a part of the overlapping area corresponding to the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit and a part of the overlapping area of an (n + 1)th touch microcontroller unit.

5. The touch signal processing method according to claim 3, further including: Determining, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, at least one valid block of the processing area; Clustering, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, the at least one valid block of the processing area; and Determining, by each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units, a centroid coordinate of each group of the at least one valid block.

6. The touch signal processing method according to claim 5, further including: When the center-of-gravity coordinates of each group of the at least one effective block belong to the return area of the corresponding processing area, each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units returns the center-of-gravity coordinates of each group of the at least one effective block to the main touch microcontroller unit of the main touch display unit.

7. The touch signal processing method according to claim 1, wherein when a touch area is larger than the overlapping area, the touch microcontroller units of the plurality of touch display units do not return the coordinate information corresponding to the touch area.

8. A touch display integration device, comprising: A plurality of touch display units, wherein the plurality of touch display units are connected in series and each touch display unit includes: A sensing module for sensing the physical area corresponding to each touch display unit to generate a plurality of sensed raw data; A touch microcontroller unit (MCU) for receiving the plurality of sensed raw data and determining coordinate information of a touch position corresponding to a processing area according to the plurality of sensed raw data corresponding to the physical area and a plurality of overlapping sensed raw data corresponding to an overlapping area; and A main touch display unit is serially connected to one of the plurality of touch display units, and the main touch display unit includes a main touch microcontroller unit; wherein, A plurality of overlapping sensed raw data of the overlapping area corresponding to the physical areas of the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit and the nth touch microcontroller unit are transmitted from the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units to the nth touch microcontroller unit, wherein the touch microcontroller units of the plurality of touch display units are used to return the coordinate information corresponding to the touch position to the main touch microcontroller unit of the main touch display unit; wherein the main touch microcontroller unit is used to arrange the coordinate information of the touch position corresponding to each touch microcontroller unit from the plurality of touch display units and notify the main system of the touch display integration device to collect the coordinate information of the touch position.

9. The touch display integration device according to claim 8, wherein the horizontal width of the overlapping area of the physical area is greater than the diameter of a maximum supportable touch area.

10. The touch display integration device according to claim 8, wherein each touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units is used to return the touch position of the return area within the processing area.

11. The touch display integration device according to claim 10, wherein the return area corresponding to the nth touch microcontroller unit is composed of a part of the overlapping area corresponding to the (n - 1)th touch microcontroller unit and a part of the overlapping area of the (n + 1)th touch microcontroller unit.

12. The touch display integration device according to claim 10, wherein the touch microcontroller units of the plurality of touch display units are used to determine at least one effective block of the processing area; cluster at least one effective block of the processing area; and determine a center-of-gravity coordinate of each group of the at least one effective block.

13. The touch display integrated device as claimed in claim 12, wherein when the barycentric coordinates of each group of the at least one effective block belong to the return area of the corresponding processing area, the touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units is used to return the barycentric coordinates of each group of the at least one effective block to the main touch microcontroller unit of the main touch display unit.

14. The touch display integrated device as claimed in claim 8, wherein when a touch area is larger than the overlapping area, the touch microcontroller unit of the plurality of touch display units does not return the coordinate information corresponding to the touch area.

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