Communication control method, device, touch screen, touch system and touch device

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate to a communication control method, apparatus, touch screen, touch system, touch device, computer-readable storage medium, and computer program product. The communication control method includes: obtaining a current first area and a second area of ​​the touch screen, the touch screen including a plurality of touch units arranged in the touch area, the first area and the second area both being located in the touch area and not overlapping with each other; controlling each of the touch units in the first area to respectively send an uplink coding signal, and controlling each of the touch units in the second area not to send the uplink coding signal, the uplink coding signal being used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of touch technology, and in particular to a communication control method, apparatus, touch screen, touch system, and touch device. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of touch technology, in addition to being able to touch the touch screen directly with a finger, users can also use an active stylus (hereinafter referred to as an active stylus) to touch the touch screen, allowing for more precise writing, drawing, and other operations. However, when using an active stylus, the touch screen needs to constantly communicate with the active stylus, which greatly increases the power consumption of the touch screen. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a communication control method, device, touch screen, touch system, touch device, computer-readable storage medium and computer program product with low power consumption to address the above technical problems.

[0004] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication control method, the method comprising:

[0005] Acquire a current first area and a second area of ​​the touch screen, where the touch screen includes a plurality of touch units disposed in a touch area, and the first area and the second area are both located in the touch area and do not overlap with each other;

[0006] Control each of the touch units in the first area to send an uplink coding signal respectively, and control each of the touch units in the second area not to send the uplink coding signal, wherein the uplink coding signal is used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

[0007] The uplink coding signal is used to establish the touch screen

[0008] In a second aspect, the present application provides a touch screen, comprising:

[0009] A plurality of touch units are provided in the touch area of ​​the touch screen;

[0010] The control chip is connected to the plurality of touch control units respectively, and is used to execute the communication control method as described above.

[0011] In a third aspect, the present application provides a touch control system, comprising:

[0012] Such as the touch screen mentioned above;

[0013] The active pen is used to receive the uplink coding signal sent by the touch screen, establish a pairing connection with the touch screen in response to the uplink coding signal, and send a downlink coding signal carrying touch coordinate information after the pairing connection is established.

[0014] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a touch control device, comprising:

[0015] an area acquisition module, configured to acquire a current first area and a second area of ​​the touch screen, wherein the touch screen includes a plurality of touch units disposed in a touch area, and the first area and the second area are both located in the touch area and do not overlap with each other;

[0016] The uplink control module is used to control each touch unit in the first area to send an uplink coding signal respectively, and control each touch unit in the second area not to send the uplink coding signal. The uplink coding signal is used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

[0017] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a touch device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor implements the steps of the above method when executing the computer program.

[0018] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which implements the steps of the above method when executed by a processor.

[0019] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program, which implements the steps of the above method when executed by a processor.

[0020] The above communication control method establishes a pairing connection with the active pen by acquiring a first area that is smaller than the entire touch area and controlling only the touch units in the first area to transmit uplink coding signals. In other words, when establishing a pairing connection through this communication method, support from the touch units in the second area is not required. This reduces power consumption during the pairing process between the touch screen and the active pen, and further reduces overall power consumption during the communication process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or related technologies, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or related technical descriptions. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0022] Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a self-interconnected touch screen according to an embodiment;

[0023] Figure 2 This is a schematic structural diagram of a point-capacitive touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3 This is one of the flow charts of a communication control method according to an embodiment;

[0025] Figure 4 This is one of the structural diagrams of a touch screen according to an embodiment;

[0026] Figure 5 This is a second flow chart of a communication control method according to an embodiment;

[0027] Figure 6 This is a sub-flowchart of updating the first area according to the touch coordinate information carried by the plurality of first downlink coding signals according to an embodiment;

[0028] Figure 7 This is a second structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment;

[0029] Figure 8 A sub-flowchart of updating the first area according to a plurality of the first touch coordinates according to an embodiment;

[0030] Figure 9 This is a third structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment;

[0031] Figure 10 This is a fourth structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment;

[0032] Figure 11 A sub-flowchart of obtaining a downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen according to an embodiment;

[0033] Figure 12 This is a fifth structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment;

[0034] Figure 13 FIG. 4 is a structural block diagram of a communication control device according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of this application more clearly understood, the present application is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain this application and are not intended to limit this application.

[0036] It will be understood that the terms "first," "second," and the like used herein may be used to describe various elements herein, but these elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are used solely to distinguish a first element from another element. For example, without departing from the scope of this application, a first downlink coding signal may be referred to as a second downlink coding signal, and similarly, a second downlink coding signal may be referred to as a first downlink coding signal. Both the first downlink coding signal and the second downlink coding signal are downlink coding signals, but they are not the same downlink coding signal.

[0037] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of this application, the meaning of "plurality" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined. In the description of this application, the meaning of "several" is at least one, such as one, two, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

[0038] The embodiment of the present application provides a communication control method for realizing pairing connection between a touch screen and an active pen. The types of touch screens include but are not limited to Stripe (strip) self-interconnected type and Self-Dot self-contained type. Specifically, Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a self-interconnected touch screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 A stripe-type touchscreen includes m rows of receiving (Rx) electrodes and n columns of transmitting (Tx) electrodes to form a touch cell array. "Self-interconnected" refers to the ability to acquire both self-capacitance and mutual-capacitance data from the same touchscreen, enabling more accurate touch detection. When the electrodes of the touch cells are stripe-shaped, this type of touchscreen is formed.

[0039] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a touch screen of the point self-capacitive type according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2, the Self-Dot touch screen also includes horizontal electrodes and vertical electrodes. However, each electrode of the Self-Dot touch screen is an independent sensing electrode unit (Sensor Pad), and the sensing electrode unit can also be called a touch unit 202, thereby constituting a touch unit array of the touch screen. Therefore, the RC load of each touch unit 202 of the Self-Dot self-capacitive type is relatively small, and the noise interference between different touch units 202 can be reduced, making it more suitable for large-size touch screens. Moreover, by further dividing each touch unit 202 into multiple small blocks, and transmitting the signal of each block to the inside of the chip touch and display driver integration chip (Touch and Display Driver Integration, TDDI) through a separate signal line, the capacitive load of each touch unit 202 can be reduced from about 500pF to 100pF, and the weak grounding performance of the touch screen can be improved. It should be noted that although in Figure 2 In the embodiment, the touch unit 202 is in a square shape, but Figure 2 The shapes in the figure are only used for illustrative purposes and are not used to limit the scope of protection of this application. In other embodiments, touch units 202 of other shapes may also be provided. Figure 2 The touch screen of the embodiment is taken as an example for description.

[0040] Figure 3 This is one of the flow charts of a communication control method according to an embodiment. The communication control method according to this embodiment is applied to a control chip. The control chip can be the aforementioned TDDI or an AP chip of a mobile terminal. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this. The touch screen includes a plurality of touch units arranged in a touch area. The touch area can be understood as an area that can sense the user's touch operation. Usually, the touch area of ​​the touch screen overlaps with the display area. Figure 3 , the method includes steps 302 to 304.

[0041] Step 302: Acquire the current first area and second area of ​​the touch screen.

[0042] Figure 4 This is one of the structural diagrams of the touch screen of an embodiment, referring to Figure 4 The entire area where the touch unit is located is the touch area, and the area in the rectangular dotted box is the first area. Therefore, the first area is a part of the touch area. The second area (not shown) is at least a part of the area other than the first area, that is, Figure 4The entire area within the dotted box of the first area can be used as the second area, or only part of it can be used as the second area, which is not limited in this embodiment. The current first area corresponds to the current touch cycle, that is, the first area can be the same or different in different touch cycles, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0043] Specifically, the current touch cycle can be understood as the period from the time the user performs a pen-pick-up operation until the time the user performs a pen-dropping operation. In one exemplary embodiment, the control chip, when not connected to the active pen, remains in search mode, searching for an active pen to pair with. After the active pen performs a pen-pick-up operation and establishes a pairing connection, the control chip determines that the current touch cycle has begun. After disconnecting the pairing connection with the active pen, the control chip determines that the current touch cycle has ended. In another exemplary embodiment, the active pen detects a change in its posture and determines whether a pen-pick-up operation or a pen-dropping operation has occurred based on the change. When the active pen determines that a pen-pick-up operation has occurred, the active pen can send a signal to the control chip to acquire the current first area, and when it determines that a pen-dropping operation has occurred, it can send a signal to the control chip to end the current touch cycle. In another exemplary embodiment, the active pen can send posture data to the control chip, and the control chip can determine whether a pen-pick-up operation or a pen-dropping operation has occurred based on the data. When the control chip determines that a pen-pick-up operation has occurred, it can automatically acquire the current first area, and when it determines that a pen-dropping operation has occurred, it can end the current touch cycle. The first area may be pre-stored in a memory of the touch screen, and the control chip may obtain the first area corresponding to the current touch cycle by reading the memory.

[0044] Step 304: Control each touch unit in the first area to send an uplink coding signal respectively, and control each touch unit in the second area not to send the uplink coding signal, wherein the uplink coding signal is used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

[0045] Specifically, in a touch cycle, the touch screen needs to first establish a pairing connection with the active pen, that is, establish a one-to-one correspondence between the touch screen and the active pen, so that when the active pen performs subsequent touch operations, it can receive the corresponding signal sent by the active pen, thereby obtaining the touch coordinate information, touch pressure information, etc. of the active pen during the touch process. That is, when the active pen receives an uplink coding signal sent by any touch unit, it can establish a pairing connection with the control chip in response to the received uplink coding signal. The active pen can decode the received uplink coding signal and respond according to the decoding result, thereby achieving a pairing connection with the control chip. Optionally, the touch unit can send an uplink coding signal multiple times per second, which is not limited in this embodiment. In addition, the touch unit in the area in the second area may not send a coding signal, or it can be understood as continuously sending a coding signal with a voltage of zero.

[0046] In this embodiment, the control chip establishes a pairing connection with the active pen by acquiring a first area, which is smaller than the entire touch area, and controlling only the touch units in the first area to transmit uplink coding signals. In other words, when establishing a pairing connection through this communication method, support from the touch units in the second area is not required. This reduces power consumption during the pairing process between the touch screen and the active pen, and further reduces overall power consumption during the communication process.

[0047] Figure 5 This is a second flow chart of a communication control method according to an embodiment, referring to Figure 5 In one embodiment, the communication control method includes steps 502 to 508. The implementation of steps 502 to 504 is the same as Figure 3 Steps 302 to 304 of the embodiment are the same and will not be described again here.

[0048] Step 502: Obtain the current first area.

[0049] Step 504: Control each touch unit in the first area to send an uplink coding signal respectively, and control each touch unit in the second area not to send the uplink coding signal, wherein the uplink coding signal is used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

[0050] Step 506: Acquire the downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen.

[0051] Step 508: Update the first area according to the touch coordinate information carried by the downlink coding signal.

[0052] Specifically, by acquiring the touch coordinate information, the current writing position of the active pen can be learned. It is understandable that the writing position of the active pen in the current touch cycle is usually correlated with the writing position in the next touch cycle. For example, the writing position of the active pen in the current touch cycle is usually close to the writing position in the next touch cycle. Therefore, based on the touch coordinate information in the current touch cycle, the pen placement position after picking up the pen in the next touch cycle can be analyzed. That is, updating the first area according to the touch coordinate information carried by the downlink coding signal can effectively improve the reliability of the pairing connection in the next touch cycle. It is understandable that in one touch cycle, the first area can be updated multiple times to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of the first area.

[0053] Furthermore, the downlink coding signal sent by the active pen can also carry other information besides touch coordinate information, such as at least one of touch pressure information and key information. Specifically, the active pen can be equipped with a sensor and a processor. Based on the above structure, the active pen can obtain touch coordinate information based on the electrical signals generated when coupled with the touch screen, obtain touch pressure information based on the electrical signals output by the pressure sensor, and obtain key information based on the state changes of the keys on the pen body. Based on the decoded touch pressure information and key information, the touch screen can adjust the writing or drawing strokes, line type, etc., thereby further enriching the control functions of the active pen.

[0054] In one embodiment, updating the first region based on the touch coordinate information carried by the downlink coding signal includes updating the first region based on the touch coordinate information carried by multiple first downlink coding signals, where the multiple first downlink coding signals are multiple downlink coding signals within a first preset duration. Specifically, using the first preset duration as an analysis period allows timely acquisition of the latest changes in touch coordinate information. For example, if the touch coordinate information carried by multiple consecutive downlink coding signals is (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3), (x4, y4), (x5, y5), and (x6, y6), and within a first preset time period, five consecutive downlink coding signals can be calculated and analyzed, then (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3), (x4, y4), and (x5, y5) can be used as the touch coordinate information carried by multiple downlink coding signals within a first preset time period, and (x2, y2), (x3, y3), (x4, y4), (x5, y5), and (x6, y6) can be used as the touch coordinate information carried by multiple downlink coding signals within another first preset time period. In this embodiment, through the above data processing method, the first area can be updated in a timely and accurate manner, thereby improving the reliability of the pairing connection during the communication process.

[0055] Figure 6 This is a sub-flowchart of updating the first area according to the touch coordinate information carried by the plurality of first downlink coding signals according to an embodiment, referring to Figure 6 In one embodiment, the aforementioned steps of updating the first area according to the touch coordinate information carried by the plurality of first downlink coding signals include steps 602 to 604.

[0056] Step 602 : Decode each of the first downlink coding signals to obtain first touch coordinates of each of the first downlink coding signals, where the first touch coordinates are touch coordinate information carried by the first downlink coding signals.

[0057] Step 604 : If the distance between any two of the first touch coordinates is less than a first distance threshold, update the first area according to the plurality of the first touch coordinates.

[0058] Specifically, if the distance between any two of the first touch coordinates is less than the first distance threshold, it can be understood that the active pen has consistently performed touch operations within a similar range during this first preset duration. Therefore, in the next touch cycle, the probability of the active pen still performing touch operations within this range will be greatly increased. In other words, the first area can be updated based on multiple first touch coordinates within this first preset duration. Accordingly, in the next touch cycle, the uplink coding signal can be sent using a local coding mode.

[0059] In some embodiments, if the active stylus performs touch operations within multiple, relatively long distances within a continuous first preset time period, it can be considered that the active stylus's operational flexibility within the current touch cycle is too great, exceeding the scope of inference, and an accurate first area cannot be determined. Accordingly, in the next touch cycle, the uplink coding signal can be sent in full coding mode. That is, all touch units on the touch screen transmit uplink coding signals to ensure that the display screen can establish a pairing connection with the active stylus in a timely manner, thereby avoiding connection delays and improving the user experience.

[0060] In one embodiment, if the distance between any two of the first touch coordinates is less than a first distance threshold, then updating the first area according to the plurality of the first touch coordinates includes: if all the first touch coordinates are located in the same touch unit, then updating the first area according to the plurality of the first touch coordinates. For example, Figure 7 This is a second structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment, referring to Figure 7, it may be that all the first touch coordinates are located in the touch unit bolded in the figure. It is understandable that the distance between the first touch coordinates located in different touch units may be smaller than the distance between the first touch coordinates located in the same touch unit. However, during the touch process, based on the hardware structure of a conventional touch screen, control is usually performed with the touch unit as the smallest unit. Therefore, the analysis result in the scenario where all the first touch coordinates are located in the same touch unit has higher accuracy. In other words, if the distance between any two of the first touch coordinates is less than the first distance threshold, it is possible to further analyze whether all the first touch coordinates are located in the same touch unit, so that the first area can be updated more accurately. It is understandable that if the distance between all the first touch coordinates meets the distance threshold condition, but is not located in the same touch unit, a touch unit with a smaller distance to each first touch coordinate can be determined as the center touch unit.

[0061] Figure 8 This is a sub-flowchart of updating the first area according to a plurality of the first touch coordinates according to an embodiment, referring to Figure 8 In one embodiment, updating the first area according to the plurality of first touch coordinates includes steps 802 to 806.

[0062] Step 802: Obtain an average value of a plurality of first touch coordinates.

[0063] The average value may be calculated using an arithmetic mean. For example, if the first touch coordinates are (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3), (x4, y4), and (x5, y5), the average value of the first touch coordinates may be ((x1+x2+x3+x4+x5) / 5, (y1+y2+y3+y4+y5) / 5). The average value may also be calculated using a weighted average. For example, different weights may be set based on the order in which the first touch coordinates are acquired. For example, a larger weight may be assigned to first touch coordinates acquired later, thereby improving the accuracy of the acquired average value.

[0064] Step 804: The touch unit where the average value is located is used as the central touch unit.

[0065] Step 806 : Update the first area according to the central touch unit, where the first area includes the central touch unit and a plurality of touch units surrounding the central touch unit.

[0066] Continue to refer Figure 7The touch unit with a bold border in the figure is the central touch unit, and the area within the rectangular dashed box is the first area. That is, the first area can be determined appropriately by expanding outward from the central touch unit. When the central touch unit is located in the middle of the touch screen, the center of the first area can coincide with the center of the central touch unit, thereby determining a relatively accurate first area.

[0067] In one embodiment, the distance between any of the touch units in the first area and the central touch unit in the first direction is less than a second distance threshold, and the distance between any of the touch units in the first area and the central touch unit in the second direction is less than a third distance threshold, and the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction. Figure 7 When expanding outward from the central touch unit, the area within the preset distance threshold range can be circled as the first area. Figure 7 In the embodiment, the first direction may be the row direction of the touch unit array, and the second direction may be the column direction of the touch unit array. The numerical relationship between the second distance threshold and the third distance threshold may correspond to the dimensions in the row and column directions. For example, in this embodiment, if the size of the touch screen in the row direction is smaller than the size in the column direction, the second distance threshold may be set to be smaller than the third distance threshold to determine a reasonable first area.

[0068] Furthermore, because touchscreens are controlled using touch cells as the smallest unit, when expanding outward from the central touch cell, the number of rows and columns expanded can also be used to determine the first area. Specifically, the area can be expanded by a rows in the row direction and b columns in the column direction. That is, the first area includes all touch cells within the range of row a above, row a below, column b to the left, and column b to the right of the central touch cell.

[0069] In one embodiment, the touch area includes a central area and an edge area surrounding the central area, and controlling each touch unit in the first area to send an uplink coding signal respectively includes: controlling each touch unit in an overlapping area of ​​the first area and the edge area to send an uplink coding signal of a first voltage; controlling each touch unit in an overlapping area of ​​the first area and the central area to send an uplink coding signal of a second voltage, wherein the first voltage is greater than the second voltage.

[0070] Specifically, Figure 9 This is a third structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment, referring to Figure 9In this embodiment, the touch area is divided into a central area and an edge area. The area enclosed by the dotted lines in the figure is the edge area of ​​the touch area, and the area enclosed by the dotted lines in the middle is the central area of ​​the touch area. It can be understood that the electrode structure of the touch unit in the edge area is incomplete, and the uplink coding signal is weak, which can easily lead to the problem of pairing connection failure. Therefore, in this embodiment, different uplink coding voltages can be set for the central area and the edge area, thereby improving the sensitivity of the touch screen without excessively increasing power consumption. Specifically, Figure 9 The touch unit with a thickened middle frame is the central touch unit, and the area in the rectangular dotted box is the first area. Therefore, when the first area is close to the edge of the touch screen, combined with the division method of the central area and the edge area, the first area can also be divided into a part overlapping with the central area, and another part overlapping with the edge area. For the above two overlapping areas, different voltages can be used for uplink coding, so as to achieve pairing connection with the active pen. It can be understood that when the first area is far away from the edge of the touch screen, or when there is no overlap between the first area and the edge area, each touch unit in the first area can be controlled to use the same second voltage for uplink coding, thereby reducing the power consumption of the touch screen.

[0071] Figure 10 This is a fourth structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment, referring to Figure 10 In one embodiment, the touch area may further include a third area, and the third area does not overlap with the first area or the second area. The communication control method further includes: determining a third area adjacent to the first area based on the updated first area; when each touch unit in the first area sends an uplink coding signal, controlling each touch unit in the third area to send a neutralizing coding signal, wherein the voltage of the uplink coding signal is one of a positive voltage and a negative voltage, and the voltage of the neutralizing coding signal is the other of the positive voltage and the negative voltage.

[0072] It is understood that when a touch unit transmits an uplink coding signal, the peak-to-peak value of the uplink coding signal can reach 6V to 10V. Excessively high peak-to-peak voltage can affect the ELVSS potential in the display driver circuit. The default fixed potential of ELVSS is -4V to -4.6V. When too many touch units participate in uplink coding, they couple with the entire surface ELVSS and raise the ELVSS potential, thereby reducing the drive current flowing through the LED and, in turn, the display brightness. Furthermore, since uplink coding is a periodic signal transmission operation, this can cause periodic variations in display brightness, resulting in a ripple effect, which reduces the user's viewing experience. Therefore, in this embodiment, by providing a third region and controlling the touch units in the third region to use a voltage with an opposite voltage amplitude to that of the first region for neutralization coding, the ripple effect can be effectively suppressed, thereby improving the user experience. Since the first region typically uses a positive voltage for coding, the third region can be controlled to use a negative voltage for coding.

[0073] It is understood that the amplitude of the positive voltage during coding can be different from the amplitude of the negative voltage, and preferably a negative voltage with a larger amplitude is used for neutralization coding. For example, if the amplitude of the uplink coding signal in the first area is 8V, the amplitude of the neutralization coding signal in the third area can be -10V. In one embodiment, the number of touch units in the third area is greater than or equal to the number of touch units in the first area. This configuration can more effectively neutralize the electric field of the uplink coding signal, thereby ensuring brightness stability during the display process.

[0074] In one embodiment, the third area includes a first neutralization sub-area and a second neutralization sub-area respectively provided on both sides of the first area, and the difference between the number of the touch units in the first neutralization sub-area and the number of the touch units in the second neutralization sub-area is less than a preset difference threshold. Figure 10In the embodiment, the first neutralization sub-area is located on the upper side of the first area, and the second neutralization sub-area is located on the lower side of the first area. Based on the above method, the first neutralization sub-area and the second neutralization sub-area can have similar neutralization effects, so that the potentials of ELVSS on both sides of the first area are similar. Furthermore, the number of touch units in the first neutralization sub-area and the number of touch units in the second neutralization sub-area can be equal, so that the potentials of ELVSS on both sides of the first area are the same. Still further, the number of touch units in each neutralization sub-area located on the upper, lower, left and right sides of the first area in the third area can be as close to each other as possible, so as to achieve the best neutralization effect. Among them, when the first area is close to or located at the edge area of ​​the touch screen, the neutralization sub-area can be set only on two or three sides of the first area. For example, if the first area is close to or located at the left edge area of ​​the touch screen, the neutralization sub-area can be set only on the upper, lower and right sides of the first area. For example, if the first area is close to or located at the edge area of ​​the upper right corner of the touch screen, the neutralization sub-area may be set only on the lower side and the left side of the first area.

[0075] Figure 11 This is a sub-flow chart of obtaining the downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen in one embodiment, refer to Figure 11 In one embodiment, the step of obtaining the downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen includes steps 1102 to 1104.

[0076] Step 1102: Control each touch unit in the first scanning area to scan at a first scanning frequency, and control each touch unit in the second scanning area to scan at a second scanning frequency, so as to receive the downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen.

[0077] Specifically, Figure 12 This is a fifth structural diagram of a touch screen according to an embodiment, referring to Figure 12 , the touch area includes a first scanning area and a second scanning area surrounding the first scanning area. Specifically, the inner area of ​​the dotted box is the first scanning area, and the outer area of ​​the dotted box is the second scanning area. It can be understood that the areas in the uplink process are independent of the areas in the downlink process, and can be the same or different. If the same first area and first scanning area are used, the amount of calculation of the touch screen can be greatly reduced. If different first areas and first scanning areas are used, more precise touch operations can be performed. Therefore, it can be set according to actual needs.

[0078] Step 1104 , respectively obtain the downlink coding signal scanned by each touch unit.

[0079] Wherein, the first scanning frequency is greater than the second scanning frequency. For example, the touch units in the first scanning area can be scanned at a receiving frequency of 240Hz, while the touch units in the second scanning area can be scanned at a receiving frequency of 60Hz. Wherein, the receiving frequency of the touch units in the second scanning area is only reduced but not reduced to 0Hz, in order to prevent the problem of missed reporting points caused by the user suddenly leaving the first scanning area during use. In this embodiment, by partitioning the touch area in a specific application scenario, high-frequency scanning can be performed on areas where touch operations are more frequent, and low-frequency scanning can be performed on the remaining areas, thereby reducing the power consumption and memory usage of the touch screen, and further improving the local response speed and reporting rate of the touch screen.

[0080] In one embodiment, the communication control method further includes: decoding multiple second downlink coding signals respectively to obtain second touch coordinates corresponding to each second downlink coding signal respectively, the multiple second downlink coding signals are multiple downlink coding signals within a second preset time length, and the second touch coordinates are touch coordinates corresponding to the second downlink coding signals; if the distance between any two of the second touch coordinates is less than a fourth distance threshold, updating the first scanning area according to the multiple second touch coordinates, and using the remaining area in the touch area as the new second scanning area.

[0081] Specifically, if the distance between any two of the first touch coordinates is less than the first distance threshold, it can be understood that the active stylus has consistently performed touch operations within a similar range during the second preset duration. Consequently, the probability of the active stylus continuing to perform touch operations within this range during the next period is greatly increased. In other words, the first scanning area and the second scanning area can be updated based on the multiple second touch coordinates within the second preset duration, thereby accurately receiving the downlink coding signal. Optionally, the area of ​​the first scanning area can be smaller than that of the first area; for example, the first scanning area can be completely within the first area. It is understood that uplink coding is a crucial operation for establishing a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active stylus. When a user retrieves the stylus and needs to establish a pairing connection, the touch position often doesn't completely match the touch position of the previous touch operation. Therefore, when establishing a pairing connection, the area of ​​the first area is more demanding to avoid pairing failures. During the writing process with the active stylus, the touch positions of two writing operations occurring close in time are typically relatively close. That is, during the writing process, the area requirement for the first scanning area is relatively low. Therefore, the first area and the first scanning area can be set to have different sizes to achieve better connection and writing effects.

[0082] In one embodiment, updating the first scanning area according to the plurality of second touch coordinates includes: obtaining an average value of the plurality of second touch coordinates, and updating the first scanning area according to the average value. It can be determined whether the average value of the plurality of second touch coordinates is located in the central area or the edge area of ​​the touch screen. When located in the central area, a first scanning area with a smaller area can be selected; when located in the edge area, a first scanning area with a larger area can be selected. It can be understood that, from the user's writing habits, when the current touch position is located in the central area of ​​the touch screen, the position change between the touch position of the next writing and the current touch position is usually small. However, when the current touch position is located in the edge area of ​​the touch screen, the position change between the touch position of the next writing and the current touch position is usually large. Therefore, in this embodiment, by determining the average value of the plurality of second touch coordinates, the area of ​​the first scanning area can be effectively adjusted, thereby suppressing the power consumption problem caused by high-frequency scanning while avoiding underreporting.

[0083] It should be understood that, although the various steps in each flow chart are shown in sequence as indicated by the arrows, these steps are not necessarily performed in sequence in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless otherwise specified herein, there is no strict order restriction on the execution of these steps, and these steps may be performed in other orders. Moreover, at least a portion of the steps in each flow chart may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages, and these sub-steps or stages are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, and the execution order of these sub-steps or stages is not necessarily performed in sequence, but may be performed in turn or alternately with at least a portion of other steps or sub-steps or stages of other steps.

[0084] Figure 12 This is a block diagram of the structure of a communication control device according to an embodiment. The communication control device according to this embodiment includes a region acquisition module and an uplink control module. The region acquisition module is used to acquire the current first and second regions of the touch screen. The touch screen includes multiple touch units located in a touch area, and the first and second regions are both located in the touch area and do not overlap. The uplink control module is used to control each touch unit in the first area to transmit an uplink coding signal, and to control each touch unit in the second area not to transmit the uplink coding signal. The uplink coding signal is used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

[0085] The division of the various modules in the above-mentioned communication control device is only for illustration. In other embodiments, the communication control device can be divided into different modules as needed to complete all or part of the functions of the above-mentioned communication control device. For the specific definition of the communication control device, please refer to the definition of the communication control method above, which will not be repeated here. The various modules in the above-mentioned communication control device can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware and a combination thereof. The above-mentioned modules can be embedded in or independent of the processor in the touch device in the form of hardware, or can be stored in the memory in the touch device in the form of software, so that the processor can call and execute the operations corresponding to the above modules.

[0086] The present application also provides a touch screen comprising a control chip and a plurality of touch units, wherein the plurality of touch units are disposed in a touch area of ​​the touch screen, and the control chip is connected to the plurality of touch units, respectively, for executing the communication control method described above. Based on the communication control method described above, when the touch screen of this embodiment establishes a pairing connection, support from the touch units in the second area is not required, thereby reducing power consumption during the process of establishing a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen, and further reducing overall power consumption during the communication process.

[0087] An embodiment of the present application also provides a touch control system comprising an active stylus and the aforementioned touch screen. The active stylus is configured to receive an uplink coding signal transmitted by the touch screen, establish a pairing connection with the touch screen in response to the uplink coding signal, and, after the pairing connection is established, transmit a downlink coding signal carrying touch coordinate information. Based on the aforementioned touch screen, this embodiment provides a low-power touch control system.

[0088] The embodiment of the present application further provides a touch device, which may be a terminal, and its internal structure diagram may be as shown in FIG. Figure 13As shown. The touch device includes a processor, a memory, a communication interface, a display unit and an input device connected via a system bus. The processor of the touch device is used to provide computing and control capabilities. The memory of the touch device includes a non-volatile storage medium and an internal memory. The non-volatile storage medium stores an operating system and a computer program. The internal memory provides an environment for the operation of the operating system and the computer program in the non-volatile storage medium. The communication interface of the touch device is used to communicate with an external terminal in a wired or wireless manner, and the wireless manner can be achieved through WIFI, a mobile cellular network, NFC (near field communication) or other technologies. When the computer program is executed by the processor, a communication control method is implemented. The display unit of the touch device can be a liquid crystal display or an electronic ink display, and the input device of the touch device can be a touch layer covering the display unit, or a button, trackball or touchpad provided on the housing of the touch device, or an external keyboard, touchpad or mouse. Touch devices may include, but are not limited to, various personal computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, IoT devices, and portable wearable devices. IoT devices may include smart speakers, smart TVs, smart air conditioners, smart car devices, etc. Portable wearable devices may include smart watches, smart bracelets, head-mounted devices, etc.

[0089] Those skilled in the art will understand that Figure 13 The structure shown in the figure is only a block diagram of a part of the structure related to the solution of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation on the touch device to which the solution of the present application is applied. The specific touch device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or have a different component arrangement.

[0090] In one embodiment, a touch device is provided, including a memory and a processor. The memory stores a computer program, and the processor implements the steps in the above method embodiments when executing the computer program.

[0091] In one embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps in the above-mentioned method embodiments are implemented.

[0092] In one embodiment, a computer program product is provided, including a computer program, which implements the steps in the above method embodiments when executed by a processor.

[0093] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program, and the computer program can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above-mentioned methods. Among them, any reference to memory, database or other media used in the embodiments provided in this application may include at least one of non-volatile and volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include read-only memory (ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, flash memory, optical memory, high-density embedded non-volatile memory, resistive random access memory (ReRAM), magnetic random access memory (MRAM), ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM), phase change memory (PCM), graphene memory, etc. Volatile memory may include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory, etc. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM can be in various forms, such as static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The database involved in the various embodiments provided herein may include at least one of a relational database and a non-relational database. Non-relational databases may include, but are not limited to, distributed databases based on blockchains. The processor involved in the various embodiments provided herein may be, but are not limited to, a general-purpose processor, a central processing unit, a graphics processing unit, a digital signal processor, a programmable logic unit, a data processing logic unit based on quantum computing, and the like.

[0094] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

[0095] The above-described embodiments merely represent several implementation methods of the embodiments of the present application. The descriptions thereof are relatively specific and detailed, but they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention patent. It should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, several variations and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the embodiments of the present application, and these all fall within the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the patent of the embodiments of the present application shall be based on the appended claims.

Claims

1. A communication control method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Obtaining a current first area and a second area of ​​a touch screen, wherein the touch screen includes a plurality of touch cells disposed in a touch area, the first area and the second area are both located in the touch area and do not overlap with each other; the touch area includes a central area and an edge area surrounding the central area, and at least some of the touch cells in the edge area have incomplete electrode structures; Control each touch unit in the overlapping area of ​​the first area and the edge area to send an uplink coding signal of a first voltage; control each touch unit in the overlapping area of ​​the first area and the central area to send an uplink coding signal of a second voltage; and control each touch unit in the second area not to send the uplink coding signal; the first voltage is greater than the second voltage, and the uplink coding signal is used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

2. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: Obtaining a downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen; The first area is updated according to the touch coordinate information carried by the downlink coding signal.

3. The control method according to claim 2, characterized in that: Updating the first area according to the touch coordinate information carried by the downlink coding signal includes: The first area is updated according to the touch coordinate information carried by a plurality of first downlink coding signals, where the plurality of first downlink coding signals are a plurality of the downlink coding signals within a first preset time length.

4. The control method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Updating the first area according to the touch coordinate information carried by the plurality of first downlink coding signals includes: Decoding each of the first downlink coding signals respectively to obtain first touch coordinates of each of the first downlink coding signals respectively, where the first touch coordinates are touch coordinate information carried by the first downlink coding signals; If the distance between any two of the first touch coordinates is smaller than a first distance threshold, the first area is updated according to the plurality of the first touch coordinates.

5. The control method according to claim 4, characterized in that: If the distance between any two of the first touch coordinates is less than a first distance threshold, updating the first area according to the plurality of the first touch coordinates includes: If all of the first touch coordinates are located on the same touch unit, the first area is updated according to the plurality of first touch coordinates.

6. The control method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that: Updating the first area according to the plurality of first touch coordinates includes: Obtaining an average value of a plurality of first touch coordinates; The touch unit where the average value is located is regarded as the central touch unit; The first area is updated according to the central touch unit, where the first area includes the central touch unit and a plurality of touch units surrounding the central touch unit.

7. The control method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The distance between any touch unit in the first area and the central touch unit in the first direction is less than a second distance threshold, and the distance between any touch unit in the second direction and the central touch unit is less than a third distance threshold, and the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction.

8. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: determining a third area adjacent to the first area according to the updated first area; When each touch unit in the first area sends an uplink coding signal respectively, each touch unit in the third area is controlled to send a neutralization coding signal respectively, the voltage of the uplink coding signal is one of a positive voltage and a negative voltage, and the voltage of the neutralization coding signal is the other of the positive voltage and the negative voltage.

9. The control method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The number of the touch units in the third area is greater than or equal to the number of the touch units in the first area.

10. The control method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The third area includes a first neutralization sub-area and a second neutralization sub-area respectively arranged on both sides of the first area, and a difference between the number of the touch units in the first neutralization sub-area and the number of the touch units in the second neutralization sub-area is less than a preset difference threshold.

11. The control method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The touch area includes a first scanning area and a second scanning area surrounding the first scanning area, and the acquiring of the downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen includes: Controlling each touch unit in a first scanning area to scan at a first scanning frequency, and controlling each touch unit in a second scanning area to scan at a second scanning frequency, to receive a downlink coding signal sent by the paired active pen, wherein the first scanning frequency is greater than the second scanning frequency; The downlink coding signal scanned by each touch unit is obtained respectively.

12. The control method according to claim 11, characterized in that: Also includes: Decoding the plurality of second downlink coding signals respectively to obtain second touch coordinates corresponding to each of the second downlink coding signals, wherein the plurality of second downlink coding signals are the plurality of downlink coding signals within a second preset time period, and the second touch coordinates are the touch coordinates corresponding to the second downlink coding signals; If the distance between any two of the second touch coordinates is less than a fourth distance threshold, the first scanning area is updated according to the plurality of second touch coordinates, and the remaining area in the touch area is used as a new second scanning area.

13. A touch screen, characterized in that: include: A plurality of touch units are provided in the touch area of ​​the touch screen; A control chip is connected to each of the plurality of touch control units, and is used to execute the communication control method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A touch control system, characterized in that: include: The touch screen according to claim 13; The active pen is used to receive the uplink coding signal sent by the touch screen, establish a pairing connection with the touch screen in response to the uplink coding signal, and send a downlink coding signal carrying touch coordinate information after the pairing connection is established.

15. A touch control device, characterized in that: The device comprises: an area acquisition module, configured to acquire a current first area and a second area of ​​the touch screen, wherein the touch screen includes a plurality of touch cells disposed in a touch area, the first area and the second area are both located in the touch area and do not overlap with each other; the touch area includes a central area and an edge area surrounding the central area, and at least some of the touch cells in the edge area have incomplete electrode structures; An uplink control module is configured to control each touch unit in an overlapping area between the first area and the edge area to send an uplink coding signal of a first voltage; control each touch unit in an overlapping area between the first area and the center area to send an uplink coding signal of a second voltage; and control each touch unit in the second area not to send the uplink coding signal; the first voltage is greater than the second voltage, and the uplink coding signal is used to establish a pairing connection between the touch screen and the active pen.

16. A touch device comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, wherein: When the processor executes the computer program, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12 are implemented.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12 are implemented.

18. A computer program product comprising a computer program, characterized in that When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12 are implemented.

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