Frameless Touchscreen Using 2D Lidar for Edge-to-Edge Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional touchscreen panels are unsuitable for large display areas, such as entire walls, due to size limitations and high costs, and frame-based systems create unusable borders and are expensive, making them impractical for edge-to-edge touchscreen functionality.
Innovation Solution
A frameless touchscreen display system utilizing a 2D lidar sensor to detect touch inputs without the need for physical touch, allowing edge-to-edge image projection and interaction across multiple surfaces, enabling seamless image content movement between adjacent displays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional touchscreen panels are used for large display areas, then touch functionality is provided, but the cost increases significantly and the panels become non-viable beyond certain sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces physical touchscreen panels with mechanical contact structures with an optical sensing system using laser beams and photodetectors. The laser grid projects invisible beams across the display area, and touch events are detected by measuring disruptions in the laser beam patterns using photodetectors, eliminating the need for expensive large-format touch panels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces laser beams as an intermediary between the user and the display surface. The laser grid creates a field of invisible light beams that act as the sensing medium, allowing touch detection without requiring the display surface itself to have tactile sensing capabilities.
2Reliability
If frame-based touchscreen systems are used to enable touch input on projected images, then touch functionality is achieved, but the frame creates unusable borders and reduces the effective display area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the touch detection function from the physical frame structure and relocates it to the display surface itself. By projecting the laser grid directly onto or across the display area, the sensing mechanism is distributed across the entire display surface rather than being confined to a peripheral frame, thereby maximizing the usable display area.
3Reliability
If large frames are used to provide touchscreen functionality for large displays, then touch input is enabled, but the frames become relatively expensive and create thick unusable borders
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical frame structure with an optical field-based sensing system. Instead of using a physical frame to house sensors, the system uses laser beams projected across the display area, eliminating the need for thick frames and reducing both the physical profile and cost of the system.
4Reliability
If touchscreen panels are used for projected images, then touch interaction is possible, but the panel makes the surface more reflective and may not be viable for large images
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses laser beams as an intermediary sensing layer that does not interfere with the projection of images. The laser grid is projected either on or slightly in front of the display surface, creating a transparent sensing field that allows full visibility of projected content while enabling touch detection through beam disruption measurement.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables cost-effective, borderless touchscreen functionality on large surfaces, including projected images, by converting any passive surface into a usable touchscreen, allowing continuous interaction without the need for physical frames or panels.
Implementation Method 1
detect the touch input based on one or more object lidar returns
Implementation Method 2
estimate said location within the display area based on (i) a return time and return angle of each object lidar return
Data Source
AI summary
A frameless touchscreen display system comprises a frameless display screen; a display system arranged to render a moving image within a display area of the frameless display screen; an image rendering component configured to receive a detected touch input, determine an action associated with a location of the detected touch input within the display area, and modify the moving image to effect the associated touch action; a 2D lidar sensor positioned so that a detection plane of the 2D lidar sensor lies adjacent and substantially parallel to the frameless display screen; and a touch input detector coupled to the 2D lidar sensor and configured to: detect the touch input based on one or more object lidar returns from an object intersecting the detection plane at said location within the display area, and estimate said location within the display area based on (i) a return time and return angle of each object lidar return and (ii) a known position of the 2D lidar sensor relative to the frameless display screen.