US 7358964 B2
A multi-induction loop layout of an electromagnetic inductive system is disclosed. The multi-induction loop layout of the invention comprises a plurality of inductive loops, one terminal of each inductive loop connecting to a loop switch, and the other terminal connecting to the common node. Every logical inductive loop is a relative close inductive loop, the relative close inductive loop possessing a plurality of
1. A method for finding the coordinates of an electromagnetic inductive system with battery-less pointer device and a multi-induction loop layout having a plurality of physical inductive loops, said method comprising:
proceeding a full scan procedure through said plurality of physical inductive loops to transmit a first electromagnetic signal;
inducing said first electromagnetic signal and transmitting a second electromagnetic signal through a battery-less pointer device for the convenience of part of said plurality of physical inductive loops located on said battery-less pointer device to receive said second electromagnetic signal;
transmitting said second electromagnetic signal to a microprocessor sub-circuit;
searching an address of said physical inductive loop having maximum amplitude signal through an inductive loop deployment table in said microprocessor sub-circuit;
proceeding a partial scan procedure with said physical inductive loop as the center, and scanning through at least three physical inductive loops, and obtaining at least three voltage signals; and
identifying a logical address of said battery-less pointer device through said three voltage signals and said inductive loop deployment table; whereby coordinates of said battery-less pointer device on said multi-induction loop layout are generated.
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8. A method of generating pointing coordinate information for a battery-less pointer device in an electromagnetic inductive system, said method comprising:
proceeding a full scan procedure by a plurality of physical antenna loops for launching a first electromagnetic signal;
receiving said first electromagnetic signal by a battery-less pointer device and launching a second electromagnetic signal for part of the plurality of physical antenna loops located on said battery-less pointer device to receive said second electromagnetic signal;
transmitting said second electromagnetic signal to a microprocessor sub-circuit;
searching a physical antenna loop address with maximum voltage signal through an antenna loop deployment table in said microprocessor sub-circuit;
proceeding a partial scan procedure with said physical antenna loop as the center, scanning through at least three physical antenna loops, and obtaining at least three voltage signals; and
confirming the logical address of said battery-less pointer device through comparison of said three voltage signal and judgment of said antenna loop deployment table, whereby coordinates of said battery-less pointer device relative to a multi-induction loop layout containing said physical antenna loops are generated.
9. The method of
10. An electromagnetic inductive system, said electromagnetic inductive system comprising:
a battery-less pointer device, inducing a first electromagnetic signal and storing energy through an electromagnetic induction in order to transmit a second electromagnetic signal;
an inductive loops sub-circuit, possessing a multi-induction loop layout, said inductive loops sub-circuit transmitting said first electromagnetic signal and inducing said second electromagnetic signal, wherein said multi-induction loop layout comprises:
a plurality of physical inductive loops is formed by connection of a plurality of
a close-like region formed by said plurality of
an interior sub-circuit, being electrically coupled with said inductive loops sub-circuit to transmit and process said first electromagnetic signal and said second electromagnetic signal; and
a microprocessor sub-circuit, being electrically coupled with said interior sub-circuit and controlling said inductive loops sub-circuits, wherein said inductive loop deployment table is defaulted in said microprocessor sub-circuit,
whereby coordinates of said battery-less pointer device relative to said multi-induction loop layout are generated.
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12. The electromagnetic inductive system according to
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14. The electromagnetic inductive system according to
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a multi-induction loop layout of an electromagnetic inductive system, and more particularly to a method for locating the coordinates of the multi-induction loop layout of an electromagnetic inductive system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since a handwriting input device can replace a mouse and allow users to input words and pictures by hand, more easily than a mouse, the field of improvement of a handwriting input device has developed rapidly in recent years. The early handwriting input device replaces a mouse with a pen. In order to increase the convenience of operation for the user, a cordless pointer device, such as a pen, a mouse, a puck or a stylus with a digitizer tablet is usually used. The tip of the cordless pen or stylus corresponds with the left key of the mouse. Although conventional pen-input products have existed for several years, similar kinds of products generally focus on the application of a single function such as graphing, drawing or Chinese text key-in.
The conventional electromagnetic inductive system is equipped with a digitizer tablet and a mouse or pen-transducer/pointer device. Generally speaking, there are two modes of presented the position the pointer device located on the active area of the tablet: the relative mode and the absolute mode. The mechanical or optical type mouse device generally functions in the relative mode, that is to say, when the mouse glides on the surface of the mouse pad, the computer system receives the cursor information from the mouse and it can only identify the relative movement in X and Y directions. A common technique is to implement a pair of mutually perpendicular altering signals in the mouse, these two signals corresponding to the longitudinal and transverse movement of the mouse. In contrast, the cursor device of the tablet, such as cordless pointer device, generally functions in the absolute mode. As far as the computer system is concerned, once the pointer device is operated and moved to another place on the active area of the tablet, the signal changes in order to response the new absolute coordinates of the pointer device. Nowadays, there have already been several methods for positioning the pointer device on the active area of the tablet, and the electromagnetic field inductive technique is the technique that generally applies to the absolute mode. The early transducer/pointer devices were connected to the tablet with a set of wires, delivering the information of coordinates and switch/pressure status to the computer system with interface. Some cordless transducers/pointer devices in the prior art indicated the use of different functions by changing the frequency and/or phase, the functions included, pressing down the button, pressing the tip of the pointer device on the active area, and other similar functions. However, without careful handling, the change in frequency and phase could easily cause misjudgment in the desired function of the pointer device because of various external factors such as metallic objects, noise signals, exterior electromagnetic fields, etc. These problems become extraordinarily obvious when it comes to tablets of larger size. The conventional technique for improvement made to the tablet system, allows users to operate the pointer device with tablet system in dual mode, and therefore the information regarding relative mode and absolute mode can both be provided under the user's control.
The current pointer/input product is usually an electromagnetic inductive system. The electromagnetic inductive system usually comprises an electromagnetic pointer device and a tablet. The electromagnetic pointer device has an oscillation circuit and a battery, providing energy for transmitting the relative electromagnetic signal. Take the electromagnetic pointer device for example, when the tip of the pointer device is pressed, the inductance of the inductor changes, therefore the oscillation frequency also changes. The higher the pressure received by the pointer device, the greater the inductance changes, and the oscillation frequency, therefore the amount of the pressure exerted upon the pointer device tip of the can be obtained through the changing degree of frequency. There are also two switch keys on the side of the pen type cordless pointer device, the on/off status changes the transmitting frequency and the connecting/disconnecting a specific capacitor in the oscillation circuits. When the user presses the switch key, it can be identified through detecting the variation of frequency. The tablet also comprises elements such as a detective loop, an amplifier, and an ADC and so on. The central writing area of this conventional handwriting tablet is plaited by inductive loops, the layout is composed of double layers of a PCB and the inductive loops with two axial arranged in an array of equal distance. The major use of these inductive loops is to induce the electromagnetic signal transmitted by the electromagnetic pointer device. When the electromagnetic pointer device transmits the electromagnetic signal, these inductive loops will induce the electromagnetic signal and the microprocessor will receive the processed information of the pointer device through a signal processing circuit.
Generally speaking, the inductive loops of the conventional electromagnetic inductive device and its layout design makes the inductive loops a grid net with the X and Y axis arranged in an array at equal distance in order to induce the signal emitted from the electromagnetic pointer device and figure out its absolute coordinates. Referring to the inductive loops layout deployed according to the X direction of a two-dimensional orthogonal coordinate indicated in
On the other hand, the development of current information products is aimed at a high-speed and high data rate process with multiple and excellent functions. But as the speed of processing and data rate increase, the phenomenon of electromagnetic interference will happened often. In some specific occasions of operating tablet system, there are usually other information products being used. Therefore the conventional tablet is easily interfered with by exterior electromagnetic fields and thus misjudgment is a result. As far as the tablet of a larger active area is demanded in commerce is concerned, the number of inductive loops needed increases, and therefore the number of loop switches will also increase greatly without a doubt. Referring to the conventional inductive loops layout in
In view of the prior art, focusing on the enhancement and to increase the function of the inductive loops of the conventional electromagnetic inductive system. The present invention provides a multi-induction loop layout of an electromagnetic inductive system with a battery-less pointer device (a pen, a mouse, a locating plate, etc.) and its method for calculating the coordinates, which is able to eliminate the said defect of the conventional electromagnetic inductive system.
One main purpose of the invention is to provide an electromagnetic inductive system with a battery-less pointer device and the multi-induction loops layout and its method for calculating the coordinates. The invention processes a procedure of calculating the coordinates through a battery-less pointer device and a multi-induction loop layout. Besides, the battery-less pointer device of the invention is consisted of a variable inductance element. When the inductance changes, the resonant frequency also changes, and therefore the frequency of the electromagnetic signal induced by the inductive loops also different. With this multi-induction loops layout, the invention can reduce the space demand of the electromagnetic inductive system and the size of its PCB (whether it is a inflexible or flexible PCB is not confined here). Thus the goal of minimizing the space bounded and the product appearance, reducing production costs, and intensifying the efficiency of the electromagnetic inductive system is achieved. Therefore, the invention fits in with economic benefit and industrial practicability.
Therefore, an electromagnetic inductive system with a battery-less pointer device and multi-induction loop layout with a coordinate-locating procedure is disclosed by the invention according to the above said purpose. The multi-induction loop layout of the invention comprises a multi-induction loop group deployed according to a inductive loop deployment table. The inductive loop layout in the inductive loop deployment table comprises a plurality of physical inductive loops that are distributed along the X and Y axis of the two-dimensional orthogonal coordinates system and each physical inductive loop comprises a plurality of logical inductive loops. As far as each physical inductive loop that's distributed in the same direction is concerned, the logical inductive loops that are adjacent to the two sides of each logical inductive loop belong to a different physical inductive loop. Besides, the scanning procedure is to scan the physical inductive loops with the loop deployment table built-in microprocessor. First, each loop switch is switched on its physical inductive loop in sequence in a specific time slot to transmit an electromagnetic signal. When the battery-less pointer device is in the region of the multi-induction loop layout, it induces the electromagnetic energy transmitted by the physical inductive loop. After the battery-less pointer device induces and stores the energy, the bi-direction loop switch of the physical inductive loop stops transmitting energy and starts to induce the energy transmitted by the battery-less pointer device. On the other hand, the positioning procedure of the battery-less pointer device of the electromagnetic inductive system includes, ┌Full Scan┘ and its ┌Partial Scan┘ procedure of X and Y direction in order to detect the first signal, possessing the highest voltage, the second signal, possessing the voltage second to the highest, and the third signal, possessing the third highest voltage orderly and figure out the accurate coordinates of the battery-less pointer device through the calculation of the internal circuit processing and microprocessor of the electromagnetic inductive system.
What is probed into in the invention is a method for calculating the coordinates of an electromagnetic inductive system with a multi-antenna loop layout and battery-less pointer device. Detailed steps in production, structure and elements will be provided in the following description in order to make the invention thoroughly understood. Obviously, the application of the invention is not confined to specific details familiar to those who are skilled in electromagnetic inductive system. On the other hand, the common elements and procedures that are known to everyone are not described in the details to avoid unnecessary limits of the invention. The preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in detail in the following. However, besides this embodiment, with detailed description, the invention can also be applied extensively to other embodiments. The scope of the invention is not being defined by this preferred embodiment, but by the appended claims.
According to the embodiment mentioned above, the electromagnetic inductive system 400A can locate its battery-less pointer device 400B by its inductive loop deployment table. The method for detecting the battery-less pointer device 400B is described as follows. First, after the electromagnetic inductive system 400A is started, the loop switch group 445 selects a signal according to the switch transmitted by the microprocessor sub-circuit 415, sets the bi-direction loop switch 445A on/off for each physical inductive loop 450A and 450B in the X direction and Y direction, one by one orderly according to time, and proceeds a ┌Full-Scan┘ procedure. The method of which, is that the physical inductive loop transmits an electromagnetic signal, which is induced and received by the battery-less pointer device 400B when the battery-less pointer device 400B approaches the multi-induction loop layout 440. The duration of switching on the bi-direction loop switch 445A determined by the default value of the microprocessor sub-circuit 415, which must be long enough for the energy storage of the battery-less pointer device to store energy fully. After the energy storage of the battery-less pointer device 400B is accomplished, and the inductive loop no longer transmits any electromagnetic signal, the battery-less pointer device transmits another electromagnetic signal to the a plurality of physical inductive loops that are on its location.
In the actual practicing process, a ┌Full-Scan┘ procedure is performed first to roughly find the logical address of the pointer device, and then the partial scan is proceeded according to this rough logical address. The so-called “┌Full Scan┘ procedure” mentioned above is: first, in the first time slot of the scan process, the transmitting circuit is electrically connected with the physical inductive loop by switching the loop switch “ON”, to which the first physical inductive loop corresponds. In this time slot, an electromagnetic signal is transmitted into the adjacent space. Second, in another time slot, the transmitting of an electromagnetic signal stops and the loop switch is not switched “OFF”. The electromagnetic field of the adjacent space is induced and received by the inductive loop at the same time. In the following, a value relative to the intensity of the inductive signal is figured out through the process and the operation of the pre-amplifier circuit 425, the filter and amplifier circuit 420, and the microprocessor sub-circuit 415, etc. The record of which is set in the RAM (random access memory) of the microprocessor sub-circuit 415; then, the procedure mentioned above is proceeded again with the second physical inductive loop as its object of function. Then, the values relative to the intensity of the inductive signal are compared and the relation between them is recorded. The same procedure is repeated until it has been deployed in all the physical inductive loops. A maximum is searched in the records, if there is a maximum, the correspondence is proceeded according to the inductive loop deployment table and the ┌Partial Scan┘ is ready to proceed after several relative physical inductive loops are found. If there is not a maximum, the “┌Full Scan┘ procedure” mentioned above is repeated until there is a maximum.
In the following is a description of the “┌Partial Scan┘ procedure”. When the physical inductive loop with a maximum is in one specific time slot, the electromagnetic signal is transmitted to an adjacent place. In the other time slot, the physical inductive loop , to which the logical inductive loop with the maximum and its adjacent a plurality of logical inductive loops (including the logical inductive loop with the maximum) correspond, induces and receives the signals, and records the value of each in the microprocessor sub-circuit 415. The signals are then arranged to find the strongest, the second strongest, and the third strongest, etc. These are called, the first signal, second signal, and the third signal, etc. The voltage of the first signal should be higher than or equal to that of the second signal, and the voltage of the second signal should be higher than or equal to that of the third signal. Finally, the accurate coordinates are figured out according to these three signals with the linear relationship, and the track of the pointer device is traced by comparing the physical inductive loop with the maximum to see whether it changes or not. Generally speaking, the microprocessor sub-circuit 415 traces and identifies the logical address of the battery less pointer device and figures out its coordinates through five voltage signals and the inductive loop deployment table.
Furthermore, in said “partial scan procedure,” inductive signals of the three highest voltages have a feature that the second strongest signal and the third strongest signal are located on two sides of the first strongest signal. Therefore, it can be clearly known that battery less pointer device is located on the side where the strongest signal is located of physical antenna loop by identifying adjacent locations of physical antenna loop where the second strongest signal locates and physical antenna loop where the first strongest signal locates according to loop deployment table shown in
In the embodiment of the present invention, each physical inductive loop can form a
According to the above descriptions, a positioning procedure through a battery-less pointer device and a multi-induction loop layout is performed in the present invention. The battery-less pointer device of the present invention possesses a variable inductance element, when the inductance of which changes, the resonant frequency also changes, thus the frequency of the electromagnetic signal transmitted by the battery-less pointer device that is induced by the inductive loop also varies. With this multi-induction loop layout, the invention can reduce space demand of the electromagnetic inductive system and the size of its PCB (whether it is inflexible type or flexible type is not limited) to achieve the goal of minimizing the space bounded and the product appearance. As a result, decreasing the production cost and enhancing the efficiency of the electromagnetic inductive system. Therefore, the invention fits in with economic benefit and industrial practicability.
Of course, in addition to the possible application in the multi-induction loop layout with the electromagnetic inductive system with battery-less pointer device, it is also possible for the invention to be applied in any method for the positioning of the multi-induction loops layout. Moreover, the process of finding the coordinates procedure through battery-less pointer device and multi-induction loops layout of the invention has never been developed and applied relating to the electromagnetic inductive system so far.
Obviously, there may be many modifications and differences in the invention according to the description of the embodiments mentioned above. Therefore it needs to be explained in the appended claims that, in addition to the detailed description given above, the invention can also be applied extensively in other embodiments.
What is mentioned above is only the preferred embodiments of the invention that cannot define the claims of the present invention. Any equivalent changes or modifications made without departing from the true spirit disclosed by the invention should be included in the scope of the appended claims.