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Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR)

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E P 2 7 3 0 9 9 6 A 2

*EP002730996A2*(11) EP 2 730 996 A2

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(43) Date of publication:14.05.2014 Bulletin 2014/20

(21) Application number: 13173906.2

(22) Date of filing: 27.06.2013

(51) Int Cl.:G06F 3/041 (2006.01)

(84) Designated Contracting States:AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GBGR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NOPL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TRDesignated Extension States:BA ME

(30) Priority: 09.11.2012 TW 101141890

(71) Applicant: Giga-Byte Technology Co., Ltd.New Taipei City 231 (TW)

(72) Inventors:• Liu, Yi Yuan

231 Taiwan (TW)• Kuo, Hsiang Yun

Hsin-Tien Dist., New Taipei City 231 (TW)• Ma, Mou Ming

231 Taiwan (TW)

(74) Representative: Schwerbrock, FlorianDanziger Straße 35a20099 Hamburg (DE)

(54) Touch method for palm rejection and electronic device using the same

(57) The present invention discloses a touch methodfor palm rejection and an electronic device using thesame. The electronic device comprises a touch panel

and a control unit, wherein the touch panel has a firstdetection region and includes a first operation mode anda second operation mode, and the touch panel corre-spondingly performs a clicking or sliding motion by de-tection at the second operation mode. The control unit iselectrically connected to the touch panel, when the firstdetection region detects a motion at the first operation

mode, the touch panel generates a detecting signal cor-respondingly to be transmitted to the control unit, andthen the control unit determines based on the detecting

signal so as to generate a control signal to the touchpanel. Thus, the touch panel activates the second oper-ation mode and ceases the first operation mode accord-ing to the control signal, wherein the touch panel activatesthe first operation mode and ceases the second operationmode correspondingly provided that no motion is detect-ed for a first period of time at the second operation mode.

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Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

[0001] The invention relates to a touch method and anelectronic device using the same, and more particularlyto a touch method for palm rejection and an electronicdevice using the same.

2. Description of Related Art

[0002] As technologies of the touch hardware and de-tection are well developed nowadays, the functions of touch-detection are indispensable application technolo-gies for the electronic consumer products, such as thetouch panels of smart mobile phones, tablet computers,laptop computers or desktop computers. At the same

time, the functions of touch-detection are adapted to thetechnologies of single-point or multi-points clicking-de-tection, sliding-detection or pressing-detection. Further-more, not only the traditional functions of objection-click-ing but the functions of picture zoom-in-out, handwritingrecognition, objection picked-up or dragging can beachieved by means of the various touch-detection tech-nologies individual or in combination, which is more con-venient and intuitional opposite to the traditional inputmodes so as to form tendencies for replacing the sub-stantial press buttons or mouse and further become nec-essary input devices for new generation electronic de-vices.[0003] From above mentioned, the touch panel can de-tect a user’s motions or gestures and perform differentfunctions correspondingly. But when the user proceedswith simple operations, such as music listening, moviesseeing or file managing, which needs the functions inresponse to high moving frequencies of hands to avoidthe touch panel once detecting the casual sliding motionsor gestures to activate the unnecessary functions corre-spondingly. In response thereto, the touch panel oftenturns the unnecessary detection functions off, and merelyactivates some relatively simple clicking or pickup func-tions to prevent the user from hitting by accident to gen-

erate unnecessary functions, so as to reduce disturbanc-es for the user. Moreover, the touch panel needs to besetup or activated to perform the full touch functions whenthe user needs other touch functions.[0004] One method for palm rejection of the touch pan-el is provided with substantial press buttons to form amechanism of activating or turning off the palm rejectionfunction. Thus, the user can activate or turn off the palmrejection function by pressing the substantial press but-tons. But defect of the foregoing is that when the user types rapidly and switches the touch function at the sametime, he/she needs to press the substantial press buttonsfrequently to result in slow motion and disturbances. An-other method for palm rejection of the touch panel is pro-

vided with software to activate or turn off the palm rejec-tion function by determining the contact area size be-tween the user’s hands and the touch panel. For exam-ple, it means that the user unintentionally performs thefunctions of sliding or dragging when the contact area issmaller, such that the palm rejection function is activated

correspondingly. On the contrary, the palm rejectionfunction is turned off correspondingly when the contactarea is larger. However, defect of the method is that er-roneous judgment caused by changes of the user’s ges-tures is easily occurred, such that accuracy of the judg-ment is diminished.[0005] From above mentioned, how to efficiently judgethe user’s requirements and activate or turn off the palmrejection function correspondingly is an important issuepresently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] In view of the foregoing prior art defects, thepresent invention is to provide a touch method for palmrejection and an electronic device using the same to re-solve the problem that the user needs to press the sub-stantial press buttons frequently to result in slow motionand disturbances via the mechanism of activating or turn-ing off the palm rejection function by ways of the sub-stantial press buttons. In addition, the present inventionfurther resolves the problem of activating or turning off the palm rejection function via software by determiningcontact area size between the user’s hands and the touchpanel, which easily make erroneous judgment of thetouch panel happen only as a result of changes of theuser’s gestures, so as to diminish accuracy of the judg-ment.[0007] Hence, the present invention discloses an elec-tronic device, which comprises a touch panel and a con-trol unit, wherein the touch panel has a first detectionregion and includes a first operation mode and a secondoperation mode, and the touch panel correspondinglyperforms a clicking or sliding motion by detection at thesecond operation mode. The control unit is electricallyconnected to the touch panel, when the first detectionregion detects a motion at the first operation mode, thetouch panel generates a detecting signal corresponding-

ly to be transmitted to the control unit, and then the controlunit determines based on the detecting signal so as togenerate a control signal to the touch panel. Thus, thetouch panel activates the second operation mode andceases the first operation mode according to the controlsignal, wherein the touch panel activates the first oper-ation mode and ceases the second operation mode cor-respondingly provided that no motion is detected for afirst period of time at the second operation mode.[0008] The present invention further discloses a touchmethod for palm rejection adapted to the electronic de-vice having a touch panel. The method comprises thefollowing steps: presetting the touch panel as a first op-eration mode; detecting a motion in a first detection re-

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gion of the touch panel at the first operation mode, thetouch panel generating a detecting signal correspond-ingly to be transmitted to a control unit of the electronicdevice; determining by the control unit whether the mo-tion is an activating command according to the detectingsignal, if the motion is the activating command, the control

unit generates a control signal to the touch panel corre-spondingly; driving the touch panel to activate a secondoperation mode and cease the first operation mode cor-respondingly according to the control signal, and per-forming a clicking or sliding motion by detection at thesecond operation mode correspondingly; controlling thetouch panel by the control unit to activate the first oper-ation mode and cease the second operation mode cor-respondingly provided that no motion is detected for afirst period of time at the second operation mode, whereinthe control unit controls the touch panel merely performa function corresponding to the detecting signal providedthat the control unit determines that the motion is not the

activating command.[0009] The objective of the present invention is to di-vide the touch panel into the first detection region andthe second detection region, such that the touch panelcan detect the special motions and gestures input by theuser, and the control unit determines correspondinglywhether the motions are activating commands so as todrive the touch panel to switch between two modes toactivate or turn off the touch functions as the user re-quired. Therefore, the present invention not only enhanc-es the convenience on operation but not raises designingdifficulties of the electronic device since the electronicdevice of the present invention needs not to adopt thetechnologies of the substantial press buttons of the prior art. At the same time, the touch panel can avoid the func-tion for palm rejection being activated or turned off un-necessarily to reduce disturbances for the user when er-roneous judgment caused by changes of the user’s ges-tures is occurred.[0010] These and other objectives of the present in-vention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinaryskill in the art after reading the following detailed descrip-tion of the preferred embodiments that is illustrated in thevarious figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Fig. 1 is the block diagram of the electronic de-vice using the touch method for palm rejection accordingto the present invention.[0012] Fig. 2 is the perspective diagram of one embod-iment of the electronic device according to the presentinvention.[0013] Fig. 3 is the plan diagram of another embodi-ment of the electronic device according to the presentinvention.[0014] Fig. 4A is the perspective diagram of one em-bodiment of the dividing way of the touch panel accordingto the present invention.

[0015] Fig. 4B is the perspective diagram of another embodiment of the dividing way of the touch panel ac-cording to the present invention.[0016] Fig. 4C is the perspective diagram of another embodiment of the dividing way of the touch panel ac-cording to the present invention.

[0017] Fig. 4D is the perspective diagram of another embodiment of the dividing way of the touch panel ac-cording to the present invention.[0018] Fig. 5 is the flow chart of the touch method for palm rejection according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EM-BODIMENTS

[0019] Please refer to the Fig. 1, one embodiment of the present invention discloses an electronic device 10which comprises a touch panel 101, a control unit 102and a display unit 103, wherein the electronic device 10

includes but not limited to a smart mobile phone, tabletcomputer, laptop computer or desktop computer that areprovided with the touch panel 101, such as the laptopcomputer shown in the Fig. 2 or the tablet computer andsmart mobile phone shown in the Fig. 3.[0020] While the disclosure has been described interms of what is presently considered to be the preferredembodiment, such as the touch panel of the tablet com-puter shown in the Fig. 3, it is to be understood that thedisclosures need not be limited to the disclosed embod-iments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claims which are tobe accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to en-compass all such modifications and similar structures.[0021] Please refer to the Fig. 4A to Fig. 4B, and refer to the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 at the same time, the touch panel101 of the electronic device 10 is divided into a first de-tection region 1011 and a second detection region 1012,and it’s worth noting that the first detection region 1011and the second detection region 1012 either can be twoindependent sections on the touch panel 101, or the sec-ond detection region 1012 is the remaining section onthe touch panel 101 except for the first detection region1011 thereon after defining the first detection region

1011. Besides, the first detection region 1011 is distin-guished from the second detection region 1012 by differ-ent lines, colors, materials or installed locations, but itshould not be taken in a limiting sense. That is, the di-viding ways should be adopted in the present inventionas long as the user can easily distinguish the first detec-tion region 1011 from the second detection region 1012.[0022] As shown in the Fig. 4A, the embodiment is ex-emplified with that the first detection region 1011 is dis-tinguished from the second detection region 1012 by dif-ferent installed locations on the touch panel 101, and thefirst detection region 1011 is installed on the locationsclosest to the placement of the user’s thumbs when onoperation, which is convenient for the user to touch the

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first detection region 1011 without adjusting his/her hands postures. Moreover, as shown in the Fig. 4B, theembodiment is exemplified with that the first detectionregion 1011 is distinguished from the second detectionregion 1012 by different colors, for example, the first de-tection region 1011 is used a dark color and the second

detection region 1012 is used a light color contrarily,which is useful for the user to identify the difference vis-ually. As shown in the Fig. 4C, the embodiment is exem-plified with that the first detection region 1011 is distin-guished from the second detection region 1012 by differ-ent lines, for example, the first detection region 1011 isused an external frame so as to make the difference fromthe second detection region 1012, which is also usefulfor the user to identify the difference visually. Similarly,as shown in the Fig. 4D, the embodiment is exemplifiedwith that the first detection region 1011 is distinguishedfrom the second detection region 1012 by different ma-terials, for example, the first detection region 1011 is used

a smooth material, such as a smooth plastic material,and the second detection region 1012 is used a roughmaterial contrarily, such as a texture plastic material,which enhances the working efficiency for the user tocontact directly to identify the difference without any vis-ual identification.[0023] In addition, the touch panel 101 has a first op-eration mode and a second operation mode, and thetouch pane 101 does not perform correspondingly anymotions by detection at the first operation mode. In other words, although the touch pane 101, at a locking phase,can detect any motions and gestures at the first operationmode, but the touch panel 101 still fails to perform pro-grams or functions corresponding to the motions. On thecontrary, the touch panel 101 responses to the motionsand gestures, such as the clicking or sliding motions, atthe second operation mode, that is, the touch panel 101can detect all motions and gestures at the second oper-ation mode and further generate responsive signals or motions. It’s worth noting that the touch panel 101 canperform the functions of detection and generate respon-sive signals or motions either at the first operation modeor at the second operation mode, and those skilled in theart can further adjust the detection functions of the touchpanel 101 at the different modes according to the user’s

requirements or hardware configurations.[0024] Besides, the control unit 102 of the electronicdevice 10, electrically connected to the touch panel 101,is used for controlling the touch panel 101, and the displayunit 103 of the electronic device 10, electrically connect-ed to the control unit 102 and the touch panel 101 re-spectively, is used for displaying the touch panel 101operated at the first or second operation mode. It’s worthnoting that in some electronic devices, such as a smartmobile phone or tablet computer, the touch panel 101and the display unit 103 are integrated into a single touchscreen to combine the functions of touching, detectingand displaying. However, the inventors describe thepresent invention hereinafter with the electronic device

10 having the unique touch panel 101 and the uniquedisplay unit 103.[0025] Please refer to the Fig. 5, and refer to the Fig.1 to the Fig. 4D at the same time, the touch method for palm rejection according to the present invention com-prises the following steps: First, the electronic device 10

presets the touch panel 101 as the first operation mode,wherein the touch panel 101 does not perform corre-spondingly any motions by detection (S101). Thus, thetouch panel 101 activates the function for palm rejection,and the touch panel 101 can detect any motions andgestures but fail to perform programs or functions corre-sponding to the motions. At the same time, the electronicdevice 10 shows that the touch panel 101 is operated atthe first operation mode via the display unit 103 (S105).Furthermore, the first detection region 1011 of the touchpanel 101 detects a motion at the first operation mode(S110), and the touch panel 101 generates a detectingsignal correspondingly to be transmitted to the control

unit 102 (S115).[0026] It’s worth noting that the motion includes but notlimited to a pressed motion lasted for a second period of time, such that when the first detection region 1011 de-tects a motion lasted for the second period of time, e.g.3 seconds, the touch panel 101 determines that the mo-tion is the pressed motion and generates the detectingsignal correspondingly to be transmitted to the controlunit 102. Similarly, the touch panel 101 transmits the cor-responding detecting signal to the control unit 102 bymeans of the sliding motion extended from the first de-tection region 1011 to the second detection region 1012.The user can setup the touch panel 101 capable of de-tecting different motions and gestures by means of theelectronic device 10, but it should not be taken in a limitingsense.[0027] From above mentioned, the control unit 102 de-termines whether the motion, detected in the first detec-tion region 1011 of the touch panel 101, is an activatingcommand according to the detecting signal (S120), if themotion is the activating command, the control unit 102generates a control signal to the touch panel 101 corre-spondingly (S125). The touch panel 101 then activatesthe second operation mode and ceases the first operationmode correspondingly according to the control signal

(S130). That is, the touch panel 101 switches to the sec-ond operation mode and activates the functions corre-sponding to the motions and gestures, such as the click-ing or sliding motions, and the touch panel 101 will detectthe motions and gestures and perform the motions cor-respondingly at the same time. The display unit 103 dis-plays that the touch panel 101 is operated at the secondoperation mode, and if the continuous motions are de-tected by the touch panel 101 at the second operationmode, the touch panel 101 will keep operation at the sec-ond operation mode; however, the control unit 102 con-trols the touch panel 101 to activate the first operationmode and cease the second operation mode correspond-ingly provided that no motion is detected for a first period

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of time, e.g. 3seconds, at the second operation mode(S140).[0028] In other words, no motion is detected for a pe-riod of time at the second operation mode, which meansthe user does not need the touch functions of the touchpanel 101 anymore. Therefore, the control unit 102 con-

trols the touch panel 101 to switch to the original firstoperation mode and never perform the programs or func-tions corresponding to the motions by detection. That isto say, the touch panel 101 activates the function for palmrejection again to prevent the user from hitting by accidentat the second operation mode because the user forgetsto switch to the first operation mode. In sum, it is moreconcise that the touch panel 101 automatically switchesto the first operation mode after a period of time withoutoperation.[0029] In view of the foregoing, the control unit 102merely performs the touch function corresponding to thedetecting signal and does not switch to the different

modes and then repeatedly performs the step S101, pro-vided that the control unit determines that the detectingsignal is not the activating command but a general mo-tion.[0030] It’s worth noting that the first period of time andthe second period of time are adjustable by the user viathe electronic device 10. In addition, the switching mech-anism of the different modes is merely operated insidethe electronic device 10, and the user can not immedi-ately judge whether the mode is operated, thus the dis-play unit 103 is provided with displaying which mode op-erated on the touch panel 101 to be known by the user.

And the moment of displaying is also adjustable by theuser’s demand, such that the operation mode can beeither displayed on the display unit 103 permanently or displayed only at the moment of switching to another op-eration mode. The objective of the present invention isto prevent the user from hitting by accident, thus the user can switch to the accurate operation mode in no timeonce he/she recognizes the current operation mode notas required.[0031] At the same time, the present invention disclos-es another computer-readable storage device storing aprogram to be adapted to the electronic device 10 andthe touch method for palm rejection accordingly.

[0032] The touch method for palm rejection and theelectronic device using the same according to the presentinvention, divide the touch panel into the first detectionregion and the second detection region by clear and iden-tifiable ways. Further, the touch panel detects the specialmotions and gestures input by the user, and the controlunit determines correspondingly whether the motions areactivating commands so as to drive the touch panel toswitch between two operation modes to activate or pro-hibit the touch functions as the user required accordingto the function for palm rejection. Therefore, the presentinvention not only enhances the convenience on opera-tion but not raises designing difficulties of the electronicdevice since the electronic device of the present inven-

tion needs not to adopt technologies of the substantialpress buttons of the prior art.[0033] Since the certain detection regions are divided,the touch panel can avoid the function for palm rejectionbeing activated or turned off unnecessarily to reduce dis-turbances for the user when erroneous judgment caused

by changes of the user’s gestures is occurred. As a result,the present invention not only raises the willingness for use but makes the user well known the current operationmode of the touch panel via the display unit.[0034] The aforementioned descriptions representmerely the preferred embodiment of the present inven-tion, without any intention to limit the scope of the presentinvention thereto. Various equivalent changes, altera-tions, or modifications based on the claims of the presentinvention are all consequently viewed as being embracedby the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An electronic device (10), is characterized by com-prising:

a touch panel (101) having a first detection re-gion (1011) and including a first operation modeand a second operation mode, the touch panel(101) correspondingly performing a clicking or sliding motion by detection at the second oper-ation mode; anda control unit (102) electrically connected to thetouch panel (101), when the first detection re-gion (1011) detects a motion at the first opera-tion mode, the touch panel (101) generates adetecting signal correspondingly to be transmit-ted to the control unit (102), the control unit (102)determines based on the detecting signal so asto generate a control signal to the touch panel(101), and the touch panel (101) activates thesecond operation mode and ceases the first op-eration mode according to the control signal,wherein the touch panel (101) activates the firstoperation mode and ceases the second opera-tion mode correspondingly provided that no mo-

tion is detected for a first period of time at thesecond operation mode.

2. The electronic device (10) as claimed in claim 1, ischaracterized by the motion by detection in the firstdetection region (1011) at the first operation modeis a pressed motion lasted for a second period of time.

3. The electronic device (10) as claimed in claim 1, ischaracterized by the touch panel (101) has a sec-ond detection region (1012), and the motion detectedin the first detection region (1011) at the first opera-tion mode is the sliding motion extended from the

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first detection region (1011) to the second detectionregion (1012).

4. The electronic device (10) as claimed in claim 3, ischaracterized by the first detection region (1011) isdistinguished from the second detection region

(1012) by different lines, colors or materials.

5. The electronic device (10) as claimed in claim 3, ischaracterized by the first detection region (1011) isdistinguished from the second detection region(1012) by installed locations on the touch panel(101).

6. The electronic device (10) as claimed in claims 1 to5, is characterized by further comprising a displayunit (103) electrically connected to the control unit(102) and the touch panel (101), wherein the displayunit (103) is used for displaying the touch panel (101)

operated at the first or second operation mode.

7. A touch method for palm rejection adapted to an elec-tronic device (10) having a touch panel (101), is char-acterized by comprising:

presetting the touch panel (101) as a first oper-ation mode;detecting a motion in a first detection region(1011) of the touch panel (101) at the first oper-ation mode, the touch panel (101) generating adetecting signal correspondingly to be transmit-ted to a control unit (102) of the electronic device(10);determining by the control unit (102) whether the motion is an activating command accordingto the detecting signal, if the motion is the acti-vating command, the control unit (102) gener-ates a control signal to the touch panel (101)correspondingly;driving the touch panel (101) to activate a sec-ond operation mode and cease the first opera-tion mode correspondingly according to the con-trol signal, and performing a clicking or slidingmotion by detection at the second operation

mode correspondingly; andcontrolling the touch panel (101) by the controlunit (102) to activate the first operation modeand cease the second operation mode corre-spondingly provided that no motion is detectedfor a first period of time at the second operationmode, wherein the control unit (102) controls thetouch panel (101) not to perform a function cor-responding to the detecting signal provided thatthe control unit (102) determines that the motionis not the activating command.

8. The touch method as claimed in claim 7, is charac-terized by in the step of detecting the motion in the

first detection region (1011) of the touch panel (101)at the first the motion, the motion by detection in thefirst detection region (1011) is a pressed motion last-ed for a second period of time.

9. The touch method as claimed in claim 7, is charac-

terized by in the step of detecting the motion in thefirst detection region (1011) of the touch panel (101)at the first the motion, the motion by detection in thefirst detection region (1011) is the sliding motion ex-tended from the first detection region (1011) to thesecond detection region (1012).

10. The touch method as claimed in claims 7, 8 or 9, ischaracterized by further comprising: displaying thetouch panel (101) operated at the first or second op-eration mode by a display unit (103).

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