US-12619327-B2 - Position detection method of pointer and sensor controller

Abstract

Disclosed is a detection method performed by a sensor controller connected to a sensor including a plurality of sensor electrodes, the method detecting, with use of the sensor, a position of a passive pointer that does not transmit a signal and a position of an active pen that transmits a pen signal from a pen electrode provided on an end of the active pen. The method includes acquiring a pen pressure value indicating pressure applied to a pen tip of the active pen, and controlling an operation mode of the sensor controller according to the pen pressure value.

Inventors

• Yoshio Nomura

Assignees

• WACOM CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20250116

Priority Date

20200210

Claims (6)

1. 1 . A sensor controller that uses a sensor including a plurality of sensor electrodes to detect a position of a passive pointer that does not transmit a signal and a position of an active pen that transmits a pen signal from a pen electrode provided on a front end part, the sensor controller comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the sensor controller to: decode the pen signal to acquire a pen pressure value indicating pressure applied to a pen tip of the active pen; enter a first operation mode of detecting, in time division, the position of the active pen and the position of the passive pointer on a panel surface when the pen pressure value indicates that the pen tip is not in contact with the panel surface; and enter a second operation mode of detecting the position of the active pen on the panel surface and not detecting the position of the passive pointer on the panel surface when the pen pressure value indicates that the pen tip is in contact with the panel surface; determine whether the pen signal is detected; enter any one of the first and second operation modes when the sensor controller determines that the pen signal is detected; and enter a third operation mode of detecting, in time division, the position of the active pen and the position of the passive pointer on the panel surface, with a detection frequency of the position of the passive pointer higher than that in the first operation mode, when the sensor controller determines that the pen signal is not detected.
2. 2 . The sensor controller according to claim 1 , wherein: in the third operation mode, a global scan is performed by an entirety of the sensor, and in the first and second operation modes, a local scan is performed by only part of the sensor.
3. 3 . The sensor controller according to claim 1 , wherein: in the second operation mode, detection of the active pen is performed by using more of the sensor electrodes than in the first operation mode.
4. 4 . The sensor controller according to claim 1 , wherein: a first number of sensor electrodes selected by the sensor controller in the first operation mode and a second number of sensor electrodes selected by the sensor controller in the second operation mode are different, and the sensor controller sequentially selects the selected sensor electrodes one by one at time intervals corresponding to a number of selected sensor electrodes to detect the position of the active pen.
5. 5 . The sensor controller according to claim 1 , wherein: the sensor controller, in operation, starts detecting a gesture operation of the passive pointer in the first operation mode, the sensor controller does not enter the second operation mode while the gesture operation is detected even when the pen pressure value indicates that the pen tip is in contact with the panel surface, and the sensor controller enters the second operation mode when the gesture operation is finished.
6. 6 . The sensor controller according to claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the sensor controller to: determine, from one or more detected positions of the active pen, the position of the active pen based on a result of detecting the passive pointer and determine, from one or more detected positions of the passive pointer, the position of the passive pointer based on a result of detecting the active pen.

Description

BACKGROUND Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a position detection method of a pointer and a sensor controller, and particularly, to a position detection method of a pointer and a sensor controller for detecting positions of a passive pointer and an active pen. Background Art An input system corresponding to both input with an active capacitive electronic pen (hereinafter, referred to as an “active pen”) and input with a finger or an auxiliary device that does not transmit a signal similarly to the finger (hereinafter, collectively referred to as a “passive pointer”) is known. Note that position detection of the passive pointer is performed by detecting capacitive coupling between a front end of the passive pointer and a sensor electrode arranged in a panel surface. Hereinafter, the input with the active pen will be referred to as “pen input,” and the input with the passive pointer will be referred to as “touch input.” This type of input system is generally configured to detect, in time division, the positions of the active pen and the passive pointer on the panel surface and supply the positions to an operating system. An example of such an input system is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 6473554. The input system described in Japanese Patent No. 6473554 is configured to divide the position detection of the passive pointer for one panel surface into two or more parts. This is for allowing the position detection of the active pen at a high detection rate and at equal intervals. A technique of mutually using a detection result of the passive pointer and a detection result of the active pen to prevent false detection of the passive pointer and the active pen is also disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 6473554. Meanwhile, the inventor of the present application is examining stopping the position detection of the passive pointer when the active pen is detected, in order to obtain a higher detection rate of the position of the active pen than in the example of Japanese Patent No. 6473554 described above. Hereinafter, an operation mode of the input system for detecting the positions of the active pen and the passive pointer in time division will be referred to as an “SPT (Simultaneous Pen Touch) mode,” and an operation mode of the input system for stopping the position detection of the passive pointer and detecting only the position of the active pen will be referred to as an “exclusive mode.” However, if the input system is switched to the exclusive mode when the active pen is detected, it is obvious that the touch input cannot be performed when the active pen is detected. Accordingly, the touch input cannot be performed when the active pen is very close to the panel surface. Therefore, part of the operation becomes inconvenient for the user, such as when the user separates the pen tip a little from the panel surface during the pen input with the right hand and performs a pinch-out operation with the left hand during the separation (gesture operation of gradually increasing the distance between two fingers) to expand the display. BRIEF SUMMARY Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a position detection method of a pointer for allowing touch input when an active pen is very close to a panel surface while an exclusive mode is used. The false detection of the passive pointer and the active pen can be prevented by mutually using the detection result of the passive pointer and the detection result of the active pen as described in Japanese Patent No. 6473554. However, if the input system is switched to the exclusive mode, the detection of the passive pointer is not performed, and the false detection prevention does not function. Therefore, another object of the present disclosure is to provide a position detection method of a pointer that can use a false detection prevention function as long as possible while an exclusive mode is used. The present disclosure provides a pointer position detection method performed by a sensor controller connected to a sensor including a plurality of sensor electrodes, the method detecting, with use of the sensor, a position of a passive pointer that does not transmit a signal and a position of an active pen that transmits a pen signal from a pen electrode provided on a front end part. The method includes acquiring a pen pressure value indicating pressure applied to a pen tip of the active pen, and controlling an operation mode of the sensor controller according to the pen pressure value. The controlling includes: setting the operation mode of the sensor controller to a first operation mode of detecting, in time division, the position of the active pen and the position of the passive pointer on a panel surface when the pen pressure value indicates that the pen tip is not in contact with the panel surface, and setting the operation mode of the sensor controller to a second operation mode of detecting the position of the active pen on the panel surface an