Infrared touchscreen electronics

Abstract

Touchscreen electronics for detecting touches on a display screen broadly comprises a plurality of transmitters, a plurality of receivers, and a controller. Each transmitter may transmit at least one beam across the display screen, wherein the beam may be switched on and off in a repeated pattern. The receivers may detect the beams from the transmitters, and each receiver may generate an “on” value that corresponds to the beam being switched on and an “off” value that corresponds to the beam being switched off. The controller communicates with the transmitters and the receivers and may be configured to determine that a touch has occurred when the “on” value generated by one of the receivers transitions in a sequence from greater than an upper level to less than a lower level.

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following: 
     
         1 . An electronic device comprising:
 a display screen;   touchscreen electronics comprising a plurality of transmitters operable to transmit beams across the display screen and a plurality of receivers operable receive the transmitted beams; and   a controller in communication with the transmitters and the receivers and configured to—
 detect broken beams utilizing signals provided by the receivers, 
 identify one or more intersections of the detected broken beams, 
 define a bounding box using one or more of the intersections of the broken beams, 
 determine an area of the bounding box, and 
 determine that a pinch gesture is being performed if the area of the bounding box increases over time. 
   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that an unpinch gesture is being performed if the area of the bounding box decreases over time. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the identified intersections include one or more intersections of broken X beams with broken Y beams. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to define the bounding box from the extents of the intersections of broken X beams with broken Y beams. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a processing element operable to perform logical functions associated with the electronic device. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein the processing element is operable to utilize the determined pinch gesture as a user input. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein the controller is integrated with the processing element. 
     
     
         8 . An electronic device comprising:
 a display screen;   touchscreen electronics comprising—
 a plurality of transmitters positioned adjacent to opposing sides of the display screen for transmitting beams across the display screen, each beam being switched on and off in a repeated pattern, 
 a plurality of receivers positioned adjacent to opposing sides of the display screen for detecting the beams from the transmitters, each receiver operable to generate an on value that corresponds to the beam being switched on and an off value that corresponds to the beam being switched off; and 
   a controller in communication with the transmitters and the receivers and configured to—
 identify a first touch position and a second touch position utilizing at least the off value generated by one or more receivers, 
 define a bounding box using the first touch position and second touch position, 
 determine an area of the bounding box, and 
 determine that a pinch gesture is being performed if the area of the bounding box increases over time. 
   
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that an unpinch gesture is being performed if the area of the bounding box decreases over time. 
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the touch positions by calculating the points where an interrupted beam transmitted from one side of the display screen intersects an interrupted beam transmitted from an orthogonal side of the display screen. 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the extents of one or more intersections of interrupted X beams with interrupted Y beams corresponding to the determined touch positions. 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the controller is configured to define the bounding box from the extents of the intersections of interrupted X beams with interrupted Y beams. 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 8 , further comprising a processing element operable to perform logical functions associated with the electronic device. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the processing element is operable to utilize the determined pinch gesture as a user input. 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the controller is integrated with the processing element. 
     
     
         16 . An electronic device comprising:
 a display screen;   touchscreen electronics comprising—
 a plurality of transmitters positioned adjacent to opposing sides of the display screen for transmitting beams across the display screen, each beam being switched on and off in a repeated pattern, 
 a plurality of receivers positioned adjacent to opposing sides of the display screen for detecting the beams from the transmitters, each receiver operable to generate an on value that corresponds to the beam being switched on and an off value that corresponds to the beam being switched off; and 
   a controller in communication with the transmitters and the receivers and configured to—
 identify a first touch position and a second touch position by utilizing at least the off values provided by the receivers to calculate the points where an interrupted beam transmitted from one side of the display screen intersects an interrupted beam transmitted from an orthogonal side of the display screen, 
 determine the extents of one or more intersections of X beams with Y beams corresponding to the determined touch positions, 
 define a bounding box using the extents of the intersections of X beams with Y beams, 
 determine an area of the bounding box, and 
 determine that a pinch gesture is being performed if the area of the bounding box increases over time. 
   
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 16 , wherein the controller is configured to determine that an unpinch gesture is being performed if the area of the bounding box decreases over time. 
     
     
         18 . The device of  claim 16 , further comprising a processing element operable to perform logical functions associated with the electronic device. 
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 18 , wherein the processing element is operable to utilize the determined pinch gesture as a user input. 
     
     
         20 . The device of  claim 18 , wherein the controller is integrated with the processing element.