Touch input apparatus and operation method thereof

摘要

This invention provides several touch input apparatuses and operating methods. One touch input apparatus includes two carbon nanotube (CNT) layers, a plurality of contact pads and a processing circuit. The CNTs of the two CNT layers are respectively disposed to two different arrangement directions. The contact pads are divided into two groups to electrically connect the edges of the two CNT layers respectively. Each group of the contact pads is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the corresponding carbon nanotubes. The processing circuit provides a comparison voltage to one group of the contact pads and reads out the voltages on the other contact pads. When one CNT layer receives an external force so that the forced position on one CNT layer is electrically connected to the other CNT layer, the processing circuit calculates the strength of the external force according to the readout voltage values.

主权项

1. A touch input apparatus, comprising:
a first carbon nanotube layer of which carbon nanotubes each are disposed to be roughly parallel to a first direction; a second carbon nanotube layer of which carbon nanotubes each are disposed to be roughly parallel to a second direction; a plurality of first contact pads electrically connected to an edge of the first carbon nanotube layer and a plurality of second contact pads electrically connected to an edge of the second carbon nanotube layer; a processing unit sequentially receives first output signals from the plurality of first contact pads in a first period and sequentially receive second output signals from the plurality of second contact pads in a second period, the first output signals are voltage values of each one of the first contact pads and the second output signals are voltage values of each one of the second contact pads; wherein, the processing determines a position of an external force according to the first output signals and the second output signals from the plurality of first contact pads and the plurality of second contact pads; and wherein, the processing determines a strength of the external force according to slopes or shapes of signal distributions of the first output signals from the plurality of first contact pads and the second output signals from the plurality of second contact pads.