Touch system and method for selectively operating firmware

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a touch system and a method for selectively operating firmware. In particular, it relates to a touch system and a method for selectively operating touch firmware in a touch device by storing a number of pieces of touch firmware supporting a number of host operating systems (OS) respectively in different storing areas of a nonvolatile memory, identifying a host OS installed in the host through communication with the host, and selectively operating the touch firmware supporting the identified host OS.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A touch system comprising:
 a touch driving unit configured to supply a driving signal to a sensor electrode of a touch panel comprised in a display device, to receive a response signal to the driving signal from the sensor electrode, and to generate touch data;   a processor;   a nonvolatile memory configured to store first touch firmware to N th  touch firmware (N is a natural number of 2 or more) respectively supporting a first host operating system (OS) to an N th  host OS and to store a boot loader for executing a touch firmware;   a volatile memory to which the boot loader is uploaded and to which one piece of touch firmware, among the first touch firmware to the N th  touch firmware respectively stored in different storage areas of the nonvolatile memory, is uploaded by the boot loader; and   a communication interface configured to provide a communication path between the processor and a host,   wherein the boot loader is uploaded to the volatile memory by the processor to then be executed, identifies one host OS installed in a host using a host-OS identification signal received through an external input/output terminal or using the communication interface, and then, uploads one piece of touch firmware supporting the one host OS to the volatile memory.   
     
     
         2 . The touch system of  claim 1 , wherein the one piece of touch firmware calculates touch coordinates in the touch panel according to a coordinate standard applied to the one host OS using the touch data after being executed by the processor in a state of being uploaded to the volatile memory, and transmits the touch coordinates to the host through the communication interface according to a communication protocol applied to the one host OS. 
     
     
         3 . The touch system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first touch firmware to the N th  touch firmware comprises mathematical modeling for calculating touch coordinates. 
     
     
         4 . The touch system of  claim 3 , wherein equations of the mathematical modeling respectively included in the first touch firmware to the N th  touch firmware are different from each other depending on a type of host OS. 
     
     
         5 . The touch system of  claim 1 , wherein the first touch firmware to the N th  touch firmware respectively comprise palm touch identification algorithms for distinguishing between a pen touch and a palm touch. 
     
     
         6 . The touch system of  claim 5 , wherein configurations of the palm touch identification algorithms respectively included in the first touch firmware to the N th  touch firmware are different from each other depending on a type of host OS. 
     
     
         7 . The touch system of  claim 1 , wherein the boot loader is configured to generate an OS identification signal, to sequentially apply a first host-OS communication protocol to an N th  host-OS communication protocol to the OS identification signal, to transmit the OS identification signal to the host through the communication interface, and, in a case when a response signal to the OS identification signal is received from the host when applying one host-OS communication protocol thereto, to determine that the one host OS is installed in the host. 
     
     
         8 . The touch system of  claim 1 , wherein the boot loader is configured to receive a host-OS identification signal transmitted from the host through the external input/output terminal, and, in a case when the host-OS identification signal is an identification signal for the one host OS, to determine that the one host OS is installed in the host. 
     
     
         9 . The touch system of  claim 8 , wherein the external input/output terminal is a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) terminal. 
     
     
         10 . A method for selectively operating touch firmware by a touch device that receives touch data from a touch driving unit, configured to supply a driving signal to a sensor electrode of a touch panel comprised in a display device, to receive a response signal to the driving signal from the sensor electrode, and to generate touch data, and calculates touch coordinates in the touch panel using the touch data, the method comprising:
 a boot loader execution step of executing a boot loader stored in a nonvolatile memory of the display device when power is applied to the display device;   a communication step of performing communication with a host connected to the display device through the boot loader;   an OS identification step of identifying an operating system (OS) installed in the host through communication with the host; and   a firmware execution step of executing one piece of touch firmware supporting one host OS installed in the host, among first touch firmware to N th  touch firmware stored in different storage areas of the nonvolatile memory, receiving the touch data from the touch driving unit, and calculating the touch coordinates using the touch data.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the OS identification step comprises:
 generating an OS identification signal;   repeatedly transmitting the OS identification signal to the host by sequentially applying a first host-OS communication protocol to an N th  host-OS communication protocol to the OS identification signal; and,   in a case when a response signal to the OS identification signal is received from the host when applying one host-OS communication protocol thereto, determining that the one host OS is installed in the host.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the OS identification step comprises:
 receiving a host-OS identification signal transmitted from the host; and,   if the host-OS identification signal is an identification signal for the one host OS, determining that the one host OS is installed in the host.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein, in the firmware execution step, the touch coordinates are calculated according to a coordinate standard for the one host OS included in the one piece of touch firmware. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising, after the firmware execution step, transmitting the touch coordinates to the host according to one host-OS communication protocol included in the one piece of touch firmware. 
     
     
         15 . A method for selectively operating touch firmware by a touch device that receives touch data from a touch driving unit, configured to supply a driving signal to a sensor electrode of a touch panel comprised in a display device, to receive a response signal to the driving signal from the sensor electrode, and to generate touch data, and calculates touch coordinates in the touch panel using the touch data, the method comprising:
 a boot loader execution step of executing a boot loader stored in a nonvolatile memory of the display device when power is applied to the display device;   an OS identification step of identifying that one host operating system (OS) is installed in a host through a host-OS identification signal received through an external input/output terminal; and   a firmware execution step of executing one piece of touch firmware supporting the one host OS, among first touch firmware to N th  touch firmware stored in different storage areas of the nonvolatile memory, receiving the touch data from the touch driving unit, and calculating the touch coordinates using the touch data.