Electronic device with dynamic thresholding for force detection

• US 10,180,755 B2
• Filed: 02/29/2016
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hill, Matthew D., Phouthavong, Rasamy, Myers, Scott A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Michaud, Robert J
• Application Number:
  US15/056,679
• Publication Number:
  US 20170249048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,051 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

The systems and techniques described herein generally relate to an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface or region that is configured to receive force-based user input and dynamically adjust a force threshold used to recognize the force-based user input. In particular, the device may include one or more force sensors that are configured to detect a touch that exceeds a dynamically adjustable threshold. In some embodiments, the threshold is dynamically adjusted in response to a detected or estimated stability condition. By dynamically adjusting the threshold, the device may be better adapted or optimized for use with a particular support accessory or support configuration. In some cases, multiple sub-regions may be defined over the touch-sensitive surface, each sub-region having a different force threshold.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically adjusting a minimum amount of force required to be registered by a force sensor that is coupled to a touch-sensitive surface in an electronic device to maintain the electronic device in a stable orientation on a supporting surface when a user touches the touch-sensitive surface, the method comprising:

using a processor, determining a first angle of the touch-sensitive surface relative to the supporting surface based on data from at least one sensor;

using the processor, dynamically adjusting the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor for at least a portion of the touch-sensitive surface based on the first angle;

using the processor, determining a second angle of the touch-sensitive surface relative to the supporting surface based on data from the at least one sensor;

using the processor, dynamically adjusting the minimum amount of force to be registered by the force sensor for at least a portion of the touch-sensitive surface based on the second angle; and

using the processor, initiating a press-event signal in response to receiving a touch on the touch-sensitive surface that exceeds the minimum amount of force to be registered by the force sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the processor, detecting a change in an angle of the touch-sensitive surface relative to the supporting surface based on data from the at least one sensor; and

using the processor, adjusting the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor for the portion of the touch-sensitive surface based on the detected change in the angle of the touch-sensitive surface.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the processor, detecting a movement of the electronic device in response to the touch on the touch-sensitive surface based on data from an additional sensor; and

in response to detecting the movement, reducing the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor for the touch-sensitive surface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the processor, determining an angle of the touch-sensitive surface relative to the supporting surface based on data from the at least one sensor;

using the processor, determining a material of the supporting surface based on data gathered by an optical sensor;

using the processor, calculating a friction between the electronic device and the supporting surface based on the material of the supporting surface;

using the processor, calculating a static breaking torque of a pivot joint that is configured to hold the touch-sensitive surface at a fixed orientation; and

using the processor, calculating an amount of force that will cause the electronic device to tip based on the angle of the touch-sensitive surface, the friction, and the static breaking torque.

5. An electronic device on a supporting surface and configured to receive a touch input from a user, the electronic device comprising:

a touch sensitive surface;

a force sensor that measures an amount of force applied to the touch-sensitive surface by the touch; and

a processing unit that determines an angle stability of the touch-sensitive surface with respect to the supporting surface using data from at least one sensor, dynamically adjusts a minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor for the touch-sensitive surface based on the angle of the touch-sensitive surface, and initiates a signal in response to the touch input on the touch-sensitive surface that has a force greater than the minimum amount of force.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor is a first region-specific minimum force,

wherein the processing unit dynamically adjusts a second region-specific minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor for a second region of the touch-sensitive surface, and wherein the second region-specific minimum force is different than the first region-specific minimum force.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the processing unit further initiates a first signal in response to the touch being located in the first region and exceeding the first region-specific minimum force, and initiates a second signal in response to the touch being located in the second region and exceeding the second region-specific minimum force.

8. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor is based, at least in part, on a distance between the location of the touch and a location of a pivot point and the first region is further from the pivot point than the second region.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the first region-specific minimum force is less than the second region-specific minimum force.

10. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor is dynamically updated based on a change in the angle of the touch-sensitive surface with respect to the supporting surface.

11. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the processing unit further detects movement due to the touch on the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic device, and reduces the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor in response to the detected movement.

12. The electronic device of claim 5, further comprising:

an optical sensor, wherein the processing unit uses data from the optical sensor to determine at least one material of the supporting surface and wherein the processing unit calculates a friction between the electronic device and the supporting surface based on the at least one material.

13. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the electronic device is configured to attach to a support accessory configured to support the electronic device, the electronic device further comprises a proximity sensor that the processing unit uses to detect a presence of the support accessory, and the processing unit dynamically adjusts the minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor for the touch-sensitive surface based on the presence of the support accessory.

14. The electronic device of claim 5,

wherein the at least one sensor includes one or more of:

an accelerometer, an inclinometer, a gyrometer, or a magnetometer.

15. An electronic device configured to receive a touch from a user, the electronic device comprising:

an enclosure that attaches to a support structure, the support structure having a hinge about which the enclosure pivots;

a touch-sensitive surface coupled to the enclosure, the touch-sensitive surface having a first portion that is a first distance from the hinge and a second portion that is a second distance from the hinge;

a force sensor that measures an amount of a force applied to a touch-sensitive surface; and

a processing unit that adjusts a first minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor at the first portion of the touch-sensitive surface based on the first distance, that adjusts a second minimum amount of force required to be registered by the force sensor at the second portion of the touch-sensitive surface based on the second distance, that initiates a first touch signal in response to receiving a first touch in the first portion of the touch-sensitive surface that exceeds the first minimum amount of force, and that initiates a second touch signal in response to receiving a second touch in the second portion of the touch-sensitive that exceeds the second minimum amount of force.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the electronic device rotates about the hinge when a torque exceeds a static threshold and when the touch from the user is below the first and second minimum amounts of force, the touch will not cause the electronic device to rotate about the hinge.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the support structure is supported by a surface of an external object, the electronic device further comprises an optical sensor, the processing unit determines at least one material of the surface of the external object based on data from the optical sensor, the processing unit determines an amount of friction between the support structure and the surface based on the at least one material, and the first and second minimum amounts of force are based, at least in part, on an the amount of friction.

18. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the hinge is a ball-joint that rotates about multiple axes, and the first and second minimum amounts of force vary across both a length of the touch-sensitive surface and a width of the touch-sensitive surface.