Touch rejection

• US 10,488,986 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2017
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Westerman, Wayne Carl, Benbasat, Ari Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reed, Stephen T.
• Application Number:
  US15/710,087
• Publication Number:
  US 20180024693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 797 Days
• Field of Search: 345173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation

Abstract

The rejection of undesired touch events on a touch surface is disclosed. A weighted meta-centroid of all touch events can be computed. In some examples, touches can be weighted inversely to their size and distance to the nearest neighboring touch. In some examples, touches can be weighted based on the size of their minor radii. A meta-ellipse can be fit to the weighted touch events. In some examples, the major axis of the meta-ellipse can be used to determine the orientation of a user'"'"'s hand to reject undesired touches. In other examples, touches within the meta-ellipse can be rejected.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch sensing surface; and

a processor coupled to the touch sensing surface, the processor configured to;

identify a plurality of touches from a touch image of one or more objects proximate to the touch sensing surface, wherein each of the plurality of touches has a first centroid;

weight the plurality of identified touches;

determine a second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches;

define an area around the second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches; and

reject touches within the area.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein defining the area around the second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches comprises fitting an ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, the processor further configured to:

determine a minor radius of one or more of the plurality of identified touches and weighting a respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on a respective minor radius of the respective touch.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein weighting the respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on the respective minor radius of the respective touch comprises weighting the respective touch by zero when the respective minor radius is below a first respective threshold value.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein weighting the respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on the respective minor radius of the respective touch weighting the respective touch based on a difference between the respective minor radius and the first respective threshold value.

6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the first respective threshold value is elevated when a stylus is detected with respect to the first respective threshold value when the stylus is not detected.

7. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the first respective threshold value is reduced when the minor radius of the respective touch is above a second respective threshold value with respect to the first respective threshold value when the respective minor radius of the respective touch is below the second respective threshold.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, the processor further configured to:

reject one or more touches within a threshold distance of a boundary of the area or of the second centroid.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, the processor further configured to:

recognize one or more touches within a threshold distance of a stylus touch, even when the one or more touches are within the threshold distance of the boundary of the area or of the second centroid.

10. A method for rejecting one or more touches on a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of touches from a touch image of one or more objects proximate to the touch sensing surface, wherein each of the plurality of touches has a first centroid;

weighting the plurality of identified touches;

determining a second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches;

defining an area around the second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches; and

rejecting touches within the area.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein defining the area around the second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches comprises fitting an ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a minor radius of one or more of the plurality of identified touches and weighting a respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on a respective minor radius of the respective touch.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein weighting the respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on the respective minor radius of the respective touch comprises weighting the respective touch by zero when the respective minor radius is below a first respective threshold value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein weighting the respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on the respective minor radius of the respective touch weighting the respective touch based on a difference between the respective minor radius and the first respective threshold value.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

rejecting one or more touches within a threshold distance of a boundary of the area or of the second centroid.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

recognizing one or more touches within a threshold distance of a stylus touch, even when the touches are within the threshold distance of the boundary of the area or of the second centroid.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the first respective threshold value is elevated when a stylus is detected with respect to the first respective threshold value when the stylus is not detected.

18. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the first respective threshold value is reduced when the minor radius of the respective touch is above a second respective threshold value with respect to the first respective threshold value when the respective minor radius of the respective touch is below the second respective threshold.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform a method for rejecting touches on a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of touches from a touch image of one or more objects proximate to the touch sensing surface, wherein each of the plurality of touches has a first centroid;

weighting the plurality of identified touches;

determining a second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches;

defining an area around the second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches; and

rejecting touches within the area.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein defining the area around the second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches comprises fitting an ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

determining a minor radius of one or more of the plurality of identified touches and weighting a respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on a respective minor radius of the respective touch.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein weighting the respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on the respective minor radius of the respective touch comprises weighting the respective touch by zero when the respective minor radius is below a first respective threshold value.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein weighting the respective touch of the plurality of identified touches based on the respective minor radius of the respective touch weighting the respective touch based on a difference between the respective minor radius and the first respective threshold value.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the first respective threshold value is elevated when a stylus is detected with respect to the first respective threshold value when the stylus is not detected.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein the first respective threshold value is reduced when the minor radius of the respective touch is above a second respective threshold value with respect to the first respective threshold value when the respective minor radius of the respective touch is below the second respective threshold.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

rejecting one or more touches within a threshold distance of a boundary of the area or of the second centroid.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 26, further comprising:

recognizing one or more touches within a threshold distance of a stylus touch, even when the one or more touches are within the threshold distance of the boundary of the area or of the second centroid.