Surface

• US 20060202974A1
• Filed: 03/10/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Thielman, Jeffrey
• Application Number:
  US11/077,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20060202974A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen

Abstract

Embodiments including a surface are disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a surface;

an illumination source situated around at least a portion of the surface; and

at least three cameras located at points on the periphery of the surface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cameras each sense a location of at least one object approximately touching the surface and further wherein the surface comprises a touch screen surface.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the location of the at least one object is expressed as one or more angles.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the illumination source includes an infra-red light emitter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cameras comprise linear array cameras.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cameras are located in a corner approximately on the periphery of the surface.

7. A method, comprising:

determining angles for a plurality of objects sensed on a surface;

determining intersection points;

comparing sensed pairs of intersection points; and

identifying those of the intersection points corresponding to the objects.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining which of the intersection points may fall outside the boundaries of a touch screen surface area.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining angles for a plurality of objects sensed on a surface includes illuminating an area and sensing a drop in illumination intensity at a plurality of sensors.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sensing a drop in illumination intensity at a plurality of sensors includes sensing a drop in illumination intensity at a subset of a plurality of pixels in one or more line array cameras.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining intersection points includes performing calculations using the angles.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the comparing sensed pairs of intersection points includes determining if a one of the intersection points is detected by all combinations of pairs of sensors.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the identifying those of the intersection points corresponding to the objects includes associating locations of the intersection points detected by all combinations of the pairs of sensors with the objects.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising expressing the locations of the at least two objects as angles.

14. A method, comprising:

placing an illumination source around at least a portion of a surface;

placing at least three optical sensors located at points on the periphery of the surface; and

sensing a location of at least two objects.

16. A system, comprising:

a multiple object pointing device, including

a touch screen surface having at least one edge,

an illumination source situated around at least a portion of the at least one

edge of the touch screen surface,

at least three optical sensors located at points on the periphery of the touch

screen surface, and

an object detection unit; and

an electronic device to receive object position data from the multiple object pointing device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the touch screen includes a display, the electronic device to deliver display data to the multiple object pointing device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the optical sensors each sense a location of at least one object approximately touching the touch screen.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the location of the at least one object is expressed as one or more angles.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the illumination source includes an infra-red light emitter.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the object detection unit determines valid object locations from the angle information generated by the sensors.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the object detection unit transmits position data for a plurality of objects to the electronic device.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the object detection unit transmits object position data to the electronic device via a Universal Serial Bus.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

means for illumination situated around at least a portion of a touch screen surface; and

at least three means for sensing located at points approximately on the periphery of the touch screen surface, wherein the means for sensing senses a drop in illumination intensity at a subset of a plurality of pixels.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the sensor means each sense a location of at least one object approximately touching the touch screen.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the location of the at least one object is expressed as one or more angles.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein at least one of the means for sensing is located in a corner approximately on the periphery of the touch screen surface.

28. A machine-readable medium containing instructions that when executed perform a method, comprising:

determining angles for a plurality of objects sensed on a surface;

determining intersection points;

comparing sensed pairs of intersection points; and

identifying those of the intersection points corresponding to the objects.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 28, further comprising determining which of the intersection points may fall outside the boundaries of a touch screen surface area.

30. The machine-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the determining angles for a plurality of objects sensed on a surface includes illuminating an area and sensing a drop in illumination intensity at a plurality of sensors.

31. An apparatus comprising one or more devices adapted to detect more than one touch screen object, as follows:

determining angles for a plurality of objects sensed on a surface;

determining intersection points;

comparing sensed pairs of intersection points; and

identifying those of the intersection points corresponding to the objects.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein determining angles for a plurality of objects sensed on a surface includes illuminating an area and sensing a drop in illumination intensity at a plurality of sensors.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein sensing a drop in illumination intensity at a plurality of sensors includes sensing a drop in illumination intensity at a subset of a plurality of pixels in one or more line array cameras.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein comparing sensed pairs of intersection points includes determining if a one of the intersection points is detected by all combinations of pairs of sensors.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein identifying those of the intersection points corresponding to the objects includes associating locations of the intersection points detected by all combinations of the pairs of sensors with the objects.