CONTACT TRACKING AND IDENTIFICATION MODULE FOR TOUCH SENSING

• US 20090244031A1
• Filed: 04/10/2009
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: John G. Elias, Wayne Westerman
• Original Assignee: John G. Elias, Wayne Westerman
• Inventors: ELIAS, John G., WESTERMAN, Wayne
• Granted Patent: US 8,866,752 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24137 Distances to cluster centroïds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0235 using chord techniques G06F3/0234 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0447 Position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/19173 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1983 Syntactic or structural pattern recognition, e.g. symbolic string recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/107 : Static hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/9622 : using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960725 : Charge-transfer

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface. Identification and classification of intuitive hand configurations and motions enables unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a computing system based on input from a touch sensitive surface comprising:

tracking multiple independent chords each chord associated with distinguishable synchronized contacts, wherein the contacts from two or more of the multiple independent chords correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about the same time, and wherein each contact is associated with at least a shape and a position; and

performing at least one bimanual manipulation based on the detected chords.

2. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising tracking using a sequence of proximity images of the contacts.

3. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising tracking the multiple distinguishable contacts by scanning a plurality of capacitive sensors associated with the touch sensitive surface.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the bimanual manipulations include one or more of panning, zooming, rotating a background object, translating, resizing, rotating a foreground object, text cursor manipulations, mouse cursor manipulations, symbol generation, typing, and writing.

5. An input apparatus for a computing system, the apparatus including a touch sensitive surface, the apparatus comprising:

a chord motion recognizer for tracking multiple independent chords, each chord associated with distinguishable synchronized contacts, wherein the contacts from two or more of the multiple independent chords correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about same time, and wherein each contact is associated with at least a shape and a position;

wherein the chord motion recognizer is capable of detecting chords corresponding to at least one bimanual manipulation.

6. The apparatus as described in claim 5 further comprising a storage means for storing a sequence of proximity images of the contacts and wherein the chord motion recognizer tracks the multiple independent chords based on the sequence of proximity images.

7. The apparatus as described in claim 5 further comprising a plurality of capacitive sensors associated with the touch sensitive surface wherein the capacitive sensors are scanned to provide at least the shape and the position associated with each contact.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 5 wherein the bimanual manipulations include one or more of panning, zooming, rotating a background object, translating, resizing, rotating a foreground object, text cursor manipulations, mouse cursor manipulations, symbol generation, typing, and writing.

9. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when executed by a device with a touch sensitive surface, cause the device to:

track multiple independent chords each chord associated with distinguishable contacts,

wherein the contacts correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about the same time, and wherein each contact is associated with at least a shape and a position;

perform at least one bimanual manipulation based on the detected chords.

10. The computer readable storage medium as described in claim 9 wherein the instructions further cause the device to generate a sequence of proximity images of the contacts, the sequence of proximity images providing the at least shape and the position associated with each contact.

11. The computer readable storage medium as described in claim 9 wherein the instructions further cause the device to scan a plurality of capacitive sensors associated with the touch sensitive surface to provide at least the shape data and position data associated with each contact.

12. A method for controlling a computing system based on input from a touch sensitive surface comprising:

tracking a first chord, the first chord having an associated first plurality of distinguishable contacts;

subsequent to initiation of the first chord, tracking synchronous touch activity associated with a second plurality of distinguishable contacts;

tracking a second chord in response to the tracked touch activity;

wherein, the first and second plurality of distinguishable contacts correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about the same time, and wherein each contact is associated with at least a shape and a position.

13. The method as described in claim 12 further comprising tracking the first chord and the second chord using a sequence of proximity images of the contacts.

14. The method as described in claim 12 further comprising tracking the first chord and the second chord based on data obtained from scanning a plurality of capacitive sensors associated with the touch sensitive surface to obtain the at least the shape and the position associated with each contact.

15. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein tracking synchronous touch activity associated with the second plurality of contacts comprises tracking one of more or less contacts than the first plurality of contacts.

16. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein tracking synchronous touch activity associated with the second plurality of contacts comprises tracking a new sub-set of the first plurality of contacts, the new sub-set corresponding to the second plurality of contacts.

17. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the touch device corresponds to a finger and wherein the tracking of synchronous touch activity comprises tracking synchronized lifting and pressing of multiple fingers on the touch surface.

18. The method as recited in claim 12 further comprising controlling the computing system by performing a first input event in response to the first tracked chord and by performing a second input event in response to the second tracked chord.

19. An apparatus for controlling a computing system based on input from a touch sensitive surface comprising:

a chord motion recognizer for tracking a first chord, the first chord having an associated first plurality of distinguishable contacts and the chord motion recognizer for detecting touch activity associated with a second plurality of distinguishable contacts subsequent to initiation of the first chord,

wherein the chord motion recognizer begins tracking a second chord in response to the detected touch activity;

wherein, the first plurality of distinguishable contacts correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about the same time;

wherein the second plurality of distinguishable contacts correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about the same time; and

wherein each of the first and the second plurality of distinguishable contacts is associated with at least a shape and a position.

20. The apparatus as described in claim 19 further comprising a sequence of proximity images corresponding to the at least the shape and the position associated with each contact.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 19 wherein the second plurality of contacts comprises one of more or less contacts than the first plurality of contacts.

22. The apparatus as described in claim 19 wherein the touch activity is synchronous.

23. The apparatus as recited in claim 19 wherein the second plurality of contacts comprises a new sub-set of the first plurality of contacts.

24. The apparatus as recited in claim 19 wherein the touch device corresponds to a finger and wherein the tracked synchronous touch activity comprises synchronized lifting and pressing of multiple fingers on the touch surface.

25. The apparatus as recited in claim 19 further comprising at least one input signal causing the computing system to perform a first input event in response to the first tracked chord and to perform a second input event in response to the second tracked chord.

26. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when executed by a device with a touch sensitive surface, cause the device to:

track a first chord, the first chord having an associated first plurality of distinguishable contacts;

subsequent to initiation of the first chord, track synchronous touch activity associated with a second plurality of distinguishable contacts;

track a second chord in response to the tracked touch activity;

wherein the first plurality of distinguishable contacts correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about the same time;

wherein the second plurality of distinguishable contacts correspond to touch devices on or near the surface at about the same time; and

wherein each of the first and the second plurality of distinguishable contacts is associated with at least a shape and a position.

27. The computer readable storage medium as described in claim 26 wherein the instructions further cause the device to generate a sequence of proximity images of the contacts, the sequence of proximity images providing the at least the shape and the position associated with each contact.

28. The computer readable storage medium as described in claim 26 wherein the instructions further cause the device to scan a plurality of capacitive sensors associated with the touch sensitive surface to provide at least the shape and the position associated with each contact.