USING MEASUREMENT OF LATERAL FORCE FOR A TRACKING INPUT DEVICE

• US 20100066669A1
• Filed: 09/18/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: AMM, David T., Leung, Omar S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,041,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods for using measurements of a lateral force applied to a motion-based input device are disclosed. The input device has a force detection module operable to detect lateral forces applied to the input device and generate force data representative of the applied lateral forces. The system also includes a processor coupled to the force detection module. The processor is operable to initiate an event based upon the force data.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an input device comprising;

i) a motion detection module operable to generate motion data representative of a motion of the input device; and

ii) a force detection module operable to generate force data representative of a force acting upon the input device;

a processor coupled to the motion detection module and the force detection module and operable to receive the motion data and force data, and initiate an event based upon the motion data and the force data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is incorporated in the input device.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a receiving device coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is operable to generate an event initiation signal indicative of the initiated event and transmit the event initiation signal to the receiving device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to estimate a speed of the input device based on the motion data and further operable to estimate a direction of motion of the input device based on the force data, and wherein the initiated event comprises moving a cursor displayed on a graphical user interface based on the estimated speed and the estimated direction of motion.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to estimate a speed and direction of the input device based upon the motion data and the force data, wherein initiating the event is further based upon the estimated speed and direction of the input device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is incorporated in the receiving device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the motion detection modules comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of an optical sensor, an inertial sensor and an electro-mechanical sensor.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising selecting the initiated event from a plurality of events.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion detection module comprises an accelerometer operable to measure an acceleration of the input device.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the force detection module comprises one or more force detection sensors configured to detect forces applied to the input device in an x-dimension and a y-dimension in a plane of motion.

11. A method for tracking movement of a motion-based input device, comprising:

measuring a lateral force acting upon the motion-based input device; and

initiating an event based upon the measured lateral force.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting the event from a plurality of events based upon the measured lateral force.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising measuring a motion of the input device relative to a surface, wherein the event selected is further based on the measured motion.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining whether the input device is moving relative to a surface, wherein

if it is determined that the input device is moving, the event comprises changing the position of a cursor displayed on a graphical user interface in accordance with an estimated speed of the input device based on the measured motion and the estimated direction of motion of the input device based on the measured lateral force.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the measured motion of the input device is measured relative to a surface.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a direction of the measured lateral force; and

selecting the event from a plurality of events based upon the direction of the lateral force.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a magnitude of the lateral force; and

comparing the magnitude of the lateral force to a threshold value,

wherein, the step of initiating the event is performed only if the magnitude of the lateral force exceeds the threshold value.

18. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, comprises code for:

measuring a lateral directional force applied to a motion-based input device; and

initiating an event based upon the measured lateral force.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code for:

determining if the input device is moving relative to a surface; and

wherein the initiating step is performed if it is determined that the input device is not moving relative to the surface.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein determining if the input device is moving comprises detecting a motion of the input device using an accelerometer.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the lateral force is measured by a force sensor.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising code for:

detecting a motion of the input device using an accelerometer; and

positioning a display object on a display based on the detected motion.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 18, further comprising selecting the event from a plurality of events based on the measured lateral force.

24. An input device comprising:

a lateral force detection module adapted to measure a lateral force acting upon the input device;

a motion detection module adapted to measure a motion of the input device relative to a surface; and

an interface module adapted to provide one or more signals to a receiving device, the one or more signals comprising information indicative of the measured lateral force and the measured motion.

25. The input device of claim 24, wherein the lateral force detection module comprises one or more force sensors capable of measuring the lateral force along at least two axes in a plane of motion.

26. The input device of claim 24, wherein the motion detection module comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of an optical sensor, an inertial sensor and an electro-mechanical sensor.

27. The input device of claim 24, wherein the receiving device comprises a display adapted to display a graphical object that moves on the display in accordance with the measured motion.

28. A system comprising:

a motion-based input device having a force detection module operable to detect a lateral force applied to the input device and generate lateral force data indicative of the detected lateral force; and

a processor coupled to the force detection module operable to receive the force data and calculate an estimated direction of motion of the input device based on the force data.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the processor is incorporated in the input device.

30. The system of claim 28, further comprising a receiving device, the receiving device incorporating the processor.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the force detection module is operable to detect forces applied to the input device along an x-axis and a y-axis in a plane of motion, the x-axis being substantially perpendicular to the y-axis.

32. The system of claim 28, further comprising a motion detection module comprising a sensor selected from the group consisting of an optical sensor, an inertial sensor and an electro-mechanical sensor.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein the processor is operable to calculate a change in position of a navigational object on a display device, wherein calculating the change in position is based on the estimated direction of motion.