MULTI TOUCH WITH MULTI HAPTICS

• US 20100156818A1
• Filed: 04/06/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Burrough, Bobby, Pope, Benjamin J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,686,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/014 Force feedback applied to GUI
• 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 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Methods and systems for processing touch inputs are disclosed. The invention in one respect includes reading data from a multi-touch sensing device such as a multi-touch touch screen where the data pertains to touch input with respect to the multi-touch sensing device, and identifying at least one multi-touch gesture based on the data from the multi-touch sensing device and providing an appropriate multi-haptic response.

Claims

1. An apparatus providing multi-touch haptic feedback, comprising

a touch pad having a touch sensitive surface arranged to receive a user provided multi-touch event associated with at least two different locations on the touch sensitive surface;

a multi-touch detection mechanism operatively coupled to the touch sensitive surface that detects the multi-touch event and generates a corresponding a multi-touch signal; and

a plurality of haptic feedback devices operatively coupled to the multi-touch detection mechanism and the touch sensitive surface cooperatively arranged to concurrently provide tactile feedback at each of the at least two different locations on the touch sensitive surface in response to the multi-touch signal.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the tactile feedback at each of the at least two different locations are discreet from one another.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein when the multi-touch signal indicates that the multi-touch event is a dynamic multi-touch event indicating a change in the multi-touch event, then the tactile feedback at each of the at least two different locations is updated to reflect the change in the multi-touch event.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the tactile feedback event is different for each of the at least two different locations.

5. A method for processing a touch event at a touch sensitive surface, comprising:

receiving a user provided multi-touch event associated with at least two different locations on the touch sensitive surface;

detecting the multi-touch event;

generating a multi-touch signal corresponding to the multi-touch event; and

concurrently providing tactile feedback at each of the at least two different locations on the touch sensitive surface in response to the multi-touch signal wherein the tactile feedback at each of the at least two different locations are discreet from one another.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein when the multi-touch signal indicates that the multi-touch event is a dynamic multi-touch event corresponding to a change in the multi-touch event over a period of time, then the tactile feedback at each of the at least two different locations is updated in real time to reflect the change in the multi-touch event.

7. A multi-touch haptic mechanism, comprising:

a touch pad having a touch sensitive surface arranged to detect a user touch event at substantially any location on the touch sensitive surface; and

a plurality of independent haptic devices operatively coupled to the touch sensitive surface each providing a corresponding type of tactile feedback in response to a nearby user touch event thereby providing a tactile feedback at substantially any location on the touch sensitive surface at which the user touch event has occurred.

8. The multi-touch haptic mechanism as recited in claim 7, wherein each of the nearby haptic device only responds to the user touch event in one or more associated regions of the touch sensitive surface.

9. The multi-touch haptic mechanism as recited in claim 8, wherein at least two nearby haptic devices concurrently respond to the user touch event by providing a compound haptic response.

10. The multi-touch haptic mechanism as recited in claim 9 wherein the compound haptic response is different than the haptic response type provided by either of the at least two independent haptic devices separately.

11. A method for processing a user touch event at a touch sensitive surface having a plurality of independent haptic devices coupled thereto, wherein each of the haptic devices provides a corresponding type of tactile feedback, comprising:

detecting the user touch event on the touch sensitive surface; and

providing a particular tactile feedback in response to the user touch event by the haptic device associated with the location of the user touch event, wherein the particular tactile feedback is different for each location on the touch sensitive surface.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of independent haptic devices only responds to the user touch event in one or more associated regions of the touch sensitive surface.

13. An integrated device arranged to act as both a force sensing device and a haptic feedback device, comprising:

a touch sensitive surface;

a controller unit; and

a mechanical actuator coupled with the controller unit and the touch sensitive surface, wherein the integrated device acts as the force sensing device by,

generating an output voltage in direct proportion to a force applied to the mechanical actuator by a user touching the touch sensitive surface,

sensing the output voltage by the controller unit, and

converting the sensed output voltage to an indication of the applied force, and wherein only when the sensed output voltage exceeds a voltage threshold level does the integrated device act as the haptic feedback device by,

halting the sensing of the output voltage by the controller unit,

activating the mechanical actuator by the controller unit, and

imparting a physical force to the touch sensitive surface by the activated mechanical actuator.

14. The device as recited in claim 13, wherein the imparted physical force creates a vibro-tactile response felt by the user commensurate with the physical force applied by the user on the touch sensitive surface.

15. An integrated method for both sensing a force applied to a touch sensitive surface and providing a haptic feedback response to the sensed force by an integrated device having a controller unit coupled to the touch sensitive surface and a mechanical actuator, comprising:

wherein the integrated device senses the applied force by,

generating an output voltage in direct proportion to the force applied to the mechanical actuator,

sensing the output voltage by the controller unit, and

converting the sensed output voltage to an indication of the applied force; and

wherein the integrated device provides the haptic feedback response by,

if the sensed output voltage exceeds a voltage threshold level, then

halting the sensing of the output voltage by the controller unit,

activating the mechanical actuator by the controller unit, and

imparting a physical force to the touch sensitive surface by the activated mechanical actuator.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the imparted physical force creates a vibro-tactile response felt by the user commensurate with the physical force applied by the user on the touch sensitive surface.

17. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the mechanical actuator operatively coupled to the touch sensitive surface is arranged to provide a specific type of tactile feedback corresponding to the amount of pressure applied to the touch sensitive surface by the user.

18. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch pad having a touch sensitive surface arranged to process a user touch event; and

a plurality of haptic feedback devices each of which is operatively coupled to the touch sensitive surface and each responding to the user touch event only in a specific region of the touch sensitive surface and arranged to provide tactile feedback singly or in combination with others of the plurality of haptic feedback devices in response to the user touch event.

19. The electronic device as recited in claim 18, wherein when the touch sensitive regions of at least two of the plurality of haptic devices overlap and if the user touch event occurs in the overlapping region, then the at least two haptic devices cooperate to provide a combined haptic feedback response.

20. The electronic device as recited in claim 19, wherein the combined haptic feedback response includes a first component associated with one of the at least two haptic devices and a second component associated with the other of the at least two haptic devices.

21. The electronic device as recited in claim 20, wherein the first component is related to a distance from the user touch event to the one of the at least two haptic devices.

22. The electronic device as recited in claim 20, wherein the second component is related to a distance from the user touch event to the other of the at least two haptic devices.

23. The electronic device as recited in claim 20, wherein the first and the second components combine linearly to form the compound haptic response.

24. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch pad having a touch sensitive surface arranged to receive a user touch event provided by a user;

a controller coupled and in communication with the touch pad arranged to at least analyze the user touch event and/or a state of the touch pad and based upon the analysis provide a user touch event signal in response to the user touch event; and

at least one haptic device operatively coupled to the controller arranged to receive the user touch event signal, wherein the at least one haptic device responds to the user touch event signal by providing an appropriate haptic feedback response to the user based upon the analysis provided by the controller.

25. The electronic device as recited in claim 24, wherein the touch sensitive surface is arranged to receive different types of user touch events each being characterized by an amount of pressure applied on the touch sensitive surface by a user.

26. The electronic device as recited in claim 25, wherein the haptic device responds to the user touch event based upon the applied pressure.