METHOD OF DETECTING AND TRACKING MULTIPLE OBJECTS ON A TOUCHPAD USING A DATA COLLECTION ALGORITHM THAT ONLY DETECTS AN OUTER EDGE OF THE OBJECTS AND THEN ASSUMES THAT THE OUTER EDGES DEFINE A SINGLE LARGE OBJECT
First Claim
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1. A method for detecting a plurality of objects on a touch sensitive surface, said method comprising the steps of:
- 1) providing a plurality of electrodes that form a sensor grid, said plurality of electrodes forming a quadrilateral having four edges;
2) detecting a presence of at least two objects on the touch sensitive surface;
3) beginning a data collection algorithm by collecting data from the plurality of electrodes beginning from an edge and moving towards an opposite edge;
4) stopping data collection when an object is detected; and
5) repeating steps 3 and 4 for each of the four edges, wherein a perimeter formed by the at least two objects is a quadrilateral, and wherein each of the at least two objects lies within the perimeter.
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Abstract
A system and method for detecting and tracking multiple objects on a touchpad or touchscreen, wherein the method provides a new data collection algorithm, wherein the method reduces a calculation burden on a processor performing detection and tracking algorithms, wherein multiple objects are treated as elements of a single object and not as separate objects, wherein the location of the objects are treated as end-points of a single object when two objects are detected, and treated as a perimeter or boundary when more than two objects are detected.
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Citations
4 Claims
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1. A method for detecting a plurality of objects on a touch sensitive surface, said method comprising the steps of:
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1) providing a plurality of electrodes that form a sensor grid, said plurality of electrodes forming a quadrilateral having four edges; 2) detecting a presence of at least two objects on the touch sensitive surface; 3) beginning a data collection algorithm by collecting data from the plurality of electrodes beginning from an edge and moving towards an opposite edge; 4) stopping data collection when an object is detected; and 5) repeating steps 3 and 4 for each of the four edges, wherein a perimeter formed by the at least two objects is a quadrilateral, and wherein each of the at least two objects lies within the perimeter. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method for detecting a plurality of objects on a touchpad, said method comprising the steps of:
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1) providing a plurality of X and Y electrodes that form a sensor grid, said X and Y electrodes laying in a single plane orthogonal to each other and forming a quadrilateral having four edges; 2) detecting a presence of at least two objects on the touch sensitive surface using a first object detection algorithm; 3) beginning a second data collection algorithm by collecting data from the plurality of electrodes beginning from an edge and moving towards an opposite edge of the quadrilateral; 4) stopping data collection when an object is detected; and 5) repeating steps 3 and 4 for each of the four edges, wherein a perimeter formed by the at least two objects is a quadrilateral, and wherein each of the at least two objects lies within the perimeter.
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4. A method for detecting a plurality of objects on a touch sensitive surface, said method comprising the steps of:
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1) providing a plurality of electrodes that form a sensor grid; 2) detecting a presence of at least two objects on the touch sensitive surface; 3) beginning a data collection algorithm by collecting data from the plurality of electrodes beginning from a first edge and moving away therefrom; 4) stopping data collection when an object is detected; and 5) repeating steps 3 and 4 for each edge of the sensor grid, wherein a perimeter formed by the at least two objects is a quadrilateral, and wherein each of the at least two objects lies within the perimeter.
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Specification