MULTITOUCH INPUT TO TOUCHPAD DERIVED FROM POSITIVE SLOPE DETECTION DATA
First Claim
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1. A method for determining the number of objects that are present on a touch sensitive surface, said method comprised of the steps of:
- 1) providing a plurality of parallel X electrodes disposed on a first layer of a substantially transparent substrate, and a plurality of parallel Y electrodes disposed on a second layer of the substrate, wherein the Y electrodes are co-planar with and orthogonal to the X electrodes;
2) measuring a signal on each of the plurality of X electrodes, proceeding from a first side of the X electrodes to an opposite second side;
3) analyzing the measurements in order to identify objects by determining if any two measurements of adjacent X electrodes show a positive slope in signal strength that is sufficiently large, and which passes from below a threshold value to above the threshold value, so as to indicate the presence of a conductive object;
4) analyzing the measurements in order to identify a negative slope after the positive slope; and
5) repeating steps
3) and
4) for each conductive object identified on the touch sensitive surface while moving towards the second side.
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Abstract
A method for using existing touchpad hardware to detect and track multiple objects such as fingers that are in contact with a touchpad, wherein the method extracts information from data that is already being collected, wherein analysis of the data is simplified by identifying objects by only looking for a positive slopes and negative slopes to identify multiple objects in data from the touchpad.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for determining the number of objects that are present on a touch sensitive surface, said method comprised of the steps of:
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1) providing a plurality of parallel X electrodes disposed on a first layer of a substantially transparent substrate, and a plurality of parallel Y electrodes disposed on a second layer of the substrate, wherein the Y electrodes are co-planar with and orthogonal to the X electrodes; 2) measuring a signal on each of the plurality of X electrodes, proceeding from a first side of the X electrodes to an opposite second side; 3) analyzing the measurements in order to identify objects by determining if any two measurements of adjacent X electrodes show a positive slope in signal strength that is sufficiently large, and which passes from below a threshold value to above the threshold value, so as to indicate the presence of a conductive object; 4) analyzing the measurements in order to identify a negative slope after the positive slope; and 5) repeating steps
3) and
4) for each conductive object identified on the touch sensitive surface while moving towards the second side. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for determining the number of objects that are present on a touch sensitive surface, said method comprised of the steps of:
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1) providing a plurality of parallel X electrodes disposed on a first layer of a substantially transparent substrate, and a plurality of parallel Y electrodes disposed on a second layer of the substrate, wherein the X electrodes are co-planar with and orthogonal to the Y electrodes; 2) measuring a signal on each of the plurality of Y electrodes, proceeding from a first side of the Y electrodes to an opposite second side; 3) analyzing the measurements in order to identify objects by determining if any two measurements of adjacent Y electrodes show a positive slope in signal strength that is sufficiently large, and which passes from below a threshold value to above the threshold value, so as to indicate the presence of a conductive object; 4) analyzing the measurements in order to identify a negative slope after the positive slope; and 5) repeating steps
3) and
4) for each conductive object identified on the touch sensitive surface while moving towards the second side. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification