Wide Touchpad on a Portable Computer

• US 20120113009A1
• Filed: 01/16/2012
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bartley K. Andre, Bas Ording, Brian Huppi, Chris Ligtenberg, Duncan Kerr, Greg Christle, Imran Chaudhri, Joshua A. Strickon, Steven P. Hotelling
• Original Assignee: Bartley K. Andre, Bas Ording, Brian Huppi, Chris Ligtenberg, Duncan Kerr, Greg Christle, Imran Chaudhri, Joshua A. Strickon, Steven P. Hotelling
• Inventors: Hotelling, Steven P., Ligtenberg, Chris, Kerr, Duncan, Andre, Bartley K., Strickon, Joshua A., Huppi, Brian Q., Christle, Greg, Chaudhri, Imran, Ording, Bas
• Granted Patent: US 9,513,673 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1613 for portable computers cooling arrangements therefor G06F1/203; constructional details or arrangements for pocket calculators, electronic agendas or books G06F15/0216; constructional details of portable telephone sets: with several bodies H04M1/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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

Abstract

In one exemplary embodiment, a portable computer having a display assembly coupled to a base assembly to alternate between a closed position and an open position. Palm rest areas are formed by a touchpad disposed on the surface of the base assembly. In an alternative embodiment, a touchpad disposed on the base assembly has a width that extends substantially into the palm rests areas of the base assembly.

Claims

1. A portable computer, comprising:

a display assembly coupled to a base assembly;

a touchpad disposed on the base assembly, wherein the touchpad has a width that is half or greater than half a width of the base assembly, wherein the touchpad can detect an object in contact with a surface at any position on the touchpad; and

a processor coupled to the touchpad, wherein the processor determines if the contact is intentional or unintentional, and wherein the processor rejects unintentional contact with the touchpad.

2. The portable computer of claim 1, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an intentional or unintentional contact based upon determining various characteristics of one or more contact patches on the touchpad.

3. The portable computer of claim 2, wherein the various characteristics include one or more of contact patch location, trajectory, and size.

4. The portable computer of claim 1, further comprising:

a keyboard disposed on a top surface of the base assembly, wherein the touchpad has a width that is substantially similar to a width of the keyboard or greater than a width of the keyboard.

5. The portable computer of claim 4, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed between the keyboard and the touchpad.

6. The portable computer of claim 4, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed in the display assembly.

7. The portable computer of claim 1, wherein the touchpad comprises a capacitive sensor touchpad.

8. The portable computer of claim 1, wherein the touchpad comprises a plurality of sensing regions and wherein rejecting unintentional contact includes deactivating one of the sensing regions while another of the sensing regions remains active to receive intentional contact input.

9. A portable computer, comprising:

a display assembly coupled to a base assembly;

a touchpad disposed on the base assembly, wherein the touchpad has a width that is between 100 millimeters and 400 millimeters, and wherein the touchpad can detect an object in contact with a surface at any position on the touchpad; and

a processor coupled to the touchpad, wherein the processor determines if the contact is intentional or unintentional, and wherein the processor rejects unintentional contact with the touchpad.

10. The portable computer of claim 9, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an intentional or unintentional contact based upon determining various characteristics of one or more contact patches on the touchpad.

11. The portable computer of claim 10, wherein the various characteristics include one or more of contact patch location, trajectory, and size.

12. The portable computer of claim 9, further comprising:

a keyboard disposed on a top surface of the base assembly, wherein the touchpad has a width that is substantially similar to a width of the keyboard or greater than a width of the keyboard.

13. The portable computer of claim 12, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed between the keyboard and the touchpad.

14. The portable computer of claim 12, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed in the display assembly.

15. A portable computer comprising:

a display assembly coupled to a base assembly;

a touchpad disposed on the base assembly, wherein a width of the touchpad is substantially similar to a width of the base assembly, and wherein the touchpad can detect an object in contact with a surface at any position on the touchpad; and

a processor coupled to the touchpad, wherein the processor determines if the contact is intentional or unintentional, and wherein the touchpad is capable of providing cursor control functionality when the processor determines the contact to be intentional and rejecting the contact when the processor determines the contact to be unintentional.

16. The portable computer of claim 15, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an intentional or unintentional based upon determining the various characteristics of one or more contact patches on the touchpad.

17. The portable computer of claim 16, wherein the various characteristics include one or more of contact patch location, trajectory, and size.

18. The portable computer of claim 15, further comprising:

a keyboard disposed on a top surface of the base assembly, wherein the touchpad has a width that is substantially similar to a width of the keyboard or greater than a width of the keyboard.

19. The portable computer of claim 18, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed between the keyboard and the touchpad.

20. The portable computer of claim 18, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the touchpad is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed in the display assembly.

21. The portable computer of claim 15, wherein the touchpad comprises a capacitive sensor touchpad.

22. A portable computer, comprising:

a display assembly coupled to a base assembly;

one or more touchpads disposed on the base assembly, wherein the one or more touchpads collectively have a width that is half or greater than half a width of the base assembly, and wherein the one or more touchpads are configured to detect an object in contact with a surface at any position on the one or more touchpads; and

a processor coupled to the one or more touchpads, wherein the processor determines if the contact is intentional or unintentional, and wherein the processor rejects unintentional contact with the one or more touchpads.

23. The portable computer of claim 22, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the one or more touchpads is an intentional or unintentional contact based upon determining various characteristics of one or more contact patches on the one or more touchpads.

24. The portable computer of claim 23, wherein the various characteristics include one or more of contact patch location, trajectory, and size.

25. The portable computer of claim 22, further comprising:

a keyboard disposed on a top surface of the base assembly.

26. The portable computer of claim 25, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the one or more touchpads is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed between the keyboard and the one or more touchpads.

27. The portable computer of claim 25, wherein the processor estimates a probability that the object detected on the surface of the one or more touchpads is an unintentional contact based upon detecting when a user'"'"'s hand is positioned over the keyboard using a sensor disposed in the display assembly.