Touch Screen Testing Platform

• US 20120146956A1
• Filed: 12/09/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Jenkinson, David Ross
• Granted Patent: US 8,996,166 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/14 Arm movement, spatial

Abstract

A touch screen testing platform may be used to perform repeatable testing of a touch screen enabled device using a robotic device tester and a controller. Prior to running a test, the controller and/or robot may be calibrated to determine a planar surface of the touch screen and to establish a relative coordinate system across the touch screen. The controller may then be programmed to allow a robot to engage the touch screen using known input zones designated using the coordinate system. The platform may employ object recognition to determine and interact with content rendered by the device. The platform may use various types of tips that engage the touch screen, thereby simulating human behavior. The platform may perform multi-touch operations by employing multiple tips that can engage the touch screen simultaneously.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing calibration reference locations at three or more corners of a touch screen when a tip engages the touch screen at each of the corners, the calibration reference locations to calibrate a controller that provides instructions to a robot to move the tip to selectively engage the touch screen of a touch screen device;

identifying a planar surface representative of the surface of the touch screen based at least in part on the stored calibration reference locations;

generating a reference coordinate system across the planar surface that aligns with the touch screen;

receiving an instruction to cause the robot to move the tip to a predetermined location that is specified using the reference coordinate system; and

executing the instruction to cause the robot to move the tip to engage the touch screen and thereby provide an input to touch screen device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the instruction is at least one of a tap movement to engage the tip to a single location on the touch screen or a slide movement to drag the tip across a portion of the touch screen.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising securing the touch screen device to a device fixture with the touch screen exposed to the tip.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising adjusting an orientation of the robot to align with the planar surface by rotating the robot via the roll (φ

) and/or pitch (θ

) such that a z-axis of the robot is perpendicular to the planar surface.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein generating the reference coordinate system across the planar surface includes setting {x, y, z} coordinates to {0, 0, 0} at a first corner of the touch screen, setting the coordinates to {0, y_max, 0} at a second corner of the touch screen, and setting the coordinates to {x_max, 0, 0} at a third corner of the touch screen.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising selecting the tip from a plurality of available tips configured on a plate assembly, the plurality of available tips secured on a distal end of an arm that is attached to a plate under control of the robot.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the instruction is a multi-touch operation that causes two or more tips to engage the touch screen simultaneously or nearly simultaneously to provide input to the touch screen device.

8. A system, comprising:

a robot to provide inputs to a touch screen of a touch screen device, the robot to move an arm configured with a tip at a distal end of the arm, the tip configured to engage the touch screen of the touch screen device and provide the inputs that are recognizable by the touch screen device; and

a controller to identify and store a reference coordinate system of the touch screen and to control movement of the tip by the robot using the reference coordinate system.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising the touch screen device secured to a device fixture, the touch screen device having the touch screen that is accessible when the touch screen device is in the device fixture.

10. The system as recited in claim 8, further comprising a camera to record imagery rendered by the touch screen device, the imagery being transmitted to the controller to enable object recognition.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to control the robot to interact with the touch screen device in response to the imagery recognized by the object recognition.

12. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the arm is a first arm and the tip is a first tip, and wherein the robot includes a second arm having a second tip at the distal end of the arm.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the second arm is movable independent of the first arm to enable the first tip and the second tip to perform multi-touch operations when engaged against the touch screen.

14. An apparatus to perform automated testing of a touch screen device, the apparatus comprising:

a plate assembly including at least one arm protruding from the plate and having a tip coupled to a distal end of the at least one arm, the tip to engage a touch screen of the touch screen device to simulate user interaction with the touch screen device; and

a robotic arm coupled to the plate assembly to provide three directional movement to the plate assembly and rotational movement about a z-axis to rotate the plate assembly.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the plate assembly includes a plate having at least two fixed arms that protrude from the plate in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the plate and near the edge of the plate, the arms being separated by a distance that is greater than a width of a touch screen device, the plate to enable the robotic arm to select a tip from the at last two fixed arms to engage the touch screen.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the plate assembly includes a plate having a fixed arm and a movable arm that protrude from the plate in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the plate and near the edge of the plate, the arms to enable simultaneous engagement of the touch screen to perform multi-touch operations.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the plate assembly includes a first plate and a second plate that are configured to independently rotate relative to one another under power of the robotic arm, the first plate having a first arm that protrudes from the first plate in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the first plate and near the edge of the first plate, the second plate having a second arm that protrudes from the second plate in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the second plate and near the edge of the second plate, the first and second tips to enable simultaneous engagement of the touch screen to perform multi-touch operations.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the first tip is different than the second tip.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the tip is formed of a conductive rubber material.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, further comprising a camera to record imagery rendered on the touch screen, the imagery processed by a controller to determine a subsequent movement of the robotic arm.