PREDICTION-BASED TOUCH CONTACT TRACKING

• US 20120206380A1
• Filed: 06/03/2011
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zhao, Weidong, Stevens, David A., Uzelac, Aleksandar, Benko, Hrvoje, Miller, John L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,542,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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 embodiments of prediction-based touch contact tracking, touch input sensor data is recognized as a series of components of a contact on a touch-screen display. A first component of the contact can be identified, and a second component can be determined to correlate to the contact. The first component and the second component can then be associated to represent a tracking of the contact. Subsequent components of the contact can be determined and associated with the previous components of the contact to further represent the tracking of the contact.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

recognizing touch input sensor data as a series of components of a contact on a touch-screen display;

identifying a first component of the contact;

determining that a second component correlates to the contact; and

associating the first component and at least the second component to represent a tracking of the contact.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a same identifier to the first component and to the second component of the contact;

determining that subsequent components correlate to the contact; and

assigning the same identifier to the subsequent components that combine with the first and second components to represent the tracking of the contact.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

predicting a component position of the contact from the tracking of the contact; and

correlating the predicted component position to a subsequent component of the contact.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the predicted component position is predicted based on at least the previous first and second components that represent the tracking of the contact.

5. A method as recited in claim 3, further comprising validating that the predicted component position correlates to the subsequent component of the contact based on a nearest-neighbor criteria that evaluates distance from the predicted component position to one or more additional components of the contact.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said determining that the second component correlates to the contact is based on a min-max distance determination between the first and second components of the contact.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising resolving multiple contacts that alias to a single unassociated component.

8. A computing device, comprising:

a touch-screen display;

a touch input module configured to recognize touch input sensor data as a series of components of a contact on the touch-screen display;

at least a memory and a processor to implement a contact tracking service configured to;

identify a first component of the contact;

determine that a second component correlates to the contact; and

associate the first component and at least the second component to represent a tracking of the contact.

9. A computing device as recited in claim 8, wherein the contact tracking service is further configured to:

assign a same identifier to the first component and to the second component of the contact;

determine that subsequent components correlate to the contact; and

assign the same identifier to subsequent components that represent the tracking of the gesture input.

10. A computing device as recited in claim 8, wherein the contact tracking service is further configured to:

predict a component position of the contact from the tracking of the contact; and

correlate the predicted component position to a subsequent component of the contact.

11. A computing device as recited in claim 10, wherein the contact tracking service is further configured to predict the component position based on at least the previous first and second components that represent the tracking of the contact.

12. A computing device as recited in claim 10, wherein the contact tracking service is further configured to validate that the predicted component position correlates to the subsequent component of the contact based on a nearest-neighbor criteria that evaluates distance from the predicted component position to one or more additional components of the contact.

13. A computing device as recited in claim 8, wherein the contact tracking service is further configured to determine that the second component correlates to the contact based on a min-max distance determination between the first and second components of the contact.

14. A computing device as recited in claim 8, wherein the contact tracking service is further configured to resolve multiple contacts that alias to a single unassociated component.

15. A method, comprising:

recognizing touch input sensor data as a series of components of a gesture input on a touch-screen display, the gesture input including at least two contacts;

determining that a first component correlates to a second component of a first contact of the gesture input;

mapping the first component to the second component to represent a first contact tracking;

determining that a third component correlates to a fourth component of a second contact of the gesture input; and

mapping the third component to the fourth component to represent a second contact tracking.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

assigning a first identifier to both of the first and second components of the first contact; and

assigning a second identifier to both of the third and fourth components of the second contact.

17. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

predicting a component position of the first contact from the first contact tracking; and

correlating the predicted component position to a subsequent component of the first contact.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the predicted component position is predicted based on at least the previous first and second components of the first contact that represent the first contact tracking.

19. A method as recited in claim 17, further comprising validating that the predicted component position correlates to the subsequent component of the first contact based on a nearest-neighbor criteria that evaluates distance from the predicted component position to one or more additional components of the first contact.

20. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the determined component correlations are based on a min-max distance determination.