Methods and Apparatus to Associate a Detected Presence of a Conductive Object

• US 20130076643A1
• Filed: 09/22/2011
• Published: 03/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Parade Technologies, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Peterson, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,360,961 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means

Abstract

A method and apparatus determine a plurality of attribute values of a first detected presence, determine another plurality of attribute values of a second detected presence, and associate the first detected presence with the second detected presence based on the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a plurality of attribute values of a first detected presence;

determining another plurality of attribute values of a second detected presence; and

associating the first detected presence with the second detected presence based on the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of attribute values reflect at least two of:

a two-dimensional shape of detected presence, a sum of signal values reflecting detected presence, a peak signal value of detected presence, an orientation of detected presence, a three-dimensional shape of detected presence, a position of detected presence, and a velocity of detected presence.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining of the plurality of attribute values of the first detected presence includes:

determining a first attribute value of the plurality of attribute values before a position of the first detected presence is calculated; and

determining a second attribute value of the plurality of attribute values after the position of the first detected presence is calculated, and the determining of the other plurality of attribute values of the second detected presence includes;

determining a first attribute value of the other plurality of attribute values before a position of the second detected presence is calculated; and

determining a second attribute value of the other plurality of attributes after the position of the second detected presence is calculated.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising excluding an association between the second detected presence and a third detected presence based on a further plurality of attribute values of the third detected presence and the other plurality of attribute values of the second detected presence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first detected presence is detected before the second detected presence is detected.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating of the first detected presence with the second detected presence based on the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values includes associating the first detected presence with the second detected presence based on a level of similarity between the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the associating of the first detected presence with the second detected presence based on the level of similarity between the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attributes includes calculating a similarity value that reflects the level of similarity between the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the calculating of the similarity value includes determining differences between each attribute value of the plurality of attribute values and a corresponding attribute value of the plurality of other attribute values, wherein the calculated similarity value is based on a sum of the determined differences.

9. An apparatus comprising:

an attribute tracker configured to determine a plurality of attribute values of a first detected presence and determine another plurality of attribute values of a second detected presence; and

a presence associator coupled with the attribute tracker and configured to associate the first detected presence with the second detected presence based on the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plurality of attributes include at least two of:

a two-dimensional shape of detected presence, a sum of signal values reflecting detected presence, a peak signal value of detected presence, an orientation of detected presence, a three-dimensional shape of detected presence, a position of detected presence, and a velocity of detected presence.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a presence detector coupled with the attribute tracker, the presence detector configured to detect the first detected presence before the presence detector detects the second detected presence; and

a position calculator coupled with the presence detector, the position calculator configured to calculate a position of the first detected presence before the position calculator calculates the position of the second detected presence.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the attribute tracker is configured to:

determine at least one of the plurality of attribute values of the second detected presence before the position calculator calculates the position of the second detected presence; and

determine at least another of the plurality of attribute values of the second detected presence after the presence detector detects the second presence.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the presence associator is configured not to associate the second detected presence with a third detected presence based on a further plurality of attribute values of the third detected presence and the other plurality of attribute values of the second detected presence.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the presence associator is configured to associate the first detected presence with the second detected presence based on a level of similarity between the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the presence associator is configured to calculate a similarity value that reflects the level of similarity between the plurality of attribute values and the other plurality of attribute values.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the presence associator is configured to determine differences between each attribute value of the plurality of attribute values and a corresponding attribute value of the plurality of other attribute values, wherein the calculated similarity value is based on a sum the determined differences.

17. A sensing system comprising:

a processing device; and

a plurality of sensor elements coupled with the processing device, the processing device comprising;

an attribute tracker configured to;

determine a set of attribute values for each of a plurality of touches detected proximate to the plurality of sensor elements, and

determine another set of attribute values of another touch that is detected proximate to the plurality of sensor elements after the detection of the plurality of touches; and

a presence associator configured to;

calculate a similarity value for each of the plurality of touches that reflects a level of similarity between each set of attribute values of the plurality of touches and the other set of attributes of the other touch, and

associate one of the plurality of touches with the other touch based on the similarity value of the one of the plurality of touches.

18. The sensing system of claim 17, wherein the set of attributes values and the other set of attribute values quantify a set of attributes that include at least two of:

a two-dimensional shape of a touch, a sum of signal values of the touch, a peak signal value of the touch, an orientation of the touch, a three-dimensional shape of the touch, a position of the touch, and a velocity of the touch.

19. The sensing system of claim 18, wherein the attribute tracker is configured to determine a first attribute value of the set of attribute values for each of the plurality of touches before a position of each of the plurality of touches is calculated and to determine a second attribute value of the set of attribute values for each of the plurality of touches after the position of each of the plurality of touches is calculated, and determine a first attribute value of the other set of attribute values before a position of the other touch is calculated and determine a second attribute value of the other set of attributes after the position of the other touch is calculated.

20. The sensing system of claim 17, wherein the presence associator is configured to determine differences between each attribute value of the set of attribute values and a corresponding attribute value of the other set of other attribute values, wherein the calculated similarity value is based on a sum the determined differences.