METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISCRIMINATING STYLUS AND TOUCH INTERACTIONS

• US 20140168142A1
• Filed: 08/29/2013
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Logitech Europe S A (Logitech International SA)
• Original Assignee: Logitech Europe S A (Logitech International SA)
• Inventors: SASSELLI, Nicolas, SALAMIN, Patrick, VLASOV, Maxim, RACLE, Julien, ZIMMERMANN, Rmy, HOLZBECHER, Jiri
• Granted Patent: US 9,367,186 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0442 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for transmitting changes in electrical potential to be received by the digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed to control devices, such as human interface devices, configured for use with a tablet computer. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and system for discriminating between the interactions of a handheld device, touch of one or more of the user'"'"'s finger(s) and interaction with appendages of the user on a touch-screen tablet computer. The methods described herein may include discriminating between the interaction of the handheld device, the user'"'"'s finger(s) and an appendage of the user so that the collected information can be used to control some aspect of the hardware or software running on the touch-screen tablet computer.

Claims

1. A method using a touch sensitive computing device, comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a plurality of touch data points from a touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device;

defining a boundary that encloses a region of a surface of the touch sensing unit, wherein the position of the plurality of touch data points on the surface of the touch sensing unit are disposed within the boundary;

attributing a first touch data point of the plurality of touch data points to a type of user input by analyzing the position of the first touch data point relative to a portion of the boundary; and

generating output data that comprises information relating to the type of user input that is attributed to the first touch data point.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a touch-down event from a handheld device, wherein the information comprises information relating to a first time when the touch-down event occurred; and

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a second time when the first touch data point was sensed by the touch sensing unit of the computing device,

wherein the attributing the first touch data point to the type of user input further comprises comparing a predetermined threshold time with the information relating to the first time and the second time.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that at least a portion of the plurality of touch data points are part of the first cluster of touch data points and that the first touch data point is not part of the cluster of touch data points.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

altering information rendered on a display in the computing device at a position relating to the first touch data point based on an analysis of the output data performed by a processor in the computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein altering information rendered on the display in the computing device further comprises:

generating an image on a display in the computing device relating to the first touch data point when the attributed type of user input to the first touch data point is a stylus pen.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a touch-down event from a handheld device, wherein the information related to the touch-down event comprises information relating to a first time when the touch-down event occurred;

wherein the information related to the touch-down event includes information related to a position of a tip of an active stylus pen relative to an electrode disposed in a touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the position of the active stylus pen is determined at least partially from a capacitive sensing signal delivered from the electrode.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprises:

associating the received information related to the touch-down event with a second timestamp that is derived from a second clock disposed within the computing device, and wherein;

the information relating to the first time comprises a first timestamp that is derived from a first clock disposed within the handheld device, and

wherein the generating output data further comprises using the first and second timestamps.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the accuracy of the first clock is equal to or better than the second clock.

10. A method using a touch sensitive computing device, comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a plurality of touch data points from a touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device;

determining that at least a portion of the plurality of touch data points are part of a first cluster of touch data points; and

determining that a first touch data point of the plurality of touch data points is associated with a handheld device by determining that the first touch data point is not within a region of a surface of the touch sensing unit that contains the first cluster of touch data points; and

generating output data that comprises information relating to the association of the first touch data point to the handheld device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that at least a portion of the plurality of touch data points are part of the first cluster of touch data points comprises determining that each touch data point in the first cluster of touch data points are within a predetermined distance from each other on the touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that at least a portion of the plurality of touch data points are part of a first cluster of touch data points comprises:

detecting the movements of each of the touch data points in the plurality of touch data points; and

associating the first cluster of touch data points to the user'"'"'s appendage when the movement of each of the touch data points in the first cluster of touch data points is below a predetermined threshold.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the predetermined threshold is a numerical value specifying a particular distance.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a touch-down event from a handheld device, wherein the information comprises information relating to a first time when the touch-down event occurred; and

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a second time when the first touch data point was sensed by the touch sensing unit of the computing device,

wherein the attributing the first touch data point to the type of user input further comprises comparing a predetermined threshold time with the information relating to the first time and the second time.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

altering information rendered on a display in the computing device at a position relating to the first touch data point based on an analysis of the output data performed by a processor in the computing device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein altering information rendered on the display in the computing device further comprises:

generating an image on a display in the computing device relating to the first touch data point when the attributed type of user input to the first touch data point is a stylus pen.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a touch-down event from a handheld device, wherein the information related to the touch-down event comprises information relating to a first time when the touch-down event occurred;

wherein the information related to the touch-down event includes information related to a position of a tip of an active stylus pen relative to an electrode disposed in a touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the position of the active stylus pen is determined at least partially from a capacitive sensing signal delivered from the electrode.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprises:

receiving, at the computing device, information related to a second touch data point of the plurality of touch data points received from a touch sensing unit;

defining a region of the touch sensing unit of the computing device that includes the first touch data point and the second touch data point;

determining whether a position of a third first touch data point on the user interface of the computing device is within the defined region; and

attributing the third touch data point to a type of user input when the third touch data point is disposed within the region of the touch sensing unit,

wherein the output data further comprises information relating to the attributed type of user input of the third data point.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that at least a portion of the plurality of touch events are part of the first cluster of touch events further comprises determining that each touch event in the first cluster of touch events are within a predetermined distance from each other on the touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the at least a portion of the plurality of touch data points are part of the first cluster of touch data points further comprises:

detecting the movements of each of the plurality of touch data points; and

associating the touch data points in the first cluster of touch events with a user'"'"'s appendage when the movements of the touch data points in the first cluster of touch data points is below a predetermined threshold.

22. A computer readable medium disposed in a computing device, containing a set of instructions that causes a processor to perform a process comprising:

receiving information related to a plurality of touch data points from a touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device;

defining a boundary that encloses a region of a surface of the touch sensing unit, wherein the position of the plurality of touch data points on the surface of the touch sensing unit are disposed within the boundary; and

attributing a first touch data point of the plurality of touch data points to a type of user input by analyzing the position of the first touch data point relative to a portion of the boundary; and

generating output data that comprises information relating to the type of user input that is attributed to the first touch data point.

23. A computer readable medium disposed in a computing device, containing a set of instructions that causes a processor to perform a process comprising:

receiving information related to a plurality of touch data points from a touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device;

determining that at least a portion of the plurality of touch data points are part of a first cluster of touch data points; and

determining that a first touch data point of the plurality of touch data points is associated with a handheld device by determining that the first touch data point is not within a region of a surface of the touch sensing unit that contains the first cluster of touch data points; and

generating output data that comprises information relating to the association of the first touch data point to the handheld device.

24. A computer readable medium disposed in a computing device, containing a set of instructions that causes a processor to perform a process comprising:

receive information related to a touch-down event from a handheld device;

receive, at the computing device, information related to a plurality of touch events from a touch sensing unit coupled to the computing device;

define a portion of the plurality of touch events as being part of a first cluster of touch events;

correlate the information related to the touch-down event with the information related to the first cluster of touch events;

determine that the first cluster of touch events is associated with a user'"'"'s appendage; and

determine that at least one touch event of the plurality of touch events is associated with a handheld device, wherein the at least one touch event is not within the first cluster.