Finger Expressions for Touch Screens

• US 20140247237A1
• Filed: 03/01/2013
• Published: 09/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Shih-Ying, Chan, Hsuan-Hao, Hsiao, Liang-Yu
• Granted Patent: US 9,760,278 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A system and method for haptic feedback includes: sensing touch input in at least one area of a touch surface; determining quantitative features of the touch input; determining temporal features of the touch input; and generating a command represented by the quantitative and temporal features of the touch input, said command producing at least one of: an alphanumeric character, a symbol, and an execution instruction.

Claims

1. A method for haptic feedback, comprising:

using a haptic feedback subsystem coupled with a touch surface, performing;

sensing touch input in at least one area of the touch surface; and

using a processor device, performing;

determining quantitative features of the touch input;

determining temporal features of the touch input; and

generating a command represented by the quantitative and temporal features of the touch input, said command producing at least one of;

an alphanumeric character, a symbol, and an execution instruction.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

outputting the at least one of;

the alphanumeric character, the symbol, and the execution instruction such that the user can verify correctness of the touch input.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the quantitative features comprises counting a number of points of contact within the touch input;

and

wherein determining the temporal features comprises;

determining a length of time that each point of contact was held; and

comparing the length of time to a threshold limit; and

wherein a combination of the number of the points of contact and the length of time held determines the command to generate.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

virtually dividing the touch surface into multiple areas.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein a first area accepts press and hold touch input and a second area accepts press and release touch input.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the command comprises:

matching the touch input to a command from a data store;

storing the command in local storage; and

issuing an error message when the touch input does not match any command.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein outputting the command comprises:

using audio to voice the command.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising an initial step of:

generating a user interface accepting selection of touch input options.

9. An information processing system for haptic feedback, comprising:

a touch surface;

a haptic feedback subsystem coupled with the touch surface to sense touch input in at least one area of the touch surface;

a memory;

local storage; and

a processor device, operatively coupled with the memory and the local storage, said processor device performing;

determining quantitative features of the touch input;

determining temporal features of the touch input; and

generating a command represented by the quantitative and temporal features of the touch input, said command producing at least one of;

an alphanumeric character, a symbol, and an execution instruction.

10. The information processing system of claim 9 wherein the processor device further performs:

outputting the at least one of;

the alphanumeric character, the symbol, and the execution instruction

11. The information processing system of claim 9 wherein determining the quantitative features comprises:

counting a number of points of contact within the touch input; and

wherein determining the temporal features comprises;

determining a length of time that each point of contact was held; and

comparing the length of time to a threshold limit; and

wherein a combination of the number of the points of contact and the length of time held determines the command.

12. The information processing system of claim 9 wherein the touch surface is virtually divided into multiple areas.

13. The information processing system of claim 12 wherein a first area accepts press and hold touch input and a second area accepts press and release touch input.

14. The information processing system of claim 9 wherein generating the command comprises:

matching the touch input to a command from a data store;

storing the command in local storage; and

issuing an error message when the touch input does not match the command.

15. The information processing system of claim 10 further comprising:

audio capabilities for voicing the command.

16. The information processing system of claim 9 further comprising:

a user interface accepting selection of touch input options.

17. A computer program product tangibly embodied within a computer readable storage medium, with computer-executable instructions stored therein, said computer-executable instructions comprising:

sensing touch input in at least one area of a touch surface;

determining quantitative features of the touch input;

determining temporal features of the touch input; and

generating a command represented by the quantitative and temporal features of the touch input, said command producing at least one of;

an alphanumeric character, a symbol, and an execution instruction.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise:

outputting the at least one of;

the alphanumeric character, the symbol, and the execution instruction such that the user can verify correctness of the touch input.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the computer-executable instructions for determining the quantitative features comprise:

counting a number of points of contact within the touch input; and

wherein determining the temporal features comprises;

determining a length of time that each point of contact was held; and

comparing the length of time to a threshold limit; and

wherein a combination of the number of the points of contact and the length of time held determines the command to generate.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the computer-executable instructions for generating the command comprise:

matching the touch input to a command from a data store;

storing the command in local storage; and

issuing an error message when the touch input does not match any command.