Using Finger Touch Types to Interact with Electronic Devices

• US 20140327626A1
• Filed: 05/06/2013
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qeexo Co. (TDK Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Qeexo Co. (TDK Corporation)
• Inventors: Harrison, Christopher, Schwarz, Julia, Xiao, Robert Bo
• Granted Patent: US 10,599,250 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 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

An electronic device includes a touch-sensitive surface, for example a touch pad or touch screen. The user interacts with the touch-sensitive surface, producing touch interactions. The resulting actions taken depend at least in part on the touch type. For example, the same touch interactions performed by three different touch types of a finger pad, a finger nail and a knuckle, may result in the execution of different actions.

Claims

1. A method of interaction between a user and an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface, the method comprising:

detecting a finger touch interaction between the user and the touch-sensitive surface;

determining a finger touch type for the detected finger touch interaction; and

executing an action on the electronic device in response to the finger touch interaction and finger touch type, wherein the same finger touch interaction results in execution of a first action for a first finger touch type and results in execution of a second action for a second finger touch type.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch, and the second finger touch type is finger nail uni-touch.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch, and the second finger touch type is knuckle uni-touch.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of the finger touch types is multi-touch.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching an element displayed on the electronic device, and touching the element results in the first action of opening the element when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching an element displayed on the electronic device, and touching the element results in the first action of selecting the element when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching an element representing an application, and touching the element results in the first action of launching the application when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching a button control displayed on the electronic device, and touching the button control results in the first action of activating the button control when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching an element displayed on the electronic device, and touching the element results in the first action of taking an action associated with the element when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching an element representing a phone number, and touching the element results in the first action of dialing the phone number when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching an element representing a web address, and touching the element results in the first action of going to the web address when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touch-and-dragging an element displayed on the electronic device, and touch-and-dragging the element results in the first action of moving the element on the display when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

14. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touch-and-dragging a slider control displayed on the electronic device, and touch-and-dragging the slider control results in the first action of operating the slider control when the first finger touch type is finger pad uni-touch.

15. The method of claim 2 wherein the second action is executed less frequently than the first action.

16. The method of claim 2 wherein the second action requires additional user input.

17. The method of claim 2 wherein the second action is more complex than the first action.

18. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touching an element displayed on the electronic device, and touching the element results in the second action of displaying a contextual menu with choices of actions for the element.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the element represents an email, and the menu choices include at least two from:

reply, reply all, forward, print, archive, copy, cut, move, save, and delete.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the element represents a photo or graphic, and the menu choices include at least two from:

email, print, modify, crop, resize, copy, cut, share, move, email, open, duplicate, post to web, and delete.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the element represents a video or animated content, and the menu choices include at least two from:

email, modify, resize, copy, cut, share, fast forward, rewind, pause, play, stop, exit, slow, resume, save, bookmark, email, open, duplicate, post to web, and delete.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the element represents a digital document, and the menu choices include at least two from:

email, open, copy, cut, preview, move, print, share, modify, duplicate, post, remove, archive, trash, and delete.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the element represents an application, and the menu choices include at least two from:

email, open, copy, cut, preview, move, print, share, email, modify, duplicate, post to web, and delete.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein the element represents a link, and the menu choices include at least two from:

email, open, copy, cut, preview, open in new window, open in new tab, save, bookmark, print, and share.

25. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touch-and-dragging, and touch-and-dragging results in the second action of selecting elements displayed on the electronic device.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein touch-and-dragging results in the second action of selecting text displayed on the electronic device.

27. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touch-and-dragging, and touch-and-dragging results in the second action of lassoing a sub-region of text displayed on the electronic device.

28. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touch-and-dragging, and touch-and-dragging results in the second action of lassoing a sub-region of an image displayed on the electronic device.

29. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touch-and-dragging, and touch-and-dragging results in the first action of drawing in a first drawing mode for the first finger touch type and results in the second action of drawing in a second drawing mode for the second finger touch type.

30. The method of claim 2 wherein the finger touch interaction is touch-and-dragging, and touch-and-dragging results in the first action of drawing for the first finger touch type and results in the second action of erasing for the second finger touch type.

31. The method of claim 2 wherein the first action is an action taken in a game played on the electronic device and the second action is a different action taken in the game, wherein the user has a choice of which action to take.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the finger touch interaction results in the first action of firing a first weapon in the game for the first finger touch type and results in the second action of firing a second weapon in the game for the second finger touch type.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein the finger touch interaction results in the first action of making a first type of character movement in the game for the first finger touch type and results in the second action of making a second type of character movement in the game for the second finger touch type.

34. The method of claim 1 wherein the user can interact with the electronic device using another input device, the input device having a first input type and a second input type, actions resulting from the first input type correspond to actions for the first finger touch type, and actions resulting from the second input type correspond to actions for the second finger touch type.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the user can interact with the electronic device using a mouse with right click and left click, actions resulting from right click of the mouse correspond to actions for the first finger touch type, and actions resulting from left click of the mouse correspond to actions for the second finger touch type.

36. The method of claim 1 wherein the touch-sensitive surface is a touch screen.

37. A machine-readable tangible storage medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, which when executed by an electronic device having a touch-sensitive surface, cause the electronic device to perform a method comprising the steps of:

detecting a finger touch interaction between the user and the touch-sensitive surface;

determining a finger touch type for the detected finger touch interaction; and

executing an action on the electronic device in response to the finger touch interaction and finger touch type, wherein the same finger touch interaction results in execution of a first action for a first finger touch type and results in execution of a second action for a second finger touch type.

38. An electronic device comprising:

a touch-sensitive surface;

detection circuitry coupled to the touch-sensitive surface, for detecting a finger touch interaction with the touch-sensitive surface;

a touch analysis module coupled to the detection circuitry, for determining a finger touch type for the detected finger touch interaction; and

a processor coupled to the touch analysis module, the processor for executing an action on the electronic device in response to the finger touch interaction and finger touch type, wherein the same finger touch interaction results in execution of a first action for a first finger touch type and results in execution of a second action for a second finger touch type.

39. An electronic device comprising:

a touch-sensitive surface;

means for detecting a finger touch interaction between the user and the touch-sensitive surface;

means for determining a finger touch type for the detected finger touch interaction; and

means for executing an action on the electronic device in response to the finger touch interaction and finger touch type, wherein the same finger touch interaction results in execution of a first action for a first finger touch type and results in execution of a second action for a second finger touch type.