APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR TOUCH INPUT

• US 20150331498A1
• Filed: 07/14/2015
• Published: 11/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Locker, Howard, Cromer, Daryl, Perrin, Steven Richard
• Granted Patent: US 10,042,440 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• 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 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for touch input. An apparatus for touch input includes a display and a touchpad that does not overlap the display. The touchpad has an absolute input mode and a relative input mode such that a location of a cursor within the display is controlled by input received while the touchpad is in an absolute and/or relative input mode. The apparatus also includes a sensor module and a display module. The sensor module detects an input object within a sensing range of the touchpad. The display module presents the cursor at a location within the display based on the input object. The location of the cursor within the display is determined according to the input mode of the touchpad.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a display;

a touchpad that does not overlap the display, the touchpad comprising an absolute input mode and a relative input mode, wherein a location of a cursor within the display is controlled by input received by the touchpad while in one or more of the absolute input mode and the relative input mode;

a storage device storing machine-readable code; and

a processor executing the machine-readable code, the machine-readable code comprising;

a sensor module that detects an input object within a sensing range of the touchpad; and

a display module that presents the cursor at a location within the display based on the input object, the location of the cursor within the display being determined according to the input mode of the touchpad.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of buttons operably coupled to the touchpad, the plurality of buttons generating input events at the display location of the cursor while the touchpad is in a relative input mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display and the touchpad are part of a clamshell information handling device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor module detects the input object in response to the input object hovering a distance above the touchpad.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the sensor module further determines a site of the input object in relation to the touchpad in response to detecting the input object hovering a distance above the touchpad.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the determined site of the input object corresponds to an input detectable location on the touchpad, the touchpad comprising a plurality of input detectable locations that map 1:

1 to a plurality of corresponding display locations of the display.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the display module presents the cursor at a display location that corresponds to the input detectable location associated with the determined site in response to the touchpad being in an absolute input mode.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising an event generator module that generates an input event at the display location in response to the input object being within a predetermined distance of the touchpad.

9. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a mode module that changes the input mode of the touchpad from a relative input mode to an absolute input mode in response to the sensor module detecting the input object hovering a distance above the touchpad.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor module detects the input object in response to the input object contacting the touchpad.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the sensor module further determines a site of the input object in relation to the touchpad in response to detecting the input object contacting the touchpad.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the display module presents the cursor within the display at a display location relative to a current display location of the cursor based on the determined site of the input object on the touchpad.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a mode module that changes the input mode of the touchpad from an absolute input mode to a relative input mode in response to the sensor module detecting the input object contacting the touchpad.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display module presents an absolute cursor and a relative cursor within the display, the absolute cursor being presented in response to the sensor module detecting hover input while the touchpad is in the absolute input mode and the relative cursor being presented in response to the sensor module detecting touch input while the touchpad is in the relative input mode.

15. A method comprising:

detecting, by a processor, an input object within a sensing range of a touchpad of an information handling device, the information handling device comprising a display such that the touchpad does not overlap the display, the touchpad comprising an absolute input mode and a relative input mode, wherein a location of a cursor within the display is controlled by input received by the touchpad while in one or more of the absolute input mode and the relative input mode; and

presenting the cursor at a location within the display based on the input object, the location of the cursor within the display being determined according to the input mode of the touchpad.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information handling device comprises a plurality of buttons operably coupled to the touchpad, the plurality of buttons generating input events at the display location of the cursor while the touchpad is in a relative input mode.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the information handling device comprises a clamshell information handling device.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising detecting the input object in response to the input object hovering a distance above the touchpad, wherein the input mode of the touchpad is changed from a relative input mode to an absolute input mode in response to the sensing module detecting the input object hovering a distance above the touchpad.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising detecting the input object in response to the input object contacting the touchpad, wherein the input mode of the touchpad is changed from an absolute input mode to a relative input mode in response to the sensing module detecting the input object contacting the touchpad.

20. A computer program product comprising a storage device storing machine readable code executed by a processor to perform the operations of:

detecting an input object within a sensing range of a touchpad of an information handling device, the information handling device comprising a display such that the touchpad does not overlap the display, the touchpad comprising an absolute input mode and a relative input mode, wherein a location of a cursor within the display is controlled by input received by the touchpad while in one or more of the absolute input mode and the relative input mode; and

presenting the cursor at a location within the display based on the input object, the location of the cursor within the display being determined according to the input mode of the touchpad.