INPUT DEVICE, INPUT METHOD AND PROGRAM

• US 20160259442A1
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Published: 09/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Rakuten, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: UKAI, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 10,788,917 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

A position indicated by a user with a finger or a stylus can be detected even in a case where an edge of a hand on a little finger side or a wrist touches a touch panel.

An input device acquires information indicating a plurality of points on a touch panel affected by a user'"'"'s touch, including the touch with a finger or a stylus, calculates distances between a reference position and at least some of the plurality of points, the reference position indicating a position touched by the user on the touch panel other than with the finger or the stylus, selects one or more points affected by the touch with the finger or the stylus from the at least some of the plurality of points based on the calculated distances, and acquires coordinates of a position indicated by the user based on the selected point.

Claims

1. An input device, comprising:

an acquiring unit for acquiring information indicating a plurality of points on a touch panel which are affected by one or more touches of a user, including a touch with a finger or a stylus;

a distance calculating unit for calculating distances between a reference position and at least some of the plurality of points, the reference position indicating a position touched by the user on the touch panel other than with the finger or the stylus;

a selecting unit for selecting one or more points affected by the touch with the finger or the stylus from the at least some of the plurality of points based on the calculated distances; and

a coordinate acquiring unit for acquiring coordinates of a position indicated by the user based on the selected one or more points.

2. The input device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a determining unit for determining whether or not there are a plurality of touches of the user on the touch panel; and

a reference position acquiring unit for acquiring the reference position in a case where it is determined that there are the plurality of touches of the user on the touch panel,

wherein the distance calculating means unit calculates the distances based on the acquired reference position, and

wherein the selecting unit selects the one or more points based on the distances.

3. The input device according to claim 2,

wherein the determining unit determines whether or not there are the plurality of touches based on a variance of the plurality of points.

4. The input device according to claim 2,

wherein the determining unit determines whether or not there are the plurality of touches of the user based on a size of an area touched by the user.

5. The input device according to claim 1,

wherein the reference position is a center of gravity based on the plurality of points.

6. The input device according to claim 1,

wherein the plurality of points respectively correspond to a plurality of portions on the touch panel where capacitance is measured.

7. The input device according to claim 6,

wherein the distance calculating unit calculates the reference position based on respective positions of the plurality of points and measurement values at the plurality of points.

8. The input device according to claim 1,

wherein the plurality of points indicate positions of the plurality of touches of the user on the touch panel.

9. An input method, comprising:

acquiring information indicating a plurality of points on a touch panel which are affected by one or more touches of a user, including a touch with a finger or a stylus;

calculating distances between a reference position and at least some of the plurality of points, the reference position indicating a position touched by the user on the touch panel other than with the finger or the stylus;

selecting one or more points affected by the touch with the finger or the stylus from the at least some of the plurality of points based on the calculated distances; and

acquiring coordinates of a position indicated by the user based on the selected one or more points.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program for causing a computer to execute processing, the processing comprising:

acquiring information indicating a plurality of points on a touch panel which are affected by one or more touches of a user, including a touch with a finger or a stylus;

calculating distances between a reference position and at least some of the plurality of points, the reference position indicating a position touched by the user on the touch panel other than with the finger or the stylus;

selecting one or more points affected by the touch with the finger or the stylus from the at least some of the plurality of points based on the calculated distances; and

acquiring coordinates of a position indicated by the user based on the selected one or more points.