Touchscreen controller with pen and/or finger inputs
First Claim
1. A touchscreen controller for controlling operation of a touch sensitive screen in response to commands from an application program executing on a data processor that is electrically coupled to the controller, the controller comprising, in combination:
- means, responsive to a plurality of analog signals indicative of a position on said screen of a touch device touching said screen, for generating positional digital values indicative of two-dimensional coordinates of the position of said touch device on said screen;
means, responsive to a touch pen, electrically coupled to said controller, for determining if the touch device contacting the screen is a pen or a finger;
means, responsive to a pen only signal produced by said data processor in response to a pen only command of said commands, for transmitting said positional digital values to said data processor only if said touch device contacting said screen is said touch pen;
means, responsive to a finger only signal produced by said data processor in response to a finger only command of said commands, for transmitting said positional digital values to said data processor only if said touch device contacting said screen is said finger; and
means, responsive to a pen and finger signal produced by said data processor in response to a pen and finger command of said commands, for transmitting said positional digital values to said data processor if said touch device contacting said screen is said pen or said finger.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A host computer system employs a touch sensitive display screen (touchscreen) as an input device. A controller receives positional signals from the touchscreen and transmits positional digital values indicative of (X, Y) coordinates of the point of contact of a touch device upon the touchscreen. The touch device may take the form of a touch pen which is electrically coupled to the controller or a human finger. The controller responds to different commands from the host computer to transmit inputs entered only by finger, only by pen, or by both finger and pen. Additional commands from the computer cause the controller to take a variety of different actions, including resizing the active area on the touchscreen which may be touched by the touch device.
327 Citations
30 Claims
-
1. A touchscreen controller for controlling operation of a touch sensitive screen in response to commands from an application program executing on a data processor that is electrically coupled to the controller, the controller comprising, in combination:
-
means, responsive to a plurality of analog signals indicative of a position on said screen of a touch device touching said screen, for generating positional digital values indicative of two-dimensional coordinates of the position of said touch device on said screen; means, responsive to a touch pen, electrically coupled to said controller, for determining if the touch device contacting the screen is a pen or a finger; means, responsive to a pen only signal produced by said data processor in response to a pen only command of said commands, for transmitting said positional digital values to said data processor only if said touch device contacting said screen is said touch pen; means, responsive to a finger only signal produced by said data processor in response to a finger only command of said commands, for transmitting said positional digital values to said data processor only if said touch device contacting said screen is said finger; and means, responsive to a pen and finger signal produced by said data processor in response to a pen and finger command of said commands, for transmitting said positional digital values to said data processor if said touch device contacting said screen is said pen or said finger. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. In a computer system which executes computer programs including an application program, the computer system including a storage unit, a central processing unit, input means for providing input data to the storage unit and central processing unit said input means including a touch sensitive display screen, and output means for providing discernible indications of actions performed by the central processing unit, said output means including said touch sensitive display screen, said storage unit containing one or more further programs which when executed in the computer system comprise:
-
means, responsive to a first command from the application program, for transmitting a pen only command to a controller which controls said display screen to cause said controller to transmit only data indicative of inputs entered via said touchscreen by a pen electrically coupled to said touchscreen; means, responsive to a second command from the application program, for transmitting a finger only command to said controller to cause said controller to transmit only data indicative of inputs entered via said touchscreen by a user finger; and means, responsive to a third command from the application program, for transmitting a pen and finger command to said controller to cause said controller to transmit data indicative of inputs entered via said touchscreen by said pen or said finger. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A computer-readable storage apparatus for use in a data processor which is coupled to a touch sensitive input screen which accepts input from a pen electrically coupled to said screen and from touching of a human finger to said screen, said data processor being coupled to said screen by a controller which accepts positional signals from the screen and which receives commands from the data processor and transmits digital data indicative of the position of an input to the screen, the storage apparatus containing one or more programs which, when executed in said data processor, comprise in combination:
-
means, responsive to a first command from an application program being executed by said data processor, for causing said data processor to transmit a pen only command to said controller to cause said controller to transmit only data which is indicative of inputs entered via said pen; means, responsive to a second command from the application program, for transmitting a finger only command to said controller to cause said controller to transmit only data indicative of inputs entered via said touchscreen by said human finger; and means, responsive to a third command from the application program, for transmitting a pen and finger command to said controller to cause said controller to transmit data indicative of inputs entered via said touchscreen by said pen or said by said finger.
-
-
21. An improved controller for controlling a touch-sensitive panel which receives touch inputs from more than one type of touch device and has a first output which indicates a position in the touch panel and a second output which indicates the type of the touch device that is currently providing the touch inputs, the controller responding to the first and second outputs and to commands from an application program executing on a host processor and the controller having the improvement comprising:
a processor which responds to a command from the application program that specifies a type of touch device and to the second output from the touch sensitive panel by providing digital coordinates corresponding to the position specified by the first output to the host only if the type of touch device indicated by the second output agrees with the type of touch device specified by the command. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
Specification