Two-dimensional touch sensors
First Claim
1. A method of sensing touches on a touch sensor, the method comprising:
- acquiring a frame of touch signal values from sensing nodes of a touch sensor having a two-dimensional array of sensing nodes distributed over a sensing area;
processing the touch signal values to detect at least one touch in the frame, each touch being formed of a contiguous group of one or more sensing nodes;
computing for each touch its touch location on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch;
computing for each touch a touch angle indicative of orientation of the touch on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch;
outputting for each frame frame data including the touch location and the touch angle;
computing for each touch a touch ellipticity factor indicative of how elongate a shape is possessed by the touch by processing the touch signal values of the touch;
outputting for each frame as part of the frame data the touch ellipticity factor;
processing the frame data over time;
identifying, using a gesture processing algorithm, gestures from the frame data, wherein the gesture processing algorithm includes recognition for at least one gesture which jointly processes the touch angle and touch ellipticity factor, using the magnitude of the touch ellipticity factor to determine angular precision of the touch angle; and
outputting gesture data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a touch sensor, as well as providing touch position data, additional data is provided on the shape of the touch. This is achieved by having sampling nodes on a finer mesh than the size of the actuating object, typically a finger, so each finger touch activates a group of adjacent nodes on the sensor. In this way, each touch has a shape formed by the activated nodes. The shape allows the touch sensor to report an angle with each touch and data indicating how elongate the touch is, preferably both together as a vector in which the direction of the vector gives the angle and the magnitude of the vector gives the ellipticity. For each frame of data collected from the sensor array, the sensor outputs an (x, y) coordinate of touch position and a further (x, y) coordinate of a shape vector. This allows many novel gestures to be provided, such as single finger “drag and zoom” and single finger “drag and rotate”. It also allows for correction of systematic human error in the placement of finger touches on virtual keys.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of sensing touches on a touch sensor, the method comprising:
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acquiring a frame of touch signal values from sensing nodes of a touch sensor having a two-dimensional array of sensing nodes distributed over a sensing area; processing the touch signal values to detect at least one touch in the frame, each touch being formed of a contiguous group of one or more sensing nodes; computing for each touch its touch location on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch; computing for each touch a touch angle indicative of orientation of the touch on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch; outputting for each frame frame data including the touch location and the touch angle; computing for each touch a touch ellipticity factor indicative of how elongate a shape is possessed by the touch by processing the touch signal values of the touch; outputting for each frame as part of the frame data the touch ellipticity factor; processing the frame data over time; identifying, using a gesture processing algorithm, gestures from the frame data, wherein the gesture processing algorithm includes recognition for at least one gesture which jointly processes the touch angle and touch ellipticity factor, using the magnitude of the touch ellipticity factor to determine angular precision of the touch angle; and outputting gesture data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A touch sensor, comprising:
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a two-dimensional array of sensing nodes distributed over a sensing area; a measurement circuit operable to acquire frames of touch signal values from the sensing nodes; and a processing unit operable to; process the touch signal values to detect at least one touch in the frame, each touch being formed of a contiguous group of one or more sensing nodes; compute for each touch its touch location on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch; compute for each touch a touch angle indicative of orientation of the touch on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch; and output for each frame frame data including the touch location and the touch angle; compute for each touch a touch ellipticity factor indicative of how elongate a shape is possessed by the touch by processing the touch signal values of the touch; output for each frame as part of the frame data the touch ellipticity factor; identify, using a gesture processing algorithm, gestures from the frame data, wherein the gesture processing algorithm includes recognition for at least one gesture which jointly processes the touch angle and touch ellipticity factor, using the magnitude of the touch ellipticity factor to determine angular precision of the touch angle; and output gesture data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A device comprising:
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a touch sensor, comprising; a two-dimensional array of sensing nodes distributed over a sensing area; a measurement circuit operable to acquire frames of touch signal values from the sensing nodes; and a processing unit operable to; process the touch signal values to detect at least one touch in the frame, each touch being formed of a contiguous group of one or more sensing nodes; compute for each touch its touch location on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch; compute for each touch a touch angle indicative of orientation of the touch on the sensing area by processing the touch signal values of the touch; output for each frame frame data including the touch location and the touch angle; compute for each touch a touch ellipticity factor indicative of how elongate a shape is possessed by the touch by processing the touch signal values of the touch; and output for each frame as part of the frame data the touch ellipticity factor; and a gesture processor operable to; identify, using a gesture processing algorithm, gestures from the frame data, wherein the gesture processing algorithm includes recognition for at least one gesture which jointly processes the touch angle and touch ellipticity factor, using the magnitude of the touch ellipticity factor to determine angular precision of the touch angle; and output gesture data. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification