Smart touchscreen key activation detection

• US 8,659,572 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2013
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhai, Shumin
• Primary Examiner(s): Amadiz, Rodney
• Application Number:
  US13/857,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20130222315A1
• Time in Patent Office: 326 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-173, 340 58- 583, 382115-116, 382124-127, 434227-233, 713186-202, 178 1801- 1811
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems for, and methods of, detecting attempted space key activations on a touchscreen. Such systems and methods allow for error-tolerant data input on a touchscreen. The systems and methods may be adaptive and grow progressively more accurate as additional user data is received.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a computing device, a location of a thumb contact detected at a touchscreen, wherein the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen is not detected at a region of the touchscreen associated with a virtual space key;

determining, by the computing device, based at least in part on the location of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen and one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact, that the thumb contact constitutes an intended activation of the virtual space key; and

in response to determining that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key, outputting, by the computing device and for display, an electronic representation of a space character.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise one or more of a size of an area of the thumb contact, an orientation of the thumb contact, and a texture of the thumb contact.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing, by the computing device, the location of the thumb contact and the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact to data associated with at least one previous contact detected at the touchscreen,

wherein determining that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key further comprises determining, based at least in part on the comparing, that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning, by the computing device, a likelihood score to the location of the thumb contact and each of the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact,

wherein determining that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key further comprises determining, based at least in part on each of the assigned likelihood scores, that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise a size of an area of the thumb contact, the method further comprising determining the area of the thumb contact using a centroid of the thumb contact and a radius of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise an orientation of the thumb contact, the method further comprising determining the orientation of the thumb contact using an orientation of a line segment comprising a maximal diameter of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise a texture of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen, the method further comprising determining the texture of the thumb contact using thumbprint ridges of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.

8. A system comprising:

a touchscreen configured to display a representation of a keyboard; and

at least one processor configured to;

determine a location of a thumb contact detected at the touchscreen, wherein the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen is not detected at a region of the touchscreen associated with a virtual space key;

determine, based at least in part on the location of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen and one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact, that the thumb contact constitutes an intended activation of the virtual space key; and

in response to determining that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key, output, for display at the touchscreen, an electronic representation of a space character.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise one or more of a size of an area of the thumb contact, an orientation of the thumb contact, and a texture of the thumb contact.

10. The system of claim 8,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to compare the location of the thumb contact and the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact to data associated with at least one previous contact detected at the touchscreen, and

wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key by at least being configured to determine, based at least in part on the comparing, that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key.

11. The system of claim 8,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to assign a likelihood score to the location of the thumb contact and each of the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact, and

wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key by at least being configured to determine, based at least in part on each of the assigned likelihood scores, that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key.

12. The system of claim 8,

wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise a size of an area of the thumb contact, and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the area of the thumb contact by at least being configured to determine the area of the thumb contact using a centroid of the thumb contact and a radius of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.

13. The system of claim 8,

wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise an orientation of the thumb contact, and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the orientation of the thumb contact by at least being configured to determine the orientation of the thumb contact using an orientation of a line segment comprising a maximal diameter of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.

14. The system of claim 8,

wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise a texture of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen, and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the texture of the thumb contact by at least being configured to determine the texture of the thumb contact using thumbprint ridges of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.

15. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine a location of a thumb contact detected at a touchscreen, wherein the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen is not detected at a region of the touchscreen associated with a virtual space key;

determine, based at least in part on the location of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen and one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact, that the thumb contact constitutes an intended activation of the virtual space key; and

in response to determining that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key, output, for display, an electronic representation of a space character.

16. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise one or more of a size of an area of the thumb contact, an orientation of the thumb contact, and a texture of the thumb contact.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

compare the location of the thumb contact and the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact to data associated with at least one previous contact detected at the touchscreen,

wherein the instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key further comprise instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine, based at least in part on the comparing, that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

assign a likelihood score to the location of the thumb contact and each of the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact,

wherein the instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key further comprise instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine, based at least in part on each of the assigned likelihood scores, that the thumb contact constitutes the intended activation of the virtual space key.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise a size of an area of the thumb contact, the processor-readable storage medium further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine the area of the thumb contact using a centroid of the thumb contact and a radius of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.

20. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters associated with the thumb contact comprise an orientation of the thumb contact, the processor-readable storage medium further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine the orientation of the thumb contact using an orientation of a line segment comprising a maximal diameter of the thumb contact detected at the touchscreen.