Touch sensor contact information

• US 8,698,755 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2007
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Westerman, Wayne, Elias, John G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Srilakshmi K
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abebe, Sosina
• Application Number:
  US11/830,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20080042988A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,451 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24137 Distances to cluster centroïds
• 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 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 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0235 using chord techniques G06F3/0234 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• 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 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0447 Position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/19173 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1983 Syntactic or structural pattern recognition, e.g. symbolic string recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/107 : Static hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/9622 : using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960725 : Charge-transfer

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface. Identification and classification of intuitive hand configurations and motions enables unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.

Claims

1. A method for processing information in a computing system including a capacitive touch sensing input surface, the method comprising:

obtaining information of each contact of a plurality of contacts, wherein the contacts correspond to touch objects on or near the surface;

associating each contact with a different bit positions in a bitfield, wherein the associating includes encoding the information of each contact in the bit position associated with the contact;

determining a motion of a first contact of the plurality of contacts from a first position on the surface to a second position on the surface;

maintaining the association of each contact with the same bit position previously associated with the contact during the motion of the first contact from the first position on the surface to the second position on the surface, in maintaining the association each contact is associated with only a single bit position in the bitfield; and

applying a bitmask to the bitfield to determine the information of a set of one or more contacts of the plurality of contacts.

2. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising tracking the plurality of contacts by successively scanning a plurality of capacitive sensors associated with the touch sensing surface.

3. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the positions in the bitfield correspond to identified paths of the contacts being tracked.

4. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the information includes one of touchdown information, continued contact information, and liftoff information.

5. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising assigning an input event based on the information of the set of one or more contacts determined by applying the bitmask.

6. An apparatus having a capacitive touch sensing input surface for processing information in a computing system, comprising:

a tracking module that obtains information of each contact of a plurality of contacts, wherein the contacts correspond to touch objects on or near the surface, and determines a motion of a first contact of the plurality of contacts from a first position on the surface to a second position on the surface; and

a processing module that associates each contact with a different bit position in a bitfield, wherein the associating includes encoding the information of each contact in the bit position associated with the contact, that maintains the association of each contact with the same bit position previously associated with the contact during the motion of the first contact from the first position on the surfaces to the second position on the surface, in maintaining the association each contact is only associated with only a single bit position in the bitfield, and that applies a bitmask to the bitfield to determine the information of a set of one or more contacts of the plurality of contacts.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, further comprising a plurality of capacitive sensors associated with the touch sensing surface, wherein the tracking module further performs tracking of the contacts on the touch sensing surface by successively scanning the capacitive sensors.

8. The apparatus as described in claim 6, wherein the positions in the bitfield correspond to identified paths of the contacts being tracked.

9. The apparatus as described in claim 6, wherein the information includes one of touchdown information, continued contact information, and liftoff information.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 6, wherein the processing module further assigns an input event based on the information of the set of one or more contacts determined by applying the bitmask.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions stored therein, which when executed by an apparatus including a capacitive touch sensing surface processes information in a computing system by causing the apparatus to perform a method comprising:

obtaining information of each contact of a plurality of contacts, wherein the contacts correspond to touch objects on or near the touch sensing surface;

associating each contact with a different bit positions in a bitfield, wherein the associating includes encoding the information of each contact in the bit position associated with the contact;

determining a motion of a first contact of the plurality of contacts from a first position on the surface to a second position on the surface;

maintaining the association of each contact with the same bit position previously associated with the contact during the motion of the first contact from the first position on the surface to the second position on the surface, in maintaining the association each contact is only associated with only a single bit position in the bitfield; and

applying a bitmask to the bitfield to determine the information of a set of one or more contacts of the plurality of contacts.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein the bit positions in the bitfield correspond to identified paths of the contacts.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 12, wherein obtaining the information includes obtaining one or more contact identities of the identified paths, such that one or more of the bit positions in the bitfield correspond to the one or more contact identities.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 13, wherein the one or more contact identities includes one of a finger identity, a thumb identity, and a palm heel identity.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein associating the contacts with different bit positions in the bitfield includes encoding, in a first bit position in the bitfield, the information of the first contact that touches down at a first time, and encoding, in a second bit position in the bitfield, the information of a second contact that touches down at a second time after the first time, and wherein encoding the information of the first and second contacts is based on a relative timing of the first and second times.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 15, wherein encoding the information of the first and second contacts includes determining whether a difference between the first and second times is less than a predetermined temporal threshold and encoding the information of the first and second contacts if the difference is less than the temporal threshold.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein the method further comprises determining whether a subset of contacts of the plurality of contacts satisfy a first predetermined criteria, and associating, based on a resulting determination that the subset satisfies the first predetermined criteria, the contacts in the subset with different bit positions in an additional bitfield, wherein the association includes encoding information of each contact in the subset in the bit position associated with the contact.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 17, wherein the touch objects include hand parts, and determining that the contacts in the subset satisfy the first predetermined criteria includes determining that the contacts in the subset correspond to touch objects of a different hand than the touch objects corresponding to the remaining contacts of the plurality of contacts, wherein the bitfield corresponds to one of a right hand and a left hand, and the additional bitfield corresponds to the other of the right hand and the left hand.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein the information includes one of touchdown information, continued contact information, and liftoff information.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 19, wherein encoding the information of each contact includes one of changing the state of the bit in the bit position in the bitfield associated with a contact with information indicating touchdown of the contact, changing the state of the bit in the bit position in the bitfield associated with a contact with information indicating liftoff of the contact, and maintaining the state of the bit in the bit position in the bitfield associated with a contact with information indicating continued contact of the contact.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein applying the bitmask to the bitfield determines one of touchdown of the set of one or more contacts on the surface, continued contact of the set of one or more contacts with the surface, and liftoff of the set of one or more contacts from the surface.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein the method further comprises appending the information of the set of one or more contacts to an input queue.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 22, wherein the input queue includes a keypress queue.

24. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein the method further comprises assigning an input event based on the information of the set of one or more contacts determined by applying the bitmask.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 24, wherein one of a plurality of input events is assigned based on the information determined by applying the bitmask indicating one of touchdown of the set and liftoff of the set.

26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 24, wherein the input event includes one of a scroll input, a cursor motion input, a keypress input, a translation input, a scaling input, and a rotation input.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 24, wherein the method further comprises displaying a graphical object on a display of the computing system in response to the assignment of the input event.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 27, wherein the method further comprises adjusting the displayed graphical object based on one of a current position of the plurality of contacts on the surface, a translation motion of the plurality of contacts, a rotation motion of the plurality of contacts, and a scaling motion of the plurality of contacts.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 11, wherein the method further comprises compiling statistics about contacts on or near the surface over a period of time, wherein compiling the statistics includes obtaining, at a plurality of different times during the period of time, updated information of contacts on or near the surface.

30. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as described in claim 29, wherein compiling the statistics includes compiling statistics of a number of contacts on or near the surface over the period of time.