Touch alphabet and communication system

• US 8,896,555 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2012
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Robert H. Duffield
• Original Assignee: Robert H. Duffield
• Inventors: Duffield, Robert H
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERMAN, STEPHEN G
• Application Number:
  US13/475,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20120293434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345168-178, 178 1801- 1809, 178/18.11
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A touch alphabet and communication system is provided. The communication system uses a predetermined set of touch gestures, such as fingertip touch patterns performable on keyless touch-sensitive surfaces, to express the user'"'"'s desired communication. The touch-sensitive surface may be the touch screen display of a computer, tablet device, cell phone, or a touch-sensitive pad, for example. The finger touch patterns are based on a limited set of unique and ergonomically pleasing finger positions that may be performed in a limited area. The touch alphabet allows the user to comprehensively communicate without looking at the communication device, and with just one hand, or in another implementation, with two hands. Thus, a user can comfortably tap an entire alphabet and related functions, with one hand, without having to visualize the user interface surface or hunt for individual keys.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory in communication with the processor;

a flat sensor surface in communication with the processor;

communication logic executable by the processor to implement touch communication, including;

dynamically generating an alphabet keying region anywhere on the flat sensor surface where three or four simultaneous finger touches are sensed, the alphabet keying region displaying no visible keys;

dynamically sizing and moving the alphabet keying region on the flat sensor surface in relation to an area on the flat sensor surface occupied by the three or four simultaneous finger touches;

sensing single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns resulting from ergonomic finger gestures in sensing areas of the alphabet keying region, the alphabet keying region arranged into a grid of areas consisting of four columns designated as first, second, third, and fourth columns, and three rows designated as a top row, a middle row, and a bottom row, the three rows separated from each other along arcuate dividing lines;

designating ten sensing areas in the alphabet keying region as follows;

a first column bottom row area combined with a first column middle row area designated as sensing area 1, a second column bottom row area designated as sensing area 2, a third column bottom row area designated as sensing area 3, a second column middle row area designated as sensing area 4, a third column middle row area designated as sensing area 5, a first column top row area designated as sensing area 6, a second column top row area designated as sensing area 7, a third column top row area designated as sensing area 8, a fourth column top row area designated as sensing area 9, and a fourth column bottom row area combined with a fourth column middle row area designated as sensing area 10;

designating the single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns as characters of an alphabet as follows;

an activation of only the sensing area 1 designating the letter A or a;

an activation of only the sensing area 4 designating the letter B or b;

an activation of only the sensing area 5 designating the letter C or c;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 2 and 4 designating the letter D or d;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 3 and 5 designating the letter E or e;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 2, and 4 designating the letter F or f;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 3, and 5 designating the letter G or g;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 4 designating the letter H or h;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 5 designating the letter I or i;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 3, 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter J or j;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 2, 3, and 4 designating the letter K or k;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, and 7 designating the letter L or l;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 5 and 8 designating the letter M or m;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter N or n;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8 designating the letter O or o;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter P or p;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 6 designating the letter Q or q;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 5 and 8 designating the letter R or r;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4 and 7 designating the letter S or s;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, 7 and 8 designating the letter T or t;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 5, 8, and 9 designating the letter U or u;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 6, and 7 designating the letter V or v;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 5, 6 and 8 designating the letter W or w;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 9, and 10 designating the letter X or x;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 7, 9, and 10 designating the letter Y or y; and

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10 designating the letter Z or z;

a database of the single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns;

a differentiator for comparing each sensed tap pattern with the single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns stored in the database; and

an interpreter for assigning a digital signal representing one of the characters of the alphabet to a matching tap pattern in the database.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the database of stored tap patterns for communicating characters of the alphabet includes a mix of single finger taps and multiple finger tap patterns, each multiple finger tap pattern consisting of a configuration of multiple simultaneous finger taps on the alphabet keying region;

and

wherein the mix comprises one of a set of tap patterns for communicating with only one hand or a set of tap patterns for communicating with right and left hands.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the set of tap patterns for communicating with only one hand comprises independent right-handed and left-handed versions that may be used independently or with each other.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the rows of the sensing areas separated from each other along arcuate dividing lines enable a limited set of ergonomic and natural finger positions and accommodate users with long fingernails.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the alphabet keying region is dynamically sized to a width dimension that dynamically approximates four finger widths of the user and a height dimension that dynamically approximates three finger thicknesses of an individual user.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a region scaler, to sense a size of at least a finger touch dimension or a finger dimension of a user and to scale the size of the alphabet keying region and a size of the sensing areas to a subsequent size that is based on the finger touch dimension or the finger dimension.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the alphabet keying region comprises one of at least part of a touch screen display of a cell phone, at least part of a touch screen display of a computing device, or at least part of a touch pad.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the database comprises at least enough tap patterns and associated communication objects to compose an alphabet and punctuation of a known language.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a touch pattern representing a number, a symbol, a word, a phrase, an image, a file operation, or a device navigation function.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the flat sensor surface comprises a touch interface of a touch screen display.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a digitizer to generate the digital signal for transmission or input into a device.

12. A method, comprising:

detecting individual finger taps and simultaneous finger taps resulting from ergonomic finger gestures on a sensor surface of an electronic input device;

dynamically generating an alphabet keying region anywhere on the sensor surface where three or four simultaneous finger touches are sensed, the alphabet keying region displaying no visible keys;

dynamically sizing and moving the alphabet keying region on the sensor surface in relation to an area on the sensor surface occupied by the three or four simultaneous finger touches;

sensing the individual finger taps and the simultaneous finger taps in ten sensing areas of the alphabet keying region;

matching configurations of the individual finger taps and the simultaneous finger taps with corresponding tap patterns in a database of finger tap patterns for communicating an alphabet on the alphabet keying region, each finger tap pattern assigned an associated communication object representing a character of the alphabet in the database;

retrieving each communication object associated with each detected finger tap pattern from the database; and

transmitting each communication object to a device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the database of finger tap patterns includes a mix of single finger tap patterns and multiple finger tap patterns, each multiple finger tap pattern consisting of a configuration of multiple simultaneous finger taps on the alphabet keying region;

and

wherein the mix comprises one of a set of tap patterns for communicating with one hand or a set of tap patterns for communicating with right and left hands.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the alphabet keying region is dynamically sized to a width dimension that approximates four finger widths of the user and a height dimension that approximates three finger thicknesses of a given user.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising sensing a size of at least a finger touch dimension associated with a user and dynamically scaling the size of the keyless region to a subsequent size based on the sensed finger touch dimension.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising a tap pattern representing one of a number, a symbol, a word, a phrase, an image, a file operation, or a device navigation function.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

sensing single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns in sensing areas of the alphabet keying region, the alphabet keying region arranged into a grid of areas consisting of four columns designated as first, second, third, and fourth columns, and three rows designated as a top row, a middle row, and a bottom row, the three rows separated from each other along arcuate dividing lines;

designating ten sensing areas in the alphabet keying region as follows;

a first column bottom row area combined with a first column middle row area designated as sensing area 1, a second column bottom row area designated as sensing area 2, a third column bottom row area designated as sensing area 3, a second column middle row area designated as sensing area 4, a third column middle row area designated as sensing area 5, a first column top row area designated as sensing area 6, a second column top row area designated as sensing area 7, a third column top row area designated as sensing area 8, a fourth column top row area designated as sensing area 9, and a fourth column bottom row area combined with a fourth column middle row area designated as sensing area 10;

designating the single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns as characters of an alphabet as follows;

an activation of only the sensing area 1 designating the letter A or a;

an activation of only the sensing area 4 designating the letter B or b;

an activation of only the sensing area 5 designating the letter C or c;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 2 and 4 designating the letter D or d;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 3 and 5 designating the letter E or e;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 2, and 4 designating the letter F or f;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 3, and 5 designating the letter G or g;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 4 designating the letter H or h;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 5 designating the letter I or i;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 3, 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter J or j;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 2, 3, and 4 designating the letter K or k;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, and 7 designating the letter L or l;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 5 and 8 designating the letter M or m;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter N or n;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8 designating the letter O or o;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter P or p;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 6 designating the letter Q or q;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 5 and 8 designating the letter R or r;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4 and 7 designating the letter S or s;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, 7 and 8 designating the letter T or t;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 5, 8, and 9 designating the letter U or u;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 6, and 7 designating the letter V or v;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 5, 6 and 8 designating the letter W or w;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 9, and 10 designating the letter X or x;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 7, 9, and 10 designating the letter Y or y; and

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10 designating the letter Z or z.

18. A machine-readable data storage medium tangibly containing stored instructions, which when executed by a processor, perform a method, including:

detecting individual finger taps and simultaneous finger taps resulting from a set of ergonomic finger gestures on a sensor surface of an electronic input device;

dynamically generating an alphabet keying region anywhere on the sensor surface where three or four simultaneous finger touches are sensed;

dynamically sizing and moving the alphabet keying region on the sensor surface in relation to an area on the sensor surface occupied by the three or four simultaneous finger touches;

sensing the individual finger taps and the simultaneous finger taps in ten sensing areas of the alphabet keying region;

matching the detected individual finger taps and the simultaneous finger taps with corresponding finger tap patterns in a database of finger tap patterns for communicating an alphabet on the keyless region, each finger tap pattern assigned an associated communication object representing a character of the alphabet in the database;

retrieving each communication object associated with each detected finger tap pattern from the database; and

transmitting each communication object to a device.

19. The machine-readable data storage medium of claim 18, wherein the stored tap patterns include a mix of single finger taps and multiple finger tap patterns, each multiple finger tap pattern consisting of a configuration of multiple simultaneous finger taps on the alphabet keying region.

20. The machine-readable data storage medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for sensing a size of at least a finger touch dimension associated with a user and scaling a size of the keyless region to a subsequent size based on the sensed finger touch dimension.

21. The machine-readable data storage medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for:

sensing single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns in sensing areas of the alphabet keying region, the alphabet keying region arranged into a grid of areas consisting of four columns designated as first, second, third, and fourth columns, and three rows designated as a top row, a middle row, and a bottom row, the three rows separated from each other along arcuate dividing lines;

designating ten sensing areas in the alphabet keying region as follows;

a first column bottom row area combined with a first column middle row area designated as sensing area 1, a second column bottom row area designated as sensing area 2, a third column bottom row area designated as sensing area 3, a second column middle row area designated as sensing area 4, a third column middle row area designated as sensing area 5, a first column top row area designated as sensing area 6, a second column top row area designated as sensing area 7, a third column top row area designated as sensing area 8, a fourth column top row area designated as sensing area 9, and a fourth column bottom row area combined with a fourth column middle row area designated as sensing area 10;

designating the single finger taps and multitouch finger tap patterns as characters of an alphabet as follows;

an activation of only the sensing area 1 designating the letter A or a;

an activation of only the sensing area 4 designating the letter B or b;

an activation of only the sensing area 5 designating the letter C or c;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 2 and 4 designating the letter D or d;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 3 and 5 designating the letter E or e;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 2, and 4 designating the letter F or f;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 3, and 5 designating the letter G or g;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 4 designating the letter H or h;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 5 designating the letter I or i;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 3, 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter J or j;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 2, 3, and 4 designating the letter K or k;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, and 7 designating the letter L or l;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 5 and 8 designating the letter M or m;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter N or n;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8 designating the letter O or o;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 5, and 7 designating the letter P or p;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1 and 6 designating the letter Q or q;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 5 and 8 designating the letter R or r;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4 and 7 designating the letter S or s;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, 7 and 8 designating the letter T or t;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 5, 8, and 9 designating the letter U or u;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 6, and 7 designating the letter V or v;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 5, 6 and 8 designating the letter W or w;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 9, and 10 designating the letter X or x;

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 1, 4, 7, 9, and 10 designating the letter Y or y; and

a simultaneous activation of the sensing areas 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10 designating the letter Z or z.