Hover and touch detection for digitizer

• US 9,069,417 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2007
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: N-Trig Ltd (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Rimon, Ori, Kerner, Ariel
• Primary Examiner(s): HERNANDEZ, JESUS J
• Application Number:
  US11/822,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20080012835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,911 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- 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 without distance measurement in the Z direction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04111 Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 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 3/046 by electromagnetic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A method and system for tracking a hover event on a digitizer sensor that treats hover and touch events differently comprises configuring at least one parameter of the digitizer sensor for hover tracking; wherein the at least one parameter is configured differently than for touch tracking, and detecting a pattern of input signals from a plurality of conductive lines on the digitizer sensor defining a tracking point responsive to the pattern of hover input signals detected.

Claims

1. A method for tracking a hover event on a digitizer sensor of a digitizer system that treats hover and touch events differently, the digitizer sensor formed from a plurality of conductive lines spread over a sensing surface, the method comprising:

defining an amplification factor for hover tracking;

setting an amplification factor of amplifiers connected to the plurality of conductive lines to the amplification factor defined for hover tracking, wherein the amplification factor defined for hover tracking is different from an amplification factor defined for touch tracking;

sampling outputs that are amplified with the amplification factor defined for hover tracking;

detecting an input signal to the digitizer sensor based on the outputs sampled;

verifying that the input signal is associated with a hover event as opposed to a touch event, responsive to amplitude and a gradient pattern of the outputs across at least part of the sensing surface corresponding to a first pre-defined amplitude and gradient pattern for hover that is other than a second pre-defined amplitude and gradient pattern for touch, wherein gradients forming the gradient pattern are absolute values of the differences of amplitudes of output on pairs of neighboring conductive lines; and

defining a hover tracking point for the input signal responsive to verifying that the input signal is associated with a hover event.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

interrogating the digitizer sensor by transmitting a signal over at least one of the plurality of the conductive lines; and

setting an amplitude of the signal implemented to interrogate the digitizer sensor to a level defined for hover tracking, wherein the level defined for hover tracking is different than for touch tracking.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising configuring the digitizer sensor to interrogate pairs of conducting lines coupled to a differential amplifier with an AC signal defined for hover tracking to detect the input signal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the detecting is based on a capacitive touch method.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hover tracking point is a center of mass of the pattern of the amplitudes of the outputs sampled.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the center of mass is defined as a weighted average of the pattern of the amplitudes of the outputs sampled.

7. The method according to claim 1, comprising calculating a height of the hover event from an amplitude pattern of the outputs sampled.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising calculating a change in height of the hover event from an amplitude pattern of the outputs sampled.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the change in height is based on changes in the amplitude of the outputs sampled over time.

10. The method according to claim 1, comprising calculating a surface map of heights from an amplitude pattern of the outputs sampled.

11. The method according to claim 1, comprising controlling cursor position of a display associated with the digitizer sensor with the tracking point.

12. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

switching the setting of the amplification factor of the amplifiers from the amplification factor defined for the hover tracking to the amplification factor defined for the touch tracking responsive to a pre-defined number of the outputs sampled having amplitudes equal to or above a pre-defined amplitude threshold.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the switching from the amplification factor defined for the hover tracking to the amplification factor defined for the touch tracking is responsive to the pre-defined number of the outputs sampled having amplitudes reaching a level of saturation of the digitizer system.

14. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

configuring the digitizer system to amplify outputs from the plurality of conductive lines of the digitizer sensor with the amplification factor for the touch tracking responsive to the amplitude and gradient pattern of the outputs sampled across at least a part of the sensing surface corresponding to the second pre-defined amplitude and gradient pattern for touch;

detecting a low signal event while the digitizer system is configured for operating with the amplification factor for the touch tracking; and

switching configuration of the digitizer system from operating with the amplification factor for the touch tracking to operating with the amplification factor for hover tracking responsive to detection of the low signal event, wherein the low signal event is other than the hover event and the touch event and is defined between an upper and a lower threshold.

15. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

determining a contour of a region on the digitizer sensor from which the input signal is detected;

determining gradients of signal amplitudes of the outputs sampled in the vicinity of the contour; and

defining a gradient threshold above which the input signal is determined to be a touch input signal and below which the input signal is determined to be a hover input signal.

16. The method according to claim 15, comprising switching configuration of the digitizer system to amplify outputs from the plurality of conductive lines of the digitizer sensor with an amplification factor defined for touch tracking responsive to at least one of the gradients being above the gradient threshold.

17. The method according to claim 16, comprising switching back the configuration of the digitizer system to amplify outputs from the plurality of conductive lines of the digitizer sensor with an amplification factor defined for hover tracking responsive to at least one of the gradients being below the gradient threshold.

18. The method according to claim 1 wherein the digitizer system is configured for operation with the amplification factor defined for the hover tracking over a first part of the digitizer sensor and further comprising:

configuring the digitizer system to operate with the amplification factor defined for the touch tracking over a second part of the digitizer sensor that is other than the first part; and

tracking input signals to first and second portion of the digitizer sensor substantially simultaneously.

19. The method according to claim 18, comprising:

detecting a touch event on one or more of the plurality of the conductive lines of the digitizer sensor; and

configuring the outputs from the one or more of the plurality of the conductive lines for touch tracking.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein detecting the touch event comprises:

comparing amplitudes of the outputs sampled on the one or more of the plurality of the conductive lines to a pre-defined amplitude threshold; and

verifying the touch event responsive to a pre-defined number of the outputs sampled having amplitudes equal to or above the pre-defined amplitude threshold.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the amplitude threshold is a saturation level of the digitizer system in the configuration with the amplification factor defined for the hover tracking.

22. The method according to claim 18, comprising:

determining a pattern of amplitude gradients of the outputs sampled; and

determining either a touch or hover event in a region corresponding to the plurality of conductive lines responsive to the pattern of the amplitude gradients.

23. The method according to claim 18, comprising:

determining a contour of a region on the digitizer sensor from which input signals are detected;

determining amplitude gradients of the outputs sampled in the vicinity of the contour; and

defining a gradient threshold above which the input signal from the region is determined to be a touch input signal and below which the input signal from the region are determined to a hover input signal.

24. The method according to claim 18, comprising switching configuration of the digitizer system over the second part of the digitizer sensor from operating with the amplification factor defined for touch tracking to the amplification factor defined for hover tracking responsive to detection of a low signal event.

25. The method according to claim 18, comprising switching configuration of the digitizer system to operate with the amplification factor defined for the hover tracking responsive to a determination that a gradient of the outputs sampled from the second part of the digitizer sensor is below a pre-defined gradient threshold.

26. The method according to claim 15, wherein the outputs are detected from a plurality of vertical and horizontal conductive lines of the digitizer sensor arranged in a grid like fashion, and wherein the contour is a rectangular contour defined by the plurality vertical and horizontal conductive lines detecting the input signal.

27. The method according to claim 15, wherein the outputs are detected from a plurality of vertical and horizontal conductive lines of the digitizer sensor arranged in a grid like fashion, and wherein the contour is defined by junctions of cross conducting lines of the digitizer sensor from which the inputs signals are detected.

28. The method according to claim 1, comprising defining a gradient threshold for the gradients above which the outputs sampled are determined to be from touch input signals and below which the outputs sampled are determined to be from hover input signals.

29. The method according to claim 1, comprising controlling cursor position on a display associated with the digitizer based on the hover input signals.

30. The method according to claim 1, comprising performing a user action based on the touch input signals, wherein the user action is selected from a group consisting of selecting a feature, writing text, monitoring a cursor, and entering data with the touch input signal.

31. The method according to claim 1, wherein the digitizer is a transparent digitizer.

32. A digitizer system for tracking a hover event on a digitizer sensor that treats hover and touch events differently comprising:

a digitizer sensor including a plurality of conductive lines;

a memory operative to store an amplification factor of the digitizer sensor for hover tracking that is different than an amplification factor of the digitizer sensor for touch tracking; and

a controller operative to set an amplification factor of amplifiers connected to outputs from the plurality of conductive lines of the digitizer sensor to a dedicated pre-defined amplification factor defined for hover tracking that is other than a dedicated pre-defined amplification factor for touch tracking, to detect input signals based on the outputs sampled, to verify that the input signals are part of a hover event as opposed to a touch event responsive to an amplitude and gradient pattern of the outputs across at least part of the sensing surface corresponding to a first pre-defined amplitude and gradient pattern for hover that is other than a second pre-defined amplitude and gradient pattern for touch, and to define a hover tracking point for the input signals responsive to verifying that the input signals are part of a hover event, wherein gradients forming the gradient pattern are absolute values of the differences of amplitudes of output on pairs of neighboring conductive lines.

33. The system according to claim 32, wherein the controller is operative to configure the digitizer system to interrogate the plurality of conductive lines with a pre-defined power level defined for hover tracking.

34. The system according to claim 32, wherein the controller is operative set the amplification factor defined for touch tracking on conducting lines from which a touch input signal is detected and to set the amplification factor defined for hover tracking on conducting lines from which a hover input signal is detected.

35. The system according to claim 32, wherein the controller operative to switch from the amplification factor defined for the hover tracking to the amplification factor defined for the touch tracking when a touch input signal is detected.

36. The system according to claim 35, wherein the controller is operative to switch from the amplification factor defined for the touch tracking to the amplification factor defined for the hover tracking when a low amplitude signal is detected.

37. The system according to claim 32, wherein the controller is operative to recognize a gesture to switch between the amplification factors defined for hover tracking and touch tracking.

38. The system according to claim 32, wherein the controller is operative to apply the amplification factor defined for touch tracking in response to the amplitude and the gradient pattern corresponding to the second pre-defined amplitude and gradient pattern for touch.