Apparatus, method, and medium for sensing movement of fingers using multi-touch sensor array

• US 9,274,652 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2007
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Chang, Wook, Cho, Seong-il, Park, Joon-ah, Soh, Byung-seok
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Quan-Zhen
• Assistant Examiner(s): DAVIS, TONY O
• Application Number:
  US11/723,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20070268269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,267 Days
• Field of Search: 345170-176
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A sensing technique using a capacitance touch sensor as a user interface is provided. An apparatus for sensing the movement of fingers using a multi-touch sensor includes a touch determination module which determines whether a user has actually touched a touch sensor comprising one or more touch points with at least one of his/her fingers, a clustering module which groups a plurality of electrodes arrayed in the touch sensor into one or more clusters according to a set of standards if the touch determination module determines that the user has actually touched the touch sensor with at least one of his/her finger, a position value calculation module which calculates a finger position value indicating the location of the finger of the user that touches the touch sensor for each of the clusters, and a movement information detection module which detects movement information of the finger of the user that touches the touch sensor using information regarding variations over time in the finger position value.

Claims

1. An apparatus for sensing movements of a plurality of fingers, the apparatus comprising:

a touch sensor which is configured to receive a plurality of touch inputs; and

a controller which is configured to calculate finger position values indicating locations of the plurality of fingers that touches the touch sensor, and determine movement information of the plurality of fingers based on variations over time in the finger position values and if at least one touch input related to the movements is intentional, generate an input signal corresponding to the at least one touch input,

wherein the controller calculates distances between a current finger position and a plurality of previous finger positions, compares the distances, and determines, based on the compared distances, which one of the plurality of previous finger positions is intentionally touched, and

wherein the controller compares a j-th finger position value Pcj(t) of N finger position values detected at a current time t with the first through M-th finger position values Pc₁(t-1) through Pc_M(t-1) detected at a previous time (t-1), and determines whichever of the first through M-th finger position values Pc₁(t-1) through Pc_M(t-1) is least distant from the j-th finger position value Pcj(t) as displacement corresponding to movement of a j-th finger of a user.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a touch sensor integrated circuit (IC) which is configured to calculate capacitance generated when a user touches the touch sensor with the plurality of fingers, digitize the result of the calculation, output a signal obtained by the digitization, and measure the output signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the controller determines that the user has actually touched the touch sensor with the plurality of fingers if the standard deviation of the measured output signal is larger than a predefined threshold.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a plurality of electrodes arrayed in the touch sensor are grouped into one or more clusters based on the number of electrodes arrayed in the touch sensor, the sum of the intensities of digital signals respectively output by the electrodes of the touch sensor, or the combination thereof.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the controller calculates the finger position values by applying a weighted average to each of the clusters.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the displacement between the current finger position and the plurality of previous finger positions can be determined as indicated by the following equation:

D_ij=Pc_j(t-1)−

Pc_j(t) or D_ij=Pc_j(t)−

Pc_i(t-1) where Pc_j (t) indicates the j-th finger position value of N finger position values detected at the current time t, and Pc_i (t-1) indicates an i-th finger position value of M finer position values detected at the previous time (t-1),

wherein the displacement between the current finger position and the plurality of previous finger positions can be represented by an M*N matrix or an N*M matrix having D_ij or D_ji as an element.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller extracts information regarding intentional touches by the plurality of fingers using the determined displacement.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the information regarding intentional touches by the plurality of fingers comprises the number of at least one finger that intentionally touches the touch sensor and the number of the plurality of fingers that are moving on the touch sensor.

9. A method of sensing movements of a plurality of fingers, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a plurality of touch inputs on a touch sensor;

(b) calculating finger position values indicating locations of the plurality of fingers that touch the touch sensor; and

(c) determining movement information of the plurality of fingers based on variations over time in the finger position values and if at least one touch input related to the movements is intentional, generating an input signal corresponding to the at least one touch input,

wherein (c) further comprises calculating distance between a current finger position and plurality of a previous finger positions, comparing the distances, and determining, based on the compared distances, which one of the plurality of previous finger positions is intentionally touched position, and

wherein (c) comprises;

(d1) a j-th finger position value Pcj(t) of N finger position values detected at a current time t with the first through M-th finger position values Pc₁(t-1) through Pc_M(t-1) detected at a previous time (t-1), and determining whichever of the first through M-th finger position values Pc₁(t-1) through Pc_M(t-1) is least distant from the j-th finger position value Pcj(t) as displacement corresponding to movement of a j-th finger of a user; and

(d2) filtering out unintentional touches by the user'"'"'s fingers by extracting information regarding intentional touches by the plurality of fingers using the displacement determined in (d1).

10. The method of claim 9, wherein (a) comprises calculating capacitance generated when a user touches the touch sensor with the plurality of fingers, digitizing the result of the calculation, outputting a signal obtained by the digitization, and measuring the output signal.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein (a) further comprises determining that the user has actually touched the touch sensor with the plurality of fingers if the standard deviation of the measured output signal is larger than a predefined threshold.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein a plurality of electrodes arrayed in the touch sensor are grouped into one or more clusters based on the number of electrodes arrayed in the touch sensor, the sum of the intensities of digital signals respectively output by the electrodes of the touch sensor, or the combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein (b) comprises calculating the finger position values by applying a weighted average to each of the clusters.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the displacement between the current finger position and the plurality of previous finger positions can be determined as indicated by the following equation:

D_ij=Pcj(t-1)−

Pcj(t) or D_ji=Pcj(t)−

Pci(t-1) where Pcj(t) indicates the j-th finger position value of N finger position values detected at the current time t, and Pci(t-1) indicates an i-th finger position value of M finer position values detected at the previous time (t-1),

wherein the displacement between the current finger position and the plurality of previous finger positions can be represented by an M*N matrix or an N*M matrix having D_ij or D_ji as an element.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the information regarding intentional touches by the plurality of fingers comprises the number of at least one finger that intentionally touch the touch sensor and the number of the plurality of fingers that are moving on the touch sensor.

16. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that control at least one processor to implement the method of claim 9.