Touch sensing apparatus and method

• US 9,363,571 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Ferren, Bran, Negroponte, Dimitri, Booth, Cory J., Bell, Genevieve
• Primary Examiner(s): HALEY, JOSEPH R
• Application Number:
  US13/819,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20130335349A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,748 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/20 Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0383 Signal control means within the pointing device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/635 Overlay text, e.g. embedded captions in a TV program
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/00 Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/00 Electric signal transmission systems G08C17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/32 Remote control based on movements, attitude of remote control device
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/40 Remote control systems using repeaters, converters, gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 : Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 : PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 : User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 : Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 : involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 : Processing operations in response to a pause request
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 : Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/437 : Interfacing the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. for transmitting client requests to a VOD server flow control in data networks H04L47/10; streaming protocols, e.g. RTP or RTCP, H04L65/65; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests in data packet switching networks H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4432 : Powering on the client, e.g. bootstrap loading using setup parameters being stored locally or received from the server resetting in general G06F1/14; program loading or initiating in general G06F9/445; bootstrapping in general G06F9/4401; secure boots of computer platforms G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4436 : Power management, e.g. shutting down unused components of the receiver power management in computer systems G06F1/3203; hibernate or awake process in computer systems G06F9/4418
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4508 : Management of client data or end-user data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 : involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 : involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 : for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 : End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 : for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/63 : Control signaling related to video distribution between client, server and network components; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients or between remote clients, e.g. transmitting basic layer and enhancement layers over different transmission paths, setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet between remote STB's; Communication protocols; Addressing real-time session protocols H04L65/1101; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 : using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/654 : Transmission by server directed to the client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 : specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44504 : Circuit details of the additional information generator, e.g. details of the character or graphics signal generator, overlay mixing circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 : Television signal processing therefor

Abstract

An apparatus may include a processor and a touch sensing device coupled to the processor. The apparatus may further include a force determining module operative on the processor to receive a detection signal from a first portion of the touch sensing device, determine a contact area at the first portion based upon the detection signal, map the first portion to a target operation, and send control instructions to perform the target operation based on the contact area.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a touch sensing device coupled to the processor;

a force determining module operative on the processor to;

receive a detection signal from a first portion of the touch sensing device;

determine a first contact area of the first portion at a first instance based upon the detection signal;

map the first portion to a target operation;

determine a second contact area at a second instance;

determine a difference in the first and second contact areas; and

send control instructions to perform the target operation based on the determined first contact area and at an operation rate proportional to a difference in the first and second contact areas.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the control instructions to set the operation rate for performing the target operation in inverse proportion to the first and second determined contact areas.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the second contact area being larger than the first contact area, the force determining module arranged to:

send control instructions to perform the target operation at the operation rate proportional to a ratio of the second contact area to the first contact area.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, the force determining module arranged to:

determine that a contact event has occurred at the first instance when the detection signal exceeds a threshold;

determine a baseline contact area at a first interval after the first instance; and

send control instructions to perform the target operation at the operation rate based on comparing the second contact area to the baseline contact area.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the touch sensing device comprising a two dimensional array of sensors, the force determining module arranged to determine the first contact area from a multiplicity of signals received from the two dimensional array of sensors.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus comprising a digital display that includes the touch sensing device, the control instructions to control a zoom rate in the digital display in proportion to the first or second contact areas.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus comprising a digital display that includes the touch sensing device, the control instructions to control a scrolling rate in the digital display in proportion to the first or second contact areas.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus comprising a transmitter to send the control instructions to a media device, the control instructions to control a rate of change of audio volume in the media device in proportion to the first or second contact areas.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus comprising a transmitter to send the control instructions to a media device, the control instructions to control a channel change rate in the media device in proportion to the first or second contact areas.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, the touch sensing device comprising a capacitive touch device, a surface acoustic wave device, or an optically measured touch device.

11. An article comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to:

receive a signal indicating a contact event in a first portion of a touch sensing device;

map the first portion to a target operation;

determine a first contact area of the contact event at a first instance;

determine a second contact area at a second instance;

determine a difference in the first and second contact areas; and

send control instructions to perform the target operation at an operation rate based upon the determined first contact area and at an operation rate proportional to a difference in the first and second contact areas.

12. The article of claim 11, containing instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to send control instructions setting the operation rate in inverse proportion to the determined first and second contact areas.

13. The article of claim 11, the second contact area being larger than the first contact area, the non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to:

send control instructions to perform the target operation at the operation rate proportional to a ratio of the second contact area to the first contact area.

14. The article of claim 11, containing instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to:

determine that a contact event has occurred at the first instance when the detection signal exceeds a threshold;

determine the first contact area at a first interval after the first instance;

assign the first contact area as a baseline contact area; and

send control instructions to perform the target operation at an operation rate based on comparing the second contact area to the baseline contact area.

15. The article of claim 11, containing instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to:

assign an x and a y value of the first contact area that specify a position of the first portion in a two dimensional coordinate system;

assign a z value to the second contact area; and

provide the x, y, and z values as control instructions that define the target operation and the operation rate.

16. The article of claim 11, containing instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to send control instructions to control a channel change rate or a rate of change of audio volume in proportion to the determined first and second contact areas.

17. The article of claim 11, containing instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to send control instructions to control a scrolling rate or a zoom rate in proportion to the determined first and second contact areas.

18. The article of claim 11 comprising instructions that when executed by a processor enable a system to set the operation rate to be inversely proportional to one of:

a difference between the first and the second contact areas; and

a ratio of the second to the first contact areas.

19. A method, comprising:

detecting a signal at a first instance that exceeds a threshold in a first portion of a touch sensing device;

determining a first contact area associated with the signal at a first interval after the first instance;

determining a second contact area at a second instance, the second contact area being greater than the first contact area;

comparing the first and second contact areas;

mapping the first portion to a target operation;

determining a first operation rate based on a difference between the first and the second contact areas or based on a proportional ratio of the first and second contact area; and

sending control instructions to perform the target operation at the first operation rate in accordance with the comparison.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising:

assigning an x and a y value of the first contact area that specify a position of the first portion in a two dimensional coordinate system;

assigning a z value to the second contact area; and

providing the x, y, and z values as control instructions that define the target operation and the operation rate.

21. The method of claim 19, comprising sending control instructions to set a zoom rate or a scrolling rate in a display portion of the touch sensing device, the respective zoom rate or scrolling rate set in proportion to a difference in the first and second contact area.

22. The method of claim 19, comprising sending control instructions to set a channel change rate or a rate of change of audio volume, the respective channel change rate or the rate of change of audio volume set in proportion to a difference in the first and second contact area.

23. The method of claim 19, comprising setting the operation rate to be inversely proportional to a difference between the first and second contact areas or a ratio of the second contact area to the first contact area.

24. The method of claim 19, comprising:

determining a third contact area at a third instance, the third contact area being smaller than the first second contact area;

comparing the third contact area and the first contact area; and

sending control instructions to perform the target operation at a second operation rate that is lower than the first operation rate in accordance with the comparison.