Emulating pressure sensitivity on multi-touch devices

• US 9,423,953 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2014
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Delattre, Jerome, Hillion, Stephane, Van Keisbelck, Remi, Kormann, Thierry
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Tony N
• Application Number:
  US14/158,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20140210742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 2203/04808 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 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A method, device, and/or computer program product operates a touch-screen device. A first touch at a location on a touch-screen is detected. A second touch on the touch-screen, which occurs simultaneously with the first touch on the touch-screen, is detected. A pressure of the detected second touch is calculated and assigned to the detected first touch. A specific touch-screen output is generated according to the location and assigned calculated pressure of the detected first touch.

Claims

1. A method of operating a touch-screen device, the method comprising:

detecting, by one or more processors, a first touch at a location on a touch-screen, wherein the touch-screen is able to detect a presence of the first touch but is not able to detect an amount of pressure being applied by the first touch;

detecting, by one or more processors, a second touch on the touch-screen, the detected second touch occurring simultaneously with the first touch on the touch-screen, wherein the first touch is performed by a first hand of a user touching the touch-screen, wherein the second touch is performed by a second hand of the user touching the touch-screen, wherein the first hand of the user draws a line on the touch-screen, wherein the second hand of the user controls a thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen by the first hand;

calculating, by one or more processors, a calculated pressure for the first touch based, at least in part, on a value corresponding to a feature of the detected second touch;

adjusting, by one or more processors, the thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen according to the pressure level determined by;

Pressure level=(A*(C−

1))+B

where A is a chosen maximum number of fingers involved on either the first hand or the second hand in drawing a line on the touch-screen, B is a quantity of fingers from the second hand used to adjust a thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen, and C is a quantity of fingers from the first hand used to draw a line on the touch-screen; and

generating, by one or more processors, a touch-screen output according to the location of and calculated pressure for the detected first touch.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the feature of the detected second touch is an area of the touch-screen that is touched by the detected second touch, and wherein said calculating the pressure from the detected second touch comprises generating the calculated pressure from the area of the touch-screen that is touched by the detected second touch.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the feature of the detected second touch is a distance between the detected second touch and the first touch, and wherein said calculating the pressure from the detected second touch comprises generating the calculated pressure from the distance between the detected second touch and the first touch.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said calculating the pressure from the detected second touch comprises selecting a pressure level from a set of predefined pressure levels that is associated with the second touch, wherein the second touch is applied by multiple fingers of a user, and wherein each additional finger used to apply the second touch increases the calculated pressure by a discrete stepping level.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change in a nature of the detected second touch on the touch-screen, wherein the change in the nature of the detected second touch is identified by a change in an amount of area on the touch-screen being simultaneously touched; and

re-calculating the pressure from a changed second touch based on a detected change in the nature of the detected second touch.

6. A touch-screen device comprising a touch-screen and a processor connected to the touch-screen, the processor arranged to:

detect a first touch at a location on the touch-screen;

detect a second touch on the touch-screen, the detected second touch occurring simultaneously with the first touch on the touch-screen, wherein the first touch is performed by a first hand of a user touching the touch-screen, wherein the second touch is performed by a second hand of the user touching the touch-screen, wherein the first hand of the user draws a line on the touch-screen, wherein the second hand of the user controls a thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen by the first hand;

calculate a pressure of the detected second touch to generate a calculated pressure of the detected second touch;

adjust the thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen according to the pressure level determined by;

Pressure level=(A*(C−

1))+B

where A is a chosen maximum allowable number of fingers involved on the first hand in drawing a line on the touch-screen, B is a quantity of fingers from the second hand used to adjust a thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen, and C is a quantity of fingers from the first hand used to draw a line on the touch-screen; and

generate a specific touch-screen output according to the location and assigned calculated pressure of the detected first touch.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further arranged, when calculating the pressure of the detected second touch, to generate the calculated pressure from a magnitude of the detected second touch.

8. The device according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further arranged, when calculating the pressure of the detected second touch, to generate the calculated pressure from a distance from the detected second touch to the first touch.

9. The device according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further arranged, when calculating the pressure of the detected second touch, to select a pressure level from a set of predefined pressure levels.

10. The device according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further arranged to detect a change in a nature of the detected second touch on the touch-screen and re-calculate the pressure of a changed second touch.

11. A computer program product for operating a touch-screen device, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:

detecting a first touch on a touch-screen;

detecting a second touch on the touch-screen, the detected second touch occurring simultaneously with the first touch on the touch-screen, wherein the first touch is performed by a first hand of a user touching the touch-screen, wherein the second touch is performed by a second hand of the user touching the touch-screen, wherein the first hand of the user draws a line on the touch-screen, wherein the second hand of the user controls a thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen by the first hand;

calculating a simulated pressure from the detected second touch;

adjusting the thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen according to the pressure level determined by;

Pressure level=(A*(C−

1))+B

where A is a chosen maximum allowable number of fingers involved on the first hand in drawing a line on the touch-screen, B is a quantity of fingers from the second hand used to adjust a thickness of the line drawn on the touch-screen, and C is a quantity of fingers from the first hand used to draw a line on the touch-screen; and

generating a specific touch-screen output according to a location and assigned simulated pressure of the detected first touch.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

generating the calculated pressure from a magnitude of the detected second touch.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

generating the calculated pressure from a distance between the detected second touch and the first touch.

14. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein said calculating a pressure from the detected second touch further comprises selecting a pressure level from a set of predefined pressure levels.

15. The computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting a change in a nature of the detected second touch on the touch-screen and re-calculating the pressure from a changed second touch.