Touch detection at bezel edge

• US 9,477,331 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Westerman, Wayne Carl, Benbasat, Ari Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Okebato, Sahlu
• Application Number:
  US14/192,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20140362001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• 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 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

This relates to a method of extrapolating proximity information to generate a border column or row of touch nodes (also known as touch pixels) and then fitting an ellipse to the contact patch including the extrapolated border touch nodes. Additionally, a contact can be identified as a thumb based on both its major axis and its distance to an edge of the touch sensing surface.

Claims

1. A method of a computing device including a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining a length of a major axis of a contact on or near the touch sensing surface;

obtaining a distance of the contact from an edge of the touch sensing surface;

determining, based on the obtained distance and a predefined thumb profile that maps distances of a thumb contact from the edge of the touch sensing surface to lengths of a reference major axis of the thumb contact, the length of the reference major axis of the thumb contact at the obtained distance; and

identifying the contact as a thumb based on the length of the reference major axis and the length of the major axis of the contact.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising subtracting the length of the reference major axis from the length of the major axis of the contact to obtain an axis length difference;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the length of the reference major axis and the length of the major axis of the contact includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the axis length difference.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising adding the axis length difference to a sum of axis length differences from previous time steps;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the axis length difference includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the sum of axis length differences.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining that the sum of axis length differences is positive;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the sum of axis length differences includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the determination that the sum of axis length differences is positive.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact is identified as a thumb after exceeding a time threshold measured from the touchdown of the contact.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact is identified as a thumb after the contact has reached a distance threshold from the edge of the touch sensing surface.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, perform a method of a computing device including a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining a length of a major axis of a contact on or near the touch sensing surface;

obtaining a distance of the contact from an edge of the touch sensing surface;

determining, based on the obtained distance and a predefined thumb profile that maps distances of a thumb contact from the edge of the touch sensing surface to lengths of a reference major axis of the thumb contact, the length of the reference major axis of the thumb contact at the obtained distance; and

identifying the contact as a thumb based on the length of the reference major axis and the length of the major axis of the contact.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, the method further comprising subtracting the length of the reference major axis from the length of the major axis of the contact to obtain an axis length difference;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the length of the reference major axis and the length of the major axis of the contact includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the axis length difference.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, the method further comprising adding the axis length difference to a sum of axis length differences from previous time steps;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the axis length difference includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the sum of axis length differences.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, the method further comprising determining that the sum of axis length differences is positive;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the sum of axis length differences includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the determination that the sum of axis length differences is positive.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the contact is identified as a thumb after exceeding a time threshold measured from the touchdown of the contact.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the contact is identified as a thumb after the contact has reached a distance threshold from the edge of the touch sensing surface.

13. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch sensing surface;

a processor to execute instructions; and

a memory coupled with the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations to generate an application programming interface (API) that allows an API-calling component to perform a method of the electronic device, the method comprising;

obtaining a length of a major axis of a contact on or near the touch sensing surface;

obtaining a distance of the contact from an edge of the touch sensing surface;

determining, based on the obtained distance and a predefined thumb profile that maps distances of a thumb contact from the edge of the touch sensing surface to lengths of a reference major axis of the thumb contact, the length of the reference major axis of the thumb contact at the obtained distance; and

identifying the contact as a thumb based on the length of the reference major axis and the length of the major axis of the contact.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, the method further comprising subtracting the length of the reference major axis from the length of the major axis of the contact to obtain an axis length difference;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the length of the reference major axis and the length of the major axis of the contact includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the axis length difference.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, the method further comprising adding the axis length difference to a sum of axis length differences from previous time steps;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the axis length difference includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the sum of axis length differences.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, the method further comprising determining that the sum of axis length differences is positive;

wherein identifying the contact as a thumb based on the sum of axis length differences includes identifying the contact as a thumb based on the determination that the sum of axis length differences is positive.

17. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the contact is identified as a thumb after exceeding a time threshold measured from the touchdown of the contact.

18. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the contact is identified as a thumb after the contact has reached a distance threshold from the edge of the touch sensing surface.