Touch rejection

• US 9,778,789 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2014
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Westerman, Wayne Carl, Benbasat, Ari Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bibbins, Latanya
• Application Number:
  US14/284,339
• Publication Number:
  US 20150338991A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation

Abstract

The rejection of undesired touch events on a touch surface is disclosed. A weighted meta-centroid of all touch events can be computed. In some examples, touches can be weighted inversely to their size and distance to the nearest neighboring touch. In some examples, touches can be weighted based on the size of their minor radii. A meta-ellipse can be fit to the weighted touch events. In some examples, the major axis of the meta-ellipse can be used to determine the orientation of a user'"'"'s hand to reject undesired touches. In other examples, touches within the meta-ellipse can be rejected.

Claims

1. A method for determining an orientation of a hand proximate to a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of touches from a touch image of the hand proximate to the touch sensing surface, wherein each of the plurality of touches has a first centroid;

weighting the plurality of touches;

determining a second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches;

fitting an ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches; and

determining an orientation of the hand based on parameters of the ellipse.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a size of one or more of the plurality of identified touches and a distance between the first centroid of the one or more of the plurality of identified touches and the first centroid of a nearest neighboring touch from the identified plurality of touches.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

weighting one or more of the plurality of identified touches inversely to the size of the touch and the distance between the first centroid of the touch and the first centroid of the nearest neighboring touch.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

computing a covariance matrix of the plurality of weighted touches;

computing eigenvalues of the covariance matrix; and

fitting the ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches based on the computed covariance matrix and eigenvalues.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an orientation of the hand based on the length of the major axis of the ellipse.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an orientation of the hand based on the length of the minor axis of the ellipse if only two touches are identified.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rejecting undesired touches based on the determined orientation.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, perform a method for determining an orientation of a hand proximate to a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of touches from a touch image of the hand proximate to the touch sensing surface, wherein each of the plurality of touches has a first centroid;

weighting the plurality of touches;

determining a second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches;

fitting an ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches; and

determining an orientation of the hand based on parameters of the ellipse.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a size of one or more of the plurality of identified touches and a distance between the first centroid of the one or more of the plurality of identified touches and the first centroid of a nearest neighboring touch from the identified plurality of touches.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

weighting one or more of the plurality of identified touches inversely to the size of the touch and the distance between the first centroid of the touch and the first centroid of the nearest neighboring touch.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising:

computing a covariance matrix of the plurality of weighted touches;

computing eigenvalues of the covariance matrix; and

fitting the ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches based on the computed covariance matrix and eigenvalues.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising:

determining an orientation of the hand based on the length of the major axis of the ellipse.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising:

determining an orientation of the hand based on the length of the minor axis of the ellipse if only two touches are identified.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising:

rejecting undesired touches based on the determined orientation.

15. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch sensing surface; and

a processor coupled to the touch sensing surface and capable of;

identifying a plurality of touches from a touch image of a hand proximate to the touch sensing surface, wherein each of the plurality of touches has a first centroid;

weighting the plurality of touches;

determining a second centroid of the plurality of weighted touches;

fitting an ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches; and

determining an orientation of the hand based on parameters of the ellipse.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, the processor further capable of:

determining a size of one or more of the plurality of identified touches and a distance between the first centroid of the one or more of the plurality of identified touches and the first centroid of a nearest neighboring touch from the identified plurality of touches.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, the processor further capable of:

weighting one or more of the plurality of identified touches inversely to the size of the touch and the distance between the first centroid of the touch and the first centroid of the nearest neighboring touch.

18. The electronic device of claim 15, the processor further capable of:

computing a covariance matrix of the plurality of weighted touches;

computing eigenvalues of the covariance matrix; and

fitting the ellipse around the second centroid to the plurality of weighted touches based on the computed covariance matrix and eigenvalues.

19. The electronic device of claim 15, the processor further capable of:

determining an orientation of the hand based on the length of the major axis of the ellipse.

20. The electronic device of claim 15, the processor further capable of:

determining an orientation of the hand based on the length of the minor axis of the ellipse if only two touches are identified.

21. The electronic device of claim 15, the processor further capable of:

rejecting undesired touches based on the determined orientation.