Systems for and methods of providing inertial scrolling and navigation using a fingerprint sensor calculating swiping speed and length

• US 9,785,330 B1
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Yang, Wayne, Krishnapura, Rohini
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawley, Keith
• Application Number:
  US12/378,338
• Time in Patent Office: 3,161 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-163, 345167, 345173, 345179, 715830-831, 715863, 382124, 382126
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0338 Fingerprint track pad, i.e. fingerprint sensor used as pointing device tracking the fingertip image
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1335 Combining adjacent partial images (e.g. slices) to create a composite input or reference pattern; Tracking a sweeping finger movement

Abstract

An emulation system receives a swipe along a finger sensor to set a computer display in motion. After the swipe is completed, the display continues along its previous path. Depending on their direction, subsequent swipes can be used to accelerate or decelerate the motion. Gradually, the display decelerates. In one embodiment, this deceleration simulates an inertial decay, providing the user with a pleasing display that gradually rolls to a stop. The deceleration is modeled on a joystick return-to-home inertial decay, allowing the user greater control when navigating over the display. The finger sensor is used to emulate different electronic devices, such as a mouse, a scroll wheel, and a rotating wheel.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating motion of elements on a computer display in response to swiping an object along a contact surface of a finger sensor to emulate an electronic input device;

determining a swiping speed and length by sequentially capturing swiping object surface patterns by the finger sensor;

calculating an angle from a vertical axis that is perpendicular to a horizontal plane of the emulated electronic input device, the angle corresponding to a position of the emulated electronic input device using the swiping speed and length; and

gradually decelerating the motion with an inertial decay calculated using the calculated angle corresponding to the position of the emulated electronic input device after the swiping is completed and the object is removed from contact with the contact surface of the finger sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the inertial decay is calculated using a model of a joystick return-to-home motion.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising stopping the motion in response to tapping the finger sensor after the swiping is completed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing an action on a computer system in response to changing a pressure on the finger sensor after the swiping is completed.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the computer display shows an image and the action comprises one of zooming in on the image and zooming out from the image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion corresponds to one of scrolling through a list of items, rotating an image, and moving over an image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer display shows one of a list of items, a region of an image, a grid menu, slides of images, a game image, and an element of a computer simulation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a speed of the computer display in response to multiple swipes of the object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein changing the speed comprises increasing the speed if subsequent swipes are in a same direction as the swiping.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein changing the speed comprises decreasing the speed if subsequent swipes are in a different direction as the swiping.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising accelerating the motion by holding the object stationary on the finger sensor before the swiping is completed.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the finger sensor is a finger swipe sensor.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the finger sensor is a finger placement sensor.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the swiping object is a finger.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the angle of the emulated electronic input device is calculated in accordance with a first equation

θ

_i=θ

₁e<sup>−

(Ω

+K)t</sup>

where θ

_i is the angle of the emulated electronic input device at time t when gradually decelerating the motion of elements, θ

₁ is the calculated angle of the emulated electronic device when the swiping is completed, K is a constant, and Ω

is a damping factor.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein a linear speed of the elements gradually decelerating is calculated in accordance with a second equation

dx/dt=L*dθ

/dt*cos(θ

)

where L is a length of the emulated electronic input device, and x is distance from a point of reference at time t when gradually decelerating the motion of the elements.

14. A navigation system comprising:

a finger sensor having a contact surface and configured to determine a swiping speed and length of swiping along the contact surface by sequentially capturing swiping object surface patterns; and

a translator module configured to calculate an angle from a vertical axis that is perpendicular to a horizontal plane of an emulated electronic input device, the angle corresponding to a position of the emulated electronic input device using the swiping speed and length and to gradually decelerate a motion of elements on a computer display with an inertial decay calculated using the calculated angle corresponding to the position of the emulated electronic input device in response to completing swiping of the object across the finger sensor and removing the object from contact with the contact surface of the finger sensor.

15. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the decelerating is uniform.

16. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the inertial decay is modeled on a joystick return-to-home motion.

17. The navigation system of claim 14, further comprising accelerating the motion in response to receiving one or more swipes across the finger sensor in a same direction as the swiping.

18. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein decelerating comprises decelerating the motion in response to receiving one or more swipes across the finger sensor in an opposite direction as the swiping.

19. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the translator module is also configured to single-step scroll through the computer display.

20. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the translator module is also configured to control the computer display in response to determining a change in pressure on a surface of the finger sensor.

21. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the translator module is also configured to suddenly stop the motion in response to a stop motion across the finger sensor.

22. The navigation system of claim 21, wherein the stop motion is a tap or a press-and-hold motion.

23. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the translator module comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer instructions that, when executed by a processor, result in gradually changing the motion.

28. The navigation system of claim 14, wherein the swiping object is a finger.

24. A navigation system comprising:

a finger sensor having a contact surface;

a movement correlator coupled to the finger sensor configured to determine a swiping speed and length of swiping along the contact surface by sequentially capturing swiping object surface patterns by the finger sensor;

an acceleration calculator coupled to the movement correlator, wherein the acceleration calculator is configured to calculate an angle from a vertical axis that is perpendicular to a horizontal plane of an emulated electronic input device, the angle corresponding to a position of the emulated electronic input device using the swiping speed and length, and gradually at least one of accelerate and decelerate a motion of elements on a computer display device based upon the calculated angle corresponding to the position of the emulated electronic input device in response to completing a swipe of the object across the finger sensor and removing the object from contact with the contact surface of the finger sensor; and

a plurality of electronic input device emulators, each coupled to the acceleration calculator and to the computer display device.

25. The navigation system of claim 24, wherein the acceleration calculator is configured to determine an inertial decay of the deceleration.

26. The navigation system of claim 24, wherein the emulated electronic input device comprises at least one of a joystick emulator, a mouse emulator, a scroll wheel emulator, a push-button emulator, and a wheel emulator.

29. The navigation system of claim 24, wherein the swiping object is a finger.