Method of disambiguating water from a finger touch on a touch sensor panel

• US 9,880,655 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2014
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: O'Connor, Sean E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zheng, Xuemei
• Application Number:
  US14/558,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20160062533A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• 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 3/04186 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

Abstract

A computer-implemented method is disclosed. The method includes: identifying a touch detected on a touch sensor panel; extracting touch information associated with the touch; calculating an overall confidence value based on the extracted touch information; comparing the confidence value with a predetermined threshold; and determining whether to identify the touch as a non-touch based on a result of the comparison.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a sensing circuit configured to sense a touch sensor panel and thereby capture a touch image; and

one or more processors coupled to the sensing circuit capable of;

identifying one or more contact patches from the touch image; and

for a respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining a confidence value of the respective contact patch based on an area of the respective contact patch, a signal density of the respective contact patch, and a distance between a location of the respective contact patch and an edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch, wherein the confidence value is indicative of a likelihood that the respective contact patch corresponds to a liquid contacting the touch sensor panel;

in accordance with a determination that the confidence value of the respective contact patch meets a threshold, processing the touch image excluding the respective contact patch to determine one or more touch inputs; and

in accordance with a determination that the confidence value of the respective contact patch fails to meet the threshold, processing the touch image including the respective contact patch to determine the one or more touch inputs.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the one or more processors further capable of:

for the respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining the distance between the location of the respective contact patch and the edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch;

determining the signal density of the respective contact patch; and

determining the area of the respective contact patch.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein determining the distance between the location of the respective contact patch and the edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch comprises:

determining a centroid of the respective contact patch; and

determining a shortest distance from the centroid to one of the edges of the touch sensor panel.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein determining the area of the respective contact patch comprises:

identifying one or more touch nodes associated with the respective contact patch; and

measuring a capacitance associated with the identified one or more touch nodes.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein determining the signal density of the respective contact patch comprises:

measuring a total capacitance associated with the respective contact patch;

determining a radius associated with the respective contact patch; and

dividing the total capacitance by the radius.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining the confidence value of the respective contact patch comprises:

calculating a first confidence value based on the distance between the location of the respective contact patch and the edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch;

calculating a second confidence value based on the signal density of the respective contact patch;

calculating a third confidence value based on the area of the respective contact patch; and

calculating the confidence value based on the first, second, and third confidence values.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein determining the confidence value of the respective contact patch further comprises:

averaging the second and third confidence values and dividing the average by the first confidence value.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors is further capable of:

normalizing the confidence value.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying one or more contact patches from a touch image; and

for a respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining a confidence value of the respective contact patch based on an area of the respective contact patch, a signal density of the respective contact patch, and a distance between a location of the respective contact patch and an edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch, wherein the confidence value is indicative of a likelihood that the respective contact patch corresponds to a liquid contacting the touch sensor panel;

in accordance with a determination that the confidence value of the respective contact patch meets a threshold, processing the touch image excluding the respective contact patch to determine one or more touch inputs; and

in accordance with a determination that the confidence value of the respective contact patch fails to meet the threshold, processing the touch image including the respective contact patch to determine the one or more touch inputs.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

for the respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining the distance between the location of the respective contact patch and the edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch;

determining the area of the respective contact patch; and

determining the signal density of the respective contact patch.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein determining the distance between the location of the respective contact patch and the edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch comprises:

determining a centroid of the respective contact patch; and

determining a shortest distance from the centroid to one of the edges of the touch sensor panel.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein determining the area of the respective contact patch comprises:

identifying one or more touch nodes associated with the respective contact patch; and

measuring a capacitance associated with the identified one or more touch nodes.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein determining the signal density of the respective contact patch comprises:

measuring a total capacitance associated with the respective contact patch;

determining a radius associated with the respective contact patch; and

dividing the total capacitance by the radius.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein determining the confidence value of the respective contact patch further comprises:

calculating a first confidence value based on the distance between the location of the respective contact patch and the edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch;

calculating a second confidence value based on the signal density of the respective contact patch;

calculating a third confidence value based on the area of the respective contact patch; and

calculating the confidence value based on the first, second, and third confidence values.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein determining the confidence value of the respective contact patch comprises averaging the second and third confidence values and dividing the average by the first confidence value.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein determining the confidence value of the respective contact patch further comprises normalizing the confidence value.

17. A computer-implemented method for determining whether one or more contact patches correspond to a liquid contacting a touch sensor panel, the method comprising:

detecting the one or more contact patches on the touch sensor panel; and

for a respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining an area associated with the respective contact patch;

determining a signal density associated with the respective contact patch;

determining a distance between a location of the respective contact patch and an edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch; and

determining whether the respective contact patch corresponds to the liquid contacting the touch sensor panel based on a combination of the area, the signal density, and the distance associated with the respective contact patch, wherein the determining includes an indication of a likelihood that the respective contact patch corresponds to the liquid contacting the touch sensor panel.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein determining whether the one or more contact patches correspond to the liquid contacting the touch sensor panel further comprises:

for the respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining the respective contact patch to more likely correspond to the liquid when the area of the respective contact patch is less than an area threshold.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein determining whether the one or more contact patches correspond to the liquid contacting the touch sensor panel further comprises:

for the respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining the respective contact patch to more likely correspond to the liquid when the signal density of the respective contact patch is less than a signal density threshold.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein determining whether the one or more contact patches correspond to the liquid contacting the touch sensor panel further comprises:

for the respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

determining the respective contact patch to more likely correspond to the liquid as the distance between the location of the respective contact patch and the edge of the touch sensor panel closest to the respective contact patch decreases.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein determining whether the one or more contact patches correspond to the liquid contacting the touch sensor panel further comprises:

for the respective contact patch of the one or more contact patches;

weighting the area or the signal density of the respective contact patch.