Probabilistic touch sensing

• US 10,025,427 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2014
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Cheong, Yuenkeen, Bohan, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Davis, David D
• Application Number:
  US14/318,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20150378510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,481 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

Embodiments are disclosed that relate to adjusting touch inputs on a computing device. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a method of operating a touch-sensitive display of a computing device comprising displaying a graphical user interface on the touch-sensitive display, receiving a touch input via a touch sensor of the touch-sensitive display at a sensed location, performing a probabilistic determination of an intended touch location based on the input, and displaying a response to the input at an adjusted location on the graphical user interface that is adjusted relative to the sensed location based upon the probabilistic determination.

Claims

1. A touch-sensitive computing device, comprising:

a logic subsystem; and

a storage subsystem holding instructions executable by the logic subsystem to

display a graphical user interface on a display of the touch-sensitive computing device,

receive a touch input via a touch sensor of the touch-sensitive computing device at a sensed location,

operate a touch sensing system to perform a probabilistic determination of an intended touch location based on the touch input by utilizing a statistical distribution of a previously-determined set of sensed touch input locations as an input to the probabilistic determination, the previously-determined set of sensed touch input locations comprising a testing data set formed during development of the touch sensing system, and

display a response to the touch input at an adjusted location on the graphical user interface that is adjusted relative to the sensed location based upon the probabilistic determination.

2. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein displaying the response includes displaying the response at the adjusted location if a probability yielded by the probabilistic determination meets a threshold condition, and displaying the response at the sensed location if the probability does not meet the threshold condition.

3. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 2, wherein the threshold condition is based on a distance between the sensed location and the intended touch location.

4. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable to

after displaying the response at the adjusted location, receive a negating input via the touch sensor,

in response to the negating input, display a response to the touch input at the sensed location, and

display a response to a subsequent touch input received via the touch sensor at a sensed location of the subsequent touch input.

5. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable to sense an approach of an object to the touch sensor, and

perform a plurality of probabilistic determinations of intended touch locations of the object at a sample rate as the object approaches the touch sensor.

6. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein the probabilistic determination is further based on a context of the graphical user interface.

7. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 6, wherein the context comprises information regarding one or more keys in a virtual keyboard displayed on the graphical user interface.

8. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein the statistical distribution comprises a set of distances between the previously-determined set of sensed touch input locations and the intended touch location.

9. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable to update the statistical distribution based on touch inputs received via the touch sensor.

10. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to utilize a different statistical distribution depending on the location at which the touch input was received.

11. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 1, wherein the intended touch location corresponds to a previously activated touch location that is currently in an active state.

12. A touch-sensitive computing device, comprising:

a logic subsystem; and

a storage subsystem holding instructions executable by the logic subsystem to

display a plurality of user interface elements in a user interface via a touch-sensitive display of the touch-sensitive computing device,

receive user input via the touch-sensitive display,

operate a touch sensing system to perform a probabilistic determination to determine, for each of two or more of the plurality of user interface elements, a probability of the user input received being intended for the user interface element, the probabilistic determination utilizing a statistical distribution of a previously-determined set of sensed touch input locations as an input, the previously-determined set of sensed touch input locations comprising a testing data set formed during development of the touch sensing system, and

display a selection of a selected user interface element based upon the probabilistic determination.

13. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 12, wherein displaying the selection of the selected user interface element includes displaying the selection at an adjusted location that is adjusted relative to a sensed location at which the user input was received if the probabilistic determination meets a threshold condition, and displaying the selection at the sensed location if the probabilistic determination does not meet the threshold location.

14. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 13, wherein the instructions are further executable to,

after displaying the selection of the selected user interface element at the adjusted location, receive a negating input via the touch-sensitive display, and in response to the negating input, display the selection at the sensed location.

15. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further executable to

sense an approach of an object to the touch-sensitive display, and

perform a plurality of probabilistic determinations of intended touch locations of the object at a sample rate as the object approaches the touch sensor.

16. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 12, wherein the probabilistic determination is further based on a context of the user interface.

17. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 12, wherein the selected user interface element is a previously activated user interface element that is currently in an activated state.

18. The touch-sensitive computing device of claim 17, wherein the previously activated user interface element is an endpoint of a previously made user input.

19. A method of receiving user input via a graphical user interface presented by a computing device, the method comprising:

receiving a first stylus touch input having a first touch location;

operate a touch sensing system by performing a probabilistic determination of a first intended touch location based upon the first touch location and one or more user interface elements displayed when the first stylus touch input is received, the probabilistic determination of the first intended touch location utilizing a statistical distribution of a previously-determined set of sensed touch input locations as an input, the previously-determined set of sensed touch input locations comprising a testing data set formed during development of the touch sensing system;

displaying at the first intended touch location a response to the first touch stylus input received by applying a first offset;

receiving a second stylus touch input having a second touch location;

performing a probabilistic determination of a second intended touch location based upon the second touch location and one or more user interface elements displayed when the second stylus touch input is received; and

displaying at the second intended touch location a response to the second stylus touch input received by applying a second offset to the second touch location, the second offset being different from the first offset.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first offset comprises a first distance and a first direction, and wherein the second offset comprises a second distance and a second direction, the first distance being different from the second distance and the first direction being different from the second direction.