Hand held electronic device with multiple touch sensing devices

• US 20060197750A1
• Filed: 04/26/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Kerr, Duncan R., Hotelling, Steve, Huppi, Brian Q.
• Granted Patent: US 7,800,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• 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 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Hand held devices with multiple touch sensing devices are disclosed. The touch sensing devices may for example be selected from touch panels, touch screens or touch sensitive housings.

Claims

1. A hand held electronic device, comprising:

a first touch sensing device located in a first region of the hand held electronic device; and

a second touch sensing device located in a second region of the hand held electronic device, the second region being at a different location than the first region of the hand held electronic device.

2. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 1 further comprising a display that forms a viewing region of the hand held electronic device, and wherein the first touch sensing device is a touch screen positioned over the display in the viewing region of the display.

3. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 2 further comprising a second display that forms a second viewing region of the hand held electronic device, and wherein the second touch sensing device is a second touch screen positioned over the second display in the second viewing region of the second display.

4. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 3 wherein the first display is positioned on a first side of the hand held electronic device, and wherein the second display is positioned on a second side of the hand held electronic device, the second side being located opposite the first side.

5. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 4 wherein the first side is the front side of the hand held electronic device, and wherein the second side is the back side of the hand held electronic device.

6. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 2 wherein the second touch sensing device is a touch sensitive surface located on the hand held electronic device in a region other than the viewing region of the display.

7. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 6 wherein the display is positioned on a first side of the hand held electronic device, and wherein the second touch sensing device is positioned on a second side of the hand held electronic device, the second side being located opposite the first side.

8. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 6 wherein the touch sensitive surface is provided by a touch panel.

9. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 8 wherein the touch panel is a touch pad.

10. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 6 wherein the touch sensitive surface is formed by a touch sensitive housing.

11. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 1 wherein the first touch sensing device is located on a first side of the housing, and wherein the second touching device is located on a second side of the housing, the second side being opposite the first side.

12. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 1 further comprising a visual feedback system capable of providing visual stimuli to a touch surface of at least one of the touch sensing devices.

13. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 12 wherein the visual stimuli is mapped to the sensor elements of the touch surface.

14. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 12 wherein the at least one of the touch sensing devices is selected from a touchpad or touch sensitive housing of the hand held electronic device.

15. A hand held electronic device, comprising:

a housing;

a display located on a first side of the housing;

a touch sensing device located on a second side of the housing, the second side being opposite the first side.

16. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 15 wherein the touch sensing device is sized and dimensioned similarly to the display and wherein the center point of the touch sensing device coincides with the center point of the display,

17. The hand held electronic device as recited in claim 15 wherein the sensing nodes of the touch sensing device are mapped to the display.

18. A hand held electronic device including touch sensing devices located on different sides of the device, the touch sensing devices being configured for mode and feature selection input.

19. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein at least one touch sensing device is a touch pad.

20. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein at least one touch sensing device is a touch screen positioned over a display.

21. The hand held device as recited in claim 20 wherein the display is configured to fill the entire front surface of the handheld device.

22. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein at least one touch sensing device is a touch sensitive housing.

23. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein the touch sensing devices include a touch pad and a touch screen.

24. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein the touch sensing devices include a touch sensitive housing and a touch screen.

25. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein the touch sensing devices are the only input means of the handheld device.

26. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein the touch sensing devices are all multi touch capacitive touch sensing devices.

27. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 wherein the hand held device includes a front surface, and wherein the front surface does not include any physical actuators.

28. The hand held device as recited in claim 18 further comprising a visual feedback system capable of providing visual stimuli to a touch surface of at least one touch sensing device.

29. A handheld device, comprising:

a housing; and

a sensor arrangement disposed underneath an outer surface of the housing, the sensor arrangement being configured to detect the presence of an object on at least a portion of the housing.

30. The handheld device as recited in claim 29 wherein the sensor arrangement covers the entire housing so that the entire housing is touch sensitive.

31. The handheld device as recited in claim 29 wherein the sensor arrangement is a multipoint sensor arrangement capable of detecting the presence of more than one object at the same time.

32. The handheld device as recited in claim 29 further comprising a display positioned within an opening in the housing, and a touch screen positioned over the display.

33. The hand held device as recited in claim 29 further comprising a visual feedback system capable of providing visual stimuli to the outer surface of the housing, the visual stimuli being mapped to the sensor elements of the sensor arrangement.

34. A method for operating a handheld device, comprising:

determining if a user is touching the handheld device;

determining the user based on the user'"'"'s touch;

configuring the handheld device based on the user.

35. The method as recited in claim 34 wherein the step of determining the user includes determining the handedness of the user.

36. The method as recited in claim 34 wherein the step of determining the user includes determining the identity of the user.

37. The method as recited in claim 34 wherein the step of configuring the handheld device includes setting the buttons of the handheld device.

38. The method as recited in claim 37 wherein the button settings are based on the handedness of the user.

39. The method as recited in claim 37 wherein the button settings are based on the identity of the user.

40. The method as recited in claim 34 wherein the buttons are based on relative mapping or absolute mapping.

41. The method as recited in claim 40 wherein absolute mapping includes, providing one or more button zones;

generating a hand signal;

determining which button zone was selected based on the hand signal; and

generating a button signal based on the selected button zone.

42. The method as recited in claim 40 wherein relative mapping includes, generating a first hand signal;

generating a second hand signal;

determining the difference between the first and second hand signals; and

generating a button signal based on the difference between the first and second hand signals.

43. A user determination method for a handheld device, comprising:

providing baseline hand signals;

generating a current hand signal when a user grabs the handheld device;

comparing the current hand signal to at least one baseline hand signal; and

determining a characteristic of the user based on the current and baseline hand signals.

44. The method as recited in claim 43 wherein the step of determining includes determining if the current hand signal is similar to one of the baseline hand signals.

45. The method as recited in claim 43 wherein the step of determining includes determining if the current hand signal is different than one of the baseline hand signals.

46. The method as recited in claim 43 wherein the baseline hand signals correspond to right and left hand signals, and wherein the characteristic of the user corresponds to the handedness of the user.

47. The method as recited in claim 43 wherein the baseline hand signals correspond to a particular user'"'"'s hand signal, and wherein the characteristic of the user corresponds to the identity of the user.