SENSOR ARRANGEMENT FOR USE WITH A TOUCH SENSOR THAT IDENTIFIES HAND PARTS

• US 20070268273A1
• Filed: 07/30/2007
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Elias, John, WESTERMAN, WAYNE
• Granted Patent: US 8,633,898 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24137 Distances to cluster centroïds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• 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 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• 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 3/0235 using chord techniques G06F3/0234 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• 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 3/04186 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0447 Position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• 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: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/19173 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1983 Syntactic or structural pattern recognition, e.g. symbolic string recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/107 : Static hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/9622 : using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960725 : Charge-transfer

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for simultaneously tracking multiple finger and palm contacts as hands approach, touch, and slide across a proximity-sensing, multi-touch surface. Identification and classification of intuitive hand configurations and motions enables unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing an array of sensors, each sensor capable of detecting a nearby object;

selecting a first group of sensors that is a subset of the array of sensors;

selecting a second group of sensors that is a subset of the array of sensors and has only one sensor in common with the first group of sensors;

activating the first group of sensors;

coupling the second group of sensors to a first sense measurement element resulting in the operational coupling of the only one sensor in common to the first sense measurement element;

receiving indications from the first sense measurement element;

assigning the received indication to a third group representing a part of a hand;

associating the third group with a specific part of a hand.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the indications of the first sense measurement element are associated with one or more image pixels.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the indications of the first sense measurement element are associated with a proximity image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the third group represents a finger.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the fourth group represents a plurality of sensors that were proximate to a hand part at a particular time.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a surface comprising a plurality of sensors, each sensor capable of detecting a nearby object, and each sensor having an input and an output;

a sense measurement element;

a multiplexer arrangement coupling a power source to the sense measurement element through each of the plurality of sensors in a sequential fashion to create indications for each sensor;

a segmentation unit for evaluating indications of the sensors and for segmenting the indications into a plurality of groups, each of the groups representing a part of a hand;

an identification unit for associating each of a plurality of the groups with a specific part of a hand.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a tracking unit for determining, relative to the surface, a path of each hand part over elapsed time.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a pen grip detector for evaluating representations of the groups to determine if the surface is proximate to a hand in the position of gripping a pen.