ACOUSTIC CONDITION SENSOR EMPLOYING A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY NON-ORTHOGONAL WAVES

• US 20080062151A1
• Filed: 11/02/2007
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elo Touch Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Joel Kent
• Inventors: Kent, Joel
• Granted Patent: US 7,629,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0436 in which generating transducers and detecting transducers are attached to a single acoustic waves transmission substrate

Abstract

A system and method for processing input from a touchscreen having a substrate and a touch surface thereof, adapted for manual interaction with a human hand, having an electronic sensor associated with said substrate adapted to detect a pressure sensitive response to at least two concurrent touches on the touch surface, having a control which receives at least one signal representing the at least two concurrent touches on the touch surface; processes the at least one signal in a manner adapted to maintain a distinction between the at least two concurrent touches; determines a respective difference of at least one coordinate between the at least two concurrent touches; and responds by selectively producing a response at least in dependence on a relationship of the coordinate of the at least two concurrent touches.

Claims

1. A touchscreen system, comprising:

a substrate, having a touch surface;

an electronic sensor integrated with said substrate adapted to detect multiple simultaneous touches on the touch surface, producing at least one sensor output signal representing a touch pattern; and

a control, receiving the at least one sensor output signal, being adapted to respond to at least two simultaneous touches from human fingers represented in the at least one sensor output signal, to determine a respective difference of at least one coordinate between the at least two simultaneous touches, and produce a response at least in dependence on a relationship of the at least two simultaneous touches.

2. The touchscreen system according to claim 1, wherein the control further determines an intensity of a touch.

3. The touchscreen system according to claim 1, wherein the control further determines a size of a contact area.

4. The touchscreen system according to claim 1, wherein the control further analyzes a timing of changes in the sensor output signal during a touch.

5. The touchscreen system according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is transparent, and is adapted to be placed over a display device.

6. A touchscreen method, comprising:

providing a substrate, having a touch surface, for manual interaction with a human hand, having an electronic sensor integrated with said substrate adapted to detect multiple simultaneous touches on the touch surface; and

responding to at least two simultaneous touches to determine a respective difference of at least one coordinate between the at least two simultaneous touches, and produce a response at least in dependence on a relationship of the position of the at least two simultaneous touches.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising determining an intensity of a touch.

8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising determining a size of a contact area.

9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising analyzing a timing of changes in an output of the electronic sensor during a touch.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the substrate is transparent, and is placed over a display device, wherein the display device is viewed through the substrate during manual interaction.

11. A computer readable medium storing instructions for a programmable touchscreen control, receiving input from an electronic sensor integrated with a substrate, having a touch surface, for manual interaction with a human hand, adapted to detect multiple simultaneous touches on the touch surface, the control responding to at least two simultaneous touches to determine a respective difference of at least one coordinate between of the at least two simultaneous touches, and produce a response at least in dependence on a relationship of the position of the at least two simultaneous touches.

12. A processor for processing an input received from a touchscreen system, having a substrate comprising a touch surface and an electronic sensor associated with the substrate having a pressure-sensitive response, the electronic sensor being adapted to detect multiple concurrent touches on the touch surface and producing at least one sensor output signal in response thereto representing a touch pattern, the processor comprising at least one path for receiving information corresponding to the at least one sensor output signal, and an output for producing a response in dependence thereon, the processor being adapted to at least respond to information represented in the at least one sensor output signal representing multiple concurrent touches, and to determining a respective difference of at least one coordinate between the multiple concurrent touches, the output being dependent on at least a relationship of the multiple concurrent touches.

13. The processor according to claim 12, wherein the processor is adapted to determine an intensity of at least one touch.

14. The processor according to claim 12, wherein the processor is adapted to determine a size of a contact area of at least one touch.

15. The processor according to claim 12, wherein the processor is further adapted to analyze a timing of a change in the information corresponding to the at least one sensor output signal throughout a duration of at least one touch, and wherein the output is selectively dependent on the change.

16. The processor according to claim 12, wherein the substrate is transparent, and is adapted to be placed over a display device.

17. A method of processing input from a touchscreen having a substrate and a touch surface thereof, adapted for manual interaction with a human hand, having an electronic sensor associated with said substrate adapted to detect a pressure sensitive response to at least two concurrent touches on the touch surface, comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one signal representing the at least two concurrent touches on the touch surface;

processing the at least one signal in a manner adapted to maintain a distinction between the at least two concurrent touches;

determining a respective difference of at least one coordinate between the at least two concurrent touches; and

responding by selectively producing a response at least in dependence on a relationship of the coordinate of the at least two concurrent touches.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising determining an pressure of at least one touch.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising determining a size of a contact area of a portion of a human finger on the touch surface.

20. The method according to claim 17, further comprising analyzing a timing of changes of the signal over a duration of a touch.

21. The method according to claim 17, further comprising displaying an image through the substrate during the manual interaction.