System and method for processing raw data of track pad device
First Claim
1. A computer system, comprising:
- a track pad device including a plurality of conductive lines distributed substantially throughout a touch-sensing area, each conductive line having a capacitance that is one of a capacitive coupling capacitance between the conductive line and one or more other conductive lines and a self-capacitance of the conductive line, wherein an object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area changes the capacitance of a conductive line, a data acquisition system that acquires a digital value that is a direct indication of the capacitance of each of a plurality of the conductive lines, and a first communication circuit that transmits the digital values aggregated into packets according to a universal serial bus protocol; and
a host module including a second communication circuit that receives the digital values, the second communication circuit being operatively coupled to the first communication circuit via a communication path, one or more host processors operatively coupled to the second communication circuit, at least one of the host processors being responsible, at least in part, for executing user-level tasks of a host application, and software executing on at least one of the host processors, the software interpreting the digital values from the track pad device, including calculating movement information of the object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area, and making the interpreted data available to the host application for execution as a user-level task.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An input device and system are described that acquires (measures) raw track pad sensor data and transmits this data to a host computer where it is analyzed by an application executing on one or more host computer central processing units. The resulting input processing architecture provides a track pad input device that is both lower in cost to manufacture and more flexible than prior art track pad input devices. Lower costs may be realized by eliminating the prior art'"'"'s dedicated track pad hardware for processing sensor data (e.g., a processor and associated firmware memory). Increased flexibility may be realized by providing feature set functionality via software that executes on the host computer. In this architecture, track pad functionality may be modified, updated, and enhanced through software upgrade procedures.
85 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A computer system, comprising:
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a track pad device including a plurality of conductive lines distributed substantially throughout a touch-sensing area, each conductive line having a capacitance that is one of a capacitive coupling capacitance between the conductive line and one or more other conductive lines and a self-capacitance of the conductive line, wherein an object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area changes the capacitance of a conductive line, a data acquisition system that acquires a digital value that is a direct indication of the capacitance of each of a plurality of the conductive lines, and a first communication circuit that transmits the digital values aggregated into packets according to a universal serial bus protocol; and a host module including a second communication circuit that receives the digital values, the second communication circuit being operatively coupled to the first communication circuit via a communication path, one or more host processors operatively coupled to the second communication circuit, at least one of the host processors being responsible, at least in part, for executing user-level tasks of a host application, and software executing on at least one of the host processors, the software interpreting the digital values from the track pad device, including calculating movement information of the object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area, and making the interpreted data available to the host application for execution as a user-level task. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 30, 31)
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13. A host module operatively coupled to a track pad device, the track pad device including a plurality of conductive lines distributed substantially throughout a touch-sensing area, each conductive line having a capacitance that is one of a capacitive coupling capacitance between the conductive line and one or more other conductive lines and a self-capacitance of the conductive line, wherein an object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area changes the capacitance of a conductive line, a data acquisition system that acquires a digital value that is a direct indication of the capacitance of each of a plurality of the conductive lines, and a first communication circuit that transmits the digital values aggregated into packets according to a universal serial bus protocol, the host module comprising:
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a second communication circuit that receives the digital values, the second communication circuit operatively coupling to the first communication circuit via a communication path; one or more host processors operatively coupled to the second communication circuit, at least one of the host processors being responsible, at least in part, for executing user-level tasks of a host application; and software executing on at least one of the host processors, the software interpreting the digital values from the track pad device, including calculating movement information of the object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area, and making the interpreted data available to the host application for execution as a user-level task. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32, 33)
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25. A method comprising:
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acquiring digital values that are direct indications of capacitances of a plurality of conductive lines distributed substantially throughout a touch-sensing area of a track pad device, each capacitance being one of a capacitive coupling capacitance between one of the conductive lines and one or more other conductive lines and a self-capacitance of one of the conductive lines, wherein an object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area changes the capacitance of a conductive line; transmitting the digital values aggregated into packets according to a universal serial bus protocol to one or more host processors of a host module, at least one of the host processors being responsible, at least in part, for executing user-level tasks of a host application; interpreting the digital values with software executing on at least one of the host processors, including calculating movement information of the object touching, or in close proximity to, the touch-sensing area; and making the interpreted data available to the host application for execution as a user-level task by the host application. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35)
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Specification