Typing with a touch sensor

• US 8,576,177 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2007
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Westerman, Wayne, Elias, John G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Lun-Yi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abebe, Sosina
• Application Number:
  US11/830,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20080042989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,290 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 178 1801- 1807
• 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 of input of a computing system including a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

detecting a plurality of contacts, including a first contact, a second contact, and a third contact, touching down on or near the surface, the detecting including determining a touchdown time of each of the contacts;

evaluating the touchdown times based on a predetermined temporal threshold, the evaluating including determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts is less than the predetermined temporal threshold and determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts is greater than the predetermined temporal threshold;

determining, based on the evaluation of the touchdown times, a synchronized set of the contacts concurrently touching the touch sensing surface, wherein the synchronized set includes the first and second contacts and excludes the third contact; and

generating a first input of the computing system based on the synchronized set.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the contacts comprise a plurality of fingers and a portion of a hand other than a finger.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein evaluating the touchdown times comprises determining the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts at time t0;

and determining the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts at time t1.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the touchdown time of the second contact is between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a magnitude of the temporal threshold is based on a number of touchdowns between the touchdowns of the contacts being evaluated, such that the magnitude of the temporal threshold of the determining of the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts is different than the magnitude of the temporal threshold of the determining of the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the magnitude of the temporal threshold increases as the number of touchdowns between the touchdowns of the contacts being examined increases.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contacts includes a fourth contact, the touchdown time of the fourth contact being between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts, evaluating the touchdown times further includes determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and fourth contacts is less than the predetermined temporal threshold, and the synchronized set further includes the fourth contact.

8. A sensing apparatus comprising:

a touch sensing surface;

a contact identification unit that detects a plurality of contacts, including a first contact, a second contact, and a third contact, touching down on or near the surface, the detecting including determining a touchdown time of each of the contacts;

a synchronous contact unit that evaluates the touchdown times based on a predetermined temporal threshold, the evaluating including determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts is less than the predetermined temporal threshold, determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts is greater than the predetermined temporal threshold, determining, based on the evaluation of the touchdown times, a synchronized set of the contacts concurrently touching the touch sensing surface, wherein the synchronized set includes the first and second contacts and excludes the third contact; and

a result production unit that determines an input of a computing system based on the synchronized set.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the contacts comprise a plurality of fingers and a portion of a hand other than a finger.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the touchdown time of the second contact is between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein a magnitude of the temporal threshold is based on a number of touchdowns between the touchdowns of the contacts being evaluated, such that the magnitude of the temporal threshold of the determining of the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts is different than the magnitude of the temporal threshold of the determining of the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the magnitude of the temporal threshold increases as the number of touchdowns between the touchdowns of the contacts being examined increases.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of contacts includes a fourth contact, the touchdown time of the fourth contact being between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts, evaluating the touchdown times further includes determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and fourth contacts is less than the predetermined temporal threshold, and the synchronized set further includes the fourth contact.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions executable to perform a method of input of a computing system including a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

detecting a plurality of contacts, including a first contact, a second contact, and a third contact, touching down on or near the surface, the detecting including determining a touchdown time of each of the contacts;

evaluating the touchdown times based on a predetermined temporal threshold, the evaluating including determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts is less than the predetermined temporal threshold and determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts is greater than the predetermined temporal threshold;

determining, based on the evaluation of the touchdown times, a synchronized set of the contacts concurrently touching the touch sensing surface, wherein the synchronized set includes the first and second contacts and excludes the third contact; and

generating a first input of the computing system based on the synchronized set.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the contacts comprise a plurality of fingers and a portion of a hand other than a finger.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein evaluating the touchdown times comprises determining the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts at time t0;

and determining the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts at time t1.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the touchdown time of the second contact is between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein a magnitude of the temporal threshold is based on a number of touchdowns between the touchdowns of the contacts being evaluated, such that the magnitude of the temporal threshold of the determining of the difference between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts is different than the magnitude of the temporal threshold of the determining of the difference between the touchdown times of the first and third contacts.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the magnitude of the temporal threshold increases as the number of touchdowns between the touchdowns of the contacts being examined increases.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the plurality of contacts includes a fourth contact, the touchdown time of the fourth contact being between the touchdown times of the first and second contacts, evaluating the touchdown times further includes determining that the difference between the touchdown times of the first and fourth contacts is less than the predetermined temporal threshold, and the synchronized set further includes the fourth contact.