Method and system for trackpad input error mitigation

• US 8,970,525 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: de los Reyes, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Pappas, Claire X
• Assistant Examiner(s): HONG, RICHARD J
• Application Number:
  US13/534,827
• Time in Patent Office: 979 Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/18 Timing circuits for raster scan displays specially adapted for television H04N ; synchronisation between the display unit and other display units, videodisc player G09G5/12

Abstract

In response to detecting a predetermined pressure change between two consecutive contacts on a trackpad of a computing device, the two consecutive contacts are ignored. In response to detecting a predetermined pressure change of a single contact on the trackpad, the single contact is ignored. After detecting a new contact on the trackpad after a predetermined period of time without any contact on the trackpad, any movement tied to a predetermined amount of increasing pressure on the trackpad for the new contact is temporarily discarded, for a preset amount of time.

Claims

1. A method for mitigating cursor wobble, comprising:

in response to detecting a predetermined pressure change between two consecutive contacts on a trackpad of a computing device, ignoring the two consecutive contacts;

in response to detecting a predetermined pressure change of a single contact on the trackpad, ignoring the single contact;

after detecting a new contact on the trackpad after a predetermined period of time without any contact on the trackpad, temporarily discarding, for a preset amount of time, any movement tied to a predetermined amount of increasing pressure on the trackpad for the new contact; and

for an existing contact on the trackpad;

determining that detecting increasing pressure or decreasing pressure for the existing contact is currently blocked, based on a record associated with the existing contact; and

based on determining that detecting increasing pressure or decreasing pressure for the existing contact is currently blocked, determining, from a coordinate included in the record, that a total distance the existing contact has traveled equals or exceeds a predetermined value.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a record for each contact currently detected on the trackpad.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the record includes:

a coordinate, a time, a boolean value showing if increasing pressure is currently suppressed, and a boolean value showing if decreasing pressure is currently suppressed.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

for each frame of input data, replacing the existing record associated with each contact with a new record.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each new record includes:

a coordinate for a current position of a contact on the trackpad, and a current time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a physical click on a button associated with the trackpad.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a number of contacts on the trackpad at the time of the physical click on the button.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

if only a single contact is detected on the trackpad at the time of the physical click, discarding any movement tied to the single contact on the trackpad for a predetermined period of time after the physical click.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that detecting increasing pressure or decreasing pressure for the existing contact is not currently blocked; and

based on determining that increasing pressure or decreasing pressure for the existing contact is not currently blocked, allowing a movement of a cursor on a display of the computing device based on a movement of the existing contact on the trackpad.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that the total distance the existing contact has traveled equals or exceeds the predetermined value;

allowing a movement of a cursor on a display of the computing device based on the total distance the existing contact has traveled on the trackpad;

updating the record associated with the existing contact to indicate no blocking of detecting increasing pressure for the existing contact; and

updating the record associated with the existing contact to indicate no blocking of detecting decreasing pressure for the existing contact.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that detecting increasing pressure or decreasing pressure for the existing contact is currently blocked, determining, from a coordinate included in the record, that a total distance the existing contact has traveled is less than the predetermined value; and

based on determining that the total distance is less than the predetermined value;

comparing a current pressure of the existing contact with a previous pressure for the existing contact from a previous input frame associated with the record associated with the existing contact.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

if the current pressure is greater than the previous pressure and if increasing pressure is currently set as blocked for the existing contact in the record associated with the existing contact, disregarding movement of the existing contact for a predetermined period of time.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

if the current pressure is less than the previous pressure and if decreasing pressure is currently set as blocked for the existing contact in the record associated with the existing contact, disregarding movement of the existing contact for a predetermined period of time.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a record is associated with the new contact currently detected on the trackpad;

creating a new record for the new contact currently detected on the trackpad if no record was associated with the new contact; and

disregarding movement of the new contact for a preset amount of time.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a coordinate location of the new contact on the trackpad.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if a first contact and a second contact on the trackpad are in a predetermined zone of the trackpad;

if neither of the first contact nor the second contact are in the predetermined zone of the trackpad, detecting two-finger scrolling by the first contact and the second contact; and

if the first contact is in the predetermined zone;

triggering two-finger scrolling if the first contact is moving on the trackpad in the same direction at least half as much as the second contact; and

disregarding input from the first contact if the first contact is not moving on the trackpad in the same direction at least half as much as the second contact.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions for mitigating cursor wobble on a display of a computing device, the instructions comprising:

detecting a contact on a trackpad;

determining that detecting increasing pressure or decreasing pressure for the contact is currently blocked, based on a record associated with the contact;

determining, from a coordinate included in the record, that a total distance the contact has traveled on the trackpad equals or exceeds a predetermined value; and

based on determining that the total distance the existing contact has traveled on the trackpad equals or exceeds the predetermined value, allowing a movement of a cursor on a display of the computing device based on the total distance the contact has traveled on the trackpad.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

determining, from a previous input frame associated with the record, that a current pressure of the contact is greater than a previous pressure of the contact; and

disregarding movement of the contact for a predetermined period of time.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

determining, from a previous input frame associated with the record, that a current pressure of the contact is less than a previous pressure of the contact; and

disregarding movement of the contact for a predetermined period of time.

18. A trackpad configured to mitigate cursor wobble, comprising:

a surface;

a sensor operably coupled to the surface;

a controller operably coupled to the sensor;

a bus operably coupled to the controller;

a kernel driver configured to communicate with the bus; and

a gesture library configured to communicate with the kernel driver, the gesture library including executable code to;

in response to detecting a predetermined pressure change between two consecutive contacts on the surface, ignore the two consecutive contacts;

in response to detecting a predetermined pressure change of a single contact on the surface, ignore the single contact;

after detecting a new contact on the surface after a predetermined period of time without any contact on the surface, temporarily discard, for a preset amount of time, any movement tied to a predetermined amount of increasing pressure on the surface for the new contact;

determine, for an existing contact on the surface, if increasing or decreasing pressure is currently blocked for the existing contact, based on a record associated with the existing contact;

if increasing or decreasing pressure is currently blocked for the existing contact, determine a total distance the existing contact has traveled from a coordinate in the record associated with the existing contact;

if the total distance equals or exceeds a predetermined value, allow the movement of the cursor based on the movement of the existing contact on the surface;

update the record associated with the existing contact to indicate no blocking of increasing pressure for the existing contact; and

update the record associated with the existing contact to indicate no blocking of decreasing pressure for the existing contact.