Classifications

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  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
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  • G06F3/0416—Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
  • G06F3/0418—Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
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  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
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  • G06F3/0416—Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
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  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/0414—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means using force sensing means to determine a position
  • G06F3/04142—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means using force sensing means to determine a position the force sensing means being located peripherally, e.g. disposed at the corners or at the side of a touch sensing plate
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  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/044—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
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  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/044—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means
  • G06F3/0446—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• • G—PHYSICS
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  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
  • G06F3/0481—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• • G—PHYSICS
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  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
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  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
  • G06F3/0484—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
  • G06F3/04842—Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements
• • G—PHYSICS
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  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
  • G06F3/0487—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
  • G06F3/0488—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• • G—PHYSICS
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  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/00 - G06F3/048
  • G06F2203/041—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/041 - G06F3/045
  • G06F2203/04104—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
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/00 - G06F3/048
  • G06F2203/041—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/041 - G06F3/045
  • G06F2203/04105—Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/00 - G06F3/048
  • G06F2203/041—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/041 - G06F3/045
  • G06F2203/04108—Touchless 2D- 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 without distance measurement in the Z direction

Definitions

• This invention generally relates to electronic devices, and more specifically relates to sensor devices and using sensor devices for producing user interface inputs.
• Proximity sensor devices are widely used in a variety of electronic systems.
• a proximity sensor device typically includes a sensing region, often demarked by a surface, in which input objects can be detected.
• Example input objects include fingers, styli, and the like.
• the proximity sensor device can utilize one or more sensors based on capacitive, resistive, inductive, optical, acoustic and/or other technology. Further, the proximity sensor device may determine the presence, location and/or motion of a single input object in the sensing region, or of multiple input objects simultaneously in the sensor region.
• the proximity sensor device can be used to enable control of an associated electronic system.
• proximity sensor devices are often used as input devices for larger computing systems, including: notebook computers and desktop computers.
• Proximity sensor devices are also often used in smaller systems, including: handheld systems such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), remote controls, and communication systems such as wireless telephones and text messaging systems.
• PDAs personal digital assistants
• proximity sensor devices are used in media systems, such as CD, DVD, MP3, video or other media recorders or players.
• the proximity sensor device can be integral or peripheral to the computing system with which it interacts.
• some proximity sensors have been implemented with additional ability to detect and determine force applied to a surface of the sensor.
• proximity sensor device For example, by making an estimation of applied force by measuring the increased capacitance that is the result of the increased contact area when a finger is pressed against the surface.
• some implementations of these proximity sensors have had limited accuracy when estimating applied force using these techniques. Because of questionable accuracy, such sensors have typically had limited ability to use such determined force as a basis for determining user input. This limits the flexibility of the proximity sensor device to function as an input device. Thus, there exists a need for improvements in proximity sensor device, and in particular, the ability of proximity sensor devices to determine and respond to indications of applied force.
• the embodiments of the present invention provide devices and methods that facilitate improved device usability.
• the device and method provide improved user interface functionality by facilitating user input determined from both positional information and force information for each of multiple objects in a sensing region.
• the input device includes a processing system, a sensor configured to sense objects in a sensing region proximate a surface, and a plurality of force sensors.
• the plurality of force sensors are coupled to the surface to provide a plurality of measures of force applied to the surface.
• the processing system is configured to determine positional information for each the multiple objects sensed by the sensor in the sensing region.
• the processing system is configured to determine force information for each of the multiple objects from the determined positional information and the plurality of measures of force applied to the surface.
• device and method provides the ability to determine both positional information and force information for each of multiple objects in a sensing region. This can be used to facilitate improved user interface functionality, for example, by providing for specific user interface actions in response to determined indications of force for multiple objects.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system that includes an input device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 2 is a top view an input device with multiple objects in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 3 is a side view an input device with multiple objects in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIGS 4-7 are top views of input devices in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 8 is a top view of an exemplary proximity sensor using one-dimensional profiles to determine object position.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary electronic system 100 that operates with an input device 1 16.
• the input device 116 can be implemented to function as an interface for the electronic system 100.
• the input device 1 16 has a sensing region 118 and is implemented with a processing system 1 19.
• a processing system 1 19 Not shown in FIG. 1 is an array of sensing electrodes that are adapted to sense objects in the sensing region 118.
• a plurality of force sensors that are coupled to a surface below the sensing region
• the input device 116 is adapted to provide user interface functionality by facilitating data entry responsive to sensed objects and the force applied by such objects.
• the processing system 119 is configured to determine positional information for multiple objects sensed by a sensor in the sensing region 1 18. This positional information can then be used by the system 100 to provide a wide range of user interface functionality.
• the processing system 1 19 is configured to determine force information for each of the multiple objects from the positional information and the plurality of measures of force determined by the force sensors. This force information can then also be used by the system 100 to provide a wide range of user interface functionality. For example, by providing different user interface functions in response to different levels of applied force by each of multiple objects in the sensing region.
• the processing system determines force information for each of the multiple objects from the positional information and the plurality of measures of force determined by the force sensors. This force information can then also be used by the system 100 to provide a wide range of user interface functionality. For example, by providing different user interface functions in response to different levels of applied force by each of multiple objects in the sensing region.
• the processing system 1 19 is configured to determine force information for each of the multiple objects from the positional information and the plurality of measures of force determined by the force sensors. This force information can then also be used by the system 100 to provide a wide range of user interface functionality. For example, by providing different user interface functions in response to different levels of applied force by each of multiple
• input device 116 provides the ability to determine both positional information and force information for each of multiple objects in a sensing region. This can be used to facilitate improved user interface functionality, for example, by providing for specific user interface actions in response to determined indications of force for multiple different objects.
• the processing system 119 is configured to determine the force information for each of the multiple objects using a superposition of the plurality of measures of force based on the positional information for each of the multiple objects. Furthermore, in one specific implementation of this embodiment, the processing system 119 is configured to determine the force information for each of the multiple objects using a pseudo inverse matrix technique. [0020]
• the input device 116 includes a sensing region 118. The input device 1 16 is sensitive to input by one or more input objects (e.g. fingers, styli, etc.), such as the position of an input object 114 within the sensing region 118.
• sensing region as used herein is intended to broadly encompass any space above, around, in and/or near the input device in which sensor(s) of the input device is able to detect user input.
• the sensing region of an input device extends from a surface of the sensor of the input device in one or more directions into space until signal-to-noise ratios prevent sufficiently accurate object detection.
• the distance to which this sensing region extends in a particular direction may be on the order of less than a millimeter, millimeters, centimeters, or more, and may vary significantly with the type of sensing technology used and the accuracy desired.
• embodiments may require contact with the surface, either with or without applied pressure, while others do not. Accordingly, the sizes, shapes, and locations of particular sensing regions may vary widely from embodiment to embodiment.
• Sensing regions with rectangular two-dimensional projected shape are common, and many other shapes are possible. For example, depending on the design of the sensor array and surrounding circuitry, shielding from any input objects, and the like, sensing regions may be made to have two-dimensional projections of other shapes. Similar approaches may be used to define the three-dimensional shape of the sensing region. For example, any combination of sensor design, shielding, signal manipulation, and the like may effectively define a sensing region 118 that extends some distance into or out of the page in FIG. 1.
• the input device 116 suitably detects one or more input objects (e.g. the input object 1 14) within the sensing region 118.
• the input device 1 16 thus includes a sensor (not shown) that utilizes any combination sensor components and sensing technologies to implement one or more sensing regions (e.g. sensing region 118) and detect user input such as presences of object(s).
• Input devices may include any number of structures, such as one or more sensor electrodes, one or more other electrodes, or other structures adapted to detect object presence.
• input devices may use capacitive, resistive, inductive, surface acoustic wave, and/or optical techniques. Many of these techniques are advantageous to ones requiring moving mechanical structures (e.g.
• sensor(s) of the input device 1 16 may use arrays or other patterns of capacitive sensor electrodes to support any number of sensing regions 118.
• the sensor may use capacitive sensing technology in combination with resistive sensing technology to support the same sensing region or different sensing regions. Examples of the types of technologies that may be used to implement the various embodiments of the invention may be found in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,543,591, 5,648,642, 5,815,091, 5,841,078, and 6,249,234.
• a voltage is applied to create an electric field across a sensing surface.
• These capacitive input devices detect the position of an object by detecting changes in capacitance caused by the changes in the electric field due to the object.
• the sensor may detect changes in voltage, current, or the like.
• some capacitive implementations utilize resistive sheets, which may be uniformly resistive.
• the resistive sheets are electrically (usually ohmically) coupled to electrodes.
• these electrodes may be located at corners of the resistive sheet, provide current to the resistive sheet, and detect current drawn away by input devices via capacitive coupling to the resistive sheet.
• these electrodes are located at other areas of the resistive sheet, and drive or receive other forms of electrical signals.
• the sensor electrodes may be considered to be the resistive sheets, the electrodes coupled to the resistive sheets, or the combinations of electrodes and resistive sheets.
• some capacitive implementations utilize transcapacitive sensing methods based on the capacitive coupling between sensor electrodes.
• Transcapacitive sensing methods are sometimes also referred to as "mutual capacitance sensing methods.”
• a transcapacitive sensing method operates by detecting the electric field coupling one or more transmitting electrodes with one or more receiving electrodes. Proximate objects may cause changes in the electric field, and produce detectable changes in the transcapacitive coupling. Sensor electrodes may transmit as well as receive, either simultaneously or in a time-multiplexed manner.
• Sensor electrodes that transmit are sometimes referred to as the “transmitting sensor electrodes,” “driving sensor electrodes,” “transmitters,” or “drivers” - at least for the duration when they are transmitting.
• Other names may also be used, including contractions or combinations of the earlier names (e.g. “driving electrodes” and “driver electrodes")
• Sensor electrodes that receive are sometimes referred to as “receiving sensor electrodes,” “receiver electrodes,” or “receivers” - at least for the duration when they are receiving.
• other names may also be used, including contractions or combinations of the earlier names.
• a transmitting sensor electrode is modulated relative to a system ground to facilitate transmission.
• a receiving sensor electrode is not modulated relative to system ground to facilitate receipt.
• the input device includes a plurality of force sensors.
• the plurality of force sensors are coupled to a surface and are configured to provide a plurality a measures of force applied to the surface.
• the plurality of force sensors may be implemented in a variety of different arrangements.
• the plurality of force sensors can be implemented as three or more force sensors arranged near a perimeter of the sensing region 1 18.
• each of the force sensors may be implemented to measure compression force, expansion force, or both, as it is applied at the surface.
• a variety of different technologies can be used to implement the force sensors.
• the force sensors may be implemented with variety of different technologies, including piezeoelectric force sensors, capacitive force sensors, and resistive force sensors.
• the processing system (or “processor") 119 is coupled to the input device 116 and the electronic system 100.
• Processing systems such as the processing system 1 19 may perform a variety of processes on the signals received from the sensor(s) and force sensors of the input device 1 16. For example, processing systems may select or couple individual sensor electrodes, detect presence/proximity, calculate position or motion information, or interpret object motion as gestures. Processing systems may also calibrate individual force sensors and determine force measurements from data provided by the force sensors.
• the processing system 1 19 may provide electrical or electronic indicia based on positional information and force information of input objects (e.g. input object 1 14) to the electronic system 100.
• input devices use associated processing systems to provide electronic indicia of positional information and force information to electronic systems, and the electronic systems process the indicia to act on inputs from users.
• One exemplary system response is moving a cursor or other object on a display, and the indicia may be processed for any other purpose.
• a processing system may report positional and force information to the electronic system constantly, when a threshold is reached, in response criterion such as an identified stroke of object motion, or based on any number and variety of criteria.
• processing systems may directly process the indicia to accept inputs from the user and cause changes on displays or some other actions without interacting with any external processors.
• processing system is defined to include one or more processing elements that are adapted to perform the recited operations.
• a processing system e.g. the processing system 119
• all processing elements that comprise a processing system are located together, in or near an associated input device.
• the elements of a processing system may be physically separated, with some elements close to an associated input device and some elements elsewhere (such as near other circuitry for the electronic system). In this latter embodiment, minimal processing may be performed by the processing system elements near the input device, and the majority of the processing may be performed by the elements elsewhere, or vice versa.
• a processing system may be physically separate from the part of the electronic system (e.g. the electronic system 100) that it communicates with, or the processing system may be implemented integrally with that part of the electronic system.
• a processing system may reside at least partially on one or more integrated circuits designed to perform other functions for the electronic system aside from implementing the input device.
• the input device is implemented with other input functionality in addition to any sensing regions.
• the input device 116 of FIG. 1 is implemented with buttons or other input devices near the sensing region 1 18.
• the buttons may be used to facilitate selection of items using the proximity sensor device, to provide redundant functionality to the sensing region, or to provide some other functionality or non-functional aesthetic effect. Buttons form just one example of how additional input functionality may be added to the input device 1 16.
• input devices such as the input device 116 may include alternate or additional input devices, such as physical or virtual switches, or additional sensing regions.
• the input device may be implemented with only sensing region input functionality.
• any positional information determined a processing system may be any suitable indicia of object presence.
• processing systems may be implemented to determine "one-dimensional" positional information as a scalar (e.g. position or motion along a sensing region).
• processing systems may also be implemented to determine multidimensional positional information as a combination of values (e.g. two-dimensional horizontal/vertical axes, three-dimensional horizontal/vertical/depth axes, angular/radial axes, or any other combination of axes that span multiple dimensions), and the like.
• Processing systems may also be implemented to determine information about time or history.
• positional information as used herein is intended to broadly encompass absolute and relative position-type information, and also other types of spatial-domain information such as velocity, acceleration, and the like, including measurement of motion in one or more directions.
• Various forms of positional information may also include time history components, as in the case of gesture recognition and the like.
• force information as used herein is intended to broadly encompass force information regardless of format.
• the force information can be provided for each object as a vector or scalar quantity.
• the force information can be provided as an indication that determined force has or has not crossed a threshold amount.
• the force information can also include time history components used for gesture recognition.
• positional information and force information from the processing systems may be used to facilitate a full range of interface inputs, including use of the proximity sensor device as a pointing device for selection, cursor control, scrolling, and other functions.
• an input device such as the input device 1 16 is adapted as part of a touch screen interface.
• a display screen is overlapped by at least a portion of a sensing region of the input device, such as the sensing region 1 18.
• the input device and the display screen provide a touch screen for interfacing with an associated electronic system.
• the display screen may be any type of electronic display capable of displaying a visual interface to a user, and may include any type of LED (including organic LED (OLED)), CRT, LCD, plasma, EL or other display technology.
• OLED organic LED
• the input devices may be used to activate functions on the electronic systems.
• touch screen implementations allow users to select functions by placing one or more objects in the sensing region proximate an icon or other user interface element indicative of the functions.
• the input devices may be used to facilitate other user interface interactions, such as scrolling, panning, menu navigation, cursor control, parameter adjustments, and the like.
• the input devices and display screens of touch screen implementations may share physical elements extensively. For example, some display and sensing technologies may utilize some of the same electrical components for displaying and sensing.
• the input device 116 is adapted to provide user interface functionality by facilitating data entry responsive to sensed proximate objects and the force applied by such objects.
• the processing system 119 is configured to determine positional information for multiple objects sensed by a sensor in the sensing region 118.
• the processing system 1 19 is configured to determine force information for each of the multiple objects from the determined positional information and the plurality of measures of force applied to the surface.
• the processing system 119 of input device 116 provides the ability to determine both positional information and force information for each of multiple objects in a sensing region. This may be used to facilitate improved user interface functionality, for example, by providing for specific user interface actions in response to determined indications of position and force for multiple different objects.
• FIGS. 2 and 3 show top and side views of an exemplary input device 200.
• user's fingers 202 and 204 provide input to the device 200.
• the input device 200 is configured to determine the position of the fingers 202 and 204 within the sensing region 206 using a sensor.
• a capacitive proximity sensor employing a plurality of sensor electrodes, may be configured to detect objects such as the fingers 202 and 204 by detecting changes in transcapacitive coupling between sensor electrodes and to determine the position of the fingers from the detected changes in transcapacitive coupling.
• the input device 200 is further configured to determine the force applied to the surface 208 by the fingers 202 and 204.
• a plurality of force sensors 210 are arranged about the sensing region 206. Each of these force sensors provides a measure of the force applied to the surface 208 by the fingers.
• the processing system is configured to determine the force applied by each individual finger 202 and 204 using the position of the fingers determined by the sensor and the measures of force provided by the force sensors 210.
• the determined force is a determined amount of force applied by each individual finger of multiple fingers at the surface 208.
• the system may respond differently depending upon which fingers are pressing with what force.
• the ability to determine the force applied for each of multiple fingers, and to provide different input actions in response to such determined forces, provides a wide flexibility in facilitating user input options.
• the embodiments of invention may be used to enable a variety of different capabilities on the input device. For example, it may be used to enable any type of user input based on both force and proximity indications. For example, "press to select" gestures where proximity indications can be used for cursor control and force indications used to select an element. As other examples, continuous measurements of force and proximity for multiple objects may be used for continuation gestures, such as extended zooming, extended scrolling, or extended rotating. In each of these cases, the increased force indications may be used to extend the response, and thus may be used to selectively continue the response. In these cases, it is particularly useful to determine the force and proximity of multiple objects simultaneously, as this provides increased flexibility in determining the intent of the user.
• a plurality of force sensors are arranged about the sensor and configured to provide a measure of the force applied to the surface.
• Each of these individual force sensors may be implemented with any suitable force sensing technology.
• the force sensors may be implemented with piezeoelectric force sensors, capacitive force sensors, resistive strain gauges and/or force sensing resistors.
• the force sensors may be implemented to measure compression force (i.e., force applied toward the sensor), expansion force (i.e., force applied away from the sensor), or both.
• the force sensors are configured to each provide a measure of the force applied to the surface.
• the sensing element of the force sensor may be directly affixed to the surface.
• the sensing element may be directly affixed to the underside of the surface or other layer.
• each force sensor may provide a measure of the force that is being applied to the surface by virtue of being directly coupled to the surface.
• the force sensor may be indirectly coupled to the surface. For example, through intermediate coupling structures that transfer force, intermediate material layers or both. In any such case, the force sensors are again configured to each provide a measure of the force applied to the surface.
• a plurality of force sensors are arranged about the sensor.
• aspects of the invention allow a relatively small number of force sensors to be used while still providing the ability to determine the force applied to the surface by each of multiple objects.
• two force sensors are arranged about a sensor.
• three force sensors are arranged about the sensor.
• four or more sensors are arranged about the sensors.
• a larger number of sensors will generally provide increased accuracy, and in some cases increased redundancy, but the addition of extra sensors will also increase cost and complexity. For these reasons in most embodiments it will be desirable to use between three and eight force sensors about a sensing area.
• each of the plurality of force sensors near the perimeter edge of the sensor and to space the sensors to the greatest extent possible, as this will tend to maximize the accuracy of the sensing measurements. In most cases this will position the sensors near the outer edge of the sensing region. In other cases, it may be near the outer edge of the touch surface, while the sensing region may extend beyond the surface for some distance. Finally, in other embodiments one or more the sensors may be positioned in the interior of the sensor.
• FIG. 2 In the example of FIG. 2, four force sensors 210 are positioned near the perimeter of the rectangular sensing region 206 and beneath the surface 208.
• FIG. 4 another example of an input device 400 is illustrated.
• three force sensors 410 are positioned within the perimeter of the sensing region 406 and beneath the surface 408.
• the force sensors 410 are position farther away from the perimeter than those illustrated in FIG. 2.
• FIG. 5 another example of an input device 500 is illustrated.
• five force sensors 510 are positioned within the perimeter of the sensing region 506 and beneath the surface 508.
• one of the force sensors 510 is positioned in the center area of the sensing region 506, while the other four sensors 510 are positioned nearer the perimeter of the sensing region 506.
• FIG. 6 another example of an input device 600 is illustrated.
• four force sensors 610 are positioned within the perimeter of the sensing region 606 and beneath the surface 608.
• each of the force sensors 610 provides a measure of force over a larger rectangular area.
• This type of sensor may be implemented with a force sensing resistor or suitable device.
• the embodiments of the invention may also be applied to different shapes of input devices.
• FIG. 7 another example of an input device 700 is illustrated.
• three force sensors 710 are positioned within the perimeter of the sensing region 706 and beneath the surface 708, where the sensing region 706 has a circular shape.
• the sensor may provide position information in different coordinate systems, such as in a polar coordinates.
• x-y coordinate systems either directly or through coordinate conversion in such a sensor may also be provided.
• FIGS. 2-7 illustrate various sensing regions and surfaces that are largely coextensive, that this is not required in all embodiments.
• the shape of the sensing region may extend well beyond the primary surface that is presented to the user. In other embodiments, the opposite may be true.
• the surface and other layers of the input device may be implemented with different types of materials having different physical properties.
• the surface may be implemented with materials having different levels of physical rigidity.
• the surface will significantly deflect and bend with the application of force by a user.
• the surface will have greater rigidity and thus will be largely immune to bending during normal usage.
• These different implementations may give the user different user experiences. For example, facilitating deflection provides a lever of feedback to the user that corresponds to the force they are applying.
• the sensor may be configured with structures that provide room for the sensing layers to bend appropriately. For example, with the use of spring-like structures.
• the techniques used in the determination of force for each of multiple objects in the sensing region may be adapted to account for the amount of deflection that may occur in the surface during use.
• the techniques use the position information for each object determined by the sensor and the plurality of measures of force to determine an amount of applied force for each object.
• the technique uses superposition of the plurality of measures of force based on the positional information for each of the multiple objects to determine the force applied for each object. In one implementation of this embodiment, this superposition is calculated using a pseudo-inverse matrix technique.
• an input device may be provided with four force sensors, each providing a force measurement ( F TL , F TR , F BL , F BR ).
• the input device is configured to determine positional information for multiple objects using a sensor, such as a capacitive proximity sensor.
• a sensor such as a capacitive proximity sensor.
• the position of objects within the sensing region is expressed using x and y coordinate position values.
• the position of two detected objects in the sensing region may be expressed as values (x 0 , y 0 ), ⁇ x x , y x ) .
• Equation 1 can be written in shorthand matrix form as:
• the processing system can solve for the force values F 0 , F X for both objects.
• the pseudo-inverse matrix technique uses a pseudo-inverse matrix technique to solve for the force values F 0 , F X for both objects.
• this technique (sometimes referred as a generalized inverse technique) provides a technique that may be used to solve over-determined systems where there are more equations than unknowns by minimizing the error in the solution.
• this technique is configured to minimize a global error.
• this technique is configured to minimize a least mean squares error.
• the pseudo-inverse matrix technique minimizes the error to provide a solution to the set of equations. It should be noted the pseudo-inverse matrix technique is just one example of the types of the techniques that may be used, and in general, any technique that may be used to solve an over-determined system may be used.
• the processing system may receive the position information for each of two objects (x 0 , y 0 ), (x y x ) , four measured force values (F TL , F TR , F BL , F BR ), and from this determine the individual forces (F 0 , F l ) that are being applied by each of the two objects.
• Such a system may also solve for the forces applied to the surface by three objects (F 0 , F 1 , F 2 ) as long as the three objects are in a non-collinear arrangement.
• the matrix equation :
• This matrix equation describes a set of four equations with three unknowns, and the processing system may be adapted to solve for those unknowns using the same pseudo-inverse relationship described above.
• the input device may be implemented with a variety of different materials, including surface materials with different levels of rigidity.
• the system may be configured to account for those deflections. This will result in a more accurate determination of the applied forces in these embodiments.
• an input device may again be provided with four force sensors, each providing a force measurement ( F TL , F TR , F BL , F BR ).
• the position of two detected objects in the sensing region again be determined by the sensor and expressed as position values (x 0 , y 0 ), (x 1 , y 1 ) .
• position values (x 0 , y 0 ), (x 1 , y 1 )
• W x H Assuming deflection of the surface in response to the applied force, and again assuming a rectangular sensor size of W x H, the relationship between the position of two detected objects (x 0 , y 0 ), (x 1 , y 1 ) , four measured force values
• the matrix Equation 5 again describes a set of four equations with two unknowns (i.e., the forces F 0 , F l applied by the objects). These two unknowns may again be solved for using a pseudo-inverse matrix technique or any other suitable technique for solving an over- determined system.
• Such a system may again also solve for the forces applied to the surface by three objects (F 0 , F 1 , F 2 ) as long as the three objects are in a non-collinear arrangement.
• the matrix equation :
• This matrix equation describes a set of four equations with three unknowns, and the processing system may be adapted to solve for those unknowns using the same pseudo-inverse relationship described above.
• the relationships defined in Equations 5 and 6 can likewise be adapted to sensors with different numbers, shapes and configurations of force sensors.
• the force values may be used to facilitate a wide array of user interface functionality.
• the system may be used to enable any type of user input based on both force and proximity indications. For example, continuous measurements of force and proximity for multiple objects may be used for extended zooming, scrolling or rotating. It may also be used for virtual keyboard applications and press to select gestures.
• the measures of force provided by the force sensors may also be used to disambiguate object position.
• the presence of two objects in the sensing region can lead to ambiguity in object position. This is typically an issue in input devices that use capacitive proximity sensors configured to generate one-dimensional profiles and generate object position from those one-dimensional profiles.
• the input device 800 includes an array of sensing electrodes 803 and four force sensors Fl, F2, F3, and F4. Also illustrated are X and Y coordinate profiles 801 that may be generated from the presence of two objects in the sensing region of electrodes 803. As shown in FIG. 8 with the X and Y coordinate profile data alone, ambiguity exists as to whether the two objects are in positions 802 or in positions 804 (with the potential positions illustrated as dashed ovals in FIG. 8), as either option results in the same illustrated X and Y coordinate profiles 801.
• the measures of force provided by the force sensors F 1 - F4 may be used to disambiguate the position of the objects. Specifically, because applied force is higher at sensors that are closer to the objects, the measures of force may be used to determine in which of the two locations the objects are actually positioned. For example, if force sensors Fl and F3 measures significantly larger force than sensors F2 and F4, this indicates that the objects are likely at positions 802. Conversely, if the force sensors F2 and F4 measure significantly larger force than sensors F l and F3, this indicates that the objects are likely at positions 804. Thus, the measures of force can be used to disambiguate the position of the two objects.
• the individual force values for each object can be calculated as described above.
• the measured values from the force sensors may be used for both disambiguating object position, and with the object position determined, for determining the force applied by each individual object.
• Using the force sensor to disambiguate may allow for the use of low cost profile sensors that otherwise may not be able to disambiguate multiple finger positions under certain circumstances.
• the embodiments of the present invention provide devices and methods that facilitate user input determined from both positional information and force information for each of multiple objects in a sensing region.
• the processing system is configured to determine positional information for each the multiple objects sensed by the sensor in the sensing region.
• the processing system is configured to determine force information for each of the multiple objects from the positional information and the plurality of measures of force applied to the surface.
• the devices and methods provide the ability to determine both positional information and force information for each of multiple objects in a sensing region. This can be used to facilitate improved user interface functionality, for example, by providing for specific user interface actions in response to determined indications of force for multiple objects.

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