Patent · US Active

Touch finding method and apparatus

US8659557B2 · kind B2 · utility

2Cited by
14References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 21, 2008
Grant dateFeb 25, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 10, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2203/04808
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method of determining touches from a data set output from a touch screen comprising an array of sensing nodes. The method comprises analyzing the dataset and identifies a node with a maximum signal value among all unassigned nodes, and, if present, assigns that node to a touch. A logical test is applied to each node that is a neighbor to the assigned node to determine if that node should also be assigned to the touch and the logical test is repeatedly applied to the unassigned neighbors of each newly assigned node until there are no more newly assigned nodes, or no more unassigned nodes, thereby assigning a group of nodes to the touch defining its area. This process can be repeated until all of the nodes of a touch panel are assigned to a touch. The method is ideally suited to implementation on a microcontroller. Therefore, although the kind of processing power being considered is extremely modest in the context of a microprocessor or digital signal processor, it is not insignificant for a microcontroller, or other low specification item, which has memory as well as processing constraints.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.