Finger sensor with data throttling and associated methods

A finger sensing device comprising:

• a finger sensing area to receive a user's finger moved in a sliding motion;
• a sensor controller cooperating with said finger sensing area for collecting image data therefrom at different sampling intervals;
• an image processor;
• and
• at least one of said sensor controller and said image processor for performing the following steps
• (i) selecting a reference image data subset based upon reference image data,
• (ii) selecting a new image data subset, and
• (iii) comparing the new image data subset to the reference image data subset to develop a matching score, and, if the matching score is above a matching threshold, then not having new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent to said image processor, and, if the matching score is below the matching threshold, then having the new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent to said image processor;
• the sampling interval being increased based upon a first number of successive new image data subsets being above the matching threshold, and the dynamic scan rate being increased based upon a second number of successive new image data subsets being below the matching threshold.

An electronic device comprising:

• a housing;
• a finger sensor carried by said housing and comprising
• a finger sensing area to receive a user's finger moved in a sliding motion, and
• a sensor controller cooperating with said finger sensing area for collecting image data therefrom;
• an image processor carried by said housing;
• and
• a communications path for sending image data from said sensor controller to said image processor;
• at least one of said sensor controller and said image processor for performing the following steps
• (i) selecting a reference image data subset based upon reference image data,
• (ii) selecting a new image data subset, and
• (iii) comparing the new image data subset to the reference image data subset to develop a matching score, and, if the matching score is above a matching threshold, then not having new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent over said data communications path, and, if the matching score is below the matching threshold, then having the new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent over said data communications path.

A method for operating a finger sensing device comprising a finger sensing area to receive a user's finger moved in a sliding motion, a sensor controller cooperating with the finger sensing area for collecting image data therefrom, an image processor, and a communications path for sending image data from the sensor controller to the image processor, the method comprising

• using at least one of the sensor controller and the image processor for performing the following steps
• (i) selecting a reference image data subset based upon reference image data,
• (ii) selecting a new image data subset, and
• (iii) comparing the new image data subset to the reference image data subset to develop a matching score, and, if the matching score is above a matching threshold, then not having new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent over the data communications path, and, if the matching score is below the matching threshold, then having the new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent over the data communications path.

A method for operating a finger sensing device comprising a finger sensing area to receive a user's finger moved in a sliding motion, a sensor controller cooperating with the finger sensing area for collecting image data therefrom at different sampling intervals, an image processor, the method comprising:

• using at least one of the sensor controller and the image processor for performing the following steps
• (i) selecting a reference image data subset based upon reference image data,
• (ii) selecting a new image data subset, and
• (iii) comparing the new image data subset to the reference image data subset to develop a matching score, and, if the matching score is above a matching threshold, then not having new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent to the image processor, and, if the matching score is below the matching threshold, then having the new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent to the image processor;
• increasing the sampling interval based upon a first number of successive new image data subsets being above the matching threshold;
• and
• decreasing the sampling interval based upon a second number of successive new image data subsets being below the matching threshold.

An image sensing device comprising:

• an image sensing area;
• a sensor controller cooperating with said image sensing area for collecting image data therefrom;
• an image processor;
• and
• a communications path for sending image data from said sensor controller to said image processor;
• at least one of said sensor controller and said image processor for performing the following steps
• (i) selecting a reference image data subset based upon reference image data,
• (ii) selecting a new image data subset, and
• (iii) comparing the new image data subset to the reference image data subset to develop a matching score, and, if the matching score is above a matching threshold, then not having new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent over said data communications path, and, if the matching score is below the matching threshold, then having the new image data corresponding to the new image data subset sent over said data communications path.