# US 8,786,561 B2 · Disambiguating intentional and incidental contact and motion in multi-touch pointing devices > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,786,561 B2 - Document ID: US8786561B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/110,013 - Filed: 2011-05-18 - Published: 2012-11-22 - Granted: 2014-07-22 - Earliest claimed: 2011-05-18 - Assignees: Microsoft Corporation - Applicants: Christopher Stoumbos; John Miller; Robert Young; Hrvoje Benko; David Perek; Peter Ansell; Oyvind Haehre - Inventors: Christopher Stoumbos; John Miller; Robert Young; Hrvoje Benko; David Perek; Peter Ansell; Oyvind Haehre - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8786561B2 ## CPC - G06F 3/0488: using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures - G06F 3/03543: {Mice or pucks (G06F3/03541 takes precedence)} - G06F 3/038: Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry - G06F 3/04186: {Touch location disambiguation} - G06F 3/04883: for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text - 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 - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract An input device has both a touch sensor and a position sensor. A computer using data from the input device uses the relative motion of a contact on a touch sensor with respect to motion from a position detector to disambiguate intentional from incidental motion. The input device provides synchronized position sensor and touch sensor data to the computer to permit processing the relative motion and performing other computations on both position sensor and touch sensor data. The input device can encode the magnitude and direction of motion of the position sensor and combines it with the touch sensor data from the same time frame, and output the synchronized data to the computer. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A process comprising: receiving touch sensor data from a touch sensor on a device and position data from a position sensor indicating movement of the device into memory; comparing, with a processing device, motion of a contact on the touch sensor with direction of motion of the device indicated by the position sensor, to provide a comparison result; and providing information about the contact on the touch sensor based on the comparison result. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The process of claim 1, wherein if motion of a contact is the same direction as motion of the device indicated by the position sensor, then motion of the contact is indicated as intentional. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The process of claim 2, wherein if motion of a contact is an opposite direction as motion of the device indicated by the position sensor, then motion of the contact is indicated as incidental. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The process of claim 1, wherein if motion of a contact is an opposite direction as motion of the device indicated by position sensor, then motion of the contact is indicated as incidental. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The process of claim 1, wherein the received touch sensor data and position data are from the same time frame. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The process of claim 1, wherein the received position sensor data comprises data describing a direction and magnitude of motion of the device. ### Claim 7 A multi-touch pointing device, comprising: a touch sensor on the pointing device having an output indicating contact with the touch sensor; a position sensor having an output indicating direction of movement of the pointing device; and a processing device having inputs connected to receive the outputs of the touch sensor and the position sensor, and synchronizing information about the output of the position sensor and the output of the touch sensor from the same time frame, to provide an output of the multi-touch pointing device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The multi-touch pointing device of claim 7, wherein the processing device comprises: a motion calculator having a first input for receiving the position sensor data for a first sample time and a second input for receiving the position sensor data for a second sample time and an output providing an encoding of a direction of motion of pointing device indicated by the position sensor, and a synchronization module having a first input for receiving the output of the touch sensor and a second input for receiving the output of the motion calculator from the same time frame and an output providing the synchronized inputs as the output of the multi-touch pointing device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The multi-touch pointing device of claim 8, wherein the information about the output of the position sensor comprises motion of the pointing device. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The multi-touch pointing device of claim 8 wherein the output of the motion calculator encodes direction and magnitude of motion of the pointing device. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The multi-touch pointing device of claim 7, wherein the information about the output of the position sensor comprises motion of the pointing device. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The multi-touch pointing device of claim 7, wherein the synchronized information comprises a direction of motion of the pointing device and data output from the touch sensor. ### Claim 13 A computing machine comprising: a memory for storing information describing motion of a contact on a touch sensor on an input device and information describing motion of the input device indicated by a position sensor on the input device; a processing device including a comparator having a first input for receiving information describing the motion of the contact on the touch sensor and a second input for receiving information describing direction of the motion of the input device from the position sensor, and an output providing a comparison result. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The computing machine of claim 13, wherein if motion of a contact is the same direction as motion of the input device indicated by the position sensor, then motion of the contact is indicated as intentional. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The computing machine of claim 14, wherein if motion of a contact is an opposite direction as motion of the input device indicated by the position sensor, then motion of the contact is indicated as incidental. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The computing machine of claim 15, wherein the information describing motion of a contact on the touch sensor data and the information describing motion of the input device are from the same time frame. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The computing machine of claim 13, wherein if motion of a contact is an opposite direction as motion of the input device indicated by the position sensor, then motion of the contact is indicated as incidental. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The computing machine of claim 13, wherein the information describing motion of a contact on the touch sensor data and the information describing motion of the input device are from the same time frame. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The computing machine of claim 18, wherein the information describing motion of the input device comprises data describing a direction and magnitude of motion. ### Claim 20 (depends on 13) The computing machine of claim 13, wherein the information describing motion of the input device comprises data describing a direction and magnitude of motion.