Method and apparatus for classifying touch events on a touch sensitive surface
AssigneeCarnegie Mellon University
InventorsChristopher Harrison, Julia Schwarz, Scott E. Hudson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus classifies touch events. The apparatus includes a touch sensitive surface configured to generate a touch event when an object touches the touch sensitive surface. The touch event entails a mechanical vibration upon contact with the surface. The apparatus includes a touch event detector configured to detect the onset of a touch, and a touch event classifier configured to classify the touch event to identify the object used for the touch event. The mechanical vibration is created via any one of finger parts including a tip, a pad, a fingernail, and a knuckle, each of which has a unique feature different from each other.
Claims20
An apparatus for classifying mechanical vibrations in a rigid surface caused by a finger or by a passive object coming into contact with the rigid surface, the apparatus comprising:
- a sampler that receives electrical signals indicative of the mechanical vibrations in the rigid surface, wherein the sampler continuously generates digitized sample segments representative of at least a portion of the mechanical vibrations;
- and
- a processor operatively coupled to a non-transient storage containing instructions which when executed cause the processor to:
- perform digital signal analysis of the digitized sample segments to identify features of the mechanical vibrations;
- and
- classify a combination of individual identified features as one of a plurality of types of touch events, wherein the combination of individual identified features comprises a first plurality of features selected at least in part from a first group consisting of an average absolute amplitude of the at least one of the mechanical vibrations, a total absolute amplitude of the at least one of the mechanical vibrations, and a standard deviation of absolute amplitude of the mechanical vibrations.
A method for classifying mechanical vibrations in a rigid surface caused by a finger or by a passive object coming into contact with the rigid surface, the method comprising:
- sampling electrical signals to generate digitized samples representative of the mechanical vibrations;
- analyzing the digitized samples in order to continuously identify features of the mechanical vibrations, and
- classifying at least one individual identified feature as one of a plurality of touch events, wherein the at least one individual identified feature comprises a plurality of features selected at least in part from a group consisting of an average absolute amplitude of at least one of the mechanical vibrations, a total absolute amplitude of the at least one of the mechanical vibrations, and a standard deviation of absolute amplitude of the mechanical vibrations.
An apparatus for classifying mechanical vibrations in a rigid surface caused by a finger or by a passive object coming into contact with the rigid surface, the apparatus comprising:
- a sampler operatively coupled to receive electrical signals indicative of the mechanical vibrations, wherein the sampler continuously generates digitized sample segments representative of at least a portion of the mechanical vibrations;
- and
- one or more processors operatively coupled to memory and a non-transient storage containing instructions which when executed cause the processor to:
- perform digital signal analysis of the digitized sample segments in order to identify features of the mechanical vibrations, wherein the features comprises a plurality of features selected at least in part from a group consisting of an average absolute amplitude of at least one of the mechanical vibrations, a total absolute amplitude of the at least one of the mechanical vibrations, and a standard deviation of absolute amplitude of the mechanical vibrations;
- and
- classify a feature as one of a plurality of touch events based at least in part on an amount of energy associated with at least two frequency components of the mechanical vibrations over a finite period of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.