Apple files new patent for wide touchpad for notebooks

Posted by Dennis Sellers Mar 2, 2006 at 7:07pm

On March 2, the US Patent & Trademark Office revealed an Apple patent concerning a wide touchpad, originally filed on Aug. 25, 2004.

Apple’s abstract

In one exemplary embodiment, a portable computer having a display assembly coupled to a base assembly to alternate between a closed position and an open position. Palm rest areas are formed by a touchpad disposed on the surface of the base assembly. In an alternative embodiment, a touchpad disposed on the base assembly has a width that extends substantially into the palm rests areas of the base assembly.

Apple’s summary

Embodiments of a portable computer having one or more input devices including a keyboard and an enlarged or wide touchpad are described herein. A portable computer includes a display assembly and a base assembly coupled by hinge assembly that allows display assembly to change (i.e., rotate) between an open position and a closed position. The display assembly includes a display screen which displays images, data, and a moveable cursor. The wide touchpad and keyboard disposed on the base assembly allow a user to interact with the display screen (e.g., enter data). In one embodiment, the wide touchpad may be a cursor control device having the capabilities of conventional computer mouse devices, such as the ability to point, drag, tap, and double tap objects on a graphical user interface, as well as more general purposes such as scrolling, panning, zooming, and rotating images on display screen. The wide touchpad extends into the areas on the surface of the base assembly that are normally reserved for palm rest areas (e.g., flat areas on the surface of the base assembly that support a user’s palms and/or wrists while typing).

In one embodiment, the wide touchpad filters each contact or contact patch sensed to either accept the contact as an intentional input command (e.g., cursor control command), or reject the contact as unintentional (e.g., when operating as a palm rest). The wide touchpad can filter multiple contact patches in order to accept a particular contact patch in one area of the touchpad while rejecting a second contact patch elsewhere on the wide touchpad. In one embodiment, a sensor is disposed between the keyboard and touchpad. The sensor defines a planar sensing region extending upwards from the top surface of the base assembly. The sensor detects a user’s hand that may be resting on the base assembly with a palm portion making contact with a portion of the wide touchpad and the fingers extending toward keyboard. When this detection is made, any contact made with a corresponding portion of the touchpad is rejected, having been interpreted as unintentional contact by the user. Alternatively, detection of fingers extending toward the keyboard may be evaluated as one of many factors used to decide whether and what significance to accord to contact with the touchpad. For example, other factors may include the profile of the contact with the touchpad, the level of keyboard activity at the time of contact, etc. In this way, the touchpad may effectively serve as a palm rest (e.g., the user may intentionally rest one or more palm or other part of a hand or arm on a portion of the touchpad, which is recognized as an unintentional input) in addition to a functional touchpad when an input is interpreted as being an intentional contact by the user.

There are numerous other embodiments which are described herein, and these embodiments generally relate to portable computers having a wide touchpad and the accepting or rejecting of contact patches on the touchpad based on, in one example, hand location.

Excerpts from “detailed description”

The following are only excerpts from the portion of the patent titled “Detailed Description.”

In one embodiment, the touchpad possesses the ability to reject accidental contact when a user does not intend to activate the touchpad (e.g., the touchpad is able to distinguish when a user is contacting the touchpad for intended use or is merely resting his or her palms on a particular portion of the touchpad during a typing activity). In one particular embodiment, a sensor is disposed near the touchpad and keyboard of the portable computer to sense hand location of a user, and subsequently determine whether the touchpad contact is intentional or accidental. The touchpad responds properly by either recognizing the action on the touchpad or rejecting the action. As a result, the user is able to work efficiently, allowing for typing and cursor control operations to occur seamlessly. In one embodiment, the enlarged touchpad/palm rest may be suitable for use with portable computers having base and display assemblies (e.g., display frame, base assembly housing) made entirely or partially of metallic materials, in particular, display and base housings made of metals such as steel, aluminum, titanium, or combinations thereof.

The dimensions of touchpad 224, particularly the width (i.e., the distance parallel the row of keys on keyboard 222), are larger than conventional touchpads. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, touchpad 224 extends into the areas on the surface 232 of base assembly 220 that are normally reserved for palm rest areas (e.g., areas 252, 254, designated by circled hash marks), but still allows a user to rest his or her palms on the surface of touchpad 224. Alternatively, in addition to possessing conventional touchpad functionalities, all or particular portions of touchpad 224 may serve as palm rests for a user’s hands. It should be noted that palm rest areas 252, 254 as described herein are not necessarily reserved only for a user’s palms during a typing activity as other body parts may be placed on palm rest areas 252, 254. For example, a user’s elbow or forearm may rest on any non-keyboard portion of base assembly 220 during use (e.g., leaning on the palm rest portion 254 with the left elbow or forearm while typing with the right hand).

About Figure 3

Patent FIG. 3 (above) illustrates a top view of portable computer 200 in the open position with touchpad 224 that extends into the palm rest areas on top surface 232.

In one embodiment, touchpad 224, having particularly wide dimension, is divided into three regions, a left region 242, a center region 244, and a right region 246. Sensor 240, which in one embodiment is a sensor strip having a width substantially similar to a width of touchpad 224, is disposed between keyboard 222 and touchpad 224. The three regions of touchpad 224 may be activated or deactivated selectively, based on a particular touch region or “contact patch” sensed by touchpad 224 in association with the particular region of sensor 240 that detects a hand portion or fingers extending towards the keys of keyboard 222. In an alternative embodiment, only the specific contact patch in a region (and not the entire region) may be accepted or rejected selectively. It will be recognized that other configurations of sensor 240 are possible, for example, sensor 240 may be multiple sensors, or may not be coextensive with touchpad 224.

Referring again to FIG. 3, inside base assembly 220, there may be all the essential and well known electronic circuitry for the operation of portable computer 200, such as a central processing unit (CPU), memory, hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, flash memory drive, input/output circuitry, and power supply. Such electronic circuitry for a portable computer is well known in the art; for example, a portable computer is the Macintosh PowerBook from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

About figures 4 & 5

Patent FIGS. 4-6 illustrate three of many possible scenarios (i.e., hand positions) of user activity with portable computer 200 and the recognition by the three regions of touchpad 224 that may either accept or reject contact. FIG. 4 illustrates a typical typing position by a user in which the fingers of left hand 280 and right hand 282 extend over keyboard 222 and both palms rest on regions of touchpad 224. In particular, left hand 280 rests entirely on left region 242, and right hand 282 rests on right region 246. Sensor 240 detects the extension of the fingers from left hand 280 and associates the fingers with the contact made on left region 242. Similarly, sensor 240 associates the fingers from right hand 282 with the contact made on right region 246. Accordingly, the contact patches on left region 242 and right region 246 are not recognized as any form of input or touchpad operation. The user’s hands may rest comfortably on these regions of touchpad 224, and in doing so, left region 242 and right region 246 serve as palm rests. In contrast, center region 244 of touchpad 224 may be active and be responsive to touchpad sensing.

Patent FIG. 5 illustrates another scenario in which the fingers of left hand 280 extend over the keys of keyboard 222 while a finger from right hand 282 makes contact with touchpad 224. In this scenario, the contact made by right hand 282 is intentional and meant to activate a touchpad action (e.g., pointing, dragging, [and] tapping). Sensor 240 detects the extension of the fingers from left hand 280 and associates the fingers with the contact made on left region 242. For right hand 282, the fingers do not extend over keyboard 222 and no detection is made by sensor 240. Accordingly, the contact patch on left region 242 is not recognized as any form of touchpad operation. However, the contact patch on right region 246 of touchpad 224 is recognized as a valid touchpad activity, and responds with the appropriate touchpad command (e.g., dragging, pointing). The user’s left hand 280 may rest comfortably on left region 242 of touchpad 224 and engage in typing activity, while the fingers from right hand 282 engage in touchpad activity. In one embodiment, center region 244 of touchpad 224 may also be active and be responsive to touchpad sensing.

Patent FIG. 6 illustrates a third scenario in which both left hand 280 and right hand 282 do not extend over keyboard 222. This hand position may occur when the user engages only in touchpad activity. In this scenario, portions of left hand 280 rests on left region 242 while a finger from right hand 282 engages in touchpad activity, and no portions from either hand extend over keyboard 222. The contact patch made by the finger of right hand 282 is intentional and meant to activate a touchpad action/input (e.g., pointing, dragging, tapping). The contact patches made by left hand 280 is unintentional. Although no detection is made by sensor 240, touchpad 224 recognizes various characteristics of the contact patches made by the user’s hands. In this case, the multiple contact patches recognized in left region 242, taking into consideration the size of the patches and proximity, are interpreted by touchpad 224 as unintentional. Accordingly, the activity in left region 242 is disregarded. Alternatively, all of left region 242 may be inactivated or the inputs are ignored or filtered. However, the single contact patch on right region 246 of touchpad 224 is recognized as a valid touchpad activity, and responds with the appropriate touchpad command (e.g., dragging, pointing). In one embodiment, center region 244 of touchpad 224 may also be active and be responsive to touchpad sensing.

In an alternative embodiment, touchpad 224 is capable of multiple or two-handed input. With reference again to FIG. 6, touchpad 224 may accept the contact patch from the finger of right hand 282 for cursor control operation. The contact patches from left hand 280 may also be accepted when associated with touchpad input device functionality. For example, two fingers from left hand 280 may be used to control scrolling, panning, rotation, and zooming of objects or data on the display screen (e.g., display screen 212).

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate touchpad 224 as being divided into three distinct sensing regions. However, it may be appreciated that any number of sensing regions may be divided over touchpad 224, and not necessarily in the relative dimensions illustrated. For example, sensor 240 can detect the extension and retraction of one finger at a time to that a single finger can be moved back and forth between touchpad 224 and keyboard 222, being active in both places, without moving the entire hand. It will also be recognized that touchpad 224 can be activated/deactivated in portions. It can also be activated/deactivated one input (i.e., contact patch) at a time, by disregarding any particular input that is determined to be related to unintended contact rather than intentional interface activity. That is, touchpad 224 is “deactivated” if it disregards a particular input, even if the next input may be not disregarded.

About Figures 7-9

FIGS. 7-9 illustrate in greater detail, in one embodiment, the sensing of a user’s fingers over the keys of keyboard 222. In the side view of FIG. 7, left hand 280 is illustrated in a typing position with respect to portable computer 200 in the open position (i.e., display assembly 210 rotated open relative to base assembly 220). Palm 281 rests on touchpad 224, and fingers 283 extend over sensor 240 and keyboard 222. As described above, the palm rest for palm 281 includes touchpad 224 because of the extra-wide or elongated dimensions of touchpad 224. Patent FIG. 8 illustrates a cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 taken along line A-A through base assembly 220, sensor 240, and left hand 280. In one embodiment, sensor 240 includes a first imaging sensor 275 and a second imaging sensor 276. The imaging sensors may be infrared (IR) sensors that look “upward” (designated by the dash lines) and “see” the cross-sectional view of A-A. First and second imaging sensors 275, 276 examine a planar region in space extending upwards from the general line of sensor 240.

For example, the fingers 283 of left hand 280 that breaks the planar region examined by first sensor 275. The sensing of fingers 283 may be associated with the contact patch made by palm 281 on touchpad 224 (e.g., on left region 242 as illustrated in FIG. 4), and as a result, either the entire left region 242 would not be active for any type of touchpad operation or the particular contact patch made by the palm 281would be rejected, allowing for palm 281 to rest on touchpad 224. Because second sensor 276 does not detect any breaks along its portion of the planar region, portions of touchpad 224 associated with second sensor 276 are responsive to touchpad commands or operations (e.g., middle region 244 and right region 246).

Patent FIG. 9 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a sensor mechanism for sensor 240. Multiple optical emitter-detector pairs (e.g., pairs 277, 278) are disposed along the sensor strip area to detect the presence or absence of a user’s hand in the sensed plane (i.e., a planar region in space extending upwards from the general line of sensor 240). The results produced by the emitter-detectors pairs are similar to that produced by the IR sensors (e.g., first and second sensors 275, 276) described above with respect to FIG. 8. The fingers 283 of left hand 280 breaks the planar region examined by the emitter-detector pairs 277, 278 near one side of sensor 240. The sensing of fingers 283 may be associated with the contact patch made by palm 281 on touchpad 224 (e.g., on left region 242 as illustrated in FIG. 4), and as a result, either the entire left region 242 would not be active for any type of touchpad operation or the particular contact patch made by the palm 281 would be rejected, allowing for palm 281 to rest on touchpad 224. The emitter-detector pairs 277, 278 do not detect any breaks along the planar region near the other end of fingers 283. Accordingly, portions of touchpad 224 associated with the undetected sensor regions would be responsive to touchpad commands or operations (e.g., middle region 244 and right region 246).

The infrared sensors of first sensor 275 and second sensor 276, as well as optical emitter-detector pairs 277, 278 are just two of many possible sensing mechanism that may be used for detecting a hand location. In alternative embodiments, sensor 240 may be a capacitive sensor or visible light/shadow sensor. It may be appreciated that sensor 240 does not necessarily have to be utilized with an enlarged or wide touchpad, as illustrated, for detecting a hand location. The IR sensors and optical emitter-detector sensors described herein may be associated with touchpad of any dimension (e.g., a touchpad having dimensions comparable to the dimensions of center region 244).

About Figure 11

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, a sensor is disposed on the base assembly of a portable computer to detect a hand location. If the hand location extends from a contact patch on the touchpad to the keyboard, that particular contact patch may be recognized by the computer system as an unintentional or accidental contact, and therefore not registered as a touchpad command. FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of one embodiment of an operation 400 for rejecting or accepting a contact patch on a touchpad in association with a hand location. The operation may be performed for each contact patch detected on the touchpad. In one embodiment, a capacitive touchpad (e.g., touchpad 224) disposed on a top surface (e.g., surface 232) of a base assembly (e.g., 220) senses a contact patch on the touchpad. Any contact sensed by the touchpad may undergo a post processor algorithm in order interpret the contact properly. In one embodiment, the post processor is defined herein to be the software or firmware that converts the information coming from the touchpad sensor into a format that can be interpreted by the portable computer (e.g., processor 302). The post processor has as inputs, the touchpad outputs, which may include any type of physical contact made with the touchpad. The post processor then uses the “post processor algorithm” to analyze each set of inputs (location, width, number of contacts, presence of contact, and hand location) to determine whether the contact patch should be accepted or rejected.

The starting point 402 of operation 400 may be when the portable computer is in a power “ON” state, with the display screen visible (e.g., displaying an image or data) and the various input devices (e.g., keyboard 222, sensor 240, and touchpad 224) in active and responsive states. When a contact patch is sensed on the touchpad, a location, trajectory, and size of the contact patch are determined, block 404. Trajectory refers to the path of the contact patch (e.g., movement of a finger on the touchpad during a dragging operation). The contact patch may be for example, the palm region of hand during a typing activity (e.g., palm 281 of FIG. 7) or during a pointing activity (e.g., right hand 282 of FIG. 5). Next, a hand location is made using a sensor (e.g., sensor 240) disposed on the base assembly of the portable computer, block 406. In one embodiment, the sensor may include one or more IR sensors (e.g., sensors 275, 276) disposed along a sensor strip between the keyboard and the touchpad. In an alternative embodiment, the sensors may be pairs of optical emitter-detectors (e.g., pairs 277, 278) disposed along a sensor strip between the keyboard and the touchpad.

Once a hand location is determined, a probability of intentional contact is estimated using the measured quantities of the contact patch location, trajectory, size of the contact patch, in addition to the hand location detected by the sensor, block 406. As discussed above, the touchpad may be divided into multiple sensing regions, for example, a left sensor region 242, center sensor region 244, and right sensor region 246 or there may be separate touchpads, one for each of these regions which are separated by small areas which are not touchpads. For example, the size of a contact patch made by palm 281 resting on left sensor region 242 would be larger compared to a contact patch made by a finger moving during a pointing or dragging cursor operation (e.g., finger of right hand 282 over right sensor region 246 illustrated in FIG. 5). In one embodiment, a contact patch having a relatively small size and a trajectory with a certain distance along the surface of the touchpad, coupled with no detection by the sensor would be initially estimated with a high probability of intentional contact. This may correspond to, for example, a pointing or dragging cursor operation. In contrast, a contact patch of a large size, and with no or minimal trajectory, coupled with detection by the sensor, would be initially estimated with a very low probability of intentional contact. This may correspond to a palm resting on the touchpad surface.

About Figure 12

FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a hand detecting sensor that may be disposed on a portable computer. Portable computer 500 is illustrated in an open position with display assembly 510 rotated open with respect to base assembly 520. Base assembly 520 includes a wide touchpad 524 disposed below keyboard 522. An imaging sensor 545 is disposed on bezel 514 that frames display screen 512. Imaging sensor 545 detects an area of base assembly 520 that includes keyboard 222 and touchpad 524. When activated, imaging sensor 545 may detect a particular hand location and establish accept/reject criteria as described above (e.g., operation 400). In an alternative embodiment, imaging sensor 545 may also provide video-conferencing functionality when not operating as an imaging sensor.

NOTICE

Macsimum News presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.

The patents title is “Wide touchpad on a portable computer.” Inventors listed on this patent were Steven P. Hotelling, Chris ligtenberg, Duncan Kerr, Bartley K. Andre, Joshua A. Strickon, Brian Q. Huppi, Imran Chaudhri, Greg Christle and Bas Ording.

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