Apple files patent for multipoint touchscreen for Tablet PC, iPod, more

Posted by Dennis Sellers May 11, 2006 at 9:40am

On May 11, the US Patent & Trademark Office revealed an Apple patent titled “Multipoint touchscreen,” originally filed in May 2004. The multipoint touchscreens could apply to a stand alone tablet PC or be integrated into desktops, laptops, the iPod, camera, PDA or other devices.

This report only covers the basics and potential markets of this technology. In my view, Apple must be very close to launching this technology because the depth of technicality presented in this patent is detailed in the extreme

Multipoint touchscreen overview

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a display arrangement 30, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The display arrangement 30 includes a display 34 and a transparent touch screen 36 positioned in front of the display 34. The display 34 is configured to display a graphical user interface (GUI) including perhaps a pointer or cursor as well as other information to the user. The transparent touch screen 36, on the other hand, is an input device that is sensitive to a user’s touch, allowing a user to interact with the graphical user interface on the display 34. By way of example, the touch screen 36 may allow a user to move an input pointer or make selections on the graphical user interface by simply pointing at the GUI on the display 34.

In general, touch screens 36 recognize a touch event on the surface 38 of the touch screen 36 and thereafter output this information to a host device. The host device may for example correspond to a computer such as a desktop, laptop, handheld or tablet computer. The host device interprets the touch event and thereafter performs an action based on the touch event. Conventionally, touch screens have only been capable of recognizing a single touch event even when the touch screen is touched at multiple points at the same time (e.g., averaging, masking, etc.). Unlike conventional touch screens, however, the touch screen 36 shown herein is configured to recognize multiple touch events that occur at different locations on the touch sensitive surface 38 of the touch screen 36 at the same time. That is, the touch screen 36 allows for multiple contact points T1-T4 to be tracked simultaneously, i.e., if four objects are touching the touch screen, then the touch screen tracks all four objects. As shown, the touch screen 36 generates separate tracking signals S1-S4 for each touch point T1-T4 that occurs on the surface of the touch screen 36 at the same time. The number of recognizable touches may be about 15. 15 touch points allows for all 10 fingers, two palms and three others.

The multiple touch events can be used separately or together to perform singular or multiple actions in the host device. When used separately, a first touch event may be used to perform a first action while a second touch event may be used to perform a second action that is different than the first action. The actions may for example include moving an object such as a cursor or pointer, scrolling or panning, adjusting control settings, opening a file or document, viewing a menu, making a selection, executing instructions, operating a peripheral device connected to the host device etc. When used together, first and second touch events may be used for performing one particular action. The particular action may for example include logging onto a computer or a computer network, permitting authorized individuals access to restricted areas of the computer or computer network, loading a user profile associated with a user’s preferred arrangement of the computer desktop, permitting access to web content, launching a particular program, encrypting or decoding a message, and/or the like.

Recognizing multiple touch events is generally accomplished with a multipoint sensing arrangement. The multipoint sensing arrangement is capable of simultaneously detecting and monitoring touches and the magnitude of those touches at distinct points across the touch sensitive surface 38 of the touch screen 36. The multipoint sensing arrangement generally provides a plurality of transparent sensor coordinates or nodes 42 that work independent of one another and that represent different points on the touch screen 36. When plural objects are pressed against the touch screen 36, one or more sensor coordinates are activated for each touch point as for example touch points Ti -T4. The sensor coordinates 42 associated with each touch point T1-T4 produce the tracking signals S1-S4.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the display arrangement 30 may be a stand alone unit or it may integrated with other devices. When stand alone, the display arrangement 32 (or each of its components) acts like a peripheral device (monitor) that includes its own housing and that can be coupled to a host device through wired or wireless connections. When integrated, the display arrangement 30 shares a housing and is hard wired into the host device thereby forming a single unit. By way of example, the display arrangement 30 may be disposed inside a variety of host devices including but not limited to general purpose computers such as a desktop, laptop or tablet computers, handhelds such as PDAs and media players such as music players, or peripheral devices such as cameras, printers and/or the like.

Side view of tablet computer

Patent FIGS. 18 and 19 are side elevation views of an electronic device 350, in accordance with multiple embodiments of the present invention. The electronic device 350 includes an LCD display 352 and a transparent touch screen 354 positioned over the LCD display 352. The touch screen 354 includes a protective sheet 356, one or more sensing layers 358, and a bottom glass member 360. In this embodiment, the bottom glass member 360 is the front glass of the LCD display 352. Further, the sensing layers 358 may be configured for either self or mutual capacitance as described above. The sensing layers 358 generally include a plurality of interconnects at the edge of the touch screen for coupling the sensing layer 358 to a sensing circuit (not shown). By way of example, the sensing layer 358 may be electrically coupled to the sensing circuit through one or more flex circuits 362, which are attached to the sides of the touch screen 354.

As shown, the LCD display 352 and touch screen 354 are disposed within a housing 364. The housing 364 serves to cover and support these components in their assembled position within the electronic device 350. The housing 364 provides a space for placing the LCD display 352 and touch screen 354 as well as an opening 366 so that the display screen can be seen through the housing 364. In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18, the housing 364 includes a facade 370 for covering the sides the LCD display 352 and touch screen 354. Although not shown in great detail, the facade 370 is positioned around the entire perimeter of the LCD display 352 and touch screen 354. The facade 370 serves to hide the interconnects leaving only the active area of the LCD display 352 and touch screen 354 in view.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 19, the housing 364 does not include a facade 370, but rather a mask 372 that is printed on interior portion of the top glass 374 of the touch screen 354 that extends between the sides of the housing 364. This particular arrangement makes the mask 372 look submerged in the top glass 356. The mask 372 serves the same function as the facade 370, but is a more elegant solution. In one implementation, the mask 372 is a formed from high temperature black polymer. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 19, the touch screen 354 is based on mutual capacitance sensing and thus the sensing layer 358 includes driving lines 376 and sensing lines 378. The driving lines 376 are disposed on the top glass 356 and the mask 372, and the sensing lines 378 are disposed on the bottom glass 360. The driving lines and sensing lines 376 and 378 are insulated from one another via a spacer 380. The spacer 380 may for example be a clear piece of plastic with optical matching materials retained therein or applied thereto.

In one embodiment and referring to both FIGS. 18 and 19, the electronic device 350 corresponds to a tablet computer. In this embodiment, the housing 364 also encloses various integrated circuit chips and other circuitry 382 that provide computing operations for the tablet computer. By way of example, the integrated circuit chips and other circuitry may include a microprocessor, motherboard, Read-Only Memory (ROM), Random-Access Memory (RAM), a hard drive, a disk drive, a battery, and various input/output support devices.

Contact patches

Referring to FIG. 3, each object in contact with a touch sensitive surface 38 of the touch screen 36 produces a contact patch area 44. Each of the contact patch areas 44 covers several nodes 42. The covered nodes 42 detect surface contact while the remaining nodes 42 do not detect surface contact. As a result, a pixilated image of the touch screen plane can be formed. The signals for each contact patch area 44 may be grouped together to form individual images representative of the contact patch area 44. The image of each contact patch area 44 may include high and low points based on the pressure at each point. The shape of the image as well as the high and low points within the image may be used to differentiate contact patch areas 44 that are in close proximity to one another. Furthermore, the current image, and more particularly the image of each contact patch area 44 can be compared to previous images to determine what action to perform in a host device.

Patent FIG. 4 is a multipoint touch method 45, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The method generally begins at block 46 where multiple touches are received on the surface of the touch screen at the same time. This may for example be accomplished by placing multiple fingers on the surface of the touch screen. Following block 46, the process flow proceeds to block 47 where each of the multiple touches is separately recognized by the touch screen. This may for example be accomplished by multipoint capacitance sensors located within the touch screen. Following block 47, the process flow proceeds to block 48 where the touch data based on multiple touches is reported. The touch data may for example be reported to a host device such as a general purpose computer.

Multipoint touchscreen on iMac & more

The computer system 50 also includes a display device 68 that is operatively coupled to the processor 56. The display device 68 may be a separate component (peripheral device) or it may be integrated with the processor and program storage to form a desktop computer (all in one machine), a laptop, handheld or tablet or the like. The display device 68 is configured to display a graphical user interface (GUI) including perhaps a pointer or cursor as well as other information to the user. By way of example, the display device 68 may be a monochrome display, color graphics adapter (CGA) display, enhanced graphics adapter (EGA) display, variable-graphics-array (VGA) display, super VGA display, liquid crystal display (e.g., active matrix, passive matrix and the like), cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma displays and the like.

Tracking multiple objects

In accordance with one embodiment, the touch screen 70 is capable of tracking multiple objects, which rest on, tap on, or move across the touch sensitive surface of the touch screen at the same time. The multiple objects may for example correspond to fingers and palms. Because the touch screen is capable of tracking multiple objects, a user may perform several touch initiated tasks at the same time. For example, the user may select an onscreen button with one finger, while moving a cursor with another finger. In addition, a user may move a scroll bar with one finger while selecting an item from a menu with another finger. Furthermore, a first object may be dragged with one finger while a second object may be dragged with another finger. Moreover, gesturing may be performed with more than one finger.

With regards to configuration, the sensing points 74 generally map the touch screen plane into a coordinate system such as a Cartesian coordinate system, a Polar coordinate system or some other coordinate system. When a Cartesian coordinate system is used (as shown), the sensing points 74 typically correspond to x and y coordinates. When a Polar coordinate system is used, the sensing points typically correspond to radial® and angular coordinates (.theta.).

Market range for the multipoint touchscreen

Patent FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a computer system 50, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The computer system 50 may correspond to personal computer systems such as desktops, laptops, tablets or handhelds. By way of example, the computer system may correspond to any Apple or PC based computer system. The computer system may also correspond to public computer systems such as information kiosks, automated teller machines (ATM), point of sale machines (POS), industrial machines, gaming machines, arcade machines, vending machines, airline e-ticket terminals, restaurant reservation terminals, customer service stations, library terminals, learning devices, and the like.

Alterations, permutations, and equivalents

While this invention has been described in terms of several preferred embodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and equivalents, which fall within the scope of this invention. For example, although the touch screen was primarily directed at capacitive sensing, it should be noted that some or all of the features described herein may be applied to other sensing methodologies. It should also be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing the methods and apparatuses of the present invention. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims be interpreted as including all such alterations, permutations, and equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

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.

If you’re interested in reviewing more of the geekier multipoint touchscreen details, then see patent 20060097991

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