Apple patent is for touch pad for handheld device

Posted by Dennis Sellers Nov 29, 2007 at 12:55am

An Apple patent (number 20070276525) for a touch pad for handheld device has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It relates generally to a media player having a touch pad. More particularly, the present invention relates to touch pads having scrolling features.

It’s for a a battery powered media device for storing and playing media such as audio, video or images, includes a memory device configured to store a plurality of media items in a digital format. The media device also includes a display configured to present a group of media items from the plurality of stored media items and to present a visual indicator that is capable of scrolling through the displayed group of media items in order to designate a specific media item from the group of media items. The media device further includes a touch pad configured to receive input from a sliding motion or a tapping motion of a finger. The sliding motion of the finger controls the movement of the visual indicator through the group of media items. The tapping motion of the finger selects the specific media item that is designated by the visual indicator.

Here’s what Apple has to say about the invention: “There exist today many styles of input devices for performing operations in a consumer electronic device. The operations generally correspond to moving a cursor and making selections on a display screen. By way of example, the input devices may include buttons, switches, keyboards, mice, trackballs, touch pads, joy sticks, touch screens and the like. Each of these devices has advantages and disadvantages that are taken into account when designing the consumer electronic device. In handheld computing devices, the input devices are generally selected from buttons and switches. Buttons and switches are generally mechanical in nature and provide limited control with regards to the movement of a cursor (or other selector) and making selections. For example, they are generally dedicated to moving the cursor in a specific direction (e.g., arrow keys) or to making specific selections (e.g., enter, delete, number, etc.). In the case of hand-held personal digital assistants (PDA), the input devices tend to utilize touch-sensitive display screens. When using a touch screen, a user makes a selection on the display screen by pointing directly to objects on the screen using a stylus or finger.

“In portable computing devices such as laptop computers, the input devices are commonly touch pads. With a touch pad, the movement of an input pointer (i.e., cursor) corresponds to the relative movements of the user’s finger (or stylus) as the finger is moved along a surface of the touch pad. Touch pads can also make a selection on the display screen when one or more taps are detected on the surface of the touch pad. In some cases, any portion of the touch pad may be tapped, and in other cases a dedicated portion of the touch pad may be tapped. In stationary devices such as desktop computers, the input devices are generally selected from mice and trackballs. With a mouse, the movement of the input pointer corresponds to the relative movements of the mouse as the user moves the mouse along a surface. With a trackball, the movement of the input pointer corresponds to the relative movements of a ball as the user rotates the ball within a housing. Both mice and trackballs generally include one or more buttons for making selections on the display screen.

“In addition to allowing input pointer movements and selections with respect to a GUI presented on a display screen, the input devices may also allow a user to scroll across the display screen in the horizontal or vertical directions. For example, mice may include a scroll wheel that allows a user to simply roll the scroll wheel forward or backward to perform a scroll action. In addition, touch pads may provide dedicated active areas that implement scrolling when the user passes his or her finger linearly across the active area in the x and y directions. Both devices may also implement scrolling via horizontal and vertical scroll bars as part of the GUI. Using this technique, scrolling is implemented by positioning the input pointer over the desired scroll bar, selecting the desired scroll bar, and moving the scroll bar by moving the mouse or finger in the y direction (forwards and backwards) for vertical scrolling or in the x direction (left and right) for horizontal scrolling.

“With regards to touch pads, mice and track balls, a Cartesian coordinate system is used to monitor the position of the finger, mouse and ball, respectively, as they are moved. The Cartesian coordinate system is generally defined as a two dimensional coordinate system (x, y) in which the coordinates of a point (e.g., position of finger, mouse or ball) are its distances from two intersecting, often perpendicular straight lines, the distance from each being measured along a straight line parallel to each other. For example, the x, y positions of the mouse, ball and finger may be monitored. The x, y positions are then used to correspondingly locate and move the input pointer on the display screen.

“To elaborate further, touch pads generally include one or more sensors for detecting the proximity of the finger thereto. By way of example, the sensors may be based on resistive sensing, surface acoustic wave sensing, pressure sensing (e.g., strain gauge), optical sensing, capacitive sensing and the like. The sensors are generally dispersed about the touch pad with each sensor representing an x, y position. In most cases, the sensors are arranged in a grid of columns and rows. Distinct x and y position signals, which control the x, y movement of a pointer device on the display screen, are thus generated when a finger is moved across the grid of sensors within the touch pad. For brevity sake, the remaining discussion will be held to the discussion of capacitive sensing technologies. It should be noted, however, that the other technologies have similar features.

“Capacitive sensing touch pads generally contain several layers of material. For example, the touch pad may include a protective shield, one or more electrode layers and a circuit board. The protective shield typically covers the electrode layer(s), and the electrode layer(s) is generally disposed on a front side of the circuit board. As is generally well known, the protective shield is the part of the touch pad that is touched by the user to implement cursor movements on a display screen. The electrode layer(s), on the other hand, is used to interpret the x, y position of the user’s finger when the user’s finger is resting or moving on the protective shield. The electrode layer (s) typically consists of a plurality of electrodes that are positioned in columns and rows so as to form a grid array. The columns and rows are generally based on the Cartesian coordinate system and thus the rows and columns correspond to the x and y directions.

“The touch pad may also include sensing electronics for detecting signals associated with the electrodes. For example, the sensing electronics may be adapted to detect the change in capacitance at each of the electrodes as the finger passes over the grid. The sensing electronics are generally located on the backside of the circuit board. By way of example, the sensing electronics may include an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that is configured to measure the amount of capacitance in each of the electrodes and to compute the position of finger movement based on the capacitance in each of the electrodes. The ASIC may also be configured to report this information to the computing device.

“In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a media player with a touch pad. It would also be desirable to provide a hand held device with a touch pad. It would additionally be desirable to provide a touch pad that can sense and resolve angular and/or radial positions of a moving object (e.g., finger) as it is moved in a rotating and/or radial manner across the touch pad. That is, a touch pad that is based on polar coordinates rather than Cartesian coordinates. It would be further desirable to transform the angular or radial movements into translational movements in the GUI of the display screen for scrolling and other related linear actions.

“The invention relates, in one embodiment, to a media player for storing and playing media such as audio, video or images. The media player includes a housing that encloses internally various electrical components that provide computing operations for the media player. The media player also includes a touch pad supported by the housing and configured to provide one or more control functions for controlling various applications associated with the media player.

“The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a pocket sized handheld computing device. The computing device includes computing hardware for providing at least one application. The computing device also includes a display screen configured to display text and graphics associated with the at least one application. The computing device additionally includes a touch pad configured to provide one or more control functions for allowing a user of the computing device to provide inputs to the at least one application.

“The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a touch pad assembly for use in a computing device. The touch pad assembly has a touch sensitive surface for accepting contact with an object. The touch pad assembly is configured to provide polar coordinate information of the object relative to the touch sensitive surface when the object is moved about the touch sensitive surface.

“The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a user input system having a touch pad, a display and a controller. The system is configured to convert angular or radial data associated with the touch pad into control inputs associated with the display. By way of example, the control inputs may correspond to translational movements associated with scrolling or other related linear actions.

“The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a handheld electronic device for storing and playing media such as audio, video or images. The handheld electronic device includes a memory device configured to store a plurality of media items in a digital format. The handheld electronic device also includes a display configured to present a group of media items from the plurality of stored media items and to present a visual indicator that is capable of scrolling through the displayed group of media items in order to designate a specific media item from the group of media items. The handheld electronic device further includes a touch pad configured to receive input from a sliding motion or a tapping motion of a finger. The sliding motion of the finger controls the movement of the visual indicator through the group of media items. The tapping motion of the finger selects the specific media item that is designated by the visual indicator.

“The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a battery powered handheld music player. The battery powered music player includes a housing that supports various electrical components that provide computing operations for the music player. The battery powered music player also includes a memory device disposed inside the housing and configured to store a plurality of songs in a digital format. The battery powered music player further includes a display screen provided at a first portion of a front surface of the housing and configured to present a list of songs from the plurality of stored songs and to present a visual indicator that is capable of linearly traversing through the list of songs in order to designate a specific song from the list of songs. The battery powered music player additionally includes a single integrated input arrangement provided at a second portion of the front surface of the housing. The single integrated input arrangement includes a plurality of input regions that are adjacent one another and that provide control functions for operating the music player. At least one of the input regions being implemented with a touch pad. Moreover, the battery powered music player includes audio output components for outputting music associated with a selected specific song from the list of songs.

“The invention relates, in another embodiment, to a battery powered handheld device capable of playing media. The battery powered handheld device includes a housing that supports various electrical components that provide computing operations for the battery powered handheld device. The battery powered handheld device also includes a memory device disposed inside the housing and configured to store a plurality of menu items. The battery powered handheld device further includes a display screen provided at a first portion of a front surface of the housing, and configured to present a list of menu items and to present a visual indicator that is capable of linearly traversing through the list of menu items in order to designate a specific menu item from the list of menu items. The battery powered handheld device additionally includes an input arrangement provided at a second portion of the front surface of the housing. The input arrangement includes an inner input region and one or more outer input regions that provide control functions for operating the battery powered handheld device. The outer input regions are disposed outside the inner input region. The inner input region includes at least a touch pad.”

The inventors are Stephen Paul Zadesky and Tang Yew Tan. The graphic below is a simplified diagram of a touch pad and display.

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