Touch Screen Palm Rejection via Usage Pattern Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computing devices with multiple touch interfaces face challenges in accurately distinguishing between intended and unintended touches, particularly when using a handheld instrument, leading to issues like palm rejection, where intended user inputs are incorrectly dismissed.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that utilize a processor, touch screen, instrument touch module, and user touch module to detect and differentiate between instrument and user touches by analyzing usage patterns, including location and orientation, and dynamically disabling portions of the touch screen based on learned and crowd-sourced patterns to manage multiple touch sources effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the user touch interface is disabled while a handheld instrument is being used, then palm rejection is achieved and the handheld instrument can be used without unintended touches, but the user cannot communicate with the device using user touch while the touch instrument is active
Solution Approach 1:
The touch interface is segmented into multiple independent touch sources (handheld instrument touches and user finger touches). The system detects and identifies each touch source separately, allowing selective disabling of only the user touch interface while keeping the handheld instrument interface active, or vice versa. This segmentation enables simultaneous operation of both interfaces without mutual interference.
Solution Approach 2:
A touch source identification module acts as an intermediary between the touch screen hardware and the processing system. This intermediary analyzes touch characteristics (pressure, contact area, duration, location patterns) to determine whether a touch originates from a handheld instrument or a user's finger, enabling intelligent differentiation and appropriate response selection.
2Reliability
If large area touches are ignored for palm rejection, then unintended palm touches are rejected, but intended large touches such as multi-touch actions or gestures are also incorrectly rejected
Solution Approach 1:
The system monitors changes in touch parameters over time, including contact area evolution, pressure variations, and duration. By analyzing the temporal dynamics of these parameters, the system can distinguish between a palm gradually contacting the screen (harmful touch) and a deliberate large-area gesture (intended touch), even when both result in large contact areas at peak detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms that analyze touch patterns and provide real-time determination of touch intent. By continuously monitoring touch characteristics and comparing them against learned usage patterns, the system can dynamically adjust its response to differentiate between harmful and intended touches, reducing false rejections of valid gestures.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the touch interface disables one interface at a time, then multiple touch interfaces can be managed, but the system complexity increases and user interaction becomes less flexible
Solution Approach 1:
The touch processing system is designed with universal functionality to handle multiple types of touch inputs through a unified interface. The same hardware and basic software infrastructure process both handheld instrument touches and user finger touches, with the intelligence for differentiation embedded in the analysis module rather than requiring separate processing paths for each interface type.
Data Source
AI summary
For managing multiple touch sources with palm rejection, a method is disclosed that includes detecting an instrument touch on a touch screen of a computing device, the instrument touch performed by a handheld instrument, disabling user touch for a portion of the touch screen, the disabled portion selected in accordance with a usage pattern, and accepting a user touch of the touch screen outside of the disabled portion.