Touch Screen Virtual Key Behavior Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Touch screen user interfaces lack the ability to directly infer certain types of user action information, despite having numerous sensors, which limits their functionality compared to external keyboards.
Innovation Solution
A method is implemented on a touch screen computer to detect user behavior when activating virtual GUI items, such as virtual keys, by processing signals from multipoint sensing devices to determine predetermined characteristics and reactions, including inferring pressure and duration of touch, to enhance user interaction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If touch screen keyboards use numerous sensors to detect user actions, then the quantity of information about user actions is improved, but the ability to directly glean certain types of information (such as pressure and duration) remains insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces intermediary processing steps that analyze sensor signal characteristics (such as signal strength, touch duration, and pressure patterns) to infer additional user action information. The system acts as a mediator between the raw sensor data and the application, deriving pressure and duration information through signal analysis rather than direct measurement.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of directly measuring pressure and duration with dedicated sensors, the patent inverts the approach by using the available sensor signals and analyzing their characteristics to infer these parameters. The system determines pressure from signal strength variations and duration from touch temporal patterns, reversing the traditional direct measurement approach.
2Adaptability or versatility
If touch screens process user touch behavior to infer additional information, then the functionality and user experience are enhanced, but the complexity of signal processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the existing sensor system multi-functional by using the same sensors to detect both basic touch presence and derived characteristics like pressure and duration. The signal processing system serves multiple purposes: identifying virtual key presses, determining press strength, measuring hold duration, and detecting gesture patterns, thereby enhancing functionality without adding dedicated sensors for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enhances functionality by analyzing changes in sensor signal parameters over time. By monitoring variations in signal strength, touch duration, and temporal patterns, the system infers additional user intentions and actions. This approach extracts more information from the same hardware by changing how signal parameters are processed and interpreted.
Data Source
AI summary
A touch screen computer executes an application. A method of operating the touch screen computer in response to a user is provided. A virtual input device is provided on the touch screen. The virtual input device comprises a plurality of virtual keys. It is detected that a user has touched the touch screen to nominally activate at least one virtual key, and a behavior of the user with respect to touch is determined. The determined behavior is processed and a predetermined characteristic is associated with the nominally-activated at least one virtual key. A reaction to the nominal activation is determined based at least in part on a result of processing the determined behavior.