Capacitive Touchscreen Totem Tracking via Spectral Analysis

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Solution Overview

Problem

Information handling systems with horizontally-disposed touchscreens face challenges in accurately tracking totem devices, leading to increased latency and false touch detection due to complex touch context processing and the need for wireless interfaces and power management, which complicates user interactions.

Innovation Solution

A system utilizing a dedicated digital signal processor for spectral analysis to recognize totem position, width, and orientation, with ignore zones and hysteresis adaptation based on user interface context, enabling direct communication between the touchscreen and totem through light illumination, and managing totem interactions locally without a host operating system, reducing processing demands and latency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If complex touch context processing is used to accurately track totem devices, then totem tracking accuracy is improved, but processing latency increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetotem tracking accuracyVSAvoidprocessing latency

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments touch processing into distinct categories: totem touches, finger touches, and palm touches. Each category is processed with appropriate algorithms and parameters, allowing accurate totem tracking without applying complex processing to all touch events. This segmentation enables the system to quickly identify and process only relevant totem touches while ignoring unrelated touches.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies processing only where necessary - using simplified processing for totem touches while applying more complex processing only when finger or palm touches are detected. This partial action approach maintains totem tracking accuracy while reducing overall processing latency by avoiding unnecessary complex processing for all touch events.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

2Adaptability or versatility

If wireless interfaces and power management are implemented in totem devices, then totem functionality is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetotem functionalityVSAvoidtotem device complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The touchscreen display provides power and communication functions directly to the totem device through its existing infrastructure. The display detects totem presence, provides power through the touch interface, and handles communication without requiring separate wireless interfaces or power management circuits in the totem. This self-service approach enables versatile totem functionality while keeping the totem device simple.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The touchscreen display serves multiple functions: it acts as the user interface, power source, communication channel, and tracking system for totem devices. By making the display universal and multi-functional, the system eliminates the need for separate wireless interfaces and power management components in the totem, reducing its complexity while maintaining full functionality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Adaptability or versatility

If host operating system is used for totem management, then system integration is improved, but processing demands increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem integrationVSAvoidprocessing demands

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSPower

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts totem management functionality from the host operating system and implements it directly in the touchscreen display's processing layer. This extraction eliminates the need for the host OS to handle totem detection, tracking, and power management, significantly reducing processing demands on the host system while maintaining full system integration through the display's native capabilities.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

This approach improves totem interaction accuracy and reduces latency by focusing processing on intended touches, allowing efficient and accurate totem tracking and communication, enhancing user experience and system responsiveness.

Implementation Method 1

enabling direct communication between the touchscreen and totem through light illumination

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectLight illumination: Light

Implementation Method 2

A system utilizing a dedicated digital signal processor for spectral analysis to recognize totem position, width, and orientation

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectCapacitance: Capacitance

Data Source

PatentUS10139930B2Information handling system capacitive touch totem management

Publication Date: 2018.11.27 DELL PROD LP

AI summary

An information handling system touchscreen display interacts with totem devices by recognizing and tracking spectral signatures of the totem devices so that totem positions are reported as a single length, width and rotational orientation message to a host operating system. Ignore zones and hysteresis time periods are defined from the position message based upon totem context so that the host operating system processes touchscreen inputs with minimal latency and improved accuracy. Communication and battery charging are provided to the totem by the touchscreen display will illumination directed to the totem position.