Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Touch panel
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-30
2001-08-21
Shalwala, Bipin (Department: 2673)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Touch panel
C345S157000, C178S018010, C178S018050, C178S018060
Reexamination Certificate
active
06278443
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to user interactive computer supported display technology and particularly to such user interactive systems and methods which are user friendly, i.e. provide even non-computer-literate users with an interface environment which is easy to use and intuitive. More particularly, the present invention relates to touch screen technology, especially user intuitive touch screens through which even novice computer users may access commercial, educational and entertainment information such as that which may be accessed via the Internet.
BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART
The 1990's decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics and communications industries. This advance has been even further accelerated by the extensive consumer and business involvement in the internet over the past few years. As a result of these changes, it seems as if virtually all aspects of human endeavor in the industrialized world requires human computer interfaces. There is a need to make computer directed activities accessible to a substantial portion of the world's population which, up to a few years ago, was computer illiterate, or at best computer indifferent. In order for the vast computer supported market places to continue and be commercially productive, it will be necessary for a large segment of computer indifferent consumers to be involved in computer interfaces. Thus, the challenge of our technology is to create interfaces to computers which are as close to the real world as possible.
In this connection, there is the touch screen or touch panel. It is easy to use because it allows the user to point directly with his finger to make selections which move a cursor or other element around a display screen. The touch panel in various forms has been in use for several years. Several different technologies have been involved in touch panels. Original touch panels used a series of infrared LEDs and light sensors, such as photodiodes, to provide low resolution panels of up to 50 resolvable positions. The LEDs and sensors form a grid of invisible light beams which the finger breaks to, thus, indicate its position. The capacitively coupled touch panels were able to develop a resolution of about 100 resolvable positions. Higher resolution touch screens have been developed using a variety of technologies from sound waves reflected off fingers to conductive/resistive layers separated by insulative material broken down by touch.
While direct touch screens are simple to use, they do have some eye/hand coordination shortcomings. First, while the finger is a natural pointer, because of its relatively wide dimensions and difficulty in making precise movements in small increments, it has limitations in making movements and selections in high information density/high resolution screens. In this connection, the finger and like direct pointers are also hampered by parallax: if the conventional touch panel is {fraction (1/4+L )}″ to {fraction (1/2+L )}″ from the display, then the user's fingers tend to touch the position on the panel that is aligned with their eyes and the selected point on the display screen and not the position on the touch panel directly perpendicular to the selected point on the display screen.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a solution to the above-mentioned shortcomings of direct finger access touch screens while still preserving the ease-of-use and naturalness of such touch screens. The invention provides a user interactive touch screen in a computer controlled display system which includes means for displaying data on said touch screen, means for sensing the placement of a user's fingertip adjacent said screen, means responsive to said sensing means for enabling the detection of any rolling of said placed fingertip in an orthogonal direction and means activated by a detection of said rolling of said placed fingertip for moving said displayed data in an orthogonal direction corresponding to the direction of said rolling. In the most significant embodiment, the displayed data which is moved is the cursor. Also, the fingertip is preferably placed in a position remote from the cursor. Thus, the finger does not cover the cursor, which may be small enough to make selections requiring small increments of movement in relatively high information density screens. We have found that the rolling of a finger can precisely control the remote cursor movement. Eye/hand coordination to more precisely position cursors is more easily done with finger rolling, which can be fine tuned with the visual feedback of the resulting remote cursor movement. Also, parallax is no problem because the pointer, i.e. the cursor is on the display screen rather than on the superimposed touch panel, and, thus, the thickness of the touch panel does not matter.
For best results, when the placement of a finger is sensed, there are means responsive to the sensing means for displaying an object indicating that said means for detecting the finger rolling is enabled. These indicating means may simply be a pad image enclosing the fingertip. The screen may be a pressure sensitive screen, in which case it may further include means responsive to a subsequent pressing of said placed fingertip for additional interactive user input.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4550221 (1985-10-01), Mabusth
patent: 4684801 (1987-08-01), Carroll et al.
patent: 4736191 (1988-04-01), Matzke et al.
patent: 4977397 (1990-12-01), Kuo et al.
patent: 5327161 (1994-07-01), Logan et al.
patent: 5376946 (1994-12-01), Mikan
patent: 5402151 (1995-03-01), Duwaer
patent: 5406307 (1995-04-01), Hirayama et al.
patent: 5432531 (1995-07-01), Calder et al.
patent: 5469194 (1995-11-01), Clark et al.
patent: 5815142 (1998-09-01), Allard et al.
patent: 5956019 (1999-09-01), Bang et al.
patent: 5982302 (1999-11-01), Ure
Amro Hatim Yousef
Dodson John Paul
International Business Machines - Corporation
Leeuwen Leslie Van
Said Mansour M.
Schelkopf J Bruce
Shalwala Bipin
LandOfFree
Touch screen with random finger placement and rolling on... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Touch screen with random finger placement and rolling on..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Touch screen with random finger placement and rolling on... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2522187