Patent ID: 9152258
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A touch screen, comprising: a housing; a display mounted in said housing; a touch sensor, mounted in said housing and connected to said display, for dynamically sensing a current location of an object that is touching said display; a pressure sensor, mounted in said housing and connected to said display, for dynamically sensing a current relative pressure being applied by the object to said display, wherein said touch sensor and said pressure sensor comprise: a shared plurality of light emitters below said display in said housing, for emitting light beams across said display; and a shared plurality of light receivers below said display in said housing, for receiving the emitted light beams; and a processor, mounted in said housing and connected to said touch and pressure sensors and to said display, for (i) identifying the current location of the object touching said display based on at least two of said light receivers receiving less than an expected amount of light from beams emitted by said light emitters that cross that location, (ii) detecting the object gliding along said display based on a time series of such identified current locations, (iii) detecting an increase of pressure being applied by the object to said display based on increased amounts of light arriving at the remaining light receivers from beams emitted by said light emitters that cross identifiable locations on said display at which the object is not currently located, (iv) enabling a scroll-by-glide user interface whereby the processor performs a scroll operation in response to detecting the object gliding along said display via said touch sensor, (v) enabling a scroll-by-press user interface whereby the processor continues the scroll operation in response to detecting a current relative pressure being applied by the object to said display via said pressure sensor, and (vi) for enabling a transition from the scroll-by-glide interface to the scroll-by-press interface in response to the object gliding over to an edge of said display.