Touchscreen Gestures LLC v. Apple, Inc.

Filing 1

COMPLAINT For Patent Infringement against All Defendants ( Filing fee $ 350 receipt number 0540-3537236.), filed by Touchscreen Gestures LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet, # 2 Exhibit A, # 3 Exhibit B, # 4 Exhibit C, # 5 Exhibit D)(Navarro, Arthur)

EXHIBIT
 A

111111

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
US007184031B2

(54)

(75)

United States Patent

(10)

Lin et al.

(12)

(45)

METHOD AND CONTROLLER
FOR
IDENTIFYING
A DRAG GESTURE
Inventors:

Patent No.:
US 7,184,031 B2
Date of Patent:
Feb. 27,2007

5,943,043

8/1999

Furuhata et al. ............

A *

3/2000

Levy ...........................

6,856,259

B1*

212005

Sharp

6,995,752

Jao-Ching Lin, Hsin Chuang (TW);
Shyh-In Huang, Hsin Chuang (TW);
Lin-Abel Chu, Hsin Chuang (TW);
Chung-Yi Shen, Hsin Chuang (TW)

A *

6,037,882

B2 *

212006

Lu .............................

345/173
341120

............................

34115

345/174

200210141643

Assignee:

Sentelic Corporation,

( *)

Notice:

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.C. 154(b) by 414 days.

........................

382/181

Al *

5/2004

Graham

......................

715/513

2006/0139340

(73)

Al * 1012002 Jaeger

2004/0103372

Al *

6/2006

Geaghan

.....................

345/177

Taipei (TW)

*

cited by examiner

Primary Examiner-Ricardo
(21)
(22)

Filed:

Osorio

Appl. No.: 101776,977
(57)

(65)

Prior Publication
US 2006/0007166

(51)
(52)
(58)

ABSTRACT

Jul. 6, 2004

Al

Data

Jan. 12, 2006

Int. CI.
G09G 5/00
(2006.01)
U.S. CI.
345/173; 345/156
Field of Classification Search
..... 345/173-177;
178/18.01-18.09;
715/863
See application file for complete search history.

(56)

References

Cited

A method of identifying a drag gesture, with which the drag
gesture is performed on a touch device and the method is
characterized in that a drag signal can be generated when a
sum of time duration of the first appearance and time span
between an end of the first appearance time duration and a
start of the second appearance is less than a first reference
time, a sum of the first appearance time duration, the time
span and a second appearance time duration is not less than
the reference time value and an accumulated displacement
of the second appearance time duration is not less than a
reference displacement.

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,880,411

A *

3/1999

Gillespie et al.

r

down
Input

t

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20 Claims, 5 Drawing

178/18.01

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~

(51

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: TUOI·I·
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Sheets

1

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Feb. 27, 2007

Sheet 1 of 5

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Feb. 27,2007

Sheet 2 of 5

US 7,184,031 B2

Transmitter interface

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Feb. 27,2007

US 7,184,031 B2

Sheet 3 of 5

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end has been detected/
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/43

if it is any other gesture

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50

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Yes
Geo--era-tes~drag-:--:;si=gnal:::

/51

u.s. Patent

Feb. 27,2007

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Sheet 4 of 5

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US 7,184,031 B2
1

2

METHOD AND CONTROLLER FOR
IDENTIFYING A DRAG GESTURE
BACKGROUND

OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a controller
for identifying a drag gesture and particularly to a method
and a controller for identifying a drag gesture on a touch
device and generating a drag signal, which simulates an
object dragged by a mouse.
2. Description of Related Art
The graphical user interface (GUI) is a program operational interface developed by ZEROX PARC research center
and the GUI is used in company with a pointing device such
as a mouse. The user only needs to move the mouse with a
visional type pointer and make a click then a desired action
can be performed easily so as to solve the problem of
inconvenience resulting from the text mode being required
to input complicated instructions. Hence, the GUI was
adopted by Apple computer company and Microsoft company one after another to become the most popular mode in
all the operational systems. The pointing device has become
a basic outfit in electronic equipment applying the GUI such
as desktop computer, notebook computer, flat panel computer and personal digital assistance (PDA).
Currently, the pointing device includes external mouse
and a track ball touch pad built in a portable computer
system and a touch panel joined to the screen. The mouse is
the earliest developed pointing device. Taking the mouse as
an example for explaining the function of pointing device,
the mouse can control the pointer on the screen of the
electronic device, that is, where the mouse is moved, where
the pointer is moved. Then, an execution instruction to the
electronic device can be carried out by way of pressing the
control button on the screen for a target ready to be executed.
Nevertheless, design with lightness, smallness, shortness
and thinness is a trend of electronic equipment and, for
instance, the laptop computer is getting to replace the
desktop computer so that the small sized touch device such
as the touch panel is getting a main stream pointing device
gradually.
The technique of current touch pad mainly includes
capacitance type, resistance type, electromagnetic type,
pressure type, inductance type, surface sound wave type and
optical type. When a object body such as a finger moves on
the touch pad, the pointer can be controlled to move along
direction of the object body. Further, the pointer needs to
have a function of carry out an order in addition to controlling movement of the pointer. Taking operating the mouse as
an example, when the pointer moves to an object ready to be
moved such as a program, a document or a picture, one of
the buttons on the mouse such as the left button can be kept
pressing in company with moving the mouse. In this way,
the object can be dragged to other places. As for the touch
device such as the touch pad, mostly there are two control
buttons provided additionally instead of the left and right
buttons on the mouse or the object body is defined to make
a certain gesture on the touch device such that signals
resulting from continuing pressing a button of the mouse can
be generated along with the object being moved and dragged
to other places.
An ordinary touch device usually simulates a drag movement of mouse with a drag gesture and the way to carry out
the drag gesture is to implement a tap and a displacement
following the tap immediately so as to let the object moving.
Hence, U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,671 has disclosed a method for

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identifying a drag gesture on the touch device. With reference to FIG. 1, when a time duration t4 of the object body
appearance at the first time (i.e. stay time of the object body
appearing on the touch device at the first time) is compared
to the first reference time value, a drag signal 11 generates
in case of the time duration t4 being less than a first reference
time value. Then, a time span t5 between the first time
appearance and the second time appearance is compared to
a second reference time value and the drag signal 11 is kept
and X, Y information generates repeatedly within the time
duration t5 at the second time in case of the time span t5
being less than the second reference time value.
Although the conventional method can achieve the purpose of identifying the drag gesture, the time duration t, of
first appearance and the time span t5 between the first
appearance and the second appearance being compared to a
respective reference time value corresponding to them
makes determination complicated. Also, X, Y information
being generated repeatedly within the time duration t6 of the
second appearance results in more complicated design.
Further, due to personal differences between users, time for
various stages of movement done by each person during
performing the drag gesture may be different from each
other. Even the same person may have different time durations for movements while the drag gesture is performed at
different times. Hence, it is easy for the conventional method
to occur misjudgment. In addition, it is easy for the touch
device to be touched accidentally during operation or to
occur phenomena of temporary spike of the first appearance,
temporary spike time span between the first appearance and
the second appearance and temporary spike of second
appearance due to the touch device generating noise at work
or being caused by interference of foreign noise. The conventional method does not have a minimum time limitation
to the time duration of first appearance, the time duration of
second appearance and the time span between the first
appearance and the second appearance so that it is easy to
occur incorrect determination to the signal generated due to
the noise interference.

40

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

45

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65

An object of the present invention is provide a method and
a controller for identifying a drag gesture with which a time
summation of each movement is compared to a reference
time value to achieve a more convenient and reliable determination.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a
method for identifying a drag gesture with which time of
each movement is required to be greater than a corresponding time value respectively so as to avoid a misjudgment
effectively caused by noise.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a
method and a controller for identifying a drag gesture with
which an accumulated displacement during the second
appearance is compared to a reference displacement so as to
determine if the drag gesture is performed and achieve an
accurate judgment.
The method of identifying a drag gesture with which the
drag gesture is performed on a touch device according the
present invention includes follow steps:
i. detecting a first appearance of an object on the touch
device;
ii. detecting a second appearance of the object on the
touch device; and
iii. a sum of time duration of the first appearance and time
span between an end of the first appearance time

US 7,184,031 B2
4

3
duration and a start of the second appearance being
smaller than a first reference time and meeting one of
following two situation, then generating a drag signal:
(A) another summation of the first appearance time duration, the time span and a second appearance time
duration being not less than the reference time value;
and
(B) an accumulated displacement of the second appearance time duration being not less than a reference
displacement.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION

10

OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by
reference to the following description and accompanying
drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a graph showing time pulse of conventional drag
gesture;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a touch device in a preferred
embodiment of a method of identifying drag gesture according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the embodiment shown in FIG.
2;
FIG. 4 is a graph showing time pulses of input and output
signals in an example of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;
and
FIG. 5 is a graph showing time impulses of input and
output signals in another example of the embodiment shown
in FIG. 2.

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Regarding the previously mentioned technical details,
characteristics and effectiveness of the present invention, it
can be fully understood by referring to the reference figures
in the detailed explanation of the preferred embodiment of
the present invention.
To start off, the method of identifying drag gesture
according to the present invention is to be used on touch
device. For explanation purpose, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the capacitance type touch device is
used for explanation.
Referring to FIG. 2, capacitance type touch device 2
mainly includes a touch pad 21, an operation module that
consists of a treat unit along X direction 22, a treat unit along
Y direction 23, an operational unit 24 and a displacement
unit 25, a gesture unit 26 and a transmitter interface 27. The
touch pad 21 has multiple wires distributed in the X and Y
direction respectively and, for example, there are 16 wires in
the X direction and 12 wires in the Y direction. Therefore,
when a conductive object such as a finger 10 touches or in
close contact with the touch pad 21, it causes a change in the
capacitance on the touch pad 21. The treat units along X and
Y direction 22, 23 immediately process the respective
capacitance on the X and Y direction and transmit the data
to operational unit 24. The operational unit 24 based on the
received data will compute the X and Y coordinates of the
object contact location. After that, the displacement unit 25
will receive the X and Y coordinates computed by the
operational unit 24 and based on this information calculate
relative displacements Dx and Dy corresponding to the
contact signal of the object on the touch pad 21 and transmit
them to the gesture unit 26 and transmitter unit 27. Thus, the
calculated results Dx and Dy can be transmitted to a main
unit 3 through the transmitter unit 27 so that the main unit
3 can control the movement of the pointer on the screen.

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55

Main unit 3 can be a personal computer, laptop, personal
digital assistant (PDA) or a cellular phone. In here, the
previous mentioned components are related to the prior art
and no detailed will be described further. Furthermore, the
operational module, displacement unit 25, gesture unit 26
and transmitter interface 27 in the preferred embodiment of
present invention are all assembled in a controller such as a
chip.
The gesture unit 26 receives the calculation results Dx and
Dy from the displacement unit 25 to determine if the object
has produced an action qualified as a drag gesture on the
touch pad 21 and also during this determination as whether
the action is a drag gesture, correspondingly transmits out
the first signal of the simulated dragging the mouse while
holding the mouse button (this drag signal comprises of
multiple consecutive signals), through the transmitter interface to the main unit 3 in order to carry out the corresponding control. The technical characteristic of the present invention is the method of identifying drag gesture in the gesture
unit 26. The gesture unit 26 can achieve the method of
identifying drag gesture through software, firmware or hardware. Moreover, even though the gesture unit 26 in the
example of the present invention is embedded in the controller of the touch device 2, it can be installed in the main
unit 3 as a software or hardware and not just limited to
technique used or revealed in the preferred embodiment of
the present invention.
Besides, even though a capacitance type touch device 2 is
used as an example in the preferred embodiment of the
present invention, persons familiar to the art should know
that the present invention can be applied onto other types of
touch device, such as optical type, resistance type, magnetic
type, pressure type, inductance type, surface sonar type,
supersonic type and so on. Therefore, it is not confined to
just what is illustrated or revealed in the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 3, it illustrates the flow chart of an
example in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the example, first assume that an object such as a
finger 10 has simultaneously tapped on the touch pad 21
twice. To simplify the explanation, in the following paragraphs, the object will be represented by the finger 10.
Something worth noting is that even though a finger 10 is
used to illustrate the preferred embodiment of the present
invention, persons familiar with the conventional art should
know that the touch device 2 of the preferred embodiment is
suitable for detecting other types of conductive objects or
multiple conductive objects, which are not confined to what
is revealed in the preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
First of all, in step 41, the touch device 2 detects the finger
10 on the touch pad 21 at the start of its first appearance. At
the same time, the touch device 2 will start timing how long
the finger 10 appears on the touch pad 21. In the present
example, if it is assumed to be the drag gesture, there will be
a detection of a second appearance within the first reference
time value T The range of the first reference time value T1
in the present example can be set between 100 ms->l 000 ms
(100 ms ~ T 1~ 1000 ms) or it can be adjusted according to
the need of the designer or the operating preference of the
user.
Subsequently, in step 42, the touch device will continued
to detect the appearance of the finger 10 on the touch pad 21
in order to determine which of the two conditions: the
ending of the first appearing time duration or the timer after
the first appearing time duration has reached the first reference time T l' has been achieved first.
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US 7,184,031 B2
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6

If in step 42, it has been determined that first appearing
time duration has ended and the timer has not reached the
first reference time T 1 which means that there may be a
second appearance within the first reference time T u step 44
will continue to be executed. However, if in step 42, it has
been determined that the timer has reached the value of first
reference time T l' and as only the first appearance occurred
within the first reference time T 1 and the first appearing time
duration T down 1 exceeds the first reference time T u it can be
confirmed that it is not a drag gesture Thus step 43 will be
executed by the gesture unit 26 to determine if the action is
of any other gestures.
In step 44, touch device 2 continues to determine which
of the conditions: the start of the second appearance time
duration when the finger 10 is detected on the touch pad 21
or the timer has reached the first reference time T u has been
achieved first. If in step 44, it has been determined that the
start of the second appearance time duration is detected first,
it implies that two appearances have occurred within the first
reference time T 1 and it may be a drag gesture so step 45 will
be continued. However, if in step 44, it has been determined
that the timer has reached the value of first reference time T 1
first, it can be confirmed that it is not a drag gesture. Thus
step 43 will be executed to determine if the action is of any
other gestures.
If in step 44, it has been determined that second appearance has already started, referring to FIG. 4, touch device 2
has already obtained the first appearance time duration
Tdown1 (referring to the time the finger 10 is maintained on
the touch pad when it first appearance on the touch pad) and
also the time span between the two appearance time durations Tup1 (referring to the time when the finger 10 first taps
and leaves the touch pad until the time before the finger 10
taps on the touch pad 21 for the second time) in the previous
detection.
Touch pad 21 during its operation can be easily touched
by mistake or due to the noise generated by itself or noise
from the surrounding environment and then produce inappropriate signals such as short first and second appearance
time duration or short time span between the two appearance
time duration. As these unwanted signals only last a short
period of time, there is a requirement that the time duration
of each action must be larger than the respective minimum
time values, in order to effectively filter out inappropriate
signals and thus enhance the accuracy of the identification.
Therefore, in step 45, first determine if the first time span
T up1 between the first appearance time duration T 1 and the
second appearance time duration T2 is larger than the first
minimum UP reference time T21' The first minimum UP
reference time T21 is the shortest effective time between the
UP and DOWN of the finger 10. In the present example, the
first minimum UP reference time T21ranges from 1 ms to 10
ms (1 ms~T 21~ 10 ms) and it can be adjusted according to
the need of the designer or the operating preference of the
user. If step 45 determines the first time span T up1 to be not
larger than the first minimum UP reference time T21
(Tup1 ~T 2l), it represents that the signal of the first time span
Tup1 is too short so the first appearance
actually has not
really finished yet and thus it will jump back to step 42. If
step 45 determines that the first time span T up1 is larger than
the first minimum UP reference time T21 (Tup1>T2l)
it
implies that the first time span between the two appearance
durations is valid and therefore continues to step 46.
In step 46, determine if the first appearance time duration
Tdown1 is larger than the first minimum tap reference time
T31' Since usually when the finger 10 appearing on the touch
pad 21 implies that the finger 10 is down on the touch pad

21, then the shortest effective time the finger 10 first tap on
the touch pad 21 and stays on it is called the first minimum
tap reference time T31' If in step 46, it is determined that the
first appearance time duration Tdown1 is larger than the first
minimum tap reference time T31 (Tdown1>T31), it indicates
that the first appearance is a valid signal and step 47 will be
continued. However, if step 46 determines the condition to
be false (T down 1~ T31), which implies that the first appearance is a noise signal and will be discarded, it will jump back
to step 41 and resume to wait for the next first appearance.
When proceeding to step 47, it implies that the summation
of the first appearance time duration Tdown1 and the first time
span between two appearance durations is smaller than the
first reference time value T t : During the drag gesture, it is
just that the second appearance of finger lOon the touch pad
21 lasts longer, or the accumulated displacement of the
second appearance time duration is larger, therefore, in the
preferred embodiment of the present invention, time and
displacement will be used as condition to determine whether
it is drag gesture and enhance the determination reliability.
In step 47, determines which of the following three conditions is achieved first: detection of the finish of the second
appearance time duration, the accumulated displacement of
the second appearance time duration Mdown2 is larger than
the reference displacement value M1 or the timer since the
first appearance time duration has reached the first reference
time T The gesture unit 26 besides resuming the timer for
the detection of the second appearance, it uses the result Dx
and Dy from the displacement unit 25 to calculate the
accumulated displacement of the second appearance time
duration Mdown2'
If in step 47, the finish of the second appearance time
duration is detected first, the second appearance time duration T down2 and the second time span after the end of the
second appearance and before the UP of the finger lOT up2
will be obtained. At this time, if it is confirmed that the
second time span T up2 and the second appearance time
duration T down2 are valid signals and implies that within the
first reference time T u two appearance have really been
detected and the accumulated displacement of the second
appearance time duration Mdown2 is less than the reference
displacement value M1 (Mdown2<M1)' Thus, it can be determined it is not drag gesture. Therefore, step 47 determines
the detection of finish of the second appearance occurred
first, step 48 and 49 will be continue to determine if the
second time span T up2 and the second appearance time
duration Tdown2 are valid signals.
In step 48, determine if the second time span T up2 is larger
than the second minimum UP reference time T22' The range
of the second minimum UP reference time T22 in the present
example can be set between 1 ms=I O ms (1 ms~T22~10
ms) or it can be adjusted according to the need of the
designer or the operating preference of the user. If step 48
determines that is the second time span T up2 is larger than the
second minimum UP reference time T22 (T up2> T22), it
implies that the second time span T up2 is a valid signal and
then proceed the determination in step 49. If step 48 determines that the second time span T up2 is not larger than the
second minimum UP reference time T22 (Tup1~T22)'
it
implies that the signal of the second time span T up2 is just
noise signal and thus will be discarded and jump back to step
47. In the present example, the second minimum UP reference time T22 can be set to be the same as the first minimum
UP reference time T21'
In step 49, determines if the second appearance time
duration Tdown2 is larger than the second minimum tap
reference time T32' If step 49 determines the second appear-

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US 7,184,031 B2
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ance time duration T down2 is larger than the second minimum
tap reference time T32 (Tdown2> T32)' thus it indicates the
signal of the second appearance is a valid signal and
therefore not a drag gesture so it will jump back to step 43
to continue to determine if it is of any other gestures.
However, if step 49 determines that the second appearance
time duration T down2 is not larger than the second minimum
tap reference time value T32 (Tdown2~T32)'
it implies that
the second appearance is a noise signal so it will be
discarded and jump back to step 44 to wait if the second
appearance time duration has really started. In the present
example, the second minimum tap reference time T32can be
set to be the same as the first minimum tap reference time
T31·
If in step 47, it is determined first that the timer since the
start of the first appearance has reached the first reference
time value T1, it can be confirmed that the second appearance to be valid signal and determined that the two appearances are due to drag gesture, so step 50 will be executed in
order to determine if the second appearance is a valid signal.
In step 50, determine if the second appearance time
duration T down2 is larger than the second minimum tap
reference time value T32. If step 50 determines that the
second appearance time duration T down2 is larger than the
second minimum tap reference time T32 (Tdown2> T32),
implies that the second appearance is a valid signal and if the
summation of the first appearance time duration T down 1, time
span between the two appearance time duration T up1 and the
second appearance time duration Tdown2 is not smaller than
the first reference time T1 [(Tdown1 +Tdown2+ Tup1)<T 1]' thus
gesture unit 26 will output a drag signal through the transmitter interface 27 into the main unit 3 to notify the main
unit that a drag gesture has been produced and simulate the
drag signal produced by moving the mouse while holding
the mouse button. If in step 50, it is determined that the
second appearance time duration T down2 is not larger than the
second minimum tap reference time T32' implies that the
second appearance is noise, but since the timer from the start
of the first appearance has reached the first reference time
value Tv it will jump back to step 43 to determine if the
action is of any other gesture.
If in step 47, it is determined first that the accumulated
displacement of the second appearance time duration Mdown2
is larger than the reference displacement M1 (Mdown2~M1)'
it implies that even though the overall time durations of the
two tap is relative short but the second tap (which is the
second appearance) is dragging on the touch pad 21, the user
is carrying out these action for the purpose of dragging so
step 51 will be executed as in FIG. 5 to produce the drag
signal. The range of the reference displacement M1 in the
present example can vary between 1 pixel and 10 pixel (1
pixel~M1~10 pixel), such as 3 pixel or it can be adjusted
according to the need of the designer or the operating
preference of the user.
According to what is claimed previously and also differing from the convectional method where the drag signal is
produced immediately after the first tap, referring to FIG. 4,
when the summation of the first and second appearance time
durations and the time span between the two appearance
time durations is larger or equal to the first reference time
value Tv [(Tdown1+Tdown2+Tup1)~T1L
and after the accumulated time from the start of the first appearance has
reached the first reference time value T1, only then the drag
signal will be output. Besides this, referring to FIG. 5, when
the summation of the first and second appearance time
durations and the time span between the two appearance
time durations is less than the first reference time value T l'

[(T down 1+T down2+ T up1)<T 1]' but the accumulated displacement of the second appearance time duration Mdown2 is not
smaller than the first reference displacement M1, then during
the second appearance, when the accumulated displacement
is not less than the reference displacement, output the drag
signal as in step 51.
Summarising the previous claims, the requirement for the
drag gesture in the preferred embodiment of the present
invention is defined by the following equations:
10
Tdownl>T31

Eq.l:

Tdown2>T32

Eq.2:
Eq.3:

15
Eq.4:
5:
20
b.

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Mdown2~Ml

It should be noted that even the previous mentioned steps
42, 44 and 47 can simultaneously determine multiple conditions. The person familiar with the convectional arts
should know that the previous mentioned steps 42, 44 and 47
can also determine the conditions sequentially, so it is not
just limited to what has been revealed in the preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
According to what is claimed previously and also differing from the convectional method where the time of the first
appearance time duration and the first and second time span
has to be respectively determined if they are smaller than
their corresponding reference values and within the second
appearance time duration, the X and Y information has to be
output externally to be the calculation basis. The method of
identifying drag gesture according to the present invention
does not need to output X, Y information but take into
account of the summation of the time for each action,
Tdown l ,Tdown2, Tup1 and to determine if it is less than the
first reference time value T1 (refer to Eq. Sa), or determine
that the accumulated displacement of the second appearance
time duration Mdown2 is not less than the reference displacement M1 (refer to Eq. 5b), in order to achieve a fast and
reliable determination. Moreover, the present invention further requires that the time duration of each action has to be
larger than their respective reference values T31 (refer to Eq.
1), T21 (refer to Eq. 2) and T22 (refer to Eq. 4) so as to
effectively filter out the inappropriate signals generated due
to disturbance and thus achieve a more accurate determination. In addition, the present invention also takes the advantage of the whether the accumulated displacement of the
second appearance time duration Mdown2 is not smaller than
reference displacement M1 to determine if it is a drag gesture
(refer to Eq. 5b), this will enhance the user's operation, and
further achieve a more accurate determination.
While the invention has been described with reference to
the a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood
that modifications or variations may be easily made without
departing from the spirit of this invention, which is defined
by the appended claims.
What is claimed is:
1. A method of identifying a drag gesture, with which the
drag gesture is performed on a touch device, the method
comprising follow steps:

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i. detecting a first appearance of an object on the touch
device;
ii. detecting a second appearance of the object on the
touch device; and
iii. a sum of time duration of the first appearance and time
span between an end of the first appearance time
duration and a start of the second appearance being
smaller than a first reference time and meeting one of
following two situation, then generating a drag signal:
(C) another summation of the first appearance time duration, the time span and a second appearance time
duration being not less than the reference time value;
and
(D) an accumulated displacement of the second appearance time duration being not less than a reference
displacement.
2. The method of identifying a drag gesture as defined in
claim 1, wherein the drag signal is generated once at the
summation of the first appearance time duration, the time
span between the end of the first appearance time duration
and the start of the second time duration and the second
appearance time duration exceeds the reference time value.
3. The method of identifying a drag gesture as defined in
claim 1, wherein the drag signal is generated once the
accumulated displacement of the second appearance time
duration is not less than the reference displacement.
4. The method of identifying a drag gesture as defined in
claim 1, wherein the drag signal is generated once the first
appearance time duration is greater than a first minimum tap
reference time value.
5. The method of identifying a drag gesture as defined in
claim 1, wherein the drag signal is generated once the
second appearance time duration is greater than a second
minimum tap reference time value.
6. The method of identifying drag gesture as defined in
claim 1, wherein the drag signal is generated once the time
span between the end of the first appearance time duration
and the start of the second time duration is greater than a first
minimum raised up reference time value.
7. The method of identifying a drag gesture as defined in
claim 1, wherein the touch device transmits the drag signal
to the main unit.
8. A controller of a touch device for identifying movements of an object on the touch device, comprising:
an operational unit, detecting every appearance of the
object on the touch device and producing a respective
tap signal and the respective tap signal being generated
corresponding to a start of the appearance on the touch
device and being terminated when that appearance has
already finished; and
A gesture unit, being connected to the operational unit so
as to receive the tap signal and based on the tap signal
to calculate the time duration of the object appearing on
the touch device and then identify the action of the
object;
wherein, the gesture unit receives from the operational
unit a first tap signal and a second tap signal corresponding to the first and second appearance of the
object on the touch device respectively; the gesture unit
also computes a summation of time duration of the first
appearance and time span between an end of the first
appearance time duration and a start of the second
appearance being less than a first reference time and
compares the result with the first reference time and if
it qualifies one of the two conditions below, the gesture
unit will produce a corresponding drag signal:

A) if the summation of the first appearance time duration
and the time span between the end of the first appearance time duration and the start of the second appearance is not less than a reference time value; and
B) If the accumulated displacement of the second appearance time duration is not less than a reference displacement.

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9. The controller of a touch device for identifying a drag
gesture as defined in claim 8, wherein the gesture unit
generates the drag signal at the time of an accumulated time
of the first appearance time duration, the time span and the
second appearance time duration exceeds the reference time.
10. The controller of a touch device for identifying a drag
gesture as defined in claim 8, wherein the gesture unit
generates the drag signal once the accumulated displacement
is not less than the reference displacement within the second
appearance time duration.
11. The controller of a touch device for identifying a drag
gesture as defined in claim 8, wherein the gesture unit
generates the drag signal once the first appearance time
duration is greater than a first minimum tap reference time
value.
12. The controller of a touch device for identifying a drag
gesture as defined in claim 8, wherein the gesture unit
generates the drag signal when the second appearance time
duration is larger than the second minimum tap reference
time.
13. The controller of a touch device for identifying a drag
gesture as defined in claim 8, wherein the gesture unit
generates the drag signal once the time span is greater than
the first minimum UP reference time.
14. The controller of a touch device for identifying a drag
gesture as defined in claim 8, wherein the controller further
includes a transmitter interface connected to the gesture unit
for transmitting the drag signal to a main unit.
15. A gesture unit of the touch device for identifying
movement of an object on the touch device; wherein the
gesture unit receives from the touch device a first tap signal
and a second tap signal generated corresponding to a first
and second appearances of the object on the touch device
respectively, computes a sum of a first appearance time
duration and a time span between an end of the first
appearance and a start of the second appearance and compares the sum with the a first reference time and in case of
the sum being smaller than the first reference time value, a
determination is done after one of two following conditions
being met and the gesture unit generates a corresponding
drag gesture:
A) If the sum of the first appearance time duration and the
time span is not less than a reference time value; and
B) If an accumulated displacement of the second appearance time duration is not less than a reference displacement.
16. The gesture unit of the touch device as defined in
claim 15, wherein the drag signal is generated once the sum
of the first appearance time duration, the time span and the
second appearance time duration is greater than the reference time value.
17. The gesture unit of the touch device as defined in
claim 15, wherein the drag signal is generated once the
accumulated displacement of the second appearance time
duration is not less than the reference displacement.
18. The gesture unit of the touch device as defined in
claim 15, wherein the drag signal is generated in case of the

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first appearance time duration is greater than the first minimum tap reference time.
19. The gesture unit of the touch device as defined in
claim 15, wherein the drag signal is generated in case of the
second appearance time duration is greater than a second
minimum tap reference time.

20. The gesture unit of the touch device as defined in
claim 15, wherein the drag signal is generated in case of the
time span is greater than a first minimum raised up reference
time.

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