Systems and methods of moisture detection and false touch rejection on touch screen devices

Abstract

The presence of moisture on a touch screen device can mimic a user's touch causing false input detection and recognition. Disclosed are systems and methods for detecting the presence of moisture on a touch screen device.

1 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . Non-transitory computer-readable media configured with computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a hardware processor to:
 receive screen signal information comprising, for each sensing node of a plurality of sensing nodes of a touch screen, a location of the sensing node and a touch signal value received from the sensing node;   determine whether the screen signal information includes one or more sensing node locations with corresponding touch signal values indicative of a first local maximum, the first local maximum having a value less than a first threshold value and greater than a second threshold value;   in response to determining that the screen signal information includes the one or more sensing mode locations with corresponding values indicative of the first local maximum value, determine whether the screen signal information includes a first sensing node location within a defined proximity to the one or more sensing node locations, the first sensing node location being in a first region of sensing node locations, wherein the touch signal value of each sensing node location in the first region is less than a third threshold value, the third threshold value being less than or equal to the second threshold value, each sensing node location in the first region being adjacent to another sensing node location in the first region; and   in response to determining that the first sensing node location is within the defined proximity to the one or more sensing node locations, determine that moisture is in contact with the touch screen at the one or more sensing node locations.   
     
     
         32 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 31 , wherein the defined proximity is based on at least a distance threshold. 
     
     
         33 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 31 , wherein the first threshold is less than a lowest value associated with a finger touch for the screen signal information. 
     
     
         34 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 31 , wherein the second threshold signal value is greater than a highest value associated with noise for the screen signal information. 
     
     
         35 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 31 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to determine whether the screen signal information includes one or more additional sensing node locations with corresponding values indicative of a second local maximum value, the second local maximum value being less than the first threshold value and greater than the second threshold value. 
     
     
         36 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 35 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to determine whether the screen signal information includes a second sensing node location within a second defined proximity to the one or more additional sensing node locations. 
     
     
         37 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 36 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to, in response to determining that the screen signal information includes the one or more additional sensing mode locations with corresponding values indicative of the second local maximum value and the second sensing node location, determine that moisture is in contact with the touch screen at the one or more additional sensing node locations. 
     
     
         38 . Non-transitory computer-readable media configured with computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a hardware processor to:
 receive screen signal information comprising, for each sensing node of a plurality of sensing nodes of a touch screen, a location of the sensing node and a touch signal value received from the sensing node;   determine whether the screen signal information includes one or more sensing node locations with corresponding values indicative of a local maximum, the local maximum having a value less than a first threshold value and greater than a second threshold value;   perform a comparison between a three-dimensional representation of a portion of the screen signal information at the one or more sensing node locations and one or more three-dimensional shapes; and   determine that moisture is in contact with the touch screen based on at least a result of the comparison.   
     
     
         39 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 38 , wherein the one or more three-dimensional shapes are at least one of a ring, donut, torus, cylinder, funnel, three dimensional logarithmic curve, and disk. 
     
     
         40 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 38 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to perform the comparison by performing a connected component analysis on the one or more sensing node locations with values indicative of local maxima values. 
     
     
         41 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 38 , wherein the first threshold is less than a lowest value associated with a finger touch for the screen signal information. 
     
     
         42 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 38 , wherein the second threshold signal value is greater than a highest value associated with noise for the screen signal information. 
     
     
         43 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 38 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to determine if the screen signal information includes at least a first sense node location being in a region of sensing node locations, wherein the touch signal value of each sensing node location in the region is less than a third threshold value, each sensing node location in the region being adjacent to another sensing node location in the region. 
     
     
         44 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 43 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to determine that moisture is in contact with the touch screen further based on determining that the region is disposed within the one or more three-dimensional shapes. 
     
     
         45 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 43 , wherein the third threshold value is less than or equal to the second threshold value. 
     
     
         46 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 43 , wherein the third threshold represents a dip threshold. 
     
     
         47 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 46 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to:
 identify a number of adjacent sensing node locations;   compare the number of adjacent sensing node locations to a string threshold; and   in response to determining that the number of adjacent sensing node locations exceeds the threshold, determine that the adjacent sensing node locations form a dip region.   
     
     
         48 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 47 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to determine whether the dip region is within a predefined proximity to the one or more sensing node locations with corresponding values indicative of the local maximum. 
     
     
         49 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 48 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to determine whether the dip region is within a predefined proximity to the one or more sensing node locations by:
 identifying a distance between one of the sensing node locations in the dip region and one of the one or more sensing node locations; and   comparing the distance to a distance threshold.   
     
     
         50 . The non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 49 , further having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause the hardware processor to determine that moisture is in contact with the touch screen based on the distance exceeding the distance threshold.