APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING GESTURES ON A TOUCHPAD

摘要

An apparatus with a touchpad for detecting gestures performed by a user and interpreting the gestures independently of the user's actual arbitrary location and the gestures corresponding gesture orientation relative to the touchpad. The touchpad comprises a proximity detection system for detecting a movement performed with a finger by the user in the proximity of the touchpad and a touch detection system for gesture performed by the user while the finger is in contact with the touchpad. In operation the following steps are performed: - by the proximity detection system detecting a pro.x i m i ty-posi t ion P of an object in close proximity to the touchpad; - by the touch detection system detecting a touch-position T of the object while in contact with the touchpad; - determining from the proximity location P relative to the touch-position T a user-direction towards the user; - from the user-direction relative to a predetermined touchpad default- orientation adjusting the orientation of the gesture prior to interpreting the gesture with respect to a gesture-associated command and finally executing the command.