Finger gesture recognition for touch sensing surface

1. A method comprising:

tracking position data of a conductive object on a touch sensing surface;

determining direction data of the conductive object from the position data when the conductive object moves more than a threshold distance, wherein the direction data corresponds to a plurality of predetermined directions;

storing the direction data as digital values when the conductive object moves more than the threshold distance;

counting a number of times there is a change in direction by the conductive object;

selecting from a plurality of preconfigured gestures using the stored digital values and the number of times there is the change in direction to determine a gesture corresponding to movement of the conductive object on the touch sensing surface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storing the direction data comprises storing the digital values in an array.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, when the conductive object moves more than the threshold distance,

determining whether there is the change in direction by the conductive object.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the direction data comprises:

determining a plurality of linear movements of the conductive object;

for each of the plurality of linear movements, determining a primary direction of the conductive object.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining the primary direction comprises determining an angle of each of the plurality of linear movements with respect to a first axis.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of predetermined directions are defined as a specified number of directions relative to a two-axis coordinate system of the touch sensing surface.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting comprises performing a lookup operation in a lookup table comprising the plurality of preconfigured gestures, and wherein the lookup table comprises, for each gesture, a number of direction changes involved in the gesture and corresponding directions taken by the gesture.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium for recognizing a gesture on a touch sensing surface having instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

tracking position data of a conductive object on a touch sensing surface;

determining direction data of the conductive object from the position data when the conductive object moves more than a threshold distance, wherein the direction data corresponds to a plurality of predetermined directions;

storing the direction data as digital values when the conductive object moves more than the threshold distance;

counting a number of times there is a change in direction by the conductive object;

selecting from a plurality of preconfigured gestures using the stored digital values and the number of times there is the change in direction to determine a gesture corresponding to movement of the conductive object on the touch sensing surface.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the storing the direction data comprises storing the digital values in an array.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises, when the conductive object moves more than the threshold distance,

determining whether there is the change in direction by the conductive object.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the determining the direction data comprises:

determining a plurality of linear movements of the conductive object;

for each of the plurality of linear movements, determining a primary direction of the conductive object.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the determining the primary direction comprises determining an angle of each of the plurality of linear movements with respect to a first axis.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of predetermined directions are defined as a specified number of directions relative to a two-axis coordinate system of the touch sensing surface.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the selecting comprises performing a lookup operation in a lookup table comprising the plurality of preconfigured gestures, and wherein the lookup table comprises, for each gesture, a number of direction changes involved in the gesture and corresponding directions taken by the gesture.

15. A touch sensing device, comprising:

a touch sensing surface for sensing movement of a conductive object along the touch sensing surface; and

a processor coupled to the touch sensing surface, the processor configured to:

monitor a conductive object movement on the touch sensing surface based on position data of the conductive object contacting the touch sensing surface;

generate direction data associated with the conductive object movement if the conductive object movement travels for more than a threshold distance, wherein the direction data corresponds to a plurality of predetermined directions;

count a number of times there is a change in direction by the conductive object; and

determine a gesture that corresponds to the conductive object movement using a lookup table having a plurality of preconfigured gestures based on the direction data and the number of times there is the change in direction.

16. The touch sensing device of claim 15 , wherein the touch sensing surface comprises one of a single layer touch sensing surface; a two layer touch sensing surface; and a multilayer touch sensing surface.

17. The touch sensing device of claim 15 , wherein the touch sensing surface comprises one of: a touch screen; a touch pad; a track pad; and a touch panel.

18. The touch sensing device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is implemented using a programmable device.