Systems and methods for detecting and filtering unintentional touches on a trackpad

Abstract

Methods and devices for identifying unintentional touch events on or near a virtual trackpad by using capacitive sensing to accurately detect and distinguish between intentional gestures and unintentional palm or thumb contact. Touch events within palm rest regions on either side of a virtual trackpad may be identified and tracked to determine when to adapt the handling of trackpad data, including possibly disabling the trackpad. Two touchpoints within a trackpad may be identified and the distance between them used in determining how to adapt the handling of trackpad touch data to identify and exclude unintentional touches. A virtual trackpad button touch may be identified as a button press, a gesture or an unintentional touch by buffering frames of capacitive data, with the determination partly based on touch speed and trajectory.