The tactile touchpad

Abstract

A prototype touchpad with embedded tactile feedback is described. Tactile feedback allows the touchpad to mimic the operation of a mouse for basic transactions such as clicking, double-clicking, and dragging. A button click is achieved by increasing the finger pressure applied to the touchpad, instead of using a lift-and-tap strategy or by pressing separate buttons. The result is more natural and less error prone. Pressure thresholds for the button-down and button-up actions are under software control and include hysteresis to minimise inadvertent selections.