Capacitive Touch Sensors Integrated into Wearable Housing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for manipulating user interface objects on small form factor touch-sensitive displays in personal electronic devices are inefficient and lack precision.
Innovation Solution
Integration of capacitive touch sensors into the housing or strap of wearable electronic devices, allowing for ambidextrous control of touchscreen interfaces without physically touching the screen, enabling gestures like single tap, double tap, scrolling, and scaling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If mechanical buttons and mechanical interface components are used, then user input functionality is provided, but industrial design flexibility is limited and precision is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical buttons and mechanical interface components with capacitive touch sensors integrated into the housing. This substitution eliminates the need for separate mechanical input devices while maintaining input functionality, thereby improving industrial design flexibility and enabling seamless integration into the device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The capacitive touch sensors are merged with the housing structure itself, making the housing serve dual purposes as both structural component and input interface. This integration improves design flexibility by eliminating separate components while maintaining precise input detection through the capacitive sensing mechanism.
2Adaptability or versatility
If capacitive touch sensors are integrated into housing, then industrial design flexibility is improved and precision is enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing structure is designed to serve multiple functions: structural support, aesthetic appearance, and capacitive touch sensing. By making the housing itself the sensing element, the patent reduces overall device complexity compared to adding separate sensor components, while maintaining high design flexibility.
3Ease of operation
If touchscreen is used for user input, then user interface control is enabled, but user must physically touch the screen which blocks view and reduces precision
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the capacitive sensing capability from the touchscreen surface to the housing edges, creating a three-dimensional input zone around the display. This allows users to interact with the interface from multiple positions and angles without blocking the screen view, improving both ease of operation and input precision through spatial distribution of sensing points.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances user interaction with content on small displays by providing precise control and industrial design flexibility, eliminating the need for mechanical buttons and improving user experience.
Implementation Method 1
capacitive touch sensors that are seamlessly integrated into the housing or strap or band assembly of the wearable electronic device
Data Source
AI summary
Content on a display user interface of an electronic device, such as a wearable electronic device, can be manipulated using capacitive touch sensors that may be seamlessly integrated into the housing or strap of the electronic device. The capacitive touch sensors can advantageously replace mechanical buttons and other mechanical user interface components, such as a crown, to provide industrial design opportunities not possible with the inclusion of mechanical buttons and mechanical interface components. Moreover, the capacitive touch sensors can enable ambidextrous user interface control of content displayed on a touchscreen without requiring the user to touch the touchscreen. In some examples, content displayed on the touchscreen can be accessed in response to a variety of touch gestures processed by the capacitive touch sensors. The touch gestures can include, for example, single tap, double tap, extended touch, x-y coordinate selection, scrolling, scaling, or the like for manipulating a touchscreen user interface.