Conductive Glove Strands for Touch Screen Activation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of gloves or mittens must often remove their hand coverings to interact with touch screens or capacitance-activated interfaces, which is inconvenient, especially in cold or wet conditions.
Innovation Solution
A hand covering with a conductivity-enhancing sub-assembly comprising metallic outer and inner strands that create an electrical conductivity path with the user's fingers, allowing precise activation of touch screens without removing the covering, featuring a configuration that includes interconnecting elements and target assist features for accurate feedback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a glove or mitten is worn to protect the hand in cold or wet weather, then hand protection and warmth are improved, but the ability to activate touch screens without removing the covering is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary conductive assembly consisting of inner and outer conductive strands that mediate between the user's finger and the touch screen. This assembly allows capacitive coupling to the touch screen through the insulating glove material, enabling touch activation while maintaining hand protection. The inner strand contacts the finger, the outer strand contacts the glove exterior, and together they create a capacitive interface that penetrates the insulating barrier of the glove material.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the glove material is made insulating to provide weather protection, then hand warmth and protection are improved, but electrical conductivity to activate touch screens deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive strands serve as intermediaries that bridge the insulating glove material and the touch screen. The inner conductive strand is secured to the interior surface of the glove, and the outer conductive strand is secured to the exterior surface, creating a capacitive coupling path that allows electrical signal transmission through the insulating glove material without compromising its protective properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the electrical parameters of the glove by introducing conductive elements with specific resistance values and capacitance characteristics. The conductive strands have sufficient conductivity to transmit touch signals while the glove material maintains its insulating properties for thermal and environmental protection, creating a dual-property system that satisfies both protection and activation requirements.
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
Enables users to interact with touch screens and other capacitance-activated interfaces with precision and convenience while keeping their hand coverings on, even in adverse weather conditions, by establishing an electrical conductivity path through the hand covering's design.
Implementation Method 1
A person wearing a glove or a mitten may well have to remove the glove or mitten completely to use a mobile phone or other electronic device having such a computer-generated touch screen... require an interaction in which a capacitance feature of the touch screen is interrupted via, for example, a change in electrical conductivity at the selected local site of the touch screen
Data Source
AI summary
A hand covering that may be in the form of a glove includes at least one finger receptacle having a sheath wall with an external surface and an internal surface, an outer strand having a metallic component and an inner strand. The outer strand includes a portion that extends into the sheath wall of the receptacle such that the portion of the outer strand does not cross the interior surface of the sheath wall of the receptacle. The outer strand and the inner strand are associated with one another such that, when a finger of a user is accommodated in the at least one receptacle, an electrical conductivity path exists that includes the finger of the user, the inner strand, and the outer strand.