Offset Biometric Sensor with Haptic and Visual Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Biometric authentication sensors offset from the touch surface of electronic devices lack sensory feedback, leading to suboptimal user experience and increased false rejection rates due to the absence of tactile cues for proper finger placement.
Innovation Solution
Integration of haptic feedback mechanisms, such as electro-tactile materials and visual/audio cues, to guide the user's digit to the biometric authentication sensor, ensuring optimal placement and coverage, even when the user is not directly looking at the sensor.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the biometric authentication sensor is located offset from the touch surface, then cost is reduced and industrial design is improved, but sensory feedback for the user is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a lens as an intermediary component that allows the biometric authentication sensor to be positioned offset from the touch surface while still enabling optical interaction. The lens transmits light between the user's digit and the sensor, mediating the authentication process without requiring direct contact between the digit and sensor surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs visual feedback mechanisms that utilize color or light changes to indicate authentication status and guide proper finger placement. This provides the sensory feedback that would otherwise be lost by offsetting the sensor, allowing users to see when their finger is correctly positioned and when authentication is successful.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the biometric authentication sensor is located offset from the touch surface, then a physical key is not needed, but tactile cues for proper finger placement are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical tactile feedback system with an optical/electronic feedback system. Instead of relying on physical contact cues from a raised sensor surface, the system uses visual indicators (such as LED lights or display elements) to guide finger placement and indicate authentication status, substituting mechanical sensation with optical information.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens serves as an intermediary that enables the sensor to be offset while maintaining functional capability. This allows the system to eliminate physical keys and buttons while preserving user guidance through the optical path created by the lens structure.
3Measurement precision
If visual alignment is required for finger placement, then authentication accuracy is improved, but user convenience is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism that provides real-time visual indicators to guide finger placement. The system monitors whether the digit is properly positioned on the sensor and provides immediate visual feedback (such as changing LED states or display indicators) to guide the user into the correct position, eliminating the need for precise visual alignment while maintaining authentication accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses color changes or light state changes as feedback to indicate proper finger placement and authentication status. This allows users to intuitively understand when their finger is correctly positioned without needing to visually align with precise markings, improving convenience while maintaining accuracy through intuitive optical cues.
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
Improves user experience by providing instant sensory feedback for proper finger placement, reducing false rejection rates and enabling authentication without visual alignment, thus enhancing the reliability and convenience of biometric authentication.
Implementation Method 1
Integration of haptic feedback mechanisms, such as electro-tactile materials
Implementation Method 2
The biometric authentication sensor may be located offset from the touch surface of the electronic device. The offset may be caused by the placement of a lens on top of the sensor
Data Source
AI summary
There is described an electronic device comprising a biometric authentication sensor and a control circuit, and a method thereof. The biometric authentication sensor detects an object in proximity. The control circuit activates an authentication operation in determining that sensor coverage exceeds a predetermined threshold and based on a quality of a biometric input sample captured by the biometric authentication sensor. The control circuit provides user feedback associated with the sensor coverage in determining that the sensor coverage and the quality of the biometric input sample does or does not exceed the thresholds.