Partial Touch Sensor Segmentation for Always-On Display Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users cannot directly interact with graphical user interface (GUI) objects displayed on a touchscreen when the electronic device is in an inactive or sleep state, as the touch sensor is inoperative during this time, requiring the device to be activated first to select these objects.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device with a processor, touch sensor, and touch controller that writes data associated with a partial area of the touch sensor into a register to recognize effective touches, allowing interaction with GUI objects even when the device is in an inactive state by temporarily entering an active state to write data and then returning to a sleep state.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If the touch sensor is kept inoperative during inactive state to reduce power consumption, then power consumption is reduced, but user interaction with GUI objects becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The touch sensor is divided into multiple regions, with only the first region (containing interactive GUI objects) remaining active during inactive state while other regions are deactivated. This segmentation allows selective touch recognition in critical areas without requiring full touch sensor operation, thereby enabling user interaction with GUI objects while maintaining reduced power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of keeping the entire touch sensor inoperative during inactive state, the patent implements partial action by maintaining only a portion of the touch sensor (the first region) in an active state. This partial activation provides sufficient touch recognition capability for interacting with GUI objects while avoiding the excessive power consumption of full touch sensor operation.
2Reliability
If the entire touch sensor is activated to recognize touches, then complete touch recognition is achieved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The touch sensor is segmented into multiple regions with different operational states. The first region is kept active for reliable touch recognition of GUI objects, while other regions are deactivated to reduce power consumption. This segmentation strategy maintains touch recognition reliability where needed while minimizing energy usage overall.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the touch sensor are assigned different operational qualities - the first region maintains high-quality active state for reliable touch detection, while other regions are in low-power deactivated state. This local quality differentiation ensures touch recognition accuracy in critical areas without the penalty of activating the entire sensor.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a processor, a touch sensor, and a touch controller including a register. The processor writes, into the register, data associated with a partial area of the touch sensor specified to sense an effective touch. When the effective touch is sensed in the partial area of the touch sensor, the touch controller writes data associated with the effective touch into the register, and the processor reads the data associated with the effective touch from the register when the data associated with the effective touch is written in the register.