Protective Cover Proximity Sensing for Off-Screen Gesture Input
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional touch-sensitive systems based on capacitance or resistance struggle to accurately detect the height of hovering objects due to varying reflective properties and require multiple detections to determine relative heights, limiting their ability to interact with GUI elements outside the display area and respond to gestures beyond the screen.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of light-based proximity sensors with multiple detection channels using infra-red LEDs and PDs, allowing for absolute height detection and enabling user interaction with virtual GUI elements beyond the screen through gestures detected by sensors embedded in a removable protective cover, which communicates via wireless protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If capacitance-based or resistance-based touch sensitive systems are used, then the system can detect touch input, but the system cannot accurately determine the absolute height of hovering objects due to varying reflective properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces capacitance-based or resistance-based touch detection systems with a light-based detection system using LEDs and photodetectors. This substitution enables accurate measurement of absolute height by detecting the intensity of reflected light, which varies predictably with distance, thereby resolving the inability of electrical touch systems to measure height accurately.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the detection parameter from electrical properties (capacitance or resistance) to optical properties (light intensity). By measuring the intensity of light reflected from hovering objects, the system can determine absolute height since light intensity follows an inverse square law with distance, providing accurate height measurement independent of the object's material properties.
2Measurement precision
If prior art proximity detectors use reflected light to determine relative height, then the system can detect object movement, but the system cannot determine absolute height because different materials reflect different amounts of light
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces relative height detection based on material-dependent light reflection with absolute height detection using a calibrated light-based system. The system uses LEDs and photodetectors to measure light intensity and converts this to absolute height values through calibration, eliminating the information loss caused by varying material reflectivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-calibration by establishing a relationship between light intensity and height during initialization or through known reference measurements. This self-service calibration allows the system to compensate for varying light source characteristics and detector sensitivity, enabling accurate absolute height measurement without requiring knowledge of the hovering object's material properties.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional touch surfaces are limited to the display area, then the device structure remains simple, but the user cannot interact with GUI elements outside the display area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the detection system from the display by placing light-based proximity sensors in the protective cover surrounding the display area. This segmentation allows the sensors to detect gestures in the air around the device without interfering with the display function, enabling interaction with virtual GUI elements beyond the screen boundaries while maintaining a simple overall device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective cover serves as an intermediary structure that houses the proximity sensors and transmits detected gesture information to the device's processing system. This intermediary role allows the cover to expand the interaction area beyond the display without requiring direct integration of sensors into the display itself, thereby maintaining display simplicity while adding versatility.
4Loss of time
If multiple detections are required to determine relative heights, then the system can track object movement, but the system requires more time and cannot provide immediate height information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary calibration to establish the relationship between light intensity and absolute height before actual measurements are taken. This preliminary action creates a lookup table or calibration curve that allows the system to immediately convert any detected light intensity value into an accurate absolute height measurement without requiring multiple sequential detections, thereby eliminating detection time delay while maintaining precision.
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 precise detection of object proximity and gestures, allowing users to interact with virtual controls and GUI elements outside the display area, enhancing user experience by providing absolute height information and eliminating the need for multiple detections, and enabling wireless communication of detected gestures.
Implementation Method 1
Prior art hover detection systems based on reflected light determine a height of an object above a surface based on an amount of reflected light
Implementation Method 2
light-based proximity sensors with multiple detection channels using infra-red LEDs and PDs
Data Source
AI summary
A cover for a handheld electronic device, including a cover piece that fits over a side surface of a handheld electronic device, a plurality of proximity sensors mounted in the cover piece, and directed outward from the side surface, for detecting user gestures performed outside the side surface, wireless communication circuitry, and a processor configured to operate the proximity sensors, and to cause the wireless communication circuitry to transmit commands to the electronic device in response to gestures detected by the proximity sensors.