Protective Frame Push Area for Glove-Friendly Push-to-Talk Use
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customary smartphones with push-to-talk functionality face difficulties in use with thick gloves or protective gear due to poorly designed physical buttons, leading to accidental or incorrect button presses.
Innovation Solution
A protective frame with enlarged and reinforced push areas for the push-to-talk and emergency call buttons, made of elastic material, to facilitate easy operation and reduce accidental presses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the push-button is designed according to conventional smartphone standards, then the phone maintains standard size and button layout, but the button becomes difficult to use with thick gloves or protective gear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a protective frame as an intermediary component between the user's gloved hand and the smartphone's push-button. This frame includes an enlarged push area that acts as a mediator, allowing users to easily locate and press the button with thick gloves without modifying the original phone structure. The frame's push area is dimensioned to be easily distinguishable and pressable with gloved fingers, solving the usability problem while keeping the phone itself unchanged.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective frame adds a third dimension (depth/protrusion) to the push-button interface. By creating a raised or protruding push area on the frame, the invention transforms a two-dimensional button surface into a three-dimensional feature that is more easily locatable and pressable with gloves. This dimensional addition provides tactile feedback and visual distinction without increasing the phone's footprint.
2Ease of operation
If the push-button area is enlarged to facilitate use with gloves, then button usability improves, but the risk of accidental pressing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protective frame applies local quality by creating a specifically designed push area with distinct physical characteristics (enlarged size, raised profile, or different material properties) localized at the button position. This localized modification allows the push area to be easily identifiable and pressable with gloves, while the rest of the frame maintains a different profile that prevents accidental activation. The differentiated local properties enable selective ease of operation without compromising overall reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective frame performs preliminary action by pre-positioning visual and tactile markers that guide the user's finger to the correct push area before contact is made. The enlarged and raised push area creates preliminary tactile feedback as the finger approaches, allowing the user to consciously locate and intend to press the button before actual contact occurs. This preliminary guidance reduces accidental pressing by ensuring deliberate user action.
3Ease of operation
If the protective frame adds structural elements to enlarge the push area, then button usability with gloves improves, but the frame's material requirements and manufacturing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protective frame utilizes parameter changes in material properties to achieve the enlarged push area function. By selecting materials with specific characteristics (such as silicone rubber or elastomers with varying durometers), the frame can create tactilely distinct push areas through material property variations rather than complex geometric structures. This approach allows for easy molding and manufacturing while achieving the desired usability improvements through material parameter optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective frame employs flexible shell materials that can be molded into the required shape with integrated push areas. These flexible materials allow for the creation of raised or protruding push surfaces that provide tactile feedback and visual distinction. The flexibility of these materials enables simple molding processes and easy attachment to the phone, reducing manufacturing complexity while achieving the enlarged, distinguishable push area function.
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
Ensures reliable communication by allowing easy and accurate use of push-to-talk and emergency call buttons even with thick gloves or protective gear, reducing the risk of accidental presses.
Implementation Method 1
The protective frame is made of an elastic material and configured to increase the force needed for pushing the first push-button by at least 1 N
Data Source
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AI summary
The protective frame (10) for a cellular phone (1) with a push-to-talk functionality is made of an elastic material and has a perimeter configured to surround the perimeter of the phone (1). The perimeter of the frame (10) is provided with a push area (13), which is configured to cover in a mounted state of the frame (10) a push-to-talk button (3) of the phone (1) and to allow use of said push-to-talk button (3). The push area (13) is dimensioned to facilitate the use of said push-to-talk button (3).