Rotating Wheel Touch Interface for Wearable Text Input
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Small-sized devices, such as wearables and IoT appliances, face challenges in entering textual information due to limited surface area, making traditional touch screens impractical, and voice input is costly and error-prone, especially for users with larger fingers or stability issues.
Innovation Solution
A simplified touch screen interface featuring a rotating wheel of character sets, where a primary view displays character sets that automatically rotate, and a secondary view displays individual characters, allowing selection with a single touch anywhere on the screen, excluding auxiliary input regions, which control rotation speed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional touch screen with full keyboard is used, then complete textual input capability is provided, but the device size becomes too large for wearable and IoT applications
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard is segmented into multiple character sets that rotate into view, with only a portion of the keyboard visible at any given time. This allows complete textual input capability while minimizing the visible area required on the touch screen.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces temporal dimension through automatic rotation of character sets, transforming the spatial problem of fitting a full keyboard into a time-based sequence where different character sets appear at different times. This allows complete keyboard functionality on a reduced surface area.
2Area of stationary object
If the interface is miniaturized to fit small devices, then device portability is improved, but the accuracy of selecting small features such as keyboard letters deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard interface is made dynamic through automatic rotation of character sets, bringing the desired character into a larger, more easily selectable position without requiring the user to search through a static, cramped layout. This maintains selection accuracy while minimizing interface size.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by automatically rotating the character set to position the desired character in an optimal selection position before the user needs to select it, eliminating the need for manual scrolling or searching through small features.
3Device complexity
If voice input is used to eliminate the touch screen, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability deteriorates due to audio interference and user training requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The rotating keyboard interface is self-service in that it automatically presents the appropriate character set and positions the desired character for selection without requiring external voice commands or complex processing, maintaining reliability while reducing device complexity.
4Adaptability or versatility
If a full keyboard is displayed on a small screen, then complete character selection is provided, but the time required to locate and select characters increases
Solution Approach 1:
The character sets rotate periodically into view, allowing users to quickly locate and select characters through a rhythmic, predictable motion pattern. This maintains complete character set availability while reducing selection time compared to static or manually-searched interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method and program product for implementing a simplified touch screen interface for collecting character data. a device is disclosed having a touch screen interface, wherein the touch screen interface includes: a primary view that displays rotating character sets on a wheel, wherein each one of the character sets sequentially rotates into an active position, wherein a character set in the active position is selectable in response to a first touch to a uniform input region, and wherein the wheel automatically begins rotating when a user activates the touch screen interface; a secondary view that displays rotating characters on the wheel, wherein each one of the rotating characters sequentially rotates into the active position, and wherein a character in the active position is selectable in response to a second touch to the uniform input region; and wherein the rotating characters displayed in the secondary view are determined based on the character set selected in the primary view.