Sealed Pressure Chamber for Mobile Device Input

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Solution Overview

Problem

Mobile communication devices face design limitations and increased costs due to physical buttons, which also compromise water resistance and dust sealing, and existing solutions fail to accurately determine the location of user input forces for command execution.

Innovation Solution

A system utilizing a sealed chamber filled with a pressure-transferring medium and pressure sensors to detect pressure changes, allowing for the determination of force location based on time differences between sensor readings, enabling command inference and customization of activation regions without physical buttons.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If physical buttons are used on the mobile communication device, then user input functionality is provided, but design flexibility is limited and manufacturing costs increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser input functionalityVSAvoiddesign flexibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces physical mechanical buttons with a pressure-sensitive chamber system. The chamber contains a fluid medium that transmits pressure forces to pressure sensors, eliminating the need for mechanical button structures. This substitution enables continuous customizable input regions while maintaining user input functionality, directly resolving the contradiction between operational ease and design flexibility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent employs a fluid-filled chamber where pressure applied to any location on the chamber wall is transmitted through the incompressible fluid medium to pressure sensors. This pneumatic/hydraulic mechanism allows any region of the device housing to serve as an input area, providing unlimited design flexibility while maintaining reliable force detection for user input operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #29Pneumatics and hydraulics

2Ease of operation

If physical buttons are installed on the device frame, then button functionality is achieved, but water resistance and dust sealing are compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebutton functionalityVSAvoidwater resistance and dust sealing

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

By replacing physical buttons that create openings in the device frame with a sealed pressure chamber system, the patent eliminates pathways for water and dust ingress. The chamber is sealed and filled with an incompressible fluid medium, allowing force detection without compromising the protective sealing of the device frame against harmful environmental factors.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Measurement precision

If multiple pressure sensors are used to determine force location, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveforce location determinationVSAvoidsensor system complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an incompressible fluid medium as an intermediary between the applied force and the pressure sensors. This fluid medium uniformly transmits pressure forces throughout the chamber, ensuring that sensors positioned at different locations accurately detect pressure changes proportional to the applied force. The fluid intermediary simplifies the relationship between force application and sensor detection, improving measurement precision without requiring complex sensor arrays.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

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

This solution allows for precise determination of force location, enabling user-customizable command execution and eliminating the need for physical buttons, thereby enhancing design flexibility and reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining water resistance and dust sealing.

Implementation Method 1

a sealed chamber disposed within the frame, the chamber containing a fluid medium configured to transfer pressure through the chamber in response to an external force exerted on the chamber

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectPressure transfer: Pascal's Law

Implementation Method 2

first and second pressure sensors disposed along the chamber and configured to detect fluid pressure in the fluid medium

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectPressure detection: Pressure Increase

Data Source

PatentUS10812639B1Pressure chamber and associated pressure sensors for a mobile communication device

Publication Date: 2020.10.20 ROBERT BOSCH GMBH

AI summary

A mobile communication device and associated control system is provided for determining a presence and location of pressure applied to the mobile communication device. The system can replace physical buttons on the mobile communication device. In embodiments, a sealed chamber, such as a tube, is filled with a pressure-transferring medium inside the sidewalls of the frame of the mobile communication device. Two (or more) pressure sensors can be mounted to the chamber to measure the pressure at two different locations in the chamber. In an embodiment, the time difference of the pressure wave arriving between the pressure sensors can indicate the location of the applied force. By knowing where the force is applied, a desired command from a user can be inferred.