Side-Sensor Touchless UI for Background App Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing user interfaces on mobile devices, such as smartwatches and smartphones, are limited by the physical size of the display, making it difficult to control background applications without interfering with active applications, and touchless input methods are often less intuitive.
Innovation Solution
A user equipment with side sensors and a controller that detects touchless user input, allowing for a touchless input area surrounding the device, where interactions with controls in this area are visually indicated on the display without disrupting the active application, enabling intuitive navigation and control of background applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the application takes over the complete screen when active, then the display area for the active application is maximized, but the area available to control other applications becomes unavailable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the input area from the two-dimensional touchscreen surface into the three-dimensional space surrounding the device. Sensors detect objects and gestures in this extended spatial dimension, allowing control of background applications without occupying display space. This dimensional extension resolves the contradiction by providing control capabilities outside the traditional screen boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces sensors and processing circuitry as intermediaries between the user and the applications. These intermediaries detect gestures in the space around the device and translate them into control commands, enabling application switching and control without requiring direct touchscreen interaction that would interrupt the active application.
2Area of moving object
If touchless input methods are used to control background applications, then the interaction area is extended beyond the display, but the input method becomes less intuitive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements visual feedback by displaying indicators on the touchscreen that correspond to detected gestures and available controls in the extended input area. This feedback loop makes the invisible touchless controls visible and understandable, improving intuitiveness while maintaining the extended interaction area benefit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the touchscreen display serve multiple functions: it acts as both the primary display for active applications and as a feedback interface for touchless controls. This multi-functionality allows the same surface to provide both full-screen application display and intuitive guidance for extended input gestures.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a multi-touch sequence is used to switch applications, then control of background applications is enabled, but the interaction becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent detects and prepares control options in advance by monitoring the space around the device for approaching objects. When a user approaches with a gesture, the system has already identified available background applications and prepared their controls, eliminating the need for sequential multi-touch operations and reducing switching time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical sequence of multiple touchscreen touches with a single continuous gesture in three-dimensional space. Instead of requiring users to perform a series of discrete touch actions, the system recognizes a single sweeping gesture that naturally progresses through application selection, simplifying the interaction sequence.
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
Provides a larger interaction area beyond the physical display limits, allowing seamless control of secondary applications without disrupting the active application, using a touchless input method that is intuitive and natural, with minimal disturbance to the primary application.
Implementation Method 1
There are sensors added to such mobile devices, e.g. radar that enable gesture recognition or detection of movements in certain parts of the space surrounding the device
Data Source
AI summary
A user equipment comprising a display, at least one side sensor and a controller, wherein the side sensor configured to receive touchless user input at a side of the display, thereby providing a touchless input area, and wherein the controller is configured to: detect that an object is in the touchless input area; indicate at least one option; detect a movement of the object and act accordingly, wherein when the movement is detected to be towards the user equipment, the controller is configured to act by performing an action associated with the option being displayed at a location corresponding to the object; when the movement is detected to be along the user equipment, the controller is configured to act accordingly by determining a new option corresponding to a new location of the object; when the movement is detected to be away from the user equipment, the controller is configured to cancel at least one option.