Side-Surface Touch Sensors for Watch Input Accuracy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The small size of the front-surface touch screen on watch-shaped mobile devices limits accurate and precise user input, often resulting in erroneous commands due to conventional touch and drag methods.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating side-surface touch sensors that allow users to input commands by touching and moving specific points on the device, with a processor processing these inputs to perform actions like clicks and drags on the front-surface touch screen, using pointer lines and division lines to enhance user interaction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a conventional front-surface touch screen is used in a watch-shaped mobile device, then the device can be worn on the wrist with compact size, but the user input accuracy and precision deteriorate due to the small screen size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces side-surface touch sensors that extend the interaction surface from the traditional front-only dimension to include the side surfaces of the device. This dimensional expansion allows users to input commands on multiple surfaces, effectively increasing the usable input area without increasing the device's overall volume, thereby resolving the contradiction between compact size and input accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The touch sensing functionality is segmented from the front surface alone and distributed to multiple independent touch sensors located on different side surfaces of the device. This segmentation allows each sensor to be optimally positioned for specific input tasks, improving overall input precision while maintaining the compact watch form factor
2Measurement precision
If the front-surface touch screen size is increased to improve user input accuracy, then the user can input commands more precisely, but the device cannot be worn comfortably on the wrist
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of expanding the front surface area, the patent utilizes the side surfaces of the device as additional interaction zones. This approach provides equivalent input accuracy to a larger screen without increasing the device's front surface dimensions, allowing the watch to remain wearable while improving input precision
Solution Approach 2:
The side-surface touch sensors serve multiple functions: they can detect touch inputs, determine touch duration for different command types, and track touch movement patterns. This multi-functionality allows the compact side sensors to replace what would traditionally require a larger display area, maintaining small device size while achieving accurate input
3Measurement precision
If side-surface touch sensors are added to improve user input accuracy, then precise commands can be input on small devices, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple touch sensors on different side surfaces into a unified input system that works together to provide precise command input. By merging the functionality of multiple sensors into a coordinated system, the patent achieves high input accuracy without proportionally increasing system complexity, as the sensors are integrated into the existing device architecture
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a front-surface touch screen, a plurality of side-surface touch sensors that receive a user-command, and a body that includes a processor for processing the user-command, where the body is combined with the front-surface touch screen and the side-surface touch sensors. Here, the user-command includes an operation in which at least one of the side-surface touch sensors is touched by a user for more than an activation time and an operation in which a touched point of the at least one of the side-surface touch sensors is moved by the user.