Tactile Feedback for Touch Interface Parameter Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for manipulating user interfaces on electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces are cumbersome and inefficient, leading to increased cognitive burden and energy consumption, particularly in battery-operated devices.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a method and device that provides tactile feedback through a touch-sensitive surface, allowing for intuitive operations such as changing the z-order of user interface objects, adjusting parameters within predefined limits, and providing feedback corresponding to clocks and music beats, by generating distinct tactile outputs based on contact intensity and movement patterns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If tactile feedback is provided for every user interface operation, then user interface efficiency and user experience are improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing tactile feedback selectively for specific operations rather than uniformly for all operations. The system identifies particular UI operations that benefit from tactile confirmation (such as object selection, parameter adjustment, or critical actions) and generates haptic feedback only for those operations, while omitting feedback for routine or less critical operations. This localized approach maintains user interface efficiency for important interactions while reducing overall energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial action by providing tactile feedback for only a subset of user interface operations rather than all operations. The system determines which operations warrant tactile confirmation based on their importance, complexity, or user interaction patterns. This partial feedback approach improves usability for critical operations while avoiding the excessive energy consumption that would result from providing feedback for every single UI event.
2Ease of operation
If distinct tactile outputs are generated based on contact intensity and movement patterns, then feedback intuitiveness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies feedback by analyzing user interaction characteristics (contact intensity, movement patterns, gesture type) and generating corresponding tactile outputs that provide intuitive confirmation of the operation being performed. The system monitors touch input parameters and maps them to appropriate haptic feedback patterns, creating a closed-loop feedback system that enhances user understanding of system state and operation results without requiring complex additional hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universality by using a single touch-sensitive surface to perform multiple functions: detecting user input, analyzing interaction patterns, and generating tactile feedback. The existing touch controller and haptic actuator are programmed to recognize various contact intensities and movement patterns, eliminating the need for separate sensors or actuators for each function. This multi-functional approach improves feedback intuitiveness while avoiding the complexity increase that would result from adding dedicated hardware components.
Data Source
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AI summary
An electronic device with a touch-sensitive surface and a display displays a control for controlling a parameter associated with respective content. The device detects a gesture on the touch-sensitive surface for adjusting the parameter, and in response to detecting the gesture, the device determines an adjustment of the parameter that corresponds to an extent of the gesture. When the adjustment of the parameter would cause one or more predefined adjustment limits to be exceeded, the device generates a respective tactile output on the touch-sensitive surface, and when the adjustment of the parameter would not cause the one or more predefined adjustment limits to be exceeded, the device adjusts the parameter without generating the respective tactile output on the touch-sensitive surface.