Touch Control via Orientation Detection for Erroneous Input Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable electronic devices with touch panels, such as smartphones, often experience erroneous operations due to unintentional touches, especially when held in ways that cause the user's hand to inadvertently interact with the screen, and water droplets can be misinterpreted as touch inputs, leading to unintended actions.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a touch detection unit and an orientation detection unit within the electronic device to differentiate between intended and unintended touch operations by altering the device's operational state based on its orientation, thereby preventing processing during unintended touches and ensuring accurate user input recognition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the touch panel is positioned to maximize screen size, then the display area is increased, but unintentional touches from the user's hand occur more frequently
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of the device orientation using the orientation detection unit before processing touch operations. By determining in advance whether the device is in a state prone to unintentional touches (e.g., held horizontally or at awkward angles), the system can preemptively prevent erroneous operations by ignoring touch inputs during these orientations, thus resolving the contradiction between maximizing display area and ensuring operation accuracy.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the device is made waterproof to enable use in wet environments, then the device can be used in rain, but water droplets adhering to the touch panel are erroneously detected as touch operations
Solution Approach 1:
The orientation detection unit acts as an intermediary between the touch detection unit and the processing unit. It provides additional contextual information about device orientation that helps distinguish between intentional touches and water droplet adhesion. When the device is in orientations where water droplets are likely to adhere (e.g., held vertically in rain), the system uses this intermediate orientation data to suppress false touch detections, thereby maintaining reliability while preserving waterproof capability.
3Volume of moving object
If the smartphone is downsized to meet design requirements, then the device becomes more compact, but the peripheral touch panel areas are positioned closer to the body periphery increasing unintended touches
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts its touch operation processing based on real-time orientation detection. Instead of using a static approach where all touch operations are processed uniformly, the system changes its behavior according to the detected device orientation. When the device is held in orientations that increase the risk of unintended touches due to downsizing, the system dynamically suppresses touch processing, thereby maintaining operational reliability despite the compact form factor.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a control unit that performs control to set the electronic device to a second state in a case where the electronic device is set to a first state and a detected orientation of the electronic device changes from a first orientation to a second orientation, set the electronic device to the first state in a case where the detected orientation changes from the second orientation to the first orientation, perform predetermined processing according to a touch operation performed on a display unit in a case where the electronic device is set to the first state, and not perform the predetermined processing even if the touch operation is performed on the display unit, in a case where the electric device is set to the second state.