Touch Input Event Timing for Low-Power Latency Reduction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces experience latency and discrepancies in touch input processing during lower energy consumption modes, leading to cognitive burden and errors in manipulating user interface objects.

Innovation Solution

Implementing methods and interfaces that deliver touch input events with reduced latency intervals, using time compression filters to synchronize input events with display refresh rates, thereby smoothing transitions between energy consumption modes.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Use of energy by moving object

If the device operates in lower energy consumption mode, then battery power is conserved, but touch input latency increases and user interface accuracy deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebattery power consumptionVSAvoidtouch input accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Use of energy by moving objectVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by detecting touch inputs during low-power mode and queuing them for processing. When the device transitions to high-power mode, the queued inputs are processed in batches, ensuring accurate touch input delivery without requiring continuous high-power operation for each individual input detection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adjusts its operating mode between low-power and high-power states based on usage patterns. The touch input processing frequency and display refresh rate are dynamically modified according to the current power mode, allowing the system to optimize between energy consumption and input accuracy in real-time.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Use of energy by moving object

If the device reduces user interface display update rate to conserve power, then energy consumption decreases, but touch input latency increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveenergy consumptionVSAvoidtouch input latency

Core Design Contradiction:

Use of energy by moving objectVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary detection of touch inputs during low refresh rate periods and accumulates them in a queue. When the display needs to refresh at higher frequency, the queued inputs are processed and applied to the display update, eliminating the latency that would otherwise occur between touch detection and display response.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The touch input detection mechanism operates continuously even during low-power modes, maintaining the ability to detect and queue inputs. This ensures that the useful action of detecting user input is never interrupted, and all inputs are eventually processed without delay when the system transitions to higher performance mode.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

3Productivity

If the device processes all touch inputs immediately, then user interface responsiveness is improved, but processing power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser interface responsivenessVSAvoidprocessing power consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSPower

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of processing every touch input immediately at full power, the system applies partial action by processing inputs in batches during high-power intervals. This approach maintains acceptable user interface responsiveness while significantly reducing the peak processing power requirements, as multiple inputs are handled together rather than individually.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements periodic processing of queued touch inputs at scheduled intervals when in high-power mode. This periodic batch processing maintains user interface responsiveness by ensuring inputs are handled in a timely manner while distributing the processing load over time rather than concentrating it at every input moment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

Data Source

PatentUS12468418B2Devices and methods for processing touch inputs

Publication Date: 2025.11.11 APPLE INC

AI summary

An electronic device detects a user input while in a lower energy consumption state. After a latency period, while in a higher energy consumption state, the electronic device delivers to an application a sequence of input events that represent the user input, including, in sequence: a first input event, a second input event and a third input event that represent the user input at first, second and third input times and is delivered at first, second and third delivery times. A time interval between the second input time and the second delivery time is smaller than a time interval between the first input time and the first delivery time, and a time interval between the third input time and the third delivery time is smaller than the time interval between the second input time and the second delivery time.