Touch Pressure Sensing via Acoustic Signal Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mobile devices with touch screen displays cannot effectively sense the pressure of touch inputs without additional pressure sensors, leading to increased manufacturing costs and limited functionality.
Innovation Solution
A mobile device equipped with a touch screen panel and a voice recognition device that uses a touch pressure sensing unit to determine touch pressure by analyzing coordinate values and sound levels, employing a band pass filter and bilinear interpolation techniques to calculate pressure based on reference sound levels stored in memory.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If additional pressure sensors are added to the touch screen display, then touch pressure sensing capability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The voice recognition device, originally designed for voice input recognition, is repurposed to also function as a touch pressure sensing device. The same microphone array that captures voice signals is used to capture touch impact sounds, enabling dual functionality without adding dedicated pressure sensors. This reduces device complexity while maintaining touch pressure sensing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing voice recognition system serves itself by utilizing its own audio capture capability to detect touch pressures. The microphone array and signal processing infrastructure already present in the device are leveraged to perform touch pressure measurement, eliminating the need for separate sensing hardware and reducing overall system complexity.
2Measurement precision
If additional pressure sensors are added to the touch screen display, then touch pressure sensing capability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The voice recognition device, originally designed for voice input recognition, is repurposed to also function as a touch pressure sensing device. The same microphone array that captures voice signals is used to capture touch impact sounds, enabling dual functionality without adding dedicated pressure sensors. This reduces device complexity while maintaining touch pressure sensing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing voice recognition system serves itself by utilizing its own audio capture capability to detect touch pressures. The microphone array and signal processing infrastructure already present in the device are leveraged to perform touch pressure measurement, eliminating the need for separate sensing hardware and reducing overall system complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If touch pressure is determined using sound level analysis, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but measurement precision may be affected by environmental noise
Solution Approach 1:
The audio spectrum is segmented by frequency to isolate the specific frequency range where touch impact sounds occur. By applying band-pass filtering that targets the characteristic frequency of touch impacts on the display, the system separates touch-related acoustic signals from other environmental noises, improving measurement precision while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces direct mechanical pressure sensing with acoustic field-based detection. Instead of using mechanical pressure sensors that physically contact the display, the system uses microphones to detect acoustic waves generated by touch impacts, substituting a mechanical sensing system with an acoustic field-based system that is less susceptible to certain types of interference and easier to manufacture.
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
Enables precise measurement of touch pressure on a touch screen display using existing components, reducing manufacturing costs and enhancing user interaction capabilities without the need for additional sensors.
Implementation Method 1
a voice recognition device configured to sense a touch sound signal generated by the touch input
Implementation Method 2
a band pass filter configured to extract a signal in a frequency band corresponding to the touch input from the sound signal
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile device configured to measure a touch pressure of a touch input made by a user to a touch screen display panel using a sound generated by the touch input, and a method of using the same, are disclosed. In one aspect, the mobile device includes a touch screen display panel configured to sense a touch input made by a user to the touch screen panel and output a coordinate value of the sensed touch input. The mobile device additionally includes a voice recognition device configured to sense a touch sound signal generated by the touch input. The mobile device further includes a touch pressure sensing unit configured to determine a touch pressure of the touch input based on the coordinate value and a sound level of the touch sound signal.