Touch-Sensitive Navigation Mechanism for Reducing Device Surface Area
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Solution Overview
Problem
Handheld electronic devices face challenges in size reduction due to the need for multiple input devices, which occupy a large surface area and require laborious operation for users to access built-in features.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of touch-sensitive navigational mechanisms in electronic devices, utilizing a sensing component and input circuitry to measure touch parameters such as position, duration, and pressure, allowing the processor to analyze and perform navigational functions like panning and scrolling directly on the user interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple input devices (jog wheels, touch pads, track balls, hotkeys) are placed on electronic devices to access built-in features, then the functionality and ease of operation are improved, but the surface area occupied increases, preventing continued size reduction of the electronic devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple input device functions into a single touch-sensitive display surface. The display serves both as visual output and as the input mechanism, allowing users to interact with the device by touching the display area directly. This eliminates the need for separate jog wheels, touch pads, and track balls, thereby reducing surface area while maintaining functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch-sensitive display serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as the visual display, the input mechanism for navigation, and the selection interface. By making the display universal for both output and input purposes, the patent eliminates dedicated input devices and reduces the overall surface area required.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple input devices are placed on electronic devices, then various input tasks can be performed, but users have to press multiple input devices to complete an input task, making operation laborious and reducing user satisfaction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines navigation and selection functions into a single touch interface on the display. Users can navigate through content by touching and dragging on the display area, and selection is made by releasing the touch at the desired location. This eliminates the need to press multiple separate input devices, making operation simpler and more intuitive.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch-sensitive display acts as an intermediary between the user and the device functions. Instead of requiring direct manipulation of multiple separate input devices, the user interacts with a unified touch surface that mediates navigation and selection, reducing operational complexity.
3Area of stationary object
If the number of input devices is reduced to enable size reduction, then the surface area is decreased, but the complexity of signal recognition and input interpretation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the touch input into distinct phases: navigation phase (touch and drag movements) and selection phase (release action). The processor analyzes touch parameters such as position, duration, and movement patterns to differentiate between navigation commands and selection commands. This segmentation allows the system to interpret complex touch interactions through structured analysis of individual touch events.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts its interpretation of touch inputs based on real-time analysis of touch parameters. The processor evaluates touch duration, movement speed, and position changes to determine the user's intent, allowing flexible interpretation of various touch patterns without requiring additional physical input devices.
Data Source
AI summary
Electronic devices with preselected operational characteristics and associated methods are disclosed. The electronic devices can include a sensing component that senses a touch from an input mechanism and an input circuitry that measures at least one parameter of the touch from the sensing component. The electronic devices can also include a processor that performs an analysis of the measured at least one parameter of the detected touch and causes the user interface to navigate on the display based on the performed analysis.