Two-Level Touch Button for Low-Power Context Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Touch-sensitive buttons in computing systems often consume excessive power when continuously scanning for touch events, especially in mobile devices, as they typically require immediate switching to a sensing state upon depression, which can be delayed and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a touch-sensitive depressible button with multiple depression thresholds, allowing the touch sensor to switch from a low-power non-sensing state to a sensing state at a first threshold and fully sense the touch context at a second threshold, enabling timely and efficient power management and accurate context determination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the touch sensor continuously scans for touch events, then touch event detection is immediate and reliable, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The touch sensor performs preliminary scanning at a first rate before button depression to detect upcoming touch events. When a touch event is detected, the sensor switches to a second scanning rate that is higher than the first rate, enabling immediate response without continuous high-rate scanning. This preliminary detection approach reduces power consumption while maintaining reliable touch event detection.
2Loss of time
If the touch sensor switches to sensing state immediately upon button depression, then touch context is provided immediately, but the switching process takes too much time
Solution Approach 1:
The touch sensor begins preliminary scanning and touch context determination before the button is fully depressed. When a touch event is detected during preliminary scanning, the sensor switches to the sensing state in advance, allowing touch context to be determined before the depression action is complete. This eliminates delays in providing touch context while ensuring accurate context determination through the switching process.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the button has only one depression threshold, then the structure is simple, but multiple functions based on depression context cannot be provided
Solution Approach 1:
The button depression process is segmented into multiple stages: preliminary scanning stage and sensing stage. The first depression threshold triggers the transition from preliminary scanning to sensing, while the second depression threshold triggers full sensing state activation. This segmentation enables the button to provide different functions based on depression context (e.g., light press vs. hard press) without requiring complex mechanical structures with multiple physical thresholds.
Data Source
AI summary
A touch-sensitive depressible button with multiple depression thresholds is provided. When the button is depressed to a first depression threshold, the touch sensor can be switched from a low-power, non-sensing state to a sensing state. When the button is depressed to a second depression threshold, the touch sensor can sense the touch context and input can be generated based on the depression and the touch context. In this way, the touch-sensitive depressible button with multiple depression thresholds can facilitate timely switching of the touch sensor to a sensing state.