Wearable Device Virtual UI Projection for Touch Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wearable devices with small display screens face challenges in accurately receiving touch inputs due to the size discrepancy between user fingers and selection areas, leading to accidental icon or item selection.
Innovation Solution
A wearable device equipped with an image projector and camera, capable of detecting a target area on the user's body and projecting a virtual user interface (UI) screen that adjusts its shape and size to match the area, allowing for accurate user interaction through a virtual UI screen.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a small display screen is used in a wearable device, then the device can be worn comfortably on the body, but it becomes difficult to accurately receive touch input because the user's finger is larger than the selection area on the screen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent projects the user interface from the two-dimensional small screen onto the three-dimensional surface of the user's body (hand, arm, or other body parts), effectively expanding the interaction area into an additional spatial dimension. This allows the UI to be displayed on a much larger surface area while maintaining the compact wearable device form factor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a projector as an intermediary device that transfers the UI display from the small screen to the user's body surface. The projector acts as a mediator between the limited display area and the user's finger, enabling accurate touch interaction by providing a larger target area that accommodates natural finger size.
2Ease of operation
If the display screen size is increased to improve touch input accuracy, then touch accuracy improves, but the wearable device becomes less comfortable to wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the display function from the physical device structure and projects it onto the user's body. By separating the display output from the device body, the system maintains a lightweight wearable form factor while providing a large interaction area on the user's body surface, thus avoiding the need to increase device weight for improved touch accuracy.
3Ease of operation
If a virtual UI screen is projected onto the user's body, then touch input accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional components like projector and camera
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the wearable device multi-functional by integrating a projector that can display UI on multiple body surfaces (hand, arm, chest, etc.). This single projector component serves multiple purposes: it replaces the need for larger physical screens, enables accurate touch interaction, and adapts to different wearing scenarios, thereby justifying the added complexity through enhanced versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable device that is configured to be worn on a body of a user and a control method thereof are provided. The wearable device includes an image projector configured to project a virtual user interface (UI) screen, a camera configured to capture an image, and a processor configured to detect a target area from the image captured by the camera, control the image projector to project the virtual UI screen, which corresponds to at least one of a shape and a size of the target area, onto the target area, and perform a function corresponding to a user interaction that is input through the virtual UI screen.