Three-dimensional contact-sensitive feature for electronic devices

• US 20050184974A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Lam, Lawrence, Gettemy, Shawn R., Hanson, William R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,800,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0338 with detection of limited linear or angular displacement of an operating part of the device from a neutral position, e.g. isotonic or isometric joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0393 Accessories for touch pads or touch screens, e.g. mechanical guides added to touch screens for drawing straight lines, hard keys overlaying touch screens or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An electronic device is formed at least partially from a deflectable material that generates an electrical signal in response to contact. The first material is integrated with a display module to provide a shaped feature on the exterior surface of the display module. The shaped feature detects contact with an external object on one or more contact points, where contact with the contact points corresponds to a defined input for a processor of the electronic device.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a housing containing the processor; and

a three-dimensional contact-sensitive feature that is unitarily combined with the housing, the feature being actuatable to signal an input for the processor.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising an analog-digital converter to receive the input from the feature in an analog format, and to signal the input to the processor in a digital format.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional contact sensitive feature comprises a gel volume.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional contact sensitive feature comprises a recess.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a display module at least partially formed to be part of the housing.