ELECTRONIC DEVICE INCLUDING TACTILE TOUCH-SENSITIVE DISPLAY AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING SAME

• US 20110279382A1
• Filed: 05/14/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Brogle, Richard James, Parco, Adam Louis, Pertuit, Michael Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,736,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/014 Force feedback applied to GUI
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user

Abstract

A method of controlling an electronic device having a touch-sensitive display includes determining a first value representative of force applied by an actuator to a touch-sensitive input device of an electronic device, controlling the actuator to modulate the force on the touch-sensitive input device for providing tactile feedback, determining a second value representative of force applied by the actuator to the touch-sensitive input device, and adjusting control of the actuator to adjust a subsequent force applied by the actuator based on a difference between the first value and the second value.

Claims

1. A method of controlling an electronic device having a touch-sensitive display, the method comprising:

determining a first value representative of force applied by an actuator to a touch-sensitive input device of an electronic device;

controlling the actuator to modulate the force on the touch-sensitive input device for providing tactile feedback;

determining a second value representative of force applied by the actuator to the touch-sensitive input device;

adjusting control of the actuator to adjust a subsequent force applied by the actuator based on a difference between the first value and the second value.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising comparing the difference to a target value prior to adjusting and wherein adjusting comprises adjusting based on the comparison.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the first value, controlling the actuator, determining the second value, and adjusting control are carried out for each of a plurality of actuators.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the force applied by the actuator comprises determining based on signals from a force sensor.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the force sensor comprises a force sensing resistor.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein determining the first value and determining the second value comprises determining, utilizing the force sensor, first and second values of force that include force applied by the actuator and an external applied force.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises a piezo actuator and controlling the actuator comprises controlling a charge at the actuator to modulate the force.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining the first value comprises determining a value representative of force absent a charge at the actuator and determining a second value comprises determining a maximum value representative of force.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining the first value comprises determining a maximum value representative of force and determining a second value comprises determining a value representative of force absent a charge at the actuator.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein adjusting the subsequent force comprises one of adjusting an applied voltage and adjusting a current to adjust the charge.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein adjusting control comprises decreasing a charge when the difference between the first value and the second value is greater than the target.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein adjusting control comprises increasing a charge when the difference between the first value and the second value is less than the target.

14. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for execution by at least one processor in an electronic device to carry out the method of claim 1.

7. The method according to claim 7, wherein one of determining the first value representative of force and determining the second value representative of force comprises determining a maximum value representative of force applied by the piezo actuator.

15. An electronic device comprising:

a base;

a touch-sensitive display moveable relative to the base;

an actuator arranged to modulate a force on the touch-sensitive display;

a force sensor arranged to determine values of force, applied by the actuator, on the touch-sensitive display;

a processor operably coupled to the touch-sensitive display, the actuator and the force sensor to determine a first value representative of force applied by the actuator to the touch-sensitive display, control the actuator to modulate the force on the touch-sensitive display, determine a second value representative of force applied by the actuator to the touch-sensitive display, and adjust control of the actuator to adjust a subsequent force applied by the actuator based on a difference between the first value and the second value.