ANNULAR USER INTERFACE

• US 20160246421A1
• Filed: 10/04/2013
• Published: 08/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vibrant Licensing LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: KURABAYASHI, Shuichi
• Granted Patent: US 9,952,704 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1656 Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203
• 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 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer

Abstract

Technologies are generally described for a user interface system configured to detect a user'"'"'s action. In various examples, an electronic device operable by a user may include an annular sensor and a processor. The annular sensor may be configured to detect a touch input. The processor may be operatively coupled to the annular sensor, and configured to determine an action by the user that corresponds to the touch input.

Claims

1. An electronic device operable by a user, the electronic device comprising:

an annular sensor configured to detect a touch input; and

a processor operatively coupled to the annular sensor and configured to compare a first matrix associated with the touch input with a second matrix associated with a candidate action to determine an action by the user that corresponds to the touch input detected by the annular sensor.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a ring-shaped member including an inside surface, wherein the annular sensor is mounted to the inside surface of the ring-shaped member.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory operatively coupled to the annular sensor and configured to store information that represents the touch input detected by the annular sensor.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the action by the user based at least in part on one or more of touch positions and touch times associated with the touch input detected by the annular sensor.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the annular sensor is configured to provide the one or more touch positions as an angular position associated with the detected touch input.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the annular sensor includes a pressure sensor that is configured to detect a pressure associated with operation of the annular sensor by the user.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the action by the user based at least in part on one or more of touch positions, touch times and pressures associated with the touch input detected by the annular sensor.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the annular sensor includes a capacitive sensor.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to compare the touch input with candidate actions to determine the action by the user from amongst the candidate actions.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to select from amongst the candidate actions based on an executable application on the electronic device such that different applications are associated with correspondingly different candidate actions.

11. An electronic device configured to detect user action with an annular sensor, the electronic device comprising:

a touch input receiver unit coupled to the touch input receiver unit and configured to receive a touch input from the annular sensor; and

an action determination unit configured to determine the user action that corresponds to the touch input received by the touch input receiver unit, based at least in part on a comparison between a matrix associated with the touch input and any of a plurality of matrices associated with a list of candidate actions.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the annular sensor is configured to detect the touch input from the user.

13. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the touch input receiver unit is configured to receive touch positions and touch times associated with the touch input from the annular sensor, and

wherein the action determination unit is configured to determine the user action based at least in part on one or more of the touch positions and the touch times.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the annular sensor is configured to provide the touch position as an angular position associated with the touch input.

15. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the annular sensor includes a pressure sensor operable to detect a pressure associated with the touch input.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the touch input receiver unit is configured to receive touch positions, touch times and pressures associated with the touch input from the annular sensor, and

wherein the action determination unit is configured to determine the user action based at least in part on one or more of the touch positions, the touch times and the pressures.

17. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the annular sensor includes a capacitive sensor.

18. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the action determination unit is configured to compute similarity between the touch input and each of the candidate actions, and select one of the candidate actions that has a highest computed similarity.

19. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the action determination unit is configured to select the candidate actions based on an application executed on the electronic device such that different applications correspond to different candidate actions.

20. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the touch input receiver unit is configured to receive the touch input from the annular sensor wirelessly.

21. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising:

a touch input storage unit coupled to the touch input receiver unit and configured to store the received touch input.

22. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising:

a candidate action list storage unit coupled to the action determination unit and configured to store the list of candidate actions.

23. A method for an electronic device operatively coupled to an annular sensor and configured to detect a user action with the annular sensor, the method comprising:

receiving from the annular sensor a touch input;

comparing a matrix associated with the received touch input with any of a plurality of matrices associated with candidate actions; and

selecting the user action, which corresponds to the touch input, from amongst the candidate actions based at least in part on the comparison.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the comparing comprises computing similarity between the touch input and each of the candidate actions, and

wherein the selecting comprises selecting one of the candidate actions that has a highest computed similarity.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

storing the received touch input in a memory of the electronic device.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

storing the candidate actions in a memory of the electronic device.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

varying the candidate actions based on an application executed on the electronic device.