FORCE-SCALABLE STATIONARY INTERFACE CONTROL

• US 20180059850A1
• Filed: 08/26/2016
• Published: 03/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: KERR, STEVEN J., DUMAN, GOKTUG
• Granted Patent: US 10,353,510 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 5/228 using tactile array force sensors
• 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 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• 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 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04164 Connections between sensors and controllers, e.g. routing lines between electrodes and connection pads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A force-scalable stationary interface control is provided. The control includes a knob-like structure including an axis and a fixed surface located at least partially around the axis, and a touch sensor located at least partially around the fixed surface, the touch sensor configured to sense a plurality of different levels of applied pressure and locations of touch input. The control further includes at least one output device. The control further includes a controller configured to: identify a first level of applied pressure sensed at the touch sensor, identify a scrolling action based on a detected change in locations of the touch input sensed at the touch sensor, identify a current scale of the scrolling action based on an identified first level of applied pressure, and control the at least one output device to provide an identified current scale and an identified scrolling action.

Claims

1. A force-scalable stationary interface control comprising:

a knob-like structure including an axis and a fixed surface located at least partially around the axis;

a touch sensor located at least partially around the fixed surface, the touch sensor configured to sense a plurality of different levels of applied pressure and locations of touch input;

at least one output device; and

a controller coupled to the touch sensor and the at least one output device, the controller configured to;

identify a first level of applied pressure sensed at the touch sensor, identify a scrolling action based on a detected change in locations of the touch input sensed at the touch sensor, identify a current scale of the scrolling action based on an identified first level of applied pressure, and control the at least one output device to provide an identified current scale and an identified scrolling action.

2. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor comprises:

a first sensor configured to sense the plurality of different levels of applied pressure; and

a second sensor configured to sense the locations of the touch input.

3. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to increase the identified current scale as a level of applied pressure, sensed at the touch sensor, increases.

4. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to increase the identified current scale by one or more orders of magnitude as a level of applied pressure, sensed at the touch sensor, exceeds one or more respective threshold values.

5. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

identify the current scale as a first identified scale level when the identified first level of applied pressure is below a threshold value; and

identify the current scale as a second identified scale level when the identified first level of applied pressure is above the threshold value.

6. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

identify the current scale based on the identified first level of applied pressure sensed at the touch sensor, and control the at least one output device to provide the identified current scale; and

after the identified current scale is determined, control the at least one output device to provide the identified scrolling action based on the identified current scale and the detected change of the locations of the touch input.

7. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to identify the current scale based on the identified first level of applied pressure sensed during sensing of the detected change in the locations of the touch input at the touch sensor.

8. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the scrolling action includes scrolling through one or more of:

items in a list stored at a memory accessible to the controller; and

, channels of a radio to which the knob-like structure is attachable.

9. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to control the at least one output device to provide the identified scrolling action after identifying the current scale and when the detected change in the locations of the touch input are sensed at the touch sensor.

10. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to identify the current scale and control the at least one output device to provide the identified current scale and the identified scrolling action when the first level of applied pressure is sensed at two or more positions around the fixed surface.

11. The force-scalable stationary interface control of claim 1, wherein the at least one output device is located one or more of at the knob-like structure and in a radio device to which the knob-like structure is attachable, the at least one output device including one or more of:

a display device, a speaker, and a haptic device.

12. A method comprising:

identifying, at a controller, a first level of applied pressure sensed at a touch sensor, the touch sensor located at least partially around a fixed surface of a knob-like structure, the knob-like structure including an axis, the fixed surface located at least partially around the axis, the touch sensor configured to sense a plurality of different levels of applied pressure and locations of touch input, the controller coupled to the touch sensor and at least one output device;

identifying, at the controller, a scrolling action based on a detected change in the locations of the touch input sensed at the touch sensor;

identifying, at the controller, a current scale of the scrolling action based on an identified first level of applied pressure sensed at the touch sensor; and

controlling, at the controller, the at least one output device to provide an identified current scale and an identified scrolling action.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising increasing the identified current scale as a level of applied pressure, sensed at the touch sensor, increases.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising increasing the identified current scale by one or more orders of magnitude as a level of applied pressure, sensed at the touch sensor, exceeds one or more respective threshold values.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying the current scale as a first identified scale level when the identified first level of applied pressure is below a threshold value; and

identifying the current scale as a second identified scale level when the identified first level of applied pressure is above the threshold value.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying the current scale based on the identified first level of applied pressure sensed at the touch sensor, and controlling the at least one output device to provide the identified current scale; and

after the identified current scale is determined, controlling the at least one output device to provide the identified scrolling action based on the identified current scale and the detected change of the locations of the touch input.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining the current scale based on the identified first level of applied pressure sensed during sensing of the detected change in the locations of the touch input at the touch sensor.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the scrolling action includes scrolling through one or more of:

items in a list stored at a memory accessible to the controller; and

, channels of a radio to which the knob-like structure is attachable.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising controlling the at least one output device to provide the identified scrolling action after identifying the current scale and when the detected change in the locations of the touch input are sensed at the touch sensor.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising identifying the current scale and controlling the at least one output device to provide the identified current scale and the identified scrolling action when the first level of applied pressure is sensed at two or more positions around the fixed surface.