Three-dimensional contact-sensitive feature for electronic devices

• US 7,800,591 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Issued: 09/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Lam, Lawrence, Gettemy, Shawn R., Hanson, William R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdulselam; Abbas I
• Application Number:
  US11/112,051
• Publication Number:
  US 20050184974A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,978 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/173, 345/158, 345/169, 345/419, 345/581, 178/18.01, 382/124, 439/66, 439/78, 356/139.03, 715/757, 715/848, 715/850, 348/51, 341/31, 341/34, 361/807, 361/810
• 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:

one or more processors;

a housing containing the one or more processors;

a display surface provided on the housing;

a three-dimensional feature that includes a recess formed into a surface of the housing that is outside of a footprint of the display surface, so as to be part of the housing and not part of the display surface;

wherein the feature integrates the recess with one or more sensors so that the recess is contact-sensitive and operable with contact to signal a corresponding input to the one or more processors.

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 one or more processors in a digital format.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional contact-sensitive feature is positioned adjacent to the display surface.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the one or more sensors include a material that is integrated into the recess.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the recess of the three-dimensional contact-sensitive feature includes two or more contact points, wherein the one or more sensors are configured to detect one of touch or object contact at each of the contact points of the recess.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional contact-sensitive feature is sensitive to contact from a finger or object that exceeds a threshold.

7. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a display assembly;

a housing containing the processor, the housing including a front panel on which a display surface of the display assembly is provided;

an external layer that is provided as part of at least a portion of the panel and which extends over the display surface and at least some of a surrounding portion of the front panel, so that a region of the front panel that includes the display surface and the surrounding portion is smooth; and

a surface feature corresponding to a recess that is integrally formed on the front panel to receive contact from a user as input, the surface feature being provided outside of a footprint of the display surface, the surface feature including a plurality of contact regions, so that the processor interprets touch by a user at each of the plurality of contact regions as input;

wherein the surface feature is shaped so that a thickness of the front panel at a region of the surface feature is different than the thickness of the front panel that includes the display surface and the surrounding portion.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the external layer includes a polyester film.

9. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the surface feature includes one or more sensors to detect touch by the user.

10. A wireless communication device comprising:

one or more processors, including processing resources for receiving and transmitting wireless communications of a particular format and/or protocol;

a display assembly;

a housing containing the one or more processors, the housing including a front panel on which a display surface of the display assembly is provided;

a three-dimensional contact-sensitive recess that is (i) provided to receive contact from a user as input on a surface of the housing and, (ii) is outside of a footprint of the display surface, so as to be part of the housing and not part of the display surface;

wherein the recess is operable by a user to signal one or more inputs for the one or more processors.

11. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a housing containing the one or more processors;

a display surface provided on the housing;

a three-dimensional structural feature that includes a protrusion formed on a surface of the housing that is outside of a footprint of the display surface, so as to be part of the housing and not part of the display surface;

wherein the feature integrates the protrusion with one or more sensors so that the protrusion is contact-sensitive and operable with contact to signal a corresponding input to the one or more processors.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising an analog-digital converter to receive the input from the feature in an analog format, and to signal the input to the one or more processors in a digital format.

13. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the protrusion is positioned on the surface of the front panel adjacent to the display surface.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the one or more sensors include a material that is integrated into the protrusion.

15. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the protrusion e includes two or more contact points, wherein the one or more sensors are configured to detect one of touch or object contact at each of the contact points.

16. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the three-dimensional contact-sensitive feature is sensitive to contact by a finger or object that exceeds a threshold.