Interactive display device

• US 8,373,665 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2007
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Comerford, Liam D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sim, Yong H
• Application Number:
  US11/828,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20090027349A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,028 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345168-169
• 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 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

Computing devices are disclosed which include a digitizer and a display, wherein the digitizer and the display are mounted on opposite surfaces of the device. For example, a computing device such as portable hand held device includes a display mounted on a front surface of the device and a digitizer is mounted on a rear surface of the device, wherein the digitizer receives a pointing action to be displayed on the display and wherein locations on a digitizer surface are mapped to locations on the display surface so that a user may easily indicate locations or objects on a screen without obscuring the user'"'"'s view of the screen.

Claims

1. A computing device, comprising:

a device housing comprising a first side and a second side opposite the first side, wherein the second side is an exterior surface of the computer device formed by the device housing; and

an interactive display system comprising a display and a digitizer,

wherein the display comprises a display screen disposed on the first side of the device housing and the display is exposed to an exterior of the computing device,

wherein the digitizer comprises a plurality of conductive electrodes embedded in the device housing extending between the first side and the second side wherein a plurality of first end portions of the conductive electrodes are exposed on the second side of the computing device housing and a plurality of second end portions of the conductive electrodes are exposed to the first side of the device housing electrically connected to a circuit board disposed on the first side of the device housing, and

wherein the digitizer is configured to detect user contact at the plurality of first end portions to drive user interaction with a GUI (graphical user interface) displayed on the display screen.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein each of the conductive electrodes corresponds to X-Y coordinate in a coordinate space of the digitizer.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein a footprint of the display screen and a footprint of the digitizer are substantially similar in area and are disposed in alignment on the opposing first and second sides of the device housing.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein a resolution of the plurality of conductive electrodes of the digitizer is less than a resolution of pixels of the display.

5. The device of claim 4, comprising:

a sensor circuit which senses user contact with one or more of the plurality of conductive electrodes of the digitizer and which outputs a detection signal that indicates user contact at one or more detected contact points in an image space of the digitizer;

an

embedded processing system which processes the detection signal to map coordinates of the detected contact points into one or more corresponding display screen coordinates in an image space of the display screen and generates a display control signal, which is processed by the display, to enable user interaction with a graphical user interface displayed in a corresponding region of the display screen.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the display control signal is processed to enable user control of a graphical cursor that is displayed on the display screen at the corresponding display screen coordinates.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein the display control signal is processed to enable user selection of a graphical object of the graphical user interface that is displayed on the display screen at the corresponding display screen coordinates.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein user selection of a graphical object is effected by selecting a graphical object of the graphical user interface which is displayed in a region of the display screen that includes the corresponding display screen coordinates.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein user selection of a graphical object is effected by selecting a graphical object of the graphical user interface which is displayed in a region of the display screen that is closest to the corresponding display screen coordinates.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first end portions of the plurality of conductive electrodes include a plurality of first contact electrodes and one or more second contact electrodes,

wherein the first contact electrodes are arranged on the second side of the device housing at discrete contact points on a contact surface of the digitizer;

a sensing circuit that senses user contact with one or more of the first contact electrodes at discrete contact points on the contact surface of the digitizer by detecting an electrical connections that are induced by simultaneous user contact with the one or more first contact electrodes type electrodes and at least one second-type electrode.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the one or more second contact electrodes are arranged on the second side of the device housing in proximity to the first contact electrodes.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the one or more second contact electrodes are disposed on the second side of the device housing such that the one or more second electrodes are in physical contact with a user'"'"'s hand when using the computing device.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein sensing circuit senses user contact with a first conductive electrode detecting a change in voltage on the first contact electrode from a first reference voltage level to a second voltage reference level due to an electrical connection induced by simultaneous user contact with the first contact electrode and a second-type electrode.

14. The device of claim 10, wherein the first contact electrodes are uniformly arranged in two-dimensional array over the contact surface of the digitizer.

15. The device of claim 10, wherein the first contact electrodes are arranged in one or more separate linear arrays on the contact surface of the digitizer.

16. The device of claim 10, wherein the first contact electrodes are arranged in one or more separate annular rings on the contact surface of the digitizer.

17. The device of claim 10, wherein the first contact electrodes are arranged at discrete contact points on the contact surface of the digitizer such that one or more of the first contact electrodes are directly aligned to a graphical objected that is displayed in corresponding region of the display screen on the opposing first surface of the device housing.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first end portions of the conductive electrodes extend from the second side of the device housing.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the device housing further comprises a peripheral bottom surface wherein the second side is recessed below a surface of the bottom peripheral surface and the peripheral bottom surface extends from the second side farther than the plurality of first end portions of the conductive electrodes.

20. A computing device, comprising:

a device housing comprising a first side and a second side opposite the first side, wherein the second side is an exterior surface of the computer device formed by the device housing; and

an interactive display system comprising a display and a digitizer,

wherein the display comprises a display screen disposed on the first side of the device housing and the display is exposed to an exterior of the computing device,

wherein the digitizer comprises a plurality of conductive electrodes embedded in the device housing extending between the first side and the second side wherein a plurality of first end portions of the conductive electrodes are exposed on the second side of the computing device housing and a plurality of second end portions of the conductive electrodes are exposed to the first side of the device housing electrically connected to a circuit board disposed on the first side of the device housing, and

wherein the digitizer is configured to detect user contact at the plurality of first end portions to drive user interaction with a GUI (graphical user interface) displayed on the display screen,

wherein the second side of the device housing and the plurality of first end portions of the conductive electrodes form a planar bottom surface of the device.