Touch sensitive surface with recessed surface feature for an electronic device

• US 9,939,958 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2017
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Phipps, Chad Austin, DeVries, Jeffrey R., Johnson, John C., Lundell, Louis J., Merrell, Thomas Y., Patel, Mitul R., Slaby, Jiri
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisen, Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALMEIDA, CORY A
• Application Number:
  US15/616,059
• Publication Number:
  US 20170269786A1
• Time in Patent Office: 307 Days
• 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 2203/04107 Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means

Abstract

An electronic device (300) includes a housing (301). A touch sensitive surface (100) can be disposed along the housing. The touch sensitive surface can include a recessed surface feature (106) on a portion of the touch sensitive surface. A control circuit (315), operable with the touch sensitive surface, can detect a predetermined gesture sequence (501, 502, 503) when a touch actuation along the touch sensitive surface interacts with the recessed surface feature.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a haptic component configured to deliver a haptic response;

a touch-sensitive surface, wherein the touch-sensitive surface includes a recessed feature within a particular area of the touch-sensitive surface; and

a control circuit configured to;

detect a gesture performed at the particular area of the touch-sensitive surface;

determine whether the gesture is a predetermined gesture by determining a direction that an object detected by the touch-sensitive surface traversed a perimeter of the recessed feature and an amount of time that the object then remained outside the perimeter of the recessed feature; and

responsive to determining that the gesture is the predetermined gesture;

cause the haptic component to deliver the haptic response at the recessed feature;

select, based on whether the direction is a first direction or a second direction, either a first operation or at least one other second operation that is different than the first operation; and

perform, based at least in part on the amount of time, either the first operation or the at least one other second operation selected based on the direction.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the haptic component includes a transducer configured to deliver the haptic response as user feedback for indicating when the predetermined gesture is detected.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the transducer is a piezoelectric transducer.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the user feedback is a mechanical pop sensation.

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

a housing; and

a display, wherein the touch-sensitive surface is on a side of the housing that is opposite the display.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the recessed feature comprises a capacitive touch sensor having capacitive electrode pairs defining pixels spanning a surface of the recessed feature.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine that the gesture is the predetermined gesture only when the gesture is detected by at least a predetermined subset of the capacitor electrode pairs or pixels.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to perform either the first operation or the at least one other second operation selected based on the direction by performing one or more of:

adjusting a volume control of an audio output device of the electronic device;

adjusting a tone control of the audio output device;

adjusting a panning control of a camera of the electronic device;

adjusting a zooming control of the camera;

or

adjusting a scrolling control of a graphical user interface of the electronic device.

9. A method comprising:

detecting, by a control circuit of an electronic device, a gesture performed at a particular area of a touch-sensitive surface of the electronic device, wherein the touch-sensitive surface includes a recessed feature within the particular area of the touch-sensitive surface;

determining, by the control circuit, whether the gesture is a predetermined gesture by determining a direction that an object detected by the touch-sensitive surface traversed a perimeter of the recessed feature and an amount of time that the object then remained outside the perimeter of the recessed feature; and

responsive to determining that the gesture is the predetermined gesture;

causing, by the control circuit, a haptic component of the electronic device to deliver a haptic response at the recessed feature;

selecting, by the control circuit, based on whether the direction is a first direction or a second direction, either a first operation or at least one other second operation that is different than the first operation; and

performing, by the control circuit, based at least in part on the amount of time, either the first operation or the at least one other second operation selected based on the direction.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the haptic component includes a transducer configured to deliver the haptic response as user feedback for indicating when the predetermined gesture is detected.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the transducer is a piezoelectric transducer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user feedback is a mechanical pop sensation.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the recessed feature comprises a capacitive touch sensor having capacitive electrode pairs defining pixels spanning a surface of the recessed feature.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that the gesture is the predetermined gesture comprises

determining, by the control circuit, that the gesture is detected by at least a predetermined subset of the capacitor electrode pairs.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a control circuit of an electronic device cause the control circuit to:

detect a gesture performed at a particular area of a touch-sensitive surface of the electronic device, wherein the touch-sensitive surface includes a recessed feature within the particular area of the touch-sensitive surface;

determine whether the gesture is a predetermined gesture by determining a direction that an object detected by the touch-sensitive surface traversed a perimeter of the recessed feature and an amount of time that the object then remained outside the perimeter of the recessed feature; and

responsive to determining that the gesture is the predetermined gesture;

cause a haptic component of the electronic device to deliver a haptic response at the recessed feature;

select, based on whether the direction is a first direction or a second direction, either a first operation or at least one other second operation that is different than the first operation; and

perform, based at least in part on the amount of time, either the first operation or the at least one other second operation selected based on the direction.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the haptic component includes a transducer configured to deliver the haptic response as user feedback for indicating when the predetermined gesture is detected.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the transducer is a piezoelectric transducer.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the user feedback is a mechanical pop sensation.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the recessed feature comprises a capacitive touch sensor having capacitive electrode pairs defining pixels spanning a surface of the recessed feature.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the control circuit to determine that the gesture is the predetermined gesture by at least determining that the gesture is detected by at least a predetermined subset of the capacitor electrode pairs.