Contact-sensitive crown for an electronic watch

• US 10,664,074 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2017
• Issued: 05/26/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Moussette, Camille, Kerr, Duncan, Ely, Colin M., Morrell, John B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bukowski, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US15/627,321
• Publication Number:
  US 20180364815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 3/04 Rigidly-mounted keys, knobs or crowns jointed winding-stem G04B37/06
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 3/004 Magnetically controlled
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 17/04 Mounting of electronic components
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/00 Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/08 Touch switches specially adapted for time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• 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 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A method of operating a wearable electronic device having a display and a rotatable crown includes initiating a rotation-tracking mode based on a detection of a contact between a user and the rotatable crown. In response to initiating the rotation-tracking mode, the electronic device controls a graphical output of the display in accordance with rotational movement or absence of rotational movement of the rotatable crown, terminates the rotation-tracking mode based on a termination of the contact between the user and the rotatable crown, and in response to terminating the rotation-tracking mode, controls the graphical output of the display without regard to rotational movement or absence of rotational movement of the rotatable crown.

Claims

1. A wearable electronic device, comprising:

a housing;

a band attached to the housing and configured to attach the wearable electronic device to a user;

a display positioned within the housing and defining a front face of the wearable electronic device;

a crown positioned along a side of the housing;

a rotation sensor configured to detect a rotational movement of the crown;

a contact sensor configured to detect contact between the user and the crown; and

a processor operatively coupled to the contact sensor and the display and configured to;

while a first contact is detected between the user and the crown;

modify a graphical output of the display in accordance with the rotational movement of the crown; and

determine a speed of the rotational movement of the crown;

in response to detecting a release of the first contact between the user and the crown, determine whether the speed of the rotational movement of the crown is at or above a predetermined threshold;

when the speed of the rotational movement of the crown is above the predetermined threshold, modify the graphical output of the display without regard to rotational movement or absence of rotational movement of the crown; and

when the speed of the rotational movement of the crown is below the predetermined threshold, cease to modify the graphical output of the display.

2. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

modifying the graphical output of the display in accordance with rotational movement of the crown comprises causing a list of items to scroll across the display in a scroll direction in accordance with a direction of rotation of the crown;

modifying the graphical output of the display without regard to rotational movement or absence of rotational movement of the crown comprises continuing to scroll the list of items across the display; and

ceasing to modify the graphical output of the display comprises ceasing the scrolling of the list of items.

3. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

modifying the graphical output of the display in accordance with rotational movement of the crown comprises causing a portion of a list of items to scroll off of the display in a first direction; and

modifying the graphical output of the display without regard to rotational movement or absence of rotational movement of the crown comprises causing the portion of the list of items to scroll onto the display in a second direction opposite the first direction.

4. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the crown comprises;

a knob having a conductive portion; and

a stem conductively coupled to the conductive portion of the knob and extending into the housing; and

the contact sensor comprises a capacitive sensor conductively coupled to the stem.

5. The wearable electronic device of claim 4, wherein the stem is electrically isolated from the housing.

6. The wearable electronic device of claim 5, wherein the knob and the stem are a monolithic structure.

7. The wearable electronic device of claim 5, wherein the capacitive sensor is conductively coupled to the stem via a rotary electrical contact.

8. A method of operating a wearable electronic device having a display and a rotatable crown, comprising:

detecting a first rotational movement of the rotatable crown;

determining whether a user is contacting the rotatable crown during the first rotational movement;

in response to determining that the user is contacting the rotatable crown during the first rotational movement, modifying a graphical output of the display in accordance with a rotational movement of the rotatable crown;

detecting a second rotational movement of the rotatable crown;

determining a speed of the second rotational movement;

detecting a release of a contact with the rotatable crown during the second rotational movement;

when the speed of the second rotational movement is above a predetermined threshold, modify the graphical output of the display without regard to rotational movement or absence of rotational movement of the crown; and

when the speed of the second rotational is below the predetermined threshold, cease to modify the graphical output of the display.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

modifying the graphical output of the display in accordance with the first rotational movement of the rotatable crown comprises moving an element displayed on the display in a first direction based at least partially on a rotational direction of the first rotational movement of the rotatable crown; and

not modifying the graphical output of the display despite detecting the second rotational movement comprises maintaining the element stationary on the display.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

modifying the graphical output of the display in accordance with the first rotational movement of the rotatable crown comprises moving an element displayed on the display in a first direction and at a speed based at least partially on the first rotational movement of the rotatable crown; and

modifying the graphical output of the display despite absence of the second rotational movement of the rotatable crown comprises moving the element in the first direction despite detecting no rotational movement of the rotatable crown.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein modifying the graphical output of the display despite absence of the second rotational movement of the rotatable crown further comprises moving the graphical output of the display at a speed that decreases over time.

12. A method of operating a wearable electronic device having a display and a rotatable crown, comprising:

detecting a contact between a user and the rotatable crown;

enabling a rotation-tracking mode based on detecting the contact; and

while the rotation-tracking mode is enabled;

detecting a rotational movement of the rotatable crown;

determining a speed of the rotational movement of the rotatable crown;

detecting a termination of the contact between the user and the rotatable crown;

in response to detecting the termination of the contact and when the speed of the rotational movement is above a predetermined threshold, move an element on the display without regard to the rotational movement or absence of the rotational movement of the crown; and

in response to detecting the termination of the contact and when the speed of the rotational movement of the crown is below the predetermined threshold, cease movement of the element on the display.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein detecting the contact between the user and the rotatable crown comprises detecting an electrical characteristic of the rotatable crown that is indicative of contact between the user and the rotatable crown.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the element displayed on the display is an item of a list; and

moving the element comprises causing the list of items to scroll across the display in a scroll direction based on a rotation direction of the rotatable crown.