Electronic device and method for controlling an electronic device

Simple SummaryContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

This patent describes an electronic device, typically a handheld mobile device, equipped with both front and back touch-sensitive surfaces and force sensors. The device can detect touch position and pressure applied simultaneously from both sides (e.g., between thumb and index finger), allowing for complex and intuitive user interactions such as grabbing, squeezing, twisting, and turning gestures. The system supports multi-touch events, gesture detection, and enables new user interface elements that respond to pressure, movement, and relative positions and directions of touches from both sides.

Use CasesContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Mobile phones, tablets, or handheld devices enabling richer user interfaces through two-sided touch and pressure input.
• 3D object manipulation in virtual or augmented reality applications, allowing simultaneous translation, rotation, and scaling by intuitive gestures.
• Advanced gaming controls where natural thumb-index finger actions map directly to in-game actions, like grabbing or rotating objects.
• Photo or document browsing interfaces with novel widgets (e.g., grab-wheels, twist-globes) for scrolling, zooming, or organizing content using both touch and squeeze gestures.
• Accessibility features, providing users with limited dexterity new methods to interact with touch devices using coordinated pressure.
• Interactive map applications allowing precise zoom and point-of-interest navigation via back-side pressure and touch.
• Industrial, medical, or specialized control devices needing nuanced input in a compact handheld form.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Enables high-degree of freedom input in small devices, combining touch location and pressure for more expressive user controls.
• Supports more natural, ergonomic gestures (grabbing, squeezing, twisting), closely mimicking real-world object manipulation.
• Reduces visual clutter and screen occlusion by allowing more input actions to be handled locally and simultaneously, freeing up display space.
• Facilitates more precise control (e.g., scaling or rotating objects) and richer multi-dimensional interactions without needing extra physical buttons.
• Allows for new types of user interface widgets that combine multiple functions (e.g., rotation, translation, and pressure control) in a compact element.
• Improves accessibility and usability for users with different abilities or in challenging usage scenarios.
• Enables the creation of innovative applications and games leveraging dual-sided, pressure-sensitive input.

Technical Classifications (CPCs)

Inventors & Applicants

Patent Abstract

To enable a new and improved way of user input the invention proposes an electronic device (100) with a first input means (210) having a first touch-sensitive surface area (212, 214), adapted to determine the location of at least one touching object on said first touch-sensitive surface area (212, 214), a second input means (310) having a second touch-sensitive surface area (312, 314), adapted to determine the location of at least one touching object on said second touch-sensitive surface area (312, 314), a first display (220), wherein said first input means (210) is arranged as a touch screen (230) of said first display (220), at least one force sensor (631-634), which is responsive to simultaneously applying a force to said first (212, 214) and second (312, 314) touch-sensitive surface areas, and which is adapted to determine a quantitative measure of the applied force, and a control unit (520) connected to said first and second input means (210, 310), to said at least one force sensor (631-634) and to said display (220), adapted to perform a predetermined function depending on input via said first and/or second input means (210, 310) and on at least one quantitative measure of an applied force determined by said at least one force sensor (631-634). The invention further proposes a method and a digital storage medium comprising electronically readable control instructions for controlling such an electronic device.