Method and device for measuring rotary input having a rotary member enclosing and rotating with respect to a main body including a first and a second region corresponding to a first and a second attribute

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10072949-B2
Application number	US-201615207629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2016
Priority date	Oct 6, 2015
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

An electronic device may include a main body; a rotary member rotatably mounted upon and enclosing at least a portion of the main body, the rotary member including a first region corresponding to a first attribute and a second region corresponding to a second attribute, the first and second regions being alternately arranged on one face of the rotary member; a sensor module configured to acquire attribute information corresponding to at least a partial region of the rotary member as the rotary member is rotated; and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to confirm a change in at least one of the first attribute and the second attribute and to determine at least one of a rotated angle and a rotated direction of the rotary member based on the change.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a main body;
a rotary member mounted upon the main body while enclosing at least a portion of the main body and rotating with respect to the main body, the rotary member including a first region corresponding to a first attribute and a second region corresponding to a second attribute, the first and second regions being alternately arranged on one face of the rotary member;
a sensor module configured to acquire attribute information corresponding to at least a partial region of the one face of the rotary member as the rotary member is rotated; and
a processor,
wherein the processor is configured to confirm a change in at least one of the first attribute and the second attribute and to determine at least one of a rotated angle and a rotated direction of the rotary member based on the change.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first attribute includes at least one of a first pattern, a first reflectivity, a first color, a first form, and
the second attribute includes at least one of a second pattern, a second reflectivity, a second color, and a second form.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first region and the second region includes an opening formed therein.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module includes:
a light emission element that emits light to at least the partial region of the rotary member; and
a light reception element that receives light emitted from the light emission element and reflected from at least the partial region of the rotary member.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory that stores at least one reference value set corresponding to light intensity.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the processor is set to:
determine light intensity information corresponding to at least the partial region from the attribute information,
compare the light intensity information with the one or more reference value sets, and
determine at least one of a rotated angle and a rotated direction of the rotary member based on a result of the comparison.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the second region is arranged at a designated angle of rotation relative to a first position on the one face, and
the processor is set to correct at least one of the rotated angle and the rotated direction using the designated angle in a case where the light intensity information corresponds to the second attribute.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is set to change and provide a user interface displayed on a display or implemented in an acoustic manner based on the rotated angle.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a display device disposed on a front face of the main body,
wherein the rotary member includes a ring member mounted around the display device.

10. A method of calculating a rotated angle of a rotary member of an electronic device, the method comprising:
setting at least one initial value calculated to correspond to light intensity information at a set rotary section;
detecting at least one of a rotated angle and a rotated direction based on a change of the light intensity information when the rotary member is rotated;
calculating a value corresponding to a change of the light intensity information when the rotary member is rotated over the set rotary section and comparing the calculated value to the set initial value; and
correcting the initial value corresponding to the set rotary section, depending on a comparison result of the calculated value and the set initial value,
wherein the light intensity information is acquired through light reflected from at least one first region and at least one second region, which correspond to a first attribute and a second attribute, respectively, and are alternately formed on one face of the rotary member.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the detecting the rotated angle of the rotary member includes:
acquiring attribute information corresponding to at least a partial region of the rotary member as the rotary member is rotated;
detecting a change in at least one of the first attribute and the second attribute of at least the partial region based on the light intensity information; and
determining at least one of the rotated angle and the rotated direction of the rotary member based on the change.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the setting of the initial value further includes:
storing at least one reference value corresponding to the light intensity information.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the detecting of the rotated angle of the rotary member includes:
determining at least one of the rotated angle and the rotated direction of the rotary member by comparing the light intensity information detected while the rotary member is rotated with the at least one reference value.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second region is arranged at a designated angle of rotation relative to an initial position of the rotary member, and
the correcting the initial value corrects the initial value based on the calculated value in a case where the detected light intensity information corresponds to the second attribute.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first attribute includes information based on at least one of a first pattern, a first reflectivity, a first color, and a first form, and the second attribute includes information based on at least one of a second pattern, a second reflectivity, a second color, and a second form.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one second region includes two adjacent second regions, and the set rotary section is set as a section between the two adjacent second regions with one first region being interposed therebetween, and
when attribute information corresponding the two adjacent second regions are sequentially acquired, it is determined that the rotary member has been rotated through the set rotary section.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the correcting of the initial value includes:
resetting the initial value to correspond to the calculated value when the difference between the calculated value and the set initial value exceeds a tolerance.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the correcting of the initial value includes:
maintaining the set initial value when the difference between the calculated value and the set initial value is within a tolerance.

19. The method of claim 10 , wherein a rotated range of the rotary member includes a plurality of set rotary sections which are set to have an equal angle range, and
the correcting the initial value includes resetting the initial value for each of the set rotary sections to correspond to an average of the calculated values when the rotary member has been rotated over the respective set rotary sections.

20. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
changing a user interface displayed on a display or implemented in an acoustic manner based on the detected rotated angle.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Eom Ki-Hun
• Kim Tae-Gyun
• Yun Hee-Young
• YOON Hee-Woong

Classifications

• G04C3/001

  Electromechanical switches for setting or display · CPC title

• G04G21/00

  Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces · CPC title

• G01D5/30 Primary

  the beams of light being detected by photocells · CPC title