Rejection of false turns of rotary inputs for electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11347351-B2
Application number	US-202017118088-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2020
Priority date	Feb 12, 2014
Publication date	May 31, 2022
Grant date	May 31, 2022

Abstract

Various embodiments for detecting and rejecting false, unintended rotations of rotary inputs of electronic devices are disclosed herein. In one example, an electronic device is provided with an optical detector that measures the distance between the electronic device and the wearer's forearm or hand, and when the distance is smaller than a threshold distance, the turns of the rotary input are false, unintended turns. In another example, a crown of a rotary input includes a plurality of capacitive sensors that detects the presence of a wearer's finger, which when absent, the turns of the rotary input are false turns. In another example, deflections or positions of a shaft of the rotary input are measured and if the deflections/positions indicate an upward force on the rotary input (which are likely caused by the wearer's forearm or hand), the turns of the rotary input are false turns. Other embodiments are described herein.

First claim

We claim:

1. An electronic watch comprising:
a display;
a housing at least partially surrounding the display;
a processor positioned within the housing; and
a crown positioned along a side of the housing, the crown comprising an array of sensors positioned along a periphery of an external surface of the crown and operably coupled to the processor, the array of sensors operable to detect a position of a touch at the external surface.

2. The electronic watch of claim 1 , wherein:
the crown comprises a shaft that extends into an interior of the housing; and
the electronic watch further comprises a rotational sensor that is configured to detect a rotation of the crown.

3. The electronic watch of claim 2 , wherein the rotational sensor is an optical sensor that is configured to detect the rotation of the crown using reflected light.

4. The electronic watch of claim 1 , wherein the electronic watch is configured to determine if the position of the touch is along a top region or a bottom region of the external surface.

5. The electronic watch of claim 4 , wherein:
in response to the touch being along the top region of the external surface, the electronic watch is configured to accept input from the crown; and
in response to the touch being along the bottom region of the external surface, the electronic watch is configured to reject input from the crown.

6. The electronic watch of claim 4 , wherein the bottom region of the external surface is proximate to a wrist of a user when the electronic watch is worn.

7. The electronic watch of claim 1 , wherein the electronic watch is configured to reject an input to the crown unless the touch is detected by the array of sensors.

8. A wearable electronic device comprising:
a housing;
a band coupled to the housing and configured to attach the wearable electronic device to a wrist;
a display positioned at least partially within the housing; and
a crown comprising:
a dial positioned along a side of the housing; and
an array of sensors positioned along an exterior of the dial and configured to detect a location of a touch on the dial.

9. The wearable electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the display is configured to scroll displayed contents in response to an input provided to the crown.

10. The wearable electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the wearable electronic device is configured to determine whether the location is along a top or a bottom of the dial.

11. The wearable electronic device of claim 10 , wherein:
the wearable electronic device is configured to accept a crown input in response to a determination that the location is along the top of the dial; and
the wearable electronic device is configured to reject the crown input in response to a determination that the location is along the bottom of the dial.

12. The wearable electronic device of claim 8 , wherein:
the wearable electronic device is configured to detect a contact with the wrist using the array of sensors; and
the wearable electronic device is configured to reject a crown input in response to detecting the contact with the wrist.

13. The wearable electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the array of sensors is an array of capacitive sensors operable to detect capacitive coupling between the crown and an external object.

14. The wearable electronic device of claim 13 , wherein:
the wearable electronic device is configured to detect a local capacitance maximum using the array of capacitive sensors; and
in response to detecting the local capacitance maximum, accept an input from the crown.

15. The wearable electronic device of claim 8 , wherein:
the wearable electronic device further comprises an optical sensor; and
the optical sensor is configured to detect a rotational input provided to the crown.

16. An electronic watch comprising:
a housing;
a touch screen positioned at least partially within the housing;
a processor positioned within the housing; and
a crown positioned along a side of the housing, the crown comprising an array of capacitive sensors positioned along a periphery of the crown and operably coupled to the processor, the electronic watch configured to detect a location of a touch along the crown using the array of capacitive sensors.

17. The electronic watch of claim 16 , wherein the electronic watch is configured to ignore an input to the crown in response to a determination that the touch is not detected.

18. The electronic watch of claim 17 , wherein:
the electronic watch is configured to enter a sleep mode;
a graphical output is not displayed on the touch screen when the electronic watch is in the sleep mode; and
the electronic watch is configured to transition from the sleep mode to an operational mode in response to accepting the input.

19. The electronic watch of claim 16 , wherein the electronic watch comprises a rotation sensor configured to detect rotational input provided to the crown.

20. The electronic watch of claim 19 , wherein:
the electronic watch is configured to disregard the rotational input unless the location of the touch is along a top region of the crown; and
in response to disregarding the rotational input, the electronic watch is configured to maintain a static display on the touch screen.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Shedletsky Anna-Katrina
• Werner Christopher M
• Ely Colin M
• Weiss Samuel

Classifications

• G06F3/0418 Primary

  for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment · CPC title

• G06F3/0362

  with detection of one-dimensional [1D] translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts · CPC title

• G06F3/0421

  by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen · CPC title

• G06F3/044

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F2203/04106

  Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection · CPC title