Tactile overlay for touchscreen device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9965116-B1
Application number	US-201514799412-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 14, 2015
Priority date	Jul 14, 2015
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A system for facilitating engagement with a touch screen by a visually impaired person comprises an overlay. The overlay includes a bottom surface having a capacitive component and an overlay locating element. The overlay locating element is configured to interface with a touch screen underlying the overlay to provide a position of the overlay relative to the touch screen. A top surface of the overlay includes a tactile button that is located opposite of the capacitive component. The tactile button and the capacitive component are above the region of a displayed soft button. Engagement of the tactile button by the visually impaired person results in the capacitive component interacting with the touch screen in the region of the displayed soft button to provide a capacitive input detectable by the touch screen.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for facilitating engagement with a touch screen of a device, the system comprising:
the touch screen configured to display a user interface including a soft button visual representation, and to detect a change in capacitance in a soft button region responsive to touch; and
an overlay including:
a top surface,
a bottom surface,
a tactile button disposed along the top surface of the overlay, the tactile button coupled to a button capacitive component disposed along the bottom surface of the overlay, wherein engagement of the tactile button results in the button capacitive component interacting with the touch screen in the soft button region to provide a capacitive input that is detectable by the touch screen, and
one or more capacitive overlay locating elements other than the button capacitive component, the one or more capacitive overlay locating elements disposed along the bottom surface of the overlay, wherein the one or more capacitive overlay locating elements are detectable by the touch screen and are configured to thereby convey to the touch screen a position of the overlay along the touch screen and an orientation of the overlay relative to an orientation of the touch screen and a size of the overlay relative to a size of the touch screen, wherein an application executing at the device repositions and sizes the soft button region to underlie the tactile button of the overlay based on the position of the overlay along the touch screen and the orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen and the size of the overlay relative to the size of the touch screen.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more capacitive overlay locating elements include a plurality of capacitive components other than the button capacitive component disposed along the bottom surface of the overlay.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the application executing at the device also repositions the soft button visual representation based on the repositioning of the soft button region.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more capacitive overlay locating elements convey to the touch screen a second position of the overlay along the touch screen and a second orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen after conveying to the touch screen the position of the overlay along the touch screen and the orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen and the size of the overlay relative to the size of the touch screen, wherein the application executing at the device repositions the soft button region again to underlie the overlay based on the second position of the overlay along the touch screen and the second orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the soft button visual representation is visible through the tactile button.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more capacitive overlay locating elements convey to the touch screen the orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen by conveying to the touch screen that the overlay is in a crooked orientation relative to the touch screen, wherein the application executing at the device repositions the soft button region to underlie the overlay based on the crooked orientation of the overlay relative to the touch screen.

7. A system for facilitating engagement with a touch screen, the system comprising:
the touch screen configured to display a soft button visual representation and to detect a change in capacitance in a soft button region corresponding to the soft button visual representation; and
an overlay positioned over the touch screen, the overlay including:
a tactile button of the overlay, the tactile button coupled to a button capacitive component of the overlay, wherein engagement of the tactile button results in the button capacitive component interacting with the touch screen in the soft button region to provide a capacitive input that is detectable by the touch screen,
one or more overlay locating elements other than the button capacitive component, wherein the one or more overlay locating elements are detectable by the touch screen and are configured to thereby convey to the touch screen a position of the overlay along the touch screen and an orientation of the overlay relative to an orientation of the touch screen and a size of the overlay relative to a size of the touch screen, wherein the touch screen is configured to reposition the soft button region to underlie the tactile button of the overlay based on the position of the overlay along the touch screen and the orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen and the size of the overlay relative to the size of the touch screen.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more overlay locating elements convey to the touch screen the orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen by conveying to the touch screen that the overlay is in a crooked orientation relative to the touch screen.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the tactile button is one of a liquid filled button or an air filled button.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the tactile button is a push-button switch.

11. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a merchant application configured to run on a mobile device that includes the touch screen, wherein the merchant application facilitates processing of payments between a buyer and a merchant.

12. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a payment object reader, wherein the payment object reader includes at least one of a magnetic stripe card interface, an integrated circuit card interface, or a near field communication interface.

13. The system of claim 7 , further comprising cutouts in the overlay configured to allow visibility of the soft button visual representation through the overlay.

14. A method for facilitating engagement with a touch screen, comprising:
detecting that an overlay is positioned on the touch screen, wherein the overlay includes a surface that faces the touch screen, wherein the overlay includes a tactile button that is coupled to a button capacitive component, wherein the button capacitive component is disposed along the surface of the overlay that faces the touch screen, wherein the surface of the overlay that faces the touch screen also includes one or more overlay locating elements other than the button capacitive component;
determining a position of the overlay along the touch screen and an orientation of the overlay relative to an orientation the touch screen and a size of the overlay relative to a size of the touch screen based on detection of the one or more overlay locating elements via the touch screen;
repositioning a soft button region along the touch screen based on the position of the overlay along the touch screen and the orientation of the overlay relative to the orientation of the touch screen and the size of the overlay relative to the size of the touch screen so the soft button region underlies the tactile button of the overlay;
displaying a visual representation of the soft button region in the soft button region on the touch screen after repositioning the soft button region; and
detecting a capacitive input by the touch screen at the soft button region of the touch screen in response to an engagement of the tactile button, the engagement of the tactile button resulting in the button capacitive component of the overlay interacting with the touch screen in the soft button region to produce the capacitive input.

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Wolter Jonathan Andrew

Classifications

• G06F3/04886

  by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus · CPC title

• G09B21/008

  using visual presentation of the information for the partially sighted · CPC title

• G09B21/003

  using tactile presentation of the information, e.g. Braille displays · CPC title

• G06F2203/04809

  Textured surface identifying touch areas, e.g. overlay structure for a virtual keyboard · CPC title

• G06Q20/20

  Point-of-sale [POS] network systems · CPC title