NON-SCREEN CAPACITIVE TOUCH SURFACE FOR OPERATING AN ELECTRONIC PERSONAL DISPLAY
A method and system for utilizing a non-screen capacitive touch surface for operating an electronic personal display is disclosed. One example provides a capacitive touch sensing surface on at least a portion of a housing of the electronic personal display. The capacitive touch sensing surface is monitored for a contact. In so doing, when the contact is detected an operation on the electronic personal display is performed, where the operation being performed is dependent upon the type of contact detected.
1 . A method for utilizing a non-screen capacitive touch surface for operating an electronic personal display, said method comprising:
providing a capacitive touch sensing surface on at least a portion of a housing of the electronic personal display;
monitoring the capacitive touch sensing surface for a contact; and
performing an operation on the electronic personal display when the contact is detected, where the operation being performed is dependent upon the type of contact detected.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic personal display is an electronic reader (eReader).
3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing no hard buttons on the electronic personal display.
4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing the capacitive touch sensing surface on an edge of the housing of the electronic personal display.
5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing the capacitive touch sensing surface on the entire housing of the electronic personal display.
6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing user definable metrics to correlate a user defined contact with a user defined operation to be performed by the electronic personal display.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the type of contact is selected from the group consisting of: a tap, a gesture, a swipe, a touch, a series of taps and a series of touches.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the operation to be performed is selected from the group consisting of: a page turn, adding a bookmark, removing a bookmark, opening a menu, a power change, a change in brightness and a reading mode change.
9 . An electronic personal display with a capacitive touch housing control comprising:
a capacitive touch sensor on at least a portion of a housing of the electronic personal display;
a monitoring module to monitor the capacitive touch sensor on at least a portion of a housing and provide an output based on the type of touch received by the capacitive touch sensor;
a gesture definer to correlate the touch with an action to be performed by the electronic personal display; and
an operation module to receive the output from the monitoring module and perform the action related to the output on the electronic personal display.
10 . The electronic personal display of claim 9 wherein the electronic personal display is an electronic reader (eReader).
11 . The electronic personal display of claim 9 wherein the capacitive touch sensor is located on an edge of the housing.
12 . The electronic personal display of claim 9 wherein the capacitive touch sensor is located on a rear surface of the housing.
13 . The electronic personal display of claim 9 wherein the capacitive touch sensor covers the entire housing.
14 . The electronic personal display of claim 9 wherein the type of contact is selected from the group consisting of: a tap, a gesture, a swipe, a touch, a series of taps and a series of touches.
15 . The electronic personal display of claim 9 wherein the action to be performed is selected from the group consisting of: a page turn, adding a bookmark, removing a bookmark, opening a menu, a power change, a change in brightness and a reading mode change.
16 . A method for utilizing a non-screen capacitive touch surface for operating an electronic reader (eReader), said method comprising:
providing a capacitive touch sensing surface on at least a portion of a housing of the eReader;
providing user definable metrics to correlate a user defined gesture with an operation to be performed by the eReader;
monitoring the capacitive touch sensing surface for a gesture; and
performing an operation on the eReader when the gesture is detected, where the operation being performed is dependent upon the gesture detected.
17 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:
providing no hard buttons on the eReader.
18 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:
providing the capacitive touch sensing surface on an edge of the housing of the eReader.
19 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:
providing the capacitive touch sensing surface on the entire housing of the eReader.
20 . The method of claim 16 wherein the gesture is selected from the group consisting of: a tap, a gesture, a swipe, a touch, a series of taps and a series of touches.
21 . The method of claim 16 wherein the operation to be performed is selected from the group consisting of: a page turn, adding a bookmark, removing a bookmark, opening a menu, a power change, a change in brightness and a reading mode change.