METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ENHANCED FORCE-TOUCH BASED GESTURE SOLUTIONS

1 . A handheld electronic device comprising:

a plurality of force-touch sensors integrated into a body of the electronic device, wherein each force-touch sensor of the plurality of force-touch sensors is configured to generate sensory signals in response to application of a force to an area of the body of the electronic device corresponding to that force-touch sensor;

one or more control circuits configured to:

control based on sensory signals, one or more operations and/or functions in the electronic device; wherein:

each of the operations and/or functions relates to one or more of:

a media related application in the electronic device;

a health related application in the electronic device;

an interactive related application in the electronic device;

a communicative related application in the electronic device; and

a security related application in the electronic device; and

the controlling comprises generating based on the sensory signals, one or both of:

control information for controlling or managing at least one of the one or more of operations and/or functions in the electronic device; and

an input to at least one of the one or more of operations and/or functions in the electronic device.

2 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more control circuits are configured to interpret the sensory signals.

3 . The handheld electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the interpreting comprises determining when the sensory signals correspond to one or both of a particular input and a particular value.

4 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more control circuits are configured to:

determine when the sensory signals correspond to a particular action or a particular sequence of actions by a user of the electronic device against the body of the electronic device; and

set or configure based on the particular action or the particular sequence of actions, at least one of the control information and the input.

5 . The handheld electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the particular action or the sequence of actions comprises one of: a double tap, a scroll, an Xswipe, and a multi-finger touch.

6 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more control circuits are configured to:

determine based on the sensory signals, spatial information for the electronic device; and

set or configure based on the spatial information for the electronic device, at least one of the control information and the input.

7 . The handheld electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the spatial information comprises information relating to one or more of: placement of the electronic device, positioning of the electronic device, and movement of the electronic device.

8 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more control circuits are configured to:

determine based on the sensory signals, points of contact or no contact on the body of the electronic device; and

set or configure based on the points of contact or no contact, at least one of the control information and the input.

9 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:

the media related application comprises a camera application;

the input comprises controlling one or both of a mode and operation of the camera application; and

the one or more control circuits are configured to set or configure the input based on characteristics associated with the sensory signals.

10 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:

the input comprises health related data, associated with a user of the electronic device, for the health related application; and

the one or more control circuits are configured to determine a value for at least some of the health related data based on characteristics associated with the sensory signals.

11 . The handheld electronic device of claim 10 , wherein:

the health related data associated with the user of the electronic device comprises strength; and

the one or more control circuits are configured to obtain a measurement of user strength based on the sensory signals.

12 . The handheld electronic device of claim 10 , wherein:

the health related data associated with the user of the electronic device comprises heart related data; and

the one or more control circuits are configured to obtain a measurement of user's heart rate based on the sensory signals.

13 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:

the media related application comprises a gaming application; and

the plurality of force-touch sensors and the one or more control circuits are configured to enable use of the electronic device to simulate a game controller.

14 . The handheld electronic device of claim 13 , wherein, when the electronic device is used to simulate a game controller, the one or more control circuits are configured to generate based on the sensory signals, input corresponding to interactions with pre-defined virtual controller buttons corresponding to particular areas on the body of the electronic device.

15 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more control circuits are configured to set or modify controlling of the one or more operations and/or functions in the electronic device based on the sensory signals, based on user input and/or preferences.

16 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , comprising one or more processing circuits configured to process the sensory signals.

17 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processing circuits comprise an analog to digital converter (ADC) circuit configured for converting analog signals corresponding to one or more of the plurality of force-touch sensors into digital signals.

18 . The handheld electronic device of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of force-touch sensors comprises an integrated force-touch chip that comprises:

a sensor circuit configured to generate sensory analog signals in response to application of force against an area associated with the integrated force-touch chip;

one or more analog signal processing circuits configured to apply one or more analog signal processing functions; and

one or more digital signal processing circuits configured to apply one or more digital signal processing functions;

wherein the integrated force-touch chip is implemented on a single integrated circuit die.