EP-4741993-A1 - GAIN FACTOR FOR A ROTATIONAL INPUT OF A ROTARY CROWN OF A WEARABLE COMPUTING DEVICE BASED ON ANGULAR VELOCITY

EP4741993A1EP 4741993 A1EP4741993 A1EP 4741993A1EP-4741993-A1

Abstract

A wearable computing device has an outer covering, a housing, an electronic display screen arranged within the housing and viewable through the outer covering, a rotary crown positioned on a side of the electronic display screen, and at least one controller communicatively coupled to the rotary crown. The rotary crown is configured to receive a rotational input. The controller(s) is configured to apply a gain factor to the rotational input to generate a digital output for the electronic display screen. The gain factor is proportional to an angular velocity of the rotational input.

Inventors

WU, TONG
Lee, Justin Woo Young

Assignees

GOOGLE LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20251103

Claims (15)

A wearable computing device, comprising: an outer covering; a housing; an electronic display screen arranged within the housing and viewable through the outer covering; a rotary crown positioned on a side of the electronic display screen, the rotary crown configured to receive a rotational input; and at least one controller communicatively coupled to the rotary crown, wherein the at least one controller is configured to apply a gain factor to the rotational input to generate a digital output for the electronic display screen, the gain factor being proportional to an angular velocity of the rotational input.
The wearable computing device of claim 1, wherein the gain factor causes a relationship between the rotational input and the digital output to be non-linear.
The wearable computing device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the rotational input comprises a number of angular degrees moved by the rotary crown at a certain angular velocity.
The wearable computing device of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein increasing the angular velocity of the rotational input is configured to accelerate an amount of scroll on the electronic display screen in one-dimensional rotation.
The wearable computing device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein decreasing the angular velocity of the rotational input allows for a more fine-tuned scroll on the electronic display screen in one-dimensional rotation.
The wearable computing device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein, when the rotational input of the rotary crown comprises a flick, the digital output corresponds to discrete incremental movements on the electronic display screen.
The wearable computing device of claim 6, wherein the flick is characterized by a velocity peak duration and a velocity peak height occurring at the same time.
The wearable computing device of claim 6 or 7, wherein the flick is an upward movement or a downward movement with respect to the electronic display screen.
The wearable computing device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein applying the gain factor to the rotational input further comprises multiplying the gain factor to the rotational input.
The wearable computing device of any one of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one sensor for detecting the angular velocity of the rotational input.
A method for providing a non-linear mapping of a rotational input of a rotary crown and a digital output of a wearable computing device to improve a scrolling experience of the wearable computing device, the method comprising: receiving, via a controller of the wearable computing device, a rotational input of the rotary crown, the rotary crown positioned on a side of an electronic display screen of the wearable computing device; applying, via the controller, a gain factor to the rotational input to determine a modified rotational input, the gain factor being proportional to an angular velocity of the rotational input; and generating the digital output for the electronic display screen based on the modified rotational input.
The method of claim 11, wherein the gain factor causes a relationship between the rotational input and the digital output to be non-linear.
The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the rotational input comprises a number of angular degrees moved by the rotary crown at a certain angular velocity.
The method of any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein increasing the angular velocity of the rotational input is configured to accelerate an amount of scroll on the electronic display screen in one-dimensional rotation and/or decreasing the angular velocity of the rotational input allows for a more fine-tuned scroll on the electronic display screen in one-dimensional rotation.
The method of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein, when the rotational input of the rotary crown comprises a flick, the digital output corresponds to discrete incremental movements on the electronic display screen.

Description

FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to wearable computing devices, and more particularly, to a rotary crown of a wearable computing device having a non-linear mapping of a rotational input thereof to generate a digital output for the electronic display screen that is proportional to an angular velocity of the rotational input. BACKGROUND Recent advances in technology, including those available through consumer wearable devices, have provided corresponding advances in personal health detection and monitoring. For example, devices such as fitness trackers and smartwatches are able to determine information relating to the pulse or motion of a person wearing the device. Such devices typically include a display, battery, sensors, wireless communications capability, power source, and various interface buttons. Moreover, many wearable devices have a rotary crown as an input device that provides a natural and precise way for the user to interact with the on-screen content without occluding the screen. Common use cases are slider control and page scrolling. However, in typical linear mappings, where x degrees of crown rotation is equal to y values incremented on a slider (e.g., 1 degree rotated = 0.1 increase in slider control), there is a tradeoff between speed and precision. In particular, if the ratio of x/y is small to achieve faster speed of slider changes, then it is impossible to achieve precision where the user only wants to move the slider by a very fine amount. Further, if the ratio of x/y is large enough to optimize for precision, then it is cumbersome to increase a slider by large values e.g., from 0 to 100 quickly. Accordingly, the present disclosure is directed to a wearable computing device, or any other suitable device having velocity-driven crown interactions to address the aforementioned issues by providing a non-linear mapping of rotation of the rotary crown to a value change as well as intuitive gestures to overcome the speed and precision tradeoff described herein. SUMMARY Aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will be set forth in part in the following description, or can be learned from the description, or can be learned through practice of the embodiments. In an aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a wearable computing device. The wearable computing device includes an outer covering, a housing, an electronic display screen arranged within the housing and viewable through the outer covering, a rotary crown positioned on a side of the electronic display screen, and at least one controller communicatively coupled to the rotary crown. The rotary crown is configured to receive a rotational input. The controller(s) is configured to apply a gain factor to the rotational input to generate a digital output for the electronic display screen. The gain factor is proportional to an angular velocity of the rotational input. In another aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a method for providing a non-linear mapping of a rotational input of a rotary crown and a digital output of a wearable computing device to improve a scrolling experience of the wearable computing device. The method includes receiving, via a controller of the wearable computing device, a rotational input of the rotary crown, the rotary crown positioned on a side of an electronic display screen of the wearable computing device. The method also includes applying, via the controller, a gain factor to the rotational input to determine a modified rotational input, the gain factor being proportional to an angular velocity of the rotational input. Further, the method includes generating the digital output for the electronic display screen based on the modified rotational input. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate example embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the related principles. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Detailed discussion of embodiments directed to one of ordinary skill in the art is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures, in which: FIG. 1A illustrates a front perspective view of a wearable computing device on a wrist of a user in accordance with aspects of the present subject matter;FIG. 1B illustrates a side view of the wearable computing device of FIGS. 1A and 1B in accordance with aspects of the present subject matter;FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example system that can be utilized with the wearable computing device of FIGS. 1A-1B in accordance with aspects of the present subject matter;FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of an environment in which aspects of various embodiments can be implemented according