Apple Apple Watch new patent revamping digital crown: using laser sensor to improve accuracy, but also can detect user physiological data
CTOnews.com, January 22 (Xinhua)-- Apple has obtained a new patent for Apple Watch in a list released by the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO) on Thursday. The patent shows that Apple plans to use a laser rotation sensor for the Apple Watch digital crown to provide a more reliable and accurate rotation sensor and to reduce or eliminate the need for grooves on the crown.
CTOnews.com learned from the patent that by configuring a laser rotation sensor, Apple Watch can determine the speed and direction of the rotational motion of the sensing surface based on the signal.
The laser rotation sensor can detect laser beam, reflected light and other light sources, the laser module may be a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, and the vertical cavity surface emitting laser can detect the frequency difference between the emitted laser beam and the reflected part of the laser beam. and the signal can be based at least in part on the frequency difference.
Apple wrote in the patent that the crown can be rotated, and users can rotate the crown in spins, twists, turn and other ways. For example, the rotation input can modify the graphic display of the device according to the rotation direction of the crown, scroll the list, select or move graphic objects, move the cursor between objects on the display, and so on. The crown can also accept translation input, and the user can push or press the end of the crown.
In some cases, the crown can also act as a point of contact for the device's sensors, such as biometric sensors. For example, smartwatches may include heart rate sensors, ECG sensors, thermometers, photoelectric plethysmograph sensors, fingerprint sensors, etc., all of which can detect the physiological functions of the user.
The crown can include external components such as electrodes, which the user can touch to activate the biometric sensor for detection. In some cases, the electrical signal may be transmitted to the internal sensor via the crown defined and / or through the conductive path of the crown.
