Patent ID: 11900784
Assignee: MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC
Field: Furniture, games (Other fields)
Classification: CPC G  A  H | IPC A  G  H

Claim 0:
1. An electronic device comprising:
a housing;
a plurality of pairs of conductive plates positioned along external edges of the housing, the plurality of pairs comprising at least one first pair of conductive plates coupled to the housing and electrically isolated by a dielectric material, the at least one first pair of conductive plates positioned to change relative orientation in relation to mechanical force that deforms the housing, the mechanical force being one or more of a torsion/twisting, a bending, a shearing, a compression, or a tension force, the plurality of pairs of conductive plates providing a longitudinal force sensor positioned to detect forces that deform a long axis of the housing, a lateral force sensor positioned to detect forces that deform a shorter, lateral axis of the housing, and an angled force sensor that is transverse to both the longitudinal and the lateral axes of the electronic device and detects a force exerted on a corner of the housing;
at least one capacitive driver electrically coupled to each of the plurality of pairs of conductive plates, including the at least one pair of conductive plates;
a controller communicatively coupled to the at least one capacitive driver, and which:
identifies a first capacitance of each of the plurality of pairs of conductive plates associated with the housing being in a normal state;
detects, via the at least one capacitor driver, a first change in capacitance from the first capacitance to a second capacitance of at least one first pair of conductive plates;
identifies an amount of mechanical force based on the first change in capacitance;
generates a first notification that indicates the amount and direction of mechanical force;
compares the first change in capacitance to a threshold; and
in response to the first change exceeding the threshold, generates a second notification that includes an indication that a potentially harmful mechanical force is detected.