Patent Publication Number: US-2017365179-A1

Title: Screen rendering worksurface

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/352,762, filed Jun. 21, 2016, entitled “SCREEN RENDERING WORKSURFACE,” incorporated herein by reference in entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Experimental chemistry sets (also known as “kits”) are educational products that are used by children and adults to perform chemistry experiments. They typically include chemistry reagents, test tubes, flasks, and other labware and instructions. Fluid based combinations, often using drops of liquid from a handheld syringe, dropper or pipette, may involve intended and unintended fluid deposits around a work surface. Such liquids can be detrimental to educational hardware, computers and/or other screen based devices in the vicinity. 
     SUMMARY 
     A screen overlay for a personal electronic device coupled with an educational application launched on the device provides a worksurface for engaging in fluidic based chemistry experiments while shielding the device from the liquid used for the experiments. The screen overlay has liquid encapsulating regions for retention of a pooled liquid deposited on the overlay, defined by ridges, raised or embossed structures, or hydrophobic treatment for demarcating the fluidic retention regions, and is transmissive of touch signals to a touch screen on the device. An educational application executing on the device renders predetermined regions on the device display that are coordinated with the fluid retention regions. A liquid deposition vessel such as a dropper has a conductive outer surface for engaging a user&#39;s grasp, and a wire or conductor is adapted to extend through the pooled liquid for contact with the screen overlay. The screen overlay is transmissive of capacitance signals emanating from the user, along the conductor for sensing as a capacitive-based touch in the device screen for indicating fluidic presence to the educational application on the device. 
     Configurations herein provide an educational apparatus, including a rendering device operable for displaying educational guidance, and a protective barrier on the rendering device. Receptive regions on an external surface of the protective barrier are adapted to retain fluid in the receptive region for preventing fluidic flow on the protective barrier outside the receptive region, and are such that the receptive regions are disposed based on a positional alignment with the displayed educational guidance. 
     The receptive regions may be treated or textured to resist fluid transfer, and may be defined by embossed outlines or container walls for impeding fluid flow. The rendering device has a screen area operative for displaying images and predetermined regions corresponding to the receptive regions, such that the screen area is receptive to fluid deposition via touch-sensitive input. 
     The disclosed configurations are based, in part, on the observation that educational approaches in science often involve a lab environment, where physical lab apparatus (containers, tubes, wires and fluids) are present. Unfortunately, conventional approaches to labs is often based on a textbook, whiteboard or other guidance distant from the actual lab process. A disconnect between passive guidance on a whiteboard or textbook may result, for example, in improper or erroneous procedure, such as placing or depositing fluids or objects in a manner inconsistent with the lab guidance. Hazardous results may even occur if incompatible liquids are erroneously mixed. Accordingly, configurations herein substantially overcome the above described shortcomings of conventional procedures by providing an educational application operable on a tablet or smartphone and accompanying display, and employ a protective barrier with liquid containing regions coordinated with the display for complementing visual cues from the application with the locations where fluids and other experimental media are to be deposited. 
     Educational guidance from an educational application such as a chemistry experiment demonstration allows experimental materials such as liquids and powders to be deposited directly on the transparent protective barrier in locations where guided by the rendered images and instructions on the screen. The educational guidance includes images on the rendering device aligned with corresponding receptive regions on the protective barrier, so that depositions of experimental substances occur on the barrier and not directly on the screen where damage might occur. 
     The receptive regions are adapted for electrical communication with an applicator for detecting fluidic presence on the receptive region. For example, in a particular arrangement, the applicator includes a wire coupled to the applicator for extending an electrical signal to the screen area via the receptive regions. The wire terminates in a non-conductive portion for completing the electrical communication via an applicator applied fluid drop, so that a fluidic drop will not be detected until it reaches the end of the applicator and the droplet contacts the screen while still in communication with the wire for completing a capacitive or other electrical coupling from the user. Therefore, the fluid drop completes a capacitive coupling between the applicator and the touch-sensitive screen area, as the droplet and wire effectively extends the capacitive characteristics of contact with a finger of a user. 
     In an example configuration, the receptive regions are defined by hydrophobic outlines adapted to surround and contain liquid depositions on the protective barrier. Drops on the barrier therefore remain within boundaries defined by the barrier, and coordinated with the screen images displaying the instructions and other features (arrows, color indicators, etc.). 
     In one configuration, the protective barrier is defined by opposed planar sheets, bonded around a circumferential portion of the sheets and having an opening for insertion of the rendering device between the opposed planer sheets, having the general appearance of a pocket around the computing device. It is anticipated that the rendering device is a processor driven computing device and the screen area is an electronic screen responsive to the computing device, such as a tablet or laptop computer, or personal mobile device or phone having similar capabilities for apps, user interaction and visual rendering. 
     In one example, educational guidance is derived from a chemistry application executable on the rendering device, such that the chemistry application is configured for rendering the images of predetermined regions corresponding to the receptive regions, such as a colored or labeled circle. The chemistry application is configured for rendering graphics depicting molecular level reactions corresponding to reactions occurring in the receptive regions, and are complemented by the application driven renderings of labels, text, symbols, or other graphical or visual assistance for guiding an experiment. Further, the protective screen is not limited to usage with chemistry, but could be employed for a wide variety of educational or industrial usage in harsh environments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of particular embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. 
         FIG. 1  is a context diagram of an educational environment having a user device suitable for use with the disclosed approach; 
         FIG. 2  is a plan view of a touchscreen device in the environment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a dropper in the environment in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  shows the dropper of  FIG. 2  in communication with the touchscreen of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5  shows a side view of the dropper in electrical communication with the screen overlay for capacitive sensing in a particular configuration of the dropper and overlay arrangement; and 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  show the screen overlay implemented on an insertable pouch surrounding the user device 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Configurations depicted below present example embodiments of the disclosed approach in the form of a tablet application (app) launched and executed on a tablet device. Other suitable platforms, such as any personal device having a touch screen may be utilized, as well as a touchscreen peripheral interfaced with a desktop or larger computing platform. Personal electronic devices are commonplace, and may be known by many names, such as mobile phones, mobile devices, smartphones, tablets, laptops, pads, and refer to any portable electronic device capable of launching and executing software based applications for rendering visual images and receiving user input. 
       FIG. 1  is a context diagram of an educational environment having a user device suitable for use with the disclosed approach. Referring to  FIG. 1 , an educational rendering device  100  receives a screen overlay  110  allowing for visual transmission of images from a touchscreen display  120  on the device  110 . The screen overlay  110  is transparent and is adapted to transmit signals to the touchscreen display  120  for sensing an input based on a contact from a user  130 . The screen overlay  110  is adapted to lie disposed in contact with the touchscreen display  120  for passing through “touch” signals, or electrical capacitance based signals, discussed further below. If the educational device  100  includes a front-facing camera  106 , the overlay  110  may also cover the camera lens for allowing visual detection of deposited liquids. 
     The educational rendering device  100  includes a processor  102  and memory  104  for supporting a rendering application  150  operative to render an indication of a predetermined region on the touchscreen display  120  and sense the input directed to the predetermined region. Further, the screen overlay  110  is adapted for retention of a pooled liquid deposited on the predetermined region, also discussed further below. 
     In the example configuration, the touchscreen display  120  is a capacitive display based on a sensed capacitance resulting from electrical communication with the user  130 . Touchscreens allow a user to direct input directly to the display screen of a device, in contrast to conventional keyboard input. Touchscreens sense a touch of a user by various methods, including pressure, optical, and capacitance. The disclosed approach employs capacitance as an example touch medium, however other mediums may be employed. 
     In the example configuration, where the screen overlay  110  is a capacitance transmissive screen overlay adapted for transmitting electrical signals indicative of capacitance resulting from electrical communication with a user  130 , touch sensations from the user  130  pass though the overlay  110  for reception by the touchscreen display. 
     However, in contrast to conventional approaches, the disclosed approach employs a peripheral user device such as a dispensing vessel  160  adapted to selectively dispense drops of a liquid upon compression (“squeezing”) by the user  130 . The disclosed dispensing vessel  160  resembles a fluid dropper, and is constructed of a resilient hermetically sealing material, typically plastic. Touch signals of a user are passed via the dispensing vessel  160 , through the screen overlay  110  to the touchscreen display  120 , as if the user had touched the touchscreen display  120  directly, allowing the rendering application  150  to detect the presence and location of a dropper deposited liquid on the screen overlay  110 . No interface or tether to the device  100  is needed to sense dispensing vessel  160  activity and deposition, since a native capacitance of a user&#39;s touch is effectively transmitted via electrical conduction from the user  130  to the display  120 . 
       FIG. 2  is a plan view of a touchscreen device  100  in the environment of  FIG. 1 . Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the rendering application  150  can display predetermined regions  158  defined by a location and area on the touchscreen  120 . The rendering application  150  includes fluid detection logic  152  operable for detecting, via electric conduction through the deposited liquid, a presence of the liquid in the predetermined region  158  specified by the fluid detection logic  152 . The screen overlay  110  retains fluid droplets and protects the display  120 , while the fluid detection logic  152  identifies the presence of droplets in the predetermined regions  158 . 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a dropper in the environment in  FIG. 1 . The dispensing vessel  160  takes the form of a dropper for dispensing liquid in pursuit of screen directed chemistry experiments. Several drops dispensed from the dropper form a small pool on the overlay  110 . The dispensing vessel  160  has a nozzle  162  or elongated tapered form through which liquid  165  in the dropper may pass, typically in response to inversion and compression (i.e. “squeezing” the dropper). The dropper further includes a conductor  164 , such as a narrow gauge wire, extending from a fluid egress on the dropper to the pooled liquid for providing the electrical communication from a user touch. The screen overlay  110  is responsive to the dropper for electrical communication with the pooled liquid for transmitting the capacitive based touch signal to the capacitive display  120 . A conductive band  168  around the dropper is in electrical communication with the conductor  164  and responsive to user contact. Continuity for electrical coupling of sensed capacitance is defined by the conductive band  168 , conductor  164 , overlay  110  and touchscreen  120 . The pooled liquid may provide an element of conductivity, or the conductor  164  may directly contact the overlay  110 . 
       FIG. 4  shows the dropper of  FIG. 2  in communication with the touchscreen of  FIG. 3 . Upon inversion, the dispensing vessel  160  deposits several drops to form a pool of liquid  170  from the contained liquid  165 . Hydrophobic areas  172  on the screen overlay  110  collect and channel liquids, and are substantially aligned with the predetermined regions  158  where the fluid detection logic  152  will poll or evaluate for a fluidic presence. 
     The conductor  164  has an electrically insulating region  166  at a distal end, such that the insulating region  166  is adapted to prevent electrical communication with the screen overlay  110  until the pooled liquid  170  is present and contacts an uninsulated portion of the conductor. 164 . This allows the fluid detection logic  152  to avoid false or “dry” triggering from mere contact of the conductor wire  164 . Capacitance sensing will not occur until electrical continuity is established, either by pooled liquid  170  receiving the conductor  164 , or in the case of non-conductive liquid, actual contact from the conductor  164  rather than the first contact with the insulated region  166 . In other words, fluid is detected when a substantial sized pool  170  is accumulated for receiving more than just a glancing brush of the conductor  164 . 
       FIG. 5  shows a side view of the dropper in electrical communication with the screen overlay  110  for capacitive sensing in a particular configuration of the dropper and overlay arrangement. The pooled liquid  170  may be constrained by either the hydrophobic areas  172  surrounding the predetermined regions  158 , or the screen overlay  110  may be embossed with an outline of a region adapted to retain liquid based on circumferential raised relief edges  133  of the embossing, or alternatively by a suitable raised area such as a lip from 3D printing or layered material. The capacitance transmissive screen overlay  110  may also be employed using a stylus separate from the dispensing vessel  160 . The screen overlay  110  is also responsive to a stylus extending from a grip of a user  130  to a previously dispensed pooled liquid  170  for providing the electrical communication. 
       FIGS. 6A and 6B  show the screen overlay implemented on an insertable pouch surrounding the user device. Referring to  FIGS. 6A and 6B , the screen overlay  110  may be defined by a circumferential enclosure  111  or bag shaped structure formed from opposed, flexible planar sheets and having an opening along at least one end for insertion of the device. Thu user  130  inserts the device  100  into the opening of the bag between the opposed bag sides, and at least a front facing surface of the bag has capacitance transmissive properties of the screen overlay  110 . An optional closure  113  may seal the bag for additional protection from liquids. Alternatively, the screen overlay  110  may be rested in place on the device  100  or held with a mild adhesive or other suitable securing approach. 
     Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that the programs and methods defined herein are deliverable to a user processing and rendering device in many forms, including but not limited to a) information permanently stored on non-writeable storage media such as ROM devices, b) information alterably stored on writeable non-transitory storage media such as floppy disks, magnetic tapes, CDs, RAM devices, and other magnetic and optical media, or c) information conveyed to a computer through communication media, as in an electronic network such as the Internet or telephone modem lines. The operations and methods may be implemented in a software executable object or as a set of encoded instructions for execution by a processor responsive to the instructions. Alternatively, the operations and methods disclosed herein may be embodied in whole or in part using hardware components, such as Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), state machines, controllers or other hardware components or devices, or a combination of hardware, software, and firmware components. 
     While the system and methods defined herein have been particularly shown and described with references to embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.