Nokia patents active bezels for phones and tablets

posted by Alan F. / Mar 10, 2014, 3:33 AM

Nokia patents active bezels for phones and tablets

A patent belonging to Nokia reveals that the Finnish based manufacturer might soon offer active bezels in future models of its Nokia Lumia smartphones and tablets. To increase the size of the touch-sensitive area of a device, Nokia's idea is to make the bezels respond to touch input. You probably are asking yourself how could this be done? Considering how often a device user touches the bezels on a device, wouldn't this lead to a number of accidental touches?

According to the patent, Nokia has solved this problem by making the bezels active only after the user presses down on part of the bezel with a force that would exceed a predetermined amount. This would allow the phone or tablet to know that the user wishes to interact using touch input on that part of the device. A visual indication or haptic feedback could be used to let the user know that the bezels are active.

"A force component of the touch input may be detected and compared to a predetermined force threshold. In cases in which the force component of the touch input exceeds the predetermined force threshold, user interaction with the content at that location may be enabled. In this way, the force exerted by the user in applying a touch input in the bezel area may be considered an indication of the user’s intent to interact with corresponding content within the bezel, and such interactions may be provided for accordingly."-Nokia patent filing

The active bezels could be disabled by merely allowing it to be active for a certain period of time. The patent even goes as far as saying that the amount of time that the bezels remain active could correspond with the amount of force used to enable the feature in the first place.

via: NPU

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16 Comments

1. dexter_jdr

Posts: 1163; Member since: Jun 28, 2012

good. broader slide notif bar. or side menus

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 3:41 AM 0

2. joey_sfb

Posts: 6794; Member since: Mar 29, 2012

No bezel is best.

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 3:46 AM 6

3. MarkArigayo

Posts: 240; Member since: Dec 18, 2013

Ready to comeback. Move on Nokia, exterminate Apple and Samsung and enjoy your dignity for the second time.

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 3:50 AM 5

5. alterecho

Posts: 1106; Member since: Feb 23, 2012

But first, they need to exterminate WP frome their devices to do anythng.

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 6:06 AM 3

6. timukh

Posts: 295; Member since: Feb 04, 2013

wp is getting better. So give them a chance. Google will feel lazy if there was no competetion.

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 6:35 AM 2

8. rodneyej1

Posts: 3576; Member since: Jul 06, 2013

He has given WP a chance, and he claims he hates it.. The problem is that he keeps buying new devices just so he'll have something to complain about. Well, he at least claims that he has a WP device.. He's most likely just the biggest pathetic troll online.. He says the he was tricked multiple times into buying WP devices, and now his life mission is save anyone that's potentially as foolish as he is... He shouldn't worry because there isn't anyone that crazy... ................. Either way he's a troll..

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 8:09 AM 0

12. SleepingOz unregistered

Pot calling kettle black. If I remember correctly, you and your fellow WP fanboys were also doing this a while ago.

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 8:54 AM 4

13. VZWuser76

Posts: 4974; Member since: Mar 04, 2010

Not to take sides here, but a salesperson selling a customer something other than what they wanted does happen. A friend of my brother's liked my phone awhile back, when I had an original Droid Incredible. He went to Verizon to upgrade to one, but somehow the sales rep convinced him that the HTC Imagio (WinMo 6.5) was the same thing. They were apparently out of the Incredible and the guy wanted to make a sale. So it can and I'm sure does happen, probably more than we know. The key is to be an informed consumer.

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 10:07 AM 2

15. rodneyej1

Of course it happens.. But, we're not talking about someone who is online everyday all up in every WP article... He knew what he was buying, if he ever really bought anything, and he purchase WP more than once... This is a Troll!!... He's full of $***

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 10:13 PM 0

4. kaikuheadhunterz

Posts: 1157; Member since: Jul 18, 2013

Or make it respond to swipes only. That would make using the Asha/Sailfish UI much easier

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 5:24 AM 0

7. tasior

Posts: 265; Member since: Nov 04, 2012

"the user presses down on part of the bezel with a force that would exceed a predetermined amount." - that is called button. I think, patents should only only apply to innovations, not just any combination of existing things.

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 6:45 AM 0

9. rodneyej1

My next Lumia device is gonna be Awesome!!!!!! Wait, my current Lumia device is awesome... Thanks Microkia!!

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 8:19 AM 1

10. lucid.brat unregistered

Which phone u r using present time....is it lumia1520?????

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 8:40 AM 0

16. rodneyej1

Both 920, and 1520.. Both red as can be!!

posted on Mar 10, 2014, 10:14 PM 0

11. ibap

Posts: 867; Member since: Sep 09, 2009

Gosh, hasn't Apple yet claimed they patented this already? (Tongue-in-cheek, for those of you that don't get it. That means it is a joke. Unless it is real, in which case I said if first.)