US 12,366,936 B2
Control mechanism for touchscreen interface
Chris Marshall Jacobs, Palo Alto, CA (US); Patrick Harrington, San Francisco, CA (US); and Jaekyun Kang, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Rivian IP Holdings, LLC, Irvine, CA (US)
Filed by Rivian IP Holdings, LLC, Plymouth, MI (US)
Filed on Dec. 8, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/078,023.
Prior Publication US 2024/0192795 A1, Jun. 13, 2024
Int. Cl. G06F 3/041 (2006.01); G06F 3/0338 (2013.01); G06F 3/0362 (2013.01); G06F 3/044 (2006.01); G06F 3/04886 (2022.01)
CPC G06F 3/0416 (2013.01) [G06F 3/0338 (2013.01); G06F 3/0362 (2013.01); G06F 3/044 (2013.01); G06F 3/04886 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04107 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04803 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A device comprising:
a control mechanism comprising at least one conductive element on a first surface of the control mechanism, the at least one conductive element configured to contact a touchscreen of a computing device based on a user invoking the control mechanism, wherein:
the conductive element is capable of activating capacitive touch sensors of the touchscreen,
the user physically interacts with the control mechanism to cause the at least one conductive element to contact and move along a surface of the touchscreen between a first location on the touchscreen and a second location on the touchscreen,
the at least one conductive element is not in contact with the touchscreen prior to the user physically interacting with the control mechanism to cause the at least one conductive element to contact the first location on the touchscreen, and
the first location corresponds to a respective function of a computer program executing on a computing device comprising the touchscreen.