Replace mechanical buttons with smart surfaces, sensing touch, force and approximation
Smooth and clean, new UI designs combine strong consumer appeal with reliability and cost efficiency
Replace mechanical buttons with smart surfaces, sensing touch, force and approximation
The design of consumer products has for years been moving towards an ever sleeker and smoother aesthetic. The mobile phone has led the trend – manufacturers first thinned the bezel, then got rid of it entirely, so that all that can be seen on the front of a premium smartphone is the display.
Now the principle of smooth and sleek design has the next target in its sights: the push-buttons on the edge of the enclosure which power a device on and off, and provide basic user inputs such as volume controls. The end point of this trend is the creation of a completely smooth exterior, with no buttons or other protrusions breaking any part of the surface of the device.
An important enabler of this new design style, known as the ‘smart surface’, is specialist optical sensor technology which can provide a precise response to the user’s fingers as they approach, touch and press on the exterior of the device. Combined with context-aware illumination of activation areas, this optical sensor technology is enabling manufacturers of electronic devices, cars and more to offer not only a new attractive aesthetic, but also a more enjoyable and intuitive user experience.
Usefully, smart surfaces provide increased value for manufacturers. All these factors are leading to rapid adoption of smart surface technology. According to research by Global Market Insights, the market for smart surfaces is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25.1% between 2025 and 2034.
More than just good looking: reliability, cost, hygiene
The smooth exterior design prized by the latest fashion has more than aesthetic appeal to recommend it: manufacturers can increase the value of their products in other ways as well.
The elimination of mechanical buttons creates a completely sealed enclosure. Mechanical buttons present an entry point for water and other liquids which can damage the electronic circuits inside a device: a smart surface with no buttons can easily be made dustproof and waterproof. Reliability is also enhanced by the position of a smart surface’s optical sensors under the enclosure. Compared to protruding buttons, these devices are much less vulnerable to damage by impacts.
The smooth exterior of a smart surface is also easy to clean – ideal for medical equipment and other types of products in which hygiene is particularly important.
The ‘smart surface’ trend is about more than eliminating buttons, however: it gives manufacturers the opportunity to re-invent the way that users interact with devices. For instance, with ams OSRAM optical technology almost any surface can be made into a smart surface: wood, metal, plastic, glass – even the fabric in a car’s seat or headrest.
In many cases, the technology will be implemented in the form of illuminated sensors embedded in the surface – these can make the UI intelligent and adaptable. It can be a plain black surface until the user’s hand approaches, at which point the LEDs light up to advertise the surface’s functions – a so-called ‘shytech’ approach to user interface (UI) design.
The surface can also be made responsive to user inputs – for instance, vibrating when pressed (a haptic response). A touch-sensing button can be made to require a definite press to confirm actuation (an application of force sensing) – a safety measure which is particularly useful in cars, to avoid inadvertent actuations of sensitive touch controls. And an activation area’s functions can even be varied, depending on the context for its use – in a car’s center console, for instance, the same surface can be configured to provide user inputs for either the entertainment system or cabin climate controls.
These benefits help to make products with smart surfaces more valuable – but perhaps surprisingly, this extra value does not come at a cost. In fact, the assembly of conventional components such as mechanical buttons at the edge of an enclosure calls for precise – and expensive – production processes.
In contrast, the optical sensors and LED emitters which make smart surfaces possible are mounted, like other electronics components, on a PCB which is assembled with ultra-efficient automation equipment.
Optical technology: best for users and manufacturers
Light is the common phenomenon which enables the new smart surface technology. Inside the cabin of a car, the smart surface will typically include tiny LED chips which provide backlighting for the configurable buttons.
What is needed is the equivalent of the press of a mechanical button: and this is what an optical force sensor from ams OSRAM provides.
Implementing the smart surface: from components to system
This new smart surface technology is enabling a completely new approach to the design of the UI in cars, consumer products, medical equipment, home appliances and more. Before, mechanical buttons imposed limitations, as designers worked around the need to hide them at the edge of the enclosure, where they were least conspicuous.
Now designers can put optical buttons almost anywhere, give them configurable functions, and link them with illumination which indicates their function. It calls for a more system-wide view of UI design – and ams OSRAM is the ideal partner to explore the new possibilities with.
That’s first of all because of ams OSRAM has the specialist products needed in smart surface designs: like for instance the size and power optimized Analog Frontend AS7150 and the Optical Frontend SFH7061. Optical Force Sensors can be easily combined with RGB LEDs via a freely licensed network technology, the Open System Protocol (OSP), for connecting up to 1,000 sensors and LEDs.
On top of that, ams OSRAM has years of experience in integrating LED and sensing systems into automotive and consumer designs for many of the world’s largest manufacturers. An optical force-sensing button, for instance, is an integrated optical stack consisting not just of the sensor but also the surface, the air gap between the sensor and the surface, and the board-level connection to a host controller. ams OSRAM has the resources to help customers build the stack, from application notes and demonstration designs to application engineers with specialist sensor design expertise.
So while the smart surface trend is just emerging in the automotive world and elsewhere, ams OSRAM is already prepared with products and domain expertise. For manufacturers which want to design the future, ams OSRAM is ready to help.