CAPACITIVE MOUSE
Granted: January 6, 2011
Application Number:
20110001704
A pointing device some or all of whose elements are made from capacitive sensors. Such elements may include a rotary motion detector which includes a rotating member and a plurality of fixed capacitive detecting members; a rolling ball with patterned conductive surface and a plurality of fixed capacitive detecting members; capacitive touch sensors or capacitive switches to serve as mouse buttons; and a scrolling wheel, knob, or touch surface built from capacitive sensors. The pointing…
CAPACITIVE MOUSE
Granted: January 6, 2011
Application Number:
20110001703
A pointing device some or all of whose elements are made from capacitive sensors. Such elements may include a rotary motion detector which includes a rotating member and a plurality of fixed capacitive detecting members; a rolling ball with patterned conductive surface and a plurality of fixed capacitive detecting members; capacitive touch sensors or capacitive switches to serve as mouse buttons; and a scrolling wheel, knob, or touch surface built from capacitive sensors. The pointing…
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SIGMA DELTA CAPACITANCE MEASURING USING SHARED COMPONENTS
Granted: January 6, 2011
Application Number:
20110001494
Methods, systems and devices are described for detecting a measurable capacitance using sigma-delta charge transfer techniques that can be implemented with many standard microcontrollers, and can share components to reduce device complexity and improve performance. In the various implementations of this embodiment, the passive network used to accumulate charge can be shared between multiple measurable capacitances. A switch or IO controlling the charge sharing and/or charge changing can…
DIGITIZER SYSTEM
Granted: December 23, 2010
Application Number:
20100321338
An X-Y digitizer system is described for embedding within a host device, such as a tablet PC, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant or the like. The digitizer is configurable so that it can detect and track the position of different types of position indicator. The digitizer also includes novel digitizer windings and novel excitation circuitry for energizing the windings.
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING INTERFERNCE IN A SENSOR DEVICE USING PHASE SHIFTING
Granted: December 23, 2010
Application Number:
20100321034
A capacitive sensor device and method is configured to respond a stimulus provided in a sensing region with an output signal. A signal generator is configured to apply a carrier signal to the capacitive sensor device. The carrier signal is switched between a plurality of phases at a switching rate, where the switching rate is less than a demodulation filter bandwidth. The result of the carrier phase shifting is that effects of interference in the output signal are frequency shifted away…
INPUT DEVICE AND METHOD WITH PRESSURE-SENSITIVE LAYER
Granted: December 9, 2010
Application Number:
20100308844
Devices and methods are provided that facilitate improved input device performance. Specifically, the devices and methods facilitate input using a pressure-sensitive layer whose electrical admittivity changes in response to pressure applied to a touch surface. An input device is provided that comprises a plurality of sensor electrodes including a set of primary sensor electrodes and a set of secondary sensor electrodes. Each primary sensor electrode is electrically coupled to at least…
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR GUARDING A CHARGE TRANSFER CAPACITANCE SENSOR FOR PROXIMITY DETECTION
Granted: December 9, 2010
Application Number:
20100308847
Methods, systems and devices are described for determining a measurable capacitance for proximity detection in a sensor having a plurality of sensing electrodes and at least one guarding electrode. A charge transfer process is executed for at least two executions. The charge transfer process includes applying a pre-determined voltage to at least one of the plurality of sensing electrodes using a first switch, applying a first guard voltage to the at least one guarding electrode using a…
DEPRESSABLE TOUCH SENSOR
Granted: December 2, 2010
Application Number:
20100300772
An input device and a method for providing an input device are provided. The input device assembly includes a base, a sensor support, and a guide mechanism attached to the base and the sensor support. The guide mechanism allows for only substantially uniform translation of the sensor support towards the base in response to a force biasing the sensor support substantially towards the base.
DEPRESSABLE TOUCH SENSOR
Granted: December 2, 2010
Application Number:
20100302153
An input device and a method for providing an input device are provided. The input device assembly includes a base, a sensor support, and a scissor mechanism attached to the base and the sensor support. The scissor mechanism allows for only substantially uniform translation of the sensor support towards the base in response to a force biasing the sensor support substantially towards the base.
EXTENDED PROXIMITY SENSOR DEVICE WITH ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE PROTECTION
Granted: November 18, 2010
Application Number:
20100289503
An input device is provided with improved electrostatic discharge protection. Specifically, the input device includes a plurality of capacitive sensing electrodes configured for object detection. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) shunt is disposed near the capacitive sensing electrodes and configured to provide ESD protection to the capacitive sensing electrodes. The input device also includes an extended-proximity capacitive sensing electrode configured to for object detection of…
TOUCH SCREEN WITH USER INTERFACE ENHANCEMENT
Granted: October 28, 2010
Application Number:
20100275033
The present invention is a graphical user interface in a computing device having a processor running an operating system and a display. The graphical user interface comprises a touch screen and a driver coupling the touch screen to the operating system. The driver can display a plurality of icons on the touch screen, or a plurality of screen images having at least one icon, with each of the icons associated with operations on the display and/or the touch screen. Other embodiments include…
TOUCH SCREEN WITH USER INTERFACE ENHANCEMENT
Granted: October 28, 2010
Application Number:
20100275163
The present invention is a graphical user interface in a computing device having a processor running an operating system and a display. The graphical user interface comprises a touch screen and a driver coupling the touch screen to the operating system. The driver can display a plurality of icons on the touch screen, or a plurality of screen images having at least one icon, with each of the icons associated with operations on the display and/or the touch screen. Other embodiments include…
APPARATUS FOR TESTING MULTIPLE CONDUCTOR WIRING AND TERMINATIONS FOR ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS
Granted: October 21, 2010
Application Number:
20100268507
An apparatus for testing connections in a system has a plurality of inputs each adapted to couple to a test point in the system under test and a switching module. The switching module includes a first output selectively coupled to receive a first group of one or more of the inputs and a set of outputs corresponding in number to the plurality of inputs, each being selectively coupled to receive a corresponding one of the plurality of inputs. The apparatus may also include a meter coupled…
INPUT DEVICE WITH CAPACITIVE FORCE SENSOR AND METHOD FOR CONSTRUCTING THE SAME
Granted: October 7, 2010
Application Number:
20100253645
Input devices which include a capacitive force sensor, along with methods of making and using such, are provided. The input device includes a structural component having first and second substantially opposing sides, a plurality of sensor electrodes located on the first side of the structural component, the plurality of sensor electrodes configured to capacitively sense positional information associated with user input in a sensing region, a first capacitive electrode located on the…
INPUT DEVICE WITH DEFLECTABLE ELECTRODE
Granted: October 7, 2010
Application Number:
20100253651
Devices and methods are provided that facilitate improved input device performance. The devices and methods utilize a set of sensor electrodes comprising at least one transmitter sensor electrode and at least one receiver sensor electrode that are capacitively coupled to form a transcapacitance for capacitively sensing input objects in a sensing region. A measure of the transcapacitance may be used to determine positional information for the input objects in the sensing region. In…
TOUCH SCREEN WITH USER INTERFACE ENHANCEMENT
Granted: August 26, 2010
Application Number:
20100214250
The present invention is a graphical user interface in a computing device having a processor running an operating system and a display. The graphical user interface comprises a touch screen and a driver coupling the touch screen to the operating system. The driver can display a plurality of icons on the touch screen, or a plurality of screen images having at least one icon, with each of the icons associated with operations on the display and/or the touch screen. Other embodiments include…
METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DETECTING A CAPACITANCE USING SIGMA-DELTA MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES
Granted: June 17, 2010
Application Number:
20100148806
Methods, systems and devices are described for detecting a measurable capacitance using sigma-delta measurement techniques. According to various embodiments, a voltage is applied to the measurable capacitance using a first switch. The measurable capacitance is allowed to share charge with a passive network. If the charge on the passive network is past a threshold value, then the charge on the passive network is changed by a known amount for a sufficient number of repetitions until the…
INPUT DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING A PARAMETER OF AN ELECTRONIC SYSTEM
Granted: April 22, 2010
Application Number:
20100097332
Input devices and methods are provided for effecting adjustment, in which a sensing system is adapted to detect motion of a first object and a second object in a sensing region and a processing system coupled to the sensing system. The processing system is adapted to detect a change in position of the first object relative to the second object, the first and second objects being simultaneously present in the sensing region, and effect a change in a parameter in response to a motion of…
SENSOR DEVICE AND METHOD WITH AT SURFACE OBJECT SENSING AND AWAY FROM SURFACE OBJECT SENSING
Granted: April 15, 2010
Application Number:
20100090712
Methods, systems and devices are described for determining positional information for objects using a sensing device. The various embodiments provide improved user interface functionality by facilitating user input with both objects that are at the surfaced and objects that are away from the surface. The sensor device includes a processing system and a sensor array of sensing electrodes adapted to capacitively sense objects in a sensing region. First, the processing system is configured…
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MEASURING A CAPACITANCE AND SELECTIVELY ACTIVATING AN INDICATING TRANSDUCER
Granted: February 25, 2010
Application Number:
20100045310
Systems and methods for sensing capacitances that are applicable to proximity sensor devices are provided. The systems and methods provide decreased implementation costs by reducing the number of output terminals required. Specifically, the systems and methods for sensing capacitances provide the ability to selectively activate indicating transducers, such as LEDs, with the same output terminals used for sensing capacitances. This reduces the need for additional, dedicated output…
