Toothed slider

• US 20070268266A1
• Filed: 05/18/2006
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wistron Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: XiaoPing, Jiang
• Granted Patent: US 7,876,309 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer

Abstract

A slider has a first conductive trace having at least one sub-trace and a second conductive trace having at least one sub-trace. The at least one sub-trace of the first conductive trace is interleaved with at least one sub-trace of the second conductive trace. Each sub-trace of the first and second conductive traces has a variable width from a first end to a second end of the slider.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a first conductive trace of a slider having at least one sub-trace;

a second conductive trace of the slider having at least one sub-trace,

wherein at least one sub-trace of the first conductive trace is interleaved with at least one sub-trace of the second conductive trace, each sub-trace of the first and second conductive traces having a variable width from a first end to a second end of the slider.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the width of each sub-trace of the first conductive trace gradually decreases from the first end to the second end, and the width of each sub-trace of the second conductive trace gradually increases from the first end to the second end.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each sub-trace of the first and second conductive trace is in the shape of a triangle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one sub-trace of the first conductive trace are alternated with the at least one sub-trace of the second conductive trace.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first end of the at least one sub-trace of the first conductive trace is adjacent to the first end of the at least one sub-trace of the second conductive trace.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second conductive traces are in a same plane.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first conductive trace is in a first plane, and the second conductive trace is in a second plane parallel to the first plane.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

a circuit board having a first side and a second side, the first and second conductive traces formed on the first side; and

a processing device coupled to the second side of the circuit board.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first conductive trace is coupled to a first capacitive sensing pin of the processing device, and the second conductive trace is coupled to a second capacitive sensing pin of the processing device.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first and second conductive traces form a single layer on the first side of the circuit board.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising:

an overlay coupled to the first and second conductive traces with a non-conductive adhesive layer.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the overlay comprises a non-conductive material.

13. A method for manufacturing a slider, comprising:

providing a circuit board having a first side and a second side;

forming a first and second conductive trace of the slider on the first side of the circuit board,

wherein at least one sub-trace of the first conductive trace is interleaved with at least one sub-trace of the second conductive trace, each sub-trace of the first and second conductive traces having a variable width from a first end to a second end of the slider.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising:

coupling a processing device to the second side of the circuit board.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

connecting the first conductive trace to a first capacitive sensing pin of the processing device, and the second conductive trace to a second capacitive sensing pin of the processing device.

16. A method for operating a slider, comprising:

providing a first and second conductive trace of the slider, at least one sub-trace of the first conductive trace is interleaved with at least one sub-trace of the second conductive trace, each sub-trace of the first and second conductive traces having a variable width from a first end to a second end of the slider;

measuring a capacitance variation of the first conductive trace and the second conductive traces;

determining a one-dimensional position on the slider based on the measurement.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining further comprises:

comparing the capacitance variation of the first conductive trace with a total capacitance variation of the first and second conductive traces.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining further comprises:

comparing the capacitance variation of the second conductive trace with a total capacitance variation of the first and second conductive traces.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein determining further comprises calculating a centroid position P_cen with P_cen=d2/(d1+d2)×

N_res wherein d1 is the capacitance variation of the first conductive trace, d2 is the capacitance variation of the second conductive trace, and N_res is the resolution of the slider.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

means for measuring a one-dimensional position on a slider,

wherein the means for measuring have a first conductive trace and a second conductive trace, the first conductive trace having at least one sub-trace, and the second conductive trace having at least one sub-trace.