Force invariant touch screen

• US 20070289860A1
• Filed: 06/20/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Lutron Electronics Company Incorporated (Lutron Electronics)
• Inventors: Altonen, Gregory, Carmen, Daniel F., Nearhoof, Jeremy, Newman, Robert C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,855,543 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 200/522
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 39/086 with possibility of remote control
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 315/04 Dimming circuit for fluorescent lamps
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 323/904 Touch systems

Abstract

A touch dimmer has a three-wire touch sensitive screen that produces an output voltage signal representative of a position of a manual pressure touch along a longitudinal axis of the touch screen. To reduce the occurrence of erroneous position indications due to low-pressure touches of the touch screen, a filter circuit is coupled to the output of the touch screen to prevent the detection of transient touches, and to prevent the detection of low-pressure touches having less than a certain actuation force. As a result, a controller may accurately determine the position of the manual pressure touch. In a preferred embodiment, two filters are coupled to the output of the touch screen. The first filter conditions the output voltage signal to allow the controller to accurately determine whether a manual pressure touch actuation has occurred. The second filter conditions the output voltage signal to allow the controller to accurately determine the position of the manual pressure touch along a longitudinal axis of the touch screen. An alternative embodiment of the touch dimmer uses a four-wire touch sensitive screen that produces a second output voltage signal representative of a position of a manual pressure touch along a transverse axis of the touch screen. The first filter is coupled to receive the second output signal to permit accurate detection of a manual pressure touch actuation.

Claims

1. A load control device for controlling the amount of power delivered to an electrical load from an AC power source, the load control device comprising:

a semiconductor switch operable to be coupled in series electrical connection between the source and the load, the semiconductor switch having a control input for controlling the semiconductor switch between a non-conductive state and a conductive state;

a controller operatively coupled to the control input of the semiconductor switch for controlling the semiconductor switch between the non-conductive state and the conductive state;

a touch sensitive actuator having a touch sensitive front surface responsive to a point actuation characterized by a position and a force, the touch sensitive actuator having an output operatively coupled to the controller for providing a control signal to the controller; and

a stabilizing circuit coupled to the output of the touch sensitive actuator;

wherein the control signal is substantially responsive only to the position of the point actuation.

2. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the stabilizing circuit comprises a capacitor.

3. The load control device of claim 2, wherein the touch sensitive actuator comprises a resistive divider for providing a DC voltage at the output, the DC voltage representative of the position of the point actuation, the capacitor operable to stabilize the DC voltage.

4. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the control signal is representative of the position of the point actuation along a longitudinal axis of the touch sensitive actuator.

5. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the control signal is only responsive to the position of the point actuation when a magnitude of the force of the point actuation is above a predetermined level.

6. A user interface for a lighting control, the user interface comprising:

a touch sensitive actuator having a touch sensitive front surface responsive to a point actuation characterized by a force and a position along a longitudinal axis of the touch sensitive actuator, the touch sensitive actuator having an output for providing a control signal representative of the position; and

a stabilizing circuit coupled to the output of the touch sensitive actuator;

wherein the control signal is responsive only to the position of the point actuation.

7. A load control device for controlling the amount of power delivered to an electrical load from an AC power source, the load control device comprising:

a semiconductor switch operable to be coupled in series electrical connection between the source and the load, the semiconductor switch having a control input for controlling the semiconductor switch between a non-conductive state and a conductive state;

a controller operatively coupled to the control input of the semiconductor switch for controlling the semiconductor switch between the non-conductive state and the conductive state;

a touch sensitive actuator having a touch sensitive front surface responsive to a point actuation characterized by a position and a force, the touch sensitive actuator having an output for providing a control signal;

a usage detection circuit operatively coupled between the output of the touch sensitive actuator and the controller for determining whether the point actuation is presently occurring; and

a stabilizing circuit operatively coupled between the output of the touch sensitive actuator and the controller for stabilizing the control signal from the output of the touch sensitive actuator;

wherein the controller is responsive to the control signal when the usage detection circuit has determined that the point actuation is presently occurring.

8. The load control device of claim 7, wherein the front surface of the touch sensitive actuator is provided in an X-Y plane defined by a Y-axis extending along a longitudinal axis of the front surface and a X-axis extending substantially perpendicular to the Y-axis;

wherein the control signal is representative of the position of the point actuation along the Y-axis.

9. The load control device of claim 8, wherein the usage detection circuit is operable to determine whether the point actuation is presently occurring along the Y-axis.

10. The load control device of claim 9, wherein the output of the touch sensitive actuator comprises a first output connection for providing a first control signal representative of the position of the point actuation along the Y-axis.

11. The load control device of claim 8, wherein the usage detection circuit is operable to determine whether the point actuation is presently occurring along the X-axis.

12. The load control device of claim 11, wherein the output of the touch sensitive actuator comprises a first output connection for providing a first control signal representative of the position of the point actuation along the Y-axis, and a second output connection for providing a second control signal representative of the position of the point actuation along the X-axis.

13. The load control device of claim 8, wherein the stabilizing circuit comprises a capacitor coupled to the output of the touch sensitive actuator.

14. A user interface for a lighting control, the user interface comprising:

a touch sensitive actuator having a touch sensitive front surface responsive to a point actuation characterized by a position and a force, the touch sensitive actuator having an output for providing a control signal;

a usage detection circuit operatively coupled to the output of the touch sensitive actuator for determining whether the point actuation is presently occurring;

a stabilizing circuit operatively coupled to the output of the touch sensitive actuator and comprising an output, the stabilizing circuit operable to stabilize the control signal from the output of the touch sensitive actuator; and

a controller coupled to the usage detection circuit and the output of the stabilizing circuit, the controller responsive to the control signal when the usage detection circuit has determined that the point actuation is presently occurring.

15. In a control circuit for operating an electrical load in response to an output signal from a touch pad, said touch pad comprising an elongated manually touchable resistive area which produces an output signal at an output terminal, said signal representative of the location at which the touch pad is manually touched, said control circuit including a microprocessor having an input connected to said output signal and producing an output for controlling said load in response to the manual input to said touch pad, the improvement comprising a filter capacitor connected between said output terminal and a ground terminal to define a resistive-capacitive circuit with the resistance of said touch pad, said resistive-capacitive circuit characterized by a time constant and being adapted to prevent large transient voltage changes due to low pressure touches of said touch pad.

16. The circuit of claim 15, wherein said touch pad is a resistive sheet connected to a fixed biasing voltage and an output terminal spaced from said connection of a fixed biasing voltage, said output terminal being connected to said resistive sheet by the touch of an operator.

17. The circuit of claim 15, wherein said touch pad is a capacitive touch pad.

18. The circuit of claim 15, wherein said time constant is in a range of from about 0.0304 second to about 0.076 second.

19. The circuit of claim 18, wherein said time constant is about 0.0684 second.

20. The circuit of claim 15, wherein said output voltage is variable between 0 and 5 volts, and wherein said filter capacitor is sized to charge fully in 40 milliseconds.

21. The circuit of claim 20, wherein said filter capacitor has a capacitance of about 9 microfarads.

22. The circuit of claim 15, wherein said load is dimmable light source.

23. The circuit of claim 22, wherein said touch screen is fixed to the surface of a wall box dimmer.

24. The circuit of claim 16, wherein said touch pad is a three-wire screen for producing an output related to the position along the length of said area at which the screen is touched.

25. The circuit of claim 16, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said microprocessor, said filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground, and a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

said microprocessor processing information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

26. The circuit of claim 18, wherein said filter capacitor has a capacitance from 4 to 10 microfarads.

27. The circuit of claim 19, wherein said filter capacitor has a capacitance from 4 to 10 microfarads.

28. In a manually operable control structure for producing an electrical signal dependent on the location at which a touch screen is touched;

said control structure comprising a resistive touch screen having a control voltage connected to terminals at its opposite ends and an output terminal which is connected to said touch screen at the location of a local manual pressure applied to said screen by a user;

a microprocessor having an input connected to said output terminal and producing an output related to the position at which said screen receives said local manual pressure;

the improvement which comprises a filter capacitor connected between said output terminal and a ground terminal and defining an R/C circuit with the resistance of said touch screen between said position at which said screen receives local manual pressure and one of its said terminals.

29. The structure of claim 28, wherein the output at said output terminal has an output voltage versus pressure characteristic which increases from a low voltage for a low pressure touch to a higher voltage for a high pressure touch whereby a low pressure touch can be falsely perceived as a touch on the screen having a high output resistance in the R/C circuit;

said capacitor having a value to prevent its charging to an operating output level to said microprocessor by large transient voltage changes due to low pressure touches to said touch screen.

30. The structure of claim 29, wherein said touch screen is a 7,600 ohm screen and said capacitor has a capacitance of about 9 microfarads.

31. The structure of claim 28, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said, microprocessor;

said a filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground; and

a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

whereby said microprocessor processes information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

32. The structure of claim 29, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said, microprocessor;

said a filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground; and

a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

whereby said microprocessor processes information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

33. The structure of claim 32, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said, microprocessor;

said a filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground; and

a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

whereby said microprocessor processes information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

34. The structure of claim 29, wherein said y output is sampled about 99% of the time to determine the position of the point at which said touch screen is touched and said x output is sampled about 1% of the time to determine whether said touch screen is touched.

35. A process for generating an operating signal from a resistive touch screen in which an output voltage on a output terminal is related to both the location on the screen area which is touched by a users finger and to the pressure of the touch;

said process comprising the production of an x signal in response to the touching of said screen at any location on its surface and the production of a y signal in response to the location at which the screen is touched, and applying said x and y signals to a microprocessor;

said microprocessor producing an output signal to a circuit to be controlled only when an x output signal is present and a y output signal is also present at the end of a predetermined sample interval.

36. The process of claim 35, which further includes the connection of said x and y signals to respective low value and high value capacitors.

37. The process of claim 35, wherein said y signal is sampled for at least 99% of a measurement interval and said x signal is sampled for less than about 10% of said measurement interval.