CAPACITIVE TACTILE TILE SENSOR
First Claim
1. A flexible capacitive tactile sensor comprising:
- a flexible first electrode layer including a single ground electrode covering entire area of said sensor,a flexible second electrode layer including at least a first group of electrodes connected individually to a first capacitance-sensing integrated circuit, and a second group of electrodes connected individually to a second capacitance-sensing integrated circuit, anda flexible compressible dielectric layer separating said first and said second electrode layers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A capacitive tile tactile sensor is described and includes several groups of individual sensors each controlled by a dedicated IC. Individual sensors are formed by sensing electrodes on one side of the sensor and a single ground electrode on the other side, the ground electrode is separated from the sensing electrodes by a compressible dielectric layer. A single electrical connection between the ground electrode and the sensing electrode layer allows for routing of all electrical connections including individual electrodes and a ground electrode to appropriate ICs within the same layer using conductive ink or other similar techniques. Stand-alone configurations are described as well as those adapted for communicating with outside control means including a personal computer. Arranging groups of sensors in parallel with each other creates a matrix of sensors while arranging them along a single line creates a linear strip sensor. Using off-the-shelf capacitance-sensing ICs to control a limited number of capacitance sensors allows reducing the number of electrical connections to the sensor array and increasing its reliability.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A flexible capacitive tactile sensor comprising:
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a flexible first electrode layer including a single ground electrode covering entire area of said sensor, a flexible second electrode layer including at least a first group of electrodes connected individually to a first capacitance-sensing integrated circuit, and a second group of electrodes connected individually to a second capacitance-sensing integrated circuit, and a flexible compressible dielectric layer separating said first and said second electrode layers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of collecting pressure data from a flexible capacitive tactile sensor including the following steps:
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(a) providing a tactile sensor comprising at least a first group of individual capacitance sensors and a second group of individual capacitance sensors; (b) providing a first capacitance-sensing integrated circuit adapted to operate and collect pressure data from said first group of individual capacitance sensors; (c) providing a second capacitance-sensing integrated circuit adapted to operate and collect pressure data from said second group of individual capacitance sensors; and (d) operating said first and second integrated circuits to collect pressure data from said sensor. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification