CIRCUIT BOARD ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE INPUT COMPONENTS

• US 20090174462A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ligtenberg, Chris, Sfarzo, Steven J., Bronstein, Chad A.
• Application Number:
  US12/242,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20090174462A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 327/517
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1658 related to the mounting of internal components, e.g. disc drive or any other functional module
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/96 Touch switches specially adapted for electronic time-pieces with no moving parts G04G21/08
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/96015 Constructional details for touch switches for capacitive touch switches see H03K2217/9607
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960755 Constructional details of capacitive touch and proximity switches
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49002 Electrical device making

Abstract

Electronic devices may be provided with one or more input components and one or more circuit boards. An input component may include sensor circuitry supported by a first circuit board and controller circuitry supported by a second circuit board. In other embodiments, the sensor circuitry may be coupled to a first portion of a first surface of a circuit board and the controller circuitry may be coupled to a second portion of the first surface of the same circuit board. The input component may be a multi-touch input component, such as a multi-touch trackpad.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a first circuit board;

a second circuit board; and

a first input component having first sensor circuitry and first controller circuitry, wherein the first sensor circuitry is supported by the first circuit board, and wherein the first controller circuitry is supported by the second circuit board.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first input component is a multi-touch input component.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first sensor circuitry is a capacitive sensor array.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the capacitive sensor array is supported by a first surface of the first circuit board, wherein an outer portion of the capacitive sensor array extends along the first surface, and wherein the outer portion includes at least one trace fan out portion of the capacitive sensor array.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the outer portion is a dead band portion of the capacitive sensor array.

6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the outer portion is about 2.5 millimeters wide.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first sensor circuitry and the first controller circuitry are coupled by a flex cable.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising a second input component, wherein the second input component is at least partially supported by the second circuit board.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the second input component is a keyboard assembly.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising a second input component, wherein the second input component includes second component circuitry and second controller circuitry, and wherein the second controller circuitry is supported by the second circuit board.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the first controller circuitry and the second controller circuitry are a single application-specific integrated circuit.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first circuit board is a flexible circuit board, and wherein the second circuit board is a rigid circuit board.

13. An electronic device comprising:

a first circuit board having a first surface; and

a first multi-touch input component having first sensor circuitry and first controller circuitry, wherein the first sensor circuitry is coupled to a first portion of the first surface of the first circuit board, and wherein the first controller circuitry is coupled to a second portion of the first surface of the first circuit board.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the first multi-touch input component is a trackpad.

15. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the first sensor circuitry is a capacitive sensor array.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein an outer portion of the capacitive sensor array extends along the first surface, and wherein the outer portion includes traces of the capacitive sensor array.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the outer portion is a dead band portion of the capacitive sensor array.

18. The electronic device of claim 13 further comprising a second input component, wherein the second input component is at least partially supported by the first circuit board.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the second input component is a keyboard assembly.

20. A method of manufacturing an electronic device, the method comprising:

coupling first sensor circuitry of a multi-touch trackpad input component to a first circuit board of the electronic device; and

coupling first controller circuitry of the multi-touch trackpad input component to a second circuit board of the electronic device.