PRESSURE DEPENDENT CAPACITIVE SENSING CIRCUIT SWITCH CONSTRUCTION
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Accused Products
Abstract
A user interface which includes a capacitive measurement circuit with a sense plate covered by an electrically conductive cover member, and wherein said circuit may sense two types of events, said types distinguished by an inverse change in measured capacitance, and wherein user proximity and touches with less than a minimum required force constitute one event type, and touches with more than said minimum force constitute the other event type.
104 Citations
37 Claims
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1-16. -16. (canceled)
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17. A user interface for a product, wherein the user interface comprises a construction including a capacitive measurement circuit with a sense plate structure being covered by an electrically conductive cover member, at least forming an area above each sense plate structure, and the construction is such that force applied to the conductive cover member or a layer of material, that is attached to the conductive cover member, cause a deflection that changes a distance between the sense plate structure and the conductive cover member under the point of the applied force pressure, wherein the capacitive measurement circuit provides measurement data to identify and differentiate between the following events:
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a) an object coming into proximity of the conductive cover member, without making physical contact therewith or said object coming into contact with the conductive cover member or material attached to the conductive cover member, and causing a first change in the capacitance measured by the capacitive measurement circuit; and b) an object coming into contact with and applying more than a minimum force_to the conductive cover member or material attached to the conductive cover member so that the conductive cover member or the material attached to the conductive cover member deflects and comes within a predetermined distance or makes contact with the sense plate structure in a way that cause a second change in capacitance measured by the capacitive measurement circuit, wherein the second change in measured capacitance is inverse to said first change in measured capacitance. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of implementing a touch sensing user interface comprising a capacitive measurement system and a floating electrically conductive cover member, said cover member at least forming an area over a capacitive sense_plate structure, and a surface to be touched by a user, and wherein the method further requires that force applied to a point on the touch surface results in a deflection that decreases the distance between the sense plate structure and the conductive cover member under the point of the applied force pressure, and wherein the method includes the step of having the measurement data from the capacitive measurement system interpreted to identify and differentiate between the following events:
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a) an object coming into proximity of the conductive cover member without making physical contact with the conductive cover member or material attached to the conductive cover member or said object coming into physical contact with the conductive cover member or material attached to the conductive cover member; and
wherein said object causes a first change in capacitance measured by the capacitive measurement system; andb) an object coming into physical contact with the conductive cover member or material attached to the conductive cover member and such object exerting more than a minimum force pressure to result in the conductive cover member or the material attached thereto deflecting and the conductive member coming within a predetermined distance of or in contact with the sense plate structure to cause a second change in capacitance measured by the capacitive measurement system, wherein the second change in measured capacitance is inverse to said first change in measured capacitance. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification