MULTI-TOUCH PAD CONTROLLER

• US 20130239787A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BeBop Sensors, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kesumo, LLC
• Inventors: McMillen, Keith, McAnulty, Daniel Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,076,419 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 84/643
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04144 using an array of force sensing means position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells G06F3/0447
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/00 Details of electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0008 Associated control or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/02 Means for controlling the tone frequencies, e.g. attack or decay; Means for producing special musical effects, e.g. vibratos or glissandos
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0556 using piezoelectric means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/34 Switch arrangements, e.g. keyboards or mechanical switches specially adapted for electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/061 LED, i.e. using a light-emitting diode as indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/096 using a touch screen touch screen note input, e.g. using a displayed keyboard G10H2220/241; personal digital assistant [PDA] G10H2230/015
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2230/015 PDA [personal digital assistant] or palmtop computing devices used for musical purposes, e.g. portable music players, tablet computers, e-readers or smart phones in which mobile telephony functions need not be used touch-screen interfaces G10H2220/096

Abstract

A highly configurable controller is described that includes a number of different types of control mechanisms that emulate a wide variety of conventional control mechanisms using pressure and location sensitive sensors that generate high-density control information which may be mapped to the controls of a wide variety of devices and software.

Claims

1. A controller, comprising N control pads and one or more processors, N being an integer greater than zero, each control pad having sensor circuitry associated therewith configured to generate one or more sensor signals representing corresponding touch events on a corresponding surface of the control pad, the one or more sensor signals associated with each control pad also representing corresponding locations of the touch events on the surface of the control pad, the one or more processors being configured to generate control information from the sensor signals, wherein in a first operational mode the one or more processors are configured to map the control information to N control functions, and wherein in a second operational mode the one or more processors are configured to map the control information to N×

M control functions corresponding to the locations of the touch events on the surfaces of the N control pads, M being an integer greater than one.

2. The controller of claim 1, wherein N is 16 and M is 4, wherein the N control pads are arranged in a 4×

4 array, and wherein the locations of the touch events on the surfaces of the N control pads corresponding to the N×

M control functions form an 8×

8 control array.

3. The controller of claim 1, wherein the first mode of operation corresponds to a drum pad controller, and wherein the second mode of operation corresponds to a grid controller.

4. The controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensor signals associated with each control pad also represent pressure of the touch events on the surface of the control pad, and wherein the pressure of the touch events is reflected in the control information.

5. The controller of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry associated with each control pad includes four sensor quadrants, each sensor quadrant including first conductive elements connected to a first voltage reference and second conductive elements connected to a second voltage reference, at least some of the first and second conductive elements being connected to the corresponding voltage reference via a resistive element, the sensor circuitry also comprising a conductive material configured to make contact with at least some of the first and second conductive elements in at least some of the sensor quadrants in response to the touch events, thereby forming one or more voltage dividers corresponding to the sensor quadrants with which contact is made.

6. The controller of claim 5, wherein the conductive material or at least some of the first and second conductive elements comprise a piezoresistive material.

7. The controller of claim 5 wherein the first and second conductive elements are arranged as concentric conductive traces across the four sensor quadrants, at least some of the concentric conductive traces being discontinuous, thereby defining the four sensor quadrants.

8. A sensor configured to generate one or more sensor signals representing corresponding touch events on a corresponding surface associated with the sensor, the sensor comprising sensor circuitry that includes four sensor quadrants, each sensor quadrant including first conductive elements connected to a first voltage reference and second conductive elements connected to a second voltage reference, at least some of the first and second conductive elements being connected to the corresponding voltage reference via a resistive element, the sensor circuitry also comprising a conductive material configured to make contact with at least some of the first and second conductive elements in at least some of the sensor quadrants in response to the touch events, thereby forming one or more voltage dividers corresponding to the sensor quadrants with which contact is made.

9. The sensor of claim 8, wherein the conductive material or at least some of the first and second conductive elements comprise a piezoresistive material.

10. The sensor of claim 8, wherein the first and second conductive elements are arranged as concentric conductive traces across the four sensor quadrants, at least some of the concentric conductive traces being discontinuous, thereby defining the four sensor quadrants.

11. The sensor of claim 8, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent corresponding locations of the touch events on the surface of the sensor.

12. The sensor of claim 11, wherein the touch events correspond to an object in contact with the surface of the sensor, and wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent movement of the object across the surface of the sensor.

13. The sensor of claim 12, wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent pressure of the touch events on the surface of the sensor, and wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent wiggling of the object on the surface of the sensor.

14. The sensor of claim 8, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent pressure of the touch events on the surface of the sensor.

15. A control system comprising at least one instance of the sensor of claim 8, the control system also comprising one or more processors configured to generate control information from the one or more sensor signals, and to map the control information to one or more control functions.

16. The control system of claim 13 wherein the one or more control functions include cursor control, musical effect control, or commands to change state of a system.

17. A sensor configured to generate one or more sensor signals representing corresponding touch events on a corresponding surface associated with the sensor, the sensor comprising sensor circuitry that includes an arrangement of conductive elements, first one of the conductive elements being connected to a voltage reference, and second ones of the conductive elements being configured to receive sequential drive signals, at least some of the first and second conductive elements being connected to a resistive element, the sensor circuitry also comprising a conductive material configured to make contact with at least some of the first and second conductive elements at locations associated with the touch events, thereby forming one or more voltage dividers when the second conductive elements with which contact by the conductive material is made are driven by a corresponding one of the sequential drive signals.

18. The sensor of claim 17, wherein the conductive material or at least some of the first and second conductive elements comprise a piezoresistive material.

19. The sensor of claim 17, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent corresponding locations of the touch events on the surface of the sensor.

20. The sensor of claim 19, wherein the touch events correspond to an object in contact with the surface of the sensor, and wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent movement of the object across the surface of the sensor.

21. The sensor of claim 20, wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent pressure of the touch events on the surface of the sensor, and wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent wiggling of the object on the surface of the sensor.

22. The sensor of claim 19, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent the corresponding locations of multiple and simultaneous ones of the touch events on the surface of the sensor.

23. The sensor of claim 17, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent pressure of the touch events on the surface of the sensor.

24. The sensor of claim 23, wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent corresponding locations of multiple and simultaneous ones of the touch events on the surface of the sensor.

25. The sensor of claim 17, wherein the arrangement of the first and second conductive elements is an alternating arrangement of the first and second conductive elements.

26. The sensor of claim 25, wherein the alternating arrangement of the first and second conductive elements comprises one of linear, circular, or rectilinear.

27. A control system comprising at least one instance of the sensor of claim 17, the control system also comprising one or more processors configured drive the second conductive elements with the sequential drive signals, to generate control information from the one or more sensor signals, and to map the control information to one or more control functions.

28. The control system of claim 27, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent pressure of the touch events on the surface of the sensor, wherein a first one of the touch events corresponds to the conductive material making contact with more than one pair of the first and second conductive elements, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the control information to represent a first location of the first touch event as corresponding to one of the pairs of the first and second conductive element with reference to the representation of the pressure of the first touch event in the one or more sensor signals.

29. The control system of claim 27, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent pressure of the touch events on the surface of the sensor, wherein the one or more sensor signals also represent corresponding locations of multiple and simultaneous ones of the touch events on the surface of the sensor, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the control information to represent the pressure associated with each of the simultaneous touch events.

30. The control system of claim 27, wherein the one or more sensor signals represent corresponding locations and pressure of the touch events on the surface of the sensor, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to map the control information to multiple control functions corresponding to different gestures.

31. The control system of claim 27, wherein the first and second conductive elements are each wedge-shaped and the arrangement of the first and second conductive elements is an alternating circular arrangement of the first and second conductive elements, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the control information to represent a distance from a center of the circular arrangement based on a number of the conductive elements represented in the one or more sensor signals.

32. A computer-implemented method for configuring a music controller to operate with one or more of a plurality of music applications from a plurality of different vendors, the method comprising:

presenting the plurality of music applications as selectable options in a user interface of a computing device;

receiving one or more selections of the music applications;

identifying a location in memory of the computing device for each selected music application; and

storing a plurality of script code files in each location, each script code file mapping control information generated by the music controller to functions of the selected music application for the corresponding location;

wherein each selected music application is configured to perform the functions in response to the control information from the controller using the script code files stored in the corresponding location in the memory of the computing device.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising storing copies of the script code files in one or more directories in the memory of the computing device separate from the locations for each of the selected music applications.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising storing an example file for each selected music application in the memory of the computing device, each example file including code representing one or more sounds that may be generated using the corresponding selected music application in conjunction with the controller.

35. A computer program product for configuring a music controller to operate with one or more of a plurality of music applications from a plurality of different vendors, the computer program product comprising one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer program instructions stored therein that are configured such that, when executed by a computing device, the computer program instructions cause the computing device to:

present the plurality of music applications as selectable options in a user interface of the computing device;

receive one or more selections of the music applications;

identify a location in memory of the computing device for each selected music application; and

store a plurality of script code files in each location, each script code file mapping control information generated by the music controller to functions of the selected music application for the corresponding location;

wherein each selected music application is configured to perform the functions in response to the control information from the controller using the script code files stored in the corresponding location in the memory of the computing device.