USING MULTIPLE SIGNALS TO DETECT TOUCH INPUT

• US 20140078112A1
• Filed: 09/20/2013
• Published: 03/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sentons, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sentons, Inc.
• Inventors: Sheng, Samuel W., Shih, Shih-Ming, Hsieh, Yenyu, Altekar, Shirish A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,639,213 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0436 in which generating transducers and detecting transducers are attached to a single acoustic waves transmission substrate

Abstract

Detecting a location of a touch input is disclosed. Each of a plurality of transmitters coupled to a propagating medium emits a signal that is distinguishable from other signals emitted from other transmitters. The signals from the transmitters are received from at least one receiver coupled to the propagating medium to detect the location of the touch input on a surface of the propagating medium as indicated by an effect of the touch input on each of the distinguishable signals.

Claims

1. A system for detecting a location of a touch input, comprising:

a plurality of transmitters coupled to a propagating medium and each configured to emit a signal that is distinguishable from other signals emitted from other transmitters; and

at least one receiver coupled to the propagating medium and configured to receive the signals from the transmitters to detect the location of the touch input on a surface of the propagating medium as indicated by an effect of the touch input on each of the distinguishable signals.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the received signals is correlated with a corresponding expected signal without the touch input to determine the effect of the touch input on the at least one received signal.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the signals emitted by the transmitters are ultrasonic signals.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the signals emitted by the transmitters are distinguishable from each other by varying a phase of the signals emitted by the transmitters from each other emitted signal.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein emitting the signals of the transmitters includes utilizing code division multiplexing to distinguish the emitted signals.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the signals emitted by the transmitters are distinguishable from each other by varying a frequency range of the signals emitted by the transmitters from each other emitted signal.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein emitting the signals of the transmitters includes utilizing frequency division multiplexing to distinguish the emitted signals.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the signals emitted by the transmitters are distinguishable from each other by varying a timing of the signals emitted by the transmitters from each other emitted signal.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein emitting the signals of the transmitters includes utilizing time division multiplexing to distinguish the emitted signals.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein emitting the signal that is distinguishable from other signals emitted from other transmitters includes offsetting the signal from the other signals emitted from other transmitters.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein emitting the signal that is distinguishable from other signals emitted from other transmitters includes offsetting a pseudorandom binary sequence included in the signal from a pseudorandom binary sequence included in the other signals emitted by other transmitters.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein a relative offset amount between a first signal and a second signal emitted by one or more of the transmitters is equal to a relative offset amount between the second signal and a third signal emitted by one or more of the transmitters.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the signals emitted by the transmitters are orthogonal to each other signal.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the effect of the touch input on each of the distinguishable signals includes a delay caused on each of the distinguishable signals by the touch input.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein detecting the location includes comparing the delay of each of the distinguishable signals.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the touch input is associated with one or more of the following:

a location coordinate, a gesture, a multi-touch input, a time, a status, a direction, a velocity, a force magnitude, a proximity magnitude, a pressure, and a size.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitters each includes a different transducer.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the emitted signals of the transmitters freely propagate through the propagating medium.

19. A method for detecting a location of a touch input, comprising:

emitting from each of a plurality of transmitters coupled to a propagating medium a signal that is distinguishable from other signals emitted from other transmitters; and

receiving from at least one receiver coupled to the propagating medium the signals from the transmitters to detect the location of the touch input on a surface of the propagating medium as indicated by an effect of the touch input on each of the distinguishable signals.

20. A computer program product for detecting a location of a touch input, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

emitting from each of a plurality of transmitters coupled to a propagating medium a signal that is distinguishable from other signals emitted from other transmitters; and

receiving from at least one receiver coupled to the propagating medium the signals from the transmitters to detect the location of the touch input on a surface of the propagating medium as indicated by an effect of the touch input on each of the distinguishable signals.