WEARABLE DEVICE EXHIBITING CAPACITIVE SENSING FUNCTION

• US 20170075481A1
• Filed: 09/15/2016
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Decentralized Motion Intelligence Company
• Original Assignee: Touchplus information Corp.
• Inventors: CHOU, Yen-Han, CHOU, YAOSHENG, HU, Shih-Hsien
• Granted Patent: US 10,551,872 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer

Abstract

A wearable device exhibiting a capacitive sensing function includes a fabric having a plurality of touch-sensing electrode patterns and a plurality of signal lines distributed therein; a controlled device integrated into the fabric; and a control circuit disposed at an edge of the fabric and being in communication with the signal lines for controlling the controlled device according to a capacitance change according to a capacitance change caused by a touch or gesture of a user on the fabric.

Claims

1. A wearable device exhibiting a capacitive sensing function, comprising one or more capacitive sensing portions, wherein at least one of the capacitive sensing portions comprises:

a fabric having a plurality of touch sensing electrode patterns and a first set of signal lines distributed therein;

a controlled device integrated into the fabric; and

a control circuit coupled to the fabric and being in communication with the first set of signal lines for controlling the controlled device according to a capacitance change caused by a touch or gesture of a user on the fabric.

2. The wearable device according to claim 1, wherein the controlled device is one or more LED units, whose colors and/or brightness change in response to the touch or gesture of a user on the fabric.

3. The wearable device according to claim 1, wherein the controlled device is an MP3 player, whose tracks and/or volume change in response to the touch or gesture of a user on the fabric.

4. The wearable device according to claim 1, wherein each of the touch sensing electrode patterns is electrically connected to the control circuit via an exclusive one of the first set of signal lines, and each of the touch sensing electrode patterns is formed with one piece of touch sensing electrode yarn that is made of one conductive wire wrapped with a dielectric material, wherein the touch sensing electrode yarn further extends out of the touch sensing electrode pattern to serve as the exclusive signal line.

5. The wearable device according to claim 1, further comprising another fabric integrated thereinto a second set of signal lines, wherein the another fabric is bonded to the fabric while electrically connecting the second set of signal lines to the first set of signal lines so as to have the first set of signal lines connected to the control circuit in parallel via the second set of signal lines.

6. A wearable device exhibiting a capacitive sensing function, comprising one or more capacitive sensing portions, wherein at least one of the capacitive sensing portions comprises:

a first fabric sensing electrode layer formed with sensing electrode yarns;

a second fabric sensing electrode layer formed with sensing electrode yarns;

a fabric dielectric layer formed with non-conductive yarns and disposed between the first fabric sensing electrode layer and the second fabric sensing electrode layer; and

a control circuit coupled to the capacitive sensing portion, and issuing a control signal according to a capacitance change caused by a distance or electric field change between the first and second fabric sensing electrode layers.

7. The wearable device according to claim 6, wherein the sensing electrode yarns of the first and second fabric electrode layers are conductive wires, and the non-conductive yarns are porous.

8. The wearable device according to claim 6, wherein a plurality of the capacitive sensing portions are included in the wearable device, and have different structural densities for different objectives.

9. The wearable device according to claim 6, wherein the capacitive sensing portion further comprises a wireless communication module or a near field communication module, and is preset with an identifying code for linking to an internet system as an IoT object.

10. The wearable device according to claim 9, wherein the control signal issued by the control circuit contains the identifying code.

11. A wearable device exhibiting a capacitive sensing function, comprising one or more capacitive sensing portions, wherein at least one of the capacitive sensing portions comprises:

a fabric having a plurality of touch sensing electrode patterns distributed therein; and

a control circuit coupled to the fabric and being in communication with the plurality of touch sensing electrode patterns for issuing a control signal when a specific event occurs, wherein whether the specific event occurs or not is determined according to a capacitance change caused by a contact of an object on the fabric, together with a capacitance change amount or a capacitance change rate.

12. The wearable device according to claim 11, wherein the touch sensing electrode patterns are integrated into the fabric by printing.

13. The wearable device according to claim 11, wherein the object is a shooting object having a conductive tip, and the specific event is a hit of the shooting object onto the fabric.

14. A wearable device exhibiting a capacitive sensing function for use on a motional object, comprising one or more capacitive sensing portions, wherein at least one of the capacitive sensing portions comprises:

a first fabric having a plurality of touch sensing electrode patterns distributed therein and attached onto the motional object at a first position; and

a control circuit in communication with the plurality of touch sensing electrode patterns for controlling a first action of the motional object according to a capacitance change caused by a touch or gesture of a user on the first fabric.

15. The wearable device according to claim 14, wherein another one of the capacitive sensing portions comprises:

a second fabric having a plurality of touch sensing electrode patterns distributed therein and attached onto the motional object at a second position; and

a control circuit in communication with the plurality of touch sensing electrode patterns for controlling a second action of the motional object according to a capacitance change caused by a touch or gesture of a user on the second fabric.

16. The wearable device according to claim 14, wherein the motional object is a robot pet.