Touch activated controller and method

• US 4,221,975 A
• Filed: 04/19/1978
• Issued: 09/09/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Touch Activated Switch Arrays Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Touch Activated Switch Arrays Incorporated
• Inventors: Wayne, Ronald G., Patak, Richard J., Ledniczki, Ferenc
• Primary Examiner(s): Hix, L. T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dwyer, James L.
• Application Number:
  US05/897,686
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• Field of Search: 340/365 C, 340/337, 340/332, 340/325, 340/21, 340/524, 328/5, 307/116, 307/119, 307/120, 307/121, 307/122, 307/123, 307/149, 307/152, 84/DIG. 7, 361/181
• US Class Current: 307/116
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/962 Capacitive touch switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/96066 Thumbwheel, potentiometer, scrollbar or slider simulation by touch switch

Abstract

A touch activated controller generates UP/DOWN control signals in response to movement of a human finger (or other comparable contact) along a control surface thereof. The UP information is derived from movement of the finger in one direction and the DOWN information is derived from movement in a substantially opposite direction. This system generates a sequence of control signals in one or the other of the two directions. In addition, when the finger is removed from the device the output remains in its last previous state or condition existing before removing the finger. Thus, the logic of the system is sensitive substantially to motion and direction of movement so that the logic of the operation of the device closely resembles the motion of a thumbwheel control. Merely placing a finger on the surface of thumbwheel or on the surface of the disclosed device generates no change in the position of the thumbwheel or the output of the device herein. When a finger is moved in one direction while in contact with the control surface of the device or the thumbwheel the output of the device will generate control signals counting up or down depending on the direction of movement of the finger.

Claims

1. A touch activated controller for generating signals adapted to be coupled to operate apparatus in response thereto comprising a body of insulating material, a series of discrete capacitor portions carried in closely spaced relation by said insulation, said series including a plurality of groups of said portions disposed in tandem, the minimum displacement between the first and last said portion in each group being greater than the maximum fingerprint of the operator to inhibit simultaneous operation of all said portions of a given group, each of said portions serving to function as one plate of a capacitor when in the proximate presence of a person'"'"'s finger or other body portion, a series of discrete sense amplifying circuit means respectively associated with related ones of said capacitor portions, said circuit means serving to provide a first digital output in response to the absence of a body portion at a discrete capacitor portion associated therewith and a second digital output in response to the presence of a body portion thereat, groups of said sense amplifying circuit means being operated to said second condition, means coupled to said series of sense amplifying circuit means serving to generate an associated sequence of control signals upon movement of the human finger or other body part across said series of discrete portions in one or another of two substantially opposite directions, said sequence of control signals representing increasing or decreasing information dependent upon the direction of movement of the finger.

2. In a touch activated controller for generating a cyclic sequence of control signals representing increasing or decreasing information dependent upon the direction of movement of a human finger or other body part thereacross, a support body, a layer of insulating material carried by said body, a series of conductive elements carried on the obverse surface of said layer in spaced apart relation distributed along said obverse surface and adapted to be disposed and spaced sufficiently closely so that a human finger can be moved in a continuous plane thereacross from one to the next while continuously overlapping a plurality of each of said conductive elements in the proximate presence thereof, each of said conductive elements serving to form a capacitor portion, a series of conductors carried on the reverse side of said layer and extending therealong, said conductors being spaced laterally apart and distributed across the width of said reverse side, and means interconnecting successive ones of said conductive elements to successive ones of said conductors to couple to said conductors the equivalent of a capacitor whenever a human finger or body part is in the proximate presence of one of said conductive elements.

3. A touch activated UP/DOWN controller for generating signals adapted to be coupled to operate apparatus in response thereto comprising a body of insulating material, a series of discrete passive portions carried by said insulation and disposed so that a human finger can be moved in a continuous plane thereacross from one to the next while continuously overlapping a plurality of said passive portions in the proximate presence of each, a series of discrete sensing circuit means respectively associated with related ones of said passive portions, said portions serving to develop an input signal for said circuit means when in the proximate presence of a person'"'"'s finger or other body portion, said circuit means serving to provide a first digital output in response to the absence of a body portion at a discrete passive portion associated therewith and a second digital output in response to the presence of a body portion thereat, means coupled to said series of sensing circuit means serving to generate a sequence of control signals upon movement of the human finger or other body part across said series of discrete portions in one or another of two substantially opposite directions, said sequence of control signals representing increasing or decreasing information dependent upon the direction of movement of the finger.

4. In a touch activated controller for generating a cyclic sequence of control signals representing increasing or decreasing information dependent upon the direction of movement of a human finger or other body part thereacross, a support body, a layer of insulating material carried by said body, a series of elements carried on the obverse surface of said layer in spaced apart relation distributed along said obverse surface and adapted to be oriented so that a human finger can be moved thereacross in over lapping relation therebetween from one group thereof to another, each of said elements serving to develop a signal when in the proximate presence of a human finger or other body part, a series of conductors carried on the reverse side of said layer and extending therealong to carry said signals, said conductors being spaced laterally apart and distributed across the width of said reverse side, and means interconnecting successive groups of said elements to successive groups of said conductors to couple to said conductors said signals wherever a human finger or body part is disposed in the proximate presence of one of said conductive elements.

5. In a touch activated controller for generating signals adapted to be coupled to operate apparatus in response thereto comprising a body of insulating material, a series of discrete passive portions carried in closely spaced relation by said insulation, a series of discrete sensing circuit means respectively associated with related ones of said passive portions, said portions serving to develop an input signal for said circuit means when in the proximate presence of a person'"'"'s finger or other body portion, said circuit means serving to provide a first digital output in response to the absence of a body portion at a discrete passive portion associated therewith and a second digital output in response to the presence of a body portion thereat, means coupled to said series of sensing circuit means serving to generate a sequence of control signals upon movement of the human finger or other body part across said series of discrete portions in one or another of two substantially opposite directions, said sequence of control signals representing increasing or decreasing information dependent upon the direction of movement of the finger, the last named means including a first shift register having a plurality of at least as many stages as said series of sense amplifying circuit means, said stages being coupled in parallel to said series of discrete amplifying circuit means, means for loading said outputs of said series of sense amplifying circuit means in parallel into said first shift register, a plurality of output connections leading from a sequence of stages of said first shift register, a second shift register having a plurality of at least as many stages as said series of sense amplifying circuit means, one of said plurality of output connections from said first shift register being coupled to serially supply a digital input to said second shift register, and means for stepping information stored in the stages of both shift registers conjointly therethrough.

6. In a touch activated controller according to claim 5 further comprising means for comparing the state of the last stage of said second shift register to the state of each of said sequence of stages of said first shift register and for counting each disparity detected therebetween separated according to each of said stages of said sequence of stages to provide a count associated with each.

7. In a controller for generating signals adapted to be coupled to operate apparatus in response thereto comprising touch activated sense amplifying means responsive to the movement of a human finger thereacross in each of two directions for generating a cyclic sequence of binary signals derived from direction and displacement of said finger, means for detecting said direction and the degree of said displacement by comparing said signals in relation to elapsed time, the last named means including a first and second shift register in which data is advanced conjointly therethrough in response to clock pulses applied in common to both said registers, and means for loading said signals in parallel into said first shift register, the input of said second shift register being coupled to the output of a predetermined stage of said first shift register, and means for comparing the binary states of both said shift registers as a function of time and counting differences between the binary state of each stage of one shift register with respect to the corresponding stage of the other shift register.

8. A touch activated controller comprising a supporting layer of insulating material, a series of elements distributed in closely spaced relation along said layer, said elements of said series being disposed to permit a person'"'"'s finger to be disposed thereacross in the proximate presence thereof to provide an input signal from each element, said series including more of said elements than can be covered by a person'"'"'s finger to permit the fingerprint portion of a person'"'"'s finger to be disposed in the proximate presence of a first group of said elements defining a first pattern of said elements and when moved across said series of elements to be disposed in the proximate presence of a second group of said elements defining a second pattern of elements, means for detecting the proximate presence of the finger with respect to the elements of each said pattern thereof, means for comparing the second pattern with the first pattern, and means for detecting the motion of said finger derived from the comparisons made between said first and second patterns.

9. In a touch activated controller for generating signals adapted to be coupled to operate apparatus comprising a layer of insulation material, a series of sensing lines distributed in closely spaced relation along said layer, said series of sense lines being arranged to include a plurality of groups of a predetermined number of sequentially arranged sense lines disposed in a cyclically recurring sequence of stages, a spacing layer of predetermined uniform thickness carried across said sense lines to be contacted by a person'"'"'s finger to dispose the fingerprint portion of the finger in the proximate presence of some of the sense lines of one of said groups to provide an input signal from each said sense line, a series of discrete sensing circuit means corresponding in number to said predetermined number of sense lines of one of said groups thereof, each said sensing circuit means being coupled in common to a sense line at the same stage of each said group whereby each sensing circuit means is coupled to more than one sense line to permit the pattern of sense lines in the proximate presence of the fingerprint portion of a finger to move from one group to the next.