Acoustic touch position sensor with shear to lamb wave conversion
First Claim
1. A touch position sensor comprising:
- a substrate capable of supporting shear waves and Lamb wave propagating therein, said substrate having a touch surface;
first means coupled to said substrate for imparting a shear wave into said substrate, said shear wave propagating along a first axis;
first means disposed along said first axis for converting portions of said shear wave to Lamb waves propagating along first paths parallel to each other and extending across the touch surface of said substrate, each first path representing a different axial position, a touch on said substrate touch surface forming a perturbation in a Lamb wave propagating along a first path intersecting the position of said touch; and
means for sensing the occurrence of a perturbation in said Lamb waves to determine the axial position of a touch on said substrate relative to said first axis.
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Abstract
An acoustic touch position sensor is shown wherein a transducer coupled to a side of a substrate imparts a shear wave into the substrate that propagates along a first axis. A shear to Lamb wave converting array disposed along the first axis converts the shear wave to Lamb waves propagating along a plurality of parallel paths where each path is associated with a different axial position on the substrate relative to the first axis. The Lamb waves are converted back to shear waves by a Lamb to shear wave converting array disposed along an axis parallel to the first axis, the second converting array being spaced across a touch surface of the substrate from the first array. The shear wave from the second converting propagate to a receiving transducer that provides a signal representative of the waves. A touch on the substrate results in a partial absorption of the energy in the Lamb wave propagating along a path intersection the touch position so as to produce a perturbation therein which is sensed to determine the axial position of the touch on the substrate. In a second embodiment a single transducer and reflective array is provided for each axis, a coordinate on which is to be determined. In a third embodiment of the present invention, a single transducer is provided for two axes.
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Citations
80 Claims
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1. A touch position sensor comprising:
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a substrate capable of supporting shear waves and Lamb wave propagating therein, said substrate having a touch surface; first means coupled to said substrate for imparting a shear wave into said substrate, said shear wave propagating along a first axis; first means disposed along said first axis for converting portions of said shear wave to Lamb waves propagating along first paths parallel to each other and extending across the touch surface of said substrate, each first path representing a different axial position, a touch on said substrate touch surface forming a perturbation in a Lamb wave propagating along a first path intersecting the position of said touch; and means for sensing the occurrence of a perturbation in said Lamb waves to determine the axial position of a touch on said substrate relative to said first axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A touch position sensor comprising:
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a substrate capable of supporting shear waves and Lamb waves propagating therein said substrating having a touch surface; means coupled to said substrate for imparting a shear wave into said substrate, said shear wave propagating along a first axis; a first array of converting elements disposed on said substrate along said first axis for converting said shear wave to Lamb waves having a symmetric mode and an anti-symmetric mode; means disposed on said substrate relative to said first array for suppressing one of said modes, said converting means propagating the other of said modes along first parallel paths extending across the touch surface of said substrate, each first path representing a different axial position relative to said first axis and a touch on said substrate touch surface forming a perturbation in a Lamb wave propagating along a first path intersecting the position of said touch; a second array of converting elements disposed along an axis generally parallel to said first axis for converting said Lamb waves to shear waves propagating along an axis generally parallel to said first axis, a perturbation in a Lamb wave forming a perturbation in the shear wave to which said Lamb wave is converted; and means coupled to said substrate for sensing shear waves propagating along said parallel axis to provide a signal representative thereof; and means responsive to said signal for determining the position of a touch on said substrate touch surface relative to said first axis. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A touch position sensor comprising:
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a substrate capable of supporting shear waves and Lamb waves propagating therein said substrating having a touch surface; means coupled to said substrate for imparting a shear wave into said substrate, said shear wave propagating along a first axis; a first array of converting elements disposed on said substrate along said first axis for converting said shear wave to Lamb waves having a symmetric mode and anti-symmetric mode; means disposed on said substrate relative to said first array for suppressing one of said modes, said converting means propagating the other of said modes along first parallel paths extending across the touch surface of said substrate, each first path representing a different axial position relative to said first axis and a touch on said substrate touch surface forming a perturbation in a Lamb wave propagating along a first path intersecting the position of said touch; means disposed generally parallel to said first axis and spaced from said first array for reflecting Lamb waves propagating along said first parallel paths back along said first parallel paths to said first array of converting elements, said converting elements converting said reflected Lamb waves to shear waves propagating along said first axis to said first imparting means and said first imparting means being responsive to shear waves propagated thereto to provide a signal representative of said shear waves; and means responsive to said signal for determining the position of a touch on said substrate relative to said first axis. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65)
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66. A touch position sensor comprising:
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a substrate capable of supporting shear waves and Lamb waves propagating therein, said substrating having a touch surface; means coupled to said substrate for imparting a shear wave into said substrate, said shear wave propagating along a first axis; a first array of converting elements disposed on said substrate along said first axis for converting said shear wave to Lamb waves having a symmetric mode and anti-symmetric mode; means disposed on said substrate relative to said first array for suppressing one of said modes, said converting means propagating the other of said modes along first parallel paths extending across the touch surface of said substrate, each of said first paths representing a different axial position relative to said first axis and a touch on said substrate touch surface forming a perturbation in a Lamb wave propagating along a first path intersecting the position of said touch; means disposed generally parallel to said first axis and spaced from said first array for reflecting Lamb waves propagating along said first parallel paths back along said first parallel paths to said first array of converting elements, said converting elements converting said reflected Lamb waves to shear waves propagating along said first axis to said imparting means and said imparting means being responsive to shear waves propagated thereto to provide a signal representative of said shear waves; a second array of converting elements disposed along a second axis intersecting said first axis for converting portions of a shear wave reflected thereto to Lamb waves having a symmetric mode and an anti-symmetric mode; means for reflecting a shear wave propagating along said first axis to said second array for propagation along said second axis; means disposed on said substrate relative to said second array for suppressing one of said modes, said converting means propagating the other of said modes along second parallel paths extending across the touch surface of said substrate, each of said second paths representing a different axial position relative to said second axis and a touch on said substrate touch surface forming a perturbation in a Lamb wave propagating along a second path intersecting the position of said touch; means disposed generally parallel to said second axis and spaced from said second array for reflecting Lamb waves propagating along said second parallel paths back along said second paths to said second array of converting elements, said converting elements converting said reflected Lamb waves to shear waves propagating along said second axis to said reflecting means and said reflecting means reflecting said shear waves for propagation along said first axis to said imparting means, said imparting means being responsive to shear waves propagated thereto to provide a signal representative thereof; and means responsive to said signals for determining the position of a touch on said substrate touch surface relative to said first and second axes. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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Specification