Acoustic touch position sensor with first order lamb wave reflective arrays
First Claim
1. A touch position sensor comprising:
- a substrate capable of supporting antisymmetric and symmetric Lamb waves propagating therein, said substrate having a touch surface;
first means coupled to said substrate for imparting a Lamb wave into said substrate, said Lamb wave propagating along a first axis;
first means disposed along said first axis for reflecting portions of said to Lamb wave along first parallel paths 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 Lamb wave is imparted into a substrate by a transducer mounted on the substrate, the Lamb wave propagating along a first axis. Top and bottom reflecting arrays are disposed along the first axis to reflect portions of one mode of the Lamb wave along a plurality of parallel paths extending across a touch surface of the substrate to a second pair of top and bottom reflect arrays. The second pair of top and bottom reflecting arrays reflect the Lamb waves incident thereto along an axis parallel to the first axis to a receiving transducer that provides a signal representative of the received Lamb 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.
155 Citations
80 Claims
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1. A touch position sensor comprising:
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a substrate capable of supporting antisymmetric and symmetric Lamb waves propagating therein, said substrate having a touch surface; first means coupled to said substrate for imparting a Lamb wave into said substrate, said Lamb wave propagating along a first axis; first means disposed along said first axis for reflecting portions of said to Lamb wave along first parallel paths 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 Lamb waves propagating therein said substrate having a touch surface and said Lamb waves having an antisymmetric mode and a symmetric mode; means coupled to said substrate for imparting a Lamb wave into said substrate, said Lamb wave propagating along a first axis; a first array of reflecting elements disposed on said substrate along said first axis for reflecting Lamb waves 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 on said substrate relative to said first array for suppressing one of said Lamb wave modes; a second array of reflecting elements disposed along an axis generally parallel to said first axis for reflecting said Lamb waves along said parallel axis; and means coupled to said substrate for sensing Lamb waves propagating along said parallel axis to provide a signal representative thereof; and means responsive to said signal for determining the axial 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 Lamb waves propagating therein, said substrate having a touch surface and said Lamb waves having a symmetric and antisymmetric mode; first means coupled to said substrate for imparting a Lamb wave into said substrate, said Lamb wave propagating along a first axis; a first array of reflecting elements disposed on said substrate along said first axis for reflecting said Lamb wave 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 on said substrate relative to said first array for suppressing one of said modes; 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 reflecting elements, said reflecting elements reflecting said reflected Lamb waves along said first axis to said first imparting means and said first imparting means being responsive to Lamb waves propagated thereto to provide a signal representative of said Lamb 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 Lamb waves propagating therein, said substrate having a touch surface and said Lamb waves having a symmetric mode and an antisymmetric mode; means coupled to said substrate for imparting a Lamb wave into said substrate, said Lamb wave propagating along a first axis; a first array of reflecting elements disposed on said substrate along said first axis for reflecting said Lamb wave 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 on said substrate relative to said first array for suppressing one of said modes; 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 reflecting elements, said reflecting elements reflecting said reflected Lamb waves along said first axis to said first imparting means and said first imparting means being responsive to Lamb waves propagated thereto to provide a signal representative of said Lamb waves; a second array of reflecting elements disposed along a second axis intersecting said first axis for reflecting portions of a Lamb wave along second parallel paths extending across the touch surface of said substrate, each second path 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 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; 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 reflecting elements for reflecting said reflected Lamb waves along said second axis said reflecting means and said reflecting means reflecting said Lamb waves reflected from said second array back along said first axis to said imparting means, said imparting means being responsive to Lamb waves 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