Ultrasonic touch system

• US 5,717,434 A
• Filed: 01/23/1995
• Issued: 02/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Toda, Kohji
• Original Assignee: Toda, Kohji
• Inventors: Toda, Kohji
• Primary Examiner(s): Powell, Mark R.
• Application Number:
  US08/374,599
• Time in Patent Office: 1,114 Days
• Field of Search: 345/177, 345/84, 345/87, 345/55, 345/106, 310/334
• US Class Current: 345/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0436 in which generating transducers and detecting transducers are attached to a single acoustic waves transmission substrate

Abstract

An ultrasonic touch system including a substrate and at least an ultrasonic transducing system on one end surface Z1 of the substrate. The ultrasonic transducing system comprises at least an interdigital transducer P and at least an interdigital transducer Q corresponding to the interdigital transducer P. An electric signal having a frequency approximately corresponding to the interdigital periodicity of the interdigital transducer P is applied to the interdigital transducer P, causing the acoustic wave on the end surface Z1 with a high efficiency, the acoustic wave having a wavelength approximately equal to the interdigital periodicity of the interdigital transducer P. At this time, an electric signal having a frequency approximately corresponding to the wavelength of the acoustic wave generated on the end surface Z1 is detected at the interdigital transducer Q. When touching with a finger or other things on a part of the propagation medium of the acoustic wave on the end surface Z1, the electric signal detected at the interdigital transducer Q is decreased. A touch on the substrate by a finger or other things is accordingly detected with a high sensitivity and a quick response time under operation with low power consumption and low voltage.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic touch system comprising:

a substrate;

at least one ultrasonic transducing system on one surface of said substrate, said ultrasonic transducing system comprising emitting transducers (T) and receiving transducers (R) corresponding to said emitting transducers, said emitting and receiving transducers being arranged to face each other on said surface of said substrate making a pair so that a transmitting direction of an acoustic wave generated by one of said emitting transducers is the same as the receiving direction of said acoustic wave by a corresponding one of said receiving transducers;

means for applying an electric signal to said emitting transducers for exciting said acoustic wave;

means for delivering an electric signal, having a frequency approximately corresponding to the wavelength of said acoustic wave, generated from said receiving transducers;

means for determining a touch on a part of the substrate where the acoustic wave propagates in reliance on a magnitude of said electric signal delivered by said means for delivering;

said emitting and receiving transducers each comprising sets of interdigital transducers, wherein said means for applying an electric signal to said emitting transducers is for applying an electric signal having a frequency approximately corresponding to an interdigital periodicity of one of said sets of interdigital emitting transducers so that said acoustic wave is generated on said surface having a wavelength approximately equal to said interdigital periodicity; and

wherein said sets of interdigital emitting and receiving transducers have at least two interdigital periodicities varying in a direction perpendicular to said interdigital transducers.

2. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein a one of said sets of emitting interdigital transducers having a smaller periodicity is closer to a one of said sets of receiving interdigital transducers having the smaller periodicity than a one of said sets of receiving interdigital transducers have a larger periodicity.

3. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein a display device is mounted on the opposite surface of said substrate, said display device being capable of indicating different colors.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein said different colors correspond to different frequencies of said electric signal applied to said sets of interdigital emitting transducers.

5. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises an almost transparent piezoelectric ceramic, the direction of a polarization axis thereof being parallel to the thickness direction thereof, said interdigital transducers being mounted directly on said surface of said substrate.

6. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises:

a nonpiezoelectric body, said ultrasonic transducing system comprising an input device having a first piezoelectric thin plate and said interdigital emitting transducer mounted thereon, and an output device having a second piezoelectric thin plate and said interdigital receiving transducer mounted thereon, said first and second piezoelectric thin plates being mounted on said surface.

7. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein a thickness of said first piezoelectric thin plate is less than the interdigital periodicity of said interdigital emitting transducer, and the thickness of said second piezoelectric thin plate is less than the interdigital periodicity of said interdigital receiving transducer, said interdigital periodicities of said interdigital emitting and receiving transducers being approximately equal to the wavelength of said acoustic wave of the first mode or higher modes, the phase velocity of said acoustic wave of said first mode or higher modes being approximately equal to the propagation velocity of the acoustic wave generated on said substrate as a mono-layer medium.

8. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein said piezoelectric first and second thin plates are cemented on said surface with said interdigital emitting transducer in said first piezoelectric thin plate and the surface with said interdigital receiving transducer in said second piezoelectric thin plate.

9. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein the other surface of said substrate opposite said interdigital emitting transducer and the other surface opposite said interdigital receiving transducer are covered with a metal thin layer.

10. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein said first and second piezoelectric thin plates comprise:

a piezoelectric ceramic, a direction of the polarization axis thereof being parallel to a thickness direction thereof.

11. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein said first and second piezoelectric thin plates comprise:

a piezoelectric thin film made from highly polymerized compound.

12. An ultrasonic touch system according to claim 1, wherein said ultrasonic transducing system comprises:

N interdigital groups of sets of emitting transducers (T_i ;

i=1, 2, - - - , N) and N groups of sets of interdigital receiving transducers (Q_i ;

i=1, 2, - - - , N) consisting of at least a first and a second set of interdigital receiving transducers (R_i,1 and R_i,2), said ultrasonic touch system further comprising;

a first connection point, each output terminal of said first sets of interdigital receiving transducers (R_i,1) being connected with each other thereat,

a second connection point, each output terminal of said second sets of interdigital receiving transducers (R_i,2) being connected with each other thereat, a touch on a part of said surface being detected by magnitudes of electric signals detected at said first and second connection points respectively,

N switches (S_i ;

i=1, 2, - - - , N), output terminals thereof being connected with each input terminal of said groups of sets of said interdigital emitting transducers (T_i), and

means for controlling turn on and off of said switches (S_i) with a fixed period for switching.

13. An ultrasonic touch system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a third connection point, each input terminal of said switches (S_i) being connected with each other thereat,

an amplifier, said first and second connection points being connected with said third connection point through said amplifier, and

N oscillators (H_i ;

i=1, 2, - - - , N) including N corresponding propagation paths (D_i ;

i=1, 2, - - - , N) as delay elements, said propagation paths (D_i) comprising said substrate between said groups of sets of interdigital emitting transducers (T_i) and said first sets of interdigital receiving transducers (R_i,1), the respective signal loops of said oscillators comprising said groups of sets of interdigital emitting transducers (Ti), said propagation paths (Di), said first sets of interdigital receiving transducers (R_i,1) and said amplifier.

14. A touch activated panel comprising:

a substrate having an emitter transducer and a receiver transducer on a surface thereof which face each other so that an acoustic wave transmitted into said substrate by said emitter transducer is received by said receiver transducer, said two transducers being separated by a portion of said substrate which, when touched, modifies the acoustic wave received by said receiver transducer;

each of said emitter and receiver transducers comprising,

a first plurality of parallel interdigital transducer elements which are generally perpendicular to an axis of a propagation path between said emitter transducer and said receiver transducer and which are spaced apart to have a first interdigital periodicity, and

a second plurality of interdigital transducer elements which are parallel to said first plurality of transducer elements and which are spaced apart to have a second interdigital periodicity, whereby said emitter and receiver transducers are responsive to frequencies corresponding to said first and second interdigital periodicities.

15. The touch activated panel of claim 14 wherein a first frequency corresponding to said first interdigital periodicity is higher than a second frequency corresponding to said second interdigital periodicity, and wherein said first plurality of elements in said emitter transducer are closer to said first plurality of elements in said receiver transducer along the axis of the propagation path than said second plurality of elements in said emitter transducer are to said second plurality of elements in said receiver transducer.