Inductive location sensor system and electronic percussion system
First Claim
1. An inductive location sensor system comprising:
- a structure having a first surface;
inductive antenna means fixed to said first surface, said inductive antenna means having a plurality of operatively associated antenna segments that are configured to form a varying segment density within a boundary defined by said inductive antenna means, said inductive antenna means being responsive to drive signals to generate output energy at a first frequency, said inductive antenna means being responsive to input energy of said first frequency received from an external source to generate response signals having amplitudes that are related to a segment density at a location within said boundary proximate to said external source of said input energy; and
a responder having a resonant circuit that is specific to receiving said output energy at said first frequency and to transmitting said input energy at said first frequency in response to receiving said output energy, thereby being enabled to operate as said external source.
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Abstract
A system and a method for sensing the location of a remote object relative to a base object involve integrating inductive loop antennas with variable loop density into the base object and utilizing the antennas to transmit energy to and receive energy from an LC resonant circuit that is integrated into the remote object. The amplitude of a signal generated by the inductive loop antennas in response to energy received from the LC circuit identifies the location of the LC circuit relative to the antennas. Preferably, the sensing system is integrated into an electronic percussion instrument, where the keys of the instrument are formed with overlapping inductive loop antennas and the mallets used to activate the keys are formed with LC resonant circuits integrated into the mallet heads. In an enhanced version of the instrument, each antenna can be driven at multiple frequencies and made responsive to frequency-specific mallets, thereby creating an instrument that has continuous responsiveness over at least one lateral dimension of each key.
55 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An inductive location sensor system comprising:
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a structure having a first surface; inductive antenna means fixed to said first surface, said inductive antenna means having a plurality of operatively associated antenna segments that are configured to form a varying segment density within a boundary defined by said inductive antenna means, said inductive antenna means being responsive to drive signals to generate output energy at a first frequency, said inductive antenna means being responsive to input energy of said first frequency received from an external source to generate response signals having amplitudes that are related to a segment density at a location within said boundary proximate to said external source of said input energy; and a responder having a resonant circuit that is specific to receiving said output energy at said first frequency and to transmitting said input energy at said first frequency in response to receiving said output energy, thereby being enabled to operate as said external source. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for activating a key on an electronic percussion keyboard comprising the steps of:
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transmitting output energy at a first frequency from first and second inductive antennas that define a key of an electronic keyboard; receiving said output energy at said first frequency at a first responder, said first responder having a resonant circuit that is specific to receiving said first frequency; transmitting input energy at said first frequency from said first responder to said first and second inductive antennas in response to receiving said output energy at said first frequency; receiving said input energy at said first frequency at said first and second inductive antennas; outputting response signals from said first and second inductive antennas in response to receiving said input energy from said first responder; tracking at least one variable of said response signals that are output from said first and second inductive antennas; and correlating said tracking of said at least one variable of said response signals to a location within said key. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An electronic instrument comprising:
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means for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic energy at a first frequency from an area of a key and for identifying a specific location within said area of said key that is proximate to an external source of said electromagnetic energy; and a device including a circuit tuned to receive and transmit electromagnetic energy at said first frequency, wherein electromagnetic energy at said first frequency transmitted from said device to said means for transmitting and receiving initiates a control signal. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification