Touch screen
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A touch screen system, comprising:
- a substrate having a surface;
at least three acoustic wave transducers located at spaced apart locations near a perimeter of the substrate surface;
a first transducer of the at least three acoustic wave transducers being operative to transmit a first acoustic wave that propagates along the substrate surface;
second and third transducers of the at least three acoustic wave transducers being operative to receive acoustic waves that propagate along the substrate surface; and
a control system operative to determine a location of the substrate surface being perturbed based on time delays between transmission of the first acoustic wave from the first transducer and receipt of a corresponding acoustic wave at each of the second and third transducers that was reflected or scattered from the location of the substrate surface being perturbed.
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Abstract
A plurality of acoustic wave transducers are coupled to a substrate at predetermined spaced apart locations. At least one of the transducers is operative to emit an acoustic wave that propagates along the substrate, with the other transducers operating as receivers of acoustic waves. The receivers are coupled to a control system that is operative to determine a location at which the substrate is perturbed based on time associated with travel of an acoustic wave from a transmitter, to the location of the perturbation, and from the perturbation to each of the respective receivers.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A touch screen system, comprising:
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a substrate having a surface;
at least three acoustic wave transducers located at spaced apart locations near a perimeter of the substrate surface;
a first transducer of the at least three acoustic wave transducers being operative to transmit a first acoustic wave that propagates along the substrate surface;
second and third transducers of the at least three acoustic wave transducers being operative to receive acoustic waves that propagate along the substrate surface; and
a control system operative to determine a location of the substrate surface being perturbed based on time delays between transmission of the first acoustic wave from the first transducer and receipt of a corresponding acoustic wave at each of the second and third transducers that was reflected or scattered from the location of the substrate surface being perturbed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A touch screen system, comprising:
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a substrate having a generally rectangular surface region;
a first acoustic wave transducer located near a first corner of the rectangular region and operative to transmit a first acoustic wave that can propagate across substantially the entire substrate within the rectangular region;
a second acoustic wave transducer located near a second corner of the rectangular region and operative to provide a first detector signal having an electrical characteristic in response to receiving an acoustic wave that propagates across the substrate within the rectangular region;
a first time delay occurring between transmission of the first acoustic wave and receipt at the second transducer of an acoustic wave that was reflected or scattered from a location being perturbed within the rectangular region;
a third acoustic wave transducer located near a third corner of the rectangular region and operative to provide a second detector signal having an electrical characteristic in response to receiving an acoustic wave that propagates across the substrate within the rectangular region;
a second time delay occurring between transmission of the first acoustic wave and receipt at the third transducer of the acoustic wave that was reflected or scattered from the location being perturbed within the rectangular region; and
a control system operative to determine the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed based on the first and second time delays determined from the first and second detector signals. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A touch screen system, comprising:
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a substrate having a surface;
a first acoustic wave transducer operative to intermittently transmit a first acoustic wave that propagates along the substrate surface;
a second acoustic wave transducer spaced apart from the first transducer and operative to receive acoustic waves that propagate along the substrate surface;
a first time delay that occurs between each transmission of the first acoustic wave and receipt of a reflected or scattered acoustic wave at the second transducer within a first predictable time window defining a first ellipse;
a third acoustic wave transducer spaced apart from the first transducer and the second transducer, the third transducer being operative to receive acoustic waves that propagate along the substrate surface;
a second time delay that occurs between each transmission of the first acoustic wave and receipt of the reflected or scattered acoustic wave at the third transducer within a second predictable time window defining a second ellipse; and
a control system operative to determine coordinates on the substrate surface based on an intersection between the first and second ellipses.
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20. A touch screen system, comprising:
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a substrate having a surface;
at least one first acoustic wave transducer operative to intermittently transmit a first acoustic wave that propagates along the substrate surface;
at least one second acoustic wave transducer spaced apart from the first transducer and operative to receive acoustic waves that propagate along the substrate surface;
the at least one second acoustic wave transducer being operative to generate at least two electrical signals indicative of at least one second acoustic wave received at the at least one second acoustic wave transducer resulting from the first acoustic wave reflecting or scattering relative to a location at which the substrate surface is being perturbed; and
a control system operative to determine coordinates on the substrate surface corresponding to the location at which the substrate surface is being perturbed based on the at least two electrical signals indicating receipt of the at least one second acoustic wave at the at least one second acoustic wave transducer within a predictable time window. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A system for detecting a location at which a surface of a substrate is perturbed, comprising:
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means for transmitting at least one acoustic wave that propagates across the substrate surface;
means for detecting acoustic waves that propagate across the substrate surface;
means for determining time delays from transmission of the at least one acoustic wave from the means for transmitting until receipt of a corresponding wave at the means for detecting; and
means for determining an indication of the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed based on the time delays. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A touch screen system, comprising:
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a substrate having a surface;
a first acoustic wave transducer operative to transmit a first acoustic wave that propagates along the substrate surface;
a second acoustic wave transducer operative to transmit a second acoustic wave that propagates along the substrate surface;
at least a third acoustic wave transducer operative to receive acoustic waves that propagate along the substrate surface; and
a control system programmed to determine a location at which the substrate surface is perturbed based on a first time delay between transmission of the first acoustic wave and receipt of a corresponding first scattered acoustic waves at the third transducer and a second time delay between transmission of the second acoustic wave and receipt of a corresponding second scattered acoustic waves at the third transducer, the first and second scattered acoustic waves being reflected or scattered from the location at which the substrate surface being perturbed.
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39. A method to discern a location at which a surface of a substrate is perturbed, comprising:
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transmitting an acoustic wave that propagates across a substrate surface;
detecting an acoustic wave at first transducer;
setting a first time value to a time delay between when the acoustic wave is transmitted and the detection at the first transducer;
detecting an acoustic wave at a second transducer;
setting a second time value to a time delay between when the acoustic wave is transmitted and the detection at the second transducer; and
determining an indication of a location at which the substrate surface is perturbed based on the first and second time values. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
defining a first ellipse relative to the substrate surface based on the first time value;
defining a second ellipse relative to the substrate surface based on the second time value;
determining an intersection of the first and second ellipses, the intersection corresponding to the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed.
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41. The method of claim 39, further comprising:
performing the determining of the indication of the location (i) if the acoustic wave detected at the first transducer corresponds to an acoustic wave reflected or scattered from a perturbation of the substrate surface, and (ii) if the acoustic wave detected at the second transducer corresponds to an acoustic wave reflected or scattered from a perturbation of the substrate surface.
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42. The method of claim 39, further comprising perturbing the substrate surface at the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed by elastically deforming a sheet of material overlying the substrate surface.
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43. The method of claim 39, further comprising indexing a lookup table by the first and second time values to determine the indication of the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed.
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44. The method of claim 43, further comprising deriving a first coordinate associated with the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed by indexing a first matrix of the lookup table with the first and second time values and deriving a second coordinate associated with the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed by indexing a second matrix of the lookup table with the first and second time, the first and second coordinates defining the location at which the substrate surface is perturbed.
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45. A method to determine coordinates representing a perturbed location of a substrate surface, comprising:
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generating a representation of at least one acoustic wave propagating across the substrate surface from a transmitter to the perturbed location;
generating a representation of at least one reflected or scattered acoustic wave propagating across the substrate surface from the perturbed location to at least one receiver resulting from the at least one acoustic wave interacting the perturbed location;
determining an indication of time associated with propagation of the acoustic wave from the transmitter to the perturbed location and the propagation of the reflected or scattered wave from the perturbed location to the at least one receiver; and
indexing a lookup table with the indication of time to determine coordinates of the substrate surface corresponding to the perturbed location. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49)
first and second representations of acoustic waves transmitted from different transmitters, a representation of a reflected or scattered acoustic wave being generated for each of the first and second representations of transmitted acoustic waves, an indication of time being determined for each of the first and second representations of acoustic waves to propagate from their respective transmitters to the perturbed location and for each of the respective reflected or scattered waves to propagate from the perturbed location to the at least one receiver, the indication of time determined for each of the first and second acoustic waves indexing the lookup table to provide coordinates of the substrate surface corresponding to the perturbed location.
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49. The method of claim 45, wherein the generating a representation of at least one reflected or scattered acoustic wave further comprises:
generating a representation of at least one reflected or scattered acoustic wave propagating across the substrate surface from the perturbed location to at least two receivers, an indication of time being determined for the representation of acoustic wave to propagate from the at least one transmitter to the perturbed location and for the reflected or scattered wave to propagate from the perturbed location to each of the at least two receivers, the indications of time associated with each of the at least two receivers indexing the lookup table to provide coordinates of the substrate surface corresponding to the perturbed location.
Specification