Input devices and their use
First Claim
1. An electronic device comprisinga substrate carrying a first array of spaced apart, conductive trace elements;
- a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and carrying a second array of spaced apart, conductive trace elements, said first and second arrays together forming a coordinate system, the cover separated from the substrate by an array of resilient, collapsible elements and having an exposed, continuous surface;
the first and second arrays of trace elements forming a capacitive grid responsive to presence of a digit of an operator on the surface of the cover; and
an electronic circuit adapted to sense a capacitive state of the grid and to determine a position of said digit upon the sensed capacitive state.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A keypad in which output keystrokes are determined both from individual switch activation and from the combined activation of adjacent switches. The keypad has a substrate carrying an array of sense elements arranged to change state in response to keypad operation, a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and having an exposed surface defining an array of independent key regions, with combination key regions defined in interstices between adjacent independent key regions. Snap elements provide tactile feedback. Some versions have a touch-sensitive grid rather than a switch matrix. A method of dialing a telephone includes generating a corresponding sequence of numerals by transposing alpha character input into one of the numerals 2 through 9 according to standard telephone keypad letter-number correspondence
129 Citations
46 Claims
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1. An electronic device comprising
a substrate carrying a first array of spaced apart, conductive trace elements; -
a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and carrying a second array of spaced apart, conductive trace elements, said first and second arrays together forming a coordinate system, the cover separated from the substrate by an array of resilient, collapsible elements and having an exposed, continuous surface; the first and second arrays of trace elements forming a capacitive grid responsive to presence of a digit of an operator on the surface of the cover; and an electronic circuit adapted to sense a capacitive state of the grid and to determine a position of said digit upon the sensed capacitive state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A keypad comprising
a substrate carrying an array of sense elements arranged to change state in response to keypad operation; -
a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and having an exposed surface defining an array of elevated key regions, with non-elevated key regions defined in interstices between adjacent elevated key regions; and an array of discrete snap elements extending between the cover and the substrate and spacing the cover from the substrate, the snap elements each located between two adjacent elevated key regions and adapted to resiliently collapse as a non-linear response to local pressure against the exposed cover surface to provide tactile feedback in response to pressure against both elevated key regions and non-elevated key regions, wherein the snap elements are arranged to provide a substantially equal tactile feedback in response to activating both elevated key regions and non-elevated key regions. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A keypad comprising
a substrate carrying an array of sense elements arranged to change state in response to keypad operation; - a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and having an exposed surface defining an array of elevated key regions, with non-elevated
key regions defined in interstices between adjacent elevated key regions; and an array of discrete snap elements extending between the cover and the substrate and spacing the cover from the substrate, the snap elements each located between two adjacent elevated key regions and adapted to resiliently collapse toward the substrate as a non-linear response to local pressure against the exposed cover surface to provide tactile feedback of keypad operation, the snap element each being symmetric in shape about an associated axis perpendicular to the substrate and intersecting the cover between adjacent elevated key regions, wherein the snap elements are arranged to provide a substantially equal tactile feedback in response to pressure against both elevated and non-elevated key regions. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
- a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and having an exposed surface defining an array of elevated key regions, with non-elevated
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27. A keypad comprising
a substantially planar substrate carrying an array of sense elements arranged to change state in response to keypad operation; -
a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and having an exposed surface defining an array or key regions arranged in rows, the key regions comprising alternating rows of elevated and non-elevated key regions, with at least some non-elevated key regions disposed between four adjacent elevated key regions; and at least one continuous, elongated snap element extending adjacent at least three key regions of one row of elevated key regions, between the cover and the substrate and spacing the cover from the substrate, the snap element adapted to resiliently collapse as a non-linear response to local pressure against the exposed cover surface to provide tactile feedback of keypad operation. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A keypad comprising
a substrate carrying an array of sense elements arranged to change state in response to keypad operation; -
a flexible cover disposed above the substrate and having an exposed surface defining an array of elevated key regions, with non-elevated key regions defined in interstices between adjacent elevated key regions; and an array of discrete snap elements extending between the cover and the substrate and spacing the cover from the substrate, the snap elements each located between two adjacent elevated key regions and adapted to resiliently collapse as a non-linear response to local pressure against the exposed cover surface to provide tactile feedback in response to pressure against both elevated key regions and non-elevated key regions, wherein the snap elements are constructed and arranged to require a substantially equal normal activation force for both elevated key regions and non-elevated key regions. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification