Force invariant touch sensitive actuator

• US 7,855,543 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2006
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Lutron Electronics Company Incorporated (Lutron Electronics)
• Inventors: Newman, Robert C. Jr., Altonen, Gregory, Carmen, Daniel F., Nearhoof, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens; Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alemu; Ephrem
• Application Number:
  US11/471,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20070289860A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,645 Days
• Field of Search: 315/362, 315/363, 315/DIG.7, 315/DIG.4, 315/291, 315/224, 345/173, 307/112, 307/119, 307/114, 200/514, 200/512, 323/320, 323/118, 323/325, 323/904, 323/905, 343/173
• US Class Current: 323/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 39/086 with possibility of remote control
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 315/04 Dimming circuit for fluorescent lamps
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 323/904 Touch systems

Abstract

A load control device, such as a dimmer switch, has a touch sensitive actuator, such as a three-wire touch sensitive screen, that produces an output voltage representing the position of a manual pressure touch along a longitudinal axis of the actuator. A stabilizing circuit receives the output voltage of the actuator and comprises, for example, a capacitor. The stabilizing circuit operates to prevent the detection of transient touches and touches having less than a certain actuation force, such that the output voltage is responsive only to the position of the touch. In addition, a usage detection circuit may also be coupled to the output voltage of the actuator for determining whether the touch is presently occurring. Alternatively, the actuator may comprise a four-wire touch sensitive screen that produces a first output voltage received by the stabilizing circuit and a second output voltage received by the usage detection circuit.

Claims

1. A load control device for controlling the amount of power delivered to an electrical load from an AC power source, the load control device comprising:

a semiconductor switch operable to be coupled in series electrical connection between the source and the load, the semiconductor switch having a control input for controlling the semiconductor switch between a non-conductive state and a conductive state;

a controller operatively coupled to the control input of the semiconductor switch for controlling the semiconductor switch between the non-conductive state and the conductive state;

a touch sensitive actuator having a touch sensitive front surface responsive to a point actuation characterized by a position and a force, the touch sensitive actuator having an output operatively coupled to the controller for providing an output voltage;

a usage detection circuit operatively coupled between the output of the touch sensitive actuator and the controller, the usage detection circuit operable to generate a first control signal; and

a stabilizing circuit operatively coupled between the output of the touch sensitive actuator and the controller, the stabilizing circuit operable to generate a second control signal;

wherein the second control signal is representative of only the position of the point actuation on the touch sensitive front surface of the touch sensitive actuator, and the first control signal is representative of whether the point actuation is presently occurring on the front surface, the first control signal characterized by a faster response than the second control signal, such that the controller controls the semiconductor switch in response to the second control signal when the controller determines that the point actuation is presently occurring in response to the first control signal.

2. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the stabilizing circuit comprises a capacitor.

3. The load control device of claim 2, wherein the touch sensitive actuator comprises a resistive divider for providing a DC voltage at the output, the DC voltage representative of the position of the point actuation, the capacitor operable to stabilize the DC voltage.

4. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the second control signal is representative of the position of the point actuation along a longitudinal axis of the touch sensitive actuator.

5. The load control device of claim 1, wherein the second control signal is only responsive to the position of the point actuation when a magnitude of the force of the point actuation is above a predetermined level.

6. A user interface for a lighting control, the user interface comprising:

a touch sensitive actuator having a touch sensitive front surface responsive to a point actuation characterized by a position and a force, the touch sensitive actuator having an output operatively coupled to the controller for providing an output voltage;

a usage detection circuit operatively coupled the output of the touch sensitive actuator, the usage detection circuit operable to generate a first control signal representative of whether the point of actuation is presently occurring;

a stabilizing circuit operatively coupled to the output of the touch sensitive actuator, the stabilizing circuit operable to stabilize the output voltage of the touch sensitive actuator, and to generate a second control signal representative of only the position of the point actuation on the touch sensitive front surface of the touch sensitive actuator, the stabilizing circuit having slower response time than the usage detection circuit; and

a controller operatively coupled to the usage detection circuit and the stabilizing circuit, the controller responsive to the second control signal when the usage detection circuit has determined that the point actuation is presently occurring.

7. A load control device for controlling the amount of power delivered to an electrical load from an AC power source, the load control device comprising:

a semiconductor switch operable to be coupled in series electrical connection between the source and the load, the semiconductor switch having a control input for controlling the semiconductor switch between a non-conductive state and a conductive state;

a controller operatively coupled to the control input of the semiconductor switch for controlling the semiconductor switch between the non-conductive state and the conductive state;

a touch sensitive actuator having a touch sensitive front surface responsive to a point actuation characterized by a position and a force, the touch sensitive actuator having an output for providing an output voltage;

a usage detection circuit operatively coupled between the output of the touch sensitive actuator and the controller, the usage detection circuit operable to generate a first control signal representative of whether the point of actuation is presently occurring; and

a stabilizing circuit operatively coupled between the output of the touch sensitive actuator and the controller, the stabilizing circuit operable to stabilize the output voltage of the touch sensitive actuator and generate a second control signal representative of only the position of the point actuation on the touch sensitive front surface of the touch sensitive actuator;

wherein the usage detection circuit has a faster response time than the stabilizing circuit, such that the controller controls the semiconductor switch in response to the second control signal when the controller determines that the point actuation is presently occurring in response to the first control signal.

8. The load control device of claim 7, wherein the front surface of the touch sensitive actuator is provided in an X-Y plane defined by a Y-axis extending along a longitudinal axis of the front surface and a X-axis extending substantially perpendicular to the Y-axis;

wherein the control signal is representative of the position of the point actuation along the Y-axis.

9. The load control device of claim 8, wherein the usage detection circuit is operable to determine whether the point actuation is presently occurring along the Y-axis.

10. The load control device of claim 9, wherein the output of the touch sensitive actuator comprises a first output connection for providing a first control signal representative of the position of the point actuation along the Y-axis.

11. The load control device of claim 8, wherein the usage detection circuit is operable to determine whether the point actuation is presently occurring along the X-axis.

12. The load control device of claim 11, wherein the output of the touch sensitive actuator comprises a first output connection for providing a first voltage representative of the position of the point actuation along the Y-axis, and a second output connection for providing a second voltage representative of the position of the point actuation along the X-axis.

13. The load control device of claim 8, wherein the stabilizing circuit comprises a capacitor coupled to the output of the touch sensitive actuator.

14. In a control circuit for operating an electrical load in response to an output signal from a touch pad, said touch pad comprising an elongated manually touchable resistive area which produces an output signal at an output terminal, said signal representative of the location at which the touch pad is manually touched, said control circuit including a microprocessor having an input connected to said output signal and producing an output for controlling said load in response to the manual input to said touch pad, the improvement comprising a filter capacitor connected between said output terminal and a ground terminal to define a resistive-capacitive circuit with the resistance of said touch pad, said resistive-capacitive circuit characterized by a time constant and being adapted to prevent large transient voltage changes due to low pressure touches of said touch pad, said filter capacitor both charging and discharging through said touch pad.

15. The circuit of claim 14, wherein said touch pad is a capacitive touch pad.

16. The circuit of claim 14, wherein said output voltage is variable between 0 and 5 volts, and wherein said filter capacitor is sized to charge fully in 40 milliseconds.

17. The circuit of claim 16, wherein said filter capacitor has a capacitance of about 9 microfarads.

18. The circuit of claim 14, wherein said load is dimmable light source.

19. The circuit of claim 18, wherein said touch screen is fixed to the surface of a wall box dimmer.

20. The circuit of claim 14, wherein said touch pad is a resistive sheet connected to a fixed biasing voltage and an output terminal spaced from said connection of a fixed biasing voltage, said output terminal being connected to said resistive sheet by the touch of an operator.

21. The circuit of claim 20, wherein said touch pad is a three- wire screen for producing an output related to the position along the length of said area at which the screen is touched.

22. The circuit of claim 20, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said microprocessor, said filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground, and a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

said microprocessor processing information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

23. The circuit of claim 14, wherein said time constant is in a range of from about 0.0304 second to about 0.076 second.

24. The circuit of claim 23, wherein said filter capacitor has a capacitance from 4 to 10 microfarads.

25. The circuit of claim 23, wherein said time constant is about 0.0684 second.

26. The circuit of claim 25, wherein said filter capacitor has a capacitance from 4 to 10 microfarads.

27. In a manually operable control structure for producing an electrical signal dependent on the location at which a touch screen is touched;

said control structure comprising a resistive touch screen having a control voltage connected to terminals at its opposite ends and an output terminal which is connected to said touch screen at the location of a local manual pressure applied to said screen by a user;

a microprocessor having an input connected to said output terminal and producing an output related to the position at which said screen receives said local manual pressure;

the improvement which comprises a filter capacitor connected between said output terminal and a ground terminal and defining an RC circuit with the resistance of said touch screen between said position at which said screen receives local manual pressure and one of its said terminals, said filter capacitor both charging and discharging through said touch pad.

28. The structure of claim 27, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said, microprocessor;

said a filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground; and

a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

whereby said microprocessor processes information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

29. The structure of claim 27, wherein the output at said output terminal has an output voltage versus pressure characteristic which increases from a low voltage for a low pressure touch to a higher voltage for a high pressure touch whereby a low pressure touch can be falsely perceived as a touch on the screen having a high output resistance in the RC circuit;

said capacitor having a value to prevent its charging to an operating output level to said microprocessor by large transient voltage changes due to low pressure touches to said touch screen.

30. The structure of claim 29, wherein said touch screen is a 7,600 ohm screen and said capacitor has a capacitance of about 9 microfarads.

31. The structure of claim 29, wherein said y output is sampled about 99% of the time to determine the position of the point at which said touch screen is touched and said x output is sampled about 1% of the time to determine whether said touch screen is touched.

32. The structure of claim 29, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said, microprocessor;

said a filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground; and

a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

whereby said microprocessor processes information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

33. The structure of claim 32, wherein said touch pad is a four wire screen having first and second electrodes at the top and bottom respectively of said touch pad for producing a y output voltage to said microprocessor and third and fourth electrodes at the respective sides of said touch pad for producing an x output voltage to said, microprocessor;

said a filter capacitor connecting said y output voltage to said ground; and

a resistor connecting said x output to ground;

whereby said microprocessor processes information only when both x and y outputs voltages are present.

34. A process for generating an operating signal from a resistive touch screen in which an output voltage on an output terminal thereof is related to both the location on the screen area which is touched by a user'"'"'s finger and to the pressure of the touch;

said process comprising the production of a usage detection signal in response to the touching of said screen at any location on its surface and the production of a position signal in response to the location at which the screen is touched, and applying said usage detection and position signals to a microprocessor;

said microprocessor producing an output signal to a circuit to be controlled only when said usage detection signal is present and said position signal is also present at the end of a predetermined sample interval,

wherein the position signal is substantially responsive only to the position of the point actuation on the touch sensitive front surface of the touch sensitive actuator and the usage detection signal is representative of whether an actuation is presently occurring, said usage detection signal having a faster response time than said position signal.

35. The process of claim 34, which further includes the connection of said usage detection and position signals to respective low value and high value capacitors.

36. The process of claim 34, wherein said position signal is sampled for at least 99% of a measurement interval and said usage detection signal is sampled for less than about 10% of said measurement interval.