Object position sensing apparatus
First Claim
1. An object position sensing apparatus having a sensing region, said object position sensing apparatus comprising:
- a substrate;
a conductive crossbar disposed on said substrate;
a plurality of elongate resistive elements disposed on said substrate, each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements having a first end coupled to said crossbar and a second end; and
circuitry, therein each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements is coupled to said circuitry at said second end, and wherein said circuitry is configured forconcurrently applying a voltage change to each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements, anddetermining an amount of charge flowing to each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements due to said voltage change.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An object position sensing apparatus including a substrate, a conductive crossbar, and a plurality of resistive elements coupled to the crossbar is described. The resistive elements are coupled to circuitry that can apply an excitation signal, such as a voltage change, to the resistive elements. For each resistive element, an electrical effect responsive to the excitation signal, such as a change in charge flowing to the resistive element, is determined. When an object is proximate to the plurality of resistive elements, the electrical effects change, and a position of the object in one or multiple dimensions can be determined from changes in the electrical effects.
-
Citations
33 Claims
-
1. An object position sensing apparatus having a sensing region, said object position sensing apparatus comprising:
-
a substrate; a conductive crossbar disposed on said substrate; a plurality of elongate resistive elements disposed on said substrate, each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements having a first end coupled to said crossbar and a second end; and circuitry, therein each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements is coupled to said circuitry at said second end, and wherein said circuitry is configured for concurrently applying a voltage change to each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements, and determining an amount of charge flowing to each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements due to said voltage change. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An object position sensing apparatus having a sensing region, said object position sensing apparatus comprising:
-
a substrate; and a comb-shaped sensor array disposed on said substrate, said comb-shaped sensor array comprising; a conductive crossbar; a plurality of resistive elements, wherein a first end of each of said plurality of resistive elements is electrically coupled with said conductive crossbar; and circuitry, wherein a second end of each of said plurality of resistive elements is electrically coupled to said circuitry, and wherein said circuitry is configured for concurrently applying an excitation signal to each of said plurality of resistive elements, and determining an electrical effect due to said excitation signal for each of said plurality of resistive elements. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method of determining a position of an object proximate to a comb-shaped sensor, said method comprising:
-
concurrently applying a voltage change to a plurality of resistive elements that form portions of said comb-shaped sensor; measuring a change in electrical charge per resistive element for each of said plurality of resistive elements; and using said change in electrical charge per resistive element to determine said position of said object relative to a sensing region. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
32. An electronic system comprising:
-
a processor; a memory coupled to said processor; and an object position sensing apparatus coupled to said processor and having a sensing region, said object position sensing apparatus comprising; a substrate, a plurality of elongate resistive elements disposed on said substrate, a crossbar connected to said plurality of resistive elements, wherein a first end of each of said plurality of resistive elements is coupled to said crossbar, and circuitry, wherein a second end of each of said plurality of resistive elements is coupled to said circuitry, and wherein said circuitry is configured to concurrently apply an excitation signal to each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements, determine an electrical effect for each of said plurality of elongate resistive elements due to said excitation signal, and determine a position of an object in said sensing region based on changes in said electrical effect due to said object. - View Dependent Claims (33)
-
Specification