Proximity based gesturing devices, systems and methods
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A device comprising:
- a plurality of sensors substantially coplanar with one another in a sensor plane, each sensor generating a sense value, which varies according to a physical distance between that sensor and an object, without physically contacting the object; and
control circuits configured to generate a first position value, a second position value, and a third position value to using the sense values, the first, second, and third position values identifying a position of the object in a space adjacent to the sensor plane, wherein the control circuits comprise a programmable integrated circuit having an analog portion configured to acquire the sense value at each sensor and convert the sense value to a numerical sensor count value, and a digital portion with arithmetic logic circuits configured to calculate the first, second, and third position values from the numerical sensor count values.
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Abstract
A device may include a plurality of sensors substantially coplanar with one another in a sensor plane, each sensor generating a sense value that varies according to a physical distance between the sensor and an object without contacting the object; and control circuits that generates at least first position values, second position values and third position values in response to the sensor values, the first and second position values identifying a position in a space adjacent to the sensor plane.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A device comprising:
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a plurality of sensors substantially coplanar with one another in a sensor plane, each sensor generating a sense value, which varies according to a physical distance between that sensor and an object, without physically contacting the object; and control circuits configured to generate a first position value, a second position value, and a third position value to using the sense values, the first, second, and third position values identifying a position of the object in a space adjacent to the sensor plane, wherein the control circuits comprise a programmable integrated circuit having an analog portion configured to acquire the sense value at each sensor and convert the sense value to a numerical sensor count value, and a digital portion with arithmetic logic circuits configured to calculate the first, second, and third position values from the numerical sensor count values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method, comprising:
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acquiring sensor data from sensors aligned in a sensor plane; determining a presence of an object, in a detection space extending from the sensor plane, without contact between the object and the sensor plane; determining differences between a plurality of object positions in a dimension extending from the sensor plane using the sensor data; and determining object position in another plane that is substantially parallel with the sensor plane using the sensor data, wherein the sensors include a first sensor and second sensor aligned along a first axis, and a third sensor and fourth sensor aligned along a second axis different than the first axis, and determining the object position in the other plane includes generating a first position value from sensor data from the first and second sensors, and generating a second position value from sensor data from the third and fourth sensors. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A device, comprising:
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a first sensor that generates first proximity data for an object in a detection space adjacent to a device body; a second sensor generates second proximity data for the object in the detection space; and processing circuits configured to determine, using both the first proximity data and the second proximity data, a position of the object in the detection space, wherein the first sensor senses a different physical quality to generate the first proximity data than the second sensor senses to generate the second proximity data. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification