Light-based touch surface with curved borders

• US 8,837,882 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2014
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neonode, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Neonode, Inc.
• Inventors: Holmgren, Stefan, Sparf, Lars, Karlsson, John, Jansson, Anders, Eriksson, Thomas, Shain, Joseph, Kvist, Niklas, Pettersson, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Connelly, Michelle R
• Application Number:
  US14/160,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20140146249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 237 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 385/33
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0001 specially adapted for lighting devices or systems lighting or signalling on vehicles using light guides B60Q1/00; lighting devices for vehicle dashboards B60Q3/10; lighting devices for vehicle interior using light guides B60Q3/62; lighting devices mounted on the vehicle rear part using light guides F21S43/235; measuring arrangements having light conducting pointers G01D13/265; illumination of liquid crystal displays G02F1/1336; illuminated signs G09F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0008 the light being emitted at the end of the fibre
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/32 having lens focusing means positioned between opposed fibre ends with lens being an integral part of the single fibre end G02B6/262
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/042 by opto-electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A light-based touch-sensitive surface, including a housing, a surface attached to the housing for receiving touch input, a plurality of light sources in the housing for emitting light that crosses the surface, a plurality of light receivers in the housing for detecting the light emitted by the light sources, a curved lens adjacent to the surface through which the light emitted by the light sources passes, including two substantially similarly curved exterior panels, one of which forms a curved rim for the surface, and a calculating unit in said housing, connected to the light receivers, for calculating a touch location based on an absence of light expected to be received by the receivers.

Claims

1. A light guide for a light-based touch-sensitive surface, comprising:

first and second curved panels having substantially similar curvatures, wherein light undergoes a first refraction by said first curved panel as it enters the light guide, and undergoes a second refraction by said second curved panel as it exits the light guide, the second refraction being the inverse of first refraction, and wherein one of said panels is curved in a horizontal plane parallel to the surface and forms a curved rim for the surface; and

a collimating lens structure partitioned into two sections by an air gap that provides at least two air-to-plastic interfaces, operative to collimate the light that enters the light guide prior to the light being refracted by said first curved panel.

2. A light-based touch-sensitive vehicle dashboard comprising the light guide of claim 1.

3. The light guide of claim 1 further comprising an interior reflective panel operative to reflect the light between the first and second refractions, and wherein said curved panels are curved in planes incident to each other.

4. The light guide of claim 1 further comprising two internal reflective panels, each operative to reflect the light between the first and second refractions.

5. The light guide of claim 1, wherein both of said curved panels are curved in the horizontal plane parallel to the surface.

6. The light guide of claim 1 formed of a single piece of plastic.