Touch sensitive device
First Claim
1. A touch sensitive device comprising:
- a panel capable of supporting bending waves,a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of a face of the panel,a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to apply bending waves to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals in response to touching screen,signal processing means arranged to apply signals to the vibration exciters so as to steer bending waves applied to the panel by the plurality of vibration exciters, such that when more than one location on the screen is touched, each intended haptic signal is provided at the location of the touch to which it is a response, and is minimized at one or more other location that are being touched, andn+1 vibration exciters,wherein when the number of said one or more other locations is n or less than n, the minimization takes the amplitudes of the intended haptic signals at those locations to substantially zero.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A touch sensitive device comprising a panel capable of supporting bending waves, a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of a face of the panel, the touch sensitive screen having a plurality of different sensing areas, a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to apply bending waves to the panel to provide tactile feedback at the plurality of sensing areas in response to the user touching a sensing area, and signal processing means arranged to apply signals to the vibration exciters so as to steer bending waves applied to the panel by the plurality of vibration exciters whereby the amplitude of the applied bending waves is maximized at the sensing area touched by the user and reduced or minimized at each other sensing area.
81 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A touch sensitive device comprising:
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a panel capable of supporting bending waves, a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of a face of the panel, a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to apply bending waves to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals in response to touching screen, signal processing means arranged to apply signals to the vibration exciters so as to steer bending waves applied to the panel by the plurality of vibration exciters, such that when more than one location on the screen is touched, each intended haptic signal is provided at the location of the touch to which it is a response, and is minimized at one or more other location that are being touched, and n+1 vibration exciters, wherein when the number of said one or more other locations is n or less than n, the minimization takes the amplitudes of the intended haptic signals at those locations to substantially zero. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of operating a touch sensitive device comprising a panel capable of supporting bending waves, a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of the panel and a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals, the method comprising the steps of:
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sensing a touch of the screen; responding to the touching by applying signals to the plurality of vibration exciters to steer bending waves in the panel from the plurality of vibration exciters; and when more than one location on the screen is touched, providing each intended haptic signal at the location of the touch to which it is a response, and minimizing each intended haptic signal at one or more other locations that are being touched, wherein the touch sensitive device comprises n+1 vibration exciters, and when the number of said one or more other locations is n or less than n, the minimization takes the amplitudes of the intended haptic signals at those locations to substantially zero. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A touch sensitive device, said device comprising:
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a panel capable of supporting bending waves; a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of a face of the panel; a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to apply bending waves to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals in response to touching the screen; and signal processing means arranged to apply signals to the vibration exciters so as to steer bending waves applied to the panel by the plurality of vibration exciters; wherein each intended haptic signal is provided at the location of the touch to which it is a response and is minimized on axis corresponding to an off-screen location whereby each intended haptic signal has a minimal acoustic component; and wherein the touch sensitive device comprises n+1 vibration exciters and when the number of locations of touch is n or less than n, the minimization takes the intended haptic signals at the off-screen location to substantially zero.
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17. A method of operating a touch screen device including a panel capable of supporting bending waves, a user accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of the panel and a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals, the method comprising the steps of:
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sensing a touch of the screen; responding to the touching by applying signals to the plurality of vibration exciters to steer bending waves in the panel from the plurality of vibration exciters; and providing each intended haptic signal at the location of the touch to which it is a response, and minimizing each intended haptic signal on axis corresponding to an off-screen location whereby each of the intended haptic signals has a minimal acoustic component; wherein the touch sensitive device comprises n+1 vibration exciters and when the number of locations of touch is n or less than n, the minimizing takes the intended haptic signals at the off-screen location to substantially zero.
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Specification