Interface apparatus for touch input and tactile output communication

• US 9,123,258 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2009
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Senseg Ltd.
• Inventors: Makinen, Ville, Suvanto, Petro, Linjama, Jukka
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Kumar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahn, Sejoon
• Application Number:
  US12/993,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20110074733A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,296 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/004 Details of particular tactile cells, e.g. electro-mechanical or mechanical layout
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/962 Capacitive touch switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/9622 using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard

Abstract

An interface apparatus (1600A) comprises a surface (1642) touchable by a finger (120). The surface has a touch-sensitive area with a predetermined position (1646), to which a function is assigned. The finger'"'"'s presence at the predetermined position (1646) is detected. An electrosensory stimulus is generated to the finger by applying an alternating electrical drive to one or more electrodes (1662). Each electrode is provided with an insulator, which prevents DC flow from the electrode to the finger and a capacitive coupling over the insulator is formed between the electrode (1662) and the finger (120). The capacitive coupling and electrical drive are dimensioned to produce an electrosensory sensation, independently of mechanical vibration of the electrode. The electrosensory stimulus is varied temporally based on the detected presence or absence of the of the finger (120) near the at least one touch-sensitive area having the predetermined position (1646).

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a touch surface configured to be touched by a body member;

a detection circuitry configured to detect a presence or absence of the body member on the touch surface at a position on the touch surface;

at least one electrode;

a voltage source configured to provide an electrical charge to the at least one electrode;

an insulation layer configured to form at least part of a capacitive coupling between the at least one electrode and the body member, the capacitive coupling producing a Coulomb force directly on the body member in which mechanoreceptors are caused by the Coulomb force to experience a sensation in the body member from stimulation of the mechanoreceptors within the body member by oscillations in the Coulomb force, the insulation layer to inhibit a flow of direct current between the at least one electrode and the body member; and

a controller configured to vary the sensation in the body member on which the Coulomb force is directly produced, wherein the sensation in the body member is varied by varying the electrical charge applied to the at least one electrode based on detection of the presence or the absence of the body member at the position on the touch surface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a plurality of touch sensitive areas each having an associated position, the controller being configured to individually vary the sensation in each touch sensitive area.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of touch sensitive areas are separated by a grid.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, comprising a plurality of electrodes, each electrode being associated with a touch sensitive area.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the detection circuitry is configured to detect a simultaneous touching at multiple touch sensitive areas, and the controller provides a different sensation in each of the multiple touch sensitive areas.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a touch input section including the touch surface and the detection circuitry, and a tactile output section including the at least one electrode, the touch input section and the tactile output section sharing a conductive layer.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch surface is part of a touch sensitive display, the at least one electrode being integrated within the touch sensitive display to allow the sensation in the body member touching the touch sensitive display.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detection circuitry is part of a touch sensitive display, the at least one electrode being an insulated electrode layer provided on an exposed surface of the touch sensitive display.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrode comprises an electrode layer having a plurality touch sensitive areas separated from one another by a grid that has a conductivity lower than a conductivity of the plurality of touch sensitive areas.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein when the body member is proximate to the grid, the Coulomb force produced by the capacitive coupling is different than the Coulomb force produced by the capacitive coupling when the body member is proximate to a touch sensitive area among the plurality of touch sensitive areas.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a touch input section including the touch surface and the detection circuitry is galvanically isolated from the at least one electrode.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one electrode forms part of a tactile output section, the tactile output section supplying power to the touch input section.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrode is an electrode layer comprising a plurality of electrically floating sections.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position corresponds to one of a plurality of touch sensitive areas and a function is assigned to the touch sensitive area to provide an input to an application program.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to provide different sensations in different touch sensitive areas.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the functions are programmable.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein more than one function is assignable to a single touch sensitive area.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein detecting a first touch by the body member corresponds to a first function and detecting a second touch within a time window corresponds to a second function.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a plurality of key legends are displayed by the apparatus, each a key legend being at an associated position and the controller providing different sensations corresponding to different key legends to provide feedback based a selection of a key legend.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power source is configured to provide the power with a first frequency component in a frequency range between 1 Hz and 1000 Hz.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the power source is configured to provide the power with a second frequency component having a frequency that is higher than the frequency of the first frequency component and lower than 500 kHz.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a modulator to modulate the second frequency component based on the first frequency component.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a grounding electrode separate from the at least one electrode, the grounding electrode being positioned to be touched by a different body member distinct from the body member to be stimulated.

24. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a grounding connection is provided between a reference voltage of the power source and the grounding electrode.

25. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller varies the power applied to the at least one electrode to induce the sensation at the position on the touch surface without movement of the body member.

26. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensation is produced independent of any mechanical vibration of the apparatus.

27. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

a processor; and

memory to store instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the controller to vary the power applied to the at least one electrode based on the detecting the presence or absence of the body member at the position.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the instructions cause the processor to assign a function associated with the position.

29. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a display layer to display information proximate the position, the information corresponding to at least one function selectable by a user.

30. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein varying the power applied to electrode includes modulating a frequency of the power.

35. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the capacitive coupling produces the Coulomb force directly on the body member in which the mechanoreceptors include Pacinian corpuscles within the body member.

36. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the capacitive coupling produces the Coulomb force directly on the body member which the mechanoreceptors are caused to experience the sensation by the oscillations in the Coulomb force in a frequency range between 10 Hz and 1000 Hz.

31. A method of providing a tactile output on a touch sensitive display, the method comprising:

detecting a presence or absence of a body member on a touch surface of the touch sensitive display at a position on the touch surface;

providing an electrical charge to at least one electrode to form a capacitive coupling between the at least one electrode and the body member, the capacitive coupling producing a Coulomb force directly on the body member in which mechanoreceptors are caused by the Coulomb force to experience a sensation in the body member from stimulation of the mechanoreceptors within the body member by oscillations in the Coulomb force, the capacitive coupling being provided at least in part by an insulation layer, the electrical charge being to provide the sensation to the body member, the insulation layer to inhibit a flow of direct current between the at least one electrode and the body member; and

varying the sensation in the body member on which the Coulomb force is directly produced, wherein the sensation in the body member is varied by varying the electrical charge applied to the at least one electrode based on the detecting of the presence or the absence of the body member at the position on the touch surface.

32. The method of claim 31, comprising:

detecting the presence or absence of a body member in a plurality of touch sensitive areas each having an associated position; and

individually varying sensations in the body member in each touch sensitive area among the plurality of touch sensitive areas.

33. The method of claim 32, comprising assigning one or more functions to each touch sensitive area.

34. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying instructions which, when executed by a machine cause the machine to perform operations including:

detecting the presence or absence of a body member on a touch surface of a touch sensitive display at a position on the touch surface;

providing an electrical charge to at least one electrode to form a capacitive coupling between the at least one electrode and the body member, the capacitive coupling producing a Coulomb force directly on the body member in which mechanoreceptors are caused by the Coulomb force to experience a sensation in the body member from stimulation of mechanoreceptors within the body member by oscillations in the Coulomb force, the capacitive coupling being provided at least in part by an insulation layer, the power being to provide the sensation in the body member, the insulation layer to inhibit a flow of direct current between the electrode and the body member; and

varying the sensation in the body member on which the Coulomb force is directly produced, wherein the sensation in the body member is varied by varying the electrical charge applied to the at least one electrode based on the detecting of the presence or the absence of the body member at the position on the touch surface.