Control system for multi-zone input device

• US 9,182,833 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2011
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Logitech Europe S A (Logitech International SA)
• Original Assignee: Logitech Europe S A (Logitech International SA)
• Inventors: Piot, Julien, Merminod, Baptiste, Dayer, Christophe, White, Niall, Harvey, Stephen, Fortin, Frederic, Meisser, Mathieu, Ramond, Nicolas, Mathis, Olivier, Croisonnier, Regis
• Primary Examiner(s): Eurice, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US13/296,025
• Publication Number:
  US 20130120260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,457 Days
• Field of Search: 345/157, 345/163, 345/166, 345/174, 345/175, 345/164, 345/169, 235/462.45, 178/18.06
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3259 Power saving in cursor control device, e.g. mouse, joystick, trackball
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0332 Ergonomic shaped mouse adjustable to suit one of both hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0333 Ergonomic shaped mouse for one hand
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0334 Ergonomic shaped mouse for vertical grip, whereby the hand controlling the mouse is resting or gripping it with an attitude almost vertical with respect of the working surface
• 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 3/033 Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor digitisers characterised by the transducing means G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03541 Mouse/trackball convertible devices, in which the same ball is used to track the 2D relative movement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03543 Mice or pucks G06F3/03541 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0448 Details of the electrode shape, e.g. for enhancing the detection of touches, for generating specific electric field shapes, for enhancing display quality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 : using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 : for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A touch sensor system includes a touch controller having a first connector and a second connector and multiple sensor zones. The touch sensor system also includes a plurality of drive lines connected to the first connector of the touch controller and to the multiple sensor zones and a plurality of sets of sense lines connected to the second connector of the touch controller. Each set of the plurality of sets of sense lines is connected to one of the multiple sensor zones.

Claims

1. A touch sensor system for a computer mouse comprising:

a touch controller having a first connector and a second connector;

multiple independent two-dimensional sensor zones, each sensor zone being separated from the other sensor zones by at least a distance which allows each sensor zone to be activated by a separate user finger;

a plurality of drive lines, wherein each drive line is connected to the first connector of the touch controller and to each of the multiple independent sensor zones, such that the same drive lines are provided to each of the sensor zones; and

a plurality of sets of sense lines connected to the second connector of the touch controller, wherein each set of the plurality of sets of sense lines is connected to one of the multiple independent sensor zones, with different groups of sense lines connected independently to different ones of the sensor zones;

wherein the plurality of drive lines and sets of sense lines form a matrix in each of the multiple independent sensor zones, the matrix in each sensor zone forming a plurality of intersections of drive and sense lines in two dimensions allowing detection of a portion of a finger at each of the intersections;

wherein each sensor zone is touch sensitive in two-dimensions.

2. The touch sensor system of claim 1 wherein the multiple independent sensor zones are disposed on a flexible printed circuit board.

3. The touch sensor system of claim 1 wherein each of the multiple independent sensor zones are disposed on a separate flexible printed circuit board.

4. The touch sensor system of claim 1 wherein the touch controller provides common drive signals to the plurality of drive lines.

5. The touch sensor system of claim 1 further comprising:

a housing for supporting a user'"'"'s hand; and

a displacement sensor, mounted in the housing, for providing a displacement signal, wherein a first sensor zone of the multiple independent sensor zones is disposed adjacent a first digit of the user and a second sensor zone of the multiple independent sensor zones is disposed adjacent a second digit of the user.

6. The touch sensor system of claim 5 wherein at least one of the first sensor zone or the second sensor zone comprises a two-dimensional touch pad.

7. The touch sensor system of claim 5 wherein the displacement sensor comprises an optical sensor.

8. A computer input device comprising:

a housing to support a user'"'"'s hand;

a sensor to monitor motion of the housing in two dimensions;

a first touch pad disposed in the housing;

a second touch pad disposed in the housing, the second touch pad separate and independent from the first touch pad, each touch pad being separated from the other touch pad by at least a distance which allows each touch pad to be activated by a separate user finger;

a microprocessor electrically connected to the first touch pad and the second touch pad;

a plurality of drive lines, wherein each drive line is connected to the microprocessor and is electrically connected to the first touch pad and the second touch pad, such that the same drive lines are provided to each of the touch pads;

a plurality of sets of sense lines connected to the microprocessor, wherein a first set of the plurality of sets of sense lines is electrically connected to the first touch pad and a second set of the plurality of sets of sense lines is electrically connected to the second touch pad, with different groups of sense lines connected independently to different ones of the touch pads;

wherein the plurality of drive lines are connected to a first connector of the microprocessor and the plurality of sets of sense lines are connected to a second connector of the microprocessor, and

wherein the plurality of drive lines and sense lines form a matrix in each of the first and second touch pads, the matrix in each touch pad forming a plurality of intersections of drive and sense lines in two dimensions allowing detection of a portion of a finger at each of the intersections.

9. The computer input device of claim 8 wherein the plurality of drive lines are connected to a first connector of the microprocessor and the plurality of sets of sense lines are connected to a second connector of the microprocessor.

10. The computer input device of claim 8 wherein said first touch pad is adjacent a first digit of the user'"'"'s hand during operation and said second touch pad is adjacent a second digit of the user'"'"'s hand during operation.

11. The computer input device of claim 10 wherein the first touch pad comprises a two-dimensional touch pad and the first digit comprises the user'"'"'s thumb.

12. The computer input device of claim 11 wherein the first touch pad comprises a circular sensor.

13. The computer input device of claim 10 wherein the second touch pad comprises a two-dimensional touch pad and the second digit comprises the user'"'"'s index finger.

14. The computer input device of claim 13 further comprising a third touch pad disposed in the housing and adjacent a third digit of the user'"'"'s hand during operation, wherein the third touch pad comprises a two-dimensional touch pad and the third digit comprises the user'"'"'s middle finger.

15. A method of operating a computer input device comprising:

providing, using a plurality of drive lines, a set of common drive signals to each of a plurality of sensor zones, wherein each of the plurality of drive lines is connected to each of the plurality of sensor zones, such that the same drive lines are provided to each of the sensor zones, and wherein each of the plurality of sensor zones are separated and independent from one another, each sensor zone being separated from the other sensor zones by at least a distance which allows each sensor zone to be activated by a separate user finger;

receiving, at a touch controller, a first set of sense signals from a first sensor zone of the plurality of sensor zones using a first set of sense lines of a plurality of sets of sense lines, wherein the drive lines and the first set of sense lines form a matrix, with different groups of sense lines connected independently to different ones of the sensor zones; and

receiving, at the touch controller, a second set of sense signals from a second sensor zone of the plurality of sensor zones using a second set of sense lines of the plurality of sense lines, wherein the drive lines and the second set of sense lines form a matrix, wherein each of the plurality of sensor zones are touch sensitive in two-dimensions, the matrix in each sensor zone forming a plurality of intersections of drive and sense lines in two dimensions allowing detection of a portion of a finger at each of the intersections.

16. The method of claim 15 further providing a control signal to a computer based on the first set of sense signals and the second set of sense signals.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising receiving, at the touch controller, a third set of sense signals from a third sensor zone of the multiple sensor zones using a third set of sense lines of the plurality of sense lines, wherein the drive lines and the third set of sense lines form a matrix.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the multiple sensor zones are disposed on a flexible printed circuit board.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the multiple sensor zones comprise at least a first solid-state two dimensional touch sensor and a second solid-state two dimensional touch sensor.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the first solid-state two dimensional touch sensor is adjacent a first digit of the user'"'"'s hand during operation and the second solid-state two dimensional touch sensor is adjacent a second digit of the user'"'"'s hand during operation.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the first digit is a thumb.

22. A computer mouse comprising:

a housing for supporting a user'"'"'s hand;

a displacement sensor, mounted in the housing, for providing a displacement signal;

a touch controller having a first connector and a second connector;

multiple independent two-dimensional sensor zones, each sensor zone being separated from the other sensor zones by at least a distance which allows each sensor zone to be activated by a separate user finger;

a plurality of drive lines, wherein each drive line is connected to the first connector of the touch controller and to each of the multiple independent sensor zones, such that the same drive lines are provided to each of the sensor zones; and

a plurality of sets of sense lines connected to the second connector of the touch controller, wherein each set of the plurality of sets of sense lines is connected to one of the multiple independent sensor zones, with different groups of sense lines connected independently to different ones of the sensor zones;

wherein the plurality of drive lines and sets of sense lines form a matrix in each of the multiple independent sensor zones, the matrix in each sensor zone forming a plurality of intersections of drive and sense lines in two dimensions allowing detection of a portion of a finger at each of the intersections;

wherein each sensor zone is touch sensitive in two-dimensions;

wherein the multiple independent sensor zones are disposed on at least one flexible printed circuit board;

wherein the touch controller provides common drive signals to the plurality of drive lines;

wherein at least one of the sensor zones is located on a curved surface of the housing;

wherein one of the sensor zones is located on a side surface of the housing.