Touch pad with force sensors and actuator feedback
First Claim
1. An electronic device, comprising:
- a housing;
a keyboard disposed within a first opening of the housing; and
a track pad disposed within a second opening of the housing, the track pad comprising;
a contact surface;
a capacitive touch sensor disposed below the contact surface and configured to detect a location of a touch on the contact surface;
a set of force sensors disposed below the capacitive touch sensor and proximate to different corners of the track pad; and
an output device configured to output non-visual feedback in response to a force of a touch on the contact surface that exceeds a threshold;
whereinthe set of force sensors are configured to produce a non-binary output signal that corresponds to the force of the touch on the contact surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Electronic devices may use touch pads that have touch sensor arrays, force sensors, and actuators for providing tactile feedback. A touch pad may be mounted in a computer housing. The touch pad may have a rectangular planar touch pad member that has a glass layer covered with ink and contains a capacitive touch sensor array. Force sensors may be mounted under each of the four corners of the rectangular planar touch pad member. The force sensors may be used to measure how much force is applied to the surface of the planar touch pad member by a user. Processed force sensor signals may indicate the presence of button activity such as press and release events. In response to detected button activity or other activity in the device, actuator drive signals may be generated for controlling the actuator. The user may supply settings to adjust signal processing and tactile feedback parameters.
67 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An electronic device, comprising:
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a housing; a keyboard disposed within a first opening of the housing; and a track pad disposed within a second opening of the housing, the track pad comprising; a contact surface; a capacitive touch sensor disposed below the contact surface and configured to detect a location of a touch on the contact surface; a set of force sensors disposed below the capacitive touch sensor and proximate to different corners of the track pad; and an output device configured to output non-visual feedback in response to a force of a touch on the contact surface that exceeds a threshold;
whereinthe set of force sensors are configured to produce a non-binary output signal that corresponds to the force of the touch on the contact surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A portable computer comprising:
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a housing; a display disposed within the housing; a keyboard disposed within the housing; and a track pad disposed within an opening in the housing and positioned adjacent to the keyboard, the track pad comprising; a contact surface; a capacitive touch sensor disposed below the contact surface and configured to detect a location of a touch on the contact surface; a set of force sensors disposed below the capacitive touch sensor, wherein; each force sensor is positioned proximate to a different corner of the track pad; and the set of force sensors are configured to produce a non-binary output signal that corresponds to the force of the touch on the contact surface. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of receiving a user input on a surface of a track pad, the method comprising:
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producing a location output that corresponds to a touch on a contact surface of the track pad using a capacitive touch sensor disposed below the contact surface; producing a non-binary force output in response to a force of the touch in a touch region of the contact surface of the track pad using a set of force sensors positioned below the capacitive touch sensor and proximate to respective corners of the track pad, the track pad configured to transfer the force from the touch region to the force sensor; determining an average applied force by averaging the non-binary force output from the set of force sensors; triggering a button press event if the average applied force exceeds a threshold; and outputting a non-visual feedback in response to the button press event. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification