Scanned piezoelectric touch sensor device
First Claim
1. An input device comprisinga plurality of first electrodes;
- a plurality of second electrodes;
a plurality of sensing elements, wherein each sensing element comprises;
a portion of a first electrode;
a portion of a second electrode; and
a piezoelectric material disposed between the portion of the first electrode and the portion of the second electrode,wherein each first electrode forms part of two or more sensing elements and each second electrode forms part of two or more sensing elements; and
a processing system electrically connected to each of the first electrodes and each of the second electrodes, and configured to detect forces applied to one or more of the sensing elements by applying a time-varying electrical excitation signal to at least one of the plurality of first electrodes and detecting a resulting electrical signal on one or more of the second electrodes, and wherein the processing system is further configured to measure an electrical impedance of the piezoelectric material disposed between the portion of the first electrode and the portion of the second electrode for each sensing element.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the disclosure generally provide an integrated input device that is configured to sense the position and amount of force applied by input objects that are in contact with an input region of an input device. The input device is generally configured to sense the position and amount of force applied by an input object that is in contact with the input region using a piezoelectric material. The input device generally includes a plurality of electrodes that are positioned to measure an electrical characteristic of the piezoelectric layer at different points within the input region to determine the position and/or amount force applied by the input object(s). The input device may also include one or more components that are able to simultaneously or sequentially sense the position of an input object using a touch sensing technique that does not rely on the electrical properties of the piezoelectric material to sense the position of the input object.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. An input device comprising
a plurality of first electrodes; -
a plurality of second electrodes; a plurality of sensing elements, wherein each sensing element comprises; a portion of a first electrode; a portion of a second electrode; and a piezoelectric material disposed between the portion of the first electrode and the portion of the second electrode, wherein each first electrode forms part of two or more sensing elements and each second electrode forms part of two or more sensing elements; and a processing system electrically connected to each of the first electrodes and each of the second electrodes, and configured to detect forces applied to one or more of the sensing elements by applying a time-varying electrical excitation signal to at least one of the plurality of first electrodes and detecting a resulting electrical signal on one or more of the second electrodes, and wherein the processing system is further configured to measure an electrical impedance of the piezoelectric material disposed between the portion of the first electrode and the portion of the second electrode for each sensing element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of detecting forces applied to a plurality of sensing elements formed from a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of second electrodes of an input device,
each sensing element comprising a portion of a first electrode, a portion of a second electrode, and a piezoelectric material disposed between the portion of the first electrode and the portion of the second electrode, wherein each first electrode forms part of two or more sensing elements and each second electrode forms part of two or more sensing elements, the method comprising: -
applying a time-varying electrical excitation signal to at least one of the plurality of first electrodes; detecting a resulting electrical signal on one or more of the second electrodes; and measuring, for each sensing element, an electrical impedance of the piezoelectric material disposed between the portion of the first electrode and the portion of the second electrode. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification