Device and method for control interface sensitive to a movement of a body or of an object and viewing screen integrating this device

• US 9,535,547 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2014
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quickstep Technologies, LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Quickstep Technologies, LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roziere, Didier
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H
• Application Number:
  US14/341,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20140347321A1
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04107 Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041661 using detection at multiple resolutions, e.g. coarse and fine scanning; using detection within a limited area, e.g. object tracking window
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0425 using a single imaging device like a video camera for tracking the absolute position of a single or a plurality of objects with respect to an imaged reference surface, e.g. video camera imaging a display or a projection screen, a table or a wall surface, on which a computer generated image is displayed or projected tracking a projected light spot to determine a position on a display surface G06F3/0386
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback

Abstract

A device for control interface sensitive to movement of a body, includes a detection surface; at least one capacitive sensor including a measurement electrode including an active surface facing the detection surface, or substantially coinciding with the detection surface; electronic excitation and processing components for exciting the measurement electrodes at an alternating electrical potential and processing the signals emanating from the capacitive sensors, to provide distance information between the active surface of the electrodes and one or several objects; a guard of electrically conducting material disposed in proximity to the measurement electrodes, at least along the face of the measurement electrodes substantially opposite to the active surface, which guard is excited at an alternating electrical potential substantially identical to the alternating electrical potential of the measurement electrodes, wherein: the measurement electrodes and the guard are made of substantially transparent conducting materials; and the device for interface is substantially transparent.

Claims

1. A device for control interface sensitive to a movement of a body or of an object, comprising:

a detection surface;

at least one capacitive sensor, each said capacitive sensor including a measurement electrode including an active surface facing the detection surface, or substantially coinciding with said detection surface;

excitation and measurement electronics referenced to a guard potential different from a ground potential, the excitation and measurement electronics configured for exciting the measurement electrodes at an alternating (AC) electrical potential and processing the signals emanating from said capacitive sensors, so as to provide distance information between the active surface of the measurement electrodes and one or several objects; and

a guard of electrically conducting material disposed in proximity to the measurement electrodes, at least along the face of the measurement electrodes substantially opposite to the active surface, which guard is excited at an alternating (AC) electrical potential substantially identical to the alternating (AC) electrical potential of the measurement electrodes, wherein;

the measurement electrodes and the guard are made of substantially transparent conducting materials; and

the device for control interface is substantially transparent.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is able to be placed on a viewing screen.

3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the measurement electrodes and the guard are made of ITO (indium tin doped oxide).

4. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that:

the active surfaces of the measurement electrodes are independent of one another, and

the excitation and measurement electronics are further arranged to interrogate said measurement electrodes independently of one another.

5. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the excitation and measurement electronics have a measurement extent enabling both:

detecting and identifying a relative movement of the body or of the object with respect to the active surface of the measurement electrodes, and

detecting with certainty a contact of said body or of said object with the detection surface.

6. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the excitation and measurement electronics comprise a multiplexer configured for enabling the measurement signals emanating from the capacitive sensors to be sequentially read, the measurement electrodes which are not being scrutinized being connected to the alternating (AC) electrical potential of the guard.

7. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the excitation and measurement electronics comprise a multiplexer configured for enabling the measurement electrodes to be electrically gathered, so that said gathered measurement electrodes make up a single measurement electrode.

8. A control equipment providing a man-machine interface function integrating a device for control interface according to claim 1 and a viewing screen.

9. A multiscale gestural interface integrating a device for control interface according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises at least one of the following:

an optical camera; and

a vocal interface.

10. A method for controlling a gestural interface sensitive to a movement of a body or of an object, comprising:

exciting one or more measurement electrodes within at least one capacitive sensor with an alternating (AC) electrical potential, said measurement electrodes (i) including an active surface facing a detection surface, or substantially coinciding with said detection surface, and (ii) being provided with a guard of electrically conducting material disposed in proximity to the measurement electrodes at least along their face substantially opposite to the active surface;

exciting said guard to an alternating (AC) electrical potential substantially identical to the alternating (AC) electrical potential of the measurement electrodes; and

processing signals emanating from said capacitive sensors, so as to provide distance information between the active surface of the measurement electrodes and one or several objects;

wherein the exciting of the one or more measurement electronics and the processing of the signals emanating from the capacitive sensors is referenced to a guard potential different from a ground potential and

the method being implemented in a device for control interface substantially transparent, placed on a viewing screen, and fitted with measurement electrodes and guard made of substantially transparent materials.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising displaying a software interface, the image of which varies in response to actions from the object(s).

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

measuring at least one distance between an object and a detection surface;

processing said distance measurements to provide approach information;

measuring the contact between the object and the detection surface; and

processing said contact measurements to provide touch information.

13. The method according to claim 12:

wherein processing the distance measurements comprises a detection of the position of the object in space obtained at least from distance measurements and knowledge about the disposition of the capacitive sensors; and

wherein processing the contact measurements comprises identifying the capacitive sensors which have detected a contact between the object and the detection surface.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising determining controls, which controls are conditioned at least by at least one of the approach and touch information.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that at least one control determined by a touch information is conditioned by an approach information.

16. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that at least one control is conditioned by the time variation of at least one of the approach and touch information.

17. The method according to claim 10, implementing a gestural interface having optical imaging means and vocal recognition means, characterized in that it further comprises:

detecting the object through optical imaging, providing image information, and a processing of this image information to determine one or several controls; and

vocal recognition, and a processing of this speech information to determine one or more controls.