Multi-touch pad controller

• US 9,836,151 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BeBop Sensors, Inc.
• Original Assignee: BeBop Sensors, Inc.
• Inventors: McMillen, Keith A., McAnulty, Daniel Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Qin, Jianchun
• Application Number:
  US14/728,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20150317964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 917 Days
• Field of Search: 84730
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• 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 3/04144 using an array of force sensing means position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells G06F3/0447
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/00 Details of electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0008 Associated control or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/02 Means for controlling the tone frequencies, e.g. attack or decay; Means for producing special musical effects, e.g. vibratos or glissandos
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0556 using piezoelectric means
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/34 Switch arrangements, e.g. keyboards or mechanical switches specially adapted for electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/061 LED, i.e. using a light-emitting diode as indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/096 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2230/015 PDA [personal digital assistant] or palmtop computing devices used for musical purposes, e.g. portable music players, tablet computers, e-readers or smart phones in which mobile telephony functions need not be used

Abstract

A highly configurable controller is described that includes a number of different types of control mechanisms that emulate a wide variety of conventional control mechanisms using pressure and location sensitive sensors that generate high-density control information which may be mapped to the controls of a wide variety of devices and software.

Claims

1. A sensor system for sensing touch events on a surface associated with the sensor system, comprising:

piezoresistive fabric;

a plurality of sensors arranged in an array, each sensor comprising a pair of conductive traces facing or in contact with the same side of the piezoresistive fabric, the pair of conductive traces for each sensor forming part of a corresponding divider circuit with a corresponding portion of the piezoresistive fabric, each divider circuit being configured to generate a corresponding sensor signal in response to a corresponding drive signal applied via one of the conductive traces in the pair of conductive traces and one or more of the touch events on the surface of the sensor system near the pair of conductive traces; and

sensor circuitry configured to provide the drive signals selectively to the sensors, to receive the corresponding sensor signals, and to generate control information from the sensor signals, the control information representing a location and a force for each of the touch events relative to the surface of the sensor system.

2. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the piezoresistive fabric comprises a non-woven fabric.

3. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the touch events include multiple and simultaneous touch events, and wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information to include a representation of the location of each of the multiple and simultaneous touch events with the positional resolution.

4. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the touch events correspond to an object in contact with the surface of the sensor system, and wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information to represent movement of the object across the surface of the sensor system.

5. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information by interpolation of data values derived from the sensor signals.

6. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information for one of the touch events with reference to the sensor signals for more than one of the sensors.

7. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is further configured to map the control information to one or more control functions.

8. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information to include representations of changes in one or both of the force and the location of at least some of the touch events.

9. The sensor system of claim 1, further comprising one or more structures configured to hold the piezoresistive fabric at a distance from the conductive traces, and wherein the piezoresistive fabric is configured to make contact with at least some of the conductive traces in response to the touch events on the surface of the sensor system.

10. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the array of sensors is a two-dimensional array.

11. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the two-dimensional array is a rectilinear array or a circular array.

12. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the array of sensors is a one-dimensional array.

13. The sensor system of claim 12, wherein the one-dimensional array is a linear array.

14. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to provide the drive signals sequentially to the sensors, and to receive the corresponding sensor signals sequentially from the sensors.

15. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information representing the location for one of the touch events by computing a centroid of a plurality of data values derived from the sensor signals.

16. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information representing the location for one of the touch events using a statistical analysis of a plurality of data values derived from the sensor signals.

17. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information representing the force for one of the touch events by computing a sum of a plurality of data values derived from the sensor signals.

18. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the touch events correspond to one or more human fingers in contact with the surface of the sensor system, and wherein the sensor circuitry is configured to generate the control information to represent one or more gestures of the one or more human fingers.

19. The sensor system of claim 18, wherein the one or more gestures include one or more of a pinch, a stretch or multiple finger swipes.

20. A method for generating control information representing touch events on a surface associated with a sensor system, the sensor comprising a piezoresistive fabric and a plurality of sensors arranged in an array, each sensor comprising a pair of conductive traces facing or in contact with the same side of the piezoresistive fabric, the pair of conductive traces for each sensor forming part of a corresponding divider circuit with a corresponding portion of the piezoresistive fabric, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of sensor signals from the array of sensors with an analog-to-digital converter, each sensor signal being generated by one of the divider circuits and representing interaction of the corresponding portion of the piezoresistive fabric and the corresponding pair of conductive traces resulting from one or more of the touch events;

digitizing the sensor signals using the analog-to-digital converter; and

generating the control information from the digitized sensor signals using one or more processors, the control information representing a location and a force for each of the touch events relative to the surface of the sensor system.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the touch events include multiple and simultaneous touch events, and wherein the control information includes a representation of the location of each of the multiple and simultaneous touch events with the positional resolution.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein at least some of the touch events correspond to an object in contact with the surface of the sensor system, and wherein the control information represents movement of the object across the surface of the sensor system.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein generating the control information includes interpolation of data values derived from the sensor signals.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein generating the control information for one of the touch events is done with reference to the sensor signals for more than one of the sensors.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising mapping the control information to one or more control functions.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the control information includes representations of changes in one or both of the force and the location of at least some of the touch events.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the array of sensors is a one-dimensional array or a two-dimensional array.

28. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing drive signals sequentially to the sensors, the sensor signals corresponding to the drive signals.

29. The method of claim 20, wherein generating the control information representing the location for one of the touch events includes computing a centroid of a plurality of data values derived from the sensor signals.

30. The method of claim 20, wherein generating the control information representing the location for one of the touch events includes using a statistical analysis of a plurality of data values derived from the sensor signals.

31. The method of claim 20, wherein generating the control information representing the force for one of the touch events includes computing a sum of a plurality of data values derived from the sensor signals.

32. The method of claim 20, wherein at least some of the touch events correspond to one or more human fingers in contact with the surface of the sensor system, and wherein the control information represents one or more gestures of the one or more human fingers.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the one or more gestures include one or more of a pinch, a stretch or multiple finger swipes.