Cover accessory device for a portable electronic and/or computer apparatus, and apparatus provided with such an accessory device

• US 10,042,491 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2014
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Quickstep Technologies, LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Quickstep Technologies, LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roziere, Didier
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jr., Kenneth B
• Application Number:
  US15/037,313
• Publication Number:
  US 20160291730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1656 Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1634 Integrated protective display lid, e.g. for touch-sensitive display in handheld computer
• 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 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0216 Foldable in one direction, i.e. using a one degree of freedom hinge
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/18 including more than one keyboard unit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for a portable user apparatus, including a portion which can be folded over the user apparatus, said foldable portion including at least two detection layers, each kept at a guard potential and including at least one capacitive detection electrode: a first of said layers being arranged to carry out a function of capacitive detection of at least one control object located on one side of said foldable portion; a second of said layers being arranged so as to carry out a function of capacitive detection of at least one control object located on the other side of said foldable portion, with a view to triggering a function in the user apparatus. The invention also relates to an apparatus provided with such an accessory device.

Claims

1. A device for a portable electronic user apparatus comprising:

a foldable part in order to cover at least one part of said user apparatus when it is folded onto said user apparatus, wherein said foldable part comprises at least two layers, one of the layers configurable to act as a capacitive detection electrode and another of the layers configurable to act as a guard layer placed at a guard potential for guarding the capacitive detection electrode;

a first of said at least two layers being further configurable to perform a capacitive detection function of at least one command object located on one side of said foldable part; and

a second of said at least two layers being further configurable to perform a capacitive detection function of at least one command object located on another side of said foldable part;

in order to trigger a function in said user apparatus.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first and second of said at least two layers is configured for being activated for detection in turn, depending upon a relative position of the foldable part with respect to the user apparatus, whereby for a given position of said foldable part just one of said layers performs the detection function.

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

each of said first and second of said at least two layers is configured to act as a capacitive detection electrode; and

the foldable part further comprises at least one guard plane arranged between the first and second of said at least two layers of the foldable part and configured for being placed at the guard potential in order to guard at least one of said first and second of said at least two layers during the detection of at least one command object.

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises a single guard plane arranged between the first and second of said at least two layers of the foldable part in order to guard each of said layers.

5. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first and second of said at least two layers is configured for performing in turn the role of:

either the detection function;

or a guard function for the other of said capacitive detection layers by being placed at an alternating guard potential (V_G);

where the function performed by each of said layers depends on a relative position of said foldable part relative to said user apparatus.

6. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally comprises at least one means of control to determine, depending on a position of the foldable part, which of the layers performs the detection function in order to activate the electrodes from said layer in a measurement mode.

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that the means of control is further arranged in order to control placing the electrodes from the other electrode layer in the foldable part at the guard potential (V_G) in order to perform the guard function.

8. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that the control means comprises a means of measurement of the position of the foldable part.

9. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one layer is further configurable to perform a detection of at least one command object with or without contact.

10. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is removable and includes at least one means of connection to the user apparatus.

11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that the means of connection is incorporated in a portion of a shell connected to the foldable part and arranged in order to be substituted for or arranged on a rear shell of the user apparatus.

12. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is an integral part of the user apparatus.

13. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the foldable part comprises at least one transparent area and at least one of the layers comprises, at said transparent area, electrodes made of a transparent material.

14. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the foldable part comprises at least one opaque area and at least one of the layers comprises, at said opaque area, electrodes made by PCB technology.

15. The device according to claim 1, implemented for the user apparatus provided with a screen, characterized in that the foldable part is configured in order to be positioned on or against said screen when it is folded.

16. A portable computer user apparatus comprising the device according to claim 1.

17. A method of providing object detection for a portable electronic user apparatus, comprising:

covering at least a part of said user apparatus with a foldable part, wherein said foldable part comprises at least two layers, one of the layers configurable to act as a capacitive detection electrode and another of the layers configurable to act as a guard layer placed at a guard potential for guarding the capacitive detection electrode;

detecting objects using a first of said at least two layers on a first side of the foldable part while guarding the first layer with a guard potential;

detecting objects using a second of said at least two layers a second side of the foldable part while guarding the second layer with the guard potential; and

triggering a function in said user apparatus based on the detection of the objects.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising activating each of said first and second of said at least two layers for detection in turn, depending upon a relative position of the foldable part with respect to the user apparatus, whereby for a given position of said foldable part just one of said layers performs the detection function.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:

configuring each of said first and second of said at least two layers to act as a capacitive detection electrode; and

maintaining a plane at the guard potential between the first and second of said at least two layers of the foldable part in order to guard at least one of said first and second of said at least two layers during the detection of at least one command object.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising forming a single guard plane arranged between the first and second of said at least two layers of the foldable part in order to guard each of said layers.