Conductive signal paths in woven fabrics

• US 11,124,904 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2019
• Issued: 09/21/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Podhajny, Daniel A., Hamada, Yohji, Crews, Kathryn P., Walker, Joseph B., Sunshine, Daniel D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US16/719,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20200123683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 643 Days
• Field of Search: 345174, 345175, 442229, 442301, 361 62
• CPC Class Codes: D03D 1/0088 Fabrics having an electronic function
• CPC Class Codes: D03D 13/00 Woven fabrics characterised by the special disposition of the warp or weft threads, e.g. with curved weft threads, with discontinuous warp threads, with diagonal warp or weft
• CPC Class Codes: D03D 3/005 Tapes or ribbons not otherwise provided for D03D1/0005, D03D1/0011, D03D1/06, D03D1/08, D03D1/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: D10B 2401/16 antistatic; conductive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• 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: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

Weaving equipment may include strand positioning equipment that positions warp strands and that inserts weft strands among the warp strands to form fabric. The weaving equipment may include one or more guide arms that pushes warp strands in the weft direction during weaving. Fabrics having warp strands that extend in both the warp direction and the weft direction may be used in forming circuitry in fabrics such as touch sensor circuitry. For example, a touch sensor in a fabric may be formed using first conductive warp strands that form first touch sensor electrodes and second conductive warp strands that form second touch sensor electrodes that overlap with the first touch sensor electrodes. The second conductive warp strands may each have a first portion that extends in the warp direction and a second portion that extends in the weft direction across the first touch sensor electrodes.

Claims

1. A woven fabric, comprising:

first and second conductive warp strands oriented in a first direction;

a third conductive warp strand that has a first portion oriented in the first direction and a second portion oriented in a second direction, wherein the third conductive warp strand overlaps the first and second conductive warp strands; and

non-conductive weft strands oriented in the second direction, wherein the non-conductive weft strands are interwoven with the first, second, and third conductive strands.

2. The woven fabric defined in claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third conductive warp strands form touch sensor electrodes.

3. The woven fabric defined in claim 1, wherein the first conductive warp strand is interposed between the second conductive warp strand and the first portion of the second conductive warp strand.

4. The woven fabric defined in claim 3, further comprising:

a fourth conductive warp strand having a first portion oriented in the first direction and a second portion oriented in the second direction.

5. The woven fabric defined in claim 4, wherein the first portion of the fourth conductive warp strand is interposed between the first conductive warp strand and the first portion of the third conductive warp strand.

6. The woven fabric defined in claim 5, wherein the first portion of the third conductive warp strand and the first portion of the fourth conductive warp strand are located in an edge region of the fabric.

7. The woven fabric defined in claim 1, further comprising:

an upper fabric layer and a lower fabric layer, wherein the first, second, and third conductive warp strands are interposed between the upper and lower fabric layers.

8. The woven fabric defined in claim 7, wherein the upper and lower fabric layers are insulating.

9. The woven fabric defined in claim 1, wherein the first portion of the third conductive warp strand and the first conductive strand are located in a first fabric layer, the second portion of the third conductive warp strand is located in a second fabric layer, and the second fabric layer overlaps the first fabric layer.

10. A touch-sensitive textile, comprising:

first warp strands that form first capacitive touch sensor electrodes;

second warp strands that form second capacitive touch sensor electrodes and that extend perpendicular to the first warp strands, wherein the first touch sensor electrodes overlap the second touch sensor electrodes to form a touch sensor; and

non-conductive weft strands interwoven with the first warp strands and second warp strands.

11. The touch-sensitive textile defined in claim 10, wherein the touch sensor comprises a plurality of discrete touch sensor regions.

12. The touch-sensitive textile defined in claim 11, wherein each discrete touch sensor region is separated from adjacent discrete touch sensor regions by non-conductive warp strands.

13. The touch-sensitive textile defined in claim 10, wherein the first warp strands convey first signals to an edge of the touch-sensitive textile and the second warp strands convey second signals to the edge of the touch-sensitive textile.

14. The touch-sensitive textile defined in claim 13, wherein the touch-sensitive textile is configured to be electrically coupled to an electronic device that receives the first and second signals.

15. The touch-sensitive textile defined in claim 13, wherein the second warp strands each have a portion that extends in a direction perpendicular to the edge of the touch-sensitive textile.

16. The touch-sensitive textile defined in claim 13, wherein the first warp strands each have a first portion that extends perpendicular to the edge of the touch-sensitive textile and a second portion that extends parallel to the edge of the touch-sensitive textile.

17. A fabric-based device having a width and a length, comprising:

a first conductive strand that extends along the length of the fabric;

a second conductive strand that has a first portion that extends along the length of the fabric and a second portion that extends along the width of the fabric to overlap the first conductive strand;

non-conductive strands interwoven with the first and second conductive strands; and

control circuitry that applies a drive signal to the first conductive strand and a sense signal to the second conductive strand.

18. The fabric-based device defined in claim 17, further comprising:

a third conductive strand that extends along the length of the fabric, wherein a non-conductive strand in the non-conductive strands is interposed between the first and third conductive strands.

19. The fabric-based device defined in claim 18, wherein the first, second, and third conductive strands form a capacitive touch sensor array that detects the location of a touch based on the drive and sense signals.

20. The fabric-based device defined in claim 17, further comprising:

additional non-conductive strands, wherein the non-conductive strands form a first fabric layer and the additional non-conductive strands form a second fabric layer that overlaps the first fabric layer, wherein the first portion of the second conductive strand is in the first fabric layer, and wherein the second portion of the second conductive strand is in the second fabric layer.