Touch screen with relatively conductive grid
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A touchscreen position sensor that comprising:
- (a) a touch area having generally relatively low conductivity;
(b) a relatively high conducting border defining a perimeter on the touch area;
(c) a grid of intermediate conductivity defining cells of relatively low conductivity within the high conducting perimeter of the touch area (d) a set of electrodes attached to the high conductivity perimeter and connected to an electrical power source;
(e) an electric circuit that measures the potential of a selected point on the touch area when brought in proximity thereto;
(f) a controller that sequentially switches electrical power from the power source to a first group of the electrodes thereby establishing a first electrical potential distribution on the touch area, and then to a second group of said electrodes thereby establishing a second electrical potential distribution on the touch area; and
(g) a controller that processes sets of potential measurements of said first and second electrical potential distributions from the electric circuit to determine the location of the selected point.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A new touch screen design provides for corrections of non-uniformities, more accurate touch point measurement, and multiple simultaneous touch point measurements through the use of a grid of relatively conductive lines.
36 Citations
30 Claims
-
1. A touchscreen position sensor that comprising:
-
(a) a touch area having generally relatively low conductivity;
(b) a relatively high conducting border defining a perimeter on the touch area;
(c) a grid of intermediate conductivity defining cells of relatively low conductivity within the high conducting perimeter of the touch area (d) a set of electrodes attached to the high conductivity perimeter and connected to an electrical power source;
(e) an electric circuit that measures the potential of a selected point on the touch area when brought in proximity thereto;
(f) a controller that sequentially switches electrical power from the power source to a first group of the electrodes thereby establishing a first electrical potential distribution on the touch area, and then to a second group of said electrodes thereby establishing a second electrical potential distribution on the touch area; and
(g) a controller that processes sets of potential measurements of said first and second electrical potential distributions from the electric circuit to determine the location of the selected point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 29, 30)
-
-
9. A touchscreen position sensor comprising:
-
(a) a touch area having generally relatively low conductivity;
(b) a relatively high conducting border defining a perimeter on the touch area;
(c) a grid of intermediate conductivity defining cells of relatively low conductivity within the high conducting perimeter of the touch area (d) a set of electrodes attached to the high conductivity perimeter and connected to an electrical power source;
(e) an electric circuit that measures the current received by an electrode from a selected point on the conductive area when the point is touched;
(f) a controller that processes sets of current measurements from the electrodes to determine the location of the selected point. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
-
-
14. A method of determining the location of a selected point on a sensor apparatus having a relatively highly conductive border surrounding an area of relatively low conductivity featuring a grid having a conductivity intermediate the conductivity of the border and low conductivity area, defining cells on the low conductivity area, and an associated set of electrodes through which electrical current may be applied to establish electric potential distribution on the conductive area, an electrical circuit that measures the potential of points on the conductive area when brought in proximity thereto and a controller, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) introducing an electrical current to the border area through a first group of at least one electrode selected from said associated set of electrodes, and thereby establishing a first electric potential distribution within the border;
(b) bringing the electrical circuit in proximity with a selected point within the border and thereby measuring a first potential reading of said point;
(c) storing said first potential reading;
(d) introducing an electrical current of the border area through a second group of at least one electrode selected from said associated set of electrodes and wherein not all of said first and second groups of electrodes are identical, and thereby establishing a second electric potential distribution within the border;
(e) measuring the second potential reading of the selected point with the electrical circuit;
(f) processing said first and second potential readings to determine the location of the selected point. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
- 19. A touch sensor having a touch area of generally low conductivity defined by a border of relatively high conductivity wherein the touch area is divided into cells by lines of intermediate conductivity.
Specification