LIQUID MULTI-TOUCH SENSOR AND DISPLAY DEVICE
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A liquid multi-touch sensor system, comprising:
- a tank containing a liquid therein and adapted to receive light and to cause at least some of the received light to undergo total internal reflection through the liquid within the tank, the liquid and the tank collectively adapted to allow the total internal reflection to be frustrated upon occurrence of a physical phenomena, and adapted to allow some of the light undergoing total internal reflection to escape from the tank when the total internal reflection is frustrated; and
an image sensor adapted to detect light escaping the tank.
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Abstract
High-resolution multi-touch sensor and display device where the interaction medium is liquid, enabling more realistic tactile experience for simulations of synthetic wet environments. Based on frustrated total internal reflection, the device employs liquid within a tank as the optical waveguide that receives light, such as infrared light, that undergoes total internal reflection and an imaging camera that detects light that escapes from the tank caused by frustration of the total internal reflection due to contact of the water by a user.
90 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A liquid multi-touch sensor system, comprising:
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a tank containing a liquid therein and adapted to receive light and to cause at least some of the received light to undergo total internal reflection through the liquid within the tank, the liquid and the tank collectively adapted to allow the total internal reflection to be frustrated upon occurrence of a physical phenomena, and adapted to allow some of the light undergoing total internal reflection to escape from the tank when the total internal reflection is frustrated; and an image sensor adapted to detect light escaping the tank. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of multi-touch sensing, comprising the steps of:
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receiving light within a tank containing a liquid therein; internally reflecting the received light through the liquid within the tank; frustrating the internally reflected light within the tank to cause some of the reflected light to escape the tank; and imaging the escaped light. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification