Accelerometer Module for Use With A Touch Sensitive Device

• US 20120113053A1
• Filed: 01/23/2012
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cato, Robert Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,635,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/105 using inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 5/08 by measuring variation of an electric variable directly affected by the flow, e.g. by using dynamo-electric effect
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 5/18 by measuring the time taken to traverse a fixed distance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0393 Accessories for touch pads or touch screens, e.g. mechanical guides added to touch screens for drawing straight lines, hard keys overlaying touch screens or touch pads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers

Abstract

An accelerometer module for use with a touch sensor on a device, a method of detecting acceleration using a touch sensor, and a computer program product for receiving the touch sensor data and producing output representative of acceleration. The accelerometer module provides a device with a touch sensor, such as a mobile phone, with the ability to sense acceleration, orientation, or both. The accelerometer module may sense acceleration along a single axis or multiple axis. Sensing acceleration along three axis may be useful for producing a handheld game controller or for providing input to many other applications. The accelerometer module applies a force against a deformable member to change the contact area between the deformable member and the touch sensor, wherein the contact area is a function of the amount of applied acceleration.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

an electronic device including a touch screen having a touch sensor input to a processor; and

a module selectively securable to the electronic device adjacent the touch sensor, the module including one or more acceleration-responsive mechanisms, each acceleration-responsive mechanism including a deformable member that contacts the touch screen over a contact area that varies in response to acceleration.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the module includes three acceleration-responsive mechanisms, wherein each acceleration-responsive mechanism detects acceleration in a different axis of a Cartesian coordinate system.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each acceleration-responsive mechanism comprises a lever pivotally coupled to the module.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the lever is an L-shaped lever.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein each acceleration-responsive mechanism further comprises a biasing member disposed to bias the lever toward the touch screen.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the touch screen is a capacitive touch screen.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each acceleration-responsive mechanism includes a mass mounted to deform the deformable member only in response to acceleration along a single axis.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to sense a change in the contact area between the deformable member and the touch screen in response to the acceleration.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the direction of the acceleration by determining whether the contact area is increased or decreased.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the relative magnitude of the acceleration by determining the extent of the change in the contact area.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to identify the relative magnitude of the acceleration using a correlation between contact area and acceleration.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to determine an overall acceleration from separately determined components of acceleration.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a tubular or cylindrical chamber holding a mass and the deformable member such that the acceleration moves the mass within the chamber to deform the deformable member in response to the acceleration.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a bent tube;

a first piston in one part of the bent tube and movable in a first axis;

a second piston in another part of the bent tube to move in the direction of a second axis, wherein the second piston contacts the deformable member; and

a hydraulic fluid between the first and second pistons, such that movement of first piston causes a movement of the second piston to deform the deformable member against the touch screen.

15. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the biasing member is configured to supply a substantially constant biasing force to push the deformable member against the touch screen to cause a first extent of elastic deformation of the deformable member, such that an acceleration opposing the substantially constant biasing force results in a second extent of elastic deformation that is less than the first extent of elastic deformation.