APPARATUS FOR OBJECT INFORMATION DETECTION AND METHODS OF USING SAME

• US 20150084650A1
• Filed: 11/27/2014
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: N-Trig Ltd (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: ZACHUT, Rafi, PERSKI, Haim, RIMON, Ori, KAPLAN, Amir
• Granted Patent: US 9,435,628 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/658
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00662 with an electric sensor for playing pieces A63F2009/2444 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2007/3611 with a playing surface playable on both sides
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2250/265 by skin resistance
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00643 Electric board games; Electric features of board games electric word or number games A63F3/0421; computer chess G06F; electric raffle games A63F3/081
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/06 Games simulating outdoor ball games, e.g. hockey or football if physically beneficial for the human body A63B67/00
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/068 using magnetic power magnetic toys A63H33/26
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 7/0692 Kicking
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 2210/58 Wireless transmission of information between a sensor or probe and a control or evaluation unit
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/003 for measuring position, not involving coordinate determination coordinate measuring G01B7/004
• 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 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

A system for determining information regarding at least one object, comprising: a sensor sensitive to capacitive coupling; at least one object adapted to create a capacitive coupling with the sensor when at least one signal is input to the sensor; a detector adapted to measure at least one output signal of said sensor associated with the at least one object, wherein the output signal associated with the at least one object is an object information code.

Claims

1. An apparatus capable of obtaining information regarding an object interacting with a capacitive based sensor of the apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a sensor section comprising;

a capacitive based sensor including a first and second set of electrodes that extend over a sensing surface and are capacitively coupled; and

circuitry configured to repeatedly scan at least a portion of the first set of electrodes and sample corresponding output from at least a portion of the second set of electrodes at a defined report rate during an active mode of the sensor section;

(b) a host section configured to process information received from the sensor section for determining information regarding an object interacting with the sensor and to provide output of the processed information to a user operating the apparatus; and

(c) a controller section providing an interface between the sensor section and the host section and configured to control operation of the sensor section;

wherein the controller section is configured to switch operation of the sensor section from the active mode to a hibernation mode responsive to determining that no object is interacting with the capacitive based sensor.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller section is configured to suspend scanning the first set of electrodes and suspend sampling corresponding output from the second set of electrodes during the hibernation mode.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller section is configured to temporarily activate the sensor section at defined intervals during the hibernation mode for identifying renewed user interaction with the sensor.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller section is configured to switch operation of the sensor section from the hibernation mode to the active mode responsive to detecting user interaction with the sensor.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller section is configured to receive commands from the host section for controlling operation of the sensor section.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the commands from the host section are routing commands for altering pattern for scanning the at least a portion of the first set of electrodes.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured for consecutively applying a pulsed AC signal to the at least a portion of the first set of electrodes for scanning.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured for consecutively applying pulsed AC signals to groups of electrodes of the at least a portion of the first set of electrodes for scanning.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the AC signal applied to each of the electrodes in a group is distinct from the signal applied to other electrodes in the group.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information regarding the object interacting with the sensor comprises position of the object relative to the sensor.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information regarding the object interacting with the sensor comprises identification data of the object.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information regarding the object interacting with the sensor comprises orientation of the object with respect to the sensor.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 configured for determining information regarding a plurality of objects concurrently interacting with the sensor.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information regarding the object interacting with the sensor is a code transmitted by circuitry included in the object.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the code is a security code required for operating software installed on the host section.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1, comprising an electronic display screen situated below the sensing surface.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the first and second set of electrodes are elongated and transparent, such that a user can view the display on the electronic display screen.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the electronic display screen is a liquid crystal display screen.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object is selected from a group including:

a user'"'"'s finger, a stylus, a pointing device, a card and a game piece.