Touch pad with force sensors and actuator feedback

• US 9,535,557 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2016
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Bernstein, Jeffrey Traer, Cieplinski, Avi, Degner, Brett W., Kerr, Duncan, Kessler, Patrick, Puskarich, Paul, Coelho, Marcelo H., Pance, Aleksandar
• Primary Examiner(s): OLSON, JASON C
• Application Number:
  US15/063,195
• Publication Number:
  US 20160188103A1
• Time in Patent Office: 302 Days
• Field of Search: 345/158
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2022/0092 for training agility or co-ordination of movements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1613 for portable computers cooling arrangements therefor G06F1/203; constructional details or arrangements for pocket calculators, electronic agendas or books G06F15/0216; constructional details of portable telephone sets: with several bodies H04M1/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1662 Details related to the integrated keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1692 the I/O peripheral being a secondary touch screen used as control interface, e.g. virtual buttons or sliders
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0227 Cooperation and interconnection of the input arrangement with other functional units of a computer G06F3/023 - G06F3/037 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0414 using force sensing means to determine a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04

Abstract

Electronic devices may use touch pads that have touch sensor arrays, force sensors, and actuators for providing tactile feedback. A touch pad may be mounted in a computer housing. The touch pad may have a rectangular planar touch pad member that has a glass layer covered with ink and contains a capacitive touch sensor array. Force sensors may be mounted under each of the four corners of the rectangular planar touch pad member. The force sensors may be used to measure how much force is applied to the surface of the planar touch pad member by a user. Processed force sensor signals may indicate the presence of button activity such as press and release events. In response to detected button activity or other activity in the device, actuator drive signals may be generated for controlling the actuator. The user may supply settings to adjust signal processing and tactile feedback parameters.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing;

a keyboard mounted within the housing;

a touch pad disposed within the housing along a side of the keyboard and comprising;

a cover layer defining a touch-sensitive surface;

a printed circuit layer positioned below the cover layer and having a capacitive touch sensor configured to produce a touch output that corresponds to a location of an object on the touch-sensitive surface;

a group of force sensors positioned below the printed circuit layer and configured to produce a force output that is non-binary and corresponds to an amount of force applied by the object; and

an output device configured to output non-visual feedback in response to a force output that exceeds a threshold.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the output device includes an acoustic component configured to output the non-visual feedback; and

the non-visual feedback is an acoustic signal.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the output device includes a haptic device configured to output the non-visual feedback; and

the non-visual feedback is a haptic feedback signal.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the force sensor comprises a strain-sensitive material;

and

the force output is linearly or non-linearly proportional to the amount of force applied by the object.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein each force sensor of the group of force sensors includes at least one bendable member that is configured to bend in response to the force applied by the object;

the force output corresponds to an amount of deflection due to the force.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

at least one force sensor of the group of force sensors includes metalized traces formed on a surface of a substrate; and

the metalized traces form interdigitated fingers that deflect in response to a force on the touch-sensitive surface.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

at least one sensor of the group of force sensors include a capacitive sensor having two electrodes; and

the capacitive sensor is configured to measure the force on the touch-sensitive surface of the touch pad based on a change in capacitance between the two electrodes.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the housing includes a lower housing pivotally coupled to an upper housing;

the keyboard is at least partially positioned within the lower housing; and

the touch pad is mounted to the lower housing.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein:

the electronic device further comprises a display mounted to the upper housing; and

the touch pad is configured to control the position of a cursor on the display.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising processing circuitry configured to:

determine whether or not a user input includes a gesture;

in accordance with a determination that a user input does not include a gesture, apply a first force threshold associated with a first input command; and

in accordance with a determination that the user input includes a gesture, apply a second force threshold associated with a second input command;

wherein

the first force threshold is less than the second force threshold.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

in accordance with a determination that the user input includes a gesture, inhibit a response to a user press input.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the gesture is performed by moving the object across the contact surface.

13. A portable computer comprising:

an upper housing;

a lower housing pivotally attached to the upper housing;

a display positioned at least partially within the upper housing;

a keyboard disposed at least partially within the lower housing; and

a track pad disposed at least partially within the lower housing and proximate to the keyboard, the track pad comprising;

a cover member;

a circuit layer having a capacitive touch sensor positioned below the cover member and configured to produce a touch output that corresponds to a location of a touch on the cover member; and

a group of force sensors positioned below the circuit layer and configured to produce a non-binary force output signal that corresponds to an amount of force of the touch on the cover member.

14. The portable computer of claim 13, wherein the track pad is configured to reject input from a palm of a hand when the keyboard is in use.

15. The portable computer of claim 13, wherein the group of force sensors are configured to detect a button activation event if the force output exceeds a threshold.

16. The portable computer of claim 15, wherein:

the button actuation event includes a press event having a corresponding press threshold; and

the button actuation event includes a release event having a corresponding release threshold.

17. The portable computer of claim 16, wherein the press threshold is the same as the release threshold.

18. The portable computer of claim 15, wherein:

the portable computer further comprises an output device that is configured to produce a non-visual feedback in response to the button actuation event.

19. The portable computer of claim 18, wherein:

the output device includes an acoustic component configured to output the non-visual feedback; and

the non-visual feedback is an acoustic signal.

20. The portable computer of claim 18, wherein:

the output device includes a haptic device configured to output the non-visual feedback; and

the non-visual feedback is a haptic feedback signal.

21. The portable computer of claim 15, wherein:

the portable computer further comprises a haptic device that is configured to produce a haptic feedback in response to the button actuation event; and

the portable computer further comprises an acoustic device configured to produce an acoustic signal in response to the button actuation event.

22. A method of receiving a user input on a surface of a touch pad of a notebook computing device, the method comprising:

producing a location output that corresponds to a touch on a touch-sensitive surface on a cover layer mounted to a housing of the notebook computing device using a capacitive touch sensor that is positioned below the cover layer;

producing a non-binary force output in response to a force of the touch using a set of force sensors positioned below the capacitive touch sensor and proximate to respective corners of the touch pad;

determining an estimate of an applied force using the non-binary force output from the set of force sensors;

triggering a button press event if the estimate of the applied force exceeds a threshold; and

outputting a non-visual feedback in response to the button press event.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the threshold is a variable, user-determined threshold.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

recognizing a gesture command if the touch is moving across the contact surface of the touch pad; and

in accordance with a determination that the user input includes a gesture command, increasing the threshold.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

recognizing a gesture command if the touch is moving across the contact surface of the touch pad; and

in accordance with a determination that the user input includes a gesture command, inhibiting a button press event.