Capacitive touch sensitive housing and method for making the same

• US 9,933,811 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2017
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Green Point Enterprises Company Limited (Jabil Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Green Point Enterprises Company Limited (Jabil Inc.)
• Inventors: Yi, Sheng-Hung, Liao, Pen-Yi
• Primary Examiner(s): Norris, Jeremy C
• Application Number:
  US15/618,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20170277218A1
• Time in Patent Office: 298 Days
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 18/1689 After-treatment
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 18/31 Coating with metals
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 26/00 Coating not provided for in groups C23C2/00 - C23C24/00
• CPC Class Codes: C25D 5/02 Electroplating of selected surface areas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1656 Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• 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 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• 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: H03K 17/9622 using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960755 Constructional details of capacitive touch and proximity switches
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49155 Manufacturing circuit on or in base

Abstract

A method for making a capacitive touch sensitive housing, comprises: forming a non-patterned active metal layer on a housing wall; patterning the non-patterned active metal layer on the housing wall by laser ablation such that the non-patterned active metal layer is formed into a patterned active metal layer including a plurality of plating portions separated from each other, and a plurality of non-plating portions separated from the plating portions; and forming a metal layer on the patterned active metal layer such that the metal layer has first portions formed on the plating portions of the patterned active metal layer, and second portions formed on the non-plating portions of the patterned active metal layer.

Claims

1. A cover for an electronic device, comprising:

a surface; and

at least one array of capacitive touch sensor pads formed on the surface as an input to the electronic device,

wherein each capacitive touch sensor pad comprises an active metal layer made from an active metal capable of catalytically initiating the forming of a metal layer on the active metal layer.

2. The cover of claim 1, wherein the surface is an insulative surface.

3. The cover of claim 1, wherein the active metal is selected from the group consisting of palladium, rhodium, platinum, iridium, osmium, gold, nickel, iron, and combinations thereof.

4. The cover of claim 3, wherein the metal layer is made from a metal selected from the group consisting of copper, gold, silver, and nickel.

5. The cover of claim 4, further comprising:

a plated metal layer formed on the metal layer, the plated metal layer being made from a metal selected from the group consisting of Ni, copper, gold and silver.

6. The cover of claim 4, wherein the metal layer is formed by printing.

7. The cover of claim 1, wherein the cover comprises:

a base wall portion having a peripheral edge; and

a peripheral wall portion,

wherein the peripheral wall portion extends from the peripheral edge to form a U-shaped structure, and

wherein the capacitive touch sensor pads are formed on the peripheral wall portion.

8. The cover of claim 7, wherein the peripheral wall portion and each capacitive touch sensor pad have similar curvatures.

9. The cover of claim 1, wherein the cover is made from an insulative material selected from polycarbonate, glass, ceramic, wood and fabrics.

10. A method for providing capacitive touch inputs to an electronic device, comprising:

forming at least one array of capacitive touch sensor pads on a surface of a housing for the electronic device,

wherein formation of each capacitive touch sensor pad comprises;

forming an active metal layer on the surface, wherein the active metal is capable of catalytically initiating the forming of a metal layer on the active metal layer; and

forming the metal layer on the active metal layer ; and

connecting the housing to the electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the surface is an insulative surface.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the active metal is selected from the group consisting of palladium, rhodium, platinum, iridium, osmium, gold, nickel, iron, and combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the metal layer is made from a metal selected from the group consisting of copper, gold, silver, and nickel.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the housing is a U-shaped structure having a base wall portion having a peripheral edge and a peripheral wall portion, further comprising:

forming the capacitive touch sensor pads on the peripheral wall portion.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the peripheral wall portion and each capacitive touch sensor pad have similar curvatures.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

forming a plated metal layer on the metal layer, wherein the plated metal layer is made from a metal selected from the group consisting of Ni, copper, gold and silver.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the housing is made from an insulative material selected from polycarbonate, glass, ceramic, wood and fabrics.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the forming of the metal layer is formed by printing.