Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110094670 | FLEX CIRCUIT WITH SINGLE SIDED ROUTING AND DOUBLE SIDED ATTACH - A flex circuit having conductive traces formed on only one side of a base film for attaching to both sides of a DITO touch sensor panel is disclosed. By having conductive traces formed on only one side of the base film, the number of process steps and fabrication cost can be reduced because only a single etching step is needed. Furthermore, because the flex circuit is thinner, the resultant space savings can be utilized for other features in a device without enlarging the overall device package. | 04-28-2011 |
20120026123 | Compensation for Capacitance Change in Touch Sensing Device - This relates to compensation for undesirable capacitance changes in a touch sensing device, where the capacitance changes are not indicative of a touch at the device. The touch sensing device can include a touch sensor panel having touch sensors for sensing a touch at the panel, a flexible circuit for transmitting the sensed touch signal from the panel, and a touch controller for receiving and processing the transmitted signal. To compensate for the capacitance changes, the touch sensing device can include one or more reference conductive traces decoupled from touch sensors of the device to measure non-touch capacitances in the device. The touch sensing device can then adjust a touch signal from the touch sensors using the non-touch capacitance measurements to substantially reduce or eliminate the non-touch capacitances from the signal. | 02-02-2012 |
20120032895 | METHOD FOR DISAMBIGUATING MULTIPLE TOUCHES ON A PROJECTION-SCAN TOUCH SENSOR PANEL - A touch sensor panel is disclosed. The touch sensor panel includes a plurality of rows, at least one of the rows being a split row including a plurality of row subsections; and a plurality of columns, at least one of the columns being a split column including a plurality of column subsections. The touch sensor panel is configured with at least one split row and at least one split column located to increase a likelihood that a touch anywhere on the touch sensor panel overlaps with at least one split row and at least one split column. The rows and columns are individually charged electrodes capable of detecting a change in capacitance in a corresponding area of the touch sensor panel. | 02-09-2012 |
20120092273 | TRACE BORDER ROUTING - The border routing of conductive traces in devices, such as displays, touch sensor panels, and touch screens, to improve border area space usage, thereby reducing device size, and to reduce trace resistance, thereby improving device operation, is disclosed. The conductive traces can form a staggered stair-step configuration in the device border area, in which the average widths of the traces can be different from each other and each trace can have segments with different widths. The conductive traces can be coupled to an active area of the device to transmit signals to and from the active area in accordance with a device operation. The varying widths can help improve the border area space usage, reduce trace resistance, and reduce the differences in resistance between traces. | 04-19-2012 |
20130018489 | COMBINED FORCE AND PROXIMITY SENSINGAANM GRUNTHANER; Martin PaulAACI Mountain ViewAAST CAAACO USAAGP GRUNTHANER; Martin Paul Mountain View CA USAANM ROTHKOPF; Fletcher R.AACI Los AltosAAST CAAACO USAAGP ROTHKOPF; Fletcher R. Los Altos CA USAANM MULLENS; Christopher TenzinAACI San FranciscoAAST CAAACO USAAGP MULLENS; Christopher Tenzin San Francisco CA USAANM HOTELLING; Steven PorterAACI Los GatosAAST CAAACO USAAGP HOTELLING; Steven Porter Los Gatos CA USAANM O'CONNOR; Sean ErikAACI Palo AltoAAST CAAACO USAAGP O'CONNOR; Sean Erik Palo Alto CA US - Combined force and proximity sensing is disclosed. One or more sensors can concurrently sense a force applied by an object on a device surface and a proximity of the object to the surface. In an example, a single sensor can sense both force and proximity via a resistance change and a capacitance change, respectively, at the sensor. In another example, multiple sensors can be used, where one sensor can sense force via either a resistance change or a capacitance change and another sensor can sense proximity via a capacitance change. | 01-17-2013 |
20130076646 | FORCE SENSOR INTERFACE FOR TOUCH CONTROLLER - A force sensor interface in a touch controller of a touch sensitive device is disclosed. The force sensor interface can couple to touch circuitry to integrate one or more force sensors with touch sensors of the device. The force sensor interface can include one portion to transmit stimulation signals generated by the touch circuitry to the force sensors to drive the sensors. The interface can also include another portion to receive force signals, indicative of a force applied to the device, from the force sensors for processing by the touch circuitry. The device can use the touch circuitry to concurrently and seamlessly operate both the force sensors and the touch sensors. | 03-28-2013 |
20130100039 | OPAQUE THIN FILM PASSIVATION - A touch sensitive device that includes a touch sensor having an opaque passivation layer is disclosed. The opaque passivation layer can be made from an organic or inorganic material, such as acrylic. The opaque passivation layer can be positioned in the touch sensitive device between the cover material of the device and conductive traces located on the touch sensor to hide the conductive traces from the user's view and protect the conductive traces from corrosion. Processes for making the touch sensitive devices that include a touch sensor having an opaque passivation layer are also disclosed. | 04-25-2013 |
20130120303 | TOUCH SENSOR PANEL DESIGN - A touch sensor panel including a plurality of drive lines crossing a plurality of sense lines, forming an array. The plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines are formed by interconnecting sections of at least one conductive material having a truncated diamond shape or formed of interconnected conductive lines. At least one conductive dummy region may be disposed in an area of the touch sensor panel around the truncated diamond shape sections or interconnected conductive lines of the plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines. One or more lines may be formed overlapping the interconnected sections of each of the plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines. | 05-16-2013 |
20130222324 | SPLIT SENSE LINES FOR NEGATIVE PIXEL COMPENSATION - A touch panel configured to compensate for negative pixel effect is disclosed. The panel can be configured to increase a capacitive sense signal, indicative of a touching or hovering object, in order to compensate for an increase in negative capacitance when the object is poorly grounded. To perform the compensation, the panel can be configured to have split sense lines so as to increase the number of electric fringe fields forming the sense signal, thereby providing a sense signal that is substantially stronger than the negative capacitance signal. Each sense line can be split into two or more strips. | 08-29-2013 |
20130265242 | TOUCH SENSOR COMMON MODE NOISE RECOVERY - A touch sensor panel configured to minimize the effect on touch or proximity event detection caused by a common mode noise event. The touch sensor panel includes circuitry that works to minimize the amount of time that the touch sensor panel is unable to accurately sense touch and proximity events due to a common mode noise event. The touch sensor panel can also re-acquire data that was collected during the time that the sensor panel was unable to accurately detect touch and proximity events, when a common mode noise event is detected. | 10-10-2013 |
20140028634 | STYLUS DEVICE - Styluses capable of generating stylus stimulation signals and touch sensitive devices capable of receiving stylus stimulation signals are disclosed. In one example, a stylus can receive a stimulation signal from a touch sensor of a touch sensitive device and generate a stylus stimulation signal by changing an amplitude or frequency of the received stimulation signal. The stylus can transmit the stylus stimulation signal back into the touch sensor of the touch sensitive device. The touch sensor can generate a touch signal based on the device's own stimulation signals and the stylus stimulation signal. The touch sensitive device can process the touch signal to determine a location of the stylus on the touch sensor. The stylus can include a force sensor to detect an amount of force applied to a tip of the stylus. The stylus stimulation signal can be modulated based on the force detected by the force sensor. | 01-30-2014 |
20140098051 | TOUCH SENSOR PANEL DESIGN - A touch sensor panel including a plurality of drive lines crossing a plurality of sense lines, forming an array. The plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines are formed by interconnecting sections of at least one conductive material having a truncated diamond shape or formed of interconnected conductive lines. At least one conductive dummy region may be disposed in an area of the touch sensor panel around the truncated diamond shape sections or interconnected conductive lines of the plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines. One or more lines may be formed overlapping the interconnected sections of each of the plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines. | 04-10-2014 |
20140152582 | NOISE CORRECTION FOR STYLUS APPLICATIONS ON TABLETS AND OTHER TOUCH DEVICES - A touch sensitive device capable of detecting signals generated by a stylus and correcting the detected stylus signals for effects due to noise present on the device is disclosed. In one example, signals are taken from one or more electrodes that are a pre-determined distance away from an electrode in which a stylus signal is detected. The pre-determined distance can be empirically determined such that a noise estimate can be generated such that the electrodes have a higher probability of containing only noise that is highly correlated to the noise present on a detected stylus signal. The generated noise estimate is then subtracted from a detected stylus signal to reduce the effect of noise on the stylus signal. | 06-05-2014 |
20140306924 | DISAMBIGUATION OF TOUCH INPUT EVENTS ON A TOUCH SENSOR PANEL - A touch input device configured to detect a touch input event and determine if the touch input event is caused by a floating object is provided. The touch input device includes one or more electrodes that scanned with a set of stimulation signals to first detect the presence of a touch event and then scanned with subsequent sets of stimulation signals in order to determine if the touch event is from a grounded object, a poorly grounded object, or a floating object. | 10-16-2014 |
20140354555 | DISPLAY, TOUCH, AND STYLUS SYNCHRONIZATION - A touch input device configured to synchronize a stylus acquisition process with both a touch data acquisition process and a display refresh process is provided. The touch input device can include one or more processors that can synchronize the stylus data acquisition process to the touch data acquisition process by coordinating stylus scans to take place in between touch scans. The one or more processors can also virtual data banks to synchronize both the touch data acquisition and the stylus scan acquisition with the display refresh process. | 12-04-2014 |