Stmicroelectronics Gmbh

Upek, Inc.

Alea Labs, Inc.

Bhusan Gupta

Alan H Kramer

Marco Tartagni

Marco Sabatini

Alexander Kalnitsky

Giovanni Gozzini

Vito Fabbrizio

Hamid Najafi

Frederic Raynal

Hamid Farzaneh

A method for conditioning at least one room comprises receiving a first temperature target for a first room; determining a current temperature of the room; determining a first amount of forced air required to reach the temperature target based on a thermal inertia of the first room and the current temperature; powering on an HVAC blower; and powering off the blower once the determined first amount of forced air is blown.

HVAC system and method using smart air flow control

A substrate having a fingerprint sensing system usable as a command interface using finger movements. A user's fingerprint pattern is recognized and compared to previously stored reference patterns. If the fingerprint pattern matches a previously stored pattern, the user is then permitted to enter certain commands via the same interface system. For example, in the case of an automobile, a user may identify themselves with their fingerprint, and then perform such functions as unlocking the doors, setting the seat to a selected location, or even pre-starting the car prior to their entering the automobile. The very same devices which perform the fingerprint identification and sensing are also used for the input sensing and command recognition to perform the various commands. A user is thus able to securely control desired functions in an automobile, while being assured that an unauthorized user will not have access to the automobile, even as they were able to obtain the command interface device.

Command interface using fingerprint sensor input system

A narrow array optical fingerprint detector that substantially eliminates over-sampling of the array measures the speed of a finger moving over the array and scans the array at a rate determined by the speed of movement of the finger. The fingerprint detector measures the speed of finger movement with a transparent cylinder rotatably mounted adjacent the array. The transparent cylinder is mounted to engage the finger and rotate as the finger is swept past the array. A light chopper is mounted for rotation with the cylinder. A photo-sensor is mounted adjacent the light chopper. The photo-sensor produces a signal in response to light being chopped by the light chopper. The photo-sensor is operably connected to scanning circuitry. Each time the scanning circuitry receives a signal from the photo-sensor, the scanning circuitry scans the array.

Scanning optical semiconductor fingerprint detector

This invention is directed to a method of making a capacitive distance sensor that includes one or more sensor cells each with first and second capacitor plates. The method includes determining an expected range of sizes of objects the sensor will be used to detect and determining a total perimeter value for each of a plurality of capacitor patterns. Each capacitor pattern includes a different arrangement of the first and second capacitor plates and the total perimeter value is the sum of the perimeter values for the first and second capacitor plates. The method selects one of the capacitor patterns based on the expected size of the object and on the total perimeter values determined for the capacitor patterns. The selecting step includes selecting whichever one of the capacitor patterns has the largest total perimeter value if the object is smaller than each of the one or more sensor cells.

Method for making a capacitive distance sensor

A distance sensor has a capacitive element in turn having a first capacitor plate which is positioned facing a second capacitor plate whose distance is to be measured. In the case of fingerprinting, the second capacitor plate is defined directly by the skin surface of the finger being printed. The sensor comprises an inverting amplifier, between the input and output of which the capacitive element is connected to form a negative feedback branch. By supplying an electric charge step to the input of the inverting amplifier, a voltage step directly proportional to the distance being measured is obtained at the output.

Capacitive distance sensor

A fingertip-operated solid state capacitance switch detects a capacity change that is induced by the physical contact of an ungrounded fingertip to an external dielectric surface of the solid state switch. The input and output of a solid state signal-inverting amplifier are respectively connected to two relatively large and ungrounded capacitor plates that are associated with, but electrically isolated from, the switch's external dielectric surface. An ungrounded fingertip forms a third capacitor plate on the switch's external surface. The solid state amplifier detects the presence of a fingertip on the switch's external surface by way of a change in capacitance within a compound, three plate, capacitor that includes the two ungrounded capacitor plates and the ungrounded fingertip that is resident on the switch's external surface. An automatic gain control circuit is provided to adjust the value of an amplifier reference voltage when the solid state switch is not operating, thereby allowing the solid state switch to adapt to changeable ambient conditions. A momentary switch and a toggle flip-flop latched switch are provided. A linear switch array having a movable control knob and a linear LED indicator array is provided. The momentary solid state switch is constructed to operate as a temporal code detector that detects a coded sequence of switch-taps and a coded time interval between adjacent switch-taps.

Solid state capacitive switch

A capacitance sensor detects the absence/presence of physical matter on a sensing surface of the sensor. The capacitive sensor is a multi-cell sensor wherein each cell has one or more buried, protected, and physically inaccessible capacitor plates. The sensor is physically placed in an environment that is to be monitored for deposition of a particle, vapor, and/or drop of a foreign material on the sensing surface. All cells are initially placed in a startup condition or state. Thereafter, the cells are interrogated or readout, looking for a change in the equivalent feedback capacitance that results from an electrical field shape modification that is caused by the presence of physical matter on the sensing surface. When no such change is detected, the method is repeated for another cell. When a change is detected for a cell, a particle/vapor/drop output is provided. As an optional step, the sensor is provided with a layer of a material that is selectively reactive to or reactive with, a particle/vapor/drop of a known type of foreign material.

Method for the non-invasive sensing of physical matter on the detection surface of a capacitive sensor

A variable capacitor in a semiconductor device is described in which the capacitance is varied by the movement of a dielectric material in the space between the plates of the capacitor in response to an external stimulus. A method of making such a variable capacitor is also described in which the capacitor is built in a layered structure with the top layer including a portion of dielectric material extending into the space between the capacitor plates. After formation of the top layer, an intermediate layer is etched away to render the top layer flexible to facilitate movement of the dielectric material in the space between the capacitor plates.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Bhusan Gupta