Tyco Electronics Corporation

Other

Elo Touchsystems, Inc.

Donald W Bouldin

Robert J Warmack

G Samuel Hurst

Rufus H Ritchie

Joel Christopher Kent

David E Ritchie

R H Ritchie

Rufus H Richie

A touch sensor method and device are described that allow one or more simultaneous touches to be sensed and mapped to Cartesian coordinates. The device utilizes closely spaced multiple conducting strips to provide digital location of a touch position according to the position strip and analog location along the length of the strip. When the strips are energized individually and in coordinated ways, multiple touches are individually sensed and their positions are reported.

Multiple-touch sensor

A new touch screen design provides for corrections of non-uniformities, more accurate touch point measurement, and multiple simultaneous touch point measurements through the use of a grid of relatively conductive lines.

Touch screen with relatively conductive grid

A touch sensors with improved topological equivalence between an equipotential space and a Cartesian space to which the equipotential space will be mapped. The touch sensor comprises a substrate with a touch region, and a set of electrodes that are electrically coupled to the touch region. The touch sensor further comprises a plurality of resistive band segments that frames the touch region. The electrodes are located between the resistive band segments. Each resistive band segment has a resistivity that is intermediate between the resistivity of the electrodes and the resistivity of the touch region, thereby providing a transition between the low resistivity electrodes and the high resistivity touch region, and improving the topological equivalence within the corners of the touch region. At least one of the band segments has a non-uniform linear resistance to provide further improvement to the topological equivalence.

Touch sensor with non-uniform resistive band

A new touch screen is based upon the mapping of coordinates from an equipotential space defined by a simple set of screen electrodes to some other, more useful coordinates, such as Cartesian. The key idea is that unique coordinate mapping can be achieved with each sensing pair of electronic readings. A new sensor is described with a band of intermediate conductivity framing the sensor area. This sensor can be used advantageously either as a standalone with uniform equipotential distributions or in connection with the mapping concepts discussed herein with non-uniform distributions.

Growing community of inventors

Brentwood, TN, United States of America

Donald W Bouldin