Other

Interlink Electronics, Inc.

Franklin N Eventoff

Bernard K Mohrbacher

Serge A Tcherepnin

Tyrone Christiansen

M Tyrone Christiansen

A music system including a musical instrument, such as a keyboard strummer, in which the musical notes produced by the playing of the instrument are controlled by musical assistance data mapped unto the instrument keys and strum vanes from tracks specially prepared and synchronized with a prior performance of the piece.

Note assisted musical instrument system and method of operation

A system to transfer information from a video screen. A sensor embedded in a suction cup detects an increase in intensity of a synchronizing scan line and an increase in intensity of a data scan line and utilizes the time differential between the two events to determine the location of the increase in intensity of the data scan line. In an alternative embodiment, the intensity increase location may be transferred to an electronic musical instrument where it is analyzed by a microprocessor and the information is used to assign notes to the keys of a keyboard.

System for displaying and reading patterns displayed on a display unit

A digitizer pad includes at least two base plys, each having thereon at least three terminals, a resistor ply disposed between two of the terminals with a plurality of conductors extending from each resistor ply which are spaced apart and interleaved with a plurality of conductors extending from each third terminal. The respective base plys' conducting surfaces face each other and are sandwiched about a nonconductive ply that includes a pressure sensitive conductive layer on each side, the area of which layer covers a portion of the area encompassed by the interleaved conductors on each base ply. The resistor plys and conductors on each base ply are at predetermined angles to those on the base ply, hence the conductors of each base ply form two predefined axes. A voltage source is sequentially coupled, by suitable switching means, across a selected pair of terminals on each ply to measure the selected location along the parameter dimension defined by the terminals across which the voltage source is coupled. Hence, the spatial location of a force applied to the digitizer pad along any one or more axes in a plane is determinable as well as the magnitude of the force applied generally perpendicular to that plane.

Digitizer pad

A digitizer pad includes at least two sets of terminals where each set has at least a first and second terminal positioned to define a parameter dimension therebetween. A resistor ply is disposed between the terminals of each set. The resistor ply has an electrical contact surface with a resistance gradient profile between the terminals in each set. An output terminal is electrically interconnected to a selected location along the contact surface of the resistor ply. A voltage source is sequentially coupled, by suitable switching means, across a selected subset of terminals in each set of terminals whereby the voltage at the output terminal is a measure of the selected location along the parameter dimension defined by the terminals across which the voltage source is coupled.

A bounceless switch apparatus having a junction resistance which varies inversely with the pressure applied normally thereto which includes a first conductor member, a pressure-sensitive layer including a semiconducting material covering the first conductor member in intimate electrically conducting contact therewith and a second conductor member positioned in nonelectrically conducting relationship to the pressure-sensitive layer. The pressure-sensitive layer has a first surface with a multiplicity of microprotrusions of the semiconducting material which provide a multiplicity of surface contact locations. As the normally open switch is closed in response to a pressing force applied to urge the second conductor member and the first surface together, the physical contact between the microprotrusions and the second conductor increases thereby variably increasing conduction between the first conductor member and the second conductor member.

Electronic pressure sensitive force transducer

A spacerless switch circuit for use in multiple switch keyboards includes a first base member having a front surface and a second base member having a front surface in touching relationship against the front surface of the first base member. A plurality of first and second conductor traces are respectively deposited on the front surfaces of the first and second base members. An insulative layer is deposited over regions of either or both of the first and second conductor traces to insulate the conductor traces from each other when the front surfaces of the two base members are touching one another. One or more first switch contacts are deposited on the first base member and one or more facing second switch contacts are deposited on the second base member to define one or more on/off switches. At least one of the first switch contacts includes a first conductive pad and a first pressure sensitive layer applied over the first conductor pad so that a surface junction is formed between the first and second switch contacts where the surface junction is electrically nonconductive when the first contact noncompressively touches the facing second contact and is electrically conductive when the first contact compressively touches the facing second contact.

Spacerless keyboard switch circuit assembly

A pressure responsive, variable resistance, analog switch has first and second conductors interleaved in spaced-apart relationship and disposed on a base member. An insulative spacer ring is positioned around and rises above the first and second conductors. A resilient cover sheet is attached to the top of the insulative spacer ring in spaced relationship over the conductors to define an enclosure between the resilient cover sheet and the base member. A pressure sensitive resistive conductor composition is disposed on the resilient cover sheet or on the conductors in the enclosure to interconnect a resistance between the first and second conductors when the resilient cover sheet is depressed against the conductors. The amount of resistance so interconnected varies inversely to the amount of pressure exerted.

Bounceless switch apparatus

Electronic pressure sensitive transducer apparatus

A pressure transducer device particularly useful in an electronic musical instrument includes a flexible base folded to define upper and lower flexible base portions, a donut-shaped first spacer between the upper and lower base portions and a resiliently deformable diaphragm attached about its periphery to the upper flexible base portion with a second donut-shaped spacer therebetween. A center region of the diaphragm laterally spaced from the second spacer is adhesively attached to a central region of the upper flexible base portion so that the upper flexible base portion moves inwardly and outwardly in response to the movement of the diaphragm. A pair of conductors are disposed on the folded flexible base member to face one another. A pressure responsive composition disposed over the conductors provides a contact resistance across the pair of conductors which varies inversely with the amount of pressure force exerted against the diaphragm. The upper flexible base portion may be attached between the first and second spacers about its entire periphery or at a small hinge region with the upper base portion being a flap movable about the hinge region in the region surrounded by the first spacer.

Pressure transducer

A dual switch apparatus has two switches simultaneously actuated in response to a single touch force where at least one of the switches has a pressure responsive variable contact resistance. A first support member has a first and a second conductor disposed thereon and a second support member has a third and a fourth conductor disposed thereon so that the first and third conductors and the second and fourth conductors have mirror image conductor patterns. A semiconducting composition layer is disposed to cover at least one of the four conductors. The first and second support members are positioned facing one another with the first and third conductors and the second and fourth conductors transversely aligned so that a transverse force causes the first and third conductors and the second and fourth conductors to move into electrically conducting relationship. A spacer maintains the first and second support members in normally spaced relationship. A utilization circuit may be coupled across each of the first and third and second and fourth conductors. In one embodiment, the first conductor has two electrically isolated contact members with interdigiting fingers with the third conductor acting as a shunt.

Dual lateral switch device

A multiple touch switch apparatus has at least one multiple segment conductor ply on the top surface of a support ply. The segments are electrically insulated from each other by their lateral displacement but are immediately adjacent so that a selected one or more of the segments can be contacted in response to a single transverse touch force. A second support ply has a unitary conduction ply on its bottom surface spaced apart from, but facing, the multiple segment conductor ply. At least the second support ply and the unitary conduction ply are resilient deformable into contact with one or more segments of the multiple segment conductor ply. Each of the multiple segment conductors or the unitary conduction ply or both may incorporate a conductor layer and a pressure sensitive semiconductor composition layer disposed thereon. The semiconductor layer provides a pressure sensitive variable contact resistance in series with the switch. In another embodiment, each multiple segment conductor ply may be replaced by a single segment conductor.

Touch switch keyboard apparatus

A multi-function touch switch apparatus has a first semiconductor composition layer disposed on top of a first conductor layer which is affixed to a first base member. A second semiconductor composition layer opposing the first semiconductor in spaced relationship thereto is disposed on a second conductor layer which is itself disposed on the bottom surface of a second support member. A third conductor layer is also disposed on the top surface of the second support member in opposing spaced-apart relationship to a fourth conductor layer disposed on the bottom surface of a third support member. The second and third support members and the affixed conductor layers and semiconductor layers are resiliently deformable in a transverse axis in response to a transverse touch force to thereby cause electrical contact between the second and third conductor layers to provide a closed switch and the first and second semiconductor layers to provide a closed switch in series with a pressure sensitive resistance.

Multi-function touch switch apparatus

Synthesizer

An apertured insulating strip permits closing a circuit only at contact points defined by the apertures between a low resistance conductor and a high resistance conductor in an electronic circuit of the type which produces musical notes each having a frequency dependent upon the resistance downstream of a particular contact point.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Franklin N Eventoff