Apple Inc.

Sora Kim

Giovanni Gozzini

Scott A Myers

Michael Benjamin Wittenberg

Lucy Elizabeth Browning

Martin Paul Grunthaner

Michael K McCord

Henric Larsson

Rui Jin

Eric S Winokur

Leah M Gum

Robert Leo Sheridan

An input device can be integrated within an electronic device and/or operably connected to an electronic device through a wired or wireless connection. The input device can include one or more force sensors positioned below a cover element of the input device or an input surface of the electronic device. The input device can include other components and/or functionality, such as a biometric sensor and/or a switch element.

Electronic device configured to collect biometric and amount of force data when a user touches a displayed image

Thermal compensation can be applied to force measurements of a force-sensitive button. A temperature differential between an object and the force-sensitive button can result in changes in the reconstructed force by the force sensor due to thermal effects rather than actual user force, which in turn can result in degraded performance of the force sensor (e.g., false positive or inconsistent activation force). In some examples, a force-sensitive button can include a force sensor configured to measure an amount of force applied to the force-sensitive button, and a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature associated with the force sensor. The measured temperature can be used to compensate the amount of force measured by the force sensor based on the temperature associated with the force sensor. In some examples, the thermal compensation can be applied when an object is detected contacting the force-sensitive button (i.e., when rapid temperature differentials can occur).

Thermal compensation for force-sensitive button

Force sensor in an input device

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Sunnyvale, CO, United States of America

Sora Kim