The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 12, 2023
Filed:
Sep. 15, 2020
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Ahmet Fatih Cihan, San Jose, CA (US);
Stephen E. Dey, San Francisco, CA (US);
Adrian Z. Harb, San Jose, CA (US);
Mengshu Huang, Cupertino, CA (US);
Yuhao Pan, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Paul X. Wang, Cupertino, CA (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
A system may include one or more finger devices that gather input from a user's fingers. The system may include control circuitry that sends control signals to an electronic device based on the input gathered with the finger devices. A finger device may include one or more proximity sensors that measure a distance to the user's finger. The proximity sensor may be a self-mixing optical proximity sensor having a laser and photodiode. The proximity sensor may have submicron resolution and may be configured to detect very small movements of the finger as finger pad is moved around by a thumb finger, by a surface, and/or by other finger movements. The proximity sensor may measure changes in distance between the proximity sensor and a flexible membrane that rests against a side portion of the user's finger.