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:
Oct. 31, 2023
Filed:
Dec. 09, 2020
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Dhaval C. Patel, San Jose, CA (US);
Eugene C. Cheung, Redwood City, CA (US);
Pey-Jiun Ko, Redwood City, CA (US);
Po-Jui Chen, Taipei, TW;
Robert W. Rumford, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Steve L. Terry, Cupertino, CA (US);
Wei Lin, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Xiaofan Niu, Campbell, CA (US);
Xiaoqi Zhou, Cupertino, CA (US);
Yi Gu, Palto Alto, CA (US);
Yindar Chuo, San Jose, CA (US);
Rasmi R. Das, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Steven M. Scardato, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Se Hyun Ahn, Cupertino, CA (US);
Victor H. Yin, Cupertino, CA (US);
Wookyung Bae, San Jose, CA (US);
Christopher L. Boitnott, Cupertino, CA (US);
Chun-Hao Tung, San Jose, CA (US);
Mookyung Son, Cupertino, CA (US);
Sunggu Kang, San Jose, CA (US);
Nathan K. Gupta, San Francisco, CA (US);
John Z. Zhong, Saratoga, CA (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
An electronic device with a force sensing device is disclosed. The electronic device comprises a user input surface defining an exterior surface of the electronic device, a first capacitive sensing element, and a second capacitive sensing element capacitively coupled to the first capacitive sensing element. The electronic device also comprises a first spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements, and a second spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements. The first and second spacing layers have different compositions. The electronic device also comprises sensing circuitry coupled to the first and second capacitive sensing elements configured to determine an amount of applied force on the user input surface. The first spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is below a force threshold, and the second spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is above the force threshold.