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.

Date of Patent:
Jan. 02, 2024

Filed:

May. 20, 2022
Applicant:

Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);

Inventors:

Mohammad Yeke Yazdandoost, San Francisco, CA (US);

Giovanni Gozzini, Berkeley, CA (US);

Brian Michael King, Saratoga, CA (US);

Marcus Yip, San Carlos, CA (US);

Ehsan Khajeh, Los Gatos, CA (US);

Aaron Scott Tucker, Redwood City, CA (US);

Assignee:

Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 3/044 (2006.01); G06F 3/043 (2006.01); G06F 1/16 (2006.01); G06F 3/0354 (2013.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 3/044 (2013.01); G06F 1/1605 (2013.01); G06F 1/1656 (2013.01); G06F 3/03545 (2013.01); G06F 3/0436 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04105 (2013.01);
Abstract

Acoustic touch and/or force sensing system architectures and methods for acoustic touch and/or force sensing can be used to detect a position of an object touching a surface and an amount of force applied to the surface by the object. The position and/or an applied force can be determined using time-of-flight (TOF) techniques, for example. Acoustic touch sensing can utilize transducers (e.g., piezoelectric) to simultaneously transmit ultrasonic waves along a surface and through a thickness of a deformable material. The location of the object and the applied force can be determined based on the amount of time elapsing between the transmission of the waves and receipt of the reflected waves. In some examples, an acoustic touch sensing system can be insensitive to water contact on the device surface, and thus acoustic touch sensing can be used for touch sensing in devices that may become wet or fully submerged in water.


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