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:
Jul. 25, 1978
Filed:
Nov. 26, 1976
Thomas W Bobick, Richardson, TX (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
A human touch on an etched copper electrode produces a capacitive change to vary the time constant of an RC network as a part of an oscillator. The variation in the capacitance of the sensor changes the time constant of the RC network which results in a change in frequency of the output signal of the oscillator. This change in frequency thus varies with the human touch to the copper electrode. To develop a directional indication of the touch position, four electrodes are arranged in opposed pairs along orthogonal axes. Each electrode is part of an RC network connected to an oscillator with each of the four oscillators identified with one of the four positions along the orthogonal axes. The output signal from each of the oscillators is transmitted to timing and control circuitry that generates four separate pulse trains, one pulse train identified with each of four positions along the orthogonal axis.