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:
Dec. 25, 1990
Filed:
Mar. 02, 1990
Max V Mathews, Stanford, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Jr. Univ., Stanford, CA (US);
Abstract
An electronic drum has two or more batons, each baton having a transmitter which transmits a distinct radio frequency signal at a position in space. The electronic drum determines the current X, Y, and Z coordinates of each baton transmitter. To determine the position of each baton transmitter, the drum includes a tablet which has a flat support member at a predefined position, with at least two pairs of electrodes coupled to the flat support member. A first pair of the electrodes is shaped so that the amount of capacitive coupling between each baton transmitter and one of the first pair of electrodes corresponds to the position of the baton transmitter with respect to the X axis. A second pair of electrodes is shaped so that the amount of capacitive coupling between each baton transmitter and one of the second pair of electrodes corresponds to the position of the baton transmitter with respect to the Y axis. The electrodes pairs are shaped and positioned so that neither electrode pair shields the other, which allows for accurate X and Y position measurements. The drum also has a CPU which receives signals from the electrodes, and uses those signals to compute the X, Y and Z coordinates of each baton. The CPU also predicts when each baton transmitter will hit the drum's flat support member and generates a signal at the predicted time so that a music synthesizer can generate a sound at the appropriate time.