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:
Aug. 24, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 19, 1995
Timothy P Allen, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Richard R Schediwy, Union City, CA (US);
Federico Faggin, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Synaptics, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A capacitive touch pad comprises a substrate material, such as a PC board type laminate material, having a plurality of first parallel conductive traces running in a first (X) direction disposed on a first face thereof, and a plurality of second parallel conductive traces running in a second (Y) direction, usually orthogonal to the first direction, disposed on an opposed second face thereof. A layer of pressure-conductive material is disposed over one of the faces of the substrate. A protective layer with a conductive coating on its back surface is disposed over the top surface of the pressure-conductive material to protect it. In an alternate embodiment, a capacitive touch sensor comprises a rigid substrate material having a conducting material disposed on one face thereof. A layer of pressure-conductive material is disposed over the conductive material on the substrate. A flexible material, having a plurality of first parallel conductive traces running in a first (X) direction disposed on a first face thereof, and a plurality of second parallel conductive traces running in a second (Y) direction disposed on an opposed second face thereof is disposed over the layer of pressure-conductive material. A protective layer is disposed over the top surface of the pressure conductive material to protect it. In yet another embodiment, an air gap is used in place of the layer of pressure-conductive material and the upper layers are supported by a frame at the periphery of the touchpad.