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:
Apr. 29, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 23, 2000
Ernest M. Reimer, Oster Cove, CA;
Robert Inkster, Victoria, CA;
Canpolar East Inc., Newfoundland, CA;
Abstract
Switches and joysticks comprise user-moveable two position and multi position switches, including simple on/off and variable switches such as dimmers. The switches operate on the principle of detecting the position of a user-grippable switch arm, a portion of which bears on a pressure-sensitive pad. The pad is a deformable material which detects and localizes pressure against the pad, by transmitting into the pad matrix a wave energy such as light, and detecting the intensity of same. As the pad is locally compressed, intensity of the wave energy increases in the region around the compression. The position of a switch arm may thus be detected, and the information transmitted to a central processing unit, for further processing.