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. 05, 2005
Filed:
Sep. 13, 2002
Jurgen Wolter, Oberhausen, DE;
Wolfgang Stelz, Oberhausen, DE;
Detlef Ludwig, Duisburg, DE;
Krohne Messtechnik GmbH & Co., KG, Duisburg, DE;
Abstract
An optoelectronic keypad and a method for controlling an optoelectronic keypad for a measuring instrument, require a transparent touch screen, at least two touch-sensitive control buttons, at least two light emitters and at least two photodetectors, where said control buttons are located next to each other on one side of the surface of the touch-screen, the light emitters and the photodetectors are situated next to each other on the other side of the touch screen and each one control button, light emitter and photodetector are functionally associated with one another in a way as to constitute one action key, whereby pressing the control button of an action key causes the light emanating from the light emitter of that action key to be reflected at the actuated key and to impinge on the photodetector of that key. A central control and processing unit is also provided, the light emitters being connected to said central control and processing unit and the light emitters being time-controlled by the central control and processing unit in such fashion that at any one time only one of the juxtaposed light emitters is in the active state. This substantially reduces the risk of a detection error relative to the actuation of a key.