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. 30, 2013
Filed:
Oct. 06, 2008
Wolfgang Richter, Starnberg, DE;
Wolfgang Richter, Starnberg, DE;
Ident Technology AG, Wessling, DE;
Abstract
The invention is based on an input panel and switch device for the operation of an electrical appliance, in particular to realize the input of operating settings in household appliances. This task is solved in accordance with the invention by an input panel for an electrical appliance with an outer-shell structure which as such offers an outer surface for a user to input commands; several separate input sections which are located in the area of the outer surface and assigned to manually selectable input commands; an evaluation circuit to generate switch signals in conjunction with the input commands entered by manual selection of the input sections; whereby a signal sensor circuit is provided in the area of each input section, whereby the signal sensor circuit comprises a receiver electrode and a modulation circuit and whereby via the modulation circuit the input impedance of the receiver electrode is modulated in accordance with a specific pattern for the signal sensor circuit, in particular a data set, and the selection of the input point can be registered via the evaluation circuit with the aid of feedback effects of the modulation of the input impedance of the signal sensor circuit.