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:
Jan. 21, 2014
Filed:
Dec. 10, 2009
Jeffrey Traer Bernstein, San Francisco, CA (US);
Avi Cieplinski, San Francisco, CA (US);
Brett W. Degner, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Duncan Kerr, San Francisco, CA (US);
Patrick Kessler, Mountain View, CA (US);
Paul Puskarich, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Marcelo H. Coelho, Cambridge, MA (US);
Aleksandar Pance, Saratoga, CA (US);
Jeffrey Traer Bernstein, San Francisco, CA (US);
Avi Cieplinski, San Francisco, CA (US);
Brett W. Degner, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Duncan Kerr, San Francisco, CA (US);
Patrick Kessler, Mountain View, CA (US);
Paul Puskarich, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Marcelo H. Coelho, Cambridge, MA (US);
Aleksandar Pance, Saratoga, CA (US);
Apple, Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
Electronic devices may use touch pads that have touch sensor arrays, force sensors, and actuators for providing tactile feedback. A touch pad may be mounted in a computer housing. The touch pad may have a rectangular planar touch pad member that has a glass layer covered with ink and contains a capacitive touch sensor array. Force sensors may be mounted under each of the four corners of the rectangular planar touch pad member. The force sensors may be used to measure how much force is applied to the surface of the planar touch pad member by a user. Processed force sensor signals may indicate the presence of button activity such as press and release events. In response to detected button activity or other activity in the device, actuator drive signals may be generated for controlling the actuator. The user may supply settings to adjust signal processing and tactile feedback parameters.