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:
Sep. 02, 2014
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2009
Rabin Bhattacharya, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Rabin Bhattacharya, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Koninklijke Philips N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for determining a functional area of an electronic textile (). The electronic textile comprises a textile substrate having a first plurality of conductors (--), a second plurality of conductors (--), and a plurality of capacitors (-), each capacitor comprising a conductor from the first plurality of conductors (--) and a conductor from the second plurality of conductors (--), separated by a dielectric (), the capacitors (-) being distributed across substantially an entire surface of the electronic textile, wherein each capacitor (-) has a capacitance of at least 10 pF. The method comprises, for each of the capacitors, the steps of (a) applying () a voltage between the conductor from the first plurality of conductors associated with the capacitor and the conductor from the second plurality of conductors associated with the capacitor, (b) detecting () an electrical characteristic indicative of a capacitance of the capacitor, (c) evaluating () the detected electrical characteristic, and (d) determining () whether the capacitor is included in the functional area of the electronic textile based on the evaluation. As the method takes advantages of physical characteristics inherent in the electronic textile, such as the capacitors formed between conductors in the electronic textile, no electronic devices need to be arranged on the electronic textile to determine the functional area.