H03K 17/96
Touch switches
Official title: Touch switches (specially adapted for electronic time-pieces with no moving parts G04G21/08)
H03K17/96 (Touch switches) appears on 3,752 US grants and 4,112 published applications in this corpus.
Search patents in H03K- Granted patents
- 3,752
- Published applications
- 4,112
- Assignees
- 1,441
- Inventors
- 6,992
- Latest grant
- 6 Oct 2026
Filings by year
| Year | Granted patents | Published applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 14 | 0 |
| 1977 | 15 | 0 |
| 1978 | 18 | 0 |
| 1979 | 13 | 0 |
| 1980 | 20 | 0 |
| 1981 | 20 | 0 |
| 1982 | 17 | 0 |
| 1983 | 12 | 0 |
| 1984 | 8 | 0 |
| 1985 | 12 | 0 |
| 1986 | 7 | 0 |
| 1987 | 14 | 0 |
| 1988 | 14 | 0 |
| 1989 | 9 | 0 |
| 1990 | 10 | 0 |
| 1991 | 8 | 0 |
| 1992 | 10 | 0 |
| 1993 | 11 | 0 |
| 1994 | 15 | 0 |
| 1995 | 19 | 0 |
| 1996 | 18 | 0 |
| 1997 | 23 | 0 |
| 1998 | 24 | 0 |
| 1999 | 26 | 0 |
| 2000 | 15 | 0 |
| 2001 | 11 | 6 |
| 2002 | 14 | 22 |
| 2003 | 19 | 42 |
| 2004 | 20 | 32 |
| 2005 | 19 | 52 |
| 2006 | 36 | 69 |
| 2007 | 47 | 90 |
| 2008 | 28 | 101 |
| 2009 | 46 | 141 |
| 2010 | 68 | 162 |
| 2011 | 60 | 176 |
| 2012 | 121 | 184 |
| 2013 | 147 | 266 |
| 2014 | 199 | 260 |
| 2015 | 185 | 260 |
| 2016 | 254 | 239 |
| 2017 | 257 | 246 |
| 2018 | 239 | 287 |
| 2019 | 289 | 312 |
| 2020 | 302 | 249 |
| 2021 | 239 | 259 |
| 2022 | 224 | 232 |
| 2023 | 191 | 163 |
| 2024 | 183 | 119 |
| 2025 | 116 | 97 |
| 2026 | 66 | 46 |
By publication year. Applications have been published since 2001. 2026 runs to 8 Oct.
Subgroups
Granted patents
- H03K 17/962Capacitive touch switches2,679
- H03K 2017/9602Characterised by the type or shape of the sensing electrodesIndexing code651
- H03K 17/964Piezoelectric touch switches324
- H03K 17/9627Optical touch switches202
- H03K 17/9625Using a force resistance transducer179
- H03K 17/9645Resistive touch switches147
- H03K 17/9618Using a plurality of detectors68
Recent patents
- Illuminated control module for a motor vehicle6 Oct 2026US 12,753,904 B2Dav
- Electronic devices with sensors29 Sep 2026US 12,748,309 B2Apple Inc.
- Sensor for controlling access to a motor vehicle, having an electrode surrounded by an antenna29 Sep 2026US 12,750,056 B2Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG
- Vehicle electrical switch assembly22 Sep 2026US 12,744,530 B2Nissan North America, Inc.
- Input device15 Sep 2026US 12,738,939 B2Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.
- Capacitive switch structure for nondiscrete, tactile and nontactile switches with customizable minimum activation thresholds8 Oct 2026US 2026/0309556 A1Nitto Bend Technologies, Inc.
- Switch device8 Oct 2026US 2026/0312584 A1Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho
- Switch device8 Oct 2026US 2026/0312585 A1Kabushiki Kaisha Tokai Rika Denki Seisakusho
- Touch switch1 Oct 2026US 2026/0303094 A1MINEBEA MITSUMI Inc.
- Device having integrated interface system17 Sep 2026US 2026/0277330 A1Apple Inc.
Most cited
By later US patents
- Method and apparatus for integrating manual input3,711US 6,323,846 B1University of Delaware · 2001
- Multi-function surgical device control system1,186US 5,712,460 ALinvatec Corporation · 1998
- Differential touch sensor and control circuit therefor916US 6,310,611 B1Touchsensor Technologies, LLC · 2001
- Touch switch with integral control circuit859US 6,320,282 B1Touchsensor Technologies, LLC · 2001
- Capacitive sensor and array762US 6,452,514 B12002