Keyboard with touch sensor
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsDaniel D. Sunshine, Daniel A. Podhajny, David M. Kindlon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A keyboard may be provided that has keys overlapped by a touch sensor. The keyboard may have key sensor circuitry for monitoring switching in the keys for key press input. The keyboard may also have touch sensor circuitry such as capacitive touch sensor circuitry that monitors capacitive electrodes in the touch sensor for touch sensor input such as multitouch gesture input. The touch sensor may be formed from a layer of fabric. The fabric may be woven fabric or other fabric in which conductive strands of material serve as the electrodes for the touch sensor.
Claims20
A keyboard having an interior and an exterior, the keyboard comprising:
- a substrate;
- an array of switches mounted on the substrate;
- an array of movable key members each of which overlaps a respective one of the switches to form a corresponding key;
- and
- a fabric touch sensor that overlaps the movable key members, wherein the fabric touch sensor comprises conductive strands that form drive lines and sense lines, wherein the movable key members are interposed between the array of switches and the fabric touch sensor, wherein the fabric touch sensor is exposed to the exterior, wherein the fabric touch sensor is separated from the substrate by a first distance in a first region that overlaps a movable key member, wherein the fabric touch sensor is separated from the substrate by a second distance in a second region between adjacent movable key members, and wherein the first distance and the second distance are different.
Apparatus, comprising:
- at least one key having a movable key member that is configured to close a switch in response to pressure applied to the movable key member;
- an inner fabric layer comprising a grid of conductive lines that form a capacitive touch sensor that overlaps the key, wherein the inner fabric layer conforms to a raised surface of the movable key member;
- and
- an outer fabric layer that overlaps the grid of conductive lines and that is coupled to the inner fabric layer with an adhesive, wherein the adhesive overlaps the movable key member.
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of keys, wherein each of the keys has a movable key cap with a raised surface and an associated switch that is closed when pressed by the movable key cap in response to pressure on the movable key cap;
- key sensor circuitry that monitors the keys for key press events;
- a fabric layer that overlaps and conforms to the raised surfaces of the movable key caps of the plurality of keys, wherein the fabric layer has insulating strands of material and has conductive warp and weft strands that are intertwined with the insulating strands and wherein each of the movable key caps is between the switch associated with that movable key cap and the fabric layer;
- a force sensor formed in addition to the plurality of keys, wherein the force sensor detects a force based on a change in capacitance between the conductive warp and weft strands and a conductive structure overlapped by the fabric layer;
- and
- capacitive touch sensor circuitry that is coupled to the conductive warp and weft strands and that gathers multitouch gesture input from the conductive warp and weft strands.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.