Bristle brush sensors
AssigneeWacom Co., Ltd.
InventorsDavid C. Fleck, Sadao Yamamoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stylus brush for creating paintbrush-like digital effects using a digitizer. The stylus brush includes sensing filaments. The sensing filaments include a conductor extending the length of the filament, wherein the conductor transmits light or current along the length of the filament; a cladding or insulator juxtaposed against the conductor; and a means for changing a light or electrical property passing through the conductor when the filament bends along the length as compared to the light or electrical property of the filament in a nonbent condition, wherein the filament has a width not more than 1 mm and length not more than 10 cm.
Claims8
A filament for a stylus brush, comprising:
- a transmission core extending the length of the filament, wherein the transmission core transmits light or current along the length of the filament;
- a cladding or insulator juxtaposed against the transmission core;
- and
- a means for changing a light property passing through the transmission core when the filament bends along the length as compared to the light property of the filament in a nonbent condition, wherein the transmission core is an optical fiber having a conductor of light and the cladding or insulator providing total internal reflection, wherein the means comprises at least one area where the cladding or insulator is absent along the length of the filament which causes loss of reflection of light.
A stylus brush for creating images on a workstation surface, comprising:
- a plurality of brush filaments arranged into a brush head at an end of the stylus brush, and
- at least one of the plurality of brush filaments is a filament sensor comprising:
- a transmission core extending the length of the filament, wherein the transmission core transmits light or current along the length of the filament;
- a cladding or insulator juxtaposed against the transmission core;
- and
- a means for changing a light property passing through the transmission core when the filament bends along the length as compared to the light property of the filament in a nonbent condition, wherein the transmission core is an optical fiber having a conductor of light and the cladding or insulator providing total internal reflection, wherein the means comprises at least one area where the cladding or insulator is absent along the length of the filament which causes loss of reflection of light.
A method of sensing bending of filaments of a stylus brush, comprising:
- providing at least one filament sensor in a brush head, the filament including:
- a transmission core extending the length of the filament, wherein the transmission core transmits light or current along the length of the filament;
- a cladding or insulator juxtaposed against the transmission core;
- and
- a means for changing a light property passing through the transmission core when the filament bends along the length as compared to the light property of the filament in a nonbent condition,
- wherein the transmission core is an optical fiber having a conductor of light and the cladding or insulator providing total internal reflection, wherein the means comprises at least one area where the cladding or insulator is absent along the length of the filament which causes loss of reflection of light, and
- sensing the bending of filaments of the stylus brush based on the loss of reflection of light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.