Woven textile with point-to-point conductive trace
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorKelly Marie Bogan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Conductive wires or traces woven into a textile article as a warp or weft yarn are limited in directionality and beginning and end points. The presently disclosed woven electronic textiles permit electrical traces to begin and end at specific points within an interior of the textile and for runs of the electrical traces to extend continuously at any desired angle and connecting any number of specific points across a textile surface. Such electrical traces are referred to herein as point-to-point conductive traces.
Claims19
A woven electronic trackpad for a computing device comprising:
- a warp shed of comprising a warp non-conductive yarn;
- a weft of non-conductive yarn, wherein the warp and the weft cover a portion of the computing device;
- and
- a conductive yarn woven within the warp shed and the weft and including each of two intermediate points and two end points within an interior portion of the woven textile, wherein the conductive yarn extends linearly between the two intermediate points in a direction distinct from a warp direction and a weft direction unwoven and adjacent the woven textile across multiple warp and weft threads, each of the two end points of the conductive yarn connected to the computing device, wherein the warp, the weft, and the conductive yarn form a user input for the woven electronic trackpad.
A method of manufacturing a woven textile with a point-to-point conductive trace comprising:
- weaving a weft of non-conductive yarn within a warp shed of non-conductive yarn;
- and
- weaving a conductive yarn within the warp shed including passing an end of the conductive yarn between a point-to-point picking device and an aerial picking device of a rapier textile loom, the conductive yarn including each of two intermediate points and two end points within an interior portion of the woven textile, wherein the conductive yarn extends between the two intermediate points in a direction distinct from a warp direction and a weft direction unwoven and adjacent the woven textile across multiple warp and weft threads.
A textile loom comprising:
- a full-width picking device to weave a weft of non-conductive yarn within a warp shed of non-conductive yarn;
- a point-to-point picking device;
- and
- an aerial picking device, the aerial picking device to selectively pass through the warp shed to meet the point-to-point picking device and exchange an end of a conductive yarn.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.