Scalable gesture sensor for wearable and soft electronic devices

A scalable gesture sensor integrated within an object to provide a touch-sensitive surface on the object, the scalable gesture sensor comprising:

• a plurality of conductive lines disposed proximate to an exterior surface of the object, the plurality of conductive lines:
• including a first set of sensing lines having multiple individual sensing lines that run back and forth across a portion of the exterior surface of the object;
• including a second set of sensing lines having multiple additional individual sensing lines that run back and forth across the portion of the exterior surface of the object;
• and
• being arranged such that the second set of sensing lines crosses over the first set of sensing lines at multiple different locations to repeat a localized crossover pattern between one another across the portion of the exterior surface of the object to form a sensor grid having a plurality of repeated localized crossover patterns between the same sensing lines of the first and second sets of sensing lines, at least two of the multiple individual sensing lines of the first set of sensing lines overlapping one another outside of the sensor grid, at least two of the multiple additional individual sensing lines of the second set of sensing lines overlapping one another outside of the sensor grid;
• and
• a controller coupled to the plurality of conductive lines, the controller configured to:
• detect touch input to two or more conductive lines of the plurality of conductive lines by detecting a change in capacitance on the two or more conductive lines when a user's finger touches the two or more conductive lines;
• determine, based on detection of the touch input, a relative direction of the touch input;
• and
• process the touch input having the determined relative direction, to provide touch data usable to control a computing device or an application at the computing device.