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US 12,122,216 B2Granted
Heater device
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorKimitake Ishikawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heater device includes a contact determination unit for determining contact or non-contact of an object based on a change in capacitance between a plurality of electrodes. The contact determination unit is configured to determine (i) the contact of the object in response to a determination that the change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in one direction and equal to or larger than a first determination threshold value. The contact determination unit is configured to determine (ii) the non-contact of the object in response to a determination that the change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in a direction opposite to the one direction and equal to or larger than a second determination threshold value.
Claims4
A heater device comprising:
- a heat generating portion arranged on an insulating base material;
- a plurality of electrodes which are arranged on the insulating base material and are configured to detect a contact or a non-contact of an object;
- and
- a controller, having at least one processor circuit, which is configured to perform as a contact determination unit which determines the contact or the non-contact of the object based on a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes, wherein
- the contact determination unit is configured to determine:
- (i) the contact of the object in response to a determination that the change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in one direction and equal to or larger than a first determination threshold value;
- and
- (ii) the non-contact of the object in response to a determination that the change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in a direction opposite to the one direction and equal to or larger than a second determination threshold value, wherein
- the controller is further configured to perform as a first correction unit which is configured to correct the capacitance between the plurality of electrodes to a reference value at every predetermined time intervals shorter than a predetermined unit time in response to a determination of the contact determination unit that a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in one direction and less than the first determination threshold value, and wherein
- the first correction unit performs correction under a condition in which a magnitude of a detected value of capacitance between the plurality of electrodes is less than a predetermined reference value which is less than a smaller one of the first determination threshold value and the second determination threshold value to suppress the influence of a change in capacitance due to a temperature change before the contact determination of the object, and wherein
- the contact determination unit determines a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time as a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes with respect to a reference value corrected by the first correction unit.
8 more elements
A heater device comprising:
- a heat generating portion arranged on an insulating base material;
- a plurality of electrodes which are arranged on the insulating base material and are configured to detect a contact or a non-contact of an object;
- and
- a controller, having at least one processor circuit, which is configured to perform as a contact determination unit which determines the contact or the non-contact of the object based on a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes, wherein
- the contact determination unit is configured to determine:
- (i) the contact of the object in response to a determination that the change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in one direction and equal to or larger than a first determination threshold value;
- and
- (ii) the non-contact of the object in response to a determination that the change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in a direction opposite to the one direction and equal to or larger than a second determination threshold value, wherein
- the controller is further configured to perform as a second correction unit which is configured to correct the capacitance between the plurality of electrodes to a reference value at every predetermined time intervals shorter than a predetermined unit time in response to a determination of the contact determination unit that a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time is a change in a direction opposite to the one direction and equal to or larger than the second determination threshold value, and wherein
- the second correction unit performs corrections under a condition in which a magnitude of a detected value of capacitance between the plurality of electrodes is less than a predetermined reference value which is less than a smaller one of the first determination threshold value and the second determination threshold value to suppress the influence of a change in capacitance due to a temperature change before the non-contact determination of the object, and wherein
- the contact determination unit determines a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes per predetermined unit time as a change in capacitance between the plurality of electrodes with respect to a reference value corrected by the second correction unit.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.