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US 12,631,733 B2Granted
Contactless actionable button
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
InventorGiovanni Scozzola
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present description concerns a button capable of being activated by the proximity of a user's finger, including: a time-of-flight distance sensor; and a control circuit, coupled to the distance sensor and configured to transmit a control signal, where the control circuit is configured to perform a switching of the signal, between a first state and a second state, conditioned at least by the detection by the sensor, for a first time period, of an object at a distance shorter than a first threshold.
Claims20
An electronic device comprising:
- a button;
- a time-of-flight (ToF) distance sensor disposed in the button, the ToF distance sensor being configured to detect a distance between an object and the button;
- and
- a control circuit disposed in the button, the control circuit being coupled to the ToF distance sensor and configured to transmit a control signal, wherein the control circuit is configured to perform a switching of the control signal, between a first state and a second state, based on a detection by the ToF distance sensor, for a first time period, of the object at a distance shorter than a first threshold distance, the first threshold distance being in the range from 1 mm to 4 m, and the first time period being in the range from 50 ms to 30 s,
- wherein the switching of the control signal, performed by the control circuit, is further based on moving the object to a distance greater than a second threshold distance from the button, the second threshold distance being greater than the first threshold distance, and
- wherein the control circuit is configured to keep the control signal in the first state in response to a detection by the ToF distance sensor, for a second time period greater than the first time period, of the object at a distance shorter than the second threshold distance.
3 more elements
A method of activating a button, the method comprising:
- switching, by a control circuit, of a control signal between a first state and a second state, the switching being based on a detection by a time-of-flight (ToF) distance sensor, for a first time period, of an object at a distance shorter than a first threshold distance, the first threshold distance being in the range from 1 mm to 4 m, and the first time period being in the range from 50 ms to 30 s, wherein the switching of the control signal, by the control circuit, is further based on moving the object to a distance greater than a second threshold distance from the button, the second threshold distance being greater than the first threshold distance;
- keeping, by the control circuit, in the first state in response to determining by the ToF distance sensor, for a second time period greater than the first time period, of the object at a distance shorter than the second threshold distance;
- and
- transmitting the control signal by the control circuit.
1 more element
A system comprising:
- a processing device;
- a plurality of buttons coupled to the processing device, wherein at least one of the plurality of buttons comprises a time-of-flight (ToF) distance sensor configured to detect a distance between an object and the at least one of the plurality of buttons;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the ToF distance sensor and configured to transmit a control signal, the control circuit being configured to switch the control signal, between a first state and a second state, based on a detection by the ToF distance sensor, for a first time period, of the object at a distance shorter than a first threshold distance, the first threshold distance being in the range from 1 mm to 4 m, and the first time period being in the range from 50 ms to 30 s, the processing device being configured to receive the control signal from each of the at least one of the plurality of buttons,
- wherein switching the control signal, performed by the control circuit, is further based on moving the object to a distance greater than a second threshold distance from the at least one of the plurality of buttons, the second threshold distance being greater than the first threshold distance, and
- wherein the control circuit is configured to keep the control signal in the first state in response to a detection by the ToF distance sensor, for a second time period greater than the first time period, of the object at a distance shorter than the second threshold distance.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.