User interface system
AssigneeTactus Technology, Inc.
InventorsCraig Michael Ciesla, Micah B. Yairi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A user interface system of one embodiment includes a layer defining a surface; a substrate supporting the layer and at least partially defining a cavity; a displacement coupled to the cavity that expands the cavity, thereby deforming a particular region of the surface; and a touch sensor coupled to the substrate and adapted to sense a user touch proximate the particular region of the surface. The layer and the substrate are connected at an attachment point, and the location of the attachment point relative to the layer, substrate, and cavity at least partially defines the shape of the deformed particular region of the surface.
Claims27
A user interface comprising:
- a substrate comprising an attachment surface, the substrate partially defining a cavity adjacent the attachment surface and defining a fluid channel fluidly coupled to the cavity;
- a tactile layer comprising a deformable region and an undeformable region, the undeformable region of a first thickness and coupled to the attachment surface at an attachment point, the deformable region disconnected from the substrate and including a portion of a second thickness different than the first thickness, the tactile layer defining an outer tactile surface opposite the substrate;
- a displacement device configured to displace fluid through the fluid channel and into the cavity to transition the deformable region between:
- a retracted setting defining a first tactile formation at the tactile surface, wherein a portion of the deformable region extends into the cavity and;
- and
- an expanded setting defining a second tactile formation, different than the first tactile formation, at the tactile surface, wherein a portion of the deformable region is elevated out of the cavity;
- and
- a touch sensor coupled to the substrate and configured to detect a user touch on the tactile surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.