Capacitive Proximity Based Gesture Input System
AssigneeMicrochip Technology Incorporated
InventorsKeith Edwin Curtis, Fanie Duvenhage
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Abstract
A plurality of capacitive proximity sensors on a substantially horizontal plane and in combination with a microcontroller are used to detect user gestures for Page Up/Down, Zoom In/Out, Move Up/Down/Right/Left, Rotation, etc., commands to a video display. The microcontroller is adapted to interpret the capacitive changes of the plurality of capacitive proximity sensors caused by the user gestures, and generate control signals based upon these gestures to control the visual content of the video display.
Claims15
A human interface device, comprising:
- a plurality of capacitive proximity sensors arranged in pattern on a plane of a substrate;
- and
- a controller operable to measure a capacitance of each of the plurality the capacitive proximity sensors and to detect gestures by means of the plurality of capacitive proximity sensors.
A method for detecting gestures with a human interface device comprising a plurality of capacitive proximity sensors, said method comprising the steps of:
- arranging the plurality of capacitive proximity sensors in a pattern within a sensing plane;
- detecting a movement of at least one hand of a user at a distance from the sensing plane with at least two of the capacitive proximity sensors;
- and
- decoding and associating the detected movement to a respective one of a plurality of commands.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.