Touchpad system with multiple tracking methods: mechanical force positional sensor integrated with capacitive location tracking
AssigneeCirque Corporation
InventorsPaul H. Glad, Alan Stettler, Doug Steck, Jon Alan Bertrand
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for enabling an entire touchpad surface to mechanically move if sufficient force is used to press on the touchpad to perform a mouse click function, such as a right click or a left click, when the touchpad is mechanically buttonless, such as a forcepad, in order to provide haptic feedback on a touchpad that otherwise has none.
Claims18
A method for providing mechanical movement of a surface of a touch sensor when a force is applied, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate for a touch sensor, the substrate including a surface, the substrate having four flex arms, each one of the four flex arms being coupled to a different location of the substrate and flexing at a joint between the substrate and each of the four flex arms;
- providing a housing for the touch sensor, the housing supporting the touch sensor at a distal end of each of the four flex arms;
- providing a touch sensor on the surface of the substrate, wherein the touch sensor is a touch sensor having no mechanical buttons for performing mouse click functions;
- and
- applying a force against the surface of the touch sensor and causing the substrate to move within the housing to provide haptic feedback to the user while the substrate is flexing at the joint of each of the four flex arms, to thereby provide movement to the touch sensor.
A system for providing mechanical movement of a touch sensor when force is applied, said system comprised of:
- a substrate for a touch sensor;
- four flex arms wherein each one of the four flex arms is coupled to a different location of the substrate and flexing at a joint between the substrate and each of the four flex arms;
- a housing for the touch sensor, the housing supporting the touch sensor at a distal end of each of the four flex arms;
- and
- a touch sensor disposed on a surface of the substrate, wherein the touch sensor has no mechanical buttons for performing mouse click functions, and wherein applying a force against the surface of the touch sensor causes all the surface of the touch sensor to move within the housing to provide haptic feedback to the user while the substrate is flexing at the joint of each of the four flex arms, to thereby provide movement to the touch sensor.
A method for providing mechanical movement of the entire surface of a touch sensor when force is applied, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate for a touch sensor, the substrate forming a rectangular surface, the substrate having four flex arms, each one of the four flex arms being coupled to a different corner of the rectangular surface and flexing at a joint between the substrate and the four flex arms;
- providing a housing for the touch sensor, the housing supporting the touch sensor at an end of each of the four flex arms;
- providing a touch sensor on the surface of the substrate, wherein the touch sensor is a buttonless touch sensor having no mechanical buttons for performing mouse click functions;
- applying a force against the rectangular surface of the touch sensor and causing all the surface of the touch sensor to move within the housing to provide haptic feedback to the user while the substrate is flexing at the joint of each of the four flex arms, to thereby provide movement to the buttonless touch sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.