Acoustic touch sensor utilizing edge waves
AssigneesTouch Panel Systems K.K., Tyco Electronics Corporation
InventorsJoel C. Kent, Paulo I. Gomes, Robert Adler, Paul Jerome Fehrenbach, Yoshikazu Tanaka, Charles Dudley Copper
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Abstract
A touch sensor comprises a substrate capable of propagating acoustic waves and includes a first surface having a touch sensitive region. A first sidewall intersects the first surface along a first edge. The first edge is configured to propagate a first acoustic wave along the first edge. The first acoustic wave may be a one-dimensional edge wave. A wave converter converts the first acoustic wave to a second acoustic wave, and the first surface is configured to propagate the second acoustic wave across the touch sensitive region.
Claims20
A touch sensor, comprising:
- a substrate capable of propagating acoustic surface waves, the substrate including a first surface having a touch sensitive region and including a non-coplanar second surface intersecting the first surface along a first edge, the first edge being configured to propagate a first acoustic surface wave along the first edge, the first surface being configured to propagate a second acoustic surface wave across the touch sensitive region, the second acoustic surface wave being based on the first acoustic surface wave;
- and
- a wave converter for converting between the first and second acoustic surface waves, the wave converter comprising partially reflecting elements being formed on the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.