Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090189878 | LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN - A light-based touch screen, including a housing for a display screen, a plurality of infra-red light emitting diodes (LEDs), fastened on the housing, for generating light beams, at least one LED selector, fastened on the housing and connected with the plurality of LEDs, for controllably selecting and deselecting one or more of the plurality of LEDs, a plurality of photodiode (PD) receivers, fastened on the housing, for measuring light intensity, at least one PD selector, fastened on the housing and connected with the plurality of PD receivers, for controllably selecting and deselecting one or more of the plurality of PD receivers, an optical assembly, fastened on the housing, for projecting light beams emitted by the plurality of LEDs in substantially parallel planes over the housing, and a controller, fastened on the housing and coupled with the plurality of PD receivers, (i) for controlling the at least one LED selector, (ii) for controlling the at least one PD selector, and (iii) for determining therefrom position and velocity of an object crossing at least one of the substantially parallel planes, based on output currents of the plurality of PD receivers. | 07-30-2009 |
20100238138 | OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING REFLECTED LIGHT - A touch screen system, including a near-infrared transparent screen including a plurality of reflective elements embedded therein, a circuit board including circuitry for controlled selective activation of electronic components connected thereto, at least one light source connected to the circuit board, for emitting light, and at least one light detector connected to the circuit board, for detecting light emitted by the at least one light source and reflected by the reflective elements. | 09-23-2010 |
20100238139 | OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN SYSTEMS USING WIDE LIGHT BEAMS - A touch screen system, including a screen, a plurality of light sources coupled with the screen, for emitting light, a plurality of photo diodes coupled with the screen, for detecting the light emitted by the light sources, and for identifying the location of a touch on the screen when an absence of the emitted light is detected, and a plurality of lenses coupled respectively with the plurality of light sources to generate wide beams of light over a portion of the screen wherein substantially connected areas of the screen are covered by neighboring wide beams. | 09-23-2010 |
20110043485 | SCANNING OF A TOUCH SCREEN - A user interface for receiving input commands in a mobile terminal includes a display device (D) for presenting visual information. Arrays of light sources ( | 02-24-2011 |
20110163998 | LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN WITH SHIFT-ALIGNED EMITTER AND RECEIVER LENSES - A touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing along two opposite edges of the display and arranged along the two edges so as to be shift-aligned relative to one another, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and transmit light pulses through the collimating lenses of one of the two edges over the display, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and receive the light pulses through the collimating lenses of the opposite of the two edges, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, that determines a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167628 | COMPONENT BONDING USING A CAPILLARY EFFECT - A method of attaching a component to a substrate, including providing a component guide attached to a substrate, the component guide having a cavity substantially conforming to contours of a portion of a component, attaching a first solder pad to the component, inserting the component into the guide cavity, providing a second solder pad, offset from the first solder pad and near the cavity, and inserting the component, the component guide and the substrate into an oven heating the solder pads, wherein the component is drawn further into the guide cavity by a capillary effect of the heated solder pads. | 07-14-2011 |
20110169781 | TOUCH SCREEN CALIBRATION AND UPDATE METHODS - A method of calibrating optical components in a light-based touch screen, including providing (i) a display, (ii) a row of light pulse emitters that sequentially transmit light pulses over the display according to calibrated pulse current and pulse duration controls, and (iii) a row of light pulse receivers that receive the light pulses and that output values representing the received light pulses, each receiver having expected values for emitter-receiver pairs when the light pulses are not blocked, determining if each receiver output value for a receiver-emitter pair is within a respective designated range from the corresponding receiver expected value, and when a receiver output value for a receiver-emitter pair is outside the designated range, recalibrating the emitter, including adjusting at least one of the emitter pulse current and pulse duration such that subsequent receiver output values are within the designated range, and updating the receiver expected value for the receiver-emitter pair based on subsequent output values of the receiver. | 07-14-2011 |
20110175852 | LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN USING ELLIPTICAL AND PARABOLIC REFLECTORS - A touch screen system, including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing below the display, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing below the display, a first light guide, mounted in the housing along a first edge of the display, including a first substantially parabolic reflective surface for reflecting light pulses transmitted by the emitters, and a first substantially elliptical refractive surface, positioned substantially above the first substantially parabolic reflective surface, for refracting the reflected light pulses over the display, a second light guide, mounted in the housing along an opposite edge of the display, including a second substantially elliptical refractive surface for further refracting the light pulse refracted by the first substantially elliptical refractive surface, and a second substantially parabolic reflective surface, positioned substantially below the second substantially elliptical refractive surface, for reflecting the further refracted light pulses to the receivers, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, to determine a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses refracted by the first light guide, based on outputs of the receivers corresponding to light pulses refracted by the second light guide. | 07-21-2011 |
20110181552 | PRESSURE-SENSITIVE TOUCH SCREEN - A pressure-sensitive touch screen including a housing, at least one light receiver rigidly mounted in the housing, a display flexibly mounted in the housing substantially above the at least one receiver, which depresses in response to pressure of a touch, and a calculating unit connected to the at least one light receiver for receiving outputs indicating amounts of received light by the at least one receiver, and for determining that the display is being depressed based on an increase in an output of the at least one receiver. | 07-28-2011 |
20110210946 | LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN USING ELONGATED LIGHT GUIDES - A touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing and arranged along a first edge of the display, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and serially transmit light pulses through the collimating lenses over the display, a light guide mounted in the housing along the edge of the display opposite the first edge, for receiving the light pulses, the light guide including a reflective strip that reflects light pulses to one end of the light guide, a light pulse receiver mounted in the housing near the one end of the light guide, for receiving the reflected light pulses, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receiver, for determining a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receiver. | 09-01-2011 |
20120094723 | USER INTERFACE - A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program code which, when executed by a mobile handheld device that has a touch sensitive display, instructs the device (i) to display a notification of an incoming phone call, and (ii) to accept the call in response to a mufti-step operation comprising an object touching the touch sensitive display, and the object gliding along the touch sensitive display in a specific direction. | 04-19-2012 |
20120176343 | OPTICAL ELEMENTS WITH ALTERNATING REFLECTIVE LENS FACETS - An optical element for a light based touch surface including a concatenated plurality of segments, wherein each segment is paired with a respective light emitter, each segment including an undulating series of pairs of reflective or refractive facets, wherein a first facet in each pair is oriented so as to collimate light emitted from a first light emitter associated with the segment and a second facet in each pair is oriented so as to collimate light emitted from a second light emitter associated with the segment, and wherein the first light emitter associated with the segment is the light emitter paired with the segment and the second light emitter associated with the segment is the light emitter paired with a neighboring segment. | 07-12-2012 |
20120188205 | ASIC CONTROLLER FOR LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN - A controller including a chip package coupled with a light-based touch screen, emitter driver circuitry inside the chip package for selectively activating photoemitters that are outside of the chip package, detector driver circuitry inside the chip package for selectively activating photo detectors that are outside of the chip package, detector signal processing circuitry for generating detection signals representing amounts of light detected on the photo detectors, signal conducting pins for connecting the photoemitters to the emitter driver circuitry, signal conducting pins for connecting the photo detectors to the detector driver circuitry and to the detector signal processing circuitry, controller circuitry inside the chip package for controlling the emitter driver circuitry and the detector driver circuitry, and at least one input/output pin for outputting the detection signals to a host processor, for the host processor to identify one or more locations on the touch screen that are being touched. | 07-26-2012 |
20120188206 | OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN WITH TRI-DIRECTIONAL MICRO-LENSES - A lens for refracting light in three directions, including a lens surface having a repetitive pattern of recessed cavities formed by a repetitive pattern of three substantially planar facets. | 07-26-2012 |
20120192094 | USER INTERFACE - A computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor of a mobile handheld computer, cause the processor to present a user interface including a touch sensitive area in which a representation of a function is provided, wherein the function is activated in response to a multi-step operation including an object touching the touch sensitive area at a location where the representation is provided, and then the object gliding along the touch sensitive area away from the touched location irrespective of how far the object glides, wherein the function, when activated, causes the user interface to display user input controls at respective display locations that are determined prior to performance of the multi-step operation, and wherein any user gesture that activates a function and begins with an object touching the touch sensitive area at a location where the representation is provided causes the same response. | 07-26-2012 |
20130076697 | LIGHT-BASED TOUCH SCREEN - A light-based touch screen, including a housing for a display screen, a plurality of infra-red light emitting diodes (LEDs), fastened on the housing, for generating light beams, at least one LED selector, fastened on the housing and connected with the plurality of LEDs, for controllably selecting and deselecting one or more of the plurality of LEDs, a plurality of photodiode (PD) receivers, fastened on the housing, for measuring light intensity, at least one PD selector, fastened on the housing and connected with the plurality of PD receivers, for controllably selecting and deselecting one or more of the plurality of PD receivers, an optical assembly, fastened on the housing, for projecting light beams emitted by the plurality of LEDs in substantially parallel planes over the housing, and a controller, fastened on the housing and coupled with the plurality of PD receivers, (i) for controlling the at least one LED selector, (ii) for controlling the at least one PD selector, and (iii) for determining therefrom position and velocity of an object crossing at least one of the substantially parallel planes, based on output currents of the plurality of PD receivers. | 03-28-2013 |
20130093727 | LIGHT-BASED FINGER GESTURE USER INTERFACE - A light-based finger gesture user interface for an electronic device including a housing for an electronic device, a display mounted in the housing, a cavity, separated from the display, penetrating two opposite sides of the housing, a detector mounted in the housing operative to detect an object inserted in the cavity, and a processor connected to the detector and to the display for causing the display to render a visual representation in response to output from the detector. | 04-18-2013 |
20130229373 | LIGHT-BASED FINGER GESTURE USER INTERFACE - A light-based finger gesture user interface for an electronic device including a housing for an electronic device, a display mounted in the housing, a cavity, separated from the display, penetrating two opposite sides of the housing, a detector mounted in the housing operative to detect an object inserted in the cavity, and a processor connected to the detector and to the display for causing the display to render a visual representation in response to output from the detector. | 09-05-2013 |
20130271428 | SCANNING OF A TOUCH SCREEN - A rectangular light-based touch-sensitive surface for an electronic device comprising a plurality of light emitters arranged along one and only one side of a surface, each emitter being activatable to emit light rays at a plurality of different angles across the surface, a plurality of light detectors arranged along the three remaining sides of the surface, each detector being activatable to register detection values of emitted light beams, wherein light emitted from each emitter is registered by two or more of the detectors, and a processor connected to the emitters and to the detectors operable to coordinate activations of the emitters and detectors, and to receive the registered detection values. | 10-17-2013 |
20140160081 | ASIC CONTROLLER FOR LIGHT-BASED SENSOR - A controller for a light-based touch screen including a chip package coupled with a light-based touch screen, emitter driver circuitry inside the chip package for selectively activating a plurality of photoemitters that are outside of the chip package, detector driver circuitry inside the chip package for selectively activating a plurality of photo detectors that are outside of the chip package, detector signal processing circuitry for generating detection signals representing measured amounts of light detected on the plurality of photo detectors, a first plurality of signal conducting pins for connecting the plurality of photoemitters outside the chip package to the emitter driver circuitry inside the chip package, a second plurality of signal conducting pins for connecting the plurality of photo detectors outside the chip package to the detector driver circuitry and to the detector signal processing circuitry inside the chip package, controller circuitry inside the chip package for controlling the emitter driver circuitry and the detector driver circuitry, and at least one input/output pin for communicating with a host processor and for outputting the detection signals generated by the detector signal processing circuitry to the host processor, for the host processor to identify one or more locations on the touch screen that are being touched. | 06-12-2014 |
20140325441 | USER INTERFACE - A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor of an electronic device having a touch-sensitive display, cause the processor to enable a user interface of the device, including presenting a list of items on the display, each item having content associated therewith, highlighting an item in the list by presenting a highlight marking on that item, translating the highlight marking within the list, in response to an object gliding along the display, and opening the content associated with the currently highlighted item, in response to a tap gesture on the display. | 10-30-2014 |
20140333558 | LIGHT-BASED FINGER GESTURE USER INTERFACE - A finger gesture user interface for an electronic device, including a housing for an electronic device including a front opening in a front outer surface of the housing, a rear opening in a rear outer surface of the housing, and inner sidewalls extending from the front opening to the rear opening to form a cavity, a display, mounted in the housing along a plane transverse to the front and rear openings, for rendering a 3D realm, a detector mounted in the inner sidewalls, operable to detect translation of a finger inserted in the cavity along a dimension of the cavity transverse to the display plane, and a processor connected to the detector and to the display for interpreting the detected finger translation as a user interface input command to move within the 3D realm along the dimension transverse to the display. | 11-13-2014 |
20150015522 | FINGER GESTURE USER INTERFACE - A light-based finger gesture user interface for an electronic device including a housing for an electronic device, a display mounted in the housing, a cavity, separated from the display, penetrating two opposite sides of the housing, a detector mounted in the housing operative to detect an object inserted in the cavity, and a processor connected to the detector and to the display for causing the display to render a visual representation in response to output from the detector. | 01-15-2015 |
20150277636 | COMPOUND LENS STRUCTURE FOR OPTICAL TOUCH SCREEN - A compound lens structure for placement along a common edge of a light-based touch screen, including first and second lenses separated by an air gap to provide four air-to-plastic interfaces for progressively collimating light directed through the lenses, each lens including a convex surface exposed to the air gap. | 10-01-2015 |
20150277663 | TOUCH SCREEN CALIBRATION AND UPDATE METHODS - A method of updating reference values for optical components of a light-based touch screen, including providing a display, a plurality of light emitters that sequentially transmit light over the display, and a plurality of light receivers that receive the emitted light and that output values representing the amount of light received, activating a sequence of emitter-receiver pairs, when an object touches the screen, identifying those emitter-receiver pairs (E, R) for which the light emitted by the emitter E is not blocked from reaching the receiver R of the pair, based on a comparison of the actual output value, OUT(E, R), of the receiver R, with a reference output value, REF(E, R), for the emitter-receiver pair, and setting REF(E, R)=OUT(E, R) for each of the thus-identified emitter-receiver pairs (E, R). | 10-01-2015 |
20150277666 | ASIC CONTROLLER FOR LIGHT-BASED SENSOR - A state machine for controlling a sensor including a chip package coupled with photo-emitters and photo-detectors mounted in a device, and with a host processor, including an emitter driver, a detector driver, a signal processor for generating signals representing amounts of light detected by the detectors, and a scan controller for controlling the emitter and detector drivers to activate an automated sequence of emitter-detector pairs, the scan controller including registers for storing parameters designating emitter-detector pairs that are to be activated during the automated sequence, and for storing the signals generated by the signal processor for the emitter-detector pair activations, and at least one input/output pin for receiving parameters from the host processor to be loaded into the registers, and for outputting the stored signals in the registers to the host processor, for the host processor to identify therefrom location coordinates of an object near or touching the device. | 10-01-2015 |
20160098189 | USER INTERFACE FOR MOBILE COMPUTER UNIT - An electronic device including a display, sensors detecting contact above the display, a processor receiving information from the sensors, and a user interface accessing a plurality of applications, each application running on the electronic device in an activated state and in a non-activated state whereby, in its activated state, the application presents a graphical user interface (GUI) on the display and runs interactively via the GUI, and, in its non-activated state, the application presents a gadget on the display and runs non-interactively to present, within the gadget, dynamically generated information related to the application, wherein the user interface initializes each application in its non-activated state when the electronic device is turned on, and alters the layout when an application transitions to its activated state, by displacing some gadgets from in the display to out of the display, and replacing the displaced gadgets with a window for the activated application's GUI. | 04-07-2016 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100278352 | Wind Suppression/Replacement Component for use with Electronic Systems - Systems and methods to reduce the negative impact of wind on an electronic system include use of a first detector that receives a first signal and a second detector that receives a second signal. A voice activity detector (VAD) coupled to the first detector generates a VAD signal when the first signal corresponds to voiced speech. A wind detector coupled to the second detector correlates signals received at the second detector and derives from the correlation wind metrics that characterize wind noise that is acoustic disturbance corresponding to at least one of air flow and air pressure in the second detector. The wind detector controls a configuration of the second detector according to the wind metrics. The wind detector uses the wind metrics to dynamically control mixing of the first signal and the second signal to generate an output signal for transmission. | 11-04-2010 |
20100280824 | Wind Suppression/Replacement Component for use with Electronic Systems - Systems and methods to reduce the negative impact of wind on an electronic system include use of a first detector that receives a first signal and a second detector that receives a second signal. A voice activity detector (VAD) coupled to the first detector generates a VAD signal when the first signal corresponds to voiced speech. A wind detector coupled to the second detector correlates signals received at the second detector and derives from the correlation wind metrics that characterize wind noise that is acoustic disturbance corresponding to at least one of air flow and air pressure in the second detector. The wind detector controls a configuration of the second detector according to the wind metrics. The wind detector uses the wind metrics to dynamically control mixing of the first signal and the second signal to generate an output signal for transmission. | 11-04-2010 |
20120184337 | WIRELESS CONFERENCE CALL TELEPHONE - A wireless conference call telephone system uses body-worn wired or wireless audio endpoints comprising microphones and, optionally, speakers. These audio-endpoints, which include headsets, pendants, and clip-on microphones to name a few, are used to capture the user's voice and the resulting data may be used to remove echo and environmental acoustic noise. Each audio-endpoint transmits its audio to the telephony gateway, where noise and echo suppression can take place if not already performed on the audio-endpoint, and where each audio-endpoint's output can be labeled, integrated with the output of other audio-endpoints, and transmitted over one or more telephony channels of a telephone network. The noise and echo suppression can also be done on the audio-endpoint. The labeling of each user's output can be used by the outside caller's phone to spatially locate each user in space, increasing intelligibility. | 07-19-2012 |
20120288079 | WIRELESS CONFERENCE CALL TELEPHONE - A wireless conference call telephone system uses body-worn wired or wireless audio endpoints comprising microphone arrays and, optionally, speakers. These audio-endpoints, which include headsets, pendants, and clip-on microphones to name a few, are used to capture the user's voice and the resulting data may be used to remove echo and environmental acoustic noise. Each audio-endpoint transmits its audio to the telephony gateway, where noise and echo suppression can take place if not already performed on the audio-endpoint, and where each audio-endpoint's output can be labeled, integrated with the output of other audio-endpoints, and transmitted over one or more telephony channels of a telephone network. The noise and echo suppression can also be done on the audio-endpoint. The labeling of each user's output can be used by the outside caller's phone to spatially locate each user in space, increasing intelligibility. | 11-15-2012 |
20130211830 | WIND SUPPRESSION/REPLACEMENT COMPONENT FOR USE WITH ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS - Techniques associated with an acoustic vibration sensor are described, including a first detector that receives a first signal and a second detector that receives a second signal and a third signal, wherein the first signal comprises a skin surface microphone signal, a static equalization filter coupled to the first detector and configured to generate an equalized first signal, a voice activity detector coupled to the first detector, and a wind detector coupled to the second detector, the wind detector configured to correlate the second signal and the third signal and to derive from the correlation a plurality of wind metrics associated with a wind noise, the wind detector is further configured to determine a magnitude associated with the wind noise, to determine whether to suspend an activity of the system, and to determine a duration of time that the magnitude associated with the wind noise exceeds a threshold. | 08-15-2013 |
20140140524 | WIND SUPPRESSION/REPLACEMENT COMPONENT FOR USE WITH ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS - Systems and methods to reduce the negative impact of wind on an electronic system include use of a first detector that receives a first signal and a second detector that receives a second signal. A voice activity detector (VAD) coupled to the first detector generates a VAD signal when the first signal corresponds to voiced speech. A wind detector coupled to the second detector correlates signals received at the second detector correlates signals received at the second detector and derives from the correlation wind metrics that characterize wind noise that is acoustic disturbance corresponding to at least one of air flow and air pressure in the second detector. The wind detector controls a configuration of the second detector according to the wind metrics. The wind detector uses the wind metrics to dynamically control mixing of the first signal and the second signal to generate an output signal for transmission. | 05-22-2014 |
20140270259 | SPEECH DETECTION USING LOW POWER MICROELECTRICAL MECHANICAL SYSTEMS SENSOR - Devices and techniques for speech detection using low power microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMS) sensor are described, including a power source, a voice activity detection device connected to the power source and having a microelectrical mechanical system sensor formed on die with a digital signal processor and a voice activity detection logic, and a host system connected to the power source and the voice activity detection device, the host system having sensors, a power manager configured to control power being consumed by the host system according to various power modes, and a speech recognition module, where the voice activity detection device is configured to provide a signal to the host system indicating the presence of speech. | 09-18-2014 |
20140270260 | SPEECH DETECTION USING LOW POWER MICROELECTRICAL MECHANICAL SYSTEMS SENSOR - Devices and techniques for speech detection using low power microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMS) sensor are described, including monitoring acoustic energy using a microelectrical mechanical system sensor, detecting a presence of speech using a voice activity detection device comprising a voice activity detection logic and the microelectrical mechanical system sensor formed on die, switching a host system from a first power mode to a second power mode, using a power manager, upon receiving a signal from the voice activity detection device indicating a presence of speech, the host system comprising one or more sensors and a speech recognition module configured to recognize a speech command, and taking an action in response to the speech command. | 09-18-2014 |
20150288823 | WIRELESS CONFERENCE CALL TELEPHONE - A wireless conference call telephone system uses body-worn wired or wireless audio endpoints comprising microphones and, optionally, speakers. These audio-endpoints, which include headsets, pendants, and clip-on microphones to name a few, are used to capture the user's voice and the resulting data may be used to remove echo and environmental acoustic noise. Each audio-endpoint transmits its audio to the telephony gateway, where noise and echo suppression can take place if not already performed on the audio-endpoint, and where each audio-endpoint's output can be labeled, integrated with the output of other audio-endpoints, and transmitted over one or more telephony channels of a telephone network. The noise and echo suppression can also be done on the audio-endpoint. The labeling of each user's output can be used by the outside caller's phone to spatially locate each user in space, increasing intelligibility. | 10-08-2015 |
20150319527 | WIND SUPPRESSION/REPLACEMENT COMPONENT FOR USE WITH ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS - Techniques associated with an acoustic vibration sensor are described, including a first detector that receives a first signal and a second detector that receives a second signal and a third signal, wherein the first signal comprises a skin surface microphone signal, a static equalization filter coupled to the first detector and configured to generate an equalized first signal, a voice activity detector coupled to the first detector, and a wind detector coupled to the second detector, the wind detector configured to correlate the second signal and the third signal and to derive from the correlation a plurality of wind metrics associated with a wind noise, the wind detector is further configured to determine a magnitude associated with the wind noise, to determine whether to suspend an activity of the system, and to determine a duration of time that the magnitude associated with the wind noise exceeds a threshold. | 11-05-2015 |