Patent US6091406A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6091406A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Grating transducer for acoustic touchscreens
Assignee: Elo Touch Solutions Inc
•
Filing: 1997-12-24
•
Granted: 2000-07-18
•
Expires: 2017-12-24
Abstract
Abstract An acoustic touch sensing device, comprising a substrate, having a surface; and an acoustic wave transducer, transducing a bulk wave in said substrate propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting said surface, wherein energy of said bulk wave is coupled to a wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along said surface. The device may include a set of scattering centers to couple the bulk wave to a Rayleigh wave or plate wave. The Rayleigh wave or plate wave may be dispersed over a region of the substrate, and analyzed to detect a perturbation indicative of a position of touch.
Inventors
- 👤 Shigeki Kambara
- 👤 Hiroshi Kaneda
- 👤 Robert Adler
- 👤 Joel Kent
- 👤 Bruce W. Maxfield
- 👤 Masao Takeuchi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 11:58
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/01; G06F3/03; G06F3/041; G06F3/043; G06F3/0436
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 76
Claim 1
Independent Claim
87 words
An acoustic touch sensing device, comprising: (a) a substrate, having a surface; (b) an acoustic wave transducer, coupling to a first wave, being a bulk wave, propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting said surface; (c) a diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler, coupling energy of said first wave to a second wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along an axis parallel to said surface; and (d) means for detecting a perturbation of the energy of said second wave.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
87 words
An acoustic touch sensing device, comprising: (a) a substrate, having a surface; (b) an acoustic wave transducer, coupling to a first wave, being a bulk wave, propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting said surface; (c) a diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler, coupling energy of said first wave to a second wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along an axis parallel to said surface; and (d) means for detecting a perturbation of the energy of said second wave.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer comprises means for propagating bulk waves in an oblique direction with respect to said surface.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
23 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer couples said first wave directly to said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer couples said first wave to said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler through at least one acoustic reflection in the path of said first wave.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
33 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler couples to a third wave comprising energy of said first wave having a different wave mode than said first wave.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
73 words
The device according to claim 1, further comprising a second acoustic wave transducer, coupling to an eighth wave, being a bulk wave, propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting said surface, said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler coupling energy of said eighth wave to a ninth wave, distinct from said second wave, having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along an axis parallel to said surface.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises a set of scattering centers.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
17 words
The device according to claim 7, wherein said set of scattering centers are disposed on said surface.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
30 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises a set of spaced elements having an acoustic characteristic differing from surrounding areas of said substrate.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
15 words
The device according to claim 9, wherein said elements comprise regularly spaced elongated linear grates.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
15 words
The device according to claim 9, wherein said elements comprise regularly spaced elongated curved grates.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
21 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises a periodic acoustic perturbation of said substrate.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
61 words
The device according to claim 1, further comprising a set of elements disposed along at least a portion of a path of said second wave for reflecting a portion of the energy of said second wave as a set of fourth waves, each propagating parallel to said surface along an axis different than an axis of propagation of said second wave.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
22 words
The device according to claim 13, wherein said set of fourth waves have distinct characteristic time delays which vary incrementally and monotonically.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
63 words
The device according to claim 14, further comprising a set of elements disposed along a path intersecting said axes of said set of fourth waves, reflecting at least a portion of the energy of said set of fourth waves toward a common receiver, said common receiver producing a signal related to an energy of said reflected portion of said set of fourth waves.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
38 words
The device according to claim 15, wherein said means for detecting a perturbation of the energy of said second wave comprises means for analyzing a signal from said common receiver to detect a perturbation of energy received thereby.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
72 words
The device according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of said acoustic wave transducers, each coupling to a different bulk wave propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting said surface, the energy of said different bulk waves each being coupled to a wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along an axis parallel to said surface by a diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
25 words
The device according to claim 17, wherein at least two of said converted wave modes coupled to said different bulk waves propagate along parallel paths.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
57 words
The device according to claim 1, further comprising a wave disperser and a wave condenser, each sequentially disposed along a different a portion of a path of acoustic energy of said wave having appreciable energy at said surface, said wave disperser and said wave condenser being separated by a portion of said surface adapted for touch sensing.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
91 words
The device according to claim 19, further comprising a second acoustic wave transducer, coupling to a fifth wave, being a bulk wave, propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting said surface, said fifth wave being coupled to a sixth wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along an axis parallel to said surface; said second wave having a path including at least a portion of said wave disperser and said sixth wave having a path including at least a portion of said condenser.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
16 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means detects a location of said perturbation.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
11 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said surface is planar.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
28 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said surface is smooth and nonplanar, said axis of propagation of said second wave locally varying to conform to said surface.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
37 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer comprises a flat acoustic coupling surface, said flat acoustic coupling surface being inclined with respect to a portion of said surface intersected by said first wave.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
15 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer comprises a piezoelectric element.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
26 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer comprises a diffractive acoustic wave coupler, coupling a seventh acoustic wave with said first wave.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
30 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said first wave has an axis of propagation whose projection onto said surface differs from an axis of propagation of said second wave.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
34 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said first wave has one or more oscillation components selected from the group consisting of a pressure mode, a vertical shear mode and a horizontal shear mode.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
33 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said second wave has one or more oscillation components selected from the group consisting of longitudinal mode, horizontally polarized shear mode and vertically polarized shear mode.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
14 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said second wave comprises a Rayleigh-type wave.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
14 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said second wave comprises a Love-type wave.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
13 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said substrate has inhomogeneous acoustic properties.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
20 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said substrate has comprises layers parallel to said surface having different acoustic properties.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
35 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said first wave propagates along an axis having an inclination of at least |π/8 | radians with respect to a plane tangent to said surface at said intersection.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
43 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said first wave comprises a shear-mode component and has a projection of an axis of propagation having an angle whose magnitude is at least 45° with respect to an axis of propagation of said second wave.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
27 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer couples to a pressure-mode bulk wave and said second wave comprises a horizontally polarized shear wave.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
41 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein substantially only said first wave propagating parallel to said axis intersecting said surface satisfies the horizontal components of the Bragg scattering conditions of said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler at a particular acoustic frequency.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
28 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises a set of elements formed on said surface from a composition comprising glass frit.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
29 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises a set of elements formed on said surface from a composition comprising a polymer matrix.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
29 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises a set of elements formed on said surface from a dense inorganic composition filled polymer.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
22 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises a set of grooves formed in said surface.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
18 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler serves as an acoustic lens.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
52 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler satisfies a Bragg scattering condition for coupling at least two bulk waves to at least two useful waves having a converted wave mode, each with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along an axis parallel to said surface.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
29 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer couples to said first wave in said substrate having an axis of propagation substantially normal to said surface.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
14 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said first wave resonates in said substrate.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
30 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein a portion of an acoustic wave path includes partial acoustic reflections having reflected angles totaling about an integral multiple of 2 π radians.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
62 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer is coupled to a signal and said substrate exhibits an acoustic resonance at a frequency, said acoustic wave transducer being coupled to said acoustic resonance at said frequency, thereby to substantially achieve a relative maximum acoustic power coupling efficiency between said first wave and said signal for a given signal amplitude.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
60 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said substrate is a material selected from the group consisting of soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, a crown glass, a barium-containing glass, a strontium-containing glass, a boron-containing glass, a glass laminate capable of supporting Love wave propagation; a ceramic, aluminum, a coated aluminum substrate capable of supporting Love wave propagation, and a low-acoustic-loss polymer.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
43 words
The device according to claim 1, further comprising means for reflecting portions of said second wave as an incrementally varying set of waves comprising an array of elements formed during an operation integral with an operation forming said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
48 words
The device according to claim 1, further comprising means for selectively reflecting portions of said second wave as a set of dispersed waves propagating through said substrate, said selective reflecting means having a set of Fourier components which poorly couples to unconverted portions of said first bulk wave.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
31 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler comprises at least one element having an asymmetric profile along an axis of propagation of said second wave.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
16 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer comprises a ceramic piezoelectric element.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
16 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer comprises a polymer piezoelectric element.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
29 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said acoustic wave transducer is mounted to said substrate at a region mechanically protected on at least two sides by said substrate.
Claim 56
Dependent Claim
90 words
A substrate for an acoustic sensing device, having a region, and a surface, comprising: (a) an acoustic transducer, coupling to a bulk wave in said substrate having an axis of propagation intersecting said surface; (b) a diffractive acoustic wave mode coupling structure, formed proximate to said surface, adapted to convert acoustic wave energy of the bulk wave to a wave propagating along an axis parallel to said surface; and (c) means for detecting acoustic converted acoustic wave energy in a manner adapted for determining a position of a perturbation thereof.
Claim 57
Dependent Claim
90 words
A substrate for an acoustic sensing device, having a region, and a surface, comprising: (a) an acoustic transducer, coupling to a bulk wave in said substrate having an axis of propagation intersecting said surface; (b) a diffractive acoustic wave mode coupling structure, formed proximate to said surface, adapted to convert acoustic wave energy of the bulk wave to a wave propagating along an axis parallel to said surface; and (c) means for detecting acoustic converted acoustic wave energy in a manner adapted for determining a position of a perturbation thereof.
Claim 58
Dependent Claim
31 words
The substrate according to claim 55, wherein said detecting means comprises means for coupling the converted acoustic wave energy with an incrementally varying set of dispersed waves propagating through said region.
Claim 59
Dependent Claim
38 words
The substrate according to claim 55, further comprising a plurality of acoustic transducers coupled respectively to a bulk wave in said substrate, each bulk wave having an axis of propagation intersecting said surface at an incrementally varying offset.
Claim 60
Independent Claim
74 words
A method of sensing touch on a substrate having a surface, comprising the steps of: transducing a bulk wave in the substrate propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting the surface; diffractively coupling energy of the bulk wave to a wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at the surface and propagating along an axis parallel to the surface; and detecting a perturbation of the wave having a converted wave mode.
Claim 61
Independent Claim
74 words
A method of sensing touch on a substrate having a surface, comprising the steps of: transducing a bulk wave in the substrate propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting the surface; diffractively coupling energy of the bulk wave to a wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at the surface and propagating along an axis parallel to the surface; and detecting a perturbation of the wave having a converted wave mode.
Claim 62
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method according to claim 58, wherein a mode of the bulk wave is converted between said transducing and said diffractively coupling.
Claim 63
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method according to claim 58, further comprising the step of reflecting the bulk wave between said transducing and said diffractively coupling.
Claim 64
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method according to claim 58, further comprising the step of focusing the wave having a converted wave mode.
Claim 65
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method according to claim 58, further comprising the step of reflecting a portion of the energy of the wave having a converted wave mode as a set of temporally varying dispersed waves, each propagating parallel to said surface along a redirected axis.
Claim 66
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method according to claim 62, further comprising the step of reflecting at least a portion of the energy of the temporally varying dispersed waves toward a common receiver.
Claim 67
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method according to claim 63, further comprising the step of analyzing a perturbation of the energy received by the common receiver.
Claim 68
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method according to claim 58, further comprising the step of resonating the bulk wave in the substrate.
Claim 69
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method according to claim 58, further comprising the steps of dispersing the wave having a converted wave mode over a region adapted for sensing touch and condensing the dispersed wave after traversing the region adapted for sensing touch.
Claim 70
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method according to claim 66, further comprising the step of diffractively coupling at least a portion of the condensed dispersed wave to a bulk wave and transducing the coupled condensed dispersed wave.
Claim 71
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method according to claim 58, further comprising the step of analyzing a position of the detected perturbation.
Claim 72
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method according to claim 58, wherein said energy of the bulk wave is scattered as a plurality of wave modes by at least one scattering center, including the wave having a converted wave mode, further comprising the step of selectively distinguishing the wave having a converted wave mode.
Claim 73
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method according to claim 69, wherein the wave having a converted wave mode is selectively distinguished by an interaction of the acoustic energy of the bulk wave with the at least one scattering center and an additional scattering center oriented with respect to the scattering center to selectively generate acoustic wave interference.
Claim 74
Dependent Claim
34 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein an acoustic wave path includes partial acoustic reflections such that a delayed portion of the acoustic wave is essentially superposed on a portion of the acoustic wave.
Claim 75
Dependent Claim
36 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler has a low conversion efficiency and said bulk wave resonates in said substrate in a region of said diffractive acoustic wave mode coupler.
Claim 76
Dependent Claim
88 words
The device according to claim 1, wherein said second wave has a nominal touch sensing path and said detecting means is responsive to a parasitic wave selected from the group consisting of said first wave, said second wave traveling outside said nominal touch sensing path and a third wave derived from said first wave or said second wave and having a wave-mode differing therefrom, further comprising means for reducing an interference of said third wave with a detection of said perturbation of the energy of said parasitic wave.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US33151A
Cited
US3673327A
Cited
US3893047A
Cited
US4700176A
Cited
US4746914A
Cited
US4791416A
Cited
USRE33151E
Cited
US4644100A
Cited
US4642423A
Cited
US4645870A
Cited
US5400788A
Cited
US5177327A
Cited
US5162618A
Cited
US5243148A
Cited
US5260521A
Cited
US5329070A
Cited
US5072427A
Cited
WO1994002911A1
Cited
US5451723A
Cited
US5673041A
Cited
US5708461A
Cited
US5591945A
Cited
US5854450A
Cited
JPH08305481A
Cited
JPH08305482A
Cited
US5648643A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2003-07-18 | 2004-01-17 | 2004-07-18 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2007-07-18 | 2008-01-17 | 2008-07-18 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2011-07-18 | 2012-01-17 | 2012-07-18 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |