Patent · US Expired

Acoustic touch position sensor using higher order horizontally polarized shear wave propagation

US5591945A · kind A · utility

200Cited by
14References
125Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 19, 1995
Grant dateJan 7, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 19, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S367/907
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An acoustic touch position sensor having a transducer which imparts a wave, propagating along a first axis. A reflective array disposed along the first axis which reflects the wave as a set of waves having a horizontally polarized component and a non-uniform volumetric energy density along an axis normal to said surface, traveling along a different axis into the touch surface region of the substrate. The waves are partially absorbed, attenuated or perturbed by an object touching the substrate, to create a modified waveform having characteristics indicative of the axial displacement and/or contact condition of the object with the substrate. The wave perturbation is detected by collecting the set of waves with a reflective array, which redirects the wave energy to a receiving transducer. The transducers preferably produce and are responsive to Rayleigh type waves, with the reflective arrays mode-converting acoustic wave energy between higher order horizontally polarized shear waves and Rayleigh type waves.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.