Invention Grant
- Patent Title: System and method for acoustic touch and force sensing
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Application No.: US16523958Application Date: 2019-07-26
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Publication No.: US11334196B2Publication Date: 2022-05-17
- Inventor: Marcus Yip , Aaron Scott Tucker , Ehsan Khajeh , Brian Michael King
- Applicant: Apple Inc.
- Applicant Address: US CA Cupertino
- Assignee: Apple Inc.
- Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA Cupertino
- Agency: Kubota & Basol LLP
- Main IPC: G06F3/043
- IPC: G06F3/043 ; G06F3/041

Abstract:
Acoustic touch and/or force sensing system architectures and methods for acoustic touch and/or force sensing can be used to detect a position of an object touching a surface and an amount of force applied to the surface by the object. The position and/or an applied force can be determined using time-of-flight (TOF) techniques, for example. Acoustic touch sensing can utilize transducers (e.g., piezoelectric) to simultaneously transmit ultrasonic waves along a surface and through a thickness of a deformable material. The location of the object and the applied force can be determined based on the amount of time elapsing between the transmission of the waves and receipt of the reflected waves. In some examples, an acoustic touch sensing system can be insensitive to water contact on the device surface, and thus acoustic touch sensing can be used for touch sensing in devices that may become wet or fully submerged in water.
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