Abstract: A method and apparatus for associating components within a touch monitor comprising a monitor and a touchscreen which are interconnected with one another. A first data value is stored in a memory interconnected with the monitor, and a second data value is stored in the memory which is interconnected with the touchscreen. The first and second data values are used to identify a unique relationship between the monitor and the touchscreen. When the first and second data values are read and compared, it is determined whether the monitor and the touchscreen are associated with one another based on the first and second data values.

Abstract: A touch sensor comprising an acoustic wave transmissive medium having a surface; a plurality of acoustic wave path forming systems, each generating a set of incrementally varying paths through said transmissive medium; and a receiver, receiving signals representing said sets of waves, a portion of each set overlapping temporally or physically by propagating in said transmissive medium along axes which are not orthogonal. The waves may also be of differing wave modes. The receiver system may include a phase, waveform or amplitude sensitive system.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a multilayer substrate for use in touchscreen and touch sensor applications. The substrate, including a microsheet, a polymer sheet, and a plate supports the propagation of acoustic waves, including Love waves and Rayleigh-like waves. The microsheet and plate may be fabricated from glass, metal, or other suitable materials depending on the desired application for the touchscreen. The polymer sheet may be fabricated from polystyrene, polyacrylates, polyether sulfones, or polycyclic olefins. The disclosed touchscreen substrates are thin but durable and have increased touch sensitivity with decreased sensitivity to water and other surface contaminants.

Abstract: An acoustic-based system, such as a touchscreen system, is provided. The system comprises an acoustic substrate and an acoustic transducer operably coupled to the substrate. The transducer exhibits a higher order odd resonant frequency that is equal to the operating frequency of the system. As a result of using the higher resonant frequency that is substantially equal to the operating frequency, the thickness of the transducer can be increased, and thus made more durable.

Abstract: An FPC is constructed of two FPC branches, and a connection line that connects to a controller. Printed wiring of the connection line includes ten printed wires. The central four printed wires are signal reception wires, which are connected to two converters (sensors). Grounding wires are provided on both sides of the four signal reception wires. Two outer signal wires are provided adjacent to the grounding wires, respectively toward the outsides thereof. Further, two more grounding wires are provided adjacent to the outer signal wires, respectively on the outsides thereof. This construction results in shielding of all of the signal wires. This relationship is maintained in the FPC branches as well.

Abstract: A resistive touchscreen having a programmable display, such as an emissive display matrix of organic light-emitting diodes, or a reflective electronic paper display, built into the coversheet. The touchscreen may be of any resistive type, including 4-wire, 5-wire, and diode 3-wire. A touch/display system is thus provided in which there is little or no degradation of the displayed image due to image transmission through the internal touch sensor components, and in which the internal touch sensor components may be constructed of opaque materials.

Abstract: A method for determining the location of a touch made to a capacitive touchscreen in which the touchscreen includes a plurality of electrodes distributed around a touch sensitive area of the touchscreen, and a control circuit connected to the plurality of electrodes. The control circuit includes circuitry for measuring capacitance on the sensor, and provides a control signal indicating coordinates of a touch position on the screen, and includes multiple input/output connections, and multiple sub-circuits, where one sub-circuit is associated with one electrode. The method includes using a first switching element of each sub-circuit, when closed, to connect an electrode to an energy storage element which is in turn connected to a reference or ground, and using a second switching element, when closed, to connect the energy storage element to a detector.

Abstract: An acoustic touchscreen having a substrate capable of propagating acoustic waves, the substrate having a touch-sensitive area, and an array of acoustically reflective elements lying in or on the substrate are positioned to transmit or receive acoustic signals into or out of the touch-sensitive area, the elements having a focusing shape that provides waveguide functionality, i.e., focusing the acoustic wave energy to a narrow area along a center line of the array axis, without requiring a further waveguide core structure.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to touch sensors with arrays of switches (e.g., diodes or transistors) that can be used to selectively apply voltage gradients across a resistive touch regions of the touch sensor substrate. Touches on the touch sensor can then be sensed by measuring the voltage at the touch location on the resistive touch region. The switch arrays take the form of strips of switches that can be cut from a prefabricated reel or a sheet and applied to the touchscreen substrate.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to touch sensors with arrays of thin-film conductive polymer switches (e.g., diodes or transistors) that can be used to selectively apply voltage gradients across a resistive touch region of the touch sensor substrate. Touches on the touch sensor can then be sensed by measuring the voltage at the touch location on the resistive touch region.

Abstract: An FPC is constructed of two FPC branches, and a connection line that connects to a controller. Printed wiring of the connection line includes ten printed wires. The central four printed wires are signal reception wires, which are connected to two converters (sensors). Grounding wires are provided on both sides of the four signal reception wires. Two outer signal wires are provided adjacent to the grounding wires, respectively toward the outsides thereof. Further, two more grounding wires are provided adjacent to the outer signal wires, respectively on the outsides thereof. This construction results in shielding of all of the signal wires. This relationship is maintained in the FPC branches as well.

Abstract: Touch input systems for use with information display systems and methods distinguishing multiple touches overlapping in time. The touch input systems and methods analyze and optimize data collected on the X axis over time independently from that collected on the Y axis, and for each (X, Y) pair corresponding to a potential touch location, calculate correlation values between X magnitudes and Y magnitudes. The touch input system determines valid touch locations based on the correlation values. Because the touch input systems and methods of the present invention can process multiple concurrent touches, they can be used in applications for multiple users, such as games, and in other applications requiring the processing of concurrent touch inputs.

Abstract: A touch sensor comprising an acoustic wave transmissive medium having a surface; a plurality of acoustic wave path forming systems, each generating a set of incrementally varying paths through the transmissive medium; and a receiver, receiving signals representing the sets of waves, a portion of each set overlapping temporally or physically by propagating in the transmissive medium along axes which are not orthogonal. The waves may also be of differing wave modes. The receiver system may include a phase, waveform or amplitude sensitive system.

Abstract: The present invention provides a way to measure and track non-linear corrections in touchscreens. Some or all of the relevant non-linear corrections may be determined automatically. Production floor test equipment may make electronic measurements, compute parameters, and load the parameters in non-volatile memory of the controller electronics. Alternatively, the controller electronics can make the electronic measurements and determine non-linear parameters. The latter embodiment of the invention permits the determination of non-linear parameters in the field, dynamically tracking changes in the non-linear characteristics of installed touchscreens that occur over time or due to environmental conditions.

Abstract: A new touch screen is based upon the mapping of coordinates from an equipotential space defined by a simple set of screen electrodes to some other, more useful coordinates, such as Cartesian. The key idea is that unique coordinate mapping can be achieved with each sensing pair of electronic readings. A new sensor is described with a band of intermediate conductivity framing the sensor area. This sensor can be used advantageously either as a standalone with uniform equipotential distributions or in connection with the mapping concepts discussed herein with non-uniform distributions.

Abstract: An acoustic touchscreen (1a) has transmitting transducers (23a, 23b) for generating acoustic signals which are deflected across a touch-sensitive area (2) by an array 13 of partially acoustically reflective elements 14. A touch on the touch-sensitive area causes a perturbation in the acoustic signals. After traversing the touch-sensitive area, the acoustic signals are redirected by another array 13 of partially acoustically reflective elements 14, towards receiving transducers (26a, 26b), where the signals (and any perturbations) are sensed. To accommodate touchscreens having narrow border regions (15a), the acoustic signals are propagated across the border regions using acoustic waveguides (18). The waveguide confines the acoustic signals to traveling along a narrow path width, but yet permit them to be deflected across the touch-sensitive area. In this manner, the transducers and reflective elements can in turn be of narrower construction and can fit within narrow border regions.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for adapting an acoustic touchscreen controller to the operating frequency requirements of a specific touchscreen are provided. The adaptive controller can either utilize look-up tables to achieve the desired output frequency or the it can use a multi-step process in which it first determines the frequency requirements of the touchscreen, and then adjusts the burst frequency characteristics, the receiver circuit center frequency, or both in accordance with the touchscreen requirements. In one embodiment, the adaptive controller compensates for global frequency mismatch errors. In this embodiment a digital multiplier is used to modify the output of a crystal reference oscillator. The reference oscillator output is used to control the frequency of the signal from the receiving transducers and/or to generate the desired frequency of the tone burst sent to the transmitting transducers.

Abstract: A general method is described for producing an inexpensive touchscreen system that provides accurate positional information and compensates for manufacturing variations without complicated sensor arrangements. Utilizing a set of sensed signals that are unique to each location on the touchscreen sensor, equations for X and Y are derived via curve fitting methods. The coefficients of the equations are stored with the sensor. During touchscreen operation the coefficients are used to calculate X and Y to the desired accuracy directly and independently.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for discriminating against false touches in a touchscreen system is provided. The system is designed to confirm a touch registered by one touch sensor with another touch sensor, preferably of a different sensor type, prior to acting upon the touch (i.e., sending touch coordinates to the operating system). If the touch registered by the first touch sensor is not confirmed by the second touch sensor, the touch is invalidated. Thus the strengths of one type of sensor are used to overcome the deficiencies of another type of sensor. In one aspect, the secondary touch sensor comprises a force sensor to discriminate between true and false touches on other types of touch sensors, such as contaminants on optical and surface acoustic wave sensors, noise or weak signals on capacitive sensors, etc. The force sensor may be a simple one-element system that merely indicates that a touch has occurred or a multi-element system that can provide confirming or supplementary coordinate data.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for discriminating against false touches in a touchscreen system is provided. The system is designed to confirm a touch registered by one touch sensor with another touch sensor, preferably of a different sensor type, prior to acting upon the touch (i.e., sending touch coordinates to the operating system). If the touch registered by the first touch sensor is not confirmed by the second touch sensor, the touch is invalidated. Thus the strengths of one type of sensor are used to overcome the deficiencies of another type of sensor. This system is particularly well suited to meet the demands of an outdoor or semi-outdoor application. In one embodiment, one or more force sensors are used as the false touch sensor and a projective-capacitive sensor is used as the position coordinate determining sensor. In another embodiment, a projective-capacitive sensor is used as the false touch sensor.