Patents Examined by Michael Pervan
  • Patent number: 11442578
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods of capacitance-to-digital code conversion are described. One apparatus includes a bridge circuit and a modulator front-end circuit. The bridge circuit includes a first terminal to couple to a reference cell and a second terminal to couple to a sensor cell. The modulator front-end circuit includes a comparator coupled to the bridge circuit, a first modulation capacitor coupled to a first input of the comparator, and a second modulation capacitor coupled to a second input of the comparator. The modulator front-end circuit provides a digital bitstream. A duty cycle of the digital bitstream is representative of a ratio between a capacitance of the sensor cell and a reference capacitance of the reference cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventor: Andriy Maharyta
  • Patent number: 11442561
    Abstract: A multi-purpose auxiliary device includes: a first body having a holding portion and docking portion, a second body combined with the first body, and a round head kit sleeved on the first body. The docking portion has a semi-spherical enlarged portion having configurations for key operations. When the round head kit is sleeved on the center pillar of the enlarged portion, the first body serves as a capacitive stylus for operating an LCD monitor. When the round head kit is not sleeved on the center pillar, the first body serves as a resistive stylus for operating the LCD monitor, or serves as an electronic credit card signature by using an edge of the holding portion, thus providing versatility and frequency of use for the auxiliary device, and preventing effects of dirt or germs on hands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Inventor: Jung Wu
  • Patent number: 11442576
    Abstract: A touch sensitive processing method comprising: sensing a first characteristic value of the electrical signals received in a reference signal time period; sensing a second characteristic value of the electrical signals, having a first number of waves, received in a first modulation signal time period; sensing a third characteristic value of the electrical signals, having a second number of waves, received in a second modulation signal time period; calculating a first ratio of the second characteristic value and the first characteristic value and calculating a second ratio of the third characteristic value and first characteristic value; and calculating the signal value according to a function of the first ratio, the second ratio, the first number of waves and the second number of waves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: EGALAX_EMPIA TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventors: Chin-Fu Chang, Shang-Tai Yeh
  • Patent number: 11429258
    Abstract: Systems and methods for implementing fixed-layout display components embedded as part of a screen display of a device. In preferred embodiments, fixed-layout components may be utilized and managed independently of the remaining programmatically generated screen display functionality. A fixed-layout component may comprise a plurality of elements and be associated with user interactivities. Each element may be related positionally, dimensionally and display sequence to an overall component and to other elements comprised such that a computed relative position, size and dimension aspect ratio of component items and the item display sequence is maintained programmatically and visually relative to each other irrespective of a screen size or orientation when the fixed-layout component is part of an overall display of a device. The fixed-layout elements may further be operable to display dynamic data which may be logically associated with data comprised within the overall fixed-layout component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Inventor: Michael E. Murphy
  • Patent number: 11422661
    Abstract: Systems and methods for detection of incident light are described. An optical imaging sensor is positioned at least partially within an active display area of a display and is configured to detect and characterize one or more properties of light incident to the active display area of the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mohammad Yeke Yazdandoost, Lun Tsai, Meng-Huan Ho, Niva A. Ran, Akshay Bhat, Volodymyr Borshch, Anand K. Chamakura, Giovanni Gozzini
  • Patent number: 11416083
    Abstract: A keyboard overlay film forming a plurality of keycap accommodating cavities and a key-gap space, the key-gap space surrounding the keycap accommodating cavities, and the keycap accommodating cavities respectively including a key projection surface, wherein the keyboard overlay film includes a top protective layer; a character layer located on a side of the top protective layer forming the keycap accommodating cavities, and the character layer includes a plurality of light-transparent characters respectively corresponding to the key projection surface of the keycap accommodating cavities; a set of touch electrodes located on a side of the character layer opposite to the top protective layer; and a lower protective layer located on a side of the set of touch electrodes opposite to the character layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: DARFON ELECTRONICS CORP.
    Inventors: Chin-Lung Chan, Wei-Yan You
  • Patent number: 11416088
    Abstract: Disclosed are a driving circuit, a stylus and an electronic device. The driving circuit includes: a power supply assembly, at least one energy storage capacitor, a switch assembly and a driving electrode. In a driving cycle: the switch assembly is configured to control connections among the power supply assembly, the at least one energy storage capacitor and the driving electrode, so that the driving electrode outputs a first voltage, at least one second voltage and a third voltage, wherein the first voltage and the third voltage are respectively a maximum voltage and a minimum voltage output by the driving electrode, and the sum of energy storage voltages of the at least one energy storage capacitor is less than the first voltage. The driving circuit, the stylus and the electronic device of the embodiment of the present application could reduce a power consumption.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: SHENZHEN GOODIX TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hao Xie
  • Patent number: 11409026
    Abstract: The invention relates to a mirror cabinet capable of preventing mirror capacitive touch button from touch misoperation, the mirror cabinet comprises a mirror surface, which comprises a glass layer, a metal plating layer provided on the back of the glass layer, and an uncoated metal layer area is provided on the back of the glass layer, and a capacitive touch panel including a plurality of touch buttons is provided in the uncoated metal layer area; a back of the mirror is also provided with a controller electrically connected to the capacitive touch panel and a high-frequency switching power supply electrically connected to the controller. The mirror cabinet can prevent touch misoperation of the mirror surface capacitive touch button so as to enable a touch system to have good stability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Self Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jianfeng Yu
  • Patent number: 11402952
    Abstract: A method and circuit for obtaining a capacitive feedback signal of a capacitive feedback micro torsion mirror are provided to solve the problem of poor stability of the capacitive feedback signals of the micro torsion mirror. First, a pulse signal is used as a driving signal to drive the capacitive feedback micro torsion mirror to vibrate; it is ensured that the micro torsion mirror may twist freely for at least 0.5 cycles during an interval of two adjacent sets of driving pulses; secondly, the capacitive feedback signal of the capacitive feedback micro torsion mirror is extracted, and converted into a voltage signal; then, the voltage signal is amplified; and finally extracted during the interval of the two adjacent sets of driving pulses, and taken as a real capacitive feedback signal. A carrier generation circuit and a detection circuit are omitted, and the influence of the carrier generation circuit and the detection circuit on a capacitive feedback signal is eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: XI AN ZHISENSOR TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Changfeng Xia, Wenhui Zheng, Xiumin Song, Qiaoming You, Dayong Qiao
  • Patent number: 11392244
    Abstract: An embodiment may encode a driving signal and decode a response signal with the same random code, thereby eliminating noise that occurs in sensing a touch and reducing electromagnetic interference with peripheral circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: SILICON WORKS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Mohamed Gamal Ahmed Mohamed
  • Patent number: 11393371
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed herein for monitoring light emissions in electronic devices. The disclosed techniques herein provide for determining a display duration of display devices for a user. Light emission profiles for each of the display devices are determined. A cumulative emissions exposure is determined that is based on the light emission profiles for the display devices and the display duration of the display devices for the user. A determination is made whether the cumulative emissions exposure exceeds a light emission exposure limit set for the user. In a positive determination, an instruction is transmitted to the display devices for execution of a remedial action based on predefined rules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc.
    Inventors: Siddhartha Pande, Madhusudhan Srinivasan
  • Patent number: 11392226
    Abstract: An active stylus calibration method includes establishing, by an electronic device having a touchscreen, a network connection to an active stylus, detecting a function signal from the active stylus, determining a distance between the active stylus and the touchscreen based on a parameter value, obtained through detection, corresponding to the function signal, where a smaller parameter value indicates a larger distance, and when a timing is started when the distance is at a first threshold, the timing duration reaches a specified duration and the distance is at a second threshold, sending, through a network, a force calibration instruction to the active stylus to calibrate a force sensor based on the force calibration instruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yang Zou, Junyong Zhang
  • Patent number: 11385744
    Abstract: A touch key structure includes a touch panel including a key area at a front side of the touch panel, a circuit board provided behind the touch panel and including a sensing electrode corresponding to the key area, and a conductive medium provided between the key area and the sensing electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: FOSHAN SHUNDE MIDEA ELECTRICAL HEATING APPLIANCES MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xiaokai Liu, Yi Sun, Pofeng Ho, Zhifeng Wang, Dali Ou, Dahua Cao, Qi Wang, Yuhua Huang
  • Patent number: 11379046
    Abstract: An input device includes: a surface layer; a design sheet disposed on a front surface side or a back surface side of the surface layer; a cushion layer disposed on the back surface side of the surface layer and having a void therein; a plate-shaped frame disposed on a side of the cushion layer opposite to the surface layer; a main body that movably holds the frame in a first direction, in which the surface layer and the frame are stacked, when the surface layer is pressed; and a push-in detector mechanically connected to the frame. The design sheet includes a first portion in which a design is disposed and a second portion in which the design is not disposed in a plan view, and each of the surface layer and the cushion layer extends across the first portion and the second portion in the plan view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masaki Kontani, Hideaki Eto
  • Patent number: 11379055
    Abstract: An active pen for a touch display screen, a touch input system, a method for driving an active pen, and a method for driving a touch input system are provided. The active pen includes: a signal receiving device, a processor which is in signal connection with the signal receiving device, and a signal transmitting device which is in signal connection with the processor. The signal receiving device is configured to receive a first coupling voltage between the active pen and the touch display screen. The processor is configured to process the first coupling voltage to obtain a second coupling voltage, and a polarity of the second coupling voltage is opposite to a polarity of the first coupling voltage. The signal transmitting deice is configured to transmit the second coupling voltage to the touch display screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignees: BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Dong Chen, Wenchao Han
  • Patent number: 11379036
    Abstract: Systems and methods for eye tracking calibration in a wearable system are described. The wearable system can present three-dimensional (3D) virtual content and allow a user to interact with the 3D virtual content using eye gaze. During an eye tracking calibration, the wearable system can validate that a user is indeed looking at a calibration target while the eye tracking data is acquired. The validation may be performed based on data associated with the user's head pose and vestibulo-ocular reflex.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin Joseph Uscinski, Yan Xu, Bradley Vincent Stuart
  • Patent number: 11372502
    Abstract: A capacitive touch device and a gesture recognition method thereof, a chip and a storage medium are provided. In some embodiments, the gesture recognition method includes: sampling a capacitance of a capacitive sensor in the capacitive touch device to acquire a capacitance sampling value corresponding to a current sampling frame; determining a first capacitance value of an interference capacitance caused by a liquid on the capacitive sensor according to the capacitance sampling value and reference information corresponding to the current sampling frame; determining a touch state of the capacitive sensor represented by the current sampling frame according to the capacitance sampling value and the first capacitance value of the interference capacitance corresponding to the current sampling frame; and recognizing a gesture of a user on the capacitive touch device according to timing information of the touch state represented by the current sampling frame and a historical touch state of the capacitive sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Haijun Wei
  • Patent number: 11360577
    Abstract: Systems and processes for operating an intelligent automated assistant are provided. An example process includes initiating a virtual assistant session responsive to receiving user input. In accordance with initiating the virtual assistant session, the process includes determining, based on data obtained using one or more sensors of the electronic device, whether one or more criteria representing expressed user disinterest are satisfied. In accordance with determining that the one or more criteria representing expressed user disinterest are satisfied prior to a first time, the process includes automatically deactivating the virtual assistant session prior to the first time. The first time is defined by a setting of the electronic device. In accordance with determining that the one or more criteria representing expressed user disinterest are not satisfied prior to the first time, the process includes automatically deactivating the virtual assistant session at the first time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Musa M. Hindi, Rohit Dasari, Trungtin Tran
  • Patent number: 11360616
    Abstract: A stylus or other tactile-based input device can receive different types of tactile input from a user. The tactile input sensing functions can be performed by a touch input sensor, such as a capacitive sensing device, and a compressive force sensor, such as a capacitive gap sensor. A touch input sensor can be integrated into an input device in a low profile form and overlap the compressive force sensor so that both touch input and compressive force input can be detected in the same regions of the stylus. Both types of tactile input can be received at the user's natural grip location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Robert M. Proie, Robert U. Liu, Wing Kong Low, Nan Wang
  • Patent number: 11356590
    Abstract: Examples disclosed herein provide an image capture device. As an example, the image capture device includes an image sensor, a shutter, and a touch-enabled layer disposed above the image sensor. A controller of the image capture device is to register a user touch interaction with the touch-enabled layer and, based on a gesture detected from the user touch interaction, cycle between engaging the shutter to cover the image sensor and disengaging the shutter to expose the image sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Alexander Wayne Clark, Tony Moon, Alan Man Pan Tam