Patents Examined by Nathan Brittingham
  • Patent number: 9983676
    Abstract: A user interface device includes a flexible layer comprising a touch surface configured to receive a touch by a user, a plurality of haptic cells covered by the flexible layer, each haptic cell comprising a haptic output device, a sensor configured to sense an amount and/or rate of deformation of the flexible layer when a user touches the touch surface, and a processor configured to receive an output signal from the sensor, generate a haptic control signal based on the output signal from the sensor, and output the haptic control signal to at least one haptic output device of the plurality of haptic cells to cause the haptic output device to deform an associated haptic cell in response to the sensed deformation of the flexible layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: IMMERSION CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ali Modarres, Juan Manuel Cruz-Hernandez, Danny A. Grant, Vincent Levesque
  • Patent number: 9921660
    Abstract: This document describes techniques using, and devices embodying, radar-based gesture recognition. These techniques and devices can enable a great breadth of gestures and uses for those gestures, such as gestures to use, control, and interact with computing and non-computing devices, from software applications to refrigerators. The techniques and devices are capable of providing a radar field that can sense gestures from multiple actors at one time and through obstructions, thereby improving gesture breadth and accuracy over many conventional techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventor: Ivan Poupyrev
  • Patent number: 9886144
    Abstract: A capacitive type touch sensor, includes a plurality of driving electrodes, a plurality of sensing electrodes disposed to overlap the driving electrodes, the sensing electrodes and the driving electrodes being spaced apart from each other, a driving unit configured to supply driving signals to the respective driving electrodes, and a sensing unit configured to detect sensing signals from the sensing electrodes, wherein the driving signals supplied by the driving unit include at least one of a first driving signal having a first frequency and a second driving signal having a second frequency different from the first frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyoung-Wook Jang, Soon-Sung Ahn, Ja-seung Ku
  • Patent number: 9880588
    Abstract: There is provided a variable display device including: a variable display displaying an image and variably changed by external force; and at least one click button module provided separately from the variable display and attached onto the bottom of the variable display to correspond to a predetermined touch button region of the variable display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chang Min Park
  • Patent number: 9875714
    Abstract: A driving circuit includes a receiver configured to receive an image control signal comprising a data signal and a clock signal, separate the data signal from the clock signal and output the separated data and clock signals, a clock recovery unit generating a reference clock signal based on the clock signal and generating a plurality of multi-phase clock signals having different phases from that of the reference clock signal, an output clock generation unit outputting an output clock signal in synchronization with the clock signal and the plurality of multi-phase clock signals, and a data output unit driving a plurality of data lines with a data driving signal corresponding to the data signal in synchronization with the output clock signal, and the output clock generation unit outputs the plurality of multi-phase clock signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jae-Han Lee, Taegon Kim, Sunkyu Son
  • Patent number: 9875694
    Abstract: First and second brightness metadata pertaining to respective first and second contents are accessed, and responsive to receiving a command to change presentation from the first content to the second content, a composite brightness is established using the first and second metadata. At least one of the contents using the composite brightness at a start time of a transition period. During the transition period, video is presented using a changing brightness that starts at the composite brightness at the start time of the transition period and ends at the second brightness at an end time of the transition period. Subsequent to the end time of the transition period, the second content is presented using the second metadata and not using the first metadata.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Peter Shintani
  • Patent number: 9872400
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a touch panel, including a substrate, at least one sensing electrode layer, a wire layer, a first light-shielding layer and a second light-shielding layer. The substrate has a visible region and a non-visible region. The wire layer corresponds to the non-visible region, wherein the wire layer includes signal lines and at least one gap therebetween, the signal lines electrically connect the sensing electrode layer. The first light-shielding layer is disposed within the non-visible region and between the substrate and the wire layer, wherein the first light-shielding layer includes at least one recess and a position of the recess corresponds to a position of the gap. The second light-shielding layer corresponds to the recess, wherein an area covered by the second light-shielding layer is equal to or greater than an aperture of the recess. The present disclosure also provides a method for manufacturing a touch panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: TPK Touch Systems (XIAMEN) Inc
    Inventors: Chen-Hsin Chang, Che-I Wu, Zhihong Ke, Lixian Chen, Wenzhi Qian
  • Patent number: 9858842
    Abstract: A display device is provided. A display device comprising, a gate voltage generator outputting a gate-on voltage and a gate-off voltage, a clock generator receiving the gate-on voltage and the gate-off voltage and outputting a clock signal, a gate driver receiving the clock signal and outputting a gate signal, the gate driver including a plurality of stages which are connected to a plurality of gate lines respectively, and a pixel unit comprising a plurality of pixels which are turned on or turned off by the gate signal to display an image, wherein the gate voltage generator comprises, a direct current (DC) converter connected to a sub-gate node and receiving a sub-gate signal which is one of outputs of the plurality of stages gate driver and outputting a compensation voltage using the received sub-gate signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jun Ho Hwang
  • Patent number: 9857898
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a detector configured to detect a region touched on a touch panel, a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory, configured to approximate a first touched region detected by the detector at a first time and a second touched region detected by the detector at a second time to ellipses, calculate angles formed between the major axes of the approximated ellipses and a reference axis of the touch panel, and calculate reference points of the approximated ellipses, and control a predetermined process based on changes of the second angle and second reference point calculated from the second touched region with respect to the first angle and first reference point calculated from the first touched region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventor: Yuji Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9841861
    Abstract: Provided is a touch panel having a display region and a non-display region surrounding the display-region. The touch panel comprises a transparent substrate, a sensing electrode layer, a conductive light-shielding layer, an insulated light-shielding layer, and a wiring layer. The conductive light-shielding layer is formed in the non-display region and between the sensing electrode layer and the wiring layer, and the whole non-display region is covered by the conductive light-shielding layer and the insulated light-shielding layer. With such all arrangement, the touch panel not only maintains the signal transmit function, but also ensures good optical performance in the display region near its interface. Accordingly, a touch screen comprising the touch panel can have good touch sensing functions and good optical performance at the same time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Liyitec Incorporated
    Inventor: Shu-Chen Hsu
  • Patent number: 9836079
    Abstract: Touch sensing can be accomplished using master/slave touch controllers that transmit drive signals to a touch surface and process sense signals including superpositions resulting from master/slave drive signals. The master/slave can drive and sense different sets of lines, respectively, of the touch surface. A communication link between master/slave can be established by transmitting a clock signal between master/slave, transmitting a command including sequence information to the slave, and initiating a communication sequence from the clock signal and sequence information. The slave can receive/transmit communications from/to the master during first/second portions of the communication sequence, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas James Wilson, Richard James Reeve
  • Patent number: 9830031
    Abstract: A touch screen panel includes a substrate, touch electrodes disposed on a touch area of the substrate and configured to sense a touch, and a connection line disposed on the touch area, the connection line including a first end connected a touch electrode of the touch electrodes and a second end connected to a pad, the pad including a first conductive layer disposed on the substrate, a second conductive layer disposed on the first conductive layer, and a first protective conductive layer disposed on the second conductive layer, in which the touch electrode includes the first conductive layer, and the first protective conductive layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jae Neung Kim, Jong Hyun Choi, Jeong-Hwan Kim, Won Baek Lee, Ki-Hyun Cho, Kyung Seop Kim, Cheol Kyu Kim, Sung Kyun Park, Sun Haeng Cho
  • Patent number: 9830000
    Abstract: A touch-sensing system comprises an active stylus including a probe electrode and associated sensory logic. The sensory logic is configured to receive a synchronization pulse sequence via the probe electrode between consecutive touch-sensing frames of a capacitive touch screen, to use the synchronization pulse sequence to synchronize a local row counter of the sensory logic to a remote row counter of the capacitive touch screen, to receive an excitation pulse via the probe electrode within a given touch-sensing frame, and to use the excitation pulse to maintain synchronization between the local row counter and the remote row counter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Jonathan Westhues, Tianzhu Qiao
  • Patent number: 9824643
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provides an array substrate, a pixel driving method, and a display device, and the array substrate is provided with a first pixel unit set used to display a first image, and pixel units in the first pixel unit set are coupled to a first gate line set in the plurality of gate lines; a second pixel unit set configured to display a second image, and pixel units in the second pixel unit set are coupled to a second gate line set in the plurality of gate lines; the pixel units in the first pixel unit set and the pixel units in the second pixel unit set are alternately provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Chulgyu Jung
  • Patent number: 9791967
    Abstract: A processing method for implementing high resolution output of a capacitive touch pad on a low-end single-chip microcomputer. The low-end single-chip microcomputer device comprises a master control single-chip microcomputer unit (MCU), a self-checking capacitance sensing module and a capacitive touch pad. The master control single-chip microcomputer module controls the self-checking capacitance sensing module to obtain source data acquired by the self-checking capacitance sensing module from the capacitive touch pad, then the source data are subjected to touch position computing by the master control single-chip microcomputer to obtain an original coordinate data of a touch point, and then a coordinate position can be obtained through an optimizing computation processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Gemstar Technology (China) Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ivan Lee
  • Patent number: 9753567
    Abstract: A method is disclosed of successively displaying pages of an electronic book by one or more pages each time on a display screen, and turning the pages on the screen in response to a user's input via finger touch of the screen. This method includes: upon the user's soft touch on the screen with the finger with an intensity below a predetermined value, selecting a page turn direction based on at least one of a position at which the soft touch was performed with the finger, and a direction of the finger's movement after the soft touch; and upon the selection being followed by the user's hard touch on the screen with the finger with an intensity above the predetermined value, authorizing initiation of a page turn event for turning the pages on the screen in the selected page-turn-direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: KDDI CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomoaki Matsuki
  • Patent number: 9750451
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for determining that a pressure field is applied on a structure. A plurality of acoustic waves are generated within the structure using at least one wave generator and a plurality of measurements of the acoustic waves is taken using at least one wave sensor. A pressure field applied to a surface of the structure is determined by processing at least two of the plurality of measurements. The wave generator and the wave sensor may be piezoelectric elements, which may alternate between acting as the wave generator and the wave sensor. Processing the measurements may comprise obtaining a differential measurement value and comparing the value to a threshold. Determining that the pressure field is applied may comprise processing the measurements using a model based on acoustic wave propagation or experimental results. The processing may provide a mapping of the pressure field of an object on the structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Socpra Sciences Et Genie S.E.C.
    Inventors: Patrice Masson, Nicolas Quaegebeur, Pierre-Claude Ostiguy, Nicolas Beaudet, Philippe Sarret
  • Patent number: 9746938
    Abstract: A secure computer keyboard system utilizes a mobile device in conjunction with a keyboard device to provide secure keyboard entry in a public place. An application on the mobile device produces a mapping of characters to character codings, and displays to the user a key such as a modified keyboard showing the mapping. The keyboard device receives input keystrokes from the user representing the codings and transmits the keystrokes back to the mobile device or to a server. The mobile device or server decodes the keystrokes using the mapping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
    Inventors: Christina Gardner, William Shaw, Timothy Innes
  • Patent number: 9737242
    Abstract: Devices, systems and methods are described that can facilitate recognition of an engagement between an object and a touch screen in the absence of human contact. Upon the engagement, an electrically conductive path can be established that extends from a surface of the touch screen such that sufficient electrons flow from the touch screen through the electrically conductive path to enable the recognition of the object on the touch screen in the absence of human contact with the object during continued presence of the object on the touch screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
    Inventors: Jay L. Alberts, David D. Schindler
  • Patent number: 9726952
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display includes first and second sub-pixels charged with the same voltage during a first period. The voltage charged in the second sub-pixel is decreased after the first period. Since the voltage level of the first sub-pixel is different from the voltage level of the second sub-pixel after the first period, liquid crystal molecules disposed corresponding to the first sub-pixel are aligned in a direction different from that of liquid crystal molecules disposed corresponding to the second sub-pixel. Thus, a side viewing angle of the liquid crystal display is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Young-Soo Yoon, Joon-Chul Goh, Sang-Uk Lim, Chongchul Chai