Abstract: An improved touchscreen utilizing two sets of electrodes that are fabricated in a single plane is provided. The individual electrodes of each set of electrodes are formed from a continuous length of a conductive material. Suitable electrode materials include fine wire and deposited conductive coatings. The overall electrode pattern is such that there is no overlap of electrodes, thus eliminating the need for insulating layers and/or coatings between electrodes. Although a variety of electrode patterns can be used, preferably the pattern is comprised of a plurality of approximately triangularly shaped electrodes, the pattern such that the base of one triangularly shaped electrode is adjacent to the apex of the next triangularly shaped electrode.

Abstract: An acoustic touch panel or “touch screen” utilizes acoustic waves within a sensor substrate to determine the position of touch. The substrate is made of a temperable glass having an attenuation coefficient of less than or equal to about 0.6 dB/cm as determined at the substrate surface for 5.53 MHz Rayleigh waves as measured by the slope of a plot of amplitude versus distance for a signal through a pair of facing 0.5-inch wide wedge transducers mounted on a sample of the glass type under test having sufficient thickness to support Rayleigh wave propagation. An acoustic touch panel with a tempered low-acoustic-loss glass substrate. This makes possible large tempered acoustic touch panels. A glass substrate of the touch sensor comprises SiO2 as the main component with a total content of Na2O, CaO and MgO of 20% by weight or less and a total content of Al2O3, ZrO2, TiO2, B2O3, Y2O3, SnO2, PbO2, In2O3 and K2O of 5% by weight or more.

Abstract: A touchscreen is constructed directly on the glass surface of a cathode ray tube (CRT). To solve the problem of insufficient space between the CRT's bezel and frontal region to accommodate the transducers for the touchscreen, the transducers are moved away from the frontal region, to the highly curved shoulder region of the CRT. To preserve acoustic signal strength, the positioning of the transducers is chosen to take advantage of the fact that an acoustic wave on a non-Euclidean surface travels along a geodesic path. Allowance is also made for the acoustic lens and prism effect of the corner regions of the CRT, where the transducer may be located.

Abstract: A position touch sensor having a substrate and a resistive layer disposed on the substrate. At least one pair of electrodes is positioned on the resistive layer. A portion of one electrode is spaced from a portion of another electrode to produce an overlapped resistive region between the spaced portions of the electrodes. An insulating region extends into and terminates in the overlapped resistive region from a resistive region of the resistive layer outside the overlapped resistive region. A method for controlling the flow of current through a resistive layer for converting physical position information on the resistive layer into electrical signals. The method includes determining a dimension of a length of a generally continuous resistive section which is to be located in the resistive layer. The dimension of the length is determined through the use of electrical excitation in the resistive layer.

Abstract: An acoustic touch sensing device, comprising a substrate, having a surface; and an acoustic wave transducer, transducing a bulk wave in said substrate propagating through said substrate along an axis intersecting said surface, wherein energy of said bulk wave is coupled to a wave having a converted wave mode with appreciable energy at said surface and propagating along said surface. The device may include a set of scattering centers to couple the bulk wave to a Rayleigh wave or plate wave. The Rayleigh wave or plate wave may be dispersed over a region of the substrate, and analyzed to detect a perturbation indicative of a position of touch.

Abstract: A touch sensor, having an acoustic wave transmissive medium having a surface and a touch sensitive portion of the surface, a transducer system for emitting acoustic energy into the medium, and a receiver system for receiving the acoustic energy from the substrate as at least two distinct sets of waves, a portion of each of which overlap temporally at the receiver system or overlap physically by propagating in the touch sensitive portion along axes which are substantially non-orthogonal, the receiver system determining a position or a waveform perturbing characteristic of a touch on the touch sensitive portion. The receiver may be an amplitude detector or be sensitive to a phase-amplitude characteristic of the received acoustic waves.

Abstract: A touch sensor, having an acoustic wave transmissive medium having a surface and a touch sensitive portion of the surface, a transducer system for emitting acoustic energy into the medium, and a receiver system for receiving the acoustic energy from the substrate as at least two distinct sets of waves, a portion of each of which overlap temporally at the receiver system or overlap physically by propagating in the touch sensitive portion along axes which are substantially non-orthogonal, the receiver system determining a position or a waveform perturbing characteristic of a touch on the touch sensitive portion. The receiver may be an amplitude detector or be sensitive to a phase-amplitude characteristic of the received acoustic waves.

Abstract: A touch position sensor or "touchscreen" utilizes acoustic waves within a sensor substrate to determine the position of touch. The substrate is made of a transparent material, such as borosilicate glass or a barium glass, which exhibits substantially less acoustic absorption than soda-lime glass.

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.