Patents by Inventor Keith L. Paulsen

Keith L. Paulsen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10175837
    Abstract: A system and method for injecting a signal on a sense electrode in order to increase the security of the touch sensor if signals are capable of being intercepted by a probe, the injected signals being capable of creating a signal on the sense electrode that replicates the signal of an actual finger, creating a signal on a sense electrode that is equal to but opposite of an actual finger in order to cancel out the signal from the actual finger and therefore hide its presence, and create a pseudo random signal on sense electrodes so that it is difficult to correlate measurable signals on sense electrodes to actual finger position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jared G. Bytheway, Keith L. Paulsen, Brent Quist, Paul Vincent
  • Publication number: 20170357351
    Abstract: A system for physically and logically integrating near field communication technology, touch sensor technology and display technology by using a more powerful near field communication antenna disposed under the touch sensor and display screen for transmitting, and a smaller near field communication antenna on top of the touch sensor for receiving near field communication signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2017
    Publication date: December 14, 2017
    Inventors: Keith L. Paulsen, Andrew Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9760226
    Abstract: A touch sensor having a plurality of parallel drive electrodes that are being electrically driven, providing stimulus on one end or simultaneously on both ends, thus creating a linear or varying electric field across the length of the drive electrodes, wherein adjacent sensor electrodes are connected to a sense amplifier and analog-to-digital (ADC) converter to determine the position of an object that comes near to the drive and/or sense electrodes, wherein the system uses self-capacitance and measures the amount of current driven by each driver, wherein the system uses a mutual capacitance current divider in a first method by driving an electrode with a time varying voltage and measuring induced currents at each end of an adjacent sense electrode and using ratiometric equations to determine finger position, and using a mutual capacitance voltage divider in a second method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jared G. Bytheway, Keith L. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9740342
    Abstract: A system for physically and logically integrating near field communication technology, touch sensor technology and display technology by using a more powerful near field communication antenna disposed under the touch sensor and display screen for transmitting, and a smaller near field communication antenna on top of the touch sensor for receiving near field communication signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keith L. Paulsen, Andrew Paulsen
  • Publication number: 20170123578
    Abstract: A system and method for injecting a signal on a sense electrode in order to increase the security of the touch sensor if signals are capable of being intercepted by a probe, the injected signals being capable of creating a signal on the sense electrode that replicates the signal of an actual finger, creating a signal on a sense electrode that is equal to but opposite of an actual finger in order to cancel out the signal from the actual finger and therefore hide its presence, and create a pseudo random signal on sense electrodes so that it is difficult to correlate measurable signals on sense electrodes to actual finger position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2016
    Publication date: May 4, 2017
    Inventors: Jared G. Bytheway, Keith L. Paulsen, Brent Quist, Paul Vincent
  • Patent number: 9594452
    Abstract: A method for detecting multiple objects on a touchpad having a grid of orthogonal electrodes, wherein all drive electrodes are simultaneously stimulated, and then frequency or electrode coding is used to separate each electrode junction and produce a capacitance image of the touchpad surface in a single measurement sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keith L. Paulsen, Paul Vincent, Jared G. Bytheway
  • Patent number: 9507979
    Abstract: A system and method that combines RFID tag reader circuitry and a touch sensor, wherein the system and method may reduce power consumption of a battery powered system by detecting the presence of an RFID tag by using a lower power consumption touch sensor instead of scanning for the RFID tag by using higher power RFID tag detection and reading circuitry, controlling activation and deactivation of the RFID tag detection and reading circuitry when the touch sensor has detected the presence of the RFID tag, and reconfiguring sensor electrodes so that the electrodes may form a touch sensor or an antenna as needed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keith L. Paulsen, Andrew Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9268452
    Abstract: A method and system for enabling a near field communication antenna to be disposed adjacent to electrodes of a touch sensing device, the near field communication antenna being operated, and the magnetic field inductance and electric field coupling between the electrodes and the near field communication antenna being minimized in order to substantially reduce or eliminate induced currents on the electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Keith L. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9262651
    Abstract: A system and method for enabling a dual interface smart card reader to be able to determine if data should be read from a smart card using wireless technology or touch technology, even when the data can be accessed through wireless technology.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Keith L. Paulsen
  • Publication number: 20150286336
    Abstract: A method for detecting multiple objects on a touchpad having a grid of orthogonal electrodes, wherein all drive electrodes are simultaneously stimulated, and then frequency or electrode coding is used to separate each electrode junction and produce a capacitance image of the touchpad surface in a single measurement sequence.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2015
    Publication date: October 8, 2015
    Applicant: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keith L. Paulsen, Paul Vincent, Jared G. Bytheway
  • Publication number: 20150286321
    Abstract: A touch sensor having a plurality of parallel drive electrodes that are being electrically driven, providing stimulus on one end or simultaneously on both ends, thus creating a linear or varying electric field across the length of the drive electrodes, wherein adjacent sensor electrodes are connected to a sense amplifier and analog-to-digital (ADC) converter to determine the position of an object that comes near to the drive and/or sense electrodes, wherein the system uses self-capacitance and measures the amount of current driven by each driver, wherein the system uses a mutual capacitance current divider in a first method by driving an electrode with a time varying voltage and measuring induced currents at each end of an adjacent sense electrode and using ratiometric equations to determine finger position, and using a mutual capacitance voltage divider in a second method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Publication date: October 8, 2015
    Applicant: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jared G. Bytheway, Keith L. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9086769
    Abstract: A method of performing a two-finger gesture when the absolute position of the fingers does not need to be known in order to perform the gesture. A touch sensor may provide a false or ghosted position and a real position for each actual finger on the touch sensor. The real position for each finger is located by finding a strongest signal when performing a short aperture measurement relative to one side of the touch sensor so that the direction of a rotation gesture can be determined. The position of fingers in single finger and multi-finger gestures may be determined using de-ghosted weighted average and weighted absolute deviation calculations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keith L. Paulsen, Michael D. Layton
  • Patent number: 9069430
    Abstract: A system and method for enabling a stylus to be used with a touch sensor even after it has failed in an open mode or a closed mode, wherein the tethered stylus activates the inking function when the stylus is in contact with the touch sensor and deactivates the inking function when the stylus is lifted off the surface of the touch sensor when the switch is functioning properly, but when there is a failure of the switch in the open mode or the closed mode, enabling the tethered stylus to continue functioning by using a timer to activate the inking function when the tethered stylus is close enough to be detected by a touch sensor, and to deactivate the inking function when the tethered stylus is no longer detectable by the touch sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jared G. Bytheway, Nate Coy, Paul H. Glad, Brian Monson, Keith L. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9063590
    Abstract: A touch sensor having a plurality of parallel drive electrodes that are being electrically driven, providing stimulus on one end or simultaneously on both ends, thus creating a linear or varying electric field across the length of the drive electrodes, wherein adjacent sensor electrodes are connected to a sense amplifier and analog-to-digital (ADC) converter to determine the position of an object that comes near to the drive and/or sense electrodes, wherein the system uses self-capacitance and measures the amount of current driven by each driver, wherein the system uses a mutual capacitance current divider in a first method by driving an electrode with a time varying voltage and measuring induced currents at each end of an adjacent sense electrode and using ratiometric equations to determine finger position, and using a mutual capacitance voltage divider in a second method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jared G. Bytheway, Keith L. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 9058082
    Abstract: A method for detecting multiple objects on a touchpad having a grid of orthogonal electrodes, wherein all drive electrodes are simultaneously stimulated, and then frequency or electrode coding is used to separate each electrode junction and produce a capacitance image of the touchpad surface in a single measurement sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keith L. Paulsen, Paul Vincent, Jared G. Bytheway
  • Publication number: 20150130765
    Abstract: A method and system for enabling a near field communication antenna to be disposed adjacent to electrodes of a touch sensing device, the near field communication antenna being operated, and the magnetic field inductance and electric field coupling between the electrodes and the near field communication antenna being minimized in order to substantially reduce or eliminate induced currents on the electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2015
    Publication date: May 14, 2015
    Applicant: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Keith L. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 8933901
    Abstract: A method and system for enabling a near field communication antenna to be disposed adjacent to electrodes of a touch sensing device, the near field communication antenna being operated, and the magnetic field inductance and electric field coupling between the electrodes and the near field communication antenna being minimized in order to substantially reduce or eliminate induced currents on the electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Cirque Corporation
    Inventor: Keith L. Paulsen
  • Patent number: 8907913
    Abstract: A stylus touch sensor and an inexpensive, battery free, wireless backscatter stylus, the stylus touch sensor including a host radio frequency (RF) antenna for generating a magnetic field, an electrode grid for detecting finger touches, and a stylus reader circuit for detecting a signal from a backscatter stylus, and the backscatter stylus having a first circuit for using the magnetic field to generate an electrical current for powering the backscatter stylus, and a second circuit for generating a backscatter signal that is detectable by the stylus reader circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Cirque Corporation
    Inventor: Keith L. Paulsen
  • Publication number: 20140253505
    Abstract: A system and method for providing security for a point-of-sale (POS) terminal or an encrypting PIN pad (EPP) by protecting the signals that could be directly probed on a touch sensor electrode grid or remotely probed such as through power supply signals or RF emissions, wherein the drive signals are randomly applied to drive electrodes in order to prevent tracking of drive signals, and charge is injected on sense lines to hide PIN data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Paul Vincent, Keith L. Paulsen, Jared G. Bytheway
  • Publication number: 20140240284
    Abstract: A system and method for increasing a report rate on a capacitive touch sensor to thereby provide a real-time display of the position of all the objects on a touch screen that is using synchronized timed orthogonal measurement stimulus patterns to determine the position of objects on the touch sensor, by updating an image of the reported positions of objects on the touch sensor each time that a measurement is taken on each of the sensor electrodes instead of waiting for a complete scan of all the sensor electrodes in a sensor electrode array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2014
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Applicant: CIRQUE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Keith L. Paulsen