Patents by Inventor Thad William Smith

Thad William Smith 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).

  • Controller architecture for combination touch, handwriting and fingerprint sensor
    Patent number: 8743082
    Abstract: A separate control system may be configured for a combined sensor device. Alternatively, at least part of the control system may be included in another device, such as a processor of a mobile device. Software for handwriting, touch and fingerprint detection may be included in the control system. Low, medium and high resolution may be obtained with a single combined sensor device by scanning a subset of the sensels, or by aggregating lines or columns. Power consumption may be reduced by aggregating sensor pixels (or rows or columns) electrically using the controller, so that they perform as a low power small array until higher resolution with a larger array is needed. Power consumption may be reduced by turning off portions or all of the sensor device, turning off parts of the control system, and/or employing first-level screening at a reduced frame rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM MEMS Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Srinivasan Kodaganallur Ganapathi, Nicholas Ian Buchan, David William Burns, Thad William Smith, Ion Elinor Opris
  • CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE FOR COMBINATION TOUCH, HANDWRITING AND FINGERPRINT SENSOR
    Publication number: 20120092293
    Abstract: A separate control system may be configured for a combined sensor device. Alternatively, at least part of the control system may be included in another device, such as a processor of a mobile device. Software for handwriting, touch and fingerprint detection may be included in the control system. Low, medium and high resolution may be obtained with a single combined sensor device by scanning a subset of the sensels, or by aggregating lines or columns. Power consumption may be reduced by aggregating sensor pixels (or rows or columns) electrically using the controller, so that they perform as a low power small array until higher resolution with a larger array is needed. Power consumption may be reduced by turning off portions or all of the sensor device, turning off parts of the control system, and/or employing first-level screening at a reduced frame rate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2011
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Applicant: QUALCOMM MEMS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Srinivasan Kodaganallur Ganapathi, Nicholas Ian Buchan, David William Burns, Thad William Smith, Ion Elinor Opris