Patents Assigned to Cherry GmbH
  • Publication number: 20170177072
    Abstract: An apparatus for actuating a hand support for an input device, in particular a keyboard, of a technical device is presented. The apparatus comprises an input interface for receiving an audio signal and a signal processing device coupled to the input interface and configured to provide an actuation signal using audio data transmitted via the audio signal, wherein the actuation signal is configured to actuate the hand support in a manner characterizing the audio signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2015
    Publication date: June 22, 2017
    Applicant: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Tolga AKCADAG
  • Patent number: 8248064
    Abstract: A device for inductive speed detection includes two planar coils which are arranged offset at a given distance from a pulse wheel and in the rotational direction of the pulse wheel, and are each part of an oscillator, the oscillator frequency of which is evaluated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Matthias Schunk
  • Patent number: 7701201
    Abstract: The invention relates to an inductive sensor unit having one or several coils, which are mounted on a printed circuit board in a planar manner. According to the invention, a change in the inductance of a sensor coil due to leakage currents in the inductive actuator is correlated with the position of the actuator in two respects i.e., with the distance x to the sensor coils and with the overlapping y of the sensor coils. As a result, an inductive push button switch and an inductive position switching device (a sliding switch) are provided. The invention also relates to the evaluation of the inductance by means of reactance measurement. A relative evaluation of the influence of adjacent sensor coils increases the precision of response in push button switches and, generally, a relative evaluation of the influence of adjacent sensor coils is carried out in position switching devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2010
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Martin Zapf, Thomas Luber, Reinhard Pirner
  • Patent number: 7443159
    Abstract: An inductive sensor for detecting the position of a vehicle seat or for a gate shifting unit of an automatic transmission is described. The inductive sensor unit has a plurality of sensor coils that are disposed in planar fashion on a printed circuit board A conductive actuation element is guided, spaced apart, in a path over the sensor coils and an electrical evaluation circuit detects changes in inductance of the sensor coils in accordance with the path position of the actuation element and converts the changes into electrical signals corresponding to seat position signals on gear shifting signals. The actuation element is guided along the sensor coils with conductive bottom faces that are staggered in the direction of the path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2008
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Josef Habenschaden, Hans-Ludwig Götz, Thomas Luber
  • Patent number: 7442895
    Abstract: An electrical switch has a common contact body and a first selective contact body and a second selective contact body. A contactor is connected mechanically and in an electrically conducting manner to the common contact body. The contactor comprises an elastic, electrically conducting material. It is formed originating from the basic form of a leaf spring into a multifunctional part having a clamping area, a deformation area and a stiffened actuating area. The pre-tension of the contactor causes the contact fingers to be positioned against the contact surfaces of the first selective contact body. Pressure on the actuating area elastically deforms the contactor, and the actuating area pivots with the contact fingers so that the contact fingers switchingly enclose the contact surfaces of the second selective contact body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2008
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Guenter Bauer, Eduard Ruff
  • Publication number: 20080142346
    Abstract: The invention relates to an inductive sensor unit having one or several coils, which are mounted on a printed circuit board in a planar manner. According to the invention, a change in the inductance of a sensor coil due to leakage currents in the inductive actuator is correlated with the position of the actuator in two respects i.e., with the distance x to the sensor coils and with the overlapping y of the sensor coils. As a result, an inductive push button switch and an inductive position switching device (a sliding switch) are provided. The invention also relates to the evaluation of the inductance by means of reactance measurement. A relative evaluation of the influence of adjacent sensor coils increases the precision of response in push button switches and, generally, a relative evaluation of the influence of adjacent sensor coils is carried out in position switching devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2004
    Publication date: June 19, 2008
    Applicant: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Martin Zapf, Thomas Luber, Reinhard Pirner
  • Patent number: 7205496
    Abstract: The invention relates to a sub-miniature switch including a housing, an actuator and terminals. The actuator protrudes from the housing at a position offset from the center of the housing. The terminals are electrically conductively coupled with fixed contacts (positioned within the housing). A contact maker is moved via the actuator and held in a first or second switching position by means of a bistable spring arrangement. An additional component, a separator or auxiliary actuator, is in snap-fit engagement with or clamped or glued in the cover of the housing and is pushed through by the actuator as the switch is operated. According to the present invention, the contact point of the fixed contacts is on a side of the housing which is opposite the actuator. The separator or auxiliary actuator is moved in the direction of the contact position by the actuator. Thus a structurally simple forced-opening capability is provided for the sub-miniature switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Schober, Stefan Reindl
  • Publication number: 20060290346
    Abstract: An inductive sensor for detecting the position of a vehicle seat or for a gate shifting unit of an automatic transmission is described. The inductive sensor unit has a plurality of sensor coils that are disposed in planar fashion on a printed circuit board A conductive actuation element is guided, spaced apart, in a path over the sensor coils and an electrical evaluation circuit detects changes in inductance of the sensor coils in accordance with the path position of the actuation element and converts the changes into electrical signals corresponding to seat position signals on gear shifting signals. The actuation element is guided along the sensor coils with conductive bottom faces that are staggered in the direction of the path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2005
    Publication date: December 28, 2006
    Applicant: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Josef Habenschaden, Hans-Ludwig Gotz, Thomas Luber
  • Publication number: 20060031231
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a system and method for simplified retrieval of data objects using a computer in a network. The activation of a key of an input device is detected by a program for detecting input, and a secondary network address associated with the activated key is transmitted to a network access program. This program loads a data object containing the network address of a primary data object from the secondary network address, which may be accessed by the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2005
    Publication date: February 9, 2006
    Applicant: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Walter Nagler, Matthias Lochner, Alexander Lang, Stefan Knoll
  • Patent number: 6931961
    Abstract: A gate change unit for generating gate-changing signals for an automatic gearbox comprises a cover, a gate which is located in the cover and which permits displacement movements and/or pivoting movements in a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction in the plane of the gate change unit, a gear change lever which is guided in the gate and can be displaced and/or pivoted in the longitudinal direction and/or the transverse direction, a housing or carrier part which is connected to the cover, and electrical switch elements, the electrical switch elements generating electrical gear change signals in accordance with the displacement of the gear change lever, which signals are used to control the automatic gearbox. The electrical switch elements are arranged directly on a conductive element, in the form of a printed circuit board or a conductive foil, which is connected to the housing or to the carrier part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Guenter Bauer, Thomas Schober
  • Patent number: 6852937
    Abstract: A switching device, in particular a position sensing switching device, generates switching signals. The position sensing switching device comprises at least one switching unit and at least one activation unit, the switching unit reacting to a relative spacial displacement of the switching unit and the activation unit with respect to one another by outputting appropriate switching signals. The switching unit is embodied as an inductive switching unit and the activation unit is embodied as an inductive damping unit. The position sensing switching device according to the invention is preferably applied in gear-speed-changing units for automatic gearboxes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Martin Zapf, Alexander Kugler, Gerhard Hahn
  • Patent number: 6729889
    Abstract: The invention provides an electrical connection arrangement comprising an electrical conductor track element having at least one connection portion electrically connected to a connection zone of an electrical component, wherein a wall is provided in a vicinity of said connection portion and said connection zone, such that a basin is formed and a molding mass is distributed in said basin. Thereby, the connection portion and the connection zone are protected from external influences such as humidity and temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2004
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Gunter Bauer
  • Patent number: 6700074
    Abstract: The invention provides a carrier housing assembly holding a flexible foil having conductive tracks in which the housing assembly has a plurality of parts each having a respective securing mechanism, the securing mechanisms being mutually engageable to provide a predetermined spatial relationship between the part, thereby providing the flexible foil with a predetermined spatial arrangement. The housing assembly is particularly relevant to component housing assemblies where electrical components are held in place and connected to connecter pins via the flexible foil. In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided methods for manufacturing a foil carrier housing assembly out of a flexible foil comprising conductive tracks at least one electrical component, at least one electrical contact element, at least one component housing and a carrier housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2004
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Kurt Michel, Stefan Ehmann, Roland Friedl, Günter Bauer
  • Patent number: 6625038
    Abstract: The invention relates to a circuit substrate assembly comprising a left-hand (1) and a right-hand (1′) circuit substrate mirror-symmetrical thereto, each including electrical and/or electronic and/or electromechanical components (2-6 or 2′-6′) and circuitry (7 or 7′) electrical connecting said components. All components (2-6) are positioned symmetrically mirrored on the left-hand (1) and right-hand (1′) circuit substrate respectively when the left-hand (1) and right-hand (1′) circuit substrate is oriented mirror-symmetrical along a mirror plane (P). However, the circuit functional plug assignments (A-F) of at least one circuit functional mirror-invariant component 2 or 2′) on the left-hand (1) and on the right-hand (1′) circuit substrate are not mirror-symmetrical to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Dirk Raschke
  • Patent number: 6613994
    Abstract: A method of making a microswitch module which comprises the steps of: charging a molten resin onto a loading surface of a microswitch; disposing an actuator element onto the molten resin charged onto the loading surface of the microswitch; and ensuring that the actuator element remains fixed while at least part of the the molten resin hardens into a layer of resilient material thereby providing a microswitch module wherein the actuator element is adapted to transmit a mechanical switching force to the loading surface of the microswitch through the layer of resilient material for actuating the micro switch. Additionally, a micro switch module comprises a micro switch; a layer of resilient material disposed on a loading surface of the microswitch; and an actuator element disposed on the layer of resilient material for transmitting a mechanical switching force therethrough to the loading surface of the microswitch for actuating the microswitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2003
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventors: Gunter Bauer, Wolfgang Schrufer
  • Patent number: D520007
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2006
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Markus Kuchler
  • Patent number: D562325
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Marcus Kuchler
  • Patent number: D580438
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Marcus Kuchler
  • Patent number: D494177
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2004
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Markus Kuchler
  • Patent number: D583818
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Cherry GmbH
    Inventor: Marcus Kuchler