Abstract: A method for detecting locations of objects in a plane, including emit light beams, one at a time, at locations along a first edge of a detection area, refract each light beam into multiple divergent light beams, direct each of the divergent beams to arrive at a respective pair of focusing lenses mounted along a second edge of the detection area, opposite the first edge, wherein an intensity profile of each divergent beam has maximum intensity along the center of the beam, for each of the focusing lenses, measure an intensity profile of that portion of the divergent beam that enters the focusing lens, for each pair of focusing lenses receiving a single divergent beam, compare the measured intensity profiles for light arriving at each lens, and determine a location of an object that partially blocks at least one of the divergent beams, based on the compares.

Abstract: A method for interacting with controls in a graphical user interface (GUI), including recording user interface gestures performed by a user, for each recorded gesture: when the gesture includes the user virtually touching a specific GUI control, applying the gesture to the specific GUI control; and when the gesture is performed without the user virtually touching a specific GUI control, identifying a particular GUI control that the user is gazing at and applying the gesture to that particular GUI control.

Abstract: A vehicle autonomous drive system including a steering wheel, a sensor operable to identify each gesture component within a set of gesture components performed on the steering wheel by a driver of the vehicle, the set of gesture components including thumb-tap, thumb touch-and-hold, thumb-glide, hand-grab and hand-tap, a processor for an autonomous drive system in the vehicle, receiving from the sensor, a series of time-stamped, contact coordinates for the gesture components identified by the sensor, and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to construct compound gestures based on the series of time-stamped, contact coordinates, and to activate features of the autonomous drive system in response to the compound gestures.

Abstract: A focusing optical part, including a plastic body, suitable for being delivered on a tape and reel and mounted on a PCB by an automated mounting machine, the plastic body including a concave mirror including a center aperture input surface through which light enters the plastic body, a convex mirror opposite the center aperture, wherein the concave mirror and the convex mirror form a reflective objective that reflects and focuses the light inside the plastic body, and an exit surface surrounding the convex mirror, through which focused light exits the plastic body.

Abstract: A proximity sensor, including light emitters and light detectors mounted on a circuit board, two stacked lenses, positioned above the emitters and the detectors, including an extruded cylindrical lens and a Fresnel lens array, wherein each emitter projects light through the two lenses along a common projection plane, wherein a reflective object located in the projection plane reflects light from one or more emitters to one or more detectors, and wherein each emitter-detector pair, when synchronously activated, generates a greatest detection signal at the activated detector when the reflective object is located at a specific 2D location in the projection plane corresponding to the emitter-detector pair, and a processor sequentially activating the emitters and synchronously co-activating one or more detectors, and identifying a location of the object in the projection plane, based on amounts of light detected by the detector of each synchronously activated emitter-detector pair.

Abstract: A method for interacting with controls in a graphical user interface (GUI) having a plurality of GUI controls, the method includes identify one GUI control that a user is gazing at, from among a plurality of GUI controls presented on a display, detect user interface gestures performed by the user, when the detected gesture is performed in an airspace away from the display, apply a relative motion corresponding to the gesture to the identified GUI control, and when the detected gesture is performed by the user touching the display, apply a sequence of absolute display locations touched by the gesture to a GUI control presented at the touched locations that is different than the identified GUI control.

Abstract: A sensor for a control panel, including a housing along an edge of the panel, light emitters projecting light along an in-air detection plane over the panel and detectors detecting reflections of the projected light, reflected by an object in the detection plane, lenses oriented such that each detector receives maximum light intensity when light enters a corresponding lens at a particular angle, whereby for each emitter-detector pair, when the object is located at a specific position in the detection plane, light emitted by the emitter of that pair is reflected by the object back through one of the lenses at the particular angle to the detector of that pair, the specific position being associated with that emitter-detector pair, and a processor configured to determine panel locations, map each location to a position in the detection plane associated with an emitter-detector pair, mapping the panel to the detection plane.

Abstract: An optical assembly including a reflectance-based sensor emitting light into a detection plane and detecting reflections of the emitted light, reflected by an object located in the detection plane, a light redirector positioned away from the sensor redirecting light emitted by the sensor into one or more spatial planes parallel to the detection plane and, when the object is located in the one or more spatial planes, redirecting light reflected by the object into the detection plane, and a processor controlling light emitted by the sensor and receiving outputs from the sensor, and configured such that when an object passes through one or more of the spatial planes, the processor identifies both the spatial planes through which the object passes, and the location of the object within the spatial planes through which it passes, based on the received outputs and the position of the light redirector relative to the sensor.

Abstract: An optical sensor includes light emitters, light detectors detecting an intensity profile of a light beam, focusing lenses refracting light beams onto the light detectors, diverging lenses, each light emitter emits light beams through a respective one of the diverging lenses, and the diverging lens refracts the light beam into multiple divergent light beams that each travel across a detection area and are each directed to a respective pair of the focusing lenses, wherein an intensity profile of each divergent light beam has maximum intensity along the center of the beam, and a processor receiving light profile outputs from the light detectors, and calculating a location of an object in the detection area based on comparing received outputs from two detectors that receive a common one of the divergent light beams partially blocked by the object.

Abstract: A vehicle gesture control system for a host vehicle, the host vehicle including an adaptive cruise control or autonomous drive arrangement, the system including a sensor to detect gestures performed by a driver on the surface of a steering wheel grip in the host vehicle, the steering wheel grip including a circular tube surrounding a steering wheel that rotates about a steering column, and a processor receiving outputs from the sensor and connected to a memory unit storing instructions for the processor to activate a plurality of features of the adaptive cruise control or autonomous drive arrangement in response to a respective plurality of different gestures detected by the sensor, wherein two of the gestures represent “up” and “down” commands and include movement of the driver's thumb in opposite directions, respectively, around a lateral section of the steering wheel grip that faces the driver.

Abstract: A steering wheel that includes optoelectronic components, each specific optoelectronic component including a light projector projecting light out of the steering wheel at two different angles, denoted a1 and a2, a light sensor detecting reflections of the light projected by neighboring optoelectronic components by an object above the steering wheel, a lens oriented relative to the light sensor such that the light sensor receives maximum intensity when light enters the lens at either of two particular angles, specifically, when light enters the lens at a particular angle b1, and at a particular angle b2 different than b1, wherein angle b1 views reflections of light projected at angle a1 by the optoelectronic component neighboring the specific optoelectronic component on one side, and angle b2 views reflections of light projected at angle a2 by the optoelectronic component neighboring the specific optoelectronic component on the side opposite the one side.

Abstract: An input panel for an electronic device, including an arrangement of buttons, wherein each button is actuated when pressed, providing input to an electronic device, and a sensor, detecting location of a user's finger above the buttons, the sensor including a housing, a printed circuit board, light emitters and photodiode detectors, lenses mounted in the housing in such a manner that, when the housing is mounted along an edge of the arrangement, the lenses direct light from the emitters along a plane above the buttons, and direct light from the plane, reflected toward the lenses by an object inserted into the plane, onto the detectors, a processor configured to identify a location in the plane at which the object is inserted based on the detections of light reflected by the object, and a communications port configured to output the identified location to the electronic device.

Abstract: A modular proximity sensor including a plurality of sensor modules, each sensor module including a housing, lenses, light detectors, each detector positioned along the image plane of a respective lens so as to receive maximum light intensity when light enters the lens at a particular angle, light emitters, each emitter positioned in relation to a respective lens so as to project light into a detection zone, an activating unit synchronously co-activating each emitter with at least one of the detectors, and a calculating unit receiving detector outputs corresponding to amounts of projected light reflected by an object in the detection zone, and calculating a two-dimensional location of the object in the detection zone based on the detector outputs and the particular angle, wherein neighboring sensor modules monitor different detection zones, and a processor receiving outputs from each sensor module and mapping the object location in multiple detection zones over time.

Abstract: An interactive mid-air display including a display that presents a graphical user interface (GUI), optics projecting and rotating the GUI above the display such that the GUI is visible in-air in a plane rotated away from the display, a sensor including light emitters projecting beams towards the projected GUI, light detectors detecting reflections of the beams by objects interacting with the projected GUI, and a lens structure maximizing detection at each detector for light entering the lens structure at a respective location at a specific angle ?, whereby for each emitter-detector pair, maximum detection of light corresponds to the object being at a specific location in the projected GUI, in accordance with the locations of the emitter and detector and the angle ?, and a processor mapping detections of light for emitter-detector pairs to corresponding locations in the projected GUI, and translating the mapped locations to coordinates on the display.

Abstract: A sensor including lenses, light emitters, each emitter projecting light out of a lens in a particular emission direction along a detection plane, light detectors, each detector detecting maximum light intensity when light enters a lens at a particular detection angle, a table of hotspots, each hotspot corresponding to an emitter-detector pair, the hotspot being a two-dimensional location in the detection plane along the emission direction of the emitter of the pair where projected light reflected by an object placed at that location, enters the lens for the detector of the pair at the detection angle of the detector, and a processor receiving outputs from the detectors corresponding to detected amounts of projected light reflected by an object in the detection plane, and calculating a two-dimensional location of the object in the detection plane based on the received outputs and based on hotspots for synchronously activated emitter-detector pairs.

Abstract: A sensor, including light emitters projecting directed light beams, light detectors interleaved with the light emitters, lenses, each lens oriented relative to a respective one of the light detectors such that the light detector receives maximum intensity when light enters the lens at an angle b, whereby, for each emitter E, there exist corresponding target positions p(E, D) along the path of the light from emitter E, at which an object located at any of the target positions reflects the light projected by emitter E towards a respective one of detectors D at angle b, and a processor storing a reflection value R(E, D) for each co-activated emitter-detector pair (E, D), based on an amount of light reflected by an object located at p(E, D) and detected by detector D, and calculating a location of an object based on the reflection values and target positions.

Abstract: A vehicle user interface including a vehicle steering wheel including a grip, a sensor mounted in the steering wheel grip detecting objects touching the steering wheel grip, a plurality of individually activatable illumination units illuminating respective locations on the steering wheel grip, and a processor receiving outputs from the sensor, selectively activating a subset of the illumination units adjacent to a detected object, and controlling a plurality of vehicle functions in response to outputs of the sensor.

Abstract: A method for identifying a proximal object, including providing light emitters, light detectors and lenses, mounted in a housing, each lens, denoted L, being positioned in relation to a respective one of the detectors, denoted D, such that light entering lens L is maximally detected at detector D when the light enters lens L at an angle of incidence ?, activating the detectors synchronously with activation of each emitter to measure reflections of the light beams emitted by each emitter, and calculating a location of a reflective object along a path of a light beam projected by an activated emitter, by calculating an axis of symmetry with respect to which the outputs of the synchronously activated detectors are approximately symmetric, orienting the calculated axis of symmetry by the angle ?, and locating a point of intersection of the path of the emitted light beam with the oriented axis of symmetry.

Abstract: A proximity sensor, including a housing, an array of lenses mounted in the housing, an array of alternating light emitters and light detectors mounted in the housing, each detector being positioned along the image plane of a respective one of the lenses so as to receive maximum light intensity when light enters the lens at a particular angle, an activating unit mounted in the housing and connected to the emitters and detectors, synchronously co-activating each emitter with at least one of the detectors, each activated emitter projecting light out of the housing along a detection plane, and a processor receiving outputs from the detectors corresponding to amounts of projected light reflected by an object in the detection plane to the detectors, and calculating a two-dimensional location of the object in the detection plane based on the detector outputs and the particular angle.

Abstract: A proximity sensor including a housing, light emitters mounted in the housing for projecting light out of the housing along a detection plane, light detectors mounted in the housing for detecting amounts of light entering the housing along the detection plane, whereby for each emitter-detector pair (E, D), when an object is located at a target position p(E, D) in the detection plane, corresponding to the pair (E, D), then the light emitted by emitter E is scattered by the object and is expected to be maximally detected by detector D, and a processor to synchronously activate emitter-detector pairs, to read the detected amounts of light from the detectors, and to calculate a location of the object in the detection plane from the detected amounts of light, in accordance with a detection-location relationship that relates detections from emitter-detector pairs to object locations between neighboring target positions in the detection plane.