Patents by Inventor Ben S. B. Chang

Ben S. B. Chang 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: 6759264
    Abstract: The present invention provides a fabrication method of a pressure type fingerprint sensor, which uses the commercial integrated circuit process to form the sensor and the processing circuit together on the same chip. The present invention comprises a plurality of capacitive pressure sensors arranged in a 2-D array and applies the charge sharing principle to each capacitive pressure sensor for signal reading. The main structure of each pressure sensor is a pair of plate electrodes with an air gap between them to form a plate sensor capacitor, wherein the plate electrodes comprise a floating electrode and a fixed electrode. When the finger ridge contacts the floating electrode, the pressure from the finger changes the spacing of the air gap so as to change the capacitance of the plate sensor capacitor. The 2-D sensor array can read the 2-D pressure distribution pressed by the finger ridge to construct the fingerprint pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2004
    Assignee: Ligh Tuning Technology Inc.
    Inventors: Bruce C. S. Chou, Ben S. B. Chang, Wallace Y. W. Cheng
  • Publication number: 20030215976
    Abstract: The present invention provides a fabrication method of a pressure type fingerprint sensor, which uses the commercial integrated circuit process to form the sensor and the processing circuit together on the same chip. The present invention comprises a plurality of capacitive pressure sensors arranged in a 2-D array and applies the charge sharing principle to each capacitive pressure sensor for signal reading. The main structure of each pressure sensor is a pair of plate electrodes with an air gap between them to form a plate sensor capacitor, wherein the plate electrodes comprise a floating electrode and a fixed electrode. When the finger ridge contacts the floating electrode, the pressure from the finger changes the spacing of the air gap so as to change the capacitance of the plate sensor capacitor. The 2-D sensor array can read the 2-D pressure distribution pressed by the finger ridge to construct the fingerprint pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2003
    Publication date: November 20, 2003
    Inventors: Bruce C. S. Chou, Ben S. B. Chang, Wallace Y. W. Cheng