Patents by Inventor Patrick A. Worfolk

Patrick A. Worfolk 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).

  • Publication number: 20180081098
    Abstract: Systems and methods for optical imaging are disclosed. The optical fingerprint sensor includes an image sensor array; a collimator filter layer disposed above the image sensor array, the collimator filter layer having an array of apertures; and an illumination layer disposed above the collimator filter layer. The collimator filter layer filters reflected light such that only certain of the reflected light beams reach optical sensing elements in the image sensor array. Employing the collimator filter layer prevents blurring while allowing for a lower-profile image sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2017
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Inventors: Patrick Smith, Paul Wickboldt, Patrick A. Worfolk, Steven Molesa, Young Lee, Richard Klenkler
  • Patent number: 9829614
    Abstract: Systems and methods for optical imaging are disclosed. The optical fingerprint sensor includes an image sensor array; a collimator filter layer disposed above the image sensor array, the collimator filter layer having an array of apertures; and an illumination layer disposed above the collimator filter layer. The collimator filter layer filters reflected light such that only certain of the reflected light beams reach optical sensing elements in the image sensor array. Employing the collimator filter layer prevents blurring while allowing for a lower-profile image sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick Smith, Paul Wickboldt, Patrick A Worfolk, Steve Molesa, Young Lee, Richard Klenkler
  • Patent number: 9721365
    Abstract: This disclosure generally provides an input device that includes a by-pass path for improving latency between a touch controller and a display driver. In one embodiment, the by-pass path directly connects the touch controller and display driver, thereby by-passing a host processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or graphic processing unit (GPU)) in the input device. By doing so, the input device can detect user input and update a display to reflect the user input faster than if the display driver had to wait until updated display frames are sent from the host processor. For example, the host processor may transmit touch data received from the touch controller to an application that uses the touch data to change the display. In some input devices, this process can take hundreds of milliseconds, which may be enough time for the user to notice a delay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: SYNAPTICS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Patrick Worfolk
  • Patent number: 9690438
    Abstract: A processing system for an input device having a sensing region overlapping an input surface and an array of sensor electrodes configured to form a plurality of proximity pixels and a plurality of force pixels. The processing system is configured to: determine a proximity image indicative of positional information for input objects; determine a force image indicative of local deflection of the input surface in response to force applied by the input objects; determine a respective group of proximity pixels from the proximity image corresponding to each input object; determine a respective group of force pixels from the force image corresponding to each determined group of proximity pixels; determine the position of each input object based on the determined groups of proximity pixels; and determine the force associated with each input object based on the determined groups of force pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Vijay Venkatesh Mahalingam
  • Patent number: 9632638
    Abstract: Methods, systems and devices are described for use with an electronic system. The device includes a pliable component having an input surface and a first plurality of sensor electrodes; a support substrate spaced apart from the pliable component; a second plurality of sensor electrodes disposed on a second substrate; a spacing layer disposed between the pliable component and the support substrate, the spacing layer configured to locally deform in response to a force applied to the input surface; and a shield electrode layer disposed between the first plurality and the second plurality of sensor electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventor: Patrick Worfolk
  • Publication number: 20160253007
    Abstract: A processing system for an input device having a sensing region overlapping an input surface and an array of sensor electrodes configured to form a plurality of proximity pixels and a plurality of force pixels. The processing system is configured to: determine a proximity image indicative of positional information for input objects; determine a force image indicative of local deflection of the input surface in response to force applied by the input objects; determine a respective group of proximity pixels from the proximity image corresponding to each input object; determine a respective group of force pixels from the force image corresponding to each determined group of proximity pixels; determine the position of each input object based on the determined groups of proximity pixels; and determine the force associated with each input object based on the determined groups of force pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: September 1, 2016
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Vijay Venkatesh Mahalingam
  • Publication number: 20160253008
    Abstract: Devices and method are provided that facilitate improved input device performance. Specifically, the systems and methods are configured to identify a portion of an image of sensor values as corresponding to at least one sensed object in the sensing region, determine a polygon corresponding to the identified portion of the image, and determine a contact characterization of the at least one sensed object based on the polygon. The determination of a polygon corresponding to a sensed object facilitates improved contact characterization of the sensed object. For example, the determined polygon may be used to determine if the sensed object is actually more than one object. As a second example, the determined polygon may be used to determine the orientation of the sensed object. In addition, determined polygons may be used to more accurately track changes in the position of the sensed object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2016
    Publication date: September 1, 2016
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Joel Jordan
  • Patent number: 9430097
    Abstract: A processing system includes a transmitter module, a receiver module, and a determination module. The transmitter module includes drives a first optical transmitter with a first optical coded signal based on a first code, and drives a second optical transmitter with a second optical coded signal based on a second code. The first code and the second code are non-orthogonal, and the first optical transmitter and the second optical transmitter transmit at overlapping times. The receiver module receives a resulting signal that includes effects corresponding to the first optical coded signal and the second optical coded signal. The determination module determines a first measurement between the first optical transmitter and the optical receiver, determines a second measurement between the second optical transmitter and the optical receiver, and determines positional information for an input object based on the first measurement and the second measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventor: Patrick Worfolk
  • Patent number: 9411458
    Abstract: A processing system for an input device having a sensing region overlapping an input surface and an array of sensor electrodes configured to form a plurality of proximity pixels and a plurality of force pixels. The processing system is configured to: determine a proximity image indicative of positional information for input objects; determine a force image indicative of local deflection of the input surface in response to force applied by the input objects; determine a respective group of proximity pixels from the proximity image corresponding to each input object; determine a respective group of force pixels from the force image corresponding to each determined group of proximity pixels; determine the position of each input object based on the determined groups of proximity pixels; and determine the force associated with each input object based on the determined groups of force pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Vijay Venkatesh Mahalingam
  • Publication number: 20160224816
    Abstract: Systems and methods for optical imaging are disclosed. The optical fingerprint sensor includes an image sensor array; a collimator filter layer disposed above the image sensor array, the collimator filter layer having an array of apertures; and an illumination layer disposed above the collimator filter layer. The collimator filter layer filters reflected light such that only certain of the reflected light beams reach optical sensing elements in the image sensor array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2015
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Inventors: Patrick Smith, Paul Wickboldt, Patrick A. Worfolk, Steve Molesa, Young Lee, Richard Klenkler
  • Patent number: 9367191
    Abstract: Devices and method are provided that facilitate improved input device performance. Specifically, the systems and methods are configured to identify a portion of an image of sensor values as corresponding to at least one sensed object in the sensing region, determine a polygon corresponding to the identified portion of the image, and determine a contact characterization of the at least one sensed object based on the polygon. The determination of a polygon corresponding to a sensed object facilitates improved contact characterization of the sensed object. For example, the determined polygon may be used to determine if the sensed object is actually more than one object. As a second example, the determined polygon may be used to determine the orientation of the sensed object. In addition, determined polygons may be used to more accurately track changes in the position of the sensed object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Joel Jordan
  • Publication number: 20160162061
    Abstract: This disclosure generally provides an input device that includes a by-pass path for improving latency between a touch controller and a display driver. In one embodiment, the by-pass path directly connects the touch controller and display driver, thereby by-passing a host processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or graphic processing unit (GPU)) in the input device. By doing so, the input device can detect user input and update a display to reflect the user input faster than if the display driver had to wait until updated display frames are sent from the host processor. For example, the host processor may transmit touch data received from the touch controller to an application that uses the touch data to change the display. In some input devices, this process can take hundreds of milliseconds, which may be enough time for the user to notice a delay.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2015
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Inventor: Patrick WORFOLK
  • Publication number: 20160070398
    Abstract: Methods, systems and devices are described for use with an electronic system. The device includes a pliable component having an input surface and a first plurality of sensor electrodes; a support substrate spaced apart from the pliable component; a second plurality of sensor electrodes disposed on a second substrate; a spacing layer disposed between the pliable component and the support substrate, the spacing layer configured to locally deform in response to a force applied to the input surface; and a shield electrode layer disposed between the first plurality and the second plurality of sensor electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2014
    Publication date: March 10, 2016
    Inventor: Patrick Worfolk
  • Publication number: 20150378491
    Abstract: A processing system for an input device having a sensing region overlapping an input surface and an array of sensor electrodes configured to form a plurality of proximity pixels and a plurality of force pixels. The processing system is configured to: determine a proximity image indicative of positional information for input objects; determine a force image indicative of local deflection of the input surface in response to force applied by the input objects; determine a respective group of proximity pixels from the proximity image corresponding to each input object; determine a respective group of force pixels from the force image corresponding to each determined group of proximity pixels; determine the position of each input object based on the determined groups of proximity pixels; and determine the force associated with each input object based on the determined groups of force pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2014
    Publication date: December 31, 2015
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Vijay Venkatesh Mahalingam
  • Patent number: 9179495
    Abstract: A technique is disclosed to schedule frame transmissions in a wireless network utilizing scheduled TDMA by synchronizing clocks in repeater and backhaul access points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.
    Inventors: Shimon B. Scherzer, Patrick A. Worfolk, Armin D. Haken, Subburajan Ponnuswamy, Ronen Vainish
  • Patent number: 9014203
    Abstract: A technique is disclosed to schedule frame transmissions in a wireless local area network. The network includes a plurality of stations configured to communicate on the same frequency channel with a plurality of access points. A central controller examines the transmission characteristics between the various stations and access points and identifies frames that may be simultaneously transmitted by a subset of the access points to their intended stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Shimon B. Scherzer, Patrick A. Worfolk
  • Patent number: 9001070
    Abstract: The embodiments described herein provide devices and methods that facilitate improved input devices. In one embodiment, an input device is configured to determine if a sensed object includes an occluded portion using an image representative of sensor values, determine a portion of the image corresponding to the sensed object, and approximate a boundary representation of the sensed object wherein if the sensed object does include the occluded portion, the boundary representation encompasses at least part of the occluded portion of the sensed object and at least part of a non-occluded portion of the sensed object. The determination of a boundary representation corresponding to a sensed object facilitates improved characterization of the sensed object. For example, the determined boundary representation may be used to more accurately track changes in the position of the sensed object as the sensed object moves out of the sensing region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Joel Jordan
  • Publication number: 20150091872
    Abstract: A processing system includes a transmitter module, a receiver module, and a determination module. The transmitter module includes drives a first optical transmitter with a first optical coded signal based on a first code, and drives a second optical transmitter with a second optical coded signal based on a second code. The first code and the second code are non-orthogonal, and the first optical transmitter and the second optical transmitter transmit at overlapping times. The receiver module receives a resulting signal that includes effects corresponding to the first optical coded signal and the second optical coded signal. The determination module determines a first measurement between the first optical transmitter and the optical receiver, determines a second measurement between the second optical transmitter and the optical receiver, and determines positional information for an input object based on the first measurement and the second measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Publication date: April 2, 2015
    Applicant: Synaptics Incorporated
    Inventor: Patrick Worfolk
  • Publication number: 20150084909
    Abstract: Methods, systems and devices are described for operating input device for an electronic system including a pliable component having an input surface and a first plurality of sensor electrodes configured to sense input objects in a sensing region of the input device. The input device also includes a support substrate including at least one second sensor electrode spaced apart from the pliable component, and a patterned force sensitive resistance (FSR) layer disposed between the first plurality of sensor electrodes and the at least one second sensor electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2013
    Publication date: March 26, 2015
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Pascale El Kallassi
  • Publication number: 20150054785
    Abstract: Devices and method are provided that facilitate improved input device performance. Specifically, the systems and methods are configured to identify a portion of an image of sensor values as corresponding to at least one sensed object in the sensing region, determine a polygon corresponding to the identified portion of the image, and determine a contact characterization of the at least one sensed object based on the polygon. The determination of a polygon corresponding to a sensed object facilitates improved contact characterization of the sensed object. For example, the determined polygon may be used to determine if the sensed object is actually more than one object. As a second example, the determined polygon may be used to determine the orientation of the sensed object. In addition, determined polygons may be used to more accurately track changes in the position of the sensed object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2014
    Publication date: February 26, 2015
    Inventors: Patrick Worfolk, Joel Jordan