Patents by Inventor Steven P. Hotelling

Steven P. Hotelling 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: 9612377
    Abstract: A polarizer includes a polarizer component having a top surface and an opposite bottom surface. The bottom surface is configured to couple to a color filter layer for a liquid crystal display. The polarizer also includes a transparent conducting layer disposed over the top surface. The transparent conducting layer being configured to electrically shield the LCD from a touch panel. The polarizer further includes a coating layer disposed over the transparent conducting layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Cheng Chen, Enkhamgalan Dorjgotov, Masato Kuwabara, Wonjae Choi, Martin P. Grunthaner, Albert Lin, John Z. Zhong, Wei Chen, Steven P. Hotelling, Lynn R. Youngs
  • Publication number: 20170085163
    Abstract: A haptic actuator may include a housing, at least one coil carried by the housing, and a field member having opposing first and second sides. The haptic actuator may also include a respective at least one flexure bearing mounting each of the first and second sides of the field member to be reciprocally movable within the housing responsive to the at least one coil. Each flexure bearing may include at least one flexible member having a wishbone shape with two diverging arms joined together at proximal ends and having spaced distal ends operatively coupled between adjacent portions of the field member and the housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2016
    Publication date: March 23, 2017
    Inventors: Arman HAJATI, Steven P. HOTELLING, Anuranjini PRAGADA
  • Patent number: 9600113
    Abstract: Flexible circuits for routing signals of a device, such as a touch sensor panel of a touch sensitive device, are provided. The flexible circuit can include a first set of traces for routing a first set of lines and a second set of traces for routing a second set of lines. The first set of traces can couple together the ends of at least a portion of the first set of lines. Additionally, the first set of traces can be non-intersecting or non-overlapping with the second set of traces. The flexible circuit can have a T-shape configuration and can be incorporated within a touch sensitive device, display device, printed circuit board, or the like. The flexible circuit can be placed over another flexible circuit, and can extend onto the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steven P. Hotelling, Joshua G. Wurzel, Steven J. Martisauskas, Thayne M. Miller, Kuo-Hua Sung
  • Publication number: 20170068346
    Abstract: In one exemplary embodiment, a portable computer having a display assembly coupled to a base assembly to alternate between a closed position and an open position. Palm rest areas are formed by a touchpad disposed on the surface of the base assembly. In an alternative embodiment, a touchpad disposed on the base assembly has a width that extends substantially into the palm rests areas of the base assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2016
    Publication date: March 9, 2017
    Inventors: Steven P. HOTELLING, Chris A. LIGTENBERG, Duncan Robert KERR, Bartley K. ANDRE, Joshua A. STRICKON, Brian Q. HUPPI, Imran CHAUDHRI, Gregory N. CHRISTIE, Bas ORDING
  • Patent number: 9582105
    Abstract: A method for receiving data from an input device to a computing device through a touch interface. The method includes detecting an input device, synchronizing with the input device by receiving a position signal and activating an input device scan of the touch interface, receiving a data signal from the input device through at least one of a sense line or a drive line of the touch interface, and scanning the touch interface for a touch input by applying a stimulation signal to the at least one drive line and analyzing the at least one sense line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christoph H. Krah, Shahrooz Shahparnia, Steven P. Hotelling
  • Patent number: 9575588
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a housing in which components such as a display are mounted. A strain gauge may be mounted on a layer of the display such as a cover layer or may be mounted on a portion of the housing or other support structure. The layer of material on which the strain gauge is mounted may be configured to flex in response to pressure applied by a finger of a user. The strain gauge may serve as a button for the electronic device or may form part of other input circuitry. A differential amplifier and analog-to-digital converter circuit may be used to gather and process strain gauge signals. The strain gauge may be formed form variable resistor structures that make up part of a bridge circuit that is coupled to the differential amplifier. The bridge circuit may be configured to reduce the impact of capacitively coupled noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Bingrui Yang, Martin P. Grunthaner, Steven P. Hotelling
  • Patent number: 9569053
    Abstract: A touch sensor panel configured to detect objects touching the panel as well as objects that are at a varying proximity to the touch sensor panel. The touch sensor panel includes circuitry that can configure the panel in a mutual capacitance (near field) architecture or a self-capacitance (far field and super far field) architecture. The touch sensor panel can also include circuitry that works to minimize an effect that a parasitic capacitance can have on the ability of the touch sensor panel to reliably detect touch and proximity events.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: John Greer Elias, Steven P. Hotelling
  • Patent number: 9552115
    Abstract: Multi-touch touch-sensing devices and methods are described herein. The touch sensing devices can include multiple sense points, each located at a crossing of a drive line and a sense line. In some embodiments, multiple drive lines may be simultaneously or nearly simultaneously stimulated with drive signals having unique characteristics, such as phase or frequency. A sense signal can occur on each sense line that can be related to the drive signals by an amount of touch present at sense points corresponding to the stimulated drive lines and the sense line. By using processing techniques based on the unique drive signals, an amount of touch corresponding to each sense point can be extracted from the sense signal. The touch sensing methods and devices can be incorporated into interfaces for a variety of electronic devices such as a desktop, tablet, notebook, and handheld computers, personal digital assistants, media players, and mobile telephones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steven P. Hotelling, John Greer Elias, Kapil Vinod Sakariya
  • Publication number: 20170010750
    Abstract: A multi-touch sensor panel is disclosed that can include a glass subassembly having a plurality of column traces of substantially transparent conductive material that can be formed on the back side, wherein the glass subassembly can also act as a cover that can be touched on the front side. Row traces of the same or different substantially transparent conductive material can then be located near the column traces, and a layer of dielectric material can be coupled between the column traces and the row traces. The row and column traces can be oriented to cross over each other at crossover locations separated by the dielectric material, and the crossover locations can form mutual capacitance sensors for detecting one or more touches on the front side of the glass subassembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Publication date: January 12, 2017
    Inventors: Steven P. HOTELLING, Brian R. LAND, Mark Arthur HAMBLIN, Tang Yew TAN
  • Publication number: 20170003817
    Abstract: A multi-touch capacitive touch sensor panel can be created using a substrate with column and row traces formed on either side of the substrate. To shield the column (sense) traces from the effects of capacitive coupling from a modulated Vcom layer in an adjacent liquid crystal display (LCD) or any source of capacitive coupling, the row traces can be widened to shield the column traces, and the row traces can be placed closer to the LCD. In particular, the rows can be widened so that there is spacing of about 30 microns between adjacent row traces. In this manner, the row traces can serve the dual functions of driving the touch sensor panel, and also the function of shielding the more sensitive column (sense) traces from the effects of capacitive coupling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2016
    Publication date: January 5, 2017
    Inventors: Steven P. HOTELLING, Brian Richards LAND
  • Publication number: 20160378263
    Abstract: Measuring an effect of body capacitance in a touch sensitive device is disclosed. This effect can be caused by poor grounding of a user or other objects touching the device or of the device itself. The device can operate in a stray capacitance mode to measure a body capacitance effect and in a normal mode to detect a touch on the device. During the stray capacitance mode, the device can obtain a body capacitance measurement from the device. During the normal mode, the device can obtain a touch measurement from the device. The device can calculate a body capacitance factor based on a ratio between the body capacitance measurement and the touch measurement and use the body capacitance factor to compensate for erroneous or distorted touch output values from the device. Various components of the device can be switchably configured according to the particular mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Inventors: Christoph H. KRAH, Steven P. HOTELLING, Marduke YOUSEFPOR
  • Publication number: 20160357343
    Abstract: An intelligent stylus is disclosed. The stylus can provide a stylus condition in addition to a touch input. The stylus architecture can include multiple sensors to sense information indicative of the stylus condition, a microcontroller to determine the stylus condition based on the sensed information, and a transmitter to transmit the determined condition to a corresponding touch sensitive device so as to cause some action based on the condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2016
    Publication date: December 8, 2016
    Inventors: David R. FALKENBURG, David I. SIMON, Jonah A. HARLEY, Andrea MUCIGNAT, Brian R. LAND, Christopher Tenzin MULLENS, Steven P. HOTELLING
  • Publication number: 20160357344
    Abstract: Reconstruction of an original touch image from a differential touch image is disclosed. Reconstruction can include aligning columns of the differential touch image relative to each other and aligning the image to a baseline DC value. The column and baseline alignment can be based on the differential image data indicative of no touch or hover, because such data can more clearly show the amount of alignment needed to reconstruct the original image. The reconstruction can be performed using the differential image data alone. The reconstruction can also be performed using the differential image data and common mode data indicative of the missing image column average.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2016
    Publication date: December 8, 2016
    Inventors: Ari Y. BENBASAT, William Matthew VIETA, Wayne Carl WESTERMAN, Steven P. HOTELLING
  • Patent number: 9513673
    Abstract: In one exemplary embodiment, a portable computer having a display assembly coupled to a base assembly to alternate between a closed position and an open position. Palm rest areas are formed by a touchpad disposed on the surface of the base assembly. In an alternative embodiment, a touchpad disposed on the base assembly has a width that extends substantially into the palm rests areas of the base assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steven P. Hotelling, Chris Ligtenberg, Duncan Kerr, Bartley K. Andre, Joshua A. Strickon, Brian Q. Huppi, Imran Chaudhri, Greg Christie, Bas Ording
  • Patent number: 9483141
    Abstract: A multi-stimulus controller for a multi-touch sensor is formed on a single integrated circuit (single-chip). The multi-stimulus controller includes a transmit oscillator, a transmit signal section that generates a plurality of drive signals based on a frequency of the transmit oscillator, a plurality of transmit channels that transmit the drive signals simultaneously to drive the multi-touch sensor, a receive channel that receives a sense signal resulting from the driving of the multi-touch sensor, a receive oscillator, and a demodulation section that demodulates the received sense signal based on a frequency of the receive oscillator to obtain sensing results, the demodulation section including a demodulator and a vector operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steven P. Hotelling, Christoph H. Krah, Marduke Yousefpor, Thomas James Wilson
  • Publication number: 20160313825
    Abstract: Electrode configurations for reducing wobble error for a stylus translating on a surface over and between electrodes of a touch sensor panel is disclosed. In some examples, electrodes associated with a more linear signal profile are correlated with lower wobble error. In some examples, electrodes are coupled to adjacent electrodes via diffusing resistors such that the signal profile for each electrode is spread to be more linear. In some configurations, the value of the diffusing resistors and series resistance associated with an electrode is selected based on a desired signal profile for that electrode. In some examples, the series resistance can include a trace resistance and a compensating resistance. The compensating resistance can compensate for a variance in trace resistance between electrodes, thus making series resistance substantially equal for each of the electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2015
    Publication date: October 27, 2016
    Inventors: Steven P. HOTELLING, Vivek PANT, Prathit BUGNAIT, Isaac CHAN
  • Patent number: 9477263
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with a brightness that is adjusted based on ambient light data from one or more ambient light sensors. An ambient light sensor may be formed from a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon substrate. Sensor structures may be formed in the silicon substrate. Conductive vias or other conductive paths may be used to interconnect sensor structures on a frontside surface of the ambient light sensor to contacts on a backside surface of the ambient light sensor. The ambient light sensor may be mounted on a substrate layer in the electronic device. The substrate layer may be a planar layer of glass or plastic such as a transparent display layer. The contacts of the ambient light sensor may be mounted to corresponding contacts on the surface of the substrate layer. The substrate layer may be a thin-film transistor layer in a liquid crystal display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steven P. Hotelling, Dong Zheng
  • Publication number: 20160306468
    Abstract: Displays such as organic light-emitting diode displays may be provided with touch sensing capabilities. A touch sensor may be formed from electrodes located on a thin-film encapsulation layer or one or more sides of a polarizer. A single-sided or double-sided touch sensor panel may be attached to the upper or lower surface of a polarizer. Control circuitry may be used to provide control signals to light-emitting diodes in the display using a grid of control lines. The control lines and transparent electrode structures such as indium tin oxide structures formed on a thin-film encapsulation layer or polarizer may be used as electrodes for a touch sensor. Displays may have active regions and inactive peripheral portions. The displays may have edge portions that are bent along a bend axis that is within the active region to form a borderless display. Virtual buttons may be formed on the bent edge portions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2016
    Publication date: October 20, 2016
    Inventors: Wei Chen, Steven P. Hotelling, John Z. Zhong, Shih-Chang Chang, Stephen S. Poon
  • Patent number: 9465502
    Abstract: A multi-touch capacitive touch sensor panel can be created using a substrate with column and row traces formed on either side of the substrate. To shield the column (sense) traces from the effects of capacitive coupling from a modulated Vcom layer in an adjacent liquid crystal display (LCD) or any source of capacitive coupling, the row traces can be widened to shield the column traces, and the row traces can be placed closer to the LCD. In particular, the rows can be widened so that there is spacing of about 30 microns between adjacent row traces. In this manner, the row traces can serve the dual functions of driving the touch sensor panel, and also the function of shielding the more sensitive column (sense) traces from the effects of capacitive coupling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steven P. Hotelling, Brian Richards Land
  • Publication number: 20160282998
    Abstract: The use of one or more proximity sensors in combination with one or more touch sensors in a multi-touch panel to detect the presence of a finger, body part or other object and control or trigger one or more functions in accordance with an “image” of touch provided by the sensor outputs is disclosed. In some embodiments, one or more infrared (IR) proximity sensors can be driven with a specific stimulation frequency and emit IR light from one or more areas, which can in some embodiments correspond to one or more multi-touch sensor “pixel” locations. The reflected IR signal, if any, can be demodulated using synchronous demodulation. In some embodiments, both physical interfaces (touch and proximity sensors) can be connected to analog channels in the same electrical core.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2016
    Publication date: September 29, 2016
    Inventors: Steven P. HOTELLING, Christoph H. KRAH