Switching device and method for detecting whether said switching device is being actuated

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10008349-B2
Application number	US-201515324834-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2015
Priority date	Jul 10, 2014
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

A switch device is presented. The switch device comprises a magnet supported such that it can be tilted, a transmitter device coupled to the magnet, designed to cause a tilting movement of the magnet in response to a switch actuation of the switch device, and a sensor device, having a first sensor element and a second sensor element for detecting the tilting movement, wherein the first sensor element is designed to acquire a plurality of first magnetic field values of a magnetic field shift of a magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the tilting movement, and the second sensor element is designed to acquire a plurality of second magnetic field values of a second magnetic field shift of the magnetic field generated by the magnetic caused by the tilting movement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A switch device, the switch device comprising:
a magnet supported by a disk and an axle passing through the disk to support the magnet such that the magnet can tilt;
a transmitter device coupled to the magnet and comprising a first transmitter element and a second transmitter element, wherein the first transmitter element is coupled to the disk at a first position and is designed to cause a first tilting movement of the magnet in response to a first switch actuation of the switch device, and wherein the second transmitter element is coupled to the disk at a second position and is designed to cause a second tilting movement of the magnet, counter to the first tilting movement, in response to a second switch actuation of the switch device; and
a sensor device having a first sensor element and a second sensor element for detecting the first and second tilting movements;
wherein the first sensor element is designed to acquire a plurality of first magnetic field values of a first magnetic field shift of a magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the first tilting movement;
wherein the first sensor element is also designed to acquire a plurality of further first magnetic field values of a further first magnetic field shift of the magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the second tilting movement;
wherein the second sensor element is designed to acquire a plurality of second magnetic field values of a second magnetic field shift of the magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the first tilting movement; and
wherein the second sensor element is also designed to acquire a plurality of further second magnetic field values of a further second magnetic field shift of the magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the second tilting movement.

2. The switch device of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor element is positioned to correspond with a magnetic north pole section of the magnet and the second sensor element is positioned to correspond with a magnetic south pole section of the magnet.

3. The switch device of claim 1 , wherein the switch device further comprises an evaluation device coupled to the sensor device, which is designed to provide an actuation signal to indicate the first switch actuation when one of the plurality of first magnetic field values corresponds to a predetermined first actuation value and/or one of the plurality of second magnetic field values corresponds to a predetermined second actuation value.

4. The switch device of claim 3 , wherein the switch device further comprises a mechanical element, which is designed to indicate, haptically and/or acoustically, a switch actuation of the transmitter device sufficient for providing the actuation signal.

5. The switch device of claim 4 , wherein the mechanical element comprises at least one snap disk.

6. The switch device of claim 3 , wherein the evaluation device determines a curve of the first magnetic field values based on the plurality of first magnetic field values, acquires a first current magnetic field value of the plurality of first magnetic field values when the curve has a predetermined characteristic, and modifies the predetermined first actuation value to the first current magnetic field value and/or determines a curve of the second magnetic field values based on the plurality of second magnetic field values, acquires a second current magnetic field value of the plurality of second magnetic field values when the curve has a predetermined characteristic, and modifies the predetermined second actuation value to the second current magnetic field value.

7. The switch device of claim 3 , wherein the evaluation device is furthermore designed to modify the predetermined first actuation value to the first current magnetic field value when the first current magnetic field value lies within a predetermined first magnetic field value interval, and to modify the predetermined second actuation value to the second current magnetic field value when the second current magnetic field value lies within a predetermined second magnetic field value interval.

8. A method for detecting an actuation of a switch device, the method comprising:
presenting a magnet supported by a disk and an axle passing through the disk to support the magnet such that the magnet can tilt, a transmitter device coupled to the magnet and comprising a first transmitter element and a second transmitter element, wherein the first transmitter element is coupled to the disk at a first position and is designed to cause a first tilting movement of the magnet in response to a first switch actuation of the switch device, wherein the second transmitter element is coupled to the disk at a second position, and a sensor device, comprising a first sensor element and a second sensor element for detecting the first tilting movement, wherein the first sensor element is designed to acquire a plurality of first magnetic field values of a first magnetic field shift of a magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the first tilting movement, and the second sensor element is designed to acquire a plurality of second magnetic field values of a second magnetic field shift of the magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the first tilting movement;
presenting an actuation signal to indicate the first switch actuation when one of the plurality of first magnetic field values corresponds to a predetermined first actuation value, and one of the plurality of second magnetic field values corresponds to a predetermined second actuation value;
causing the first titling movement of the magnet via the first transmitter element;
causing a second tilting movement of the magnet that is counter to the first tilting movement via the second transmitter element in response to a second switch actuation of the switch device; and
detecting the second tilting movement via the first and second sensor elements by the first sensor element acquiring a plurality of further first magnetic field values of a further first magnetic field shift of the magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the second tilting movement and the second sensor element acquiring a plurality of further second magnetic field values of a further second magnetic field shift of the magnetic field generated by the magnet caused by the second tilting movement.

9. The method of claim 8 , the method further comprising determining a curve of the first magnetic field values and a curve of the second magnetic field values;
acquiring a first current magnetic field value of the plurality of first magnetic field values when the curve of the first magnetic field values has a predetermined characteristic, and a second current magnetic field value of the plurality of second magnetic field values when the curve of the second magnetic field values has a predetermined characteristic; and
modifying the predetermined first actuation value to the first current magnetic field value and the predetermined second actuation value to the second current magnetic field value.

10. A computer program product having programming code that is executed on a switch device for detecting an actuation of a switch device, the computer program product comprising:
a magnet supported by a disk and an axle passing through to disk to support the magnet such that the magnet can tilt;
a transmitter device coupled to the magnet and comprising a first transmitter element and a second transmitter element, wherein the first transmitter element is coupled to the disk at a first position and is designed to cause a first tilting movement of the magnet in response to a first switch actuation of the switch device, and wherein the second transmitter elemen

Assignees

• Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen

Inventors

• Kernebeck Bernd
• Nanz Hans-Werner

Classifications

• H03K17/972 Primary

  having a plurality of control members, e.g. keyboard · CPC title

• H03K17/9517

  using galvanomagnetic devices · CPC title

• H03K2217/96062

  with tactile or haptic feedback · CPC title

• H01H36/02 Primary

  actuated by movement of a float carrying a magnet · CPC title

• H01H2215/03

  Sound · CPC title