Active stylus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11216082-B2
Application number	US-201816772486-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2018
Priority date	Dec 14, 2017
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

A stylus for touchscreen includes a barrel extending in a longitudinal direction, the barrel including a first end including an opening and a second end, the first end and the second end being, in the longitudinal direction, opposite one another, and a first part and a second part, the first part including the first end and the second part including the second end, an electronic tip received at least in part in the barrel and configured to have at least an in-use configuration in which the electronic tip protrudes from the first part of the barrel through the opening, at least two actuators positioned in a circumferential direction on the second part of the barrel, each actuator being configured to be actuated independently from the other actuators and having at least two configurations, at least a detector for detecting the configuration of the actuators, and communication components.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A stylus for a touchscreen comprising:
a barrel extending in a longitudinal direction, the barrel comprising:
a first end comprising an opening and a second end, the first end and the second end being, in the longitudinal direction, opposite to one another, and
a first part and a second part, the first part including the first end and the second part including the second end;

a first electronic tip received at least in part in the barrel and configured to have at least an in-use configuration in which the first electronic tip protrudes from the first part of the barrel through the opening;
an electric conductive pad or a second electronic tip extending outwardly from the second end;
at least two actuators positioned in a circumferential direction relative to one another on the second part of the barrel, the at least two actuators extending in the longitudinal direction, being configured to be actuated independently from the other actuators and having at least two configurations;
at least a detector for detecting the configuration of the at least two actuators;
communication components configured to send information relative to the configuration of the at least two actuators; and
a memory unit, wherein the memory unit is configured to store information relative to at least a personalization of at least one actuator, wherein the personalization includes a characteristic of the first electronic tip perceived by the touchscreen upon contact of the first electronic tip with the touchscreen.

2. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein the second end comprises at least a second part actuator.

3. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein the first part of the barrel comprises a first part actuator.

4. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein the first part and the second part of the barrel have at least two configurations relative to one another.

5. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein the barrel and/or at least one actuator comprise a display.

6. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic tip has a retracted configuration in which the electronic tip is entirely received in the barrel, wherein the barrel comprises a writing tip received at least in part in the barrel, the writing tip having an in-use configuration in which the writing tip is received in part in the barrel and protrudes from the first part of the barrel through the opening and a retracted configuration in which the writing tip is entirely received in the barrel.

7. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein a longitudinal distance between an edge of the first electronic tip and an edge of the electric conductive pad or the second electronic tip is a largest measurable longitudinal distance of the stylus.

8. The stylus according to claim 7 , wherein the electric conductive pad or the second electronic tip is configured to be recognized as an eraser by the touchscreen.

9. The stylus according to claim 8 , wherein the stylus comprises an inclination detector.

10. A method of using the stylus according to claim 8 , the method including:
contacting the first electronic tip with a surface of the touchscreen along a first path to cause the touchscreen to display a mark corresponding to the first path;
contacting the electric conductive pad or the second electronic tip with the surface of the touchscreen along a second path, wherein at least a portion of the second path overlaps with the first path, to cause the touchscreen to remove the mark along any portion of the second path that overlaps with the first path.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the touchscreen automatically recognizes the electric conductive pad or the second electronic tip as an eraser that causes the touchscreen to remove marks or images from areas of the touchscreen contacted by the electric conductive pad or the second electronic tip.

12. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least two actuators comprises a touch sensitive surface configured to be actuated along the longitudinal direction, along the circumferential direction and/or along a radial direction.

13. The stylus according to claim 1 , further including a color scanner configured to determine a color of an object, wherein the stylus is configured to convey the color of the object scanned by the color scanner to the touchscreen.

14. A stylus for a touchscreen comprising:
a barrel extending in a longitudinal direction, the barrel comprising:
a first end comprising an opening and a second end, the first end and the second end being, in the longitudinal direction, opposite to one another, and
a first part and a second part, the first part including the first end and the second part including the second end;

a first electronic tip received at least in part in the barrel and configured to have at least an in-use configuration in which the first electronic tip protrudes from the first part of the barrel through the opening;
at least two actuators positioned in a circumferential direction relative to one another on the second part of the barrel, the at least two actuators extending in the longitudinal direction, being configured to be actuated independently from the other actuators and having at least two configurations;
at least a detector for detecting the configuration of the at least two actuators; and
communication components configured to send information relative to the configuration of the at least two actuators,
wherein the second part comprises a clip, the clip being an actuator and the clip comprising a display, wherein the clip includes a touch sensitive surface including either a capacitive surface or a resistive surface, wherein the touch sensitive surface is actuatable by displacement of a finger across the touch sensitive surface.

15. The stylus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one actuator is configured to be actuated:
in the longitudinal direction;
in translation or in rotation;
in the circumferential direction; or
in a radial direction.

16. The stylus according to claim 14 , wherein the display is an LCD, LED, or e-ink display configured to display information related to a configuration of the actuator.

17. A touchscreen stylus comprising a barrel extending in a longitudinal direction, wherein the barrel comprises:
a first end including an opening and a second end opposite to the first end in the longitudinal direction,
a first part including the first end and a second part including the second end;
a first electronic tip received at least in part in the barrel and configured to have at least an in-use configuration in which the first electronic tip protrudes from the opening of the first part of the barrel;
two or more actuators positioned on the second part of the barrel, in a circumferential direction relative to one another, each actuator extending in the longitudinal direction, being configured to be actuated independently from the other actuators and having at least two configurations;
at least a detector for detecting the configuration of the actuators;
communication components configured to send information relative to the configuration of the actuators; and
a memory unit configured to store information relating to a personalization of at least one of the two or more actuators, wherein the personalization includes a characteristic of the first electronic tip perceived by the touchscreen upon contact of the first electronic tip with the touchscreen.

18. The stylus according to claim 17 , wherein the electronic tip has a retracted configu

Assignees

• SOCIéTé BIC

Inventors

• Rolion Franck
• Folgoas Loïc
• Roudaut Etienne
• Fagu Ludovic

Classifications

• G06F3/044

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F3/0383

  Signal control means within the pointing device · CPC title

• G06F3/0346 Primary

  with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a three-dimensional [3D] space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors · CPC title

• G06F3/03545 Primary

  Pens or stylus · CPC title