Ultrasonic water-agnostic touch detection sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11422113-B2
Application number	US-202016917779-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2020
Priority date	Jun 30, 2020
Publication date	Aug 23, 2022
Grant date	Aug 23, 2022

Abstract

An ultrasonic touch sensing system that uses both compressional and shear waves for touch and water detection is disclosed. When no touch or water is present, less shear and compressional wave energy is absorbed, so both shear and compressional wave reflections do not have significant amplitude decreases. When a finger is in contact with the sensing plate, both shear and compressional wave energy is absorbed, so both shear and compressional wave reflections have significant amplitude decreases. When water is in contact with the sensing plate, compressional energy is absorbed but little or no shear wave energy is absorbed, so while compressional wave reflections have significant amplitude decreases, shear wave reflections do not. From these amplitudes, a determination can be made as to whether no touch is present on the sensing plate, whether a touch is present on the sensing plate, or whether water is present on the sensing plate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device comprising:
a surface;
an array of transducers coupled to the surface, each transducer in the array of transducers configured to generate an ultrasonic shear wave and an ultrasonic compressional wave and to receive a reflection of the ultrasonic shear wave and a reflection of the ultrasonic compressional wave during non-overlapping windows; and
a processor coupled to the array of transducers configured to, for each transducer:
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being less than a first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being less than a second threshold, determine an object in contact with a region of the surface corresponding to the transducer;
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being greater than the first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being less than the second threshold, determine a liquid in contact with the region of the surface corresponding to the transducer; and
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being greater than the first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being greater than the second threshold, determine no object in contact with the region of the surface corresponding to the transducer.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein each transducer in the array of transducers is an ultrasonic shear wave transducer.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein an x-direction is defined parallel to the surface and a z-direction is defined normal to the surface, each ultrasonic shear wave transducer comprising:
first and second electrodes formed on a top and a bottom of the ultrasonic shear wave transducer in the z-direction;
wherein a polling direction of the ultrasonic shear wave transducer is aligned along the x-direction.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave is a first reflection of the ultrasonic shear wave, and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave is a first reflection of the ultrasonic compressional wave.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave is a reflection subsequent to a first reflection of the ultrasonic shear wave, and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave is a reflection subsequent to a first reflection of the ultrasonic compressional wave.

6. The device of claim 1 , the surface having a characteristic ultrasonic compressional wave velocity, a characteristic ultrasonic shear wave velocity and a thickness selected such that a first reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave received at a particular transducer is non-overlapping in time with respect to a first reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave received at the particular transducer.

7. The device of claim 1 , each transducer in the array of transducers configured to generate a plurality of pulses, each pulse including a first number of cycles at a first frequency;
wherein the first number of cycles and the first frequency are selected such that a first reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave received at a particular transducer is non-overlapping in time with respect to a first reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave received at the particular transducer.

8. A method for detecting an object and water on a surface, comprising:
generating an ultrasonic shear wave and an ultrasonic compressional wave from each transducer in an array of transducers;
receiving a reflection of the ultrasonic shear wave and a reflection of the ultrasonic compressional wave during non-overlapping time windows; and
for each transducer:
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being less than a first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being less than a second threshold, determining an object in contact with a region of the surface corresponding to the transducer;
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being greater than the first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being less than the second threshold, determining a liquid in contact with the region of the surface corresponding to the transducer; and
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being greater than the first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being greater than the second threshold, determining no object in contact with the region of the surface corresponding to the transducer.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating the ultrasonic shear wave and the ultrasonic compressional wave from each transducer using an ultrasonic shear wave transducer.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein an x-direction is defined parallel to the surface and a z-direction is defined normal to the surface, further comprising orienting each ultrasonic shear wave transducer such that a polling direction of the ultrasonic shear wave transducer is aligned along the x-direction.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave is a first reflection of the ultrasonic shear wave, and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave is a first reflection of the ultrasonic compressional wave.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave is a reflection subsequent to a first reflection of the ultrasonic shear wave, and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave is a reflection subsequent to a first reflection of the ultrasonic compressional wave.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising selecting a material of the surface having a characteristic ultrasonic compressional wave velocity, a characteristic ultrasonic shear wave velocity, and a thickness such that a first reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave received at a particular transducer is non-overlapping in time with respect to a first reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave received at the particular transducer.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating the ultrasonic shear wave and the ultrasonic compressional wave from each transducer in the array of transducers with a plurality of pulses, each pulse including a first number of cycles at a first frequency;
wherein the first number of cycles and the first frequency are selected such that a first reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave received at a particular transducer is non-overlapping in time with respect to a first reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave received at the particular transducer.

15. A device comprising:
means for propagating an ultrasonic shear wave and an ultrasonic compressional wave through a surface from each location in an array;
means for receiving a reflection of the ultrasonic shear wave and a reflection of the ultrasonic compressional wave from each location in the array during non-overlapping time windows; and
for each means for propagating:
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being less than a first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being less than a second threshold, determining an object in contact with a region of the surface corresponding to the means for propagating;
in accordance with the reflection from the ultrasonic shear wave being greater than the first threshold and the reflection from the ultrasonic compressional wave being less than the second threshold, determining a liquid in contact with the region of the surface corresponding to the means for propagating; and

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Khajeh Ehsan
• King Brian Michael
• Mak George Ho Yin
• Yip Marcus
• Gozzini Giovanni

Classifications

• G01N29/2437

  Piezoelectric probes · CPC title

• G01N2291/106

  one or more transducer arrays · CPC title

• G01V1/001

  Acoustic presence detection · CPC title

• G01N2291/0422

  Shear waves, transverse waves, horizontally polarised waves · CPC title

• G01N29/348

  with frequency characteristics, e.g. single frequency signals, chirp signals (measuring frequency of mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in general G01H1/06, G01H3/04; measuring frequency or analysing frequency spectra G01R23/00) · CPC title