Keyboard with touch sensor and illumination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11972062-B2
Application number	US-202217669989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2022
Priority date	Sep 15, 2016
Publication date	Apr 30, 2024
Grant date	Apr 30, 2024

Abstract

A keyboard may be provided that has keys overlapped by a touch sensor. The keyboard may have key sensor circuitry for monitoring switching in the keys for key press input. The keyboard may also have touch sensor circuitry such as capacitive touch sensor circuitry that monitors capacitive electrodes in the touch sensor for touch sensor input such as multitouch gesture input. The keyboard may include an outer layer of fabric that overlaps the keys. The fabric may have openings that are arranged to form alphanumeric characters. Light sources may emit light that passes through the openings and illuminates the alphanumeric characters. The touch sensor may have signal lines that are not visible through the openings. The signal lines may be transparent, may be covered by a diffuser, or may circumvent the openings so that they do not overlap.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a key having a switch and a movable key member that is configured to change a state of the switch when the key is pressed during a key press event;
key sensor circuitry;
a signal path that couples the key sensor circuitry to the switch of the key, wherein the key sensor circuitry is configured to detect the key press event based on a signal on the signal path;
a plurality of signal lines overlapping the key and forming capacitive touch sensor electrodes;
capacitive touch sensor circuitry coupled to the plurality of signal lines and configured to detect a touch input event at the key using the plurality of signal lines; and
a layer of material having a first side facing an exterior of the electronic device and having a second side opposite the first side and facing an interior of the electronic device, wherein the layer of material includes an opening that overlaps the key, and the plurality of signal lines forming the capacitive touch sensor electrodes include a signal line that overlaps the opening and that is formed from transparent material.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of signal lines comprise drive signal lines overlapping the key and sense signal lines overlapping the key, and the capacitive touch sensor circuitry is configured to detect the touch input event by providing drive signals to the drive signal lines and gathering sense signals on the sense signal lines.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 , wherein the drive signal lines extend along a first direction, the sense signal lines extend along a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction, and the capacitive touch sensor circuitry is configured to process the drive signals and the sense signals to determine intersections of the drive signal lines and the sense signal lines at which touch input of the touch input event is provided.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the opening in the layer of material is arranged to form a label for the key.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 further comprising:
a light source configured to emit light that passes through the opening in the layer of material overlapping the key.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 4 , wherein the opening in the layer of material overlapping the key is filled with light-diffusing material.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 4 , wherein an additional signal line in the plurality of signal lines runs around an additional opening in the layer of material overlapping the key to avoid overlapping the additional opening in the layer of material.

8. An electronic device comprising:
an outer layer;
a key having a switch, wherein the switch is overlapped by the outer layer;
key sensor circuitry coupled to the switch and configured to detect when the key is pressed;
a touch sensor having touch sensor electrodes that overlap the key and having touch sensor circuitry coupled to the touch sensor electrodes and configured to detect a finger movement across a surface of the key;
perforations that extend through the outer layer, wherein the perforations extend through openings in the touch sensor electrodes; and
a light source configured to emit light that passes through the perforations.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 , wherein the perforations are arranged to form a label for the key.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 8 further comprising a carrier layer for the touch sensor electrodes, wherein the perforations extend through the carrier layer.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 , wherein at least some of the touch sensor electrodes are disposed between the outer layer and the carrier layer.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 8 , wherein a given touch sensor electrode in the touch sensor electrodes includes a set of openings and the light emitted by the light source passes through the set of openings to illuminate the key.

13. A keyboard comprising:
a plurality of keys, each key having a movable key member, wherein a first movable key member for a first key in the plurality of keys is separated from a second movable key member for a second key in the plurality of keys by a gap;
touch sensor electrodes on a touch sensor layer that overlap the first movable key member, the second movable key member, and the gap between the first and second movable key members; and
touch sensor circuitry coupled to the touch sensor electrodes and configured to detect a finger swipe gesture across the first and second movable key members;
a plurality of light sources that illuminate the plurality of keys, wherein the touch sensor layer is formed on a substrate containing the touch sensor electrodes and the plurality of light sources are mounted on the substrate.

14. The keyboard defined in claim 13 wherein the plurality of light sources overlap the touch sensor electrodes and are configured to emit light away from the touch sensor electrodes to illuminate the plurality of keys.

15. The keyboard defined in claim 13 , wherein the substrate comprises a flexible substrate.

16. The keyboard defined in claim 13 , wherein a first set of conductive traces on the substrate form the touch sensor electrodes and a second set of conductive traces on the substrate provide signals to the plurality of light sources.

17. The keyboard defined in claim 13 further comprising:
an outer layer having openings that pass light emitted by the plurality of light sources, wherein the plurality of light sources are disposed between the outer layer and the substrate.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the signal line comprises clear polymer.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 18 , wherein the signal line comprises conductive filler in the clear polymer.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising:
a light source configured to emit light through the transparent material of the signal line and through the opening to illuminate the key.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Wang Paul Xiaopeng
• Wu Chia Chi
• Xu Qiliang
• Gao Zheng
• Sunshine Daniel D
• Zimmerman Aidan N

Classifications

• G06F3/0202 Primary

  Constructional details or processes of manufacture of the input device · CPC title

• G06F1/1662

  Details related to the integrated keyboard · CPC title

• H03K17/9622

  using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard · CPC title

• H03K17/98

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

• H01H2239/006

  Containing a capacitive switch or usable as such · CPC title