Electronic device with noise-cancelling force sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9575588-B2
Application number	US-201615005732-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2016
Priority date	Dec 16, 2011
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a display;
a display cover layer, wherein the display cover layer comprises first and second ends;
a strain gauge having first and second variable resistors formed on an interior surface of the display cover layer; and
a differential amplifier that receives signals from the first and second variable resistors, wherein the first and second variable resistors are located at the second end of the display cover layer, and wherein the first and second variable resistors are configured to serve as a button for the electronic device.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the button is formed on a front face of the electronic device, and wherein the button is the only button formed on the front face of the electronic device.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , further comprising a speaker port located at the first end of the display cover layer.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the first and second variable resistors have different shapes.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the first and second variable resistors have different sizes.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the electronic device further comprises a coupling pad in the strain gauge that is coupled to the first variable resistor.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the display is a touch sensitive display with an array of touch sensors.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the button is a button selected from the group consisting of: a menu button, a volume button, and a power button.

9. A cellular telephone, comprising:
housing;
a display in the housing that forms a front face of the cellular telephone;
a speaker port formed on the front face of the cellular telephone;
a data port formed in the housing a display cover layer;
a strain gauge having first and second variable resistors formed on an interior surface of the display cover layer; and
a differential amplifier that receives signals from the first and second variable resistors, wherein the display cover layer has first and second opposing ends, wherein the first and second variable resistors are located at the second end of the display cover layer, and wherein the first and second variable resistors are configured to serve as a button for the cellular telephone.

10. The cellular telephone defined in claim 9 , wherein the button is the only button formed on the front face of the cellular telephone.

11. An electronic device comprising:
a display;
a display cover layer;
a strain gauge having first and second variable resistors formed on an interior surface of the display cover layer; and
a differential amplifier that receives signals from the first and second variable resistors, wherein the first and second variable resistors have different shapes and wherein the first and second variable resistors have different sizes.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 , wherein the display cover layer is configured to flex in response to pressure from a finger of a user.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Yang Bingrui
• Grunthaner Martin P
• Hotelling Steven P

Classifications

• G06F3/044

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G01L1/22

  using resistance strain gauges · CPC title

• G06F3/0414 Primary

  using force sensing means to determine a position · CPC title

• G06F3/045

  using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact · CPC title

• G06F3/047

  using sets of wires, e.g. crossed wires · CPC title