Touch pad with force sensors and actuator feedback

摘要

Electronic devices may use touch pads that have touch sensor arrays, force sensors, and actuators for providing tactile feedback. A touch pad may be mounted in a computer housing. The touch pad may have a rectangular planar touch pad member that has a glass layer covered with ink and contains a capacitive touch sensor array. Force sensors may be mounted under each of the four corners of the rectangular planar touch pad member. The force sensors may be used to measure how much force is applied to the surface of the planar touch pad member by a user. Processed force sensor signals may indicate the presence of button activity such as press and release events. In response to detected button activity or other activity in the device, actuator drive signals may be generated for controlling the actuator. The user may supply settings to adjust signal processing and tactile feedback parameters.

主权项

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a housing having an opening defined therein; and a track pad disposed within the opening of the housing, the track pad comprising:
a contact surface;a capacitive touch sensor disposed below the contact surface and configured to detect the location of a touch on the contact surface;a set of force sensors disposed below the capacitive touch sensor; andan output device configured to output non-visual feedback in response to a force of the touch that exceeds a threshold force on the contact surface of the track pad; wherein:
the trackpad is configured to transfer the force to one or more of the set of force sensors; andthe set of force sensors are configured to produce a non-binary output signal that corresponds to the force of the touch on the contact surface.