US 11,899,888 B2
Device and network based communications for input/output (I/O) operative touch sensor device (TSD)
Patrick Troy Gray, Cedar Park, TX (US); Gerald Dale Morrison, Redmond, WA (US); Daniel Keith Van Ostrand, Leander, TX (US); Richard Stuart Seger, Jr., Belton, TX (US); Kevin Joseph Derichs, Buda, TX (US); Shayne X. Short, College Station, TX (US); and Timothy W. Markison, Mesa, AZ (US)
Assigned to SigmaSense, LLC., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed by SigmaSense, LLC., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed on Oct. 28, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/512,793.
Application 17/512,793 is a continuation in part of application No. 17/184,031, filed on Feb. 24, 2021, granted, now 11,340,727, issued on May 24, 2022.
Application 17/184,031 is a continuation of application No. 16/857,600, filed on Apr. 24, 2020, granted, now 10,963,093, issued on Mar. 30, 2021.
Application 16/857,600 is a continuation of application No. 16/793,043, filed on Feb. 18, 2020, abandoned.
Application 16/857,600 is a continuation of application No. 16/253,717, filed on Jan. 22, 2019, granted, now 10,664,098, issued on May 26, 2020.
Application 16/253,717 is a continuation in part of application No. 16/109,600, filed on Aug. 22, 2018, granted, now 10,678,372, issued on Jun. 9, 2020.
Application 16/109,600 is a continuation of application No. 15/506,097, granted, now 10,120,498, issued on Nov. 6, 2018, previously published as PCT/US2016/038497, filed on Jun. 21, 2016.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/630,595, filed on Feb. 14, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/620,812, filed on Jan. 23, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/183,062, filed on Jun. 22, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2022/0050552 A1, Feb. 17, 2022
Prior Publication US 2023/0161444 A9, May 25, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 3/044 (2006.01); G01V 3/08 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 3/0443 (2019.05) [G01V 3/08 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04108 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A touch sensor device (TSD) comprising:
a plurality of TSD electrodes associated with a surface of the TSD, wherein at least one of a first object also being associated with a first region of the surface of the TSD or a second object also being associated with a second region of the surface of the TSD;
a plurality of drive-sense circuits (DSCs) operably coupled to the plurality of TSD electrodes, wherein a DSC of the plurality of DSCs is operably coupled to receive a reference signal and to generate a TSD electrode signal based on the reference signal, wherein, when enabled, the DSC configured to:
provide the TSD electrode signal to a TSD electrode of the plurality of TSD electrodes and simultaneously to sense a change of the TSD electrode signal based on a change of impedance of the TSD electrode caused by at least one of capacitive coupling between the TSD electrode and the first object being associated with the first region of the surface of the TSD or capacitive coupling between the TSD electrode and the second object being associated with the second region of the surface of the TSD; and
generate a digital signal that is representative of the change of impedance of the TSD electrode;
memory that stores operational instructions;
one or more processing modules operably coupled to the plurality of DSCs and the memory, wherein, when enabled, the one or more processing modules is configured to execute the operational instructions to:
process the digital signal to determine at least one of first one or more characteristics of the first object that is associated with the first region of the surface of theTSD or second one or more characteristics of the second object that is associated with the second region of the surface of the TSD; and
generate a data signal that includes information corresponding to at least one of the first one or more characteristics of the first object or the second one or more characteristics of the second object; and
a communication interface operably coupled to the one or more processing modules, wherein, when enabled, the communication interface configured to support communications with a computing device including to transmit a communication signal that is based on the data signal to the computing device.