US 12,111,988 B1
Illumination associated with a touch sensitive area
Robert Searle, Riverton, UT (US)
Assigned to Cirque Corporation, Sandy, UT (US)
Filed by Cirque Corporation, Sandy, UT (US)
Filed on Sep. 19, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/369,903.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/038 (2013.01); G06F 3/044 (2006.01); H01H 13/83 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 3/038 (2013.01) [G06F 3/044 (2013.01); H01H 13/83 (2013.01); G06F 2203/04101 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An electronic device, including:
a display;
a cover connected to the display, the cover having a flat continuous surface;
a touch sensitive area located within the cover and on the flat continuous surface and spaced away from the display at a distance, the touch sensitive area aligning with a capacitance sensor;
a non-touch sensitive area that is on the flat continuous surface of the cover;
the touch sensitive area and the non-touch sensitive area are indistinguishable from each other;
a first side of the cover within the touch sensitive area includes a capacitance reference surface;
a second side of the cover is opposite the first side of the cover;
the capacitance sensor disposed near the second side of the cover at the touch sensitive area;
a selectively illuminable light source disposed near the second side of the cover;
the selectively illuminable light source surrounding the capacitance sensor;
the touch sensitive area being surrounded by the selective illuminable light source and having a property that allows at least a portion of light from the selective illuminable light source to be transmitted through a thickness of the cover;
the non-touch sensitive area not being adjacent to the selective illuminable light source so that light from the selectively illuminable light source is not transmittable through the thickness of the cover within the non-touch sensitive area;
a processor;
memory in communication with the processor;
programmed instructions stored in the memory that, when executed, cause the processor to:
receive a non-contact input from the capacitance sensor; and
send an instruction to illuminate the selectively illuminable light source in response to the non-contact input;
wherein the selectively illuminable light source illuminates the feature in the capacitance reference surface;
wherein the non-contact input represents a proximity measurement that is over one millimeter away from the cover.