US Patent:
20210089168, Mar 25, 2021
Inventors:
- Cupertino CA, US
Eugene C. Cheung - Redwood City CA, US
Pey-Jiun Ko - Redwood City CA, US
Po-Jui Chen - Taipei City, TW
Robert W. Rumford - Santa Clara CA, US
Steve L. Terry - Cupertino CA, US
Wei Lin - Santa Clara CA, US
Xiaofan Niu - Campbell CA, US
Xiaoqi Zhou - Cupertino CA, US
Yi Gu - Palto Alto CA, US
Rasmi R. Das - Sunnyvale CA, US
Steven M. Scardato - Sunnyvale CA, US
Se Hyun Ahn - Cupertino CA, US
Victor H. Yin - Cupertino CA, US
Wookyung Bae - San Jose CA, US
Christopher L. Boitnott - Cupertino CA, US
Chun-Hao Tung - San Jose CA, US
Mookyung Son - Cupertino CA, US
Sunggu Kang - San Jose CA, US
Nathan K. Gupta - San Francisco CA, US
John Z. Zhong - Saratoga CA, US
International Classification:
G06F 3/044
G06F 3/041
Abstract:
An electronic device with a force sensing device is disclosed. The electronic device comprises a user input surface defining an exterior surface of the electronic device, a first capacitive sensing element, and a second capacitive sensing element capacitively coupled to the first capacitive sensing element. The electronic device also comprises a first spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements, and a second spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements. The first and second spacing layers have different compositions. The electronic device also comprises sensing circuitry coupled to the first and second capacitive sensing elements configured to determine an amount of applied force on the user input surface. The first spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is below a force threshold, and the second spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is above the force threshold.