Abstract:
An input device for a touchscreen provides simulated finger touches on the touchscreen that may dynamically change to produce a spatial and temporal pattern. In one embodiment mechanically constrained movable touch points may move into and out of contact with the screen while maintaining registration with respect to the other touch points within the dimension of the touch screen.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 61/680,598 filed Aug. 7, 2012 and U.S. provisional application 61/680,601 filed Aug. 7, 2012 both hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a data interface for touchscreen devices and in particular to an interface providing a dynamic communication with a touchscreen. 
         [0003]    Touchscreens provide a surface that may display text and images, for example, using a liquid crystal display and a backlight, while also providing electrical sensing of spatial location of a finger or stylus touch on that surface. Multitouch touchscreens that can simultaneously decode multiple touch points are currently common on “smart phones”, for example, the Apple corporation&#39;s iPhone or similar devices including devices capable of running Google&#39;s Android operating system. 
         [0004]    Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/385,049 entitled: “Tool and Method for Authenticating Transactions”, filed Jan. 31, 2012, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference, describes an interface device for communicating with a smart phone via the touchscreen, and useful, for example, to authenticate the presence of a user at a particular location. The interface device provides a conductive element having multiple raised contact mesas that may press against the surface of the touchscreen in the manner of human fingers. The spatial separation of the contact mesas describes a unique constellation that may be read by the smart phone to identify contact with that device and, by inference, location of the smart phone near where the device is located. In one embodiment, the device may be constructed of electrically conductive material such as aluminum and the contact mesas formed intricately therewith. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention provides an improvement on the above described interface device in which the “finger touches” generated by the contact mesas may be dynamically changed during application of the touch screen to the interface device. This ability to change the finger touch occurrences allows the device to be used with smart phones that have limited multitouch capability (for example, sensing only three multitouches as opposed to five multitouches) permitting greater security in the identification process, and may allow communication of dynamic data through the screen interface or a greater depth of information about a transaction via the stamp action. 
         [0006]    Specifically, the present invention provides a data input device having a body providing a first face sized to be received proximate to an active area of a touchscreen of the type responding to a touch by a human finger or the like and providing electrical signals indicating a location of the touch on the active area. A set of touch elements are exposed at the first face for contact with the active area of the touchscreen when the first face is proximate to the active area of the touchscreen, the touch elements being dynamically operable to provide a time series of touches at different locations on the touchscreen detectable by the touchscreen. 
         [0007]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a mechanism for the communication of arbitrarily complex data to an electronic device through its touchscreen. By providing a sequence of touches, the normal multitouch limitations of the touchscreen may be avoided. 
         [0008]    The touch elements may be movably attached to the body to move into and out of contact with the touchscreen when the first face is received proximate to the active area of the touchscreen. 
         [0009]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a simple mechanical method providing precise sequences of touches, difficult to render manually, and useful for authentication or other purpose. 
         [0010]    The movement may be controlled by a pressing of a user of a mechanical operator on the body. 
         [0011]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide an extremely simple mechanism that may operate without a power source or electrical actuator. 
         [0012]    The first face may provide a convex radius wherein the touch elements are exposed at different points on the first face to move into and out of contact with the touchscreen when the body is rolled across the touchscreen. 
         [0013]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a simple mechanism that may produce a precise and predetermined time sequence difficult to produce by finger touches alone. 
         [0014]    The touch elements may be attached to electrical switches connecting and disconnecting conductive touch elements from a reference voltage causing a touch on the active area of the touchscreen by the touch element when the touch element is electrically communicating with the reference voltage and not when the touch element is not electrically communicating with the reference voltage. 
         [0015]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention provide a device that may produce a predetermined pattern of touches where the pattern is largely undetectable from the physical aspects of the device. 
         [0016]    The data input device includes a time sequence circuit connecting and disconnecting the electrical switches from the reference voltage according to a predetermined time sequence. 
         [0017]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to permit arbitrarily complex time sequences of touches to be precisely produced on a simple handheld device for a variety of purposes. 
         [0018]    The reference voltage is a reference potential of a human holding the body. 
         [0019]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a wholly mobile device that does not require connection to a stationary power reference. 
         [0020]    The time sequence circuit may provide an electronic memory and further includes a data port for receiving data from an external device into the electronic memory wherein the predetermined time sequence is determined by the data in the electronic memory. 
         [0021]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide simplified programming of the touch interface device of this kind. 
         [0022]    These particular objects and advantages may apply to only some embodiments falling within the claims and thus do not define the scope of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0023]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a smart phone being held for placement against an interface device of the present invention, the latter holding multiple contact mesas; 
           [0024]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a rear surface of the interface device showing two mechanical buttons that may be depressed during the contact operation of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0025]      FIG. 3  is a fragmentary cross-section taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 2  showing a pressing of the buttons which moves contact mesas against the surface of a touchscreen of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 4  is a side elevational view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention having an outwardly cylindrically convex surface so that a rolling action may sequentially bring contact mesas into contact with the touchscreen; 
           [0027]      FIG. 5  is a plan view of a contact surface of the device of  FIG. 4  showing sequential activation of touches by the contact mesas with the rolling motion of the authentication device; 
           [0028]      FIG. 6  is a simplified block diagram of an electronic system dynamically changing touch locations by electrically connecting capacitive plates to a common ground by solid-state devices to provide electronically controllable touch activation; 
           [0029]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a smart phone being held for placement against an interface device of the present invention mounted to a surface; 
           [0030]      FIG. 8  is a fragmentary cross-section along line  8 - 8  showing the placement of an elastomeric pad on top of a conductive mesa for establishing a capacitive link to a touchscreen: 
           [0031]      FIG. 9  is a figure similar to  FIG. 8  showing alternative construction in which the elastomeric pad is placed in a depression on a conductive substrate; 
           [0032]      FIG. 10  is a figure similar to  FIG. 9  showing an elastomeric pad providing an island in a non-conductive elastomer forming a substantially continuous sheet on top of a conductive substrate; 
           [0033]      FIG. 11  is a front perspective view of the interface device showing multiple conductive and nonconductive pads for obscuring the construction of the device; and 
           [0034]      FIG. 12  is a figure similar to that of  FIG. 11  showing a continuous elastomeric surface without visible demarcations between conductive and nonconductive areas. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Touchscreen Authentication Unit with Dynamic Touch Locations 
       [0035]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , an interface device  10  of the present invention may provide for a body  12 , for example a milled aluminum block or injection molded plastic housing, for example, using a conductive thermoplastic material to present a front face  18  having an area that may be received by a touchscreen  20  of a smart phone  22 . 
         [0036]    The front face  18  may have multiple projecting contact pads  24  that when placed in contact with the touchscreen  20  register as if they were finger touches. As described in the above-referenced co-pending application, each of these touches may be registered by the smart phone running an application program to uniquely identify the interface device  10  from the spatial separations and/or orientations of the contact pads  24 . Generally, the contact pads  24  are electrically interconnected through the body  12  which provides a capacitive effect similar to that of finger touches at the contact pads  24  when the body  12  is held by a user as if it were attached to a low impedance voltage source, for example a ground reference. 
         [0037]    Referring now to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , in one embodiment, a rear face of the interface device  10  may provide for two depressible buttons  26  and  28 , with button  26  positioned above two contact pads  24   a  and button  28  positioned above two contact pads  24   b,  each of the contact pads  24   a  and  24   b  representing a subset of all of the contact pads  24 . The buttons  26  and  28  communicate with their respective contact pads  24  to cause extension of the contact pads  24  from the front face  18  when the buttons  26  and  28  are depressed. The buttons  26  and  28  may be biased away from the body  12  when the buttons  26  or  28  are not pressed by a helical compression spring  30  or the like fitting between an inner surface of each button  26  or  28  and the rear surface of the conductive body. While the contact pads  24  may move freely toward and away from the touchscreen  20 , the movement of the contact pads  24  is constrained with respect to the relative spatial separation in the plane of the touchscreen  20  so that precise touch point registrations may be maintained. The buttons  26  and  28  may connect the contact pads  24  by an extension sliding through channels in the body  12  to be in electrical communication with the body  12  or by conductive surface of the buttons  26  or  28 . 
         [0038]    Each of the conductive contact pads  24   a  and  24   b  may be, for example, a conductive elastomer such as graphite-impregnated silicone rubber and may be supported on front faces of conductive cylindrical bosses  32  passing through corresponding holes in the body  12  and extending between the buttons  26  and  28  and the contact pads  24   a  and  24   b.  When the buttons  26  and  28  are released, the conductive contact pads  24  are retracted beneath the front face  18  of the body  12  whereas, as noted, when the buttons  26  and  28  are depressed, the conductive contact pads  24  extend through the front face  18  to contact the touchscreen  20  and to be registered as a touch. 
         [0039]    By sequentially pressing contact pads  24   a  and  24   b,  two different constellations of touches may be created, a first constellation composed of touches generated by pads  24   a  and a second constellation related to touches generated by pads  24   b.  Each of the sets of touches may be in number beneath a threshold multi-touch limit of the device and thus may be registered. That is, for a three touch multitouch touchscreen  20 , the number of pads  24   a  may be three or less and the number of pads  24   b  may be three or less and the total number of pads, therefore, as many as six. The sequence of the touches may be combined to define a constellation or may be detected individually, the sequence being an order of the touches used as a dimension of the authentication process for additional security. 
         [0040]    It will be appreciated that by insulating the buttons  26  and  28  from each other and from the remainder of the body  12  and forming the body  12  out of an insulating material, pressing the buttons  26  or  28  to establish a grounding electrical connection thereto may be sufficient to provide a touch through contact pads  24   a  and  24   b  respectively without necessarily moving the latter. 
         [0041]    Referring now to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , in an alternative embodiment, the body  12  may be conductive and given a cylindrical convex front face  18  having pads  24  on the front face  18  positioned so that different contact pads  24  projecting therefrom may be selectively in contact with the touchscreen  20  as a user rolls the cylindrical body  12  across the touchscreen  20 . In this case, different sets of contact pads  24  are defined by rolling engagement lines  31  defining lines of contact between the interface device  10  and the touchscreen  20 . The convex front face  18  time sequences the contacts between the touchscreen  20  and the contact pads  24  creating a dynamically changing set of subsets of touches that may be used to provide an extra dimension of security and keep from overwhelming limited multitouch capability. 
         [0042]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , in yet an alternative embodiment, front face  18  may be covered with electrically independent conductive electrodes  36  arranged, for example, in a tile pattern, each electrode  36  having insufficient capacitance in itself to provide a triggering of a touch on the touchscreen  20 . Each of the electrodes  36  may be connected to a solid-state switching device  38 , for example a field effect transistor with a common ground  40 , the latter which may, for example, communicate with a surface  43  that may touch a human operator to derive additional capacitance from inherit capacitive qualities of the human body  41  and/or the human body&#39;s capacitive relationship to the environment. The common ground  40  may be AC coupled to the switches  38 , for example, through a capacitor or may be resistively coupled through a resistor or low-voltage conductor. 
         [0043]    The solid-state switching devices  38  may be controlled by a microcontroller  42  executing a stored program held in a memory  44  to dynamically change the particular electrodes  36  connected to the common ground  40  and thus to change the registered touches to a touchscreen  20  positioned near the electrodes  36  over time providing the benefits described above. The system potentially allows modulation of the touches so as to convey data, for example, from a database  46  to the smart phone  22  of a dynamic quality. For example, in the context of an application providing a punch card for purchases, information can be transmitted through the changing touches communicating to the smart phone  22  a retained balance or number of punches remaining. 
         [0044]    The microcontroller  42  in this regard may receive data from an external device  47  through an antenna  48 , for example, in the form of communication used by radio frequency identification devices or other near field communication systems. This received data may be stored in the memory  44  and be used to communicate data from the memory or based on the data in the memory to the touchscreen  20 . For example, the data in the memory  44  may hold credit information, password information or other changeable unique identifiers. It will be appreciated that the electrical keyboard (not shown) or the like may be used in lieu of antenna  48  for entering data used to control the electrodes  36 . 
       Touchscreen Authentication Unit with Elastomeric Surface 
       [0045]    One embodiment of the invention provides an interface device in which the contact mesas are formed at least in part of a conductive elastomer. By placing an elastomeric material between the conductive body of aluminum or the like and the touch screen, consumer concerns about damage to the touchscreen are allayed without affecting the efficacy of the simulated touch. Elastomeric pads may also simplify manufacturing and provide an additional level of security against duplication of the interface device when that is important. 
         [0046]    Referring now to  FIG. 7 , an interface device  50  of this embodiment may provide for a conductive body  52 , for example a milled aluminum block, mounted on a stand  54 , for example, attached to a fixture or other stationary surface  56  to present a front face  58  having an area that may be received by a touchscreen  60  of the smart phone  62 . 
         [0047]    The front face  58  may have multiple projecting contact pads  64  that when placed in contact with the touchscreen  60  register as if they were finger touches. As described in the above-referenced co-pending application, each of these touches may be registered by the smart phone running an application program to uniquely identify the interface device  50  by the spatial separations and orientations of the touches. Generally, the contact pads  64  are electrically interconnected through the conductive body  52  which provides a capacitive effect similar to that of finger touches at the contact pads  64 . 
         [0048]    Referring now to  FIG. 8 , each of the contact pads  64  may, for example, provide for outwardly extending mesa  66 , for example, milled from the material of the conductive body  52  as an integral element and providing a generally raised, circular exposed face. On the circular face of each mesa  66  may be placed a disk-shaped conductive elastomeric pad  68 , for example, formed of a graphite-impregnated silicone material. When a touchscreen  60  of the smart phone  62  is placed against the front face  58  of the interface device  50 , the elastomeric pad  68  contacts the material of the touch screen  60  cushioning the contact and preventing abrasion or other damage. The conductive nature of the elastomeric pad  68  permits the desired capacitive coupling  70  between the conductive body  52  and a touchscreen  60  at an insulating surface of the touchscreen  60  to provide the desired simulation of a finger touch. 
         [0049]    Referring now to  FIG. 9 , in an alternative embodiment the conductive elastomeric pad  68  may be increased somewhat in height and may fit within a depression  72  formed in the front face  58  in lieu of the mesas  66  described above. The depression ensures positive location of the conductive elastomeric pad  68  and eliminates the need for extensive material removal by milling, simplifying the manufacturing process. 
         [0050]    Referring now to  FIG. 10 , in an alternative embodiment, the conductive body  52  may have a substantially planar upper front face  58  covered with a sheet of elastomeric material  74  with portions of that elastomeric material  74  providing conductive inclusions  76  providing effective conductive elastomeric pads  68 . The inclusions  76  may, for example, be provided by die cutting appropriate apertures and inserting die cut conductive pads  68  into the apertures. The sheet of elastomeric material  74  will generally be nonconductive so as to not register touches outside the area of the conductive elastomeric pads  68 , 
         [0051]    Referring to  FIG. 11 , the front face  58  of the device  50  may include multiple visible pads  68  (providing touches) and pseudo-pads  78  (not providing touches), the former formed of a conductive elastomer and the latter formed of an insulating elastomer. The use of the pseudo-pads  78  obscures the particular pattern of touches produced on any given device  50 . 
         [0052]    Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the front face  58  of the device  50  may provide for a substantially continuous elastomeric surface  80  with no visible demarcations, with the conductive inclusions  76  having a same color as the remainder of the elastomeric sheet material  74  with only the conductivity of the regions altered. 
         [0053]    In some embodiments, the body  12 ,  52  will be sized to be easily held in one hand of an individual, for example, fitting within a volume having a longest dimension of six inches or less, a second longest dimension of four inches or less, and the thickness of less than two inches and having a weight of less than one quarter pound. As so supported, the block may be untethered to any fixed source of electrical power. In some embodiments, the body will have no connection to any source of electricity, or will have a contained battery, or will obtain induced electrical power from an external device without direct electrical connection. Generally the device will generate a set of different touch points far fewer than the total number of touch points resolvable by the touchscreen, for example, being less than 20 or less than 10. The device may provide for a mixture of fixed touch points and dynamically controllable touch points. A single electrically controllable touch point may provide for serial transmission of data to the touchscreen. Generally the body  12 ,  52  will be thicker than ⅛ of an inch and preferably greater than one quarter inch in thickness and thus easily differentiated from a card. 
         [0054]    Certain terminology is used herein for purposes of reference only, and thus is not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “above”, and “below” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front”, “back”, “rear”, “bottom” and “side”, describe the orientation of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference, which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the terms “first”, “second” and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. 
         [0055]    When introducing elements or features of the present disclosure and the exemplary embodiments, the articles “a”, “an”, “the” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of such elements or features. The terms “comprising”, “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements or features other than those specifically noted. It is further to be understood that the method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed. 
         [0056]    References to “a microprocessor” and “a processor” or “the microprocessor” and “the processor.” can be understood to include one or more microprocessors that can communicate in a stand-alone and/or a distributed environment(s), and can thus be configured to communicate via wired or wireless communications with other processors, where such one or more processor can be configured to operate on one or more processor-controlled devices that can be similar or different devices. Furthermore, references to memory, unless otherwise specified, can include one or more processor-readable and accessible memory elements and/or components that can be internal to the processor-controlled device, external to the processor-controlled device, and can be accessed via a wired or wireless network. 
         [0057]    It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein and the claims should be understood to include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments arid combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims. All of the publications described herein, including patents and non-patent publications, are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.