Patent Description:
In the prior art, textile applications that use textile components such as yarns as sensing electrodes or place solid state electrodes in-between fabric layers are known. The use of fabric itself as a sensing electrode makes it hard to produce, as sensor yarns first need to be developed and woven: these operations are not easy as different materials with respect to common textile materials are used.

Also the materials used have to be configured and prepared, for example by multiple stripping and twisting and must be connected to the electronics with processes such as soldering and lamination. These fabric structures may have also a great number of failure paths or mechanisms compared to a robust single piece of electronics.

As an example of the above, document <CIT> describes interactive textiles. The interactives textiles include a grid of conductive thread woven into the interactive textile to form a capacitive touch sensor that is configured to detect touch input. Detected touch inputs can be used to control remote devices.

Other prior art is represented, for example, by document <CIT> which discloses a tactile control arrangement, including a matrix of capacitive tactile sensors, integrated in a flexible pad. The sensor matrix has a corresponding plurality of contacts for the connection with an external processing circuit module, for example, a microcontroller arranged for the acquisition and processing of the signals emitted by each sensor. Advantageously, the connection of the contacts with the processing module is implemented by means of a multipolar planar conductor strip, which is also flexible, while the processing module can be implemented by a traditional technology for hybrid circuits on rigid printed circuit support, or also on flexible supports (flex-PCB). This solution allows to place the control electronics in a remote position with respect to the sensitive part, The control electronics can possibly be separated from the sensitive area, by decoupling the connection by means of the multipolar strip, or be permanently separated and connected via radio, provided that an antenna and associated supply and driving electronics are implemented on board of the sensor matrix.

The conductors of the device are preferably made from conductive textiles.

The arrangement described in document <CIT> can be used for the management of multiple electronic personal devices which a subject carries with him/her, tied to his/her body or kept in pockets of a jacket J, of which, a smartphone, a radar, a watch, a pair of headphones, a chest strap are illustrated from bottom to top on the left and clockwise, via the flexible control interface.

Furthermore, document <CIT> describes a device comprising a sensor electronics array to be integrated into a garment, a bus that runs through the garment connecting with the sensor array and a computer having a display that shows the result of the gesture evaluation.

Such document discloses a proximity-based motion detection system including a capacitive sensor array (CSA) assembly and a controller, the CSA assembly including a CSA that is made up of at least two capacitor plates and conductive wires that carry signals from the capacitor plates.

The capacitor plates and other components of the device are preferably made from conductive textiles that can be integrated into other textiles, such as clothing, bed linens, etc., or that can be integrated into the environment (e.g., furniture, wheelchairs, car seats, etc..

The conductive textile appears to make the devices of documents <CIT> and <CIT> bulky in addition to increase the probability of failures of the conductive textile parts.

An object of the invention is to create a wearable garment that implements a flexible touch array within the garment itself avoiding the above discussed problems of the prior art.

This and other objects are achieved by a wearable touch sensitive garment according to the independent claim <NUM>, a method of detecting a touch event according to the independent claim <NUM> and a computer-implemented data structure according to the independent claim <NUM>.

The dependent claims delineate preferred and/or especially advantageous aspects.

An embodiment of the disclosure provides a wearable touch sensitive garment according to the independent claim <NUM>.

The term "parasitic capacitive coupling" is herein meant to indicate the capacitive coupling between the capacitive electrode and the parasitic capacitance of a wearer's touch. In general, when an object capable of providing parasitic capacitance (e.g. a wearer's touch) approaches the capacitive electrode of the device according the present invention, an increase of the capacitance occurs in the capacitive electrode. This fact is due to the capacitive coupling between the capacitive electrode and the parasitic capacitance of the object approaching the capacitive electrode.

Such increase of the capacitance and variations thereof can be transmitted to the ECU for further computations as explained thereinafter.

In addition to the above, the invention comprises a vibrator that provides a tactile feedback when a gesture performed on the array is detected.

The touch sensitive garment according to the invention can be used as user interface to control other devices such as phablets or for other application.

According to the invention, the electronics itself is touch-sensitive and it is placed in correspondence to the area where an user input is expected.

For example, the array of electronic capacitive sensors is arranged along a seam of said garment.

In some embodiments of the invention, the ECU can be interfaced with a Bluetooth (BT) module or a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module, to connect wirelessly to a remote system such as a tablet, a smartphone or a phablet.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it avoids problems associated with the use of fabric itself as the sensing electrode which, as explained above, is not easy in practice because different materials with respect to textile materials are used. Also, in case of using textile materials, sensor yarns must be prepared by multiple stripping and twisting and connected to the electronics by soldering and lamination all of this being avoided by the present invention.

Further advantages of the present invention are that, compared to textile-based touch sensing applications, the present device is easier to mass-produce in rolls and integrate into the garment making process as a flexible "ribbon" with a stretchable bus, in order to be placed within a seam being completely invisible to the naked eye. According to an embodiment of the invention, the device of the invention can be made in such a way that the ECU is integrated into the garment.

As an example, the device of the invention can be either made with small dimensions or even integrated within a logo patch of the garment, making the ECU completely invisible.

The device of the invention is capable of acquiring gesture events with almost <NUM>% accuracy and precision.

Also, the on-garment evaluation of gestures makes the energy consumption of the device lower as it decreases the amount of data to be transferred to the mobile device to be controlled.

The invention further comprises a method of detecting a touch event performed on a wearable touch sensitive garment, according to the independent claim <NUM>.

Finally the invention also comprises a computer-implemented data structure codifying a gesture performed on a wearable touch sensitive garment, according to the independent claim <NUM>.

Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will be discussed more in detail with reference to the enclosed drawings, given by way of non-limiting example, wherein:.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the enclosed drawings without intent to limit application and uses.

The invention will now be described with initial reference to <FIG> wherein a plane view of a front portion of an embodiment of the invention is shown.

In particular, <FIG> represents an array <NUM> of electronic capacitive sensors that can be integrated into a garment <NUM>, the array <NUM> of electronic capacitive sensors comprising a plurality of electrodes E1-E5 and an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) (<NUM>), the ECU <NUM> being provided with a readable display <NUM> configured to display an indication representative of a gesture performed on the array <NUM>.

The electrodes E1-E5 of the array <NUM> are individually electrically connected to an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) <NUM> to form a system <NUM> that operates as touch sensitive garment reduced human interface (RHI).

The ECU <NUM> is provided with a readable display <NUM> configured to display an indication representative of a gesture performed on the array <NUM>.

Furthermore, the array <NUM> of electronic capacitive sensors can be connected to a vibrator <NUM> configured to provide a tactile feedback to a user of the touch sensitive garment when a gesture performed on the array <NUM> is detected.

The system <NUM> can comprise therefore a flexible touch sensitive 1D or 2D array <NUM> of electrodes that can be used monitor gestures.

The array <NUM> can be encapsulated by a wash-fast encapsulant to resist laundry operations performed on the garment <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a plane view of a back portion of an embodiment of the invention of <FIG>, wherein in particular, in <FIG> power lines <NUM>, <NUM> have been schematically indicated as well as signal lines <NUM>-<NUM> have been schematically indicated, each signal line <NUM>-<NUM> connecting the respective electrode E1-E5 to the ECU <NUM>.

The array <NUM> of electrodes E1-E5 can be connected to the Electronic Control Unit <NUM> via a flexible bus <NUM> to carry power and data to and from the flexible touch sensitive 1D or 2D array <NUM>. Such an embodiment is disclosed in <FIG>.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the ECU <NUM> is configured to evaluate parasitic capacitive coupling by detecting an increase (or variation) of a capacitance value of the capacitive electrode.

Such parasitic capacitive coupling can be generated, for example, by means of a gesture or touch by the garment <NUM> wearer.

Nevertheless, it must be noted that in alternative embodiment of the invention the sensor array <NUM> can also be placed over the front-end electronics, an embodiment that saves space and battery power.

In particular, the bus and the garment computer can all be placed under the sensors array in the final product as depicted for example in <FIG> which shows a garment according to this alternative embodiment of the invention.

The advantage of eliminating the bus in this embodiment can be summarized by the fact that a bus to carry the signals from the sensing elements to the electronics may lead to issues not yet completely solved because properly routing of capacitive signals requires tedious and non-sensitized paths which are expensive.

The elimination of the bus does not therefore create the issue of routing capacitive signals, but on the contrary has the effect of eliminating such issue.

The system <NUM> can further comprise a Bluetooth (BT) module or, alternatively, a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module, to connect wirelessly the system <NUM> to a remote system such as a tablet, a smartphone or a phablet.

Gestures performed on the wearable touch sensitive garment <NUM> can therefore be used to control or operate on such remote systems.

The sensor array <NUM> can be made with a flexible Printed Circuit Board (PCB) such as but not limited to double sided kapton with copper layer or digitally printed flexible boards with conducting ink on PET film or rigid islands connected to each other by flexible ribbons or alike in order to form the sensor array <NUM>.

In general, the invention provides a reduced version of a human interface (RHI) that can be integrated into a seam of a garment, for example to detect one-dimensional gesture events such as i) tap-only, ii) swipe-up, and iii) swipe-down.

With the word "seam" a side seam of a jeans or of any trousers or a seam of any garment in general or any portion of a garment that comprises at least two superimposed parts of the garment is intended in the present description.

As a non limitative example, the sensor electronics can be limited to <NUM> in width and garment computer to <NUM>×<NUM>×<NUM><NUM>.

The width of the sensor electronics advantageously allows the same extends along a seam <NUM> in the garment <NUM>, for example seam <NUM> of pocket <NUM> or other seam (<FIG>).

After populating the array <NUM> with electrodes E1-E5, the whole circuit is resin coated and then silicon coated.

An alternative embodiment does not have silicon coating. Silicon coated circuit has lower sensitivity with respect to the one without silicon coating.

Every time a decision is made, a tactile feedback is provided via the vibrator <NUM> which vibrates for a predefined amount of time, for example <NUM>, to signal a gesture acquisition or an invocation of the decision making algorithm.

A minimum of two or three sensor electrodes are needed or are enough for implementing the functionalities of the present invention, however, to obtain precision and robustness, some redundancy is considered to be needed, hence the embodiment described herein has <NUM> sensors, namely electrodes E1-E5.

Operation of the system is reliable and the decisions are almost <NUM>% correct. The algorithm suppresses non-intentional taps as well.

<FIG> shows a graph that exemplifies a possible mode of operation of the invention. In particular, in <FIG>, raw data produced by the sensor array <NUM>, showing intentional "down" and "up" swipe gestures as well as non-intentional touch instances are represented.

Non-intentional touch instances or noise depicted can be successfully suppressed without affecting the correctness of the decision making algorithm in identifying the intentional "down" and "up" swipe gestures.

Claim 1:
A wearable touch sensitive garment (<NUM>) comprising an array (<NUM>) of electronic capacitive sensors integrated into the garment (<NUM>), the array (<NUM>) of electronic capacitive sensors comprising a plurality of electrodes (E1-E5), each electrode (E1-E5) being individually electrically connected to an Electronic Control Unit, ECU (<NUM>), wherein the array (<NUM>) is placed over the ECU (<NUM>) and is connected to said ECU (<NUM>) by means of a plurality of signal lines (<NUM>-<NUM>), each signal line connecting the respective electrode (E1-E5) to the ECU (<NUM>) to convey to the ECU (<NUM>) a parasitic capacitive coupling signal, the ECU (<NUM>) being configured to evaluate a parasitic capacitive coupling between each of the electrodes (E1-E5) and a wearer's touch, the ECU (<NUM>) being provided with a readable display (<NUM>) configured to display an indication representative of a gesture performed on the array (<NUM>) and wherein the array (<NUM>) of electronic capacitive sensors (<NUM>) is connected to a vibrator (<NUM>), wherein said vibrator (<NUM>) is configured to provide a tactile feedback, by vibrating for a predefined amount of time to signal a gesture acquisition, and wherein the array (<NUM>) is arranged along and integrated into a seam of said garment (<NUM>), wherein the array (<NUM>) is encapsulated by a wash encapsulant and wherein the ECU is integrated into the garment (<NUM>).