Patent ID: 8542203

Claim:
A touchpad with a strip-shaped input area having a straight or curved main line of extension, said touchpad comprising a support element a cover having a first surface facing away from said support element and a second surface facing towards said support element, said cover being arranged in spaced relationship with respect to said support element in such a way that said cover spans over said support plate in said input area, said cover being depressible towards said support element by a force acting on the input area of said touchpad; a resistive trace arranged on said support element, said resistive trace extending along the main line of extension of said input area, at least one terminal contacting said resistive trace at a particular point of the main line of extension of said input area, a set of detection electrodes arranged on the second surface of the cover in facing relationship with said resistive trace, said detection electrodes being configured and arranged to capacitively detect a position of a user's finger or stylus when the user's finger or stylus is in proximity of or in light touch with the first surface of said cover, and to resistively detect a position of a user's finger or stylus when the user's finger or stylus depresses said cover and so brings at least one of said detection electrodes into electrical contact with said resistive trace a detection circuit configured and arranged to operate in a first and a second mode of detection, wherein said detection circuit while in said first mode of detection, determines quantities indicative of capacitive coupling between said detection electrodes and a user's finger or stylus and outputs the position of a user's finger or stylus based upon said quantities indicative of capacitive coupling; and while in said second mode of detection, determines quantities indicative of resistive coupling between said detection electrodes and said at least one terminal and outputs the position of a user's finger or stylus based upon said quantities indicative of resistive coupling.