Patent ID: 7331686

Claim:
An illuminating surface that, when connected to a power source, emits light in the presence of an object touching or in close proximity to the surface, which surface comprises: an array of sensors for detecting the presence of the object; an array of light sources, each sensor being associated with and proximal to at least one light source such that, when one of said sensors detects the presence of the object, its associated light source is illuminated; and a circuit for controlling the illumination of each light source such that it remains illuminated for a time after its associated sensor has ceased to detect the presence of the object; wherein each of the sensors is connected to multiple light sources, such that when a first sensor detects the presence of an object, the first sensor causes the at least one light source associated with the first sensor to be illuminated and also causes at least one adjacent second light source associated with a second different sensor to be illuminated even if the second sensor has not detected the presence of the object, thereby causing an area of the surface to emit light that corresponds to and is larger than the shape of the object, whereby illumination is visible to an observer even if the object blocks light sources associated with sensors activated by the object.