Patent ID: 8164032

Claim:
Control for a cooktop, comprising: a plurality of first sensors and a plurality of second sensor pairs arranged along an operating line with a first sensor of the plurality of first sensors alternating with a second sensor pair of the plurality of second sensor pairs, along the entire operating line; wherein each first sensor of the plurality of first sensors comprises an infrared receiving element without an infrared transmitter element, and each second sensor pair of the plurality of second sensor pairs comprises an infrared transmitter diode element and an infrared receiving element, and wherein the plurality of first sensors and plurality of second sensor pairs together comprise at least twice as many of said infrared receiving elements in total as said infrared transmitter diode elements; wherein the operating line formed by the plurality of first sensors and the plurality of second sensor pairs is arranged to have common spacing density between each one first sensor and each adjacent second sensor pair, such that an operator's finger placed on said operating line necessarily covers at least one element among said plurality of said first sensors and said plurality of second sensor pairs, and such that infrared light radiated from an infrared transmitter diode element of a given one second sensor pair reflects onto said given one second sensor pair's infrared receiving element and an infrared receiving element of a first sensor to each side of the given one second sensor pair along the operating line.