Haptic feedback button

{
  "publication_number": "US10963057B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Haptic feedback button",
  "abstract": "Provided is a haptic feedback button, which includes: a substrate; a lower electrode provided on an upper portion of the substrate, and formed by patterning a ground electrode and a touch sensing electrode; an upper electrode, provided above the lower electrode with an interval from the lower electrode, to which a driving voltage is applied; and a cover provided on an upper portion of the upper electrode, wherein a piezoelectric polymer is provided on an upper portion of the lower electrode or a lower portion of the upper electrode so that fretting vibration may be generated when the piezoelectric polymer is in close contact with the lower electrode or the upper electrode that are disposed to face each other.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A haptic feedback button, comprising: a substrate; a lower electrode layer disposed on or above the substrate and having a ground electrode and a touch sensing electrode arranged in a pattern; an upper electrode layer disposed above the lower electrode layer and spaced apart from the lower electrode layer, wherein the upper electrode layer is configured to receive a driving voltage; a cover disposed on the upper electrode layer; and a piezoelectric polymer layer disposed on a top surface of the lower electrode layer or on a bottom surface of the upper electrode layer facing the top surface of the lower electrode layer, wherein the piezoelectric polymer layer is configured to generate a fretting vibration when the piezoelectric polymer layer is pressed against the upper electrode layer or the lower electrode layer, and wherein the ground electrode has a circular shape and is disposed at a center of the lower electrode, wherein the touch sensing electrode has a ring shape having an inner circular space corresponding to the circular shape of the ground electrode and is arranged to surround a periphery of the ground electrode, wherein a support spacer is located between edge portions of the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer to form a gap between the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer, wherein a support layer is disposed between the substrate and the lower electrode layer and a central spacer is located between the substrate and the support layer, and wherein a top surface of the central spacer is in contact with the support layer such that a central portion of the lower electrode layer is bent upward while a bottom surface of the central spacer is supported by the substrate.",
    "2. The haptic feedback button of claim 1, wherein each of the upper electrode layer, the cover, and the support spacer is made of a transparent material.",
    "3. The haptic feedback button of claim 1, wherein each of the cover and the upper electrode layer is made of a flexible material.",
    "4. The haptic feedback button of claim 1, wherein at least a part of the cover is made of a stiff material.",
    "5. The haptic feedback button of claim 4, wherein an edge portion of the cover and an edge portion of the upper electrode layer are bent upward.",
    "6. The haptic feedback button of claim 4, wherein an edge portion of the upper electrode layer is bent upward.",
    "7. The haptic feedback button of claim 4, wherein an edge portion of the cover has a hinge groove thereon such that a thickness of the edge portion of the cover is reduced.",
    "8. The haptic feedback button of claim 4, wherein: the haptic feedback button is configured to select an elastic coefficient and a thickness of the support layer to generate a resonance in a frequency ranging from 100 to 250 Hz.",
    "9. The haptic feedback button of claim 4, wherein the cover includes: a stiff portion made of a stiff material; and a flexible portion disposed on the stiff portion and made of a flexible material, wherein an edge portion of the stiff portion is incised.",
    "10. The haptic feedback button of claim 9, wherein the incised edge portion of the stiff portion is filled with the flexible portion.",
    "11. The haptic feedback button of claim 4, wherein the cover includes: a flexible portion made of a flexible material and disposed only on an edge portion of the cover; and a stiff portion disposed on the flexible portion and made of a stiff material.",
    "12. The haptic feedback button of claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric polymer layer includes a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based ferroelectric polymer or a relaxor ferroelectric polymer.",
    "13. The haptic feedback button of claim 12, wherein: the PVDF-based ferroelectric polymer includes P(VDF-TrFE); and the relaxor ferroelectric polymer includes P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) or P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE).",
    "14. A haptic feedback button, comprising: a substrate; a lower electrode layer disposed on or above the substrate and having a ground electrode and a touch sensing electrode arranged in a pattern; an upper electrode layer disposed above the lower electrode layer and spaced apart from the lower electrode layer, wherein the upper electrode layer is configured to receive a driving voltage; a cover disposed on the upper electrode layer; and a piezoelectric polymer layer disposed on a top surface of the lower electrode layer or on a bottom surface of the upper electrode layer facing the top surface of the lower electrode layer, wherein the piezoelectric polymer layer is configured to generate a fretting vibration when the piezoelectric polymer layer is pressed against the upper electrode layer or the lower electrode layer, and wherein the ground electrode has a clover shape and is disposed at a center of the lower electrode, wherein the touch sensing electrode has a ring shape having an inner clover-shaped space corresponding to the clover shape of the ground electrode and is arranged to surround a periphery of the ground electrode, wherein a support spacer is located between edge portions of the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer to form a gap between the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer, wherein a support layer is disposed between the substrate and the lower electrode layer and a central spacer is located between the substrate and the support layer, and wherein a top surface of the central spacer is in contact with the support layer such that a central portion of the lower electrode layer is bent upward while a bottom surface of the central spacer is supported by the substrate."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a haptic feedback button, and more particularly, to a haptic feedback button which is capable of implementing a haptic feedback function by applying a piezoelectric polymer material to a touch screen.\n\nIn consideration of general stimulus recognition of a human, when two or more senses, such as a visual sense, an auditory sense, and a tactile sense, are provided in a composite form, users can interact more naturally with electronic devices. Recently, portable electronic devices, industrial devices, medical devices, automobiles, game consoles, virtual realities, and the like provide a sense of touch as well as visual and audio recognition to users, thereby greatly contributing to providing realistic user experiences (UXs).\n\nFeedback to visual and auditory senses is relatively easy to implement, but feedback to a tactile sense is not easy to implement. Currently, in portable electronic devices such as smart phones, gross vibration methods employing eccentric motors, linear resonance actuators, and piezoelectric ceramic actuators are mainly used. However, in the case of a portable electronic device with a touch screen having a large size such as a smart pad, the gross vibration method is very inefficient such as to gradually become difficult to use.\n\nFurther, in order to safely perform various convenient operations, future intelligent vehicles need to secure stable user interface (UI) technology which is capable of providing visual and auditory information as well as tactile information.",
  "cpc": [
    "G06F 3/016",
    "G06F 3/02",
    "G06F 3/03547",
    "G06F 3/041",
    "G06F 3/044",
    "G06F 3/0443",
    "H01L 41/047",
    "H01L 41/053",
    "H01L 41/09",
    "H01L 41/193",
    "H03K 17/962",
    "H03K 2217/96062",
    "H10N 30/20",
    "H10N 30/206",
    "H10N 30/857",
    "H10N 30/87",
    "H10N 30/875",
    "H10N 30/88"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "G06F 3/01",
    "G06F 3/02",
    "G06F 3/044",
    "H10N 30/20",
    "H10N 30/857",
    "H10N 30/87",
    "H10N 30/88"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Industry Academic Cooperation Foundation of Chung Ang University"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Seung Tae Choi"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2018-01-26",
  "publication_date": "2021-03-30",
  "grant_date": "2021-03-30",
  "priority_date": "2017-02-14",
  "application_number": "US-201816485643-A",
  "family_id": "63170663",
  "cited_by_count": 2,
  "citations": [
    "US20090322496A1",
    "KR20100065816A",
    "US20130088448A1",
    "KR20140109002A",
    "KR20150043138A",
    "US20160291729A1",
    "US20160033343A1",
    "JP2016129015A",
    "US20170357325A1"
  ]
}