Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
164 words
A surface area contact pressure transducer comprising: a substantially rigid insulating substrate; a plurality of scanning row electrodes, formed by metal deposition on said substrate, etched to form a pattern of substantially parallel electrodes which are spaced apart and oriented along a first axis; a thin film resistor, deposited on said substrate, having a resistance which varies as a function of contact area; a substantially resilient deformable film ; a plurality of scanning column electrodes, formed by metal deposition on said film, etched to form a pattern of substantially parallel column electrodes which are spaced apart, said film being bonded to said substrate by an anisotropic adhesive so that said column electrodes are oriented along a second axis which is orthogonal to said first axis, said film transmitting pressure distributions to said row electrodes, film resister and column electrodes to form a matrix of variable contact resistances to provide analog information relating to the distribution of surface area contact pressure applied to said film.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
18 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 further comprising a contact electrode formed on each of said film resistor.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
14 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said contact electrode comprises a gold layer.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
13 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said scanning colomn electrodes are gilded.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
16 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said substantially rigid insulating substrate comprises a ceramic layer.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
16 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said substantially resilient deformable film comprises a polyimide film.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
16 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein siad substantially resilient deformable film comprises a polyamide film.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
16 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said substantially resilient deformable film comprises a polyester film.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said metal deposition on said substrate to form said scanning row electrodes comprises silver.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said metal deposition on said substrate to form said scanning row electrodes comprises copper.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
24 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said metal deposition on said substantially resilient deformable film to form said scanning column electrodes comprises copper.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
33 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein said thin resistive layer is etched to form a thin film resistor film which remains only at points of intersection of said row and column electrodes.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
The transducer according to Claim 1 wherein a plurality of oxide spacers are formed by oxide deposition on said substrate and etched to form spacer islands at specified points.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
13 words
The transducer according to Claim 13 wherein said oxide spacers comprise tungsten dioxide.