Implemental means for a touch control system

Claim 2

In a touch control system of the type which includes means for supplying an electrical signal, capacitance means coupled to said means for supplying for capacitively transmitting said electrical signal, means electrically coupled to said capacitance means for shunting said electrical signal to substantially ground potential in response to being touched, and at least one means coupled to said capacitance means and responsive to said shunting means for implementing said electrical signal to control a function, the improvement wherein said implemental means comprises at least two multiple input inverting logic gates having matched threshold characteristics wherein one of said multiple input inverting logic gates is self-biased to establish a threshold bias voltage, and means for coupling said threshold bias voltage and said electrical signal transmitted by said capacitance means to the other said inverting logic gate for producing an output signal from said other logic gate which is responsive to the presence and absence of said electrical signal and thus responsive to said means for shunting being touched.

Claim 3

The touch control system as recited in claim 1 wherein said multiple input inverting logic gates include complementary metal oxide semiconductors.

Claim 4

The touch control system as recited in claim 2 wherein said multiple input inverting logic gates are NAND gates.

Claim 5

The touch control system as recited in claim 2 wherein said multiple input inverting logic gates are NOR gates.

Claim 6

The touch control system as recited in claim 1 wherein said other multiple input inverting logic gate has an input electrically coupled to said self-biased logic gate and to said capacitane means.

Claim 7

The touch control system as recited in claim 5 further comprising a bias voltage source electrically coupled to another input of said other multiple input inverting logic gate.

Claim 8

The touch control system as recited in claim 1 wherein said implemental means further includes a rectifying means electrically coupled to an output of said other multiple input inverting logic gate for rectifying output signals therefrom.

Claim 9

The touch control system as recited in claim 7 wherein said rectifying means includes a rectifier diode electrically coupled in series to a parallel filter combination of a resistor and a capacitor.

Claim 10

The touch control system as recited in claim 7 wherein said implemental means further includes a buffering means electrically coupled to receive the output of said rectifying means.

Claim 11

In a touch control system of the type which includes means for supplying an electrical signal, at least three capacitance means coupled to receive said electrical signal for capacitively transmitting said electrical signal, at least three means for shunting said electrical signal to substantially ground potential in response to being touched, one each of said shunting means being electrically coupled to a separate one of said capacitance means, and means responsive to each of said shunting means for implementing said electrical signal, the improvement wherein said implemental means comprises at least four multiple input inverting logic gates having matched threshold characteristics wherein one of said logic gates is self-biased to establish a threshold bias voltage, and means for coupling said threshold bias voltage and each said electrical signal transmitted by a separate capacitance means to a separate of the other of said inverting logic gates for producing output signals from said other logic gates which output signals are responsive to the presence and absence of said electrical signals from their respectively coupled separate capacitance means and thus responsive to each of said means for shunting being touched.

Claim 12

In a touch control system of the type which includes means for supplying an electrical signal, at least three capacitance means coupled to receive said electrical signal for capacitively transmitting said electrical signal, at least three means for shunting said electrical signal to substantially ground potential in response to being touched, one each of said shunting means being electrically coupled to a separate one of said capacitance means, and means responsive to each of said shunting means for implementing said electrical signal, the improvement wherein said implemental means comprises at least four multiple input inverting logic gates having matched threshold characteristics wherein one of said logic gates is self-biased to establish a threshold bias voltage, and means for coupling said threshold bias voltage and each said electrical signal transmitted by a separate capacitance means to a separate of the other of said inverting logic gates for producing output signals from said other logic gates which output signals are responsive to the presence and absence of said electrical signals from their respectively coupled separate capacitance means and thus responsive to each of said means for shunting being touched.

Claim 13

The touch control system as recited in claim 10 wherein said self-biased multiple input inverting logic gate has output and input terminals which are coupled together to establish said threshold bias voltage at said output terminal.

Claim 14

The touch control system as recited in claim 11 wherein said multiple input inverting logic gates comprise a quad two input NAND gate integrated circuit which includes complementary metal oxide semiconductors.

Claim 15

The touch control system as recited in claim 11 wherein said multiple input inverting logic gates comprise a quad two input NOR gate integrated circuit which includes complementary metal oxide semiconductors.