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SamsungGranted patentChips & hardwareInterest 6/10

Samsung patents camera-based touch sensor using colored markers

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Samsung describes an optical tactile sensor that uses a camera to watch small, colored markers on a flexible surface. When an object touches the surface, the markers move, and the camera tracks these changes to detect the touch.

Why it mattersThis approach could allow devices to sense touch without traditional pressure sensors, potentially making screens or robot skins thinner and more responsive.

In the filing’s own words

An optical tactile sensor module is provided. The optical tactile sensor includes a housing, an elastic part including a first surface for contacting an object, a plurality of markers disposed at the elastic part and being adjacent to the first surface of the elastic part, and a camera unit configured to capture an image of a movement of at least some of the plurality of the markers on the first surface when the object contacts the first surface of the elastic part, wherein the plurality of markers include a first marker including a first color, and a second marker including a second color different from the first color.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. Optical tactile sensor circuitry comprising: a housing; an elastic part comprising a first surface for contacting an object; a plurality of markers disposed on a same plane of the elastic part and being adjacent to the first surface of the elastic part; and a camera configured to capture an image of a movement of at least some of the plurality of markers on the first surface when the object contacts the first surface of the elastic part, wherein each marker of the plurality of markers comprises: a first marker comprising a first color, and a second marker surrounding an edge of the first marker and comprising a second color different from the first color.

Facts

Company
Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
Official title
Optical tactile sensor
Patent number
US12755401B2
Application number
18767431
Filed
Jul 9, 2024
Granted
Oct 6, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
17

Classified under

G06T 7/246 Physics & computingB25J 9/1697 Operations & transportG01L 1/24 Physics & computingG06T 1/0014 Physics & computingG06T 2207/30108 Physics & computingG06T 2207/30204 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.