MonoTouch: Single Capacitive Touch Sensor that Differentiates Touch Gestures

We show a capacitive touch sensor called MonoTouch, which differentiates taps, swipe gestures, and swipe directions. MonoTouch consists of only an electrode and a circuit. To differentiate touch gestures with a single electrode, we designed the electrode's layout to satisfy the following two requirements: (1) The number of responses is different between the gestures; (2) The response time is different between swipe directions. We then developed an electrode that differentiates taps and four directional swipe gestures. When our MonoTouch electrode is downsized, gesture differentiation accuracy decreases because a finger might cross two or more conductive parts. To solve this "Multiple Crossing Problem", we added embossments on the electrode surface. Our evaluation of the MonoTouch sensor indicates that using the embossments solved the "Multiple Crossing Problem".