Touch sensitive device

1. A touch sensitive device comprising:

a panel capable of supporting bending waves,

a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of a face of the panel,

a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to apply bending waves to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals in response to touching screen,

signal processing means arranged to apply signals to the vibration exciters so as to steer bending waves applied to the panel by the plurality of vibration exciters, such that when more than one location on the screen is touched, each intended haptic signal is provided at the location of the touch to which it is a response, and is minimized at one or more other location that are being touched, and

n+1 vibration exciters,

wherein when the number of said one or more other locations is n or less than n, the minimization takes the amplitudes of the intended haptic signals at those locations to substantially zero.

2. The touch sensitive device of claim 1 , wherein the panel is intendedly resonant and wherein the signals applied by the vibration exciters cause the panel to resonate.

3. The touch sensitive device of claim 2 , wherein the signal steering is such that for each intended haptic signal, said one or more other locations are nodal.

4. The touch sensitive device of claim 1 , wherein the vibration exciters are spaced apart around the panel.

5. The touch sensitive device of claim 4 , wherein the vibration exciters are positioned at the periphery of the panel.

6. The touch sensitive device of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to control at least one of the timing, phase and frequency of the signal to each vibration exciter.

7. The touch sensitive device according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing means applies signals to the vibration exciters so as to simultaneously provide plural different intended haptic signals at plural different locations that are being touched, while minimizing crosstalk between those locations.

8. The touch sensitive device according to claim 1 , wherein each intended haptic signal is maximized at the location of the touch to which it is a response.

9. The touch sensitive device according to claim 1 , wherein each intended haptic signal is maximized at the location of the touch to which it is a response and the location is antinodal.

10. A method of operating a touch sensitive device comprising a panel capable of supporting bending waves, a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of the panel and a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing a touch of the screen;

responding to the touching by applying signals to the plurality of vibration exciters to steer bending waves in the panel from the plurality of vibration exciters; and

when more than one location on the screen is touched, providing each intended haptic signal at the location of the touch to which it is a response, and minimizing each intended haptic signal at one or more other locations that are being touched,

wherein the touch sensitive device comprises n+1 vibration exciters, and when the number of said one or more other locations is n or less than n, the minimization takes the amplitudes of the intended haptic signals at those locations to substantially zero.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the panel is intendedly resonant and wherein the method further comprises the step of applying signal with the vibration exciters to cause the panel to resonate.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising steering each intended haptic signal so that said one or more other locations are nodal.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the steering comprises adjusting at least one of the timing, phase and frequency of the signals to at least two of the vibration exciters.

14. The method of claim 10 , comprising the step of applying signals to the vibration exciters so as to simultaneously provide plural different intended haptic signals at plural different locations that are being touched, while minimizing crosstalk between those locations.

15. A non-transitory, tangible, computer readable storage medium including computer readable instructions to cause a computer to carry out the method of claim 10 .

16. A touch sensitive device, said device comprising:

a panel capable of supporting bending waves;

a user-accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of a face of the panel;

a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to apply bending waves to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals in response to touching the screen; and

signal processing means arranged to apply signals to the vibration exciters so as to steer bending waves applied to the panel by the plurality of vibration exciters;

wherein each intended haptic signal is provided at the location of the touch to which it is a response and is minimized on axis corresponding to an off-screen location whereby each intended haptic signal has a minimal acoustic component; and

wherein the touch sensitive device comprises n+1 vibration exciters and when the number of locations of touch is n or less than n, the minimization takes the intended haptic signals at the off-screen location to substantially zero.

17. A method of operating a touch screen device including a panel capable of supporting bending waves, a user accessible touch sensitive screen on or forming part of the panel and a plurality of vibration exciters coupled to the panel to provide tactile feedback including intended haptic signals, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing a touch of the screen;

responding to the touching by applying signals to the plurality of vibration exciters to steer bending waves in the panel from the plurality of vibration exciters; and

providing each intended haptic signal at the location of the touch to which it is a response, and minimizing each intended haptic signal on axis corresponding to an off-screen location whereby each of the intended haptic signals has a minimal acoustic component;

wherein the touch sensitive device comprises n+1 vibration exciters and when the number of locations of touch is n or less than n, the minimizing takes the intended haptic signals at the off-screen location to substantially zero.