Device and method for control interface sensitive to a movement of a body or of an object and viewing screen integrating this device

1. A device for control interface sensitive to a movement of a body or of an object, comprising:

a detection surface;

at least one capacitive sensor, each said capacitive sensor including a measurement electrode including an active surface facing the detection surface, or substantially coinciding with said detection surface;

excitation and measurement electronics referenced to a guard potential different from a ground potential, the excitation and measurement electronics configured for exciting the measurement electrodes at an alternating (AC) electrical potential and processing the signals emanating from said capacitive sensors, so as to provide distance information between the active surface of the measurement electrodes and one or several objects; and

a guard of electrically conducting material disposed in proximity to the measurement electrodes, at least along the face of the measurement electrodes substantially opposite to the active surface, which guard is excited at an alternating (AC) electrical potential substantially identical to the alternating (AC) electrical potential of the measurement electrodes, wherein:

the measurement electrodes and the guard are made of substantially transparent conducting materials; and

the device for control interface is substantially transparent.

2. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that it is able to be placed on a viewing screen.

3. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the measurement electrodes and the guard are made of ITO (indium tin doped oxide).

4. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that:

the active surfaces of the measurement electrodes are independent of one another, and

the excitation and measurement electronics are further arranged to interrogate said measurement electrodes independently of one another.

5. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the excitation and measurement electronics have a measurement extent enabling both:

detecting and identifying a relative movement of the body or of the object with respect to the active surface of the measurement electrodes, and

detecting with certainty a contact of said body or of said object with the detection surface.

6. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the excitation and measurement electronics comprise a multiplexer configured for enabling the measurement signals emanating from the capacitive sensors to be sequentially read, the measurement electrodes which are not being scrutinized being connected to the alternating (AC) electrical potential of the guard.

7. The device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the excitation and measurement electronics comprise a multiplexer configured for enabling the measurement electrodes to be electrically gathered, so that said gathered measurement electrodes make up a single measurement electrode.

8. A control equipment providing a man-machine interface function integrating a device for control interface according to claim 1 and a viewing screen.

9. A multiscale gestural interface integrating a device for control interface according to claim 1 , characterized in that it further comprises at least one of the following:

an optical camera; and

a vocal interface.

10. A method for controlling a gestural interface sensitive to a movement of a body or of an object, comprising:

exciting one or more measurement electrodes within at least one capacitive sensor with an alternating (AC) electrical potential, said measurement electrodes (i) including an active surface facing a detection surface, or substantially coinciding with said detection surface, and (ii) being provided with a guard of electrically conducting material disposed in proximity to the measurement electrodes at least along their face substantially opposite to the active surface;

exciting said guard to an alternating (AC) electrical potential substantially identical to the alternating (AC) electrical potential of the measurement electrodes; and

processing signals emanating from said capacitive sensors, so as to provide distance information between the active surface of the measurement electrodes and one or several objects;

wherein the exciting of the one or more measurement electronics and the processing of the signals emanating from the capacitive sensors is referenced to a guard potential different from a ground potential and

the method being implemented in a device for control interface substantially transparent, placed on a viewing screen, and fitted with measurement electrodes and guard made of substantially transparent materials.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising displaying a software interface, the image of which varies in response to actions from the object(s).

12. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

measuring at least one distance between an object and a detection surface;

processing said distance measurements to provide approach information;

measuring the contact between the object and the detection surface; and

processing said contact measurements to provide touch information.

13. The method according to claim 12 :

wherein processing the distance measurements comprises a detection of the position of the object in space obtained at least from distance measurements and knowledge about the disposition of the capacitive sensors; and

wherein processing the contact measurements comprises identifying the capacitive sensors which have detected a contact between the object and the detection surface.

14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising determining controls, which controls are conditioned at least by at least one of the approach and touch information.

15. The method according to claim 14 , characterized in that at least one control determined by a touch information is conditioned by an approach information.

16. The method according to claim 14 , characterized in that at least one control is conditioned by the time variation of at least one of the approach and touch information.

17. The method according to claim 10 , implementing a gestural interface having optical imaging means and vocal recognition means, characterized in that it further comprises:

detecting the object through optical imaging, providing image information, and a processing of this image information to determine one or several controls; and

vocal recognition, and a processing of this speech information to determine one or more controls.