US Patent Issued to Apple on May 19 for "Gap sensing via engine coil" (California Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,632,114, issued on May 19, was assigned to Apple Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.).

"Gap sensing via engine coil" was invented by Denis G. Chen (San Jose, Calif.) and Darya Amin-Shahidi (Menlo Park, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A haptic engine for an electronic device includes a coil assembly and a stator. The coil assembly may be coupled to an input structure, such as a button cap. In an gap sensing mode, a first voltage may be driven through the coil assembly to determine an impedance of the coil assembly. The impedance is then used to determine a gap between the coil assembly and the stator. In a haptic drive mode, a second voltage is ...