System and methods for raised touch screens

Abstract

A touch sensitive display assembly includes a touch screen and a button array. The touch screen is configured to display one or more input keys. The button array includes one or more buttons corresponding to the one or more input keys. The button array is formed by a substrate attached to a button membrane thereby creating a set of button cavities corresponding to the input keys. The button cavities are configured to be inflated and deflated by a pump coupled to a fluid reservoir. The cavities can be inflated/deflated together, in subsets, and/or individually. In some embodiments, the button array is sandwiched between a touch sensing layer and a display of the touch screen. In other embodiments, the button array can be located either above or below the touch screen.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A user interface system comprising:
 a flexible touch sensing layer defining a deformable region, defining a peripheral region adjacent the deformable region, and outputting signals corresponding to touch inputs on the deformable region and the peripheral region;   a substrate coupled to the flexible touch sensing layer along a perimeter of the deformable region, cooperating with the deformable region to define a cavity, and defining a fluid channel fluidly coupled to the cavity;   a displacement device displacing fluid into the cavity via the fluid channel to transition the deformable region from a deflated setting into an inflated setting, the deformable region substantially flush with the peripheral region in the deflated setting and elevated above the peripheral region in the inflated setting; and   a processor detecting inputs on the flexible touch sensing layer proximal the deformable region in the deflated setting and in the inflated setting according to outputs of the flexible touch sensing layer.