Differential force and touch sensing
First Claim
1. A processing system for an input device, comprising:
- sensor circuitry configured to;
acquire first resulting signals by driving a plurality of sensor electrodes with a first modulated voltage, the plurality of sensor electrodes disposed between an input surface of the input device and a force electrode and configured to deflect toward the force electrode in response to a force applied to the input surface; and
acquire a second resulting signal, while the plurality of sensor electrodes are driven with the first modulated voltage, by driving the force electrode with a second modulated voltage, wherein the second modulated voltage is partially out of phase with respect to the first modulated voltage; and
a determination module, coupled to the sensor circuitry, configured to;
determine positional information for an input object based on the first and second resulting signals; and
determine force information for the input object based on the second resulting signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An input device is configured to detect force being applied to an input region of the device by an input object, in addition to the position of the input object using touch sensing methods. Aspects include driving a force sensing electrode of the input device using an anti-guarding voltage alternating with a ground or guard voltage, while driving the touch sensing electrodes with a reference voltage, to obtain touch measurements, force measurements, interference measurements, double the force signal, and/o double the touch signal for differential touch and force detection. Aspects also include driving sensor electrodes using orthogonal signals and performing in-phase and quadrature demodulation of the received signal for simultaneous and independent touch and force measurements.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A processing system for an input device, comprising:
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sensor circuitry configured to; acquire first resulting signals by driving a plurality of sensor electrodes with a first modulated voltage, the plurality of sensor electrodes disposed between an input surface of the input device and a force electrode and configured to deflect toward the force electrode in response to a force applied to the input surface; and acquire a second resulting signal, while the plurality of sensor electrodes are driven with the first modulated voltage, by driving the force electrode with a second modulated voltage, wherein the second modulated voltage is partially out of phase with respect to the first modulated voltage; and a determination module, coupled to the sensor circuitry, configured to; determine positional information for an input object based on the first and second resulting signals; and determine force information for the input object based on the second resulting signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An input device, comprising:
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an input surface; a force electrode; a plurality of sensor electrodes disposed between the input surface and the first force electrode and configured to deflect toward the force electrode in response to a force applied to the input surface; and a processing system coupled to the plurality of sensor electrodes and the force electrode, the processing system configured to; acquire first resulting signals by driving the plurality of sensor electrodes with a first modulated voltage; acquire a second resulting signal, while the plurality of sensor electrodes are driven with the first modulated voltage, by driving the force electrode with a second modulated voltage, wherein the second modulated voltage is partially out of phase with respect to the first modulated voltage; determine positional information for an input object based on the first and second resulting signals; and determine force information for the input object based on the second resulting signal. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of operating an input device, comprising:
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acquiring first resulting signals by driving a plurality of sensor electrodes with a first modulated voltage, the plurality of sensor electrodes disposed between an input surface of the input device and a force electrode and configured to deflect toward the force electrode in response to a force applied to the input surface; acquiring a second resulting signal, while the plurality of sensor electrodes are driven with the first modulated voltage, by driving the force electrode with a second modulated voltage, wherein the second modulated voltage is partially out of phase with respect to the first modulated voltage; determining positional information for an input object based on the first and second resulting signals; and determining force information for the input object based on the second resulting signal. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification