Method and device for hybrid touch sensing

• US 10,120,487 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2016
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corporation (Novatek Microelectronics Corp Limited)
• Original Assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corporation (Novatek Microelectronics Corp Limited)
• Inventors: Cheng, Chih-Jen, Huang, He-Wei, Chang, Tsen-Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Merkoulova, Olga
• Application Number:
  US15/194,676
• Publication Number:
  US 20170371475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes

Abstract

A method for hybrid touch sensing for detecting a normal touch and a force touch concurrently is provided. The method includes the following steps. Provide a first driving signal to a first capacitor, wherein the first driving signal is a periodic signal with a first frequency. Provide a second driving signal to a second capacitor, wherein the second driving signal is a periodic signal with a second frequency different from the first frequency. Generate a composite sensing signal by feeding the first driving signal and the second driving signal to a front-end circuit. Extract information from the composite sensing signal to calculate a first change in capacitance of the first capacitor and a second change in capacitance of the second capacitor to detect the normal touch and the force touch concurrently.

Claims

1. A method for hybrid touch sensing, for detecting a normal touch and a force touch concurrently, the method comprising steps of:

providing a first driving signal to a first capacitor, wherein the first driving signal is a periodic signal with a first frequency, capacitance of the first capacitor changes in response to a first touch, the first touch is one of the normal touch and the force touch;

providing a second driving signal to a second capacitor, wherein the second driving signal is a periodic signal with a second frequency different from the first frequency, capacitance of the second capacitor changes in response to a second touch, the second touch is the other one of the normal touch and the force touch;

generating a composite sensing signal by feeding the first driving signal and the second driving signal to a front-end circuit; and

extracting information from the composite sensing signal to calculate a first change in capacitance of the first capacitor and a second change in capacitance of the second capacitor to detect the normal touch and the force touch concurrently.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of extracting information from the composite sensing signal comprises:

demodulating the composite sensing signal to separate a first component signal having the first frequency and a second component signal having the second frequency;

calculating the first change in capacitance according to the first component signal; and

calculating the second change in capacitance according to the second component signal and the first change in capacitance;

wherein the first component signal is independent of the second change in capacitance.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of extracting information from the composite sensing signal comprises:

sampling the composite sensing signal with a sampling frequency to obtain a plurality of sampling voltages; and

calculating the first change in capacitance and the second change in capacitance according to the plurality of sampling voltages;

wherein the sampling frequency is greater than or equal to twice the greater of the first frequency and the second frequency.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the front-end circuit comprises:

an operational amplifier having a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and an output terminal, wherein the first input terminal is coupled to the first driving signal through the first capacitor, the second input terminal is coupled to the second driving signal, and the composite sensing signal is generated at the output terminal; and

a feedback path coupled between the first input terminal and the output terminal of the operational amplifier.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the feedback path comprises a switch operated at a sampling frequency greater than or equal to twice the greater of the first frequency and the second frequency.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first capacitor is used for force touch sensing, the second capacitor is used for normal touch sensing, and an amplitude of the second driving signal is greater than an amplitude of the first driving signal in a normal operation mode.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

switching to a force operation mode when a position of the normal touch remains unchanged for a time period larger than a threshold period, and increasing the amplitude of the first driving signal in the force operation mode.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first capacitor is used for force touch sensing, the second capacitor is used for normal touch sensing, and the second frequency is greater than the first frequency in a normal operation mode.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

switching to a force operation mode when a position of the normal touch remains unchanged for a time period larger than a threshold period, and increasing the first frequency in the force operation mode.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a frequency that produces the least amount of noise to be the first frequency; and

selecting a frequency that produces the second-to-least amount of noise to be the second frequency.

11. A device for hybrid touch sensing, for detecting a normal touch and a force touch concurrently, the device comprising:

a first capacitor, wherein capacitance of the first capacitor changes in response to a first touch, the first touch is one of the normal touch and the force touch;

a second capacitor, wherein capacitance of the second capacitor changes in response to a second touch, the second touch is the other one of the normal touch and the force touch;

a first driving source, providing a first driving signal to the first capacitor, wherein the first driving signal is a periodic signal with a first frequency;

a second driving source, providing a second driving signal to the second capacitor, wherein the second driving signal is a periodic signal with a second frequency different from the first frequency;

a front-end circuit, configured to generate a composite sensing signal in response to the first driving signal and the second driving signal; and

a processing circuit, configured to extract information from the composite sensing signal to calculate a first change in capacitance of the first capacitor and a second change in capacitance of the second capacitor to detect the normal touch and the force touch concurrently.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is configured to demodulate the composite sensing signal to separate a first component signal having the first frequency and a second component signal having the second frequency, calculate the first change in capacitance according to the first component signal, and calculate the second change in capacitance according to the second component signal and the first change in capacitance;

wherein the first component signal is independent of the second change in capacitance.

13. The device according to claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is configured to sample the composite sensing signal with a sampling frequency to obtain a plurality of sampling voltages, and calculate the first change in capacitance and the second change in capacitance according to the plurality of sampling voltages;

wherein the sampling frequency is greater than or equal to twice the greater of the first frequency and the second frequency.

14. The device according to claim 11, wherein the front-end circuit comprises:

an operational amplifier having a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and an output terminal, wherein the first input terminal is coupled to the first driving signal through the first capacitor, the second input terminal is coupled to the second driving signal, and the composite sensing signal is generated at the output terminal; and

a feedback path coupled between the first input terminal and the output terminal of the operational amplifier.

15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the feedback path comprises a switch operated at a sampling frequency greater than or equal to twice the greater of the first frequency and the second frequency.

16. The device according to claim 11, wherein the first capacitor is used for force touch sensing, the second capacitor is used for normal touch sensing, and an amplitude of the second driving signal is greater than an amplitude of the first driving signal in a normal operation mode.

17. The device according to claim 16, wherein the processing circuit determines to switch to a force operation mode when the processing circuit detects that a position of the normal touch remains unchanged for a time period larger than a threshold period, and the first driving source increases the amplitude of the first driving signal in the force operation mode.

18. The device according to claim 11, wherein the first capacitor is used for force touch sensing, the second capacitor is used for normal touch sensing, and the second frequency is greater than the first frequency in a normal operation mode.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein the processing circuit determines to switch to a force operation mode when the processing circuit detects that a position of the normal touch remains unchanged for a time period larger than a threshold period, and the first driving source increases the first frequency in the force operation mode.

20. The device according to claim 11, wherein the first frequency is a frequency that produces the least amount of noise, and the second frequency is a frequency that produces the second-to-least amount of noise.