Touch sensor panel with multi-power domain chip configuration

• US 10,120,520 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2017
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Krah, Christoph H., Sauer, Christian M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Edun, Muhammad N
• Application Number:
  US15/663,271
• Publication Number:
  US 20180032176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 466 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1343 Electrodes reflective electrodes G02F1/133553
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04107 Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means

Abstract

A touch sensing system is disclosed. The touch sensing system includes a guard signal generation chip operating in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage, the guard signal generation chip configured to generate a guard signal. A touch sensing chip operates in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to the guard signal, the touch sensing chip configured to sense touch at one or more touch electrodes included in a touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal, and the touch sensing chip a different chip than the guard signal generation chip. A voltage regulator is configured to selectively regulate a voltage of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip.

Claims

1. A touch sensing system comprising:

a guard signal generation chip operating in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage, the guard signal generation chip configured to generate a guard signal;

a touch sensing chip operating in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to the guard signal, the touch sensing chip configured to sense touch at one or more touch electrodes included in a touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal, and the touch sensing chip a different chip than the guard signal generation chip; and

a voltage regulator configured to selectively regulate a voltage of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip.

2. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the first power domain is referenced to a chassis ground of an electronic device in which the touch sensing system is included, or to earth ground.

3. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the guard signal comprises an AC voltage.

4. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the touch sensing chip is disposed on a guard plane electrically connected to the guard signal generation chip and configured to be driven with the guard signal.

5. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the touch sensing chip includes touch sensing circuitry configured to sense touch at the one or more touch electrodes using the guard signal.

6. The touch sensing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a flex circuit including;

one or more traces configured to electrically couple the touch sensing chip to the touch sensor panel; and

one or more shields configured to isolate the one or more traces from the first power domain,

wherein;

the touch sensing chip is disposed on a guard plane configured to isolate the touch sensing chip from the first power domain,

the touch sensor panel includes one or more shields configured to isolate the one or more touch electrodes from the first power domain, and

the guard plane, the one or more shields included in the flex circuit, and the one or more shields included in the touch sensor panel are electrically connected to the guard signal generation chip and are configured to be driven by the guard signal.

7. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the voltage regulator is configured to:

while the guard signal is in a first state, regulate the voltage of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip to a respective voltage, and

while the guard signal is in a second state, different from the first state, forgo regulating the voltage of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip to the respective voltage.

8. The touch sensing system of claim 7, wherein the guard signal is in the first state when the guard signal is in a low voltage state, and the guard signal is in the second state when the guard signal is in a high voltage state.

9. The touch sensing system of claim 8, wherein the respective voltage is a low voltage.

10. The touch sensing system of claim 7, wherein the guard signal is in the first state when the guard signal is in a high voltage state, and the guard signal is in the second state when the guard signal is in a low voltage state.

11. The touch sensing system of claim 10, wherein the respective voltage is a high voltage.

12. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the voltage regulator comprises an amplifier including:

an input electrically coupled to the guard signal at the touch sensing chip; and

an output electrically coupled to the guard signal generation chip.

13. The touch sensing system of claim 12, wherein the voltage regulator is configured to adjust the output of the amplifier based on a deviation of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip from a target voltage, the adjustment of the output of the amplifier causing the guard signal generation chip to adjust the guard signal.

14. The touch sensing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a host chip operating in the first power domain, the host chip communicatively coupled to the touch sensing chip via a communication link, and the host chip configured to communicate data to the touch sensing chip via the communication link.

15. The touch sensing system of claim 14, further comprising one or more level shifters included in the communication link, the one or more level shifters configured to adjust a level of the data from the first power domain to the second power domain.

16. The touch sensing system of claim 15, wherein the one or more level shifters are configured to be selectively bypassed during the communication of the data from the host chip to the touch sensing chip.

17. The touch sensing system of claim 16, wherein during the communication of the data from the host chip to the touch sensing chip, the one or more level shifters are configured to be:

bypassed when the guard signal generation chip is not generating the guard signal, and

not bypassed when the guard signal generation chip is generating the guard signal.

18. The touch sensing system of claim 16, wherein during the communication of the data from the host chip to the touch sensing chip, the one or more level shifters are configured to be:

bypassed when the guard signal is in a low state, and

not bypassed when the guard signal is in a high state.

19. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the guard signal generation chip comprises a direct digital synthesizer, a digital-to-analog converter and a buffer, an output of the direct digital synthesizer coupled to an input of the digital-to-analog converter, an output of the digital-to-analog converter coupled to an input of the buffer, and an output of the buffer outputting the guard signal generated by the guard signal generation chip.

20. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the touch sensing chip is configured to receive a low voltage and a high voltage, the low voltage corresponding to the guard signal, and the high voltage based on the low voltage and generated using a capacitor and a switch, the switch configured to limit an amount of current flowing into the capacitor to less than a threshold amount.

21. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein:

the guard signal generation chip includes circuitry configured to generate the guard signal,

the circuitry is configured to operate as a linear buffer when the guard signal is in a low state, and

the circuitry is configured to operate as a push-pull buffer when the guard signal is in a high state.

22. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the touch sensing chip is configured to selectively reset a sense amplifier that is configured to sense the touch at the one or more touch electrodes based on one or more of a number of touch electrodes the sense amplifier is sensing simultaneously and a spectral scan of the touch sensor panel.

23. An electronic device comprising:

a touch sensor panel including one or more touch electrodes;

a guard signal generation chip operating in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage, the guard signal generation chip configured to generate a guard signal;

a touch sensing chip operating in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to the guard signal, the touch sensing chip configured to sense touch at the one or more touch electrodes included in the touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal, and the touch sensing chip a different chip than the guard signal generation chip; and

a voltage regulator configured to selectively regulate a voltage of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip.

24. A method for operating a touch sensing system, the method comprising:

operating a guard signal generation chip in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage, the guard signal generation chip configured to generate a guard signal;

operating a touch sensing chip in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to the guard signal, the touch sensing chip configured to sense touch at one or more touch electrodes included in a touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal, and the touch sensing chip a different chip than the guard signal generation chip; and

selectively regulating a voltage of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip.

25. The touch sensing system of claim 24, wherein the switching circuitry is configured to:

couple the voltage input of the touch sensing chip to the guard signal when the state of the guard signal is a first state, and

couple the voltage input of the touch sensing chip to the first voltage when the state of the guard signal is a second state, different from the first state.

26. A touch sensing system comprising:

a guard signal generation chip operating in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage, the guard signal generation chip configured to generate a guard signal;

a touch sensing chip operating in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to the guard signal, the touch sensing chip configured to sense touch at one or more touch electrodes included in a touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal, and the touch sensing chip a different chip than the guard signal generation chip; and

switching circuitry configured to selectively couple a voltage input of the touch sensing chip to the guard signal generation chip based on a state of the guard signal.