Estimating force applied by an input object to a touch sensor

• US 10,261,619 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2015
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Inventors: Shepelev, Petr, Graf, Arnulf
• Primary Examiner(s): Boyd, Jonathan A
• Application Number:
  US14/986,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20170060314A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 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 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

Techniques for determining force applied by an input object in a sensing region of an input device are provided. The techniques generally include driving a plurality of sensor electrodes within a sensing region to acquire sensor data, generating a first histogram based on the sensor data, the first histogram including a plurality of bins each having an associated value, and based on the values associated with at least a subset of the plurality of bins of the first histogram, determining force information for an input object.

Claims

1. A force sensing device, comprising:

a plurality of sensor electrodes within a sensing region; and

a processing system configured to;

drive the plurality of sensor electrodes to acquire sensor data indicative of deflection of at least one sensor electrode of the plurality of sensor electrodes,

generate a first histogram based on measurements determined from the sensor data, the first histogram including a plurality of bins each having a corresponding measurement range and an associated value, wherein the associated value for each of the plurality of bins corresponds to a count of the measurements that are within the corresponding measurement range, wherein the plurality of bins comprises a first bin group associated with locations of the sensing region affected by an input force applied by a first input object and a second bin group associated with locations of the sensing region affected by a capacitive coupling with the first input object, and

based on the values associated with at least a subset of the plurality of bins of the first histogram, determine force information for the first input object.

2. The force sensing device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

generate a second histogram based on the sensor data, the second histogram corresponding to a second input object.

3. The force sensing device of claim 2, wherein:

the sensor data includes a first value associated with the first input object and obtained by a first sensor electrode at a first sensor electrode location and a second value associated with the second input object and obtained by the first sensor electrode at the first sensor electrode location; and

the processing system is further configured to;

determine a first position of the first input object and a second position of the second input object,

generate the first histogram based on a weighted first value that comprises the first value weighted based on a comparison between a first distance from the first position to the first sensor electrode location and a second distance from the first sensor electrode location to the second position, and

generate the second histogram based on a weighted second value that comprises the second value weighted based on a comparison between the first distance and the second distance.

4. The force sensing device of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor data includes a first value associated with the first input object and obtained by a first sensor electrode at a first sensor electrode location; and

the processing system is further configured to;

determine a first position of the first input object, and

generate the first histogram based on a weighted first value that comprises the first value weighted based on a first distance from the first position to the first sensor electrode location.

5. The force sensing device of claim 1, wherein:

parameters of the plurality of bins of the first histogram used for the determination of the force information are determined during a tuning process.

6. The force sensing device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to generate the first histogram by:

identifying a geometric mask aligned to a location of the first input object to obtain a subset of the sensor data,

wherein the sensor data upon which the first histogram is based comprises the subset of the sensor data.

7. The force sensing device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

filter the acquired sensor data prior to generating the first histogram.

8. The force sensing device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to determine the force information by performing one of:

summing the values of the subset of the plurality of bins, or

determining an Nth moment of the values of the subset of the plurality of bins.

9. A processing system, comprising:

a sensor circuitry, configured to drive a plurality of sensor electrodes within a sensing region to acquire sensor data indicative of deflection of at least one sensor electrode of the plurality of sensor electrodes; and

a determination processor, configured to;

generate a first histogram based on measurements determined from the sensor data, the first histogram including a plurality of bins each having a corresponding measurement range and an associated value, wherein the associated value for each of the plurality of bins corresponds to a count of the measurements that are within the corresponding measurement range, wherein the plurality of bins comprises a first bin group associated with locations of the sensing region affected by an input force applied by a first input object and a second bin group associated with locations of the sensing region affected by a capacitive coupling with the first input object, and

based on the values associated with at least a subset of the plurality of bins of the first histogram, determine force information for the first input object.

10. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the determination processor is further configured to:

generate a second histogram based on the sensor data, the second histogram corresponding to a second input object.

11. The processing system of claim 10, wherein:

the sensor data includes a first value associated with the first input object and obtained by a first sensor electrode at a first sensor electrode location and a second value associated with the second input object and obtained by the first sensor electrode at the first sensor electrode location; and

the determination processor is further configured to;

determine a first position of the first input object and a second position of the second input object,

generate the first histogram based on a weighted first value that comprises the first value weighted based on a comparison between a first distance from the first position to the first sensor electrode location and a second distance from the first sensor electrode location to the second position, and

generate the second histogram based on a weighted second value that comprises the second value weighted based on a comparison between the first distance and the second distance.

12. The processing system of claim 9, wherein:

the sensor data includes a first value associated with the first input object and obtained by a first sensor electrode at a first sensor electrode location; and

the determination processor is further configured to;

determine a first position of the first input object, and

generate the first histogram based on a weighted first value that comprises the first value weighted based on a first distance from the first position to the first sensor electrode location.

13. The processing system of claim 9, wherein:

parameters of the plurality of bins of the first histogram used for the determination of the force information are determined during a tuning process.

14. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the determination processor is configured to generate the first histogram by:

identifying a geometric mask aligned to a location of the first input object to obtain a subset of the sensor data,

wherein the sensor data upon which the first histogram is based comprises the subset of the sensor data.

15. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the determination processor is further configured to:

filter the acquired sensor data prior to generating the first histogram.

16. The processing system of claim 9, wherein the determination processor is further configured to determine the force information by performing one of:

summing the values of the subset of the plurality of bins, or

determining an Nth moment of the values of the subset of the plurality of bins.

17. A method, comprising:

driving a plurality of sensor electrodes within a sensing region to acquire sensor data indicative of deflection of at least one sensor electrode of the plurality of sensor electrodes;

determining measurements from a subset of the sensor data, and a count of the measurements that correspond to a first range of values, the first range of values having an upper threshold value and a lower threshold value, wherein the first range of values is one of a plurality of ranges of values and is associated with locations of the sensing region affected by an input force applied by an input object, and a second range of values of the plurality of ranges of values is associated with locations of the sensing region affected by a capacitive coupling with the input object; and

based on the subset of the sensor data, determining force information for the input object.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the force information comprises one of:

summing values of the subset of the sensor data, or

determining an Nth moment of values of the subset of the sensor data.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising generating a first histogram based on the sensor data, the first histogram including a plurality of bins each having an associated value and wherein the subset of the sensor data corresponds to one of the plurality of bins.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining second measurements from a second subset of the sensor data, and a count of the second measurements that correspond to a third range of values, the third range of values having an upper threshold value and a lower threshold value; and

based on the second subset of the sensor data, determining force information for a second input object.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein:

the sensor data includes a first value associated with the input object and obtained by a first sensor electrode at a first sensor electrode location and a second value associated with a second input object and obtained by the first sensor electrode at the first sensor electrode location; and

wherein the method further comprises;

determining a first position of the input object and a second position of the second input object,

generate a weighted first value that comprises the first value weighted based on a comparison between a first distance from the first position to the first sensor electrode location and a second distance from the first sensor electrode location to the second position, and

generate a weighted second value that comprises the second value weighted based on a comparison between the first distance and the second distance.