System and method to measure capacitance of capacitive sensor array

• US 10,386,969 B1
• Filed: 11/07/2012
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Original Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Moyal, Nathan Y., Olson, Dana Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Toan M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sun, Xiuquin
• Application Number:
  US13/670,671
• Time in Patent Office: 2,477 Days
• Field of Search: 702150
• 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 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

A system and method for determining position information. The method includes selecting a column, a first row, and a second row of a capacitive sensor array. The first row and second row intersect with the column of the capacitive sensor array. The method further includes measuring a differential capacitance between the first row and the second row and utilizing the differential capacitance in determining a location of an object proximate to the capacitive sensor array.

Claims

1. A method for determining position information, the method comprising:

selecting a first electrode of a capacitive sensor array;

selecting a second electrode of said capacitive sensor array;

selecting a third electrode of said capacitive sensor array, wherein said second electrode and said third electrode intersect with said first electrode of said capacitive sensor array;

receiving;

a first current associated with a capacitance of said second electrode and said first electrode, the first current induced on the second electrode by a drive signal applied to the first electrode and capacitively coupled to the second electrode, and

a second current associated with another capacitance of said third electrode and said first electrode, the second current induced on the third electrode by the drive signal applied to the first electrode and capacitively coupled to the third electrode;

measuring a capacitance between said second electrode and said third electrode, based on a comparison of the first and second currents, the measuring of the capacitance including;

converting the result of the comparison of the first and second currents to a digital value, the digital value representative of the measured capacitance; and

determining a location of an object proximate to said capacitive sensor array, based on the measured capacitance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said second electrode and said third electrode are adjacent to one another.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed along orthogonal axes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second and third electrodes are parallel to each other.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said second electrode is separated from said third electrode by at least one other electrode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the location of the object, based on the measured capacitance includes detecting a presence of the object proximate to said capacitive sensor array, based on the measured capacitance.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring a plurality of capacitances over a plurality of electrodes of said first electrode;

integrating said plurality of capacitances to obtain integrated capacitance values; and

using said integrated capacitance values to determine said location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said measured capacitance excludes a contribution from uniform variations in said capacitive sensor array.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparison of the first and second currents is performed by a differential current measurement circuit.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said capacitive sensor array comprises N electrodes disposed along a first axis and said measuring of said capacitance is performed N−

1 times per electrode along a second axis.

11. An apparatus to determine location of an object proximate to a capacitive sensor array, the apparatus comprising:

a first input coupled to a first electrode of a capacitive sensor array;

a second input coupled to a second electrode of the capacitive sensor array;

a third input coupled to a third electrode of the capacitive sensor array, wherein the second electrode and the third electrode intersect with the first electrode of the capacitive sensor array;

a receive circuit coupled to the first, second and third inputs, the receive circuit configured to receive

a first current associated with a capacitance of the first and second electrodes, the first current induced on the second electrode by a drive signal applied to the first electrode and capacitively coupled to the second electrode, and

a second current associated with another capacitance of the first and third electrodes, the second current induced on the third electrode by the drive signal applied to the first electrode and capacitively coupled to the third electrode;

a compare circuit configured to compare capacitance between the second and third electrodes represented by the first and second currents, wherein the capacitance is converted a digital value representative of the result of the comparison of the first and second currents; and

a processor configured to determine a location of an object proximate to the capacitive sensor array, based on a differential capacitance represented by a difference between the first and second currents.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second and third electrodes are adjacent.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first electrode is disposed along an axis orthogonal to an axis on which the second and third electrodes are disposed.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second electrode is separated from the third electrode by at least one other electrode.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the determining the location of the object, based on the differential capacitance is configured to detect a presence of the object proximate to the capacitive sensor array.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the compare circuit is configured to measure a plurality of capacitances over a plurality of electrodes disposed along a second axis of the first electrode disposed along a first axis, and the processor is configured to integrate the plurality of capacitances to obtain integrated capacitance values, and use the integrated capacitance values to determine the location.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the differential capacitance excludes a contribution from uniform variations in the capacitive sensor array.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the compare circuit includes a differential current measurement circuit.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said capacitive sensor array comprises N electrodes disposed along a first axis and a comparing of said capacitance by the compare circuit is performed N -1 times per electrode along a second axis.

20. A system for determining position information comprising:

a sensor array controller for selecting each of a first plurality of electrodes disposed along a first axis and each of a second plurality of electrodes disposed along a second axis for measuring a capacitance,

wherein each of the second plurality of electrodes receives an induced current from a signal applied to at least one of the first plurality of electrodes and capacitively coupled to each of the second plurality of electrodes,

wherein the induced current on each of the second plurality of electrodes is converted to a digital value by an integration circuit, the digital value representative of the signal and the capacitive coupling between the at least one of the first plurality of electrodes and each of the second plurality of electrodes,

wherein said capacitance comprises the difference in capacitance between two of said second plurality of electrodes and at least one of said of second plurality of electrodes;

a capacitive sensor array operable to be controlled by said sensor array controller and operable to respond to a presence of an object proximate to said sensor array;

a data storage module for storing a plurality of capacitive measurements from said sensor array controller; and

a data processing module for processing said plurality of capacitive measurements to determine a position of said object proximate to said capacitive sensor array.