Multiple correlations in a touch sensor

• US 10,394,384 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2018
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Westhues, Jonathan, Qiao, Tianzhu
• Primary Examiner(s): Osorio, Ricardo
• Application Number:
  US15/933,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20180210610A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 3/04182 Filtering of noise external to the device and not generated by digitiser components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04184 Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally
• 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

Embodiments are disclosed that relate to touch input detection in a touch sensor. One example provides a method comprising establishing a first reference sequence, starting with a first set of candidate reference sequences each differing from the first reference sequence, reducing the first set of candidate reference sequences by applying a rule set to the first set to derive a relatively smaller second set of candidate reference sequences, for each candidate reference sequence in the second set of candidate reference sequences, calculating a touch detection performance score of a combined reference sequence, and configuring at least a portion of a receive circuit to correlate signals to at least one of the touch detection conditions by using the first reference sequence in a combined correlation operation with at least a selected candidate reference sequence from the second set of candidate reference sequences.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a first reference sequence with which to correlate signals received at one or more electrodes to touch detection conditions;

starting with a first set of candidate reference sequences each differing from the first reference sequence, reducing the first set of candidate reference sequences by applying a rule set to the first set to derive a relatively smaller second set of candidate reference sequences;

for each candidate reference sequence in the second set of candidate reference sequences, calculating a touch detection performance score of a combined reference sequence, the combined reference sequence being a sum of the first reference sequence and at least the candidate reference sequence for which the calculating is performed; and

configuring at least a portion of a receive circuit to correlate signals received at one or more of the electrodes to at least one of the touch detection conditions by using the first reference sequence in a combined correlation operation with at least a selected candidate reference sequence from the second set of candidate reference sequences, and not an unselected candidate reference sequence from the second set of candidate reference sequences, the selected candidate reference sequence being selected based on a corresponding touch detection performance score being higher than a touch detection performance score corresponding to the unselected candidate reference sequence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the combined reference sequence further includes an additional candidate reference sequence from the second set of candidate reference sequences, the additional candidate reference sequence differing from the first reference sequence and the selected candidate reference sequence, and

wherein the portion of the receive circuit is configured to correlate the signals to the at least one touch detection condition by using the additional candidate reference sequence along with the first reference sequence and the selected candidate reference sequence in the combined correlation operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference sequence is established based on an excitation sequence used to drive one or more of the electrodes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule set includes a rule excluding candidate reference sequences derived from the first reference sequence by changing at least one bit in a middle portion of at least one pulse of the first reference sequence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule set includes a rule allowing candidate reference sequences derived from the first reference sequence by changing at least one bit at a tail of at least one pulse of the first reference sequence.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule set includes a rule excluding candidate reference sequences that, when used in the combined correlation operation, fail to reduce noise in an undesired frequency range by a threshold amount.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule set includes a rule excluding candidate reference sequences derived from the first reference sequence by changing at least one bit at a head of at least one pulse of the first reference sequence.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference sequence and the at least one selected candidate reference sequence are of equal length.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference sequence and the at least one selected candidate reference sequence include an equal number of pulses.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each corresponding pair of pulses in the first reference sequence and the at least one selected candidate reference sequence are temporally aligned.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference sequence and the at least one selected candidate reference sequence are digital.

12. A system comprising:

a touch sensor matrix having at least one electrode;

a processor; and

a storage machine comprising instructions executable by the processor to;

for the at least one electrode;

drive the at least one electrode with an excitation sequence;

receive a received signal resulting from driving of the at least one electrode;

correlate the received signal with each of two or more reference sequences, and not an unselected reference sequence, each of the two or more reference sequences being selected based on a corresponding touch detection performance score being higher than a touch detection performance score corresponding to the unselected reference sequence;

combine each result from each correlation of the received signal with a respective reference sequence to determine a combined correlation value, the combined correlation value being equivalently determined by correlating the received signal with a combination of the two or more reference sequences; and

identify at least one touch detection condition based on the combined correlation value.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the two or more reference sequences are at least partially correlated.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the two or more reference sequences are binary.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the combination of the two or more reference sequences is non-binary.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein a first reference sequence of the two or more reference sequences is the excitation sequence.

17. A system comprising:

a plurality of drivers each attached to a respective electrode and configured to drive that respective electrode with an excitation sequence;

a plurality of receivers each attached to a respective electrode and configured to receive at that respective electrode a received signal resulting from at least one driven electrode, each receiver having two or more correlators each configured to correlate the received signal with a respective reference sequence and not an unselected reference sequence, and a combiner configured to combine each result from each correlator to determine a combined correlation value, the combined correlation value being equivalently determined by correlating the received signal with a combination of the two or more reference sequences, each of the two or more reference sequences being selected based on a corresponding touch detection performance score being higher than a touch detection performance score corresponding to the unselected reference sequence; and

a controller configured to identify at least one touch detection condition based on the combined correlation value.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the two or more reference sequences are binary, and

wherein the combination of the two or more reference sequences is non-binary.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein a first reference sequence of the two or more reference sequences is the excitation sequence.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein a second reference sequence of the two or more reference sequences is derived from the first reference sequence.