Force sensor with uniform response in an axis

• US 10,452,211 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2017
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Inventors: Ramakrishnan, Shubha, Schwartz, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Sasinowski, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US15/397,534
• Publication Number:
  US 20170344149A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,022 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 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• 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 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0447 Position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0448 Details of the electrode shape, e.g. for enhancing the detection of touches, for generating specific electric field shapes, for enhancing display quality

Abstract

An input device includes an input surface having a first axis and a second axis, and force sensor electrodes. The force sensor electrodes have a cumulative capacitive sensor response to a force on the input surface. The cumulative capacitive sensor response is, within a specified tolerance, uniform along the first axis based on the plurality of sizes of the plurality of force sensor electrodes.

Claims

1. An input device comprising:

an input surface having a first axis and a second axis, the input surface having a non-uniform bending response when a force is applied; and

a plurality of force sensor electrodes, the plurality of force sensor electrodes having a cumulative capacitive sensor response to the force on the input surface,

wherein deflections of the plurality of force sensor electrodes in response to the force are non-uniform due to the non-uniform bending response of the input surface,

wherein the cumulative capacitive sensor response is, within a specified tolerance, uniform along the first axis based on a plurality of sizes of the plurality of force sensor electrodes,

wherein the cumulative capacitive sensor response is a weighted sum of a plurality of force measurements obtained from the plurality of force sensor electrodes along the first axis, the weighted sum being independent from a positional coordinate of the force being applied with respect to the first axis, and

wherein the independency from the positional coordinate results from a first subset of the plurality of force sensor electrodes being of heterogeneous sizes to compensate for the non-uniform deflections.

2. The input device of claim 1, further comprising:

sensor circuitry configured to acquire the plurality of force measurements by modulating the plurality of force sensor electrodes; and

a processing system configured to determine the force on the input surface using the plurality of force measurements.

3. The input device of claim 2, further comprising:

a plurality of positional sensor electrodes,

wherein the sensor circuitry is further configured to acquire a plurality of positional measurements by modulating the plurality of positional sensor electrodes, and

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to;

determine a position of an input object along the second axis using the plurality of positional measurements,

wherein determining the force is based on the position.

4. The input device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of force sensor electrodes comprises a plurality of transmitter electrodes and a plurality of receiver electrodes, wherein the plurality of receiver electrodes is of heterogeneous sizes to achieve the cumulative capacitive sensor response that is uniform.

5. The input device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sizes of the plurality of force sensor electrodes monotonically increase from a center of the input surface along the first axis.

6. An input device comprising:

an input surface having a first axis, a second axis substantially orthogonal to the first axis, and a corner, the input surface having a non-uniform bending response when a force is applied; and

a plurality of force sensor electrodes, the plurality of force sensor electrodes comprising;

a first sensor electrode adjacent to the corner, and

a second sensor electrode located farther from the corner along the first axis than the first sensor electrode, the second sensor electrode being smaller than the first sensor electrode,

wherein a deflection of the first sensor electrode in response to the force is different from a deflection of the second sensor electrode, due to the non-uniform bending response of the input surface, and

wherein sizes of the first and second sensor electrodes are selected to obtain a uniform cumulative capacitive sensor response in presence of the non-uniform deflections,

wherein the cumulative capacitive sensor response is a weighted sum of force measurements obtained from at least the first and the second sensor electrodes along the first axis, the weighted sum being independent from a positional coordinate of the force being applied with respect to the first axis, and

wherein the independency from the positional coordinate results from the first and the second sensor electrodes being of heterogeneous sizes to compensate for the non-uniform deflections.

7. The input device of claim 6, wherein the first axis is shorter than the second axis.

8. The input device of claim 6, wherein the plurality of force sensor electrodes comprises a plurality of transmitter electrodes and a plurality of receiver electrodes, wherein the plurality of receiver electrodes comprises the first sensor electrode and the second sensor electrode.

9. The input device of claim 6, further comprising:

sensor circuitry configured to acquire a plurality of force measurements by modulating the plurality of force sensor electrodes; and

a processing system configured to determine the force on the input surface using the plurality of force measurements.

10. The input device of claim 9, further comprising:

a plurality of positional sensor electrodes,

wherein the sensor circuitry is further configured to acquire a plurality of positional measurements by modulating the plurality of positional sensor electrodes;

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to;

determine a position of an input object along the second axis using the plurality of positional measurements,

wherein determining the force is based on the position.

11. The input device of claim 6, further comprising:

a display, wherein the plurality of force sensor electrodes comprise a plurality of in-cell sensor electrodes located in the display.

12. A processing system for an input device, the processing system comprising:

sensor circuitry configured to be coupled to a plurality of positional sensor electrodes, and a plurality of force sensor electrodes, the sensor circuitry configured to;

obtain a plurality of force measurements from the plurality of force sensor electrodes,

wherein deflections of the plurality of force sensor electrodes in response to a force being applied to an input surface of the input device are non-uniform due to a non-uniform bending response of the input surface, and

obtain a plurality of positional measurements from the plurality of positional sensor electrodes,

wherein the plurality of force sensor electrodes has a cumulative capacitive sensor response that is substantially uniform along a first axis of the input surface,

wherein the cumulative capacitive sensor response is a weighted sum of the plurality of force measurements along the first axis, the weighted sum being independent from a positional coordinate of the force being applied with respect to the first axis, and

wherein the independency from the positional coordinate results from a first subset of the plurality of force sensor electrodes being of heterogeneous sizes to compensate for the non-uniform deflections; and

a processing circuitry configured to;

determine, using the plurality of force measurements, the cumulative capacitive sensor response, and

determine, using the cumulative capacitive sensor response, force information.

13. The processing system of claim 12, wherein the cumulative capacitive sensor response varies along a second axis of the input surface.

14. The processing system of claim 13, wherein the force information is determined using the plurality of positional measurements along the second axis.

15. The processing system of claim 13,

wherein determining the force information comprises:

determining the force information using a positional coordinate of at least one input object with respect to the second axis, and

ignoring a positional coordinate of the at least one input object with respect to the first axis.

16. The processing system of claim 12, wherein obtaining the plurality of force measurements from the plurality of force sensor electrodes comprises modulating the plurality of force sensor electrodes with respect to a reference voltage.

17. The processing system of claim 12, wherein obtaining the plurality of force measurements from the plurality of force sensor electrodes comprises:

transmitting a plurality of transmitter signals using a second subset of the plurality of force sensor electrodes, and

receiving a plurality of resulting signals using the first subset of the plurality of force sensor electrodes.

18. The processing system of claim 17, wherein the heterogeneous sizes of the first subset monotonically increase from a center of an input surface along the first axis.