Capacitance detection circuit and capacitance detection method

• US 20060049834A1
• Filed: 07/29/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ALPS Electric Company Limited (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Umeda, Yuichi
• Application Number:
  US11/192,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20060049834A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/658
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/24 by varying capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/2405 by varying dielectric

Abstract

A capacitance detection circuit in which detection wirings are arranged in such a manner as to intersect a plurality of driving wirings, and detection electrodes forming capacitances between the driving wirings and the detection wiring that intersect each other are formed within a sensor plane includes a column wiring driving device for driving the driving wirings; a detection wiring selection device for selecting predetermined detection wiring from among a plurality of detection wirings; a reference electrode arranged in the vicinity of the detection electrode, the reference electrode detecting the electrical potential of the piece to be detected as a reference potential; and a capacitance computation section for determining a voltage value corresponding to the capacitance change on the basis of the reference potential and the detection potential determined from the electrical current corresponding to the capacitance of the detection electrode.

Claims

1. A capacitance detection circuit in which detection wirings are arranged in such a manner as to intersect a plurality of driving wirings, detection electrodes forming capacitances between the driving wirings and the detection wirings that intersect each other are formed within a sensor plane, and a capacitance change of the detection electrode, which changes due to a piece to be detected, is detected as a voltage value, the capacitance detection circuit comprising:

column wiring driving means for driving the driving wirings;

detection wiring selection means for selecting predetermined detection wiring from among a plurality of detection wirings;

a reference electrode arranged in the vicinity of the detection electrode, the reference electrode detecting the electrical potential of the piece to be detected as a reference potential; and

a capacitance computation section for determining a voltage value corresponding to the capacitance change on the basis of the reference potential and the detection potential determined from the electrical current corresponding to the capacitance of the detection electrode.

2. The capacitance detection circuit according to claim 1, wherein the detection wiring selection means selects first and second detection wirings, and the capacitance computation section comprises:

detection potential output means for differentially amplifying the current value corresponding to the capacitance of each intersection part corresponding to the first and second detection wirings and for outputting the value as the detection potential; and

computation means for determining a voltage value corresponding to the capacitance of each intersection part on the basis of the detection potential that is input in a time series manner.

3. The capacitance detection circuit according to claim 2, wherein, in a detection period, the detection wiring selection means selects reference potential detection wiring to which the reference electrode is connected as the first detection wiring and detection wiring in the vicinity of the reference potential detection wiring as the second detection wiring, and thereafter selects detection wirings in the neighborhood from among the plurality of detection wiring as first and second detection wirings, and

the computation means cumulatively adds the detection potentials that are input in a time series manner in order to determine a voltage value corresponding to the capacitance of the detection electrode.

4. The capacitance detection circuit according to claim 3, wherein, continuously to the reference potential detection wiring and the detection wiring in the neighborhood of the reference potential detection wiring selected respectively as the first and second detection wirings in the detection period, the detection wiring selection means selects detection wirings in the neighborhood in sequence as the first and second detection wirings.

5. The capacitance detection circuit according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of differential amplifiers for determining the detection potential on the basis of the electrical current flowing through the first detection wiring and the second detection wiring are provided for each detection wiring through which differential amplification is performed,

a predetermined differential amplifier determines the detection potential between the reference potential detection wiring and the first detection wiring, and

the plurality of the other differential amplifiers determine the detection potential between the detection wirings including the first detection wiring.

6. The capacitance detection circuit according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of the detection wirings are divided into a group of detection wirings, the detection wiring selection means is provided for each group of the detection wirings, and the computation means determines the voltage value corresponding to the capacitance of the detection electrode by using, as the unit, each detection wiring selected by the detection wiring selection means.

7. The capacitance detection circuit according to claim 6, wherein a plurality of the reference electrodes are provided on the sensor plane, and the reference electrodes are electrically connected to each other.

9. The capacitance detection circuit according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of differential amplifiers for determining the detection potential on the basis of the electrical current flowing through the first detection wiring and the second detection wiring are provided for each detection wiring through which differential amplification is performed,

a predetermined differential amplifier determines the detection potential between the reference potential detection wiring and the first detection wiring, and

the plurality of the other differential amplifiers determine the detection potential between the detection wirings including the first detection wiring.

8. A capacitance detection method in which detection wirings are arranged in such a manner as to intersect a plurality of driving wirings, detection electrodes forming capacitances between the driving wirings and the detection wirings that intersect each other are formed within a sensor plane, and a capacitance change of the detection electrode, which changes due to a piece to be detected, is detected as a voltage value, the capacitance detection method comprising the steps of:

driving the driving wirings;

selecting predetermined detection wiring from among a plurality of detection wirings;

detecting the electrical potential of the piece to be detected as a reference potential by a reference electrode arranged in the neighborhood of the detection electrode; and

determining a voltage value corresponding to the capacitance change on the basis of the reference potential and the detection potential determined from the electrical current corresponding to the capacitance of the detection electrode.