Directional capacitive sensor system and method
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- calibrating a plurality of capacitance measuring circuits, each coupled to a corresponding capacitance sensor, to determine calibration values for the capacitance sensors in a baseline environment;
zeroing out the capacitance sensors with the calibration values to place the capacitance sensors in a non-triggered state absent a change in sensor capacitance from the baseline environment;
configuring at least a sensitivity value for each capacitance sensor, each sensitivity value determining a capacitance change amount that activates a change indication from the capacitance measuring device; and
logically combining change indications from the capacitance measuring devices to activate a trigger indication when an object moves in a particular direction in relation to the capacitance sensors.
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Abstract
A capacitive sensing system (200) can include a sense section (202) and a filter section (206). Sense section (202) can activate logic outputs based on a sensed capacitance from sensors (210-1 and 210-2). A filter section (206) can logically combine logic outputs in different ways to generate output signals (INT—1 and INT—2). According to output signals (INT—1 and INT—2), different types of movement in a capacitive body (212) can be detected.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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calibrating a plurality of capacitance measuring circuits, each coupled to a corresponding capacitance sensor, to determine calibration values for the capacitance sensors in a baseline environment;
zeroing out the capacitance sensors with the calibration values to place the capacitance sensors in a non-triggered state absent a change in sensor capacitance from the baseline environment;
configuring at least a sensitivity value for each capacitance sensor, each sensitivity value determining a capacitance change amount that activates a change indication from the capacitance measuring device; and
logically combining change indications from the capacitance measuring devices to activate a trigger indication when an object moves in a particular direction in relation to the capacitance sensors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A sensor, comprising:
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a first near field capacitive sense circuit having an output that provides a sense indication based on capacitance input value;
a second near field capacitive sense circuit having an output that provides a sense indication based on capacitance input value; and
a detect circuit coupled to the outputs of at least the of the first and second near field capacitive sense circuits that logically combines the sense indications of the first and second near field capacitive sense circuits in at least two different way. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A capacitive sensing method, comprising the steps of:
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sensing a capacitance value at each of a plurality of capacitance sensor inputs;
for each capacitance sensor input, activating a corresponding sense signal when the sensed capacitance value is not within a predetermined range;
filtering the sense signals to selectively activate detect signals based on at least two logical combinations of the sense signals. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification