Programmable Integrated Circuit Device to Support Inductive Sensing

• US 20100090717A1
• Filed: 09/16/2009
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neodrón Limited (Atlantic IP Services Limited)
• Original Assignee: Microchip Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Pop, Petru Cristian, Ruscu, Radu, Curtis, Keith E., Steedman, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 8,378,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/750.3
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/96 Touch switches specially adapted for electronic time-pieces with no moving parts G04G21/08
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/96038 Inductive touch switches

Abstract

An integrated circuit device inductive touch analog front end excites selected ones of a plurality of inductive touch sensors and provides analog output signals representative of voltages across the coils of the plurality of inductive touch sensors. Various characteristics of the inductive touch analog front end are programmable. A digital processor controls selection of each one of the plurality of inductive touch sensors and receives the respective analog output voltage signal from the inductive touch AFE. The digital processor may program the characteristics of the inductive touch analog front end. When a sufficient change in the coil voltage is determined by the digital processor, that inductive touch sensor is assumed to have been actuated and the digital processor takes action based upon which one of the plurality of inductive touch sensors was actuated (touched).

Claims

1. An integrated circuit device configured as a programmable analog front end for supporting inductive touch sensing, said integrated circuit device comprising:

a voltage reference;

a synchronous detector having

a first input coupled to an inductive reference coil external connection, wherein the inductive reference coil external connection is adapted for coupling to an inductive reference coil;

a second input coupled to an inductive touch sensor coil external connection, wherein the inductive touch sensor coil external connection is adapted for coupling to at least one inductive touch sensor coil;

a third input coupled to a reference select external connection, wherein the reference select external connection is adapted for coupling to a reference select signal;

a fourth input coupled to a clock external connection, wherein the clock external connection is adapted for coupling to a clock signal, and

a fifth input coupled to the voltage reference;

a coil driver having

an output coupled to a coil drive output external connection,

an input coupled to a coil drive input external connection;

an amplifier configured with a low-pass filter and having inputs coupled to the synchronous detector and an output having voltage values representative of inductance values of the at least one inductive touch sensor coil and the inductive reference coil, the output of the amplifier is coupled to a voltage detector output external connection; and

an interface and control module having a communications port, wherein the interface and control module controls at least one characteristic of the programmable analog front end;

wherein the synchronous detector mixes the clock signal with a signal from the inductive reference coil or the at least one inductive touch sensor coil, as selected by the reference select signal, to produce sum and difference mixing products, whereby the amplifier amplifies the sum and difference mixing products and substantially attenuates the sum mixing product and passes the difference mixing product at the output of the amplifier.

2. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the voltage reference has at least one programmable characteristic selected from the group consisting of output reference voltage value and output impedance.

3. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the synchronous detector has a programmable characteristic of selection of mixing frequency.

4. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the coil driver has at least one programmable characteristic selected from the group consisting of current drive strength and output signal waveform shaping.

5. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the amplifier has at least one programmable characteristic selected from the group consisting of voltage gain, output impedance, offset, gain-bandwidth product, and corner roll-off frequency.

6. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the communications port of the interface and control module is a serial communications port.

7. The integrated circuit device according to claim 6, wherein the serial communications port is selected from the group consisting of I²C, SPI, UNI/O, UART.

8. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the communications port of the interface and control module is a parallel communications port.

9. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the synchronous detector comprises:

a decoder having a first input coupled to the clock external connection and a second input coupled to the reference select external connection; and

six analog pass-gates controlled by the decoder, wherein

inputs of first and fourth analog pass-gates are coupled to the voltage reference,

inputs of second and fifth analog pass-gates are coupled to the inductive touch sensor external connection,

inputs of third and sixth analog pass-gates are coupled to the inductive reference coil external connection;

whereby

the third and fourth analog pass-gates are closed when first logic levels are on the reference select and clock external connections,

the first and sixth analog pass-gates are closed when the first logic level is on the reference select external connection and a second logic level is on the clock external connection,

the second and fourth analog pass-gates are closed when the second logic level is on the reference select external connection and the first logic level is on the clock external connection, and

the first and fifth analog pass-gates are closed when second logic levels are on the reference select and clock external connections.

10. The integrated circuit device according to claim 9, wherein the first logic level is a logic zero (“

0”

) and the second logic level is a logic one (“

1”

).

11. The integrated circuit device according to claim 9, wherein the second logic level is a logic zero (“

0”

) and the first logic level is a logic one (“

1”

).

12. The integrated circuit device according to claim 9, further comprising a frequency divider in combination with the decoder, wherein the frequency divider divides a clock frequency from the clock external connection and applies the divided clock frequency to the analog pass-gates.

13. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the amplifier is a differential input amplifier.

14. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein a digital processor determines which one of the at least one inductive touch sensor coil is selected for voltage measurement by the synchronous detector.

15. The integrated circuit device according to claim 14, wherein the digital processor supplies the clock and reference select signals.

16. The integrated circuit device according to claim 14, wherein the digital processor receives the voltage values from the output of the amplifier, determines which one of the at least one inductive touch sensor coil is actuated based upon the received voltage values.

17. The integrated circuit device according to claim 14, wherein the digital processor is coupled to the communications port of the interface and control module and programs the at least one characteristic of the programmable analog front end.

18. The integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein the synchronous detector comprises:

a frequency mixer having a first input coupled the voltage reference, and an output coupled to the amplifier;

a frequency divider having a first input coupled to the clock external connection, and an output coupled to a second input of the frequency mixer; and

a multiplexer for selectively coupling the inductive touch sensor external connection and the inductive reference coil external connection to a third input of the frequency mixer.

19. The integrated circuit device according to claim 18, further comprising a frequency divider for dividing a clock frequency from the clock external connection and applying the divided clock frequency to the frequency mixer.

20. The integrated circuit device according to claim 18, wherein the frequency mixer is a Gilbert Cell mixer.

21. An electronic system having an inductive touch interface, said system comprising:

an inductive touch interface comprising a plurality of inductive touch sensor coils and an inductive reference coil;

a first integrated circuit digital processor;

a second integrated circuit programmable inductive touch analog front end comprising;

a voltage reference;

a synchronous detector having

a first input coupled to the inductive reference coil;

a second input coupled to the plurality of inductive touch sensor coils;

a third input coupled to a reference select signal from the digital processor;

a fourth input coupled to a clock signal from the digital processor, and

a fifth input coupled to the voltage reference;

a coil driver having

an output coupled in series with the inductive reference coil and selected ones of the plurality of inductive touch sensor coils,

an input coupled through an external low-pass filter to a clock output from the digital processor;

an amplifier configured with a low-pass filter and having inputs coupled to the synchronous detector and an output having voltage values representative of inductance values of the plurality of inductive touch sensor coils and the inductive reference coil, the output of the amplifier is coupled to an analog input of the digital processor; and

an interface and control module having a communications port, wherein the interface and control module controls at least one characteristic of the programmable inductive touch analog front end;

wherein the synchronous detector mixes the clock signal with a signal from the inductive reference coil or the at least one inductive touch sensor coil, as selected by the reference select signal, to produce sum and difference mixing products, whereby the amplifier amplifies the sum and difference mixing products and passes the difference mixing product at the output of the amplifier.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the synchronous detector comprises:

a decoder having a first input coupled to the clock external connection and a second input coupled to the reference select external connection; and

six analog pass-gates controlled by the decoder, wherein

inputs of first and fourth analog pass-gates are coupled to the voltage reference,

inputs of second and fifth analog pass-gates are coupled to the plurality of inductive touch sensor coils,

inputs of third and sixth analog pass-gates are coupled to the inductive reference coil;

whereby

the third and fourth analog pass-gates are closed when the reference select and clock signals are at first logic levels,

the first and sixth analog pass-gates are closed when the reference select signal is at the first logic level and the clock signal is at a second logic level,

the second and fourth analog pass-gates are closed when the reference select signal is at the second logic level and the clock signal is at the first logic level, and

the first and fifth analog pass-gates are closed when the reference select and clock signals are at the second logic level.

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the first logic level is a logic zero (“

0”

) and the second logic level is a logic one (“

1”

).

24. The system according to claim 22, wherein the second logic level is a logic zero (“

0”

) and the first logic level is a logic one (“

1”

).

25. The system according to claim 21, wherein the synchronous detector comprises:

a frequency mixer having a first input coupled the voltage reference, and an output coupled to the amplifier;

a frequency divider having a first input coupled to the clock external connection, and an output coupled to a second input of the frequency mixer; and

a multiplexer for selectively coupling the inductive touch sensor external connection and the inductive reference coil external connection to a third input of the frequency mixer.

26. The system according to claim 25, further comprising a frequency divider for dividing the clock signal and applying the divided clock signal to the frequency mixer.

27. The system according to claim 26, wherein the frequency mixer is a Gilbert Cell mixer.

28. The system according to claim 21, wherein the amplifier is a differential input operational amplifier.

29. The system according to claim 21, wherein a digital processor determines which one of the at least one inductive touch sensor coil is selected for voltage measurement by the synchronous detector.

30. The system according to claim 21, wherein the digital processor is a microcontroller.

31. The system according to claim 21, wherein the digital processor is selected from the group consisting of a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a programmable logic array (PLA).

32. The system according to claim 21, wherein:

the voltage reference has at least one programmable characteristic selected from the group consisting of output reference voltage value and output impedance;

the synchronous detector has a programmable characteristic of selection of mixing frequency;

the coil driver has at least one programmable characteristic selected from the group consisting of current drive strength and output signal waveform shaping; and

the amplifier has at least one programmable characteristic selected from the group consisting of voltage gain, output impedance, offset, gain-bandwidth product, and corner roll-off frequency.