SWITCHED-CAPACITOR TRACKING APPARATUS OF TOUCH PANEL AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100328252A1
• Filed: 12/10/2009
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chang, Yaw-Guang, Hsu, Chin-Feng
• Granted Patent: US 8,384,689 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means

Abstract

A switched-capacitor tracking apparatus including a variable capacitor, an auxiliary capacitor, and a plurality of switches, and an operating method thereof are provided. In a charge period, a first reference voltage charges a panel capacitor, and a second reference voltage charges the variable capacitor. In a detection period, a control circuit detects a parallel connected voltage of the panel capacitor and the variable capacitor. The control circuit compares a third reference voltage and the parallel connected voltage. According to a comparison result, the control circuit dynamically determines whether to parallel connect the auxiliary capacitor to the variable capacitor. If all the comparison results accumulated in a statistics period are a first logic value, then the control circuit increases a capacitance of the variable capacitor. Moreover, if all the comparison results are a second logic value in the statistics period, then the control circuit decreases the capacitance of the variable capacitor.

Claims

1. A switched-capacitor tracking apparatus of a touch panel configured to track a capacitance variation of a panel capacitor, comprising:

a variable capacitor;

an auxiliary capacitor;

a first switch having a first terminal coupled to a first reference voltage and a second terminal coupled to the panel capacitor;

a second switch having a first terminal coupled to the panel capacitor;

a third switch having a first terminal coupled to a second reference voltage and a second terminal coupled to the variable capacitor;

a fourth switch having a first terminal coupled to the variable capacitor and a second terminal coupled to the second terminal of the second switch, wherein the first switch and the third switch are turned on and the second switch and the fourth switch are turned off in a charge period of a first clock signal, and the first switch and the third switch are turned off and the second switch and the fourth switch are turned on in a detection period of the first clock signal;

a fifth switch having a first terminal coupled to the second reference voltage and a second terminal coupled to the auxiliary capacitor;

a sixth switch having a first terminal coupled to the auxiliary capacitor and a second terminal coupled to the second terminal of the second switch; and

a control circuit coupled to the second terminal of the second switch, the control circuit configured to set a capacitance of the variable capacitor according to a first capacitor step value, to compare a third reference voltage and a voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, to control the fifth switch and the sixth switch according to a comparison result, and to accumulate a plurality of the comparison results in a statistics period, wherein if all the comparison results in the statistics period are a first logic value, then the control circuit increases the first capacitor step value, and if all the comparison results in the statistics period are a second logic value, then the control circuit decreases the first capacitor step value.

2. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a first clock phase generator generating a first phase signal and a second phase signal according to the first clock signal;

wherein the first switch and the third switch are controlled by the first phase signal, and the second switch and the fourth switch are controlled by the second phase signal.

3. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first phase signal and the second phase signal are phase-inverted from each other.

4. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein when the comparison result shows the third reference voltage larger than the voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, the control circuit employs the first phase signal and the second phase signal to respectively control the fifth switch and the sixth switch;

and

when the comparison result shows the third reference voltage smaller than the voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, the control circuit turns off the fifth switch and the sixth switch.

5. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control circuit comprises:

a logic operator, wherein according to the comparison result, the logic operator determines whether to respectively transmit the first phase signal and the second phase signal to the fifth switch and the sixth switch.

6. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the control circuit further comprises:

an integrator having an input terminal coupled to the second terminal of the second switch;

a comparator having a first input terminal coupled to the third reference voltage and a second input terminal coupled to an output terminal of the integrator; and

a latch circuit having an input terminal coupled to an output terminal of the comparator, a trigger terminal receiving the first clock signal, and an output terminal providing the comparison result to the logic operator.

7. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control circuit further comprises:

a counter having an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the latch circuit, so as to accumulate a plurality of comparison results in the statistics period and to transmit an accumulated result; and

a signal processor controlling the variable capacitor according to the accumulated result, wherein if the accumulated result shows all the comparison results in the statistics period are the first logic value, then the signal processor increases the first capacitor step value one step, so as to control the variable capacitor into increasing a capacitance one step, and if the accumulated result shows all the comparison results in the statistics period are the second logic value, then the signal processor decreases the first capacitor step value one step, so as to control the variable capacitor into decreasing the capacitance one step.

8. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the integrator comprises:

an operational amplifier having a first input terminal coupled to the third reference voltage, a second input terminal coupled to the second terminal of the second switch, and an output terminal used as an output terminal of the integrator; and

a feedback capacitor having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to the second input terminal and the output terminal of the operational amplifier.

9. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:

a second clock phase generator generating a third phase signal and a fourth phase signal phase-inverted from each other, according to a second clock signal;

wherein the control circuit includes a logic operator determining whether to transmit the third phase signal and the fourth phase signal to the fifth switch and the sixth switch, according to the comparison result.

10. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein a frequency of the second phase signal is an integer multiple of a frequency of the first phase signal.

11. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control circuit further comprises:

an integrator having an input terminal coupled to the second terminal of the second switch;

a comparator having a first input terminal coupled to the third reference voltage and a second input terminal coupled to an output terminal of the integrator; and

a latch circuit having an input terminal coupled to an output terminal of the comparator, a trigger terminal receiving the first clock signal, and an output terminal providing the comparison result to the logic operator.

12. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the control circuit further comprises:

a counter having an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the latch circuit, so as to accumulate a plurality of comparison results in the statistics period and to transmit an accumulated result; and

a signal processor controlling the variable capacitor according to the accumulated result, wherein if the accumulated result shows all the comparison results in the statistics period are the first logic value, then the signal processor increases the first capacitor step value one step, so as to control the variable capacitor into increasing the capacitance one step, and if the accumulated result shows all the comparison results in the statistics period are the second logic value, then the signal processor decreases the first capacitor step value one step, so as to control the variable capacitor into decreasing the capacitance one step.

13. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the integrator comprises:

an operational amplifier having a first input terminal coupled to the third reference voltage, a second input terminal coupled to the second terminal of the second switch, and an output terminal used as an output terminal of the integrator; and

a feedback capacitor having a first terminal and a second terminal respectively coupled to the second input terminal and the output terminal of the operational amplifier.

14. The switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the panel capacitor is a pixel capacitor of a touch panel.

15. An operating method of a capacitor tracking apparatus, wherein the capacitor tracking apparatus includes the switched-capacitor tracking apparatus as claimed in claim 1, the operating method comprising:

defining a period of a plurality of clock cycles in the first clock signal as a first statistics period;

setting the capacitance of the variable capacitor in the first statistics period according to a first capacitor step value;

turning on the first switch and the third switch and turning off the second switch and the fourth switch in a charge period of the first clock signal;

turning off the first switch and the third switch and turning on the second switch and the fourth switch in a detection period of the first clock signal;

comparing the third reference voltage and the voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, so as to obtain a comparison result;

controlling the fifth switch and the sixth switch according to the comparison result;

accumulating a plurality of comparison results in the first statistics period;

increasing the first capacitor step value if all the comparison results in the first statistics period are a first logic value; and

decreasing the first capacitor step value if all the comparison results in the first statistics period are a second logic value.

16. The operating method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

when the comparison result shows the third reference voltage larger than the voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, turning on the fifth switch and turning off the sixth switch in the charge period of the first clock signal, and turning off the fifth switch and turning on the sixth switch in the detection period of the first clock signal; and

when the comparison result shows the third reference voltage smaller than the voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, turning off the fifth switch and the sixth switch.

17. The operating method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

providing a second clock signal;

when the comparison result shows the third reference voltage larger than the voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, turning on the fifth switch and turning off the sixth switch in the charge period of the second clock signal, and turning off the fifth switch and turning on the sixth switch in the detection period of the second clock signal; and

when the comparison result shows the third reference voltage smaller than the voltage at the second terminal of the second switch, turning off the fifth switch and the sixth switch.

18. The operating method as claimed in claim 17, wherein a frequency of the second clock signal is an integer multiple of a frequency of the first clock signal.

19. The operating method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

defining after the first statistics period ends a period of a plurality of clock cycles in the first clock signal as a second statistics period;

setting the capacitance of the variable capacitor in the second statistics period according to a second capacitor step value, wherein the first capacitor step value and the second capacitor step value differ by half a step;

accumulating a plurality of comparison results in the second statistics period;

increasing the second capacitor step value if all the comparison results in the second statistics period are a first logic value; and

decreasing the second capacitor step value if all the comparison results in the second statistics period are a second logic value.

20. The operating method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

when a first accumulated value obtained from accumulating the comparison results in the first statistics period, and a second accumulated value obtained from accumulating the comparison results in the second statistics period are both smaller than a middle value,

decreasing the first capacitor step value if the first capacitor step value is larger than the second capacitor step value; and

decreasing the second capacitor step value if the first capacitor step value is smaller than the second capacitor step value.

21. The operating method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

when a first accumulated value obtained from accumulating the comparison results in the first statistics period, and a second accumulated value obtained from accumulating the comparison results in the second statistics period are both larger than a middle value,

increasing the first capacitor step value if the first capacitor step value is smaller than the second capacitor step value; and

increasing the second capacitor step value if the first capacitor step value is larger than the second capacitor step value.

22. The operating method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

maintaining the first capacitor step value and the second capacitor step value when one of a first accumulated value and a second accumulated value is smaller than a middle value and another one of the first accumulated value and the second accumulated value is larger than the middle value, wherein the first accumulated value is obtained from accumulating the comparison results in the first statistics period, and the second accumulated value is obtained from accumulating the comparison results in the second statistics period.