TOUCH PANEL

• US 20110157072A1
• Filed: 05/13/2010
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chang, Yaw-Guang
• Granted Patent: US 8,466,899 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• 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 3/044 by capacitive means

Abstract

A touch panel including a plurality of panel capacitors, a first switching unit, a second switching unit, a first charging unit, a control unit and a counter is provided. Each of the panel capacitors is sequentially selected as an object capacitor. The first switching unit and the second switching unit switch the voltages received by the two terminals of the object capacitor. The control unit controls a first charging current provided by the first charging unit according to the variation in the terminal voltages of the object capacitor, and generates a comparison signal accordingly. The counter counts the comparison signal and the touch panel identifies the variation in the capacitance value of the object capacitor by using a count value generated by the counter.

Claims

1. A touch panel, comprising:

a plurality of panel capacitors, wherein a second terminal of each panel capacitor is electrically connected to one another and, when one of the panel capacitors is selected as an object capacitor, a first terminal of each panel capacitor other than the first terminal of the object capacitor is coupled to a ground terminal;

a first switching unit, switching the first terminal of the object capacitor to a first voltage, a floating state, and a second voltage during a first time interval, a second time interval, and a third time interval respectively;

a second switching unit, coupled to the second terminals of the panel capacitors, conducting the second terminals of the panel capacitors to a basic voltage during the first time interval, switching the second terminals of the panel capacitors from the floating state to a signal detecting terminal during the second time interval, and conducting the second terminals of the panel capacitors to the signal detecting terminal persistently during the third time interval;

a first charging unit, coupled to the signal detecting terminal and referring to a charging control signal to determine whether a first charging current is to be provided during the third time interval;

a control unit, coupled to the signal detecting terminal and integrating a signal from the signal detecting terminal to generate an integrated voltage, and comparing the integrated voltage and a reference voltage to output a comparison signal and the charging control signal when the control unit is triggered; and

a counter, counting the comparison signal to generate a count value, wherein the touch panel identifies a variation in a capacitance value of the object capacitor by using the count value.

2. The touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first switching unit comprises:

a first switch having a first terminal receiving the first voltage and a second terminal coupled to the first terminal of the object capacitor; and

a second switch having a first terminal coupled to a second terminal of the first switch and a second terminal receiving the second voltage,

wherein the first switch and the second switch are respectively controlled by a first clock signal and a second clock signal to remain conductive during the first time interval and the third time interval respectively.

3. The touch panel as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second switching unit comprises:

a third switch having a first terminal receiving the basic voltage and a second terminal coupled to the second terminals of the panel capacitors; and

a fourth switch having a first terminal coupled to the first terminal of the third switch and a second terminal coupled to the signal detecting terminal,

wherein the third switch is controlled by the first clock signal to be conductive during the first time interval, and the fourth switch is controlled by a third clock signal to be switched from non-conductive to conductive during the second time interval and remains conductive during the third time interval.

4. The touch panel as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control unit comprises:

an integrator having an input terminal coupled to the signal detecting terminal;

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

a latch having an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the comparator, a triggering terminal receiving a fourth clock signal, and an output terminal providing the comparison signal; and

an AND gate receiving the comparison signal and a fifth clock signal to generate the charging control signal,

wherein frequencies of the fourth clock signal and the fifth clock signal are larger than frequencies of the first clock signal and the second clock signal respectively.

5. The touch panel as claimed in claim 4, wherein the integrator comprises:

an operational amplifier having a first input terminal receiving the basic voltage, a second input terminal coupled to the signal detecting terminal, and an output terminal adopted as the output terminal of the integrator; and

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

6. The touch panel as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first charging unit comprises:

a fifth switch having a first terminal coupled to the signal detecting terminal and referring to the charging control signal to determine whether the fifth switch is switched to be conductive during the third time interval;

a first capacitor having a first terminal coupled to a second terminal of the fifth switch and a second terminal coupled to the ground terminal; and

a sixth switch having a first terminal coupled to the second terminal of the fifth switch and a second terminal receiving a third voltage, wherein the sixth switch is controlled by a fourth clock signal and the fourth clock signal has a frequency higher than the frequency of the first clock signal.

7. The touch panel as claimed in claim 6, wherein the third voltage is equal to the first voltage and the first voltage is larger than the second voltage.

8. The touch panel as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a second charging unit, coupled to the signal detecting terminal and providing a second charging current during the third time interval.

9. The touch panel as claimed in claim 8, wherein the second charging unit comprises:

a seventh switch having a first terminal coupled to the signal detecting terminal;

a third capacitor having a first terminal coupled to a second terminal of the seventh switch and a second terminal coupled to the ground terminal; and

an eighth switch having a first terminal coupled to a second terminal of the seventh switch and a second terminal receiving the fourth voltage,

wherein the seventh switch and the eighth switch are respectively controlled by a second clock signal and a first clock signal to remain conductive during the first time interval and the third time interval respectively.

10. The touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first voltage is larger than the basic voltage, and the basic voltage is larger than the second voltage.