CONTINUOUS TIME CORRELATOR ARCHITECTURE

• US 20120218223A1
• Filed: 02/24/2012
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Erdogan, Ozan E., Shen, Guozhong, Anantharaman, Rajesh, Taparia, Ajay, Javid, Behrooz, Mahmud, Syed T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,643,619 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/24 by varying capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 27/2605 Measuring capacitance capacitive sensors G01D5/24
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

An analog front end circuit utilizes coherent detection within a capacitance measurement application. The analog front end circuit uses coherent detection to measure capacitance of a touch screen display. An analog excitation signal is modulated by a capacitor to be measured. The modulated signal is synchronously demodulated using a correlator, which includes an integrated mixing and integration circuit. The correlator includes a programmable impedance element that generates a time-varying conductance according to a controlling digitized waveform.

Claims

1. A capacitance measurement circuit comprising:

a. an external capacitor; and

b. a coherent detection circuit coupled to the external capacitor and configured to measure a capacitance of the external capacitor and to convert the measured capacitance to a corresponding voltage output, wherein the coherent detection circuit comprises a programmable impedance element, a first amplifier coupled to an output of the programmable impedance element, and an integrating feedback capacitor coupled to an input of the first amplifier and to an output of the first amplifier.

2. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 1 further comprising a signal generator coupled to the external capacitor, wherein the signal generator is configured to generate an analog excitation signal.

3. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 2 wherein a modulated analog excitation signal is input to the programmable impedance element, wherein the modulated analog signal comprises the analog excitation signal modulated by a capacitance of the external capacitor.

4. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 3 wherein the programmable impedance element is programmed with a time-varying conductance according to a programmed waveform such that a mixed analog signal output from the programmable impedance element is a product of the modulated signal and the programmed waveform.

5. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 4 wherein the programmable impedance element comprises an array of resistors and an array of switches coupled to the array of resistors.

6. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 5 wherein each switch in the array of switches is independently controlled according to a digitized control word representative of a correlation signal, wherein the correlation signal is correlated to the excitation signal.

7. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 4 wherein the programmable impedance element comprises an array of capacitors and an array of switches coupled to the array of capacitors.

8. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 7 wherein each switch in the array of switches is independently controlled according to a digitized control word representative of a correlation signal, wherein the correlation signal is correlated to the excitation signal.

9. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 4 wherein the programmable impedance element comprises a voltage to current converter and a current digital to analog converter coupled to the voltage to current converter.

10. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 4 wherein the first amplifier and the integrating feedback capacitor are configured to receive the mixed analog signal and to integrate the mixed analog signal over a discrete period of time to output the corresponding voltage output.

12. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 1 further comprising a second amplifier and a second feedback capacitor coupled to an input and to an output of the second amplifier, wherein the input of the second amplifier is coupled to the external capacitor and the output of the second amplifier is coupled to the programmable impedance element.

13. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 1 further comprising a touch screen display, wherein the touch screen display includes the external capacitor.

14. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 1 wherein the coherent detection circuit comprises an analog synchronous demodulator.

15. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 1 wherein the programmable impedance element, the first amplifier, and the integrating feedback capacitor form an integrated mixer and integration circuit.

11. The capacitance measurement circuit of claim 11 wherein the period of time is a multiple of 1/f, where f is a frequency of the analog excitation signal.

16. A capacitance measurement circuit comprising:

a. a signal generator configured to generate an analog excitation signal;

b. a touch screen display having at least one capacitor, wherein the capacitor is configured to input the analog excitation signal and to output a modulated analog excitation signal, wherein the analog excitation signal is modulated according to a capacitance of the capacitor;

c. a first amplifier coupled to the capacitor and a first feedback capacitor coupled to an input and to an output of the first amplifier, wherein the first amplifier is configured to input the modulated analog excitation signal and to output an amplified modulated analog excitation signal;

d. a programmable impedance element coupled to the first amplifier, wherein the programmable impedance element is configured to input the amplified modulated analog excitation signal and to output a mixed analog signal, further wherein the programmable impedance element is programmed with a time-varying conductance according to a programmed waveform such that the mixed analog signal output from the programmable impedance element is a product of the modulated signal and the programmed waveform; and

e. a second amplifier coupled to the programmable impedance element and a second feedback capacitor coupled to an input and to an output of the second amplifier, wherein the second amplifier and the second feedback capacitor are configured to receive the mixed analog signal and to integrate the mixed analog signal over a discrete period of time to output a voltage signal, wherein the voltage signal corresponds to the capacitance of the capacitor.

17. An integrated mixing and integration circuit comprising:

a. a programmable impedance element configured to receive as input a modulated signal, wherein the programmable impedance element is programmed with a time-varying conductance according to a programmed waveform such that a signal output from the programmable impedance element is a multiple of the modulated signal and the programmed waveform;

b. an amplifier coupled to an output of the programmable impedance element; and

c. an integrating feedback capacitor coupled to an input of the amplifier and to an output of the amplifier.

18. The integrated mixing and integration circuit of claim 17 wherein the programmable impedance element comprises an array of resistors and an array of switches coupled to the array of resistors.

19. The integrated mixing and integration circuit of claim 18 wherein each switch in the array of switches is independently controlled according to a digitized control word representative of a correlation signal, wherein the correlation signal is correlated to the excitation signal.

20. The integrated mixing and integration circuit of claim 17 wherein the programmable impedance element comprises an array of capacitors and an array of switches coupled to the array of resistors.

21. The integrated mixing and integration circuit of claim 18 wherein each switch in the array of switches is independently controlled according to a digitized control word representative of a correlation signal, wherein the correlation signal is correlated to the excitation signal.

22. The integrated mixing and integration circuit of claim 17 wherein the programmable impedance element comprises a voltage to current converter and a current digital to analog converter coupled to the voltage to current converter.

23. A method of measuring capacitance, the method comprising:

a. generating an analog excitation signal;

b. applying the analog excitation signal to a capacitor to be measured, thereby modulating the analog excitation signal;

c. generating a time-varying conductance according to a digitized waveform, wherein the time-varying conductance is correlated to the analog excitation signal;

d. applying the time-varying conductance to the modulated analog excitation signal, thereby generating a mixed signal; and

e. integrating the mixed signal over a discrete period of time thereby demodulating the modulated analog excitation signal resulting in an output voltage corresponding to a capacitance of the capacitor.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the output voltage comprises a DC voltage.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein demodulating the modulated analog excitation signal using the correlated time-varying conductance filters noise and interference from the modulated analog excitation signal.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the capacitor measures a capacitance of a touch screen display.