TOUCH PAD MODULE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE USING THE SAME

• US 20140055410A1
• Filed: 08/21/2013
• Published: 02/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: OKADA, Koki, NAKAJIMA, Masao, YANO, Shigehide
• Granted Patent: US 9,158,364 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact

Abstract

A touch pad module includes: a touch pad, a sensor group, a touch pad controller IC and a touch pad controller IC (Integrated Circuit). The touch pad has a touch surface touchable by a user. The sensor group is mounted on a mount surface of the touch pad. The sensor group includes at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor. The touch pad controller IC is mounted on the mount surface of the touch pad configured to control the touch pad and includes a detector, a digital processor and a first interface. The detector generates digital data representing an electrical state of the touch pad. The digital processor generates coordinate data representing coordinates touched by the user based on the digital data. The first interface transmits data between the digital processor and the outside of the touch pad controller IC.

Claims

1. A touch pad module comprising:

a touch pad having a touch surface configured to be touchable by a user;

a sensor group mounted on a mount surface of the touch pad in the opposite to the touch surface, the sensor group including at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor;

a touch pad controller IC (Integrated Circuit) mounted on the mount surface of the touch pad and configured to control the touch pad, the touch pad controller IC including a detector configured to generate digital data representing an electrical state of the touch pad, a digital processor configured to generate coordinate data representing a coordinate touched by the user based on the digital data, and a first interface configured to transmit data from the digital processor to the outside of the touch pad controller IC; and

a microcontroller IC mounted on the mount surface of the touch pad, the microcontroller IC including a second interface connected to the sensors included in the sensor group via a first bus, a third interface connected to the first interface of the touch pad controller IC via a second bus, a fourth interface connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) via a third bus, and a signal processor configured to control the sensor group through the second interface, acquire first data based on outputs of the sensors, control the touch pad controller IC through the third interface, acquire second data representing the coordinate touched by the user, and transmit the first data and the second data to the CPU via the fourth interface.

4. The touch pad module of claim 1, wherein the touch pad is of a mutual capacitance type.

5. The touch pad module of claim 1, wherein the touch pad is of a self-capacitance type.

6. The touch pad module of claim 1, wherein the touch pad is of a resistive film type.

13. An electronic device comprising a touch pad module of claim 1.

2. A touch pad module comprising:

a touch pad having a touch surface touchable by a user;

a foldable flexible print board connected to the touch pad;

a sensor group mounted on the flexible print board, the sensor group including at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor;

a touch pad controller IC (Integrated Circuit) mounted on the flexible print board and configured to control the touch pad, the touch pad controller IC including a detector configured to generate digital data representing an electrical state of the touch pad, a digital processor configured to generate coordinate data representing a coordinate touched by the user based on the digital data, and a first interface configured to transmit data from the digital processor to the outside of the touch pad controller IC; and

a microcontroller IC (Integrated Circuit) mounted on the flexible print board, the microcontroller IC including a second interface connected to the sensors included in the sensor group via a first bus, a third interface connected to the first interface of the touch pad controller IC via a second bus, a fourth interface connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) via a third bus, and a signal processor configured to control the sensor group through the second interface, acquire first data based on outputs of the sensors, control the touch pad controller IC through the third interface, acquire second data representing the coordinate touched by the user, and transmit the first data and the second data to the CPU via the fourth interface.

14. An electronic device comprising:

a display panel; and

a touch pad module of claim 2,

wherein the touch pad of the touch pad module is provided to overlap with the display panel and acts as a touch screen, and

wherein the flexible print board is folded such that the display panel is disposed between the flexible print board and the touch panel.

3. A touch pad module comprising:

a touch pad;

a sensor group including at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor;

a touch pad controller IC configured to control the touch pad and generate coordinate data representing a coordinate touched by a user; and

a microcontroller IC configured to control the sensor group, acquire first data based on outputs of the sensors, control the touch pad controller IC, acquire second data representing the coordinate touched by the user, and transmit the first data and the second data to a CPU.

15. An electronic device comprising a touch pad module of claim 3.

7. A touch pad module comprising:

a touch pad having a touch surface touchable by a user;

a sensor group mounted on a mount surface of the touch pad in the opposite to the touch surface, the sensor group including at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor;

a touch pad controller IC (Integrated Circuit) mounted on the mount surface of the touch pad and configured to control the touch pad, the touch pad controller IC including a detector configured to generate digital data representing an electrical state of the touch pad, a fifth interface connected to the sensors included in the sensor group via a fourth bus, a sixth interface connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) via a fifth bus, and a digital processor configured to control the sensor group through the fifth interface, acquire first data based on outputs of the sensors, control the detector, acquire second data representing a coordinate touched by the user based on the digital data, and transmit the first data and the second data to the CPU via the sixth interface.

10. The touch pad module of claim 7, wherein the touch pad is of a mutual capacitance type.

11. The touch pad module of claim 7, wherein the touch pad is of a self-capacitance type.

12. The touch pad module of claim 7, wherein the touch pad is of a resistive film type.

16. An electronic device comprising a touch pad module of claim 7.

8. A touch pad module comprising:

a touch pad having a touch surface touchable by a user;

a foldable flexible print board connected to the touch pad;

a sensor group mounted on the flexible print board, the sensor group including at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor;

a touch pad controller IC (Integrated Circuit) mounted on the flexible print board and configured to control the touch pad, the touch pad controller IC including a detector configured to generate digital data representing an electrical state of the touch pad, a fifth interface connected to the sensors included in the sensor group via a fourth bus, a sixth interface connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) via a fifth bus, and a digital processor configured to control the sensor group through the fifth interface, acquire first data based on outputs of the sensors, control the detector, acquire second data representing a coordinate touched by the user based on the digital data, and transmit the first data and the second data to the CPU via the sixth interface.

17. An electronic device comprising:

a display panel; and

a touch pad module of claim 8,

wherein the touch pad of the touch pad module is provided to overlap with the display panel and acts as a touch screen, and

wherein the flexible print board is folded such that the display panel is disposed between the flexible print board and the touch panel.

9. A touch pad module comprising:

a touch pad;

a sensor group including at least one of an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor; and

a touch pad controller IC configured to control the sensor group, acquire first data based on outputs of the sensors, control the touch pad, acquire second data representing a coordinate touched by a user, and transmit the first data and the second data to a CPU.