SYNCHRONIZED TOUCH INPUT RECOGNITION

• US 20140232664A1
• Filed: 02/20/2013
• Published: 08/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Inventors: Henry, William, Skelton, Thomas Dean
• Granted Patent: US 9,766,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• 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 3/04184 Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally
• 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

Embodiments are disclosed for a touch-based device and methods for operation thereof. One embodiment provides a touch-based device having a display with a plurality of pixels and a touch input sensor overlying the display. The touch input sensor has a plurality of touch regions, each of which overlie an associated set of the pixels. The touch-based device further comprises a display controller configured to update the pixels according to a schema during which pixels are updated during update periods. The touch-based device yet further comprises a touch controller configured to recognize selectively applied touch inputs at the plurality of touch regions. The touch controller and the display controller are synchronized such that, for a given touch region, touch input recognition is modified while the display controller is updating the set of pixels associated with that touch region.

Claims

1. A touch-based device, comprising:

a display having a plurality of pixels;

a touch input sensor overlying the display and having a plurality of touch regions, each of which overlie an associated set of the pixels;

a display controller configured to update the pixels according to a schema during which pixels are updated during update periods;

a touch controller configured to recognize selectively applied touch inputs at the plurality of touch regions, where the touch controller and the display controller are synchronized such that, for a given touch region, touch input recognition is modified while the display controller is updating the set of pixels associated with that touch region.

2. The touch-based device of claim 1, where the modifying of the touch input recognition includes disabling touch input recognition for the given touch region while the display controller is updating the set of pixels associated with that touch region.

3. The touch-based device of claim 1, where the modifying of the touch input recognition includes, for the given touch region, using a different filter for touch input recognition while the display controller is updating the set of pixels associated with the region.

4. The touch-based device of claim 1, where the modifying of the touch input recognition includes, for the given touch region, applying a different measurement voltage to the touch input sensor.

5. The touch-based device of claim 1, where the touch controller and the display controller are synchronized such that, for a given touch region, touch input recognition is selectively enabled and disabled based on how recently the associated set of pixels have been updated.

6. The touch-based device of claim 1, where the update periods are separated by blanking periods during which none of the pixels are updated, and where the display controller and touch controller are synchronized to control recognition of touch inputs based on whether the touch-based device is in an update period or a blanking period.

7. The touch-based device of claim 6, where the pixels are arranged in a plurality of rows with the schema including a row update period for each row followed by a horizontal blanking period, the display controller and the touch controller being synchronized such that, for a given row of pixels, touch input recognition for touch regions associated with the row of pixels is modified by disabling touch input recognition during the row update period and enabling touch input recognition during the horizontal blanking period following the row update period.

8. The touch-based device of claim 6, where the blanking periods include horizontal blanking periods and vertical blanking periods, and where the display controller and touch controller are synchronized to disable touch input recognition for one or more of the touch regions during the update periods and enable touch recognition for those touch regions during the horizontal and vertical blanking periods.

9. A method of operating a touch-based device including a touch input sensor overlying a display having a plurality of pixels, the touch input sensor having a plurality of touch regions, each of which overlie an associated set of the pixels of the display, the method comprising:

updating the pixels, where such updating is controlled by a display controller;

recognizing, with a touch controller, selectively applied touch inputs at the plurality of touch regions; and

synchronizing the display controller and the touch controller such that, for a given touch region, the recognizing of selectively applied touch inputs includes modifying touch input recognition while the display controller is updating the pixels associated with that touch region.

10. The method of claim 9, where the modifying of touch input recognition includes disabling touch input recognition for the given touch region while the display controller is updating the set of pixels associated with that touch region.

11. The method of claim 9, where the modifying of touch input recognition includes, for the given touch region, using a different filter for touch input recognition while the display controller is updating the set of pixels associated with the region.

12. The method of claim 9, where the modifying of touch input recognition includes, for the given touch region, applying a different measurement voltage to the touch input sensor.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising selectively enabling and disabling touch input recognition for a given touch region based on how recently the associated set of pixels have been updated.

14. The method of claim 9, where the pixels are updated by the display controller according to a schema including update periods during which the pixels are updated and blanking periods during which none of the pixels are updated, the method further comprising synchronizing the display controller and the touch controller so that touch input recognition is controlled differently in update periods than in blanking periods.

15. The method of claim 14, where the pixels are arranged in a plurality of rows with the schema including a row update period for each row followed by a horizontal blanking period, the display controller and the touch controller being synchronized such that, for a given row of pixels, touch input recognition for touch regions associated with the row of pixels is modified by disabling touch input recognition during the row update period and enabling touch input recognition during the horizontal blanking period following the row update period.

16. The method of claim 14, where the blanking periods include horizontal blanking periods and vertical blanking periods, and where the display controller and touch controller are synchronized to disable touch input recognition for one or more of the touch regions during the update periods and enable touch recognition for those touch regions during the horizontal and vertical blanking periods.

17. A method of operating a touch-based device including a touch input sensor overlying a display having a plurality of pixels, the touch input sensor having a plurality of touch regions, each of which overlie an associated set of the pixels of the display, the method comprising:

updating the pixels, where such updating is controlled by a display controller according to a repeatedly executed sequential schema, during which pixels are updated sequentially row by row during row update periods that are followed by horizontal blanking periods, with a vertical blanking period following update of a last row of pixels;

passing state information from the display controller to a touch controller configured to recognize selectively applied touch inputs at the plurality of touch regions, such state information specifying a current location of updating thin the sequential schema;

controlling, with the touch controller, touch input recognition based on the state information.

18. The method of claim 17, where the controlling of touch input recognition based on the state information includes disabling touch input recognition for one of the touch regions when the state information indicates that a pixel in the touch region is being updated.

19. The method of claim 17, where the controlling of touch input recognition based on the state information includes disabling touch input recognition other than when the state information indicates that a horizontal blanking period or a vertical blanking period is occurring.

20. The method of claim 17, where the controlling of touch input recognition based on the state information includes, when the state information indicates that a pixel in one of the touch regions is being updated, doing one or both of (i) using a different filter for touch recognition in the touch region;

and (ii) applying a different measurement voltage to the touch input sensor for the touch region.