TOUCH PANEL INCLUDING ACTIVE STYLUS PEN AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20150002415A1
• Filed: 04/10/2014
• Published: 01/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Lee, Hyun Suk, Park, Tah Joon, Kwon, Yong II
• Application Number:
  US14/250,185
• Publication Number:
  US 20150002415A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0383 Signal control means within the pointing device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04162 for exchanging data with external devices, e.g. smart pens, via the digitiser sensing hardware
• 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 3/0441 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for receiving changes in electrical potential transmitted by the digitiser, e.g. tablet driving signals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0442 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for transmitting changes in electrical potential to be received by the digitiser
• 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

Disclosed herein is a touch panel including an active stylus pen, including: a touch panel including a plurality of first electrode patterns and second electrode patterns formed on a substrate in directions in which they intersect with each other; a controller controlling a first driving signal applied to the second electrode patterns and detecting a change in mutual capacitance between the first and second electrode patterns; and the active stylus pen configured separately from the touch panel, and receiving a synchronizing signal from the touch panel when it hovers over or touches the touch panel, generates a second driving signal synchronized with the first driving signal, and outputs the generated second driving signal to the hovering or touching point.

Claims

1. A touch panel including an active stylus pen, comprising:

a touch panel including a plurality of first electrode patterns and second electrode patterns formed in directions in which they intersect with each other;

a controller controlling a first driving signal applied to the touch panel and detecting a change in mutual capacitance between the first and second electrode patterns by a touch input; and

the active stylus pen configured separately from the touch panel, and receiving a synchronizing signal from the touch panel when it hovers over or touches the touch panel, generates a second driving signal synchronized with the first driving signal, and outputs the generated second driving signal to the hovering or touching point.

2. The touch panel including an active stylus pen as set forth in claim 1, wherein the controller includes:

a driving circuit module applying a predetermined driving signal to the first electrode patterns;

a sensing circuit module sensing the change in mutual capacitance generated between the first and second electrode patterns and generating an analog signal corresponding to the change;

a signal converting module converting the analog signal into a digital signal;

a calculating module calculating a coordinate of the touch input applied to the touch panel using the digital signal; and

a first controlling unit controlling the driving circuit module, the sensing circuit module, and the signal converting module, and the calculating module.

3. The touch panel including an active stylus pen as set forth in claim 1, wherein the active stylus pen includes:

a synchronizing signal receiving unit receiving the synchronizing signal from the touch panel;

a driving signal applying unit generating a second driving unit to be applied to the touch panel after the reception of the synchronizing signal;

a pressure sensing unit sensing pressure when the active stylus pen touches the touch panel; and

a second controlling unit controlling the synchronizing signal receiving unit, the driving signal applying unit, and the pressure sensing unit.

4. The touch panel including an active stylus pen as set forth in claim 1, wherein the second driving signal has the same frequency as that of the first driving signal.

5. The touch panel including an active stylus pen as set forth in claim 3, wherein the second controlling unit generates a third driving signal based on data on a pressure value sensed by the pressure sensing unit.

6. The touch panel including an active stylus pen as set forth in claim 2, wherein the sensing circuit module includes a comparator.

7. A controlling method of a touch panel including an active stylus pen, comprising:

a touch recognizing step of detecting a change in mutual capacitance between first and second electrode patterns depending on a touch input according to a first driving signal sequentially applied to the touch panel to determine a position of the touch input;

a second driving signal generating step of allowing the active stylus pen hovering over or touching the touch panel to receive a synchronizing signal from the touch panel and generate a second driving signal synchronized with the first driving signal, after the touch recognizing step; and

a coordinate measuring step of the active stylus pen of detecting a change in mutual capacitance at the hovering or touching point by the active stylus pen to determine a coordinate of the hovering or touching point.

8. The controlling method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the first and second driving signals have the same frequency as each other.

9. The controlling method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the second driving signal generating step includes:

receiving, by a synchronizing signal receiving unit, the synchronizing signal from the touch panel after the touch recognizing step ends; and

generating, by a driving signal applying unit, the second driving signal to be applied to the touch panel after the receiving of the synchronizing signal.

10. The controlling method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the coordinate measuring step of the active stylus pen includes:

applying, by the active stylus pen, the second driving signal to the hovering or touching point on the touch panel; and

detecting the change in the mutual capacitance at the point to which the second driving signal is applied to determine a coordinate of the point.

11. The controlling method as set forth in claim 7, further comprising, after the coordinate measuring step of the active stylus pen, generating a third driving signal based on pressure data sensed by a pressure sensing unit and applying the generated third driving signal to the touch panel.