DEVICE AND METHOD FOR LOCALIZED FORCE AND PROXIMITY SENSING

• US 20160048243A1
• Filed: 10/27/2015
• Published: 02/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Inventors: Bulea, Mihai, El Kallassi, Pascale
• Granted Patent: US 9,870,109 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• 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 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer

Abstract

Methods, systems and devices are described for operating an electronic system which includes a first plurality of sensor electrodes disposed in a first layer and configured to detect input objects at an input surface of the input device, the first plurality of sensor electrodes including a first subset of transmitter electrodes; a second plurality of sensor electrodes configured to detect a force imparted to the input surface and configured for capacitive coupling with the first subset of transmitter electrodes; and a compressible dielectric configured to compress in response to force applied to the input surface. The capacitive coupling between the transmitter electrodes and the second plurality of sensor electrodes is configured to vary in response to the applied force.

Claims

1-21. -21. (canceled)

22. An input device comprising:

a first plurality of sensor electrodes disposed in a first layer and configured to detect input objects in a sensing region of the input device, the first plurality of sensor electrodes including a plurality of transmitter electrodes and a plurality of receiver electrodes;

a plurality of force receiver sensor electrodes disposed in a second layer configured to detect a force imparted to an input surface and configured for capacitive coupling with a first subset of transmitter electrodes;

a compressible dielectric disposed between the first layer and the second layer configured to compress in response to force applied to the input surface; and

a processing system communicatively coupled to the first plurality of sensor electrodes and the plurality of force receiver sensor electrodes configured to;

determine positional and force information for input objects in the sensing region based on resulting signals from the first plurality of sensor electrodes and the plurality of force receiver sensor electrodes.

23. The input device of claim 22, further comprising a display and wherein the processing system is further configured to update the display.

24. The input device of claim 23, wherein at least a subset of the first plurality of sensor electrodes is configured for display updating.

25. The input device of claim 22, wherein the processing system is configured to determine positional and force information for input objects in the sensing region by:

driving a sensing signal onto the transmitter electrodes;

receiving a first type of resulting signal from the plurality of force receiver sensor electrodes; and

receiving a second type of resulting signal from the receiver electrodes.

26. The input device of claim 25, wherein the second type of resulting signal comprises effects of a change in capacitive coupling between the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes due to input objects in the sensing region.

27. The input device of claim 25, wherein the processing system determines the first type of resulting signal from the plurality of force receiver sensor electrodes while the receiver electrodes are held at a predetermined constant voltage.

28. The input device of claim 25, wherein the first type of resulting signal and the second type of resulting signal both correspond to a single sensing signal driven on the transmitter electrodes.

29. The input device of claim 25, wherein the first type of resulting signal comprises effects of a change in capacitive coupling between the transmitter electrodes and the plurality of force receiver sensor electrodes due to the force applied to an input surface.

30. An input device comprising:

a first plurality of sensor electrodes disposed in a first layer and configured to detect input objects in a sensing region of the input device, the first plurality of sensor electrodes including a first subset of transmitter electrodes and a second subset of receiver electrodes;

a second plurality of sensor electrodes disposed in a second layer such that the first layer is disposed between an input surface and the second layer, the second plurality of sensor electrodes being configured to detect a force imparted to the input surface and configured for capacitive coupling with the first subset of transmitter electrodes;

a compressible dielectric configured to compress in response to force applied to the input surface such that the capacitive coupling between the first subset of transmitter electrodes and the second plurality of sensor electrodes varies in response to the applied force; and

a processing system communicatively coupled to the first plurality of sensor electrodes and the second plurality of sensor electrodes and configured to;

drive a sensing signal onto the first subset of transmitter electrodes;

receive a first type of resulting signal, including effects of the force imparted on the input surface, from the second plurality of sensor electrodes;

receive a second type of resulting signal, including effects of an input object in proximity to the input surface, from the second subset of receiver electrodes; and

determine positional and force information for the input object based on the first type of resulting signal and the second type of resulting signals.

31. The input device of claim 30, wherein the compressible dielectric is disposed between the first layer and the second layer.

32. The input device of claim 30, wherein the compressible dielectric is disposed between the second layer and a rigid substrate.

33. An input device comprising:

a first plurality of sensor electrodes and a second plurality of sensor electrodes disposed in a single layer;

a display comprising a third plurality of sensor electrodes;

a compressible dielectric disposed between the display and a rigid conductive substrate; and

a processing system communicatively coupled to the first plurality of sensor electrodes, the second plurality of sensor electrodes, and the third plurality of sensor electrodes and configured to;

update the display using the third plurality of sensor electrodes;

drive a sensing signal onto the first plurality of sensor electrodes;

receive a first type of resulting signal from the second plurality of sensor electrodes, the first type of resulting signal comprising effects of a change in capacitive coupling between the first plurality of sensor electrodes and the second plurality of sensor electrodes due to input objects in a sensing region of the input device; and

receive a second type of resulting signal from the third plurality of sensor electrodes, the second type of resulting signal comprising effects of a change in capacitive coupling between the third plurality of sensor electrodes and the rigid conductive substrate due to deflection of the display in response to input object force in the sensing region;

wherein the processing system is configured to

determine positional and force information from the first and second type of resulting signals; and

update the display.

34. The input device of claim 33, wherein:

the processing system is configured to update the display using the third plurality of sensor electrodes.

35. The input device of claim 33, wherein the processing system is further configured to determine positional information by performing absolute capacitive sensing using the first plurality of sensor electrodes and the second plurality of sensor electrodes.

36. A processing system for an input device, the input device comprising a display, a first plurality of sensor electrodes configured to detect input objects in a sensing region, a second plurality of sensor electrodes configured to detect a force imparted to an input surface, and a compressible dielectric configured to compress in response to force applied to the input surface, wherein a capacitive coupling of the second plurality of sensor electrodes and a conductor varies in response to the applied force, the processing system communicatively coupled to the first plurality of sensor electrodes and the second plurality of sensor electrodes and configured to:

drive a sensing signal onto a first subset of the first plurality of sensor electrodes;

receive a first type of resulting signal from the second subset of the first plurality of sensor electrodes; and

receive a second type of resulting signal from a second plurality of sensor electrodes;

wherein the processing system is configured to determine positional and force information for an input object based on the first type of resulting signal and second type of resulting signals.

37. The processing system of claim 36, wherein the processing system is further configured to update the display using at least one of the first subset and the second subset of the first plurality of sensor electrodes.

38. The processing system of claim 36, wherein the processing system is further configured to determine positional information for input objects in the sensing region using absolute capacitive sensing.

39. The processing system of claim 36, wherein the second type of resulting signal comprises effects of a change in capacitive coupling between the second plurality of sensor electrodes and the conductor.

40. The processing system of claim 39, wherein the conductor is part of the display.

41. The processing system of claim 40, wherein the processing system is configured to drive a sensing signal onto the conductor and the second type of resulting signal comprises effects of the driven signal.