CHANNEL SCAN ARCHITECTURE FOR MULTIPLE STIMULUS MULTI-TOUCH SENSOR PANELS

• US 20160266718A1
• Filed: 05/18/2016
• Published: 09/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: WILSON, Thomas James, Krah, Christoph H., Vu, Minh-Dieu Thi
• Granted Patent: US 10,042,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment

Abstract

A channel scan architecture for detecting touch events on a touch sensor panel is disclosed. The channel scan architecture can combine drive logic, sense channels and channel scan logic on a single monolithic chip. The channel scan logic can be configured to implement a sequence of scanning processes in a panel subsystem without intervention from a panel processor. The channel scan architecture can provide scan sequence control to enable the panel processor to control the sequence in which individual scans are implemented in the panel subsystem. Type of scans that can be implemented in the panel subsystem can include a spectral analysis scan, touch scan, phantom touch scan, ambient light level scan, proximity scan and temperature scan.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a touch sensor panel including a plurality of touch sensors;

a processor configured to process data sensed from the touch sensor panel generated by a plurality of different types of scans of the touch sensor panel, the data including touch sense data indicative of an occurrence or absence of a touch event at the touch sensor panel;

first logic configured to perform the plurality of different types of scans of the touch sensor panel in a sequence set by the processor, without further intervention from the processor, the plurality of different types of scans including at least a multi-stimulation touch scan to generate the touch sense data;

second logic configured to stimulate the touch sensor panel; and

sense channels configured to sense the touch sensor panel.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the multi-stimulation touch scan includes concurrently stimulating the touch sensor panel with multiple stimulation frequencies or multiple stimulation phases.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a spectral analysis scan to generate frequency selection data;

and

wherein the processor is further configured to process the frequency selection data to select a clean frequency for use in the multi-stimulation touch scan of the touch sensors.

4. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the spectral analysis scan includes performing quadrature demodulation of different frequencies at one or more of the sense channels coupled to the touch sensor panel.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a no stimulation scan to generate calibration data;

and

wherein the processor is further configured to process the calibration data to adjust a baseline noise level associated with one or more of the touch sensors of the touch sensor panel.

6. The computing device of claim 1, the touch sensor panel further including a plurality of light sensors;

wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including an ambient light level scan of the light sensors to generate light sense data; and

wherein the processor is further configured to process the light sense data to identify an ambient light level at the touch sensor panel.

7. The computing device of claim 1, the touch sensor panel further including a plurality of proximity sensors;

wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a scan of the proximity sensors to generate proximity sense data; and

wherein the processor is further configured to process the proximity sense data to identify an occurrence or absence of a proximity event at the touch sensor panel.

8. The computing device of claim 1, further including a temperature sensor;

wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a scan of the temperature sensor to generate temperature data; and

wherein the processor is further configured to process the temperature data to calibrate one or more parameters associated with the touch sensor panel that are susceptible to temperature-related drift.

9. A controller for a touch sensor panel including a plurality of touch sensors, the controller comprising:

a processor configured to process data sensed from the touch sensor panel generated by a plurality of different types of scans of the touch sensor panel, the data including touch sense data indicative of an occurrence or absence of a touch event at the touch sensor panel;

first logic configured to perform the plurality of different types of scans of the touch sensor panel in a sequence set by the processor, without further intervention from the processor, the plurality of different types of scans including at least a multi-stimulation touch scan to generate the touch sense data;

second logic configured to stimulate the touch sensor panel; and

sense channels configured to sense the touch sensor panel.

10. The controller of claim 9, wherein the multi-stimulation touch scan includes concurrently stimulating the touch sensor panel with multiple stimulation frequencies or multiple stimulation phases.

11. The controller of claim 9, wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a spectral analysis scan to generate frequency selection data;

and

wherein the processor is further configured to process the frequency selection data to select a clean frequency for use in the multi-stimulation touch scan of the touch sensors.

12. The controller of claim 11, wherein the spectral analysis scan includes performing quadrature demodulation of different frequencies at one or more of the sense channels coupled to the touch sensor panel.

13. The controller of claim 9, wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a no stimulation scan to generate calibration data;

and

wherein the processor is further configured to process the calibration data to adjust a baseline noise level associated with one or more of the touch sensors of the touch sensor panel.

14. The controller of claim 9, wherein

the plurality of different types of scans further including an ambient light level scan of a plurality of light sensors to generate light sense data;

and

the processor is further configured to process the light sense data to identify an ambient light level at the touch sensor panel.

15. The controller of claim 9, wherein

the plurality of different types of scans further including a scan of a plurality of proximity sensors to generate proximity sense data;

and

the processor is further configured to process the proximity sense data to identify an occurrence or absence of a proximity event at the touch sensor panel.

16. The controller of claim 9, wherein

the plurality of different types of scans further including a scan of a temperature sensor to generate temperature data;

and

the processor is further configured to process the temperature data to calibrate one or more parameters associated with the touch sensor panel that are susceptible to temperature-related drift.

17. A method for sensing a touch sensor panel, the method comprising:

receiving a scanning sequence from a processor;

performing, in logic independent from the processor, a plurality of different types of scans according to the scanning sequence without further intervention from the processor, the plurality of different scans including at least a multi-stimulation touch scan to generate touch sense data; and

processing data sensed from the touch sensor panel generated by the plurality of different types of scans of the touch sensor panel, the data including the touch sense data indicative of an occurrence or absence of a touch event at the touch sensor panel.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the multi-stimulation touch scan includes concurrently stimulating the touch sensor panel with multiple stimulation frequencies or multiple stimulation phases.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a spectral analysis scan to generate frequency selection data;

and

the method further comprising processing the frequency selection data to select a clean frequency for use in the multi-stimulation touch scan of the touch sensors.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the spectral analysis scan includes performing quadrature demodulation of different frequencies at one or more of the sense channels coupled to the touch sensor panel.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including a no stimulation scan to generate calibration data;

and

the method further comprising processing the calibration data to adjust a baseline noise level associated with one or more of the touch sensors of the touch sensor panel.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of different types of scans further including an ambient light level scan of a plurality of light sensors to generate light sense data;

and

the method further comprising processing the light sense data to identify an ambient light level at the touch sensor panel.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein

the plurality of different types of scans further including a scan of a plurality of proximity sensors to generate proximity sense data;

and

the method further comprising processing the proximity sense data to identify an occurrence or absence of a proximity event at the touch sensor panel.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein

the plurality of different types of scans further including a scan of a temperature sensor to generate temperature data;

and

the method further comprising processing the temperature data to calibrate one or more parameters associated with the touch sensor panel that are susceptible to temperature-related drift.