REDUCING TOUCH SENSOR PANEL POWER CONSUMPTION

• US 20180046285A1
• Filed: 10/30/2017
• Published: 02/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: LEE, SungChang, LEE, Chia-Yeh
• Granted Patent: US 10,318,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3218 of display devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04111 Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate
• 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 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Reducing power consumption in a touch screen. In some examples, a first level of touch accuracy can be determined, and a first portion of the touch screen can be operated in a first mode corresponding to the first level of touch accuracy. In some examples, a second level of touch accuracy can be determined, and a second portion of the touch screen can be operated in a second mode corresponding to the second level of touch accuracy. The first and/or second levels of touch accuracy can be determined based on an application running on a device including the touch screen and/or a user interface displayed on the touch screen. In some examples, in the first and/or second modes, the respective portions of the touch screen can transition between a touch sensing phase and a display phase at different transition frequencies and/or can sense touch at different ratios of touch sensors.

Claims

1. A method of operating a touch screen, the method comprising:

determining a number of concurrent modes of operation to operate the touch screen,

for each mode of operation;

determining one or more portions of the touch screen having a respective touch accuracy, and

operating the one or more portions at a touch frequency associated with the respective touch accuracy; and

wherein;

each mode of operation and each touch frequency are different with respect to other modes of operation when the touch screen operates in a plurality of concurrent modes of operation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether to change a configuration of the one or more portions of the touch screen having different levels of touch accuracy; and

dynamically changing the one or more concurrent modes of operation of the one or more portions of the touch screen in accordance with the determination.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the respective touch accuracy for each mode of operation from one or more applications running on a device including the touch screen.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more applications can present two or more user interfaces, a first one or more user interfaces operating in a first mode of operation and a second one or more user interfaces operating in a second mode of operation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a level of touch accuracy for a given portion is based on a spacing of user interface elements.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a targeted power consumption level of a device including the touch screen; and

determining the touch frequency for the one or more concurrent modes of operation based on the targeted power consumption level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more concurrent modes of operation includes an active mode and an idle mode.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more concurrent modes of operation include one mode of operation, the method further comprising:

operating the touch screen to detect a touch activity; and

transitioning the touch screen from the idle mode to active mode in accordance with a detected touch activity.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more concurrent modes of operation include one mode of operation, the method further comprising:

operating the touch screen to detect a touch activity; and

keeping the touch screen in the idle mode in accordance with an absence of a detected touch activity after a predetermined amount of time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the number of concurrent modes of operation to operate the touch screen includes:

receiving the number of concurrent modes of operation from an application running on a device including the touch screen.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the number of concurrent modes of operation to operate the touch screen occurs each time a different application runs on a device including the touch screen.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the number of concurrent modes of operation to operate the touch screen occurs each time a different user interface is displayed on the touch screen.

13. A device comprising:

a touch screen including one or more portions, each portion having a respective touch accuracy;

a touch controller coupled to the touch screen and configured to;

determine a number of concurrent modes of operation to operate the one or more portions,

for each mode of operation;

operate the one or more portions at a touch frequency associated with the respective touch accuracy; and

wherein;

each mode of operation and each touch frequency are different with respect to other modes of operation when the touch screen operates in a plurality of concurrent modes of operation.

14. The device of claim 13, the touch controller further configured to:

determine whether to change a configuration of the one or more portions of the touch screen having different levels of touch accuracy; and

dynamically change the one or more concurrent modes of operation of the one or more portions of the touch screen in accordance with the determination.

15. The device of claim 13, the touch controller further configured to:

receive the respective touch accuracy for each mode of operation from one or more applications running on the device.

16. The device of claim 15, further comprising a display configured to display one or more user interfaces and wherein the one or more applications can present two or more user interfaces on the display,

a first one or more user interfaces operating in a first mode of operation, and

a second one or more user interfaces operating in a second mode of operation.

17. The device of claim 13, further comprising a display configured to display one or more user interfaces and wherein a level of touch accuracy for a given portion is based on a spacing of user interface elements presented on the display.

18. The device of claim 13, the touch controller further configured to:

determine a targeted power consumption level of the device; and

determine the touch frequency for the one or more concurrent modes of operation based on the targeted power consumption level.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein the determination of the number of concurrent modes of operation to operate the touch screen occurs each time a different application runs on the device.

20. The device of claim 13, further comprising:

a display configured to display different user interfaces,

wherein the touch controller is further configured to;

determine the number of concurrent modes of operation each time a different user interface is displayed on the display.