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Apparatus and method for detecting finger activity on a fingerprint sensor

  • US 8,278,946 B2
  • Filed: 01/15/2009
  • Issued: 10/02/2012
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:

  • placing a fingerprint sensor in one of a wait-for-event and a wake-on-event mode;

    transmitting a probing signal to a fingerprint sensing transmitting element, comprising one of a stand alone wake-up transmitting element and a fingerprint sensing wake-up transmitting element, selected from a plurality of fingerprint sensing transmitting elements and selectively kept active, while the remaining fingerprint sensing transmitting elements of the plurality of fingerprint sensing transmitting elements are in a non-active mode, to reduce power consumption by the fingerprint sensor;

    receiving a response signal from one of the stand alone wake-up transmitting element and the fingerprint sensing wake-up transmitting element at a fingerprint sensing receiving element;

    monitoring the response signal on the fingerprint sensing receiving element to determine if a finger is present in a fingerprint sensing area; and

    removing the fingerprint sensor from the one of the wait-for-event and the wake-on-event mode in response to the response signal.

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