Multi-touch disambiguation

• US 8,462,135 B1
• Filed: 01/08/2010
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Monterey Research, LLC (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: XIAO, Browley, Chow, Nelson, Drake, Victor, Polishchuk, Igor
• Primary Examiner(s): Leiby, Christopher E
• Application Number:
  US12/684,791
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345173-174
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• 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 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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

Identification of at least one of a plurality of possible touch locations as an actual touch location may include detecting a plurality of possible touch locations at a touch sensing surface, wherein detecting the plurality of possible touch locations comprises performing a resolve scan of at least a first sensor element at the touch sensing surface, where the first sensor element corresponds to at least a first coordinate of the plurality of coordinates.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing a first scan of a plurality of sensor elements to detect a plurality of capacitances indicating a presence of multiple contacts at a touch sensing surface;

calculating a plurality of coordinates based on the plurality of capacitances, wherein the plurality of coordinates includes a plurality of row coordinates and a plurality of column coordinates, wherein the plurality of row coordinates and plurality of column coordinates indicate a plurality of possible contact locations for the multiple contacts;

in response to detecting the plurality of coordinates, performing a resolve scan of at least a first sensor element at the touch sensing surface, wherein the first sensor element corresponds to at least a first coordinate of the plurality of coordinates and wherein the resolve scan comprises;

detecting a first time constant at the first end of the first sensor element while the second end of the first sensor element is connected to a high impedance; and

detecting a second time constant at the second end of the first sensor element while the first end of the first sensor element is connected to a high impedance; and

based on the resolve scan, identifying at least one of the possible contact locations as an actual contact location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the resolve scan further comprises:

performing a first measurement of the first sensor element in conjunction with a second sensor element corresponding to a second coordinate of the plurality of coordinates; and

performing a second measurement of the first sensor element in conjunction with a third sensor element corresponding to a third coordinate of the plurality of coordinates.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second sensor element and the third sensor element are perpendicular to the first sensor element.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising comparing the first measurement with the second measurement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the resolve scan further comprises:

performing a first scan of the first sensor element while floating a second sensor element corresponding to a second coordinate of the plurality of coordinates;

performing a second scan of the first sensor element while floating a third sensor element corresponding to a third coordinate of the plurality of coordinates; and

wherein identifying the at least one of the possible contact locations as the actual contact location is based on a difference between a measurement obtained from the first scan and a measurement obtained from the second scan.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the resolve scan further comprises accumulating the difference over multiple samples.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the difference is based on a differential measurement of the second sensor element and the third sensor element.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the resolve scan further comprises comparing a first distance with a second distance, wherein the first distance is a distance between the actual contact location and a first end of the first sensor element and the second distance is a distance between the actual contact location and a second end of the first sensor element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying at least one of the possible contact locations as an actual contact location comprises identifying one of the possible contact locations closest to one of the first end or the second end of the first sensor element as the actual contact location.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

an input configured to receive a plurality of capacitance measurements acquired using a first scan of the touch sensing surface, wherein the plurality of capacitance measurements are indicative of a plurality of row coordinates and a plurality of column coordinates, wherein the plurality of row coordinates and the plurality of column coordinates designate a plurality of possible contact locations at the touch sensing surface; and

a processing logic coupled with the input, wherein the processing logic is configured to;

in response to receiving the plurality of coordinates, perform a resolve scan of at least a first sensor element at the touch sensing surface, wherein the first sensor element corresponds to at least a first coordinate of the plurality of coordinates, wherein the resolve scan comprises;

detecting a first time constant at the first end of the first sensor element while the second end of the first sensor element is connected to a high impedance, and

detecting a second time constant at the second end of the first sensor element while the first end of the first sensor element is connected to a high impedance; and

based on the resolve scan, identify at least one of the possible contact locations as an actual contact location.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing logic is further configured to perform the resolve scan by:

performing a first measurement of the at least one sensor element in conjunction with a second sensor element corresponding to a second coordinate of the plurality of coordinates; and

performing a second measurement of the at least one sensor element in conjunction with a third sensor element corresponding to a third coordinate of the plurality of coordinates.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second sensor element and the third sensor element are perpendicular to the first sensor element.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing logic is further configured to identify the at least one of the possible contact locations as the actual contact location by comparing the first measurement with the second measurement.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing logic is further configured to perform the resolve scan by:

performing a first scan of the at least one sensor element while floating a second sensor element corresponding to a second coordinate of the plurality of coordinates; and

performing a second scan of the at least one sensor element while floating a third sensor element corresponding to a third coordinate of the plurality of coordinates;

wherein identifying the at least one of the possible contact locations as an actual contact location is based on a difference between a measurement obtained from the first scan and a measurement obtained from the second scan.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing logic is further configured to perform the resolve scan by accumulating the difference over multiple samples.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the difference is based on a differential measurement of the second sensor element and the third sensor element.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing logic is further configured to perform the resolve scan by comparing a first distance with a second distance, wherein the first distance is a distance between the actual contact location and a first end of the first sensor element and the second distance is a distance between the actual contact location and a second end of the first sensor element.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing logic is further configured to identify at least one of the possible contact locations as an actual contact location by identifying a possible contact location closest to one of the first end or the second end of the first sensor element as the actual contact location.