Method and apparatus for eliminating tail effect in touch applications

• US 8,866,490 B1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Parade Technologies, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Mandziy, Vasyl, Kolych, Igor, Hutnyk, Volodymyr, Wright, David G.
• Primary Examiner(s): He, Amy
• Application Number:
  US13/800,468
• Time in Patent Office: 587 Days
• Field of Search: 324/663, 324/687, 324/601, 345/173, 345/174
• US Class Current: 324/601
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/22 by investigating capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 27/2605 Measuring capacitance capacitive sensors G01D5/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/955 using a capacitive detector

Abstract

Techniques for eliminating tail effect are described herein. In an example embodiment, a device comprises a sensor coupled with a processing logic. The sensor is configured to measure a plurality of measurements from a sensor array when the sensor array is in an unsettled state, where the measurements represent a conductive object that is proximate to a touch-sensing surface of the sensor array. The processing logic is configured to determine a set of adjustment values that correspond to a tail effect associated with the plurality of measurements, and to generate adjusted measurements corresponding to the plurality of measurements based on the set of adjustment values.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a sensor configured to obtain a plurality of measurements from a sensor array in a scan operation when the sensor array is in an unsettled state after a previous scan operation, wherein the plurality of measurements are representative of a conductive object that is proximate to a touch-sensing surface of the sensor array, and wherein the sensor array comprises a plurality of transmit electrodes and a plurality of receive electrodes; and

a processing logic coupled with the sensor, wherein the processing logic is configured at least to;

determine a set of adjustment values that correspond to a tail effect associated with the conductive object represented by the plurality of measurements;

wherein adjustment values for a particular receive electrode are computed based on a sum of indices of transmit electrodes along the particular receive electrode; and

generate adjusted measurements corresponding to the plurality of measurements based on the set of adjustment values.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to obtain the plurality of measurements based on a frequency of sensor recharging that is higher than an optimal frequency that allows the sensor array to substantially settle between measurements.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the frequency of sensor recharging is a cause for the tail effect.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the tail effect comprises a parasitic signal increase or a parasitic signal decrease that is extended along one or more rows or columns of sensor elements in the sensor array, rather than being localized to sensor elements directly affected by the conductive object.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensor array is a capacitive sensor array and the plurality of measurements are capacitive measurements.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the processing logic is further configured to determine location coordinates on the touch-sensing surface for the conductive object based on the adjusted measurements.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the processing logic is further configured to track movement of the conductive object on the touch-sensing surface based on the adjusted measurements.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the processing logic is further configured to generate subsequent adjusted measurements corresponding to a subsequent plurality of measurements responsive to a subsequent movement of the conductive object on the touch-sensing surface.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of measurements include signal values for sensor elements formed by the particular receive electrode of the sensor array, and wherein the adjusted measurements include adjusted values corresponding to the signal values.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein in order to determine the adjusted values for the particular receive electrode, the processing logic is configured to:

compute the sum of indices of transmit electrodes that form the sensor elements along the particular receive electrode;

compute a sum of the signal values for the sensor elements along the particular receive electrode;

compute a parameter value based on the sum of indices and the sum of the signal values; and

adjust each signal value of the signal values, to obtain a corresponding adjusted value, based at least on;

said each signal value, the parameter value, and an index of a corresponding transmit electrode.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of measurements from a sensor array in a scan operation when the sensor array is in an unsettled state after a previous scan operation, wherein the plurality of measurements are representative of a conductive object that is proximate to the sensor array, and wherein the sensor array comprises a plurality of transmit electrodes and a plurality of receive electrodes;

a processing device determining a set of adjustment values that correspond to a tail effect associated with the conductive object represented by the plurality of measurements;

wherein adjustment values for a particular receive electrode are computed based on a sum of indices of transmit electrodes along the particular receive electrode; and

generating adjusted measurements corresponding to the plurality of measurements based on the set of adjustment values.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

periodically measuring sets of measurements from the sensor array by using a frequency of sensor recharging that is higher than an optimal frequency that allows the sensor array to substantially settle between measurements, wherein the sets of measurements include the plurality of measurements.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein a sub-optimal frequency of sensor recharging is a cause for the tail effect, and wherein the tail effect comprises a parasitic signal increase or a parasitic signal decrease that is extended along one or more rows or columns of sensor elements in the sensor array, rather than being localized to sensor elements directly affected by the conductive object.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining diff signals for sensor elements of the sensor array based on the received plurality of measurements.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the plurality of measurements include signal values for sensor elements formed by the particular receive electrode of the sensor array; and

the processing device determining the adjusted measurements comprises;

computing the sum of indices of transmit electrodes that form the sensor elements along the particular receive electrode;

computing a sum of the signal values for the sensor elements along the particular receive electrode;

computing a parameter value based on the sum of indices and the sum of the signal values; and

adjusting each signal value of the signal values, to obtain a corresponding adjusted measurement, based at least on;

said each signal value, the parameter value, and an index of a corresponding transmit electrode.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising one or more of:

determining location coordinates on the sensor array for the conductive object based on the adjusted measurements; and

tracking movement of the conductive object on the sensor array based on the adjusted measurements.

17. A system comprising:

a capacitive sensor array comprising a plurality of sensor elements formed by a plurality of transmit electrodes and a plurality of receive electrodes;

a capacitive sensor coupled with the capacitive sensor array, the capacitive sensor configured to measure a plurality of measurements from the plurality of sensor elements in a scan operation when the sensor array is in an unsettled state after a previous scan operation, wherein the plurality of measurements are representative of a conductive object that is proximate to the capacitive sensor array; and

a processing logic coupled with the capacitive sensor, wherein the processing logic is configured at least to;

determine a set of adjustment values that correspond to a tail effect associated with the conductive object represented by the plurality of measurements;

wherein adjustment values for a particular receive electrode are computed based on a sum of indices of transmit electrodes along the particular receive electrode; and

generate adjusted measurements corresponding to the plurality of measurements based on the set of adjustment values.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the capacitive sensor is configured to periodically measure pluralities of measurements based on a frequency of sensor recharging that is higher than an optimal frequency that allows the plurality of sensor elements to substantially settle between measurements.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein a sub-optimal frequency of sensor recharging is a cause for the tail effect, wherein the tail effect comprises a parasitic signal increase or a parasitic signal decrease that is extended along one or more rows or columns of sensor elements in the sensor array, rather than being localized to one or more sensor elements that are directly affected by the conductive object.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing logic is configured to perform one or more of:

determine location coordinates on the capacitive sensor array for the conductive object based on the adjusted measurements; and

track movement of the conductive object on the touch-sensing surface based on the adjusted measurements.