Centralized processing of touch information

• US 8,890,817 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wilson, Thomas James, Reeve, Richard James
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): BRITTINGHAM, NATHANIEL P
• Application Number:
  US12/877,051
• Publication Number:
  US 20120056822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,533 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment

Abstract

Centralized processing of touch information obtained by multiple touch sensing controllers connected to a touch sensing surface is provided. Each touch controller can obtain touch information of sense signals from different sense lines of the touch sensing surface and can store the touch information in a corresponding memory of the controller. The touch information of one or more of the touch sensing controllers can be transmitted as results data to a processor that processes all of the touch information. In some cases, prior to transfer of the results data, a determination of the validity of a sense channel can be made, and invalid channels can be excluded from the transfer.

Claims

1. A method of centralized processing of touch information from a plurality of touch sensing controllers, each touch sensing controller including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining touch information from one or more sense channels receiving the sense signals in at least one of the touch sensing controllers, wherein the touch information includes information of an amount of touch at one or more locations on the touch sensing surface;

storing the touch information from the one or more sense channels in a corresponding memory of at least one of the touch sensing controllers;

determining a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the at least one touch sensing controller;

transmitting the touch information from the at least one touch sensing controller to a processor external to the at least one touch sensing controller based on a result of the validity determinations, wherein the touch information from at least one valid sense channel is transmitted while the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel is excluded from the transmission; and

processing the transmitted touch information by the processor,

wherein determining the validity includes determining whether or not a sense channel received a sense signal, wherein a sense channel that received a sense signal is a valid sense channel, and a sense channel that did not receive a sense signal is an invalid sense channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor is located in one of the other touch sensing controllers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the touch information includes transmitting an identity of one or more valid sense channels.

4. A method of centralized processing of touch information from a plurality of touch sensing controllers, each touch sensing controller including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining touch information from one or more sense channels receiving the sense signals in at least one of the touch sensing controllers, wherein the touch information includes information of an amount of touch at one or more locations on the touch sensing surface;

storing the touch information from the one or more sense channels in a corresponding memory of at least one of the touch sensing controllers;

determining a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the at least one touch sensing controller;

transmitting the touch information from the at least one touch sensing controller to a processor external to the at least one touch sensing controller based on a result of the validity determinations, wherein the touch information from at least one valid sense channel is transmitted while the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel is excluded from the transmission; and

processing the transmitted touch information by the processor,

wherein determining whether or not a sense channel received a sense signal includes identifying one or more sense channels that are unused for receiving sense signals from the touch sensing surface, wherein each identified unused sense channel is predetermined to be an invalid sense channel.

5. A method of centralized processing of touch information from a plurality of touch sensing controllers, each touch sensing controller including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining touch information from one or more sense channels receiving the sense signals in at least one of the touch sensing controllers, wherein the touch information includes information of an amount of touch at one or more locations on the touch sensing surface;

storing the touch information from the one or more sense channels in a corresponding memory of at least one of the touch sensing controllers;

determining a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the at least one touch sensing controller;

transmitting the touch information from the at least one touch sensing controller to a processor external to the at least one touch sensing controller based on a result of the validity determinations, wherein the touch information from at least one valid sense channel is transmitted while the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel is excluded from the transmission;

processing the transmitted touch information by the processor;

determining a value of a parameter associated with each of the one or more sense channels; and

determining the validity of each sense channel is based on the value of the parameter,

wherein the parameter is based on one of an amount of noise, an amount of interference, or a determination of whether touch information obtained from the sense channel includes information of a touch on or near the touch sensing surface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the parameter is associated with each of two or more redundant sense channels, and determining the validity includes selecting one of the redundant sense channels as a valid sense channel and the other one or more redundant sense channels as invalid sense channels based on the relative values of the parameter.

7. A touch sensing system comprising:

a touch sensing surface; and

a plurality of touch sensing controllers, each touch sensing controller including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving and processing a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of the touch sensing surface to obtain touch information, and a memory that stores the touch information from each of one or more of the sense channels, wherein one or more of the touch sensing controllers further includes

a module that identifies a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the touch sensing controller, and

a transmitter that transmits a transmission to a processor external to the touch sensing controller, the transmission including the touch information from at least one valid sense channel and excluding the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel based on the identified validities of the sense channels,

wherein the processor processes the touch information of the plurality of touch sensing controllers, wherein the module identifies whether or not a sense channel received a sense signal, wherein a sense channel that received a sense signal is identified as a valid sense channel, and a sense channel that did not receive a sense signal is identified as an invalid sense channel.

8. The touch sensing system of claim 7, wherein the processor is located in one of the other touch sensing controllers.

9. A touch sensing system comprising:

a touch sensing surface; and

a plurality of touch sensing controllers, each touch sensing controller including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving and processing a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of the touch sensing surface to obtain touch information, and a memory that stores the touch information from each of one or more of the sense channels, wherein one or more of the touch sensing controllers further includes

a module that identifies a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the touch sensing controller, and

a transmitter that transmits a transmission to a processor external to the touch sensing controller, the transmission including the touch information from at least one valid sense channel and excluding the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel based on the identified validities of the sense channels,

wherein the processor processes the touch information of the plurality of touch sensing controllers, and

wherein a sense channel that is unused for receiving sense signals is predetermined to be the sense channel that did not receive a sense signal, and the module identifies the unused sense channel as an invalid sense channel by controlling the transmitter to exclude the unused sense channel.

19. The touch sensing system of claim 9, wherein the processor is located in one of the other touch sensing controllers.

10. A touch sensing system comprising:

a touch sensing surface; and

a plurality of touch sensing controllers, each touch sensing controller including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving and processing a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of the touch sensing surface to obtain touch information, and a memory that stores the touch information from each of one or more of the sense channels, wherein one or more of the touch sensing controllers further includes

a module that identifies a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the touch sensing controller, and

a transmitter that transmits a transmission to a processor external to the touch sensing controller, the transmission including the touch information from at least one valid sense channel and excluding the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel based on the identified validities of the sense channels,

wherein the processor processes the touch information of the plurality of touch sensing controllers, and

wherein the module determines value of a parameter associated with each of the one or more sense channels and identifies the validity of each sense channel based on the value of the parameter, wherein the parameter is based on one of an amount of noise, an amount of interference, or a determination of whether touch information obtained from the sense channel includes information of a touch on or near the touch sensing surface.

11. The touch sensing system of claim 10, wherein the parameter is associated with each of two or more redundant sense channels, and the module selects one of the redundant sense channels as a valid sense channel and the other one or more redundant sense channels as invalid sense channels based on the relative values of the parameter.

20. The touch sensing system of claim 10, wherein the processor is located in one of the other touch sensing controllers.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions executable to perform a method of transmitting touch information from a plurality of touch sensing controllers to an external processor, the touch sensing controllers each including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining touch information from one or more sense channels receiving the sense signals in at least one of the touch sensing controllers, wherein the touch information includes information of an amount of touch at one or more locations on the touch sensing surface;

storing the touch information from the one or more sense channels in a corresponding memory of the at least one of the touch sensing controllers;

determining a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the at least one touch sensing controller; and

transmitting the touch information from the at least one touch sensing controller to a processor external to the at least one touch sensing controller based on a result of the validity determinations, wherein the touch information from at least one valid sense channel is transmitted while the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel is excluded from the transmission,

wherein determining the validity includes determining whether or not a sense channel received a sense signal, wherein a sense channel that received a sense signal is a valid sense channel, and a sense channel that did not receive a sense signal is an invalid sense channel.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein transmitting the touch information includes transmitting an identity of one or more valid sense channels.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions executable to perform a method of transmitting touch information from a plurality of touch sensing controllers to an external processor, the touch sensing controllers each including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining touch information from one or more sense channels receiving the sense signals in at least one of the touch sensing controllers, wherein the touch information includes information of an amount of touch at one or more locations on the touch sensing surface;

storing the touch information from the one or more sense channels in a corresponding memory of the at least one of the touch sensing controllers;

determining a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the at least one touch sensing controller; and

transmitting the touch information from the at least one touch sensing controller to a processor external to the at least one touch sensing controller based on a result of the validity determinations, wherein the touch information from at least one valid sense channel is transmitted while the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel is excluded from the transmission,

wherein determining whether or not a sense channel received a sense signal includes identifying one or more sense channels that are unused for receiving sense signals from the touch sensing surface, wherein each identified unused sense channel is predetermined to be an invalid sense channel.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions executable to perform a method of transmitting touch information from a plurality of touch sensing controllers to an external processor, the touch sensing controllers each including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of a touch sensing surface, the method comprising:

obtaining touch information from one or more sense channels receiving the sense signals in at least one of the touch sensing controllers, wherein the touch information includes information of an amount of touch at one or more locations on the touch sensing surface;

storing the touch information from the one or more sense channels in a corresponding memory of the at least one of the touch sensing controllers;

determining a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the at least one touch sensing controller;

transmitting the touch information from the at least one touch sensing controller to a processor external to the at least one touch sensing controller based on a result of the validity determinations, wherein the touch information from at least one valid sense channel is transmitted while the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel is excluded from the transmission;

determining a value of a parameter associated with each of the one or more sense channels; and

determining the validity of each sense channel is based on the value of the parameter,

wherein the parameter is based on one of an amount of noise, an amount of interference, or a determination of whether touch information obtained from the sense channel includes information of a touch on or near the touch sensing surface.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining the value of the parameter is repeated each scan of the touch sensing surface.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the parameter is associated with each of two or more redundant sense channels, and determining the validity includes selecting one of the redundant sense channels as a valid sense channel and the other one or more redundant sense channels as invalid sense channels based on the relative values of the parameter.

18. A mobile computing device comprising:

a touch sensing system, including a touch sensing surface, and a plurality of touch sensing controllers, each touch sensing controller including a plurality of sense channels each for receiving and processing a sense signal from a corresponding sense line of the touch sensing surface to obtain touch information, and a memory that stores the touch information from each of one or more of the sense channels, wherein one or more of the touch sensing controllers further includes

a module that identifies a validity of each of the plurality of sense channels of the touch sensing controller, and

a transmitter that transmits a transmission external to the touch sensing controller, the transmission including the touch information from at least one valid sense channel and excluding the touch information from at least one invalid sense channel based on the identified validities of the sense channels; and

a processor that receives the transmission and processes the touch information of the plurality of touch sensing controllers,

wherein determining the validity includes determining whether or not a sense channel received a sense signal, wherein a sense channel that received a sense signal is a valid sense channel, and a sense channel that did not receive a sense signal is an invalid sense channel.