System and method for interfacing applications processor to touchscreen display for reduced data transfer

• US 9,075,457 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Alexander, Daniel D., Blankenship, Timothy L., Ali, Yassar A., Chan, Andrew, Zhang, Feihua
• Primary Examiner(s): LAMB, CHRISTOPHER RAY
• Application Number:
  US12/620,430
• Publication Number:
  US 20100149121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,058 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers

Abstract

System and method for substantially reducing an involvement of an applications processor in receiving data from a touchscreen display. In one aspect, the system includes a controller may be configured in an autonomous mode where it automatically measures the touchscreen display based configuration information received from the applications processor, determines notable events based on the measurement data, stores data and event identifiers related to the notable events in a memory, and sends a notification to the applications processor when event data is available In another aspect, the system includes a controller that filters user interactions events and transmits data related to only notable events to the applications processor. Because of the autonomous and event filtering operations of the touchscreen controller, there are substantially less communications between the controller and the applications processor. This improves the speed and efficiency of the applications processor.

Claims

1. A method of interfacing a touchscreen with an applications processor, comprising:

generating a first signal representing a user touching the touchscreen;

generating a second signal representing the user releasing the touchscreen;

generating a third signal representing the user dragging a touch across the touchscreen, the step of generating a third signal including;

defining an aperture window having a boundary around the touch on the touchscreen;

monitoring a movement of the touch on the touchscreen; and

when the user drags the touch to a point on the boundary, recording the user dragging event in a memory and defining a new aperture window around the point on the boundary;

transmitting the first, second, and third signals to a controller;

analyzing whether each of the first, second, and third signals satisfies at least one predetermined criterion;

based on the analysis, storing in the memory data related to the at least one of the first, second, and third signals;

responsive to storage of the data in the memory, transitioning an interrupt signal to a first logic level to indicate that the data in the memory is available for access by an applications processor; and

responsive to reading all of the data in the memory by the applications processor, transitioning the interrupt signal to a second logic level to indicate that there is no data in the memory available for access by the applications processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein dragging the touch across the touchscreen reaches or exceeds a boundary of a selected aperture.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory that is configured to store one or more event tags.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the interrupt signal to the applications processor when data is available for the applications processor.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending status information as to whether data is available in response to being polled by the applications processor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises:

a position coordinate related to the at least one of the first, second, and third signals; and

one or more tags to identify the type of the at least one of the first, second, and third signals.

7. A controller for interfacing an applications processor comprising a position-indicating device, the controller comprising:

an interface;

a memory; and

a control module adapted to;

measure the position-indicating device to generate data;

analyze the data to determine whether the data relates to a signal that represents one of a user touching the position-indicating device, the user releasing the position-indicating device, and the user dragging a touch across the position-indicating device;

store the analyzed data in the memory;

responsive to storage of the data in the memory, transition an interrupt signal to a first logic level to indicate that the data in the memory is available for access by the applications processor; and

responsive to reading all of the data in the memory by the applications processor, transition the interrupt signal to a second logic level to indicate that there is no data in the memory available for access by the applications processor; and

an aperture filter that defines an aperture window having a boundary around the touch and, when the user drags the touch to a point on the boundary, defines a new aperture window around the point and causes a drag event to be stored in the memory.

8. The controller of claim 7, further comprising a driver/sensor through which the control module measures the position-indicating device.

9. The controller of claim 7, further comprising an event filter adapted to define user interface events.

10. The controller of claim 7, wherein the control module is further adapted to:

receive configuration information from the applications processor via the interface; and

automatically measure the position-indicating device to generate data based on the configuration information.

11. The controller of claim 10, wherein the control module is further adapted to:

analyze the data to determine whether it relates to a notable event; and

store the analyzed data in the memory only if the data relates to the notable event.

12. The controller of claim 11, wherein the configuration information specifies a rate to measure the position-indicating device, and wherein the control module is adapted to automatically measure the position-indicating device based on the rate.

13. The controller of claim 11, wherein the configuration information defines a measurement criterion of the position-indicating device, and wherein the control module is adapted to measure the position-indicating device based on the measurement criterion.

14. The controller of claim 11, wherein the control module is adapted to operate in a lower power mode when not measuring the position-indicating device, and operate in a higher power mode when measuring the position-indicating device.

15. A method of interfacing a position-indicating device with an applications processor, the method comprising:

receiving configuration information from the applications processor;

automatically measuring the position-indicating device based on the configuration information to generate data;

storing the generated data in a memory;

analyzing the data to determine whether the data relates to a signal that represents a notable event comprising one of a user touching the position-indicating device, the user releasing the position-indicating device, and the user dragging a touch across the position-indicating device;

responsive to storage of the data in the memory, transitioning an interrupt signal to a first logic level to indicate that the data in the memory is available for access by the applications processor; and

responsive to reading all of the data in the memory by the applications processor, transitioning the interrupt signal to a second logic level to indicate that there is no data in the memory available for access by the applications processor,

wherein the step of analyzing the data to determine whether the data relates to a notable event includes;

defining an aperture window having a boundary around the touch on the touchscreen;

monitoring a movement of the touch on the touchscreen; and

when the user drags the touch to a point on the boundary, determining the user dragging as a notable event and defining a new aperture window around the point on the boundary.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein storing the data comprises storing the data in the memory only if the data relates to the notable event.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuration information specifies a rate of measuring the position-indicating device, and wherein a frequency of measuring the position-indicating device is based on the specified rate.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuration information specifies a measurement criterion of the position-indicating device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the measurement criterion comprises a coordinate in one or more dimensions of a current position of the position-indicating device, or other characteristics related to the current position of the position-indicating device.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuration information defines the notable event.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the notable event includes an initial touch of the position-indicating device, a touch release of the position-indicating device, or a movement of the position-indicating device that exceeds a defined distance.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein automatically measuring the position-indicating device is initiated upon detecting an initial interaction of the position-indicating device by the user.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

operating in a relatively low power mode while not measuring the position-indicating device; and

operating in a relatively high power mode while measuring the position-indicating device.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating an identifier related to the notable event; and

storing the identifier with corresponding data in the memory.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising sending status information as to whether data related to one or more events is available in response to being polled by the applications processor.

26. The method of claim 16, wherein the position-indicating device comprises a touchscreen display.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the memory comprises a first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory device that is configured to store one or more event tags that identify types for the notable event.