Concurrent signal detection for touch and hover sensing

• US 9,098,138 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: King, Brian Michael, Leung, Omar, Puskarich, Paul G., Bernstein, Jeffrey Traer, Mucignat, Andrea, Cieplinski, Avi E., Choudry, Muhammad U., Subramani, Praveen R., Piche, Marc J., Amm, David T., Kerr, Duncan Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): MORALES FERNANDE, BENJAMIN
• Application Number:
  US12/895,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20120050211A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,769 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04106 Multi-sensing digitiser, i.e. digitiser using at least two different sensing technologies simultaneously or alternatively, e.g. for detecting pen and finger, for saving power or for improving position detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04111 Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate
• 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 3/041662 using alternate mutual and self-capacitive scanning
• 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

Detecting a signal from a touch and hover sensing device, in which the signal can be indicative of concurrent touch events and/or hover events, is disclosed. A touch event can indicate an object touching the device. A hover event can indicate an object hovering over the device. The touch and hover sensing device can ensure that a desired hover event is not masked by an incidental touch event, e.g., a hand holding the device, by compensating for the touch event in the detected signal that represents both events. Conversely, when both a hover event and a touch event are desired, the touch and hover sensing device can ensure that both events are detected by adjusting the device sensors and/or the detected signal. The touch and hover sensing device can also detect concurrent hover events by identifying multiple peaks in the detected signal, each peak corresponding to a position of a hovering object.

Claims

1. A touch and hover sensing device comprising:

multiple sensors configured to detect a first object touching the device and a second object hovering over the device concurrently; and

a touch and hover control system configured to;

measure capacitance at one or more of the sensors, the measured capacitance including both a first measurement associated with the touching object and a second measurement associated with the hovering object;

compensate for the effects of the touching object by filtering from the measured capacitance the first measurement associated with the touching object, thereby creating a compensated measured capacitance, and

identify a hover event using the compensated measured capacitance.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensors are partitioned to provide at least one partition for detecting the touching object and at least another partition for detecting the hovering object, and

wherein the control system discards the measurement in the partition detecting the touching object.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the touching object is near a border of the device, the device further comprising a grounding shield at the border and configured to shield the touching object from the sensors.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

compare the measured capacitance to a predetermined threshold;

identify the measured capacitance less than the threshold as being the second measurement; and

identify the measured capacitance greater than the threshold as being the first measurement.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

drive the one or more sensors at a specific voltage so as to saturate the one or more sensors detecting the touching object; and

obtain the measured capacitance having saturated values caused by the touching object and unsaturated values caused by the hovering object.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

drive the one or more sensors with a high frequency voltage;

obtain a first set of capacitance measurements based on the high frequency voltage;

drive the sensors with a low frequency voltage; and

obtain a second set of capacitance measurements based on the low frequency voltage.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

identify the first set of capacitance measurements as including the first measurement; and

identify the second set of capacitance measurements as including both the first measurement and the second measurement.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

subtract the first set of capacitance measurements from the second set of capacitance measurements to discard the capacitance measurements associated with the touching object.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

drive alternate sensors from opposite directions;

obtain a first set of capacitance measurements of the sensors driven from one direction; and

obtain a second set of capacitance measurements of the sensors driven from the opposite direction.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

identify the first set of capacitance measurements as being the first measurement; and

identify the second set of capacitance measurements as being the second measurement.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the touch and hover control system is further configured to:

discard the first set of capacitance measurements as being associated with the touching object; and

retain the second set of capacitance measurements as being associated with the hovering object.

12. A method of detecting a signal indicative of a hovering object and a touching object at a sensing panel, the method comprising:

obtaining a set of capacitance measurements of multiple sensors of the sensing panel, the capacitance measurements forming the detected signal;

identifying, from the set of capacitance measurements, the capacitance measurements indicative of the hovering object and the capacitance measurements indicative of the touching object;

adjusting the detected signal to retain the capacitance measurements indicative of the hovering object and to filter from the detected signal the capacitance measurements indicative of the touching object, thereby creating a set of compensated capacitance measurements; and

identifying a hover event using the compensated capacitance measurements.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying the capacitance measurements comprises:

comparing the capacitance measurements to a predetermined threshold;

identifying the capacitance measurements less than the threshold as being indicative of the hovering object; and

identifying the capacitance measurements greater than the threshold as being indicative of the touching object.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining the set of capacitance measurements comprises:

driving the sensors at a specific voltage so as to saturate the sensors detecting the touching object; and

obtaining the set of capacitance measurements having saturated values caused by the touching object and unsaturated values caused by the hovering object.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining the set of capacitance measurements comprises:

driving the sensors with a high frequency voltage;

obtaining a first set of capacitance measurements based on the high frequency voltage;

driving the sensors with a low frequency voltage; and

obtaining a second set of capacitance measurements based on the low frequency voltage.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein identifying the capacitance measurements comprises:

identifying the first set of capacitance measurements as indicative of the touching object; and

identifying the second set of capacitance measurements as indicative of both the touching object and the hovering object.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein adjusting the detected signal comprises subtracting the first set of capacitance measurements from the second set of capacitance measurements to discard the capacitance measurements associated with the touching object.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the sensors are formed in lines in the sensing panel, and wherein obtaining the set of capacitance measurements comprises:

driving alternate sensor lines from opposite directions;

obtaining a first set of capacitance measurements of the sensors driven from one direction; and

obtaining a second set of capacitance measurements of the sensors driven from the opposite direction.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein identifying the set of capacitance measurements comprises:

identifying the first set of capacitance measurements as being indicative of the touching object; and

identifying the second set of capacitance measurements as being indicative of the hovering object.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein adjusting the detected signal comprises:

discarding the first set of capacitance measurements as being associated with the touching object; and

retaining the second set of capacitance measurements as being associated with the hovering object.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the sensors are partitioned to provide at least one partition for detecting the touching object and at least another partition for detecting the hovering object, and wherein filtering the capacitance measurements indicative of the touching object comprises filtering the capacitance measurements in the partition detecting the touching object.