Digitizer, stylus and method of synchronization therewith

• US 9,323,368 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2014
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Zachut, Rafi
• Primary Examiner(s): PARDO, THUY N
• Application Number:
  US14/201,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20140184567A1
• Time in Patent Office: 778 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/174, 345/179, 178/18.03
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 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 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04162 for exchanging data with external devices, e.g. smart pens, via the digitiser sensing hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041661 using detection at multiple resolutions, e.g. coarse and fine scanning; using detection within a limited area, e.g. object tracking window
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0442 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for transmitting changes in electrical potential to be received by the digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A method for operating a digitizer with an autonomous asynchronous stylus includes sampling outputs from a digitizer, detecting from the outputs at least one pulsed signal transmitted from an autonomous asynchronous stylus at a defined rate, determining a location of the stylus interaction with respect to the digitizer, and tracking stylus interaction with the digitizer over subsequent pulsed signals transmitted from the stylus.

Claims

1. A method for operating a digitizer with a stylus wherein the digitizer includes a grid based digitizer sensor including conductive lines arrayed along a first and second axis of the digitizer sensor, the method comprising:

triggering at a defined time within a refresh cycle of the digitizer at least a portion of the conductive lines with a triggering signal;

detecting finger touch interaction with the digitizer during the refresh cycle in response to the triggering;

transmitting a signal by the stylus;

sensing the signal of the stylus with the digitizer sensor during the refresh cycle of the digitizer;

determining a time within the refresh cycle of the digitizer for sampling the signal transmitted by the stylus; and

detecting position of the stylus in subsequent refresh cycles responsive to sampling the signal transmitted by the stylus at the determined time within the refresh cycle.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising simultaneously detecting finger touch interaction and stylus interaction with the digitizer.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the time within the refresh cycle of the digitizer is determined from output obtained from 1-4 conductive lines from which the signal of the stylus is most strongly detected.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the time within the refresh cycle of the digitizer for sampling the signal is performed while the stylus is hovering over the digitizer.

5. The method according to claim 1, comprising sampling output from only one of the first or the second axis of the digitizer for detecting the finger touch interaction.

6. The method according to claim 5, comprising switching to sampling output from both the first and the second axis for sampling the signal transmitted by the stylus.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal transmitted by the stylus includes encoded information.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the encoded information includes information regarding an operational state of the stylus.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the encoded information includes information regarding user command.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the encoded information is selected from the group including:

identification of the stylus, right click mode of the stylus, eraser mode of the stylus, pressure on tip of the stylus, and user selected color.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the information is encoded using at least one of amplitude shift keying, phase shift keying and frequency shift keying.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the information is encoded with digital encoding.

13. The method according to claim 7, wherein the information is encoded with analog encoding.

14. The method according to claim 7, wherein the digitizer decodes the encoded information responsive to sampling the signal transmitted by the stylus.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the digitizer identifies the signal of the stylus based on detection of a frequency of the signal.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the signal transmitted by the stylus includes a train of pulses in succession and wherein the digitizer samples the train of pulses over the refresh period of the digitizer.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the train of pulses is AC pulses.