Touch detection using multiple simultaneous stimulation signals

• US 9,430,087 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2015
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Krah, Christoph Horst, Hotelling, Steve Porter, O'Connor, Sean Erik, Westerman, Wayne Carl
• Primary Examiner(s): MARINELLI, PATRICK
• Application Number:
  US14/791,145
• Publication Number:
  US 20150301681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 178 1801- 2004
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• 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 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• 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

The use of multiple stimulation signals having one or more frequencies and one or more phases to generate an image of touch on a touch sensor panel is disclosed. Each of a plurality of sense channels can be coupled to a column in a touch sensor panel and can have one or more mixers. Each mixer in the sense channel can utilize a circuit capable generating a demodulation frequency of a particular frequency. At each of multiple steps, various phases of one or more selected frequencies can be used to simultaneously stimulate the rows of the touch sensor panel, and the one or more mixers in each sense channel can be configured to demodulate the signal received from the column connected to each sense channel using the one or more selected frequencies. After all steps have been completed, the demodulated signals from the one or more mixers can be used in calculations to determine an image of touch for the touch sensor panel at each of the one or more frequencies.

Claims

1. A system for obtaining a plurality of values used to generate one or more images of touch, comprising:

touch sensor circuitry including a plurality of drive lines and a plurality of sense lines; and

an integrated circuit coupled to the touch sensor circuitry, the integrated circuit comprising;

drive circuitry configured to simultaneously apply, during a first frame, a plurality of first stimulation signals to the plurality of drive lines of the touch sensor circuitry, wherein the plurality of first stimulation signals include signals having a first stimulation frequency and multiple stimulation phases; and

sense circuitry configured to receive a first sense signal from each of the plurality of sense lines of the touch sensor circuitry into one or more sense channels and configured to demodulate the first sense signals with one or more first demodulation signals, wherein the one or more first demodulation signals have a first demodulation frequency, wherein the first demodulation frequency is based on the first stimulation frequency, wherein the one or more first demodulation signals have multiple demodulation phases that are based on the multiple first stimulation phases;

wherein the drive circuitry is further configured to simultaneously apply, during a second frame, a plurality of second stimulation signals to the plurality of drive lines of the touch sensor circuitry, wherein the plurality of second stimulation signals include signals having a second stimulation frequency and multiple stimulation phases;

wherein the sense circuitry is further configured to receive a second sense signal from each of the plurality of sense lines of the touch sensor circuitry into the one or more sense channels and further configured to demodulate the second sense signals with one or more second demodulation signals, wherein the one or more second demodulation signals have a second demodulation frequency, wherein the second demodulation frequency is based on the second stimulation frequency, wherein the one or more second demodulation signals have multiple demodulation phases that are based on the multiple second stimulation phases, and wherein the first stimulation frequency is different than the second stimulation frequency.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first stimulation frequency is selected from one or more first low-noise frequencies and the second stimulation frequency is selected from one or more second low-noise frequencies.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sense circuitry is further configured to:

demodulate a combined noise signal from the plurality of sense lines when the plurality of drive lines are unstimulated with in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of one or more first frequencies during a first spectral analysis scan;

accumulate the I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more first frequencies;

calculate a magnitude of the accumulated I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more first frequencies; and

determine the one or more first low-noise frequencies by selecting frequencies whose generated magnitudes are smallest.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the sense circuitry is further configured to:

demodulate the combined noise signal from the plurality of sense lines when the plurality of drive lines are unstimulated with in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of one or more second frequencies during a second spectral analysis scan;

accumulate the I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more second frequencies;

calculate a magnitude of the accumulated I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more second frequencies; and

determine the one or more second low-noise frequencies by selecting frequencies whose generated magnitudes are smallest.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuitry comprises one or more accumulator circuits configured to accumulate demodulated sense signals to generate a plurality of values representing the accumulated demodulated sense signals for each sense channel.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising a memory configured to store the plurality of values.

7. A method for obtaining a plurality of values used to generate one or more images of touch, comprising:

simultaneously applying, during a first frame, a plurality of first stimulation signals to a plurality of drive lines of touch sensor circuitry, wherein the plurality of first stimulation signals include signals having a first stimulation frequency and multiple stimulation phases;

receiving a first sense signal from each of a plurality of sense lines of the touch sensor circuitry into one or more sense channels;

demodulating the first sense signals with one or more first demodulation signals, wherein the one or more first demodulation signals have a first demodulation frequency, wherein the first demodulation frequency is based on the first stimulation frequency, and wherein the one or more first demodulation signals have multiple demodulation phases that are based on the multiple first stimulation phases;

simultaneously applying, during a second frame, a plurality of second stimulation signals to the plurality of drive lines of the touch sensor circuitry, wherein the plurality of second stimulation signals include signals having a second stimulation frequency and multiple stimulation phases;

receiving a second sense signal from each of the plurality of sense lines of the touch sensor circuitry into the one or more sense channels; and

demodulating the second sense signals with one or more second demodulation signals, wherein the one or more second demodulation signals have a second demodulation frequency, wherein the second demodulation frequency is based on the second stimulation frequency, wherein the one or more second demodulation signals have multiple demodulation phases that are based on the multiple second stimulation phases, and wherein the first stimulation frequency is different than the second stimulation frequency.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first stimulation frequency is selected from one or more first low-noise frequencies and the second stimulation frequency is selected from one or more second low-noise frequencies.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the one or more first low-noise frequencies comprises:

demodulating a combined noise signal from the plurality of sense lines when the plurality of drive lines are unstimulated with in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of one or more first frequencies during a first spectral analysis scan;

accumulating the I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more first frequencies;

calculating a magnitude of the accumulated I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more first frequencies; and

determining the one or more first low-noise frequencies by selecting frequencies whose generated magnitudes are smallest.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the one or more second low-noise frequencies comprises:

demodulating the combined noise signal from the plurality of sense lines when the plurality of drive lines are unstimulated with in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of one or more second frequencies during a second spectral analysis scan;

accumulating the I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more second frequencies;

calculating a magnitude of the accumulated I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more second frequencies; and

determining the one or more second low-noise frequencies by selecting frequencies whose generated magnitudes are smallest.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising accumulating demodulated sense signals to generate a plurality of values representing the accumulated demodulated sense signals for each sense channel.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing the plurality of values.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions, that when executed by a processor, performs a method comprising:

simultaneously applying, during a first frame, a plurality of first stimulation signals to a plurality of drive lines of touch sensor circuitry, wherein the plurality of first stimulation signals include signals having a first stimulation frequency and multiple stimulation phases;

receiving a first sense signal from each of a plurality of sense lines of the touch sensor circuitry into one or more sense channels;

demodulating the first sense signals with one or more first demodulation signals, wherein the one or more first demodulation signals have a first demodulation frequency, wherein the first demodulation frequency is based on the first stimulation frequency, and wherein the one or more first demodulation signals have multiple demodulation phases that are based on the multiple first stimulation phases;

simultaneously applying, during a second frame, a plurality of second stimulation signals to the plurality of drive lines of the touch sensor circuitry, wherein the plurality of second stimulation signals include signals having a second stimulation frequency and multiple stimulation phases;

receiving a second sense signal from each of the plurality of sense lines of the touch sensor circuitry into the one or more sense channels; and

demodulating the second sense signals with one or more second demodulation signals, wherein the one or more second demodulation signals have a second demodulation frequency, wherein the second demodulation frequency is based on the second stimulation frequency, wherein the one or more second demodulation signals have multiple demodulation phases that are based on the multiple second stimulation phases, and wherein the first stimulation frequency is different than the second stimulation frequency.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first stimulation frequency is selected from one or more first low-noise frequencies and the second stimulation frequency is selected from one or more second low-noise frequencies.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein determining the one or more first low-noise frequencies comprises:

demodulating a combined noise signal from the plurality of sense lines when the plurality of drive lines are unstimulated with in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of one or more first frequencies during a first spectral analysis scan;

accumulating the I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more first frequencies;

calculating a magnitude of the accumulated I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more first frequencies; and

determining the one or more first low-noise frequencies by selecting frequencies whose generated magnitudes are smallest.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining the one or more second low-noise frequencies comprises:

demodulating the combined noise signal from the plurality of sense lines when the plurality of drive lines are unstimulated with in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of one or more second frequencies during a second spectral analysis scan;

accumulating the I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more second frequencies;

calculating a magnitude of the accumulated I and Q components of the demodulated noise signal for each of the one or more second frequencies; and

determining the one or more second low-noise frequencies by selecting frequencies whose generated magnitudes are smallest.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprising accumulating demodulated sense signals to generate a plurality of values representing the accumulated demodulated sense signals for each sense channel.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprising storing the plurality of values.