Switchable area enhancement for flexible capacitive sensing

• US 9,557,860 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2013
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Synaptics Incorporated
• Inventors: Mackey, Bob Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Pervan, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/973,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20150054752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,258 Days
• Field of Search: 178 1801- 1907, 345173-178
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention generally provide an input device having a plurality of sensor electrodes that can be configured to be scanned in a first direction or a second direction. The input device includes a set of sensor electrodes and first and second sets of buses. The first buses are oriented in a first direction and the second buses are oriented in a second direction. The input device also includes a set of switching elements that are each configured to couple one of the sensor electrodes to either a bus in the first set of buses or a bus in the second set of buses. These embodiments allow the sensor electrodes to be scanned in a variety of patterns for flexible sensing functionality.

Claims

1. An input device comprising:

a plurality of sensor electrodes;

a first plurality of buses selectively coupled to the plurality of sensor electrodes;

a second plurality of buses ohmically separated from the first plurality of buses, the second plurality of buses selectively coupled to the sensor electrodes;

a plurality of switching elements, wherein each switching element in the plurality of switching elements is paired with a sensor electrode in the plurality of sensor electrodes, and wherein a first switching element in the plurality of switching elements is operable to couple the sensor electrode to either a first bus in the first plurality of buses or a second bus in the second plurality of buses; and

a processing system coupled to the first plurality of buses and coupled to the second plurality of buses, the processing system configured to;

drive signals with one or more buses in the first plurality of buses when the one or more buses in the first plurality of buses are selectively coupled to the plurality of sensor electrodes, and

drive signals with one or more buses in the second plurality of buses when the one or more buses in the second plurality of buses are selectively coupled to the plurality of sensor electrodes.

2. The input device of claim 1, wherein the buses in the first plurality of buses are arranged in a regular pattern.

3. The input device of claim 1, wherein the pairs of switching elements and sensor electrodes are arranged in a regular pattern.

4. The input device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of switching elements are located laterally outward of the plurality of sensor electrodes.

5. The input device of claim 1, wherein each switching element comprises:

a transistor operable to selectively couple one of the buses to the paired sensor electrode.

6. The input device of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of buses and the second plurality of buses are selectively coupled to transmitter circuitry of a transmitter module of the processing system.

7. The input device of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of buses and the second plurality of buses are selectively coupled to a receiver module of the processing system.

8. The input device of claim 1, wherein the processing system further comprises:

a determining module configured to;

determine presence or lack thereof of the input object in response to driving the signals with one or more buses in the first plurality of buses, and

determine presence or lack thereof of the input object in response to driving the signals with one or more buses in the second plurality of buses.

9. The input device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

drive transmitter signals with the first plurality of buses when the first plurality of buses is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes in the plurality of sensor electrodes, and

receive resulting signals with the second plurality of buses when the second plurality of buses is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes in the plurality of sensor electrodes.

10. The input device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

drive transmitter signals with the second plurality of buses when the second plurality of buses is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes in the plurality of sensor electrodes, and

receive resulting signals with the first plurality of buses when the first plurality of buses is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes in the plurality of sensor electrodes.

11. The input device of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

drive signals with the first plurality of buses and receive signals with the first plurality of buses in response, when the first plurality of buses is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes in the plurality of sensor electrodes, and

drive signals with the second plurality of buses and receive signals with the second plurality of buses in response, when the second plurality of buses is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes in the plurality of sensor electrodes.

12. The input device of claim 1, wherein at least one switching element in the plurality of switching elements is configured to simultaneously couple a first bus of the first plurality of buses to two or more sensor electrodes of the plurality of sensor electrodes.

13. A processing system for an input device, the processing system comprising:

a coupling module comprising coupling circuitry configured to;

couple one or more sensor electrodes in a plurality of sensor electrodes to a first bus, and

couple the one or more sensor electrodes to a second bus;

a transmitter module comprising transmitter circuitry configured to;

drive first signals on the first bus when the first bus is coupled to the one or more sensor electrodes, wherein driving the first signals causes the first bus to be coupled to the one or more sensor electrodes, and

drive second signals on the second bus when the second bus is coupled to the one or more sensor electrodes wherein driving the second signals causes the second bus to be coupled to the one or more sensor electrodes; and

a determining module configured to;

determine presence or lack thereof of an input object based on signals received in response to driving signals on the first bus when the first bus is coupled to the one or more sensor electrodes; and

determine presence or lack thereof of the input object based on signals received in response to driving signals on the second bus when the second bus is coupled to the one or more sensor electrodes.

14. The processing system of claim 13, further comprising:

a receiver module configured to;

receive first resulting signals with the second bus when the first bus is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes, and

receive second resulting signals with the first bus when the second bus is coupled to one or more sensor electrodes.

15. The processing system of claim 13, wherein the transmitter module is further configured to:

receive signals with the first bus when driving the first bus with the first signals; and

receive signals with the second bus when driving the second bus with the second signals.

16. The processing system of claim 13, further comprising:

switching circuitry configured to;

couple the one or more sensor electrodes to the first bus, and

couple the one or more sensor electrodes to the second bus.

17. A method for operating an input device, the method comprising:

driving first signals on a first bus, thereby coupling to the first bus one or more sensor electrodes to define a first group of sensor electrodes;

sensing presence or lack thereof of an input object utilizing the driven first signals and the first group of sensor electrodes;

coupling to the first bus one or more sensor electrodes that include at least one sensor electrode of the first group to define a second group of sensor electrodes, the first and second groups of sensor electrodes different in one or more of number or position of the sensor electrodes; and

sensing presence or lack thereof of the input object utilizing the second group of sensor electrodes.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

sensing presence or lack thereof of the input object utilizing the first group of sensor electrodes comprises;

coupling the first bus to transmitter circuitry;

coupling a second bus to a receiver module;

driving the first bus with a transmitter signal; and

receiving resulting signals with the second bus.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein:

sensing presence or lack thereof of the input object utilizing the first group of sensor electrodes comprises;

coupling the first bus to transmitter circuitry;

driving the first bus with a signal; and

determining a capacitive coupling measurement between the first group of sensor electrodes and the input object.