Touch sensing system and method for driving the same

• US 9,594,440 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2014
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Dongjo, Jung, Sojung
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Kumar
• Assistant Examiner(s): ONYEKABA, AMY
• Application Number:
  US14/496,921
• Publication Number:
  US 20150091856A1
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• 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 3/04166 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 3/04182 Filtering of noise external to the device and not generated by digitiser components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/046 by electromagnetic means

Abstract

A touch sensing system includes a pen including at least one resonant circuit embedded therein, XY electrodes including X electrodes and Y electrodes perpendicular to the X electrodes, an antenna surrounding the XY electrodes, and a first touch driving circuit which supplies a resonant inductive signal to the XY electrodes, decides a location of the pen based on a resonance magnitude of a resonance signal received through the antenna, and decides a pen pressure of the pen based on a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit and an adjacent frequency of the resonant frequency measured while varying a frequency of the resonant inductive signal.

Claims

1. A touch sensing system comprising:

a pen including at least one resonant circuit embedded therein;

a touch panel including X electrodes and Y electrodes perpendicular to the X electrodes;

an antenna that surrounds the X and the Y electrodes; and

a first touch driving circuit configured to supply a resonant inductive signal to the X and the Y electrodes, decide a location of the pen with respect to the touch panel based on a resonance magnitude of a resonance signal received through the antenna, and decide a pen pressure of the pen on the touch panel based on a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit and an adjacent frequency of the resonant frequency measured while varying a frequency of the resonant inductive signal.

2. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the first touch driving circuit transmits the resonant inductive signal to the pen through electric coupling and allows the resonance signal of the pen to be received by the antenna through an electromagnetic resonance path.

3. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein a resonant frequency fo of the pen and an amount P of the pen pressure of the pen are calculated by the following equations:

4. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the resonant circuit includes a first resonant circuit connected to a first tip and a second resonant circuit connected to a second tip,

wherein a resonant frequency band of the first resonant circuit is different from a resonant frequency band of the second resonant circuit.

5. The touch sensing system of claim 4, wherein the first touch driving circuit alternately supplies a first resonant inductive signal for driving the first resonant circuit and a second resonant inductive signal for driving the second resonant circuit to the X and the Y electrodes.

6. The touch sensing system of claim 5, wherein the first touch driving circuit determines locations of the first and second tips based on the resonance magnitude of the resonance signal received through the antenna,

wherein the first touch driving circuit decides a pen pressure of the first tip based on a first resonant frequency output from the first resonant circuit and an adjacent frequency of the first resonant frequency while varying a frequency of the first resonant inductive signal,

wherein the first touch driving circuit decides a pen pressure of the second tip based on a second resonant frequency output from the second resonant circuit and an adjacent frequency of the second resonant frequency while varying a frequency of the second resonant inductive signal.

7. The touch sensing system of claim 1, further comprising a second touch driving circuit configured to supply a stimulus signal to the Y electrodes and receive charges through the X electrodes in synchronization with the stimulus signal.

8. The touch sensing system of claim 1, further comprising a second touch driving circuit configured to supply a stimulus signal to the X electrodes and the Y electrodes and receive charges through the X electrodes and the Y electrodes in synchronization with the stimulus signal.

9. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the antenna comprises a single antenna surrounding the X and the Y electrodes.

10. The touch sensing system of claim 9, wherein the first touch driving circuit includes:

an analog signal processing unit configured to amplify an analog resonance signal received through the antenna, extract a frequency band of the resonance signal of the pen, and output a digital resonance signal;

a Tx driver configured to generate the resonant inductive signal of the pen and sequentially supply the resonant inductive signal to the X and the Y electrodes;

a digital demodulator configured to extract a real part and an imaginary part from the digital resonance signal of the pen and output a result of accumulating each of the real part and the imaginary part n times, where n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2; and

a location and pen pressure decision unit configured to calculate a root mean square (RMS) value of data input from the digital demodulator and decide a magnitude and a resonant frequency of the resonance signal.

11. The touch sensing system of claim 10, wherein the analog signal processing unit includes:

an amplifier configured to amplify the analog resonance signal received through the antenna;

a band pass filter configured to cut off a frequency band excluding a resonant frequency of the pen from an output of the amplifier; and

an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert an output of the band pass filter into the digital resonance signal.

12. The touch sensing system of claim 11, wherein the digital demodulator includes:

a first oscillator configured to output a first oscillating signal, of which a frequency and a phase are the same as the resonance signal of the pen received through the antenna;

a first multiplier configured to multiply the first oscillating signal by the resonance signal of the pen received through the antenna and output a multiplication result;

a first low pass filter configured to remove a high frequency noise from an output of the first multiplier;

a first integrator configured to add data input from the first low pass filter n times and supply an addition result to the location and pen pressure decision unit;

a second oscillator configured to output a second oscillating signal, which has the same frequency as the resonance signal of the pen received through the antenna and a phase delayed from the resonance signal by 90°

;

a second multiplier configured to multiply the second oscillating signal by the resonance signal of the pen received through the antenna and output a multiplication result;

a second low pass filter configured to remove a high frequency noise from an output of the second multiplier; and

a second integrator configured to add data input from the second low pass filter n times and supply an addition result to the location and pen pressure decision unit.

13. The touch sensing system of claim 1, wherein the pen operates independent of separate electric power.

14. The touch sensing system of claim 13, wherein the resonant circuit of the pen includes an inductor and a capacitor,

wherein the inductor includes a first coil wound on a ferrite core, a second coil wound on a guide core, and a spring positioned between the ferrite core and the guide core,

wherein the first and second coils are connected in series to each other.

15. A method for driving a touch sensing system including a pen including at least one resonant circuit embedded therein, a touch panel including X electrodes and Y electrodes perpendicular to the X electrodes, and an antenna surrounding the X and the Y electrodes, the method comprising:

deciding a location of the pen with respect to the touch panel based on a resonance magnitude of a resonance signal received through the antenna; and

deciding a pen pressure of the pen on the touch panel based on a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit and an adjacent frequency of the resonant frequency measured while varying a frequency of a resonant inductive signal.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting the resonant inductive signal to the pen through electric coupling; and

allowing a resonance signal of the pen to be received by the antenna through an electromagnetic resonance path.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein a resonant frequency fo of the pen and an amount P of the pen pressure of the pen are calculated by the following equations:

18. A user interface comprising:

a display;

a touch sensing system comprising;

a pen including a resonant circuit embedded therein;

a touch panel including X electrodes and Y electrodes perpendicular to the X electrodes;

an antenna that surrounds the X and the Y electrodes; and

a first touch driving circuit configured to supply a resonant inductive signal to the X and the Y electrodes, decide a location of the pen with respect to the touch panel based on a resonance magnitude of a resonance signal received through the antenna, and decide a pen pressure of the pen on the touch panel based on a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit and an adjacent frequency of the resonant frequency measured while varying a frequency of the resonant inductive signal;

a processor and memory configured to analyze a received signal of the antenna to estimate a location and a pen pressure of the pen on the display.