Digitiser

• US 9,639,217 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2012
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alterix Limited
• Original Assignee: Alterix Limited
• Inventors: Zhitomirskiy, Victor
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Kumar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sadio, Insa
• Application Number:
  US14/237,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20150035794A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,649 Days
• 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 3/0445 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

A digitiser includes a grid of conductors having excitation conductors and detection conductors. Excitation circuitry applies excitation signals to selected excitation conductors; measurement circuitry obtains measurements from selected detection conductors; and processing circuitry processes measurements obtained by the measurement circuitry to detect one or more objects positioned adjacent the grid of conductors. The excitation circuitry may be arranged to operate in a cyclic manner to select each of the excitation conductors during an excitation cycle, wherein an excitation cycle includes a sequence of excitation intervals during each of which a different pair of neighboring excitation conductors is selected by the excitation circuitry and to which complementary excitation signals are applied. The excitation circuitry is arranged to polarity modulate each excitation signal using a polarity control signal so that the polarity of the excitation signal applied to a selected conductor changes during a time that the excitation conductor is selected.

Claims

1. A digitiser comprising:

a grid of conductors having a plurality of excitation conductors and a plurality of detection conductors;

excitation circuitry for applying excitation signals to selected excitation conductors;

measurement circuitry for obtaining measurements of signals obtained from selected detection conductors;

an analog to digital converter for converting analog measurements obtained by the measurement circuitry into digital measurement values;

a memory for storing the digital measurement values; and

processing circuitry for processing digital measurement values stored in the memory to detect one or more objects positioned adjacent the grid of conductors;

wherein the digital measurement values stored in the memory comprise digital differential measurement values and wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to;

process the digital differential measurement values stored in the memory to identify one or more possible areas of touch and, for each possible area of touch, a first start point and a first end point for the possible area of touch;

generate digital integrated measurement values by combining digital differential measurement values using the identified first start point and the first end point to restrict the integration of the digital differential measurement values to the digital differential measurement values from the identified first start point to the identified first end point;

process the digital integrated measurement values to identify one or more possible areas of touch, and for each possible area of touch, a second start point and a second end point for the possible area of touch; and

generate digital double integrated measurement values by combining digital integrated measurement values using the identified second start point and the second end point to restrict the combining of the digital integrated measurement values to the digital integrated measurement values from the identified second start point to the identified second end point.

2. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to combine digital differential measurement values by adding or subtracting digital differential measurement values from each other.

3. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to generate digital integrated measurement values by using digital measurement values obtained from adjacent excitation intervals or from adjacent detection intervals.

4. A digitiser according to claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to generate digital integrated measurement values by weighting a digital measurement value obtained in one excitation interval and adding or subtracting the weighted digital measurement value with an integrated value obtained for a previous excitation interval, the weighting being such as to compensate for transients in the measurement circuitry caused by measurement signals from the previous excitation interval.

5. A digitiser according to claim 3, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to generate digital integrated measurement values by weighting a digital measurement value obtained in one detection interval and adding or subtracting the weighted digital measurement value with an integrated measurement value obtained for a previous detection interval, the weighting being such as to compensate for transients in the measurement circuitry caused by measurement signals from the previous detection interval.

6. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to identify possible areas of touch by identifying when the digital differential measurement values exceed a threshold level.

7. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to identify the first start point and the first end point by identifying a positive peak and an associated negative peak in the digital differential measurement values stored in said memory and by selecting a start point and an end point such that the identified positive peak and the identified negative peak are between the first start point and the first end point.

8. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to combine at least some of the digital differential measurement values to generate integrated measurement values relating to the mutual capacitive coupling between individual excitation conductors and individual detection conductors.

9. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to use one of the first start point and the first end point for an area of possible touch to determine a first boundary condition for the integration and is arranged to use the other one of the start point and the end point to determine a correction to be applied to the integrated measurement values.

10. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the digital measurement values are stored in a two dimensional array within said memory, with successive measurements in one dimension of the array corresponding to measurements obtained from adjacent excitation intervals and with successive measurements in the other dimension of the array corresponding to measurements obtained from adjacent detection intervals.

11. A digitiser according to claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to generate digital integrated measurement values by combining the digital measurement values along one or both the first dimension and the second dimension.

12. A digitiser according to claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to re-order the data in the two dimensional array so that the position of each measurement value in the two dimensional array corresponds to a position of a crossover point between an excitation conductor and a detection conductor, in the grid of conductors.

13. A digitiser according to claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to re-order the digital integrated measurement values in the two dimensional array after generating digital integrated measurement values.

14. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to subtract a respective background measurement value from each digital differential measurement value prior to performing said generating digital integrated measurement values.

15. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the measurement circuitry comprises a plurality of detection switching blocks, each arranged to select a subset of detection conductors, wherein one or more of the detection switching blocks share at least one detection conductor with another detection switching block and wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to combine the digital measurement values obtained from the detection switching blocks prior to performing said generating digital integrated measurement values.

16. A digitiser according to claim 15, wherein the combining comprises adding or subtracting data values obtained by different detection switching blocks from the shared detection conductor.

17. A digitiser according to claim 15, wherein each detection switching block is arranged to provide double differential measurements and at least one single differential measurement and wherein the integration is initiated using the single differential measurement.

18. A digitiser according to claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is is arranged to generate digital integrated measurement values separately for the digital measurement values obtained from each detection switching block.

19. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the measurements obtained from the digitiser comprise double differential measurements and single differential measurements distributed amongst the double differential measurements and wherein the generating digital integrated measurement values is seeded using the single differential measurements.

20. A digitiser according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to re-order the digital integrated measurement values prior to processing the digital integrated measurement values to identify one or more areas of possible touch.

21. A digitizing method comprising:

providing a grid of conductors comprising a plurality of excitation conductors and a plurality of detection conductors;

applying excitation signals to selected excitation conductors;

obtaining measurements from selected detection conductors;

an analog to digital converting the obtained measurements to generate digital measurement values;

storing the generated digital measurement values in a memory; and

processing the digital measurement values stored in the memory to detect one or more objects positioned adjacent the grid of conductors;

wherein the digital measurement values stored in the memory comprise digital differential measurement values and wherein the processing includes;

processing the digital differential measurement values to identify one or more possible areas of touch and, for each possible area of touch, a first start point and a first end point for the possible area of touch;

generating digital integrated measurement values by combining the digital integrated measurement values using the identified first start point and the first end point to restrict the combining of the digital integrated measurement values to the digital integrated measurement values from the identified first start point to the identified first end point;

processing the digital integrated measurement values to identify one or more possible areas of touch, and for each possible area of touch, a second start point and a second end point for the possible area of touch; and

generating digital integrated measurement values by combining the digital integrated measurement values using the identified second start point and the second end point to restrict the combining of the digital integrated measurement values to the digital integrated measurement values from the identified second start point to the identified second end point.

22. A digitiser comprising:

a grid of conductors having a plurality of excitation conductors and a plurality of detection conductors;

excitation circuitry for applying excitation signals to selected excitation conductors;

measurement circuitry for obtaining measurements of signals obtained from selected detection conductors;

an analog to digital converter for converting analog measurements obtained by the measurement circuitry into digital measurement values;

a memory for storing the digital measurement values; and

processing circuitry for processing digital measurement values stored in the memory to detect one or more objects positioned adjacent the grid of conductors;

wherein the digital measurement values stored in the memory comprise digital differential measurement values and wherein the processing circuitry is arranged to;

process the digital differential measurement values to identify a plurality of possible areas of touch;

combine two or more neighboring possible areas of touch depending on analysis results obtained by analyzing the digital differential measurement values within the two or more neighboring possible areas of touch;

identify, for each possible area of touch including any combined possible areas of touch, a respective start point and an end point; and

generate integrated digital differential measurement values using the identified start point and the identified end point to restrict combining of the digital differential measurement values to the digital differential measurement values from the identified start point to the identified end point.