Electronic apparatus and method for detecting status of keys thereof

• US 9,684,383 B1
• Filed: 04/27/2016
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ite Tech (ITE Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Ite Tech (ITE Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hou, Ching-Min, Tsai, An-Chi, Huang, Tzu-I
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Hirdepal
• Application Number:
  US15/139,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20170168588A1
• Time in Patent Office: 419 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/023 Arrangements for converting discrete items of information into a coded form, e.g. arrangements for interpreting keyboard generated codes as alphanumeric codes, operand codes or instruction codes
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 11/20 Dynamic coding, i.e. by key scanning H03M11/26 takes precedence

Abstract

An electronic apparatus and a method for detecting status of keys thereof are provided. The electronic apparatus comprises a key module, a key control circuit, a conversion circuit with calibration mechanism and a processor. The key control circuit detects whether any of keys in the key module is pressed. If the detection result is affirmative, the press status of each of the keys is scanned by the key control circuit to obtain a coarse scan result. The conversion circuit with calibration mechanism is configured to perform the other system function of the electronic apparatus. When the processor determines that at least one of the keys is not pressed according the coarse scan result, the conversion circuit with calibration mechanism is switched to assist a re-scan operation of the press status of the at least one of the keys.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

a key module, comprising a plurality of keys, at least one first line and at least one second line, wherein the at least one first line and the at least one second line are coupled to the keys to drive the keys or sense the keys;

a key control circuit, coupled to the at least one first line and the at least one second line, wherein the key control circuit detects whether any one of the keys is pressed, if a detection result is affirmative, the key control circuit scans a press status of each of the keys, and accordingly, obtains a coarse scan result;

a conversion circuit having calibration mechanism, comprising a switch circuit, wherein the switch circuit is coupled to a first circuit to receive a first sensing signal, coupled to the key control circuit to receive at least one second sensing signal on the at least one second line through the key control circuit, and controlled by a switch signal to pre-select the first sensing signal as an analog signal, wherein the conversion circuit having the calibration mechanism performs a conversion on the analog signal to generate a first result; and

a processor, coupled to the key control circuit and the conversion circuit having the calibration mechanism, wherein the processor executes a system function corresponding to the first sensing signal according to the first result,

wherein, when the processor determines that at least one of the keys is not pressed according to the coarse scan result, the processor generates the switch signal to cause the switch circuit to select one of the at least one second sensing signal as the analog signal, so that the conversion circuit having the calibration mechanism performs the conversion on the analog signal to generate a second result, and the processor re-determines the press status of the at least one of the keys according to the second result.

2. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein, in a first scan stage, the key control circuit sequentially selects one of the at least one first line, and parallelly scans the press status of each of the keys on the selected first line through the at least one second line, so as to generate the coarse scan result.

3. The electronic apparatus of claim 2, wherein, in a detection stage, the key control circuit parallelly drives the at least one first line to an identical potential, and parallelly detects whether any one of the keys is pressed as a detection result through the at least one second line,

wherein, the key control circuit determines whether any one of the keys is pressed according to the detection result in the detection stage, if a determination result is affirmative, then the key control circuit enters into the first scan stage.

4. The electronic apparatus of claim 3, wherein the key control circuit comprising:

at least one comparator circuit, coupled to the at least one second line and the processor; and

a main control circuit, coupled to the at least one first line and the processor, wherein;

the main control circuit parallelly drives the at least one first line to a first potential in the detection stage, and the at least one comparator circuit compares a voltage of the at least one second line with a comparison voltage to generate the detection result; and

the main control circuit sequentially selects one of the at least one first line in the first scan stage, the main control circuit drives the selected one of the at least one first line to the first potential and drives other of the at least one first line to a second potential, and the at least one comparator circuit compares a voltage of the at least one second line with the comparison voltage to generate the coarse scan result.

5. The electronic apparatus of claim 2, wherein, in the first scan stage, when the processor determines that the at least one of the keys is not pressed according to the coarse scan result, the processor enters into a second scan stage, drives the first line corresponding to the key not pressed to a first potential and other of the at least one first line to a second potential through the key control circuit, the processor generates the switch signal to cause the switch circuit to select the second sensing signal of the second line corresponding to the key not pressed as the analog signal, so that the conversion circuit having the calibration mechanism performs the conversion to the analog signal to generate the second result, the processor compares the second result and a threshold value to re-determine the press status of the key not pressed.

6. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conversion circuit having the calibration mechanism further comprises:

an analog-to-digital converter, coupled to the switch circuit to receive the analog signal, performing an analog-to-digital conversion to the analog signal to generate the first result or the second result, wherein the analog-to-digital converter has calibration mechanism.

7. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first circuit comprises a temperature sensor or a power measurement circuit, and the processor executes a temperature control function or a power monitor function of the system function according to the first result.

8. A method for detecting a status of keys, configured for a key module of an electronic apparatus, the method comprising:

in a detection stage, detecting whether any one of a plurality of keys in the key module is pressed by a key control circuit of the electronic apparatus, if a detection result is affirmative, entering a first scan stage;

in the first scan stage, detecting a press status of each of the keys, by the key control circuit, and accordingly, obtaining a coarse scan result;

in the first scan stage, determining whether at least one of the keys is not pressed according to the coarse scan result by a processor of the electronic apparatus, if a determination result indicating that at least one of the keys is not pressed, entering into a second scan stage;

in the second scan stage, generating a switch signal by the processor, causing a switch circuit in a conversion circuit having calibration mechanism of the electronic apparatus to be switched to select corresponding one of at least one second sensing signal from the key module as an analog signal, and performing a conversion to the analog signal by the conversion circuit having calibration mechanism, so as to generate a second result;

in the second scan stage, re-determining the press status of the at least one of the keys according to the second result;

after the re-determination of the press status of the at least one of the keys is completed, generating the switch signal by the processor, so as to cause the switch circuit to be switched back to select a first sensing signal from a first circuit as the analog signal, performing the conversion to the analog signal to generate a first result by the conversion circuit having the calibration mechanism, and executing a system function corresponding to the first sensing signal according to the first result by the processor.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, in the detection stage, the step of detecting whether any one of a plurality of keys in the key module is pressed by a key control circuit of the electronic apparatus comprises:

parallelly driving at least one first line of the key module to an identical potential by the key control circuit, and parallelly detecting whether any one of the keys is pressed as a detection result through at least one second line of the key module; and

determining whether any one of the keys is pressed according to the detection result by the key control circuit.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein in the first scan stage, the step of detecting a press status of each of the keys, by the key control circuit, and accordingly, obtaining a coarse scan result comprises:

sequentially selecting one of at least one first line of the key module according to the detection result by the key control circuit; and

parallelly scanning the press status of each key of the selected first line by the key control circuit and at least one second line of the key module, so as to generate the coarse scan result, wherein at least one key corresponding to the selected first line is pressed.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein in the first scan stage, the step of detecting a press status of each of the keys, by the key control circuit, and accordingly, obtaining a coarse scan result comprises:

sequentially selecting one of at least one first line of the key module by the key control circuit; and

parallelly scanning the press status of each key of the selected first line by the key control circuit and at least one second line of the key module, so as to generate the coarse scan result.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein, in the second scan stage, the step of generating a switch signal by the processor, causing a switch circuit in the a conversion circuit having calibration mechanism to be switched to select corresponding one of at least one second sensing signal from the key module as an analog signal, and performing a conversion to the analog signal by the conversion circuit having calibration mechanism, so as to generate a second result comprises:

driving a first line corresponding to the key not being pressed in the key module to a first potential by the key control circuit, and driving other first line of the key module to a second potential;

generating the switch signal by the processor, so as to cause the switch circuit to be switched and select the corresponding second sensing signal as the analog signal, wherein the corresponding second sensing signal corresponds to a second line of the key not being pressed in the key module; and

performing an analog-to-digital conversion to the analog signal to generate the second result by an analog-to-digital converter in the conversion circuit having calibration mechanism,

wherein the analog-to-digital converter has calibration mechanism.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein, in the second scan stage, the step of re-determining the press status of the at least one of the keys according to the second result comprises:

comparing the second result and a threshold value to re-determine the press status of the at least one of the keys by the processor.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the system function comprises a temperature control function or a power monitor function.