Active stylus differential synchronization

• US 9,720,542 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2015
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Qiao, Tianzhu
• Primary Examiner(s): HICKS, CHARLES V
• Application Number:
  US14/817,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20170038884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04114 Touch screens adapted for alternating or simultaneous interaction with active pens and passive pointing devices like fingers or passive pens
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• 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 3/041661 using detection at multiple resolutions, e.g. coarse and fine scanning; using detection within a limited area, e.g. object tracking window
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0441 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for receiving changes in electrical potential transmitted by the digitiser, e.g. tablet driving signals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0442 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for transmitting changes in electrical potential to be received by the digitiser
• 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 touch-sensing system is disclosed. The system includes a display device having a touch sensor with a matrix of row electrodes and column electrodes. Drive logic drives the row electrodes in a plurality of stylus sync sub-frames. In each, some row electrodes, referred to for that stylus sync sub-frame as sync-driven row electrodes, are driven by the drive logic with synchronization waveforms to synchronize the display device with an active stylus. For each stylus sync sub-frame, the sync-driven row electrodes are differentially driven by the drive logic, in the sense that a synchronization waveform used to drive one of the sync-driven row electrodes is different than a synchronization waveform used to drive another of the sync-driven row electrodes.

Claims

1. A touch sensing system, comprising:

a display device including a touch sensor having a matrix of row electrodes and column electrodes;

drive logic coupled to the row electrodes and configured to drive the row electrodes during a plurality of touch-sensing frames, each of which includes a stylus sync sub-frame during which the drive logic drives at least some of the row electrodes, referred to for that stylus sync sub-frame as sync-driven row electrodes, with synchronization waveforms that are communicated electrostatically to cause synchronization of the display device with an active stylus; and

where for each of the stylus sync sub-frames, the drive logic is configured to differentially drive the sync-driven row electrodes of such stylus sync sub-frame, such that a first synchronization waveform used to drive one of the sync-driven row electrodes is different than a second synchronization waveform used to drive another of the sync-driven row electrodes.

2. The touch-sensing system of claim 1, where the drive logic is configured to, for each stylus sync sub-frame, differentially drive sync-driven row electrodes during that sub-frame such that, for a plurality of spatial groupings of sync-driven row electrodes, two or more different synchronization waveforms are used to drive the sync-driven row electrodes in the spatial grouping, the two or more different synchronization waveforms being configured to produce at least partially cancelling electrical conditions to reduce, in the event of a user'"'"'s body part touching the display device on a contact patch over the spatial grouping of sync-driven row electrodes, current flowing into the user'"'"'s body part, relative to current which would flow in the case of undifferentiated driving of the sync-driven row electrodes in the spatial grouping.

3. The touch-sensing system of claim 2, where:

the drive logic is configured, for any given one of the stylus sync sub-frames, to select from among a plurality of sets of sync-driven row electrodes and differentially drive sync-driven row electrodes in that set of sync-driven row electrodes during the stylus sync sub-frame; and

each set of sync-driven row electrodes omits some of the row electrodes of the matrix and differs from the other sets of sync-driven row electrodes.

4. The touch-sensing system of claim 3, where the sets of sync-driven row electrodes are configured such that, for any given point on the matrix, cycling through the sets causes frame-to-frame variation in a distance between such point and a closest sync-driven row electrode.

5. The touch-sensing system of claim 3, where the drive logic selects from the plurality of sets of sync-driven row electrodes based on position information associated with an active stylus.

6. The touch-sensing system of claim 5, where the drive logic switches into and out of position-based selection of the sets of sync-driven row electrodes.

7. The touch-sensing system of claim 3, where in each of the sets of sync-driven row electrodes, each sync-driven row electrode of the set is separated by a number of non-sync-driven row electrodes.

8. The touch-sensing system of claim 3, further comprising an active stylus having receive logic configured to selectively activate and deactivate multiple different receivers within the receive logic, where such selective activation/deactivation is based upon knowledge of the different sets of sync-driven row electrodes and which of such sets will be deployed by the drive logic during an upcoming stylus sync sub-frame.

9. The touch-sensing system of claim 2, where within each spatial grouping, the drive logic drives sync-driven row electrodes using synchronization waveforms of opposite polarity.

10. The touch-sensing system of claim 2, where the spatial groupings are sized based on an expected minimum size of the contact patch.

11. A touch-sensing method for a display device having a touch sensor with a matrix of row electrodes and column electrodes, comprising:

driving the row electrodes during a plurality of touch-sensing frames, each of which includes a stylus sync sub-frame; and

during each stylus sync sub-frame, driving at least some of the row electrodes, referred to for that stylus sync sub-frame as sync-driven row electrodes, with synchronization waveforms configured to be electrostatically communicated to an active stylus to synchronize the display device and the active stylus, where such driving during each stylus sync sub-frame includes differentially driving the sync-driven row electrodes of that stylus sync sub-frame, such that a first synchronization waveform used to drive one of the sync-driven row electrodes is different than a second synchronization waveform used to drive another of the sync-driven row electrodes.

12. The touch-sensing method of claim 11, where for each stylus sync sub-frame, differentially driving the sync-driven row electrodes in that stylus sync sub-frame includes, for each of a plurality of spatial groupings of sync-driven row electrodes in that stylus sync sub-frame, using two or more different synchronization waveforms to drive the sync-driven row electrodes in the spatial grouping, the two or more different synchronization waveforms being configured to produce at least partially cancelling electrical conditions to reduce, in the event of a user'"'"'s body part touching the display device on a contact patch over the spatial grouping of sync-driven row electrodes, current flowing into the user'"'"'s body part, relative to current which would flow in the case of undifferentiated driving of the sync-driven row electrodes in the spatial grouping.

13. The touch-sensing method of claim 12, where synchronization waveforms of opposite polarity are used on sync-driven row electrodes within each of the spatial groupings.

14. The touch-sensing method of claim 12, where the differential driving of the sync-driven row electrodes during each of the stylus sync sub-frame includes, for any given stylus sync sub-frame, selecting from among a plurality of sets of sync-driven row electrodes and differentially driving the sync-driven row electrodes in that set during the stylus sync sub-frame, where each set of sync-driven row electrodes omits some of the row electrodes of the matrix and differs from the other sets of sync-driven row electrodes.

15. The touch-sensing method of claim 14, where the sets of sync-driven row electrodes are configured such that, for any given point on the matrix, cycling through the sets causes frame-to-frame variation in a distance between such point and a closest sync-driven row electrode.

16. The touch-sensing method of claim 14, where selecting from among the plurality of sets includes making such selection based on position information associated with an active stylus.

17. A touch-sensing system, comprising:

a display device including a touch sensor having a matrix of row electrodes and column electrodes;

drive logic coupled to the row electrodes;

where the drive logic is configured to drive the row electrodes during a plurality of touch-sensing frames, each of which includes a stylus sync sub-frame during which the drive logic drives at least some of the row electrodes, referred to for that stylus sync sub-frame as sync-driven row electrodes, with synchronization waveforms to facilitate synchronization of the display device with an active stylus;

where the drive logic is configured, for any given one of the stylus sync sub-frames, to select from among a plurality of sets of sync-driven row electrodes and differentially drive sync-driven row electrodes in that set of sync-driven row electrodes during the stylus sync sub-frame;

where the sets of sync-driven row electrodes differ from one another in terms of which of the row electrodes are sync-driven row electrodes; and

where for each of the sets of sync-driven row electrodes, the differential driving includes, for each a plurality of spatial groupings of sync-driven row electrodes in the set, using two or more different synchronization waveforms in the spatial grouping which are configured to produce at least partially cancelling electrical conditions to reduce, in the event of a user'"'"'s body part touching the display device on a contact patch over the spatial grouping, current flowing into the user'"'"'s body part, relative to current which would flow in the case of undifferentiated driving of the sync-driven row electrodes in the spatial grouping.

18. The touch-sensing system of claim 17, where within each spatial grouping, the drive logic drives sync-driven row electrodes using synchronization waveforms of opposite polarity.

19. The touch-sensing system of claim 17, where the drive logic selects from the plurality of sets of sync-driven row electrodes based on position information associated with an active stylus.

20. The touch-sensing system of claim 17, where the sets of sync-driven row electrodes are configured such that, for any given point on the matrix, cycling through the sets causes frame-to-frame variation in a distance between such point and a closest sync-driven row electrode.