Method, apparatus, and system for detecting transmitter approximating or touching touch sensitive device

• US 9,785,260 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2014
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eGalax_eMPIA Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: eGalax_eMPIA Technology Inc.
• Inventors: Chang, Chin-Fu
• Primary Examiner(s): EARLES, BRYAN E
• Application Number:
  US14/537,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20150130733A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• 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 3/0442 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for transmitting changes in electrical potential to be received by the digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• 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

The present invention provides a method for detecting a transmitter approximating or touching a touch sensitive device. The transmitter transmits an electrical signal mixed by signals having a plurality of frequencies. The touch sensitive device includes a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of second electrodes and a plurality of sensing points intersected by those first and second electrodes. The method includes: calculating the signal strength of the electrical signal received by each of the first electrodes and second electrodes; and calculating a relative position between the transmitter and the touch sensitive device according to the calculated signal strengths.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a transmitter approximating or touching a touch sensitive device, the transmitter transmitting an electrical signal mixed by signals having a plurality of frequencies, the touch sensitive device including a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of second electrodes and a plurality of sensing points intersected by those first and second electrodes, the method comprising the steps of:

calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies in the electrical signal received by each of the first electrodes and second electrodes;

summing all of the calculated strengths of signals corresponding to the plurality of frequencies; and

calculating a relative position between the transmitter and the touch sensitive device according to the calculated total signal strengths.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to a particular frequency of the plurality of frequencies further includes:

mixing an in-phase signal with the received signal to generate an in-phase analog signal;

mixing an orthogonal signal with the received signal to generate an orthogonal analog signal, wherein the frequency of the in-phase signal and the orthogonal signal is the particular frequency;

performing integration on the in-phase analog signal to generate an in-phase integration signal;

performing integration on the orthogonal analog signal to generate an orthogonal integration signal; and

calculating the root mean square of the sum of the square of the in-phase integration signal and the square of the orthogonal integration signal to obtain the signal strength corresponding to the particular frequency.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to a particular frequency of the plurality of frequencies further includes:

performing analog-to-digital conversion on the received signal to produce a digital received signal;

mixing an in-phase signal with the digital received signal to generate an in-phase digital signal;

mixing an orthogonal signal with the received signal to generate an orthogonal digital signal, wherein the frequency of the in-phase signal and the orthogonal signal is the particular frequency;

performing addition integration on the in-phase digital signal to generate an in-phase integration signal;

performing addition integration on the orthogonal digital signal to generate an orthogonal integration signal; and

calculating the root mean square of the sum of the square of the in-phase integration signal and the square of the orthogonal integration signal to obtain the strength of signal corresponding to the particular frequency.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the frequency of the analog-to-digital conversion corresponds to the particular frequency.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to a particular frequency of the plurality of frequencies further includes:

performing analog-to-digital conversion on the received signal to produce a digital received signal; and

performing Fourier transform on the digital received signal to generate the signal strength corresponding to each frequency of the plurality of frequencies.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by each of the first electrodes and second electrodes further includes:

calculating the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by each first electrode;

calculating the signal strength corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies based on the electrical signal received by at least one first electrode to obtain a set of frequencies mixed by the transmitter; and

calculating the total signal strength of all the frequencies in the set of frequencies in the electrical signal received by the second electrode.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a signal strength corresponding to each frequency in the set of frequencies is greater than a threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by a particular second electrode is calculated while calculating the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by a particular first electrode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitter transmits the electrical signal according to a transmitter status, and the method further includes calculating the transmitter status based on information of the electrical signal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein calculating the transmitter status is based on one or any arbitrary combination of the following information of the electrical signal:

the signal strength of a particular frequency in the plurality of frequencies mixed by the electrical signal;

the total signal strength of the electrical signal; and

the ratio of signal strengths of a first frequency to a second frequency in the plurality of frequencies mixed by the electrical signal.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the total signal strength of the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a sensor with n possible statuses in the transmitter.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the ratio of the signal strengths of the first frequency to the second frequency mixed by the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a sensor with n possible statuses in the transmitter.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the total signal strength of the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a first sensor with n possible statuses in the transmitter, wherein the ratio of signal strengths of the first frequency to the second frequency in the plurality of frequencies mixed by the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a second sensor with m possible statuses in the transmitter.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein when the transmitter includes a plurality of sensors, the number of possible statuses of the transmitter status is the sum of the number of possible statuses of every one of the plurality of sensors.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein when the transmitter includes a plurality of sensors, the transmitter status indication is one of arbitrary combinations of every sensor'"'"'s status indication.

16. A touch processing device for detecting a transmitter approximating or touching a touch sensitive device, the transmitter transmitting an electrical signal mixed by signals having a plurality of frequencies, the touch sensitive device including a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of second electrodes and a plurality of sensing points intersected by those first and second electrodes, and the touch processing device being used for:

calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies in the electrical signal received by each of the first electrodes and second electrodes;

summing all of the calculated strengths of signals corresponding to the plurality of frequencies; and

calculating a relative position between the transmitter and the touch sensitive device according to the calculated total signal strengths.

17. The touch processing device of claim 16, further comprising a demodulator for calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to a particular frequency of the plurality of frequencies, wherein the demodulator further includes:

a signal generator for generating an in-phase signal and an orthogonal signal, wherein the frequency of the in-phase signal and the orthogonal signal is the particular frequency;

at least a mixer for mixing the in-phase signal with the received signal to generate an in-phase analog signal, and mixing the orthogonal signal with the received signal to generate an orthogonal analog signal;

at least an integrator for performing integration on the in-phase analog signal to generate an in-phase integration signal, and performing integration on the orthogonal analog signal to generate an orthogonal integration signal;

at least a squarer for calculating the square of the in-phase integration signal and the square of the orthogonal integration signal; and

at least a “

Root Mean Square (RMS) of Sum”

element for calculating the root mean square of the sum of the square of the in-phase integration signal and the square of the orthogonal integration signal to obtain the signal strength corresponding to the particular frequency.

18. The touch processing device of claim 16, further comprising a demodulator for calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to a particular frequency of the plurality of frequencies, wherein the demodulator further includes:

an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for performing analog-to-digital conversion on the received signal to produce a digital received signal;

a signal generator for generating an in-phase signal and an orthogonal signal, wherein the frequency of the in-phase signal and the orthogonal signal is the particular frequency;

at least a mixer for mixing the in-phase signal with the digital received signal to generate an in-phase digital signal, and mixing the orthogonal signal with the digital received signal to generate an orthogonal digital signal;

at least an addition integrator for performing addition integration on the in-phase digital signal to generate an in-phase integration signal, and performing integration on the orthogonal digital signal to generate an orthogonal integration signal;

at least a squarer for calculating the square of the in-phase integration signal and the square of the orthogonal integration signal; and

at least a “

Root Mean Square (RMS) of Sum”

element for calculating the root mean square of the sum of the square of the in-phase integration signal and the square of the orthogonal integration signal to obtain the signal strength corresponding to the particular frequency.

19. The touch processing device of claim 18, wherein the frequency of the analog-to-digital conversion corresponds to the particular frequency.

20. The touch processing device of claim 16, further comprising a demodulator for calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies, wherein the demodulator further includes:

an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for performing analog-to-digital conversion on the received signal to produce a digital received signal; and

a Fourier Transformer for performing Fourier Transform on the digital received signal to generate the signal strength corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies.

21. The touch processing device of claim 16, wherein the step of calculating the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by each of the first electrodes and second electrodes further includes:

calculating the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by each first electrode;

calculating the signal strength corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies based on the electrical signal received by at least one first electrode to obtain a set of frequencies mixed by the transmitter; and

calculating the total signal strength of all the frequencies in the set of frequencies in the electrical signal received by the second electrode.

22. The touch processing device of claim 21, wherein a signal strength corresponding to each frequency in the set of frequencies is greater than a threshold.

23. The touch processing device of claim 16, wherein the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by a particular second electrode is calculated while calculating the total signal strength of the electrical signal received by a particular first electrode.

24. The touch processing device of claim 16, wherein the transmitter transmits the electrical signal according to a transmitter status, and the touch processing device further includes calculating the transmitter status based on information of the electrical signal.

25. The touch processing device of claim 24, wherein calculating the transmitter status is based on one or any arbitrary combination of the following information of the electrical signal:

the signal strength of a particular frequency in the plurality of frequencies mixed by the electrical signal;

the total signal strength of the electrical signal; and

the ratio of signal strengths of a first frequency to a second frequency in the plurality of frequencies mixed by the electrical signal.

26. The touch processing device of claim 24, wherein the total signal strength of the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a sensor with n possible statuses in the transmitter.

27. The touch processing device of claim 24, wherein the ratio of the signal strengths of the first frequency to the second frequency mixed by the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a sensor with n possible statuses in the transmitter.

28. The touch processing device of claim 24, wherein the total signal strength of the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a first sensor with n possible statuses in the transmitter, wherein the ratio of signal strengths of the first frequency to the second frequency in the plurality of frequencies mixed by the electrical signal corresponds to the status of a second sensor with m possible statuses in the transmitter.

29. The touch processing device of claim 24, wherein when the transmitter includes a plurality of sensors, the number of possible statuses of the transmitter status is the sum of the number of possible statuses of every one of the plurality of sensors.

30. The touch processing device of claim 24, wherein when the transmitter includes a plurality of sensors, the transmitter status indication is one of arbitrary combinations of every sensor'"'"'s status indication.

31. A touch processing system for detecting a transmitter approximating or touching a touch sensitive device, the transmitter transmitting an electrical signal mixed by signals having a plurality of frequencies, the touch processing system comprising:

the touch sensitive device including a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of second electrodes and a plurality of sensing points intersected by those first and second electrodes; and

a touch processing device for calculating the strength of a signal corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies in the electrical signal received by each of the first electrodes and second electrodes, summing all of the calculated strengths of signals corresponding to the plurality of frequencies, and calculating a relative position between the transmitter and the touch sensitive device according to the calculated total signal strengths.