Capacitance measurement device with reduced noise

• US 10,444,892 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2016
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microchip Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microchip Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Portmann, Lionel
• Primary Examiner(s): Jansen, II, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US15/286,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20170102815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 1/146 for measuring force distributions, e.g. using force arrays G01L1/148 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• 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: H03K 17/955 using a capacitive detector
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/962 Capacitive touch switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960705 Safety of capacitive touch and proximity switches, e.g. increasing reliability, fail-safe
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960775 Emitter-receiver or "fringe" type detection, i.e. one or more field emitting electrodes and corresponding one or more receiving electrodes

Abstract

A method or sensor arrangement for providing capacitive sensor detection with at least one capacitive sensor comprises a transmitting electrode and a receiving electrode. A stimulus at the transmitting electrode is generated and a signal is received from the receiving electrode and data packets are generated, each packet comprising a plurality of samples. The plurality of samples are weighted by providing less gain at a beginning and end of each packet with respect to a center of each packet; and the weighted samples are integrated to generate an output signal for each packet.

Claims

1. A method for providing projective capacitive sensor detection with one or more capacitive sensors comprising a transmitting electrode and a receiving electrode, the method comprising:

generating a stimulus signal by a signal generator and feeding the stimulus to the transmitting electrode, wherein the stimulus has a stimulus start and a stimulus end,

while the stimulus signal is transmitted from the transmitting electrode to the receiving electrode, discharging the receiving electrode for a predetermined time interval before each rising edge of the stimulus and charging the receiving electrode for a predetermined time interval before each failing edge of the stimulus signal thereby generating pairs of modulated samples by a sampling circuit and converting the samples by an analog-to-digital converter;

demodulating the samples and forming data packets, each data packet comprising a plurality of digital samples generated during a sample period having a beginning time corresponding with the stimulus start and an ending time corresponding with the stimulus end;

for each data packet, applying a weighting factor to each of the plurality of digital samples in the respective data packet by providing less gain for digital samples near (a) the beginning time of the sample period and (b) the ending time of the sample period, as compared with digital samples near a center of the respective data packet; and

integrating the weighted digital samples to generate a single output value for each data packet.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the stimulus signal comprises a sequence of pulses.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein each pulse alternates between ground and a supply voltage.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a gain distribution is symmetrical with respect to the center of each data packet and a gain distribution curve is selected from a group of gain curves consisting of a Gaussian curve, a Hamming window, a Hanning window, and a Blackman window.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charging and discharging is performed by a first switch coupling the receiving electrode with a supply voltage and a second switch coupling the receiving electrode with ground, respectively.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a sampling switch within the sampling circuit is controlled to couple the receiving electrode with a sampling capacitor, wherein in a sampling cycle for generating a pair of modulated samples, the method comprises:

coupling the receiving electrode with ground through said second switch for a first time interval while the sampling switch is closed;

during a second time interval, applying a positive stimulus at the transmitting electrode while the first and second switches are open;

opening said sampling switch and acquiring a first digital sample;

while the stimulus is positive and the sampling switch is open, coupling the receiving electrode with the supply voltage through said first switch for a third time interval;

during the third time interval, closing the sampling switch and during a fourth time interval driving the stimulus to ground at the transmitting electrode while the first and second switches are open;

opening said sampling switch and acquiring a second digital sample.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the capacitive sensor is a touch sensor.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of touch sensors are arranged in a matrix comprising columns and rows and data packets of samples are sampled in parallel from each column or row.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of touch sensors are arranged in a matrix comprising columns and rows and data packets of samples of different columns/rows are sampled sequentially using multiplexing.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of touch sensors are formed by horizontal and vertical electrodes arranged in a matrix.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of touch sensors are arranged in a matrix and wherein horizontal and vertical electrodes of the matrix are arranged in different layers.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein four receiving electrodes are associated with the transmitting electrode and form a three-dimensional position detection sensor.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the four receiving electrodes are arranged in a frame-like fashion.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the four receiving electrodes surround a display or a touchpad sensor.

15. A sensor arrangement with at least one capacitive sensor comprising:

a generator configured to generate a stimulus signal having a stimulus start and a stimulus end;

a transmitting electrode configured to receive the stimulus signal,

a receiving electrode capacitively coupled with the transmitting electrode and configured to receive a signal from the transmitting electrode,

a charge circuit coupled with the receiving electrode and configured to discharge the receiving electrode for a predetermined time interval before each rising edge of the stimulus and to charge the receiving electrode for a predetermining time interval before each falling edge of the stimulus signal to generate pairs of modulated samples by a sampling circuit;

an analog-to-digital converter coupled with the sampling circuit and configured to convert the pairs of modulated samples to subsequent digital samples; and

an post processing circuit coupled with the analog-to-digital converter and configured to demodulate a plurality of subsequent digital samples in a data packet, each data packet comprising a plurality of pairs of modulated digital samples generated during a sample period having a beginning time corresponding with stimulus start and an ending time corresponding with stimulus end,

wherein the plurality of digital samples in each data packet are weighted by providing less gain for digital samples near (a) the beginning time of the sample period and (b) the ending time of the sample period, as compared with samples near a center of the respective data packet, and

wherein the post-processing circuit is further configured to integrate the weighted digital samples to generate a single output signal for each data packet.

16. The sensor arrangement according to claim 15, wherein the stimulus signal comprises a sequence of pulses.

17. The sensor arrangement according to claim 16, wherein each pulse alternates between ground and a supply voltage.

18. The sensor arrangement according to claim 15, wherein a gain distribution is symmetrical with respect to the center of each data packet and a gain distribution curve is selected from a group of gain curves consisting of a Gaussian curve, a Hamming window, a Hanning window, and a Blackman window.

19. The sensor arrangement according to claim 15, wherein a plurality of touch sensors are arranged in a matrix comprising columns and rows and data packets of samples are sampled in parallel from each column or row.

20. The sensor arrangement according to claim 15, wherein the capacitive sensor is a touch sensor.

21. The sensor arrangement according to claim 20, wherein a plurality of touch sensors are arranged in a matrix comprising columns and rows and data packets of samples of different columns/rows are sampled sequentially using multiplexing.

22. The sensor arrangement according to claim 20, wherein a plurality of touch sensors are formed by horizontal and vertical electrodes arranged in a matrix.

23. The sensor arrangement according to claim 20, comprising a plurality of touch sensors are arranged in a matrix and wherein horizontal and vertical electrodes of the matrix are arranged in different layers.

24. The sensor arrangement according to claim 15, wherein four receiving electrodes are associated with the transmitting electrode and form a three-dimensional position detection sensor.

25. The sensor arrangement according to claim 24, wherein the four receiving electrodes are arranged in a frame-like fashion.

26. The sensor arrangement according to claim 25, wherein the four receiving electrodes surround a display or a touchpad sensor.

27. The sensor arrangement according to claim 15, wherein the charge circuit comprises a first switch coupling the receiving electrode with a supply voltage and a second switch coupling the receiving electrode with ground.

28. The sensor arrangement according to claim 27, wherein the sampling circuit comprises a sampling switch controlled to couple the receiving electrode with a sampling capacitor, wherein in a sampling cycle for generating a pair of modulated samples, the sensor arrangement is configured to:

couple the receiving electrode with ground through said second switch for a first time interval while the sampling switch is closed;

drive, during a second time interval, the transmitting electrode to a positive level while the first and second switches are controlled to be open;

open said sampling switch and to acquire a first digital sample;

couple, while the stimulus is positive and the sampling switch is open, the receiving electrode with the supply voltage through said first switch for a third time interval;

close, during the third time interval, the sampling switch and during a fourth time interval drive the stimulus to ground at the transmitting electrode while the first and second switches are controlled to be open;

open said sampling switch and to acquire a second digital sample.