Touchscreen interference suppression method and apparatus, and terminal device

• US 10,459,572 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2014
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Device Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Di, Wei, Zou, Jie, Yang, Yang, Wang, Tianpeng
• Primary Examiner(s): Mistry, Ram A
• Application Number:
  US15/113,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20160349920A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,102 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• 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

Abstract

This application provides a touchscreen interference suppression method and apparatus, and a terminal device. In the method, when a touchscreen is in an untouched state, whether a wideband interference signal exists in the touchscreen is detected; and when the wideband interference signal exists, a detection bandwidth of a filter unit is reduced.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting whether a wideband interference signal exists in a received signal on a receive electrode of a touchscreen, wherein the touchscreen is in an untouched state while detecting whether the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal;

in response to detecting that the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode, reducing a detection bandwidth of a band-pass filter from a first detection bandwidth to a second detection bandwidth, wherein the second detection bandwidth is determined according to a current operating frequency of the touchscreen and a frequency range of the detected wideband interference signal, and wherein the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter is a bandwidth that the band-pass filter will allow to pass, and the band-pass filter is configured to filter out other signals having frequencies that are outside of the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter; and

determining whether a touch action exists in another received signal, wherein the another received signal has been filtered by the band-pass filter using the second detection bandwidth.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting whether the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal comprises:

detecting whether an interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen, wherein the touchscreen is in the untouched state during the detection of the interference signal in the received signal; and

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency, detecting whether the interference signal exists in the received signal on a next preset operating frequency of the touchscreen; and

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on all preset operating frequencies of the touchscreen, determining that the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode of the touchscreen.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on some preset operating frequencies of the touchscreen, determining that a narrowband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode; and

adjusting the current operating frequency of the touchscreen to a preset operating frequency on which the interference signal does not exist.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

after adjusting the current operating frequency of the touchscreen to the preset operating frequency on which the interference signal does not exist, setting the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter to the first detection bandwidth.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein detecting whether the interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen comprises:

detecting whether a fluctuation amplitude of the received signal on the receive electrode of the touchscreen is less than a touch threshold determining value;

in response to detecting that the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is less than the touch threshold determining value, determining that the touchscreen is in the untouched state;

detecting whether the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal on the receive electrode on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen is not less than a first threshold; and

in response to detecting that the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is not less than the first threshold, determining that the interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein detecting whether the interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen comprises:

detecting whether a fluctuation amplitude of the received signal on the receive electrode on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen is less than a touch threshold determining value;

in response to detecting that the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is not less than the touch threshold determining value, determining whether a quantity of areas, on the touchscreen, in which the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is not less than the touch threshold determining value exceeds a preset quantity; and

in response to the quantity of areas, on the touchscreen, in which the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is not less than the touch threshold determining value exceeding the preset quantity, determining that the interference signal exists in the received signal.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on all preset operating frequencies of the touchscreen, adjusting the current operating frequency of the touchscreen to a preset operating frequency on which the interference signal is weakest.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the interference signal does not exist in the received signal on the current operating frequency, setting the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter to the first detection bandwidth.

9. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the interference signal does not exist in the received signal on the next preset operating frequency of the touchscreen;

adjusting the current operating frequency of the touchscreen to the next preset operating frequency of the touchscreen; and

setting the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter to the first detection bandwidth.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein reducing the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter comprises adjusting the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter using a linear time-invariant system and a variable bandwidth frequency characteristic.

11. A terminal device, comprising:

a touchscreen;

a pulse generation circuit;

an amplifier;

an analog-to-digital converter; and

a processor;

wherein an output end of the pulse generation circuit is connected to a drive electrode of the touchscreen, an input end of the amplifier is connected to a receive electrode of the touchscreen, an input end of the analog-to-digital converter is connected to an output end of the amplifier, and an output end of the analog-to-digital converter is connected to the processor;

wherein the pulse generation circuit is configured to generate a pulse signal required for the touchscreen to operate, and send out the pulse signal by using the drive electrode of the touchscreen;

wherein the receive electrode of the touchscreen is configured to receive a received signal, the received signal comprising the pulse signal;

wherein the amplifier is configured to amplify the received signal;

wherein the analog-to-digital converter is configured to perform analog-to-digital conversion on the received signal; and

wherein the processor is configured to;

detect whether a wideband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode, wherein the touchscreen is in an untouched state while detecting whether the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal;

in response to detecting that the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode, reduce a detection bandwidth of a band-pass filter from a first detection bandwidth to a second detection bandwidth, wherein the second detection bandwidth is determined according to a current operating frequency of the touchscreen and a frequency range of the detected wideband interference signal, and wherein the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter is a bandwidth that the band-pass filter will allow to pass, and the band-pass filter is configured to filter out other signals having frequencies that are outside of the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter; and

determine whether a touch action exists in another received signal, wherein the another received signal has been filtered by the band-pass filter using the second detection bandwidth.

12. The terminal device according to claim 11, wherein the pulse generation circuit, the amplifier, the analog-to-digital converter, and the processor are integrated in one chip.

13. The terminal device according to claim 11, wherein the processor is a central processing unit (CPU) or a controller.

14. The terminal device according to claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

detect whether an interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen, wherein the touchscreen is in the untouched state while detecting whether the interference signal exists in the received signal;

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency, detect whether the interference signal exists in the received signal on a next preset operating frequency of the touchscreen; and

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on all preset operating frequencies of the touchscreen, determine that the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode of the touchscreen.

15. The terminal device according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

detect, at the current operating frequency of the touchscreen, whether a fluctuation amplitude of the received signal on the receive electrode of the touchscreen is less than a touch threshold determining value, wherein the touchscreen is in the untouched state while detecting whether the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal on the receive electrode of the touchscreen is less than the touch threshold determining value;

in response to detecting that the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is not less than the touch threshold determining value, determine whether a quantity of areas, on the touchscreen, in which the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is not less than the touch threshold determining value exceeds a preset quantity; and

in response to the quantity of areas, on the touchscreen, in which the fluctuation amplitude of the received signal is not less than the touch threshold determining value exceeding the preset quantity, determine that the interference signal exists in the received signal.

16. The terminal device according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

in response to detecting that the interference signal does not exist in the received signal on the current operating frequency, set the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter to the first detection bandwidth.

17. The terminal device according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on some preset operating frequencies of the touchscreen, determine that a narrowband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode; and

adjust the current operating frequency of the touchscreen to a preset operating frequency on which the interference signal does not exist.

18. The terminal device according to claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to:

after adjusting the current operating frequency of the touchscreen to the preset operating frequency on which the interference signal does not exist, set the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter to the first detection bandwidth.

19. The terminal device according to claim 11, wherein the terminal device is a mobile phone with a touchscreen or a tablet.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by a processor, the program including instructions for:

detecting whether a wideband interference signal exists in a received signal on a receive electrode of a touchscreen, wherein the touchscreen is in an untouched state while detecting whether the wideband interference signal exists in a received signal;

in response to detecting that the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode, reducing a detection bandwidth of a band-pass filter from a first detection bandwidth to a second detection bandwidth, wherein the second detection bandwidth is determined according to a current operating frequency of the touchscreen and a frequency range of the detected wideband interference signal, wherein the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter is a bandwidth that the band-pass filter will allow to pass, and the band-pass filter is configured to filter out other signals having frequencies that are outside of the detection bandwidth of the band-pass filter; and

determining whether a touch action exists in another received signal, wherein the another received signal has been filtered by the band-pass filter using the second detection bandwidth.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the program further includes instructions for:

detecting whether an interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency of the touchscreen, wherein the touchscreen is in the untouched state while detecting whether the interference signal exists in the received signal;

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on the current operating frequency, detecting whether the interference signal exists in the received signal on a next preset operating frequency of the touchscreen; and

in response to detecting that the interference signal exists in the received signal on all preset operating frequencies of the touchscreen, determining that the wideband interference signal exists in the received signal on the receive electrode of the touchscreen.