TOUCH SENSING APPARATUS AND SENSING SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20100039396A1
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Inventors: Hsu, Yu-Min, Wang, Chih-Sung, Ho, Chen-Hsiang
• Granted Patent: US 8,537,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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

Abstract

A touch sensing apparatus for accelerating a sensing signal processing operation is provided. The touch sensing apparatus includes a plurality of sets of horizontal sensing lines, a plurality of sets of vertical sensing lines, a plurality of processing circuits, and a plurality of sensing units. The plurality of sensing units output a plurality of sets of horizontal and vertical sensing signals via the plurality of sets of horizontal and vertical sensing lines respectively. Each processing circuit is coupled to corresponding sets of horizontal and vertical sensing lines. Furthermore, disclosed is a sensing signal processing method essentially including scanning the plurality of sets of horizontal sensing lines in synchronization for synchronously fetching the plurality of sets of horizontal sensing signals during a first interval, and scanning the plurality of sets of vertical sensing lines in synchronization for synchronously fetching the plurality of sets of vertical sensing signals during a second interval.

Claims

1. A touch sensing apparatus comprising:

a first set of horizontal sensing lines for outputting a first set of horizontal sensing signals;

a second set of horizontal sensing lines for outputting a second set of horizontal sensing signals;

a first set of vertical sensing lines for outputting a first set of vertical sensing signals;

a second set of vertical sensing lines for outputting a second set of vertical sensing signals;

a first processing circuit electrically coupled to the first set of horizontal sensing lines and the first set of vertical sensing lines for receiving the first set of horizontal sensing signals and the first set of vertical sensing signals respectively;

a second processing circuit electrically coupled to the second set of horizontal sensing lines and the second set of vertical sensing lines for receiving the second set of horizontal sensing signals and the second set of vertical sensing signals respectively; and

a plurality of sensing units, each of the sensing units electrically coupled to a corresponding horizontal sensing line and a corresponding vertical sensing line, each of the sensing units being utilized for generating a corresponding horizontal sensing signal and a corresponding vertical sensing signal;

wherein the corresponding horizontal sensing line is included in the first set of horizontal sensing lines or the second set of horizontal sensing lines, the corresponding vertical sensing line is included in the first set of vertical sensing lines or the second set of vertical sensing lines.

2. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensing unit comprises a pressure sensing device or a light sensing device.

3. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the pressure sensing device is a capacitive pressure sensing device or a piezoelectric device.

4. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the light sensing device is a photo-diode or a photo-transistor.

5. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a first transmission interface electrically coupled between the first processing circuit and the second processing circuit.

6. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first processing circuit or the second processing circuit generates a touch coordinate signal based on the first set of horizontal sensing signals, the second set of horizontal sensing signals, the first set of vertical sensing signals, and the second set of vertical sensing signals.

7. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a second transmission interface, electrically coupled to the first processing circuit or the second processing circuit for receiving the touch coordinate signal, further electrically coupled to a host, the second transmission interface being utilized for forwarding the touch coordinate signal to the host.

8. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a third set of horizontal sensing lines for outputting a third set of horizontal sensing signals;

a third set of vertical sensing lines for outputting a third set of vertical sensing signals; and

a third processing circuit electrically coupled to the third set of horizontal sensing lines and the third set of vertical sensing lines for receiving the third set of horizontal sensing signals and the third set of vertical sensing signals respectively;

wherein the corresponding horizontal sensing line is included in the first set of horizontal sensing lines, the second set of horizontal sensing lines or the third set of horizontal sensing lines, the corresponding vertical sensing line is included in the first set of vertical sensing lines, the second set of vertical sensing lines, or the third set of vertical sensing lines.

9. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a third transmission interface electrically coupled to the first processing circuit, the second processing circuit, and the third processing circuit.

10. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first processing circuit, the second processing circuit or the third processing circuit generates a touch coordinate signal based on the first set of horizontal sensing signals, the second set of horizontal sensing signals, the third set of horizontal sensing signals, the first set of vertical sensing signals, the second set of vertical sensing signals, and the third set of vertical sensing signals.

11. The touch sensing apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a second transmission interface electrically coupled to the first processing circuit, the second processing circuit or the third processing circuit for receiving the touch coordinate signal, further electrically coupled to a host, the second transmission interface being utilized for forwarding the touch coordinate signal to the host.

12. A sensing signal processing method for use in a touch sensing apparatus, the touch sensing apparatus comprising a plurality of sets of horizontal sensing lines and a plurality of sets of vertical sensing lines, the sensing signal processing method comprising:

scanning a first set of horizontal sensing lines of the sets of horizontal sensing lines for fetching a first set of horizontal sensing signals during a first interval;

scanning a second set of horizontal sensing lines of the sets of horizontal sensing lines for fetching a second set of horizontal sensing signals during the first interval;

scanning a first set of vertical sensing lines of the sets of vertical sensing lines for fetching a first set of vertical sensing signals during a second interval; and

scanning a second set of vertical sensing lines of the sets of vertical sensing lines for fetching a second set of vertical sensing signals during the second interval.

13. The sensing signal processing method of claim 12, wherein the first interval and the second interval are not overlapped between each other, and the first interval is prior to the second interval.

14. The sensing signal processing method of claim 12, wherein the first interval and the second interval are not overlapped between each other, and the second interval is prior to the first interval.

15. The sensing signal processing method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating a touch coordinate signal based on the first set of horizontal sensing signals, the second set of horizontal sensing signals, the first set of vertical sensing signals, and the second set of vertical sensing signals.

16. The sensing signal processing method of claim 15, further comprising:

forwarding the touch sensing signal to a host.

17. The sensing signal processing method of claim 12, further comprising:

scanning a third set of horizontal sensing lines of the sets of horizontal sensing lines for fetching a third set of horizontal sensing signals during the first interval; and

scanning a third set of vertical sensing lines of the sets of vertical sensing lines for fetching a third set of vertical sensing signals during the second interval.

18. The sensing signal processing method of claim 17, further comprising:

generating a touch coordinate signal based on the first set of horizontal sensing signals, the second set of horizontal sensing signals, the third set of horizontal sensing signals, the first set of vertical sensing signals, the second set of vertical sensing signals, and the third set of vertical sensing signals.

19. The sensing signal processing method of claim 18, further comprising:

forwarding the touch sensing signal to a host.

20. The sensing signal processing method of claim 12, further comprising:

delaying a preliminary scanning buffer time prior to the first interval and the second interval.