METHOD FOR CONTROLLING OPERATIONS OF A TOUCH PANEL

• US 20120319962A1
• Filed: 12/14/2011
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Inventors: Yang, Chun-Wei, Hsu, Yu-Min, Cheng, Yung-Tse, Huang, Jing-Jhih
• Granted Patent: US 8,890,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04184 Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact

Abstract

A method for controlling operations of a touch panel includes synchronizing timing of a plurality of gate lines and timing of a plurality of touch sensors; determining whether polarities of common voltages of a display layer are consistent when driving signals are outputted to a first gate line and a second gate line, the second gate line following the first gate line; and if the polarities are consistent, outputting at least one driving pulse to a touch sensor of the plurality of touch sensors after image data corresponding to the second gate line is transmitted to the display layer.

Claims

1. A method for controlling operations of a touch panel, the touch panel comprising a display layer and a sensing layer, a plurality of gate lines formed on the display layer, and a plurality of touch sensors formed on the sensing layer, the method comprising:

synchronizing timing of the plurality of gate lines and timing of the plurality of touch sensors;

determining whether polarities of common voltages of the display layer are consistent when driving signals are outputted to a first gate line and a second gate line, the second gate line following the first gate line; and

if the polarities are consistent, outputting at least one driving pulse to a touch sensor of the plurality of touch sensors after image data corresponding to the second gate line is transmitted to the display layer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether polarities of common voltages of the display layer are consistent when driving signals are outputted to the second gate line and a third gate line, the third gate line following the second gate line;

wherein if the polarities of the common voltages of the display layer are inconsistent when the driving signals are outputted to the second gate line and the third gate line, no driving pulse is outputted to the plurality of touch sensors after image data corresponding to the third gate line is transmitted to the display layer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sampling voltages detected by the touch sensor at least twice when outputting the driving pulse.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining if noise of the voltages detected by the touch sensor is within a threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising when the noise of the voltages detected by the touch sensor is within the threshold, selecting a greatest voltage of the voltages sampled by the touch sensor.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising outputting another driving pulse to a following touch sensor after a following consistency of polarities of driving signals of two gate lines is acknowledged.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising when the noise of the voltages detected by the touch sensor is not within the threshold, outputting another driving pulse to the touch sensor after a following consistency of polarities of driving signals of two gate lines is acknowledged.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the polarities of the common voltages of the display layer are consistent when the driving signals are outputted to the first gate line and the second gate line is determining whether voltage levels of the common voltages of the display layer are substantially the same when the driving signals are outputted to the first gate line and the second gate line.

9. A method for controlling operations of a touch panel, the touch panel comprising a display layer and a sensing layer, a plurality of gate lines formed on the display layer, and a plurality of touch sensors formed on the sensing layer, the method comprising:

synchronizing timing of the plurality of gate lines and timing of the plurality of touch sensors; and

determining whether polarities of common voltages of the display layer are consistent when driving signals are outputted to a first gate line and a second gate line, the second gate line following the first gate line;

wherein if the polarities of the common voltages of the display layer are inconsistent when the driving signals are outputted to the first gate line and the second gate line, no driving pulse is outputted to the plurality of touch sensors after image data corresponding to the second gate line is transmitted to the display layer.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining whether polarities of common voltages of the display layer are consistent when driving signals are outputted to the second gate line and a third gate line, the third gate line following the second gate line; and

outputting at least one driving pulse to a touch sensor of the plurality of touch sensors when the polarities of the common voltages of the display layer are consistent after image data corresponding to the third gate line is transmitted to the display layer.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising sampling voltages detected by the touch sensor at least twice when outputting the driving pulse.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining if noise of the voltages detected by the touch sensor is within a threshold.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising when the noise of the voltages detected by the touch sensor is within the threshold, selecting a greatest voltage of the voltages sampled by the touch sensor.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising outputting another driving pulse to a following touch sensor after a following consistency of polarities of driving signals of two gate lines is acknowledged.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising when the noise of the voltages detected by the touch sensor is not within the threshold, outputting another driving pulse to the touch sensor after a following consistency of polarities of driving signals of two gate lines is acknowledged.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether the polarities of the common voltages of the display layer are consistent when the driving signals are outputted to the first gate line and the second gate line is determining whether voltage levels of the common voltages of the display layer are substantially the same when the driving signals are outputted to the first gate line and the second gate line.