LOW POWER SCAN FOR DEVICE WAKE UP AND UNLOCK

• US 20150346903A1
• Filed: 08/28/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: O'CONNOR, Sean Erik
• Granted Patent: US 9,851,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• 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 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/18 Timing circuits for raster scan displays specially adapted for television H04N ; synchronisation between the display unit and other display units, videodisc player G09G5/12

Abstract

A low power can for device wake up and unlock is disclosed. The low power scan can include one or more algorithms used to detect a sequence and/or one or more gestures to wake up a processor and unlock the device. A sequence and/or one or more gestures can be determined by a microcontroller and/or by a separate hardware component. The microcontroller can send a notification to the processor and/or switch the device from an idle to an active state. By detecting the sequence and gestures in the microcontroller before waking up the processor, the battery life can be extended. In some examples, the microcontroller can determine if the sequence and gestures are due to water splashes, water film, and/or noise. In such examples, the microcontroller can reject the touch without waking up the processor, and further extending the battery life of the device.

Claims

1. A touch sensor panel comprising:

a touch controller configured to;

capture a touch image when the touch sensor panel is in an idle state; and

determine if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch; and

a processor configured to;

remain in the idle state while the touch controller is capturing a touch image;

remain in the idle state while the touch controller is determining if the touch image exhibits the one or more characteristics of the false touch,

wherein the processor consumes a greater amount of power in an active state than the touch controller.

2. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch comprises:

determining a centroid of the touch image;

comparing the centroid with a center of the touch sensor panel; and

comparing a difference of the centroid with the center of the touch sensor panel to a pre-determined distance value.

3. The touch sensor panel of claim 2, wherein the pre-determined distance value is equal to a size of one touch pixel.

4. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein the size of one touch pixel is equal to 5 mm.

5. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch includes determining a radii of the touch image.

6. The touch sensor panel of claim 5, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch further includes calibrating the radii to a 10 mm diameter.

7. The touch sensor panel of claim 5, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch further includes comparing the radii to an upper radius value and a lower radius value.

8. The touch sensor panel of claim 7, wherein the upper radius value is equal to 5 mm.

9. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch includes determining at least one of a shape and a volume of the touch image.

10. The touch sensor panel of claim 9, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch includes rejecting the touch image when the shape or volume of the touch image is representative of a shape or volume excluding an ellipsoid.

11. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch includes generating at least one scatter plot.

12. The touch sensor panel of claim 11, wherein the at least one scatter plot is representative of a centroid position, a radii, or a relative shape of the touch image.

13. The touch sensor panel of claim 12, wherein the touch controller is further configured to reject the touch image when one or more touch values associated with the touch image is located outside one or more bounds of the scatter plot.

14. The touch sensor panel of claim 12, wherein the one or more bounds is determined by a calibration procedure.

15. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch includes:

determining a time associated with the touch image;

determining a difference between the time and a timestamp; and

rejecting the touch image when the difference is greater than a pre-determined value.

16. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the false touch is generated by water.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining at least one of a shape and a volume of the touch image; and

comparing the shape to an ellipsoid.

17. A method for switching a device from an idle state to an active state, the method comprising:

capturing a touch image using a controller, while maintaining a processor in the idle state, wherein the processor consumes a lower amount of power in the active state than the controller consumes in the active state;

determining if the touch image exhibits one or more characteristics of a false touch using the controller, while keeping the processor in the idle state; and

maintaining the processor in the idle state when the controller determines that the touch image exhibits the one or more characteristics of the false touch.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining a centroid of the touch image;

comparing the centroid to the center of the device; and

comparing a difference of the centroid with the center of the device to a pre-determined distance value.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining a radii of the touch image; and

comparing the radii to an upper radius value and a lower radius value.