Simultaneous sensing arrangement

• US 7,812,827 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2007
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Sakariya, Kapil Vinod, Hotelling, Steven P., Elias, John Greer
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisen; Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marinelli; Patrick
• Application Number:
  US11/619,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20080158167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,378 Days
• Field of Search: 345156-184, 178 1801- 2004
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• 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 3/041661 using detection at multiple resolutions, e.g. coarse and fine scanning; using detection within a limited area, e.g. object tracking window
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• 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: G06F 3/047 using sets of wires, e.g. crossed wires

Abstract

Multi-touch touch-sensing devices and methods are described herein. The touch sensing devices can include multiple sense points, each located at a crossing of a drive line and a sense line. In some embodiments, multiple drive lines may be simultaneously or nearly simultaneously stimulated with drive signals having unique characteristics, such as phase or frequency. A sense signal can occur on each sense line that can be related to the drive signals by an amount of touch present at sense points corresponding to the stimulated drive lines and the sense line. By using processing techniques based on the unique drive signals, an amount of touch corresponding to each sense point can be extracted from the sense signal. The touch sensing methods and devices can be incorporated into interfaces for a variety of electronic devices such as a desktop, tablet, notebook, and handheld computers, personal digital assistants, media players, and mobile telephones.

Claims

1. A method of deriving touch information from a touch sensitive surface, the touch sensitive surface comprising a plurality of sensing points, each sensing point being associated with at least one of a plurality of drive lines and at least one of a plurality of sense lines, the method comprising:

simultaneously stimulating two of the plurality of drive lines during a time period with drive signals of the same frequency, wherein the drive signals are in phase during a first portion of the time period and out of phase during a second portion of the time period;

sensing a sense signal on at least one sense line, wherein the sense signal is related to the drive signals by touch or proximity of one or more objects to one or more sensing points associated with at least one of the two drive lines and the at least one sense line; and

deriving touch information from the sense signal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein deriving touch information from the sense signal comprises:

deriving a plurality of values from the sense signal; and

deriving touch information from a mathematical combination of the plurality of values.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein deriving a plurality of values from the sense signal comprises integrating the sense signal over time.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the touch information comprises an array of touch values at each sensing point.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the touch values include a capacitance measurement.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the time period further includes third and fourth portions, and four of the plurality of drive lines are simultaneously stimulated during the time period with drive signals of the same frequency, wherein each drive signal is out of phase with each of the other drive signals during at least one of the portions of the time period.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a predetermined phase relationship of the drive signals is selected to eliminate a DC component of the sense signal.

8. A touch sensing device comprising:

a touch sensitive surface having a plurality of sensing points, each sensing point being associated with one of a plurality of drive lines and one of a plurality of sense lines;

drive circuitry that applies drive signals simultaneously to two of the plurality of drive lines during a time period, wherein the drive signals have the same frequency and are in phase during a first portion of the time period and out of phase during a second portion of the time period;

sense circuitry that detects a sense signal in at least one sense line, the sense signal being related to the drive signals by touch or proximity of one or more objects to one or more sense sensing points associated with the sense line, and derives touch information for the one or more sensing points from the sense signal.

9. The touch sensing device of claim 8 wherein the sense circuitry comprises at least one microcontroller.

10. The touch sensing device of claim 9 wherein the at least one microcontroller is an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

11. The touch sensing device of claim 9 wherein the at least one microcontroller is a digital signal processor (DSP).

12. The touch sensing device of claim 8 wherein the sense circuitry derives touch information from the sense signal by deriving a plurality of values from the sense signal and deriving touch information from a mathematical combination of the plurality of values.

13. The touch sensing device of claim 11 wherein the sense circuitry derives a plurality of values from the sense signal by integrating the sense signal over time.

14. The touch sensing device of claim 8 wherein the touch sensitive surface is based on mutual capacitance.

15. The touch sensing device of claim 14 wherein the touch information comprises an array of touch values at each sensing point.

16. The touch sensing device of claim 15 wherein the touch values correspond to a capacitance measurement at each sensing point.

17. The touch sensing device of claim 8 wherein the time period further includes third and fourth portions, and drive signals are simultaneously applied to four drive lines during the time period, wherein, the drive signals have the same frequency and each drive signal is out of phase with each of the other drive signals during at least one of the portions of the time period.

18. The touch sensing device of claim 8 wherein the phase relationship of the drive signals is selected to eliminate a DC component of the sense signal.

19. The touch sensing device of claim 8 wherein the touch sensitive surface is part of a touch screen.

20. An electronic device having as an input device a touch sensing device according to any of claim 8, 12, 13, or 17.

21. The electronic device of claim 20 wherein the electronic device is one of a desktop computer, a tablet computer, and a notebook computer.

22. The electronic device of claim 20 wherein the electronic device comprises at least one of a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant, a media player, and a mobile telephone.

23. A mobile telephone having as an input device a touch sensing device according to any of claim 8, 12, 13, or 17.