System and method to measure capacitance of capacitive sensor array

• US 8,321,174 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2008
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Original Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Moyal, Nathan, Olson, Dana
• Primary Examiner(s): Teixeira Moffat, Jonathan C
• Assistant Examiner(s): SUN, XIUQIN
• Application Number:
  US12/239,692
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• Field of Search: 702/150, 341/33, 324/658
• US Class Current: 702/150
• 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

Abstract

A system and method for measuring capacitance of a capacitive sensor array is disclosed. Upon measuring the capacitance, position information with respect to the sensor array may be determined. A column, a first row, and a second row of a capacitive sensor array may be selected. The first row and the second row intersect with the column of the capacitive sensor array. A differential capacitance between the first row and the second row may be measured. The differential capacitance may be utilized in determining a location of an object proximate to the capacitive sensor array.

Claims

1. A method for determining position information, the method comprising:

selecting a column of a capacitive sensor array;

selecting a first row of said capacitive sensor array;

selecting a second row of said capacitive sensor array, wherein said first row and said second row intersect with said column of said capacitive sensor array;

measuring a differential current between;

a current associated with a capacitor of said first row and said column, and

another current associated with another capacitor of said second row and said column;

measuring a differential capacitance between said first row and said second row, based on the measured differential current, the measuring of the differential capacitance including;

converting the measured differential current to a voltage; and

generating a digital value based on the voltage, the digital value representing the measured differential capacitance; and

determining a location of an object proximate to said capacitive sensor array, based on the measured differential capacitance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first row and said second row are adjacent.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first row is separated from said second row by at least one other row.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the location of the object, based on the measured differential capacitance includes detecting a presence of the object proximate to said capacitive sensor array, based on the measured differential capacitance.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring a plurality of differential capacitances over a plurality of rows of said column;

integrating said plurality of capacitances to obtain integrated capacitance values; and

using said integrated capacitance values to determine said location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said differential capacitance excludes a contribution from uniform variations in said capacitive sensor array.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said measuring of the differential current is performed by a differential current measurement circuit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said capacitive sensor array comprises N rows and said measuring of said differential capacitance is performed N−

1 times per column.

9. An apparatus to determine location of an object proximate to a capacitive sensor array, the apparatus comprising:

means for selecting a column of a capacitive sensor array;

means for selecting a first row of the capacitive sensor array;

means for selecting a second row of the capacitive sensor array, wherein the first row and the second row intersect with the column of the capacitive sensor array;

means for measuring a differential current between;

a current associated with a capacitor of the first row and the column, and

another current associated with another capacitor of the second row and the column;

means for measuring a differential capacitance between the first row and the second row, based on the measured differential current, wherein the means for measuring of the differential capacitance is configured to convert the measured differential current to a voltage and generate a digital value based on the voltage, the digital value representing the measured differential capacitance; and

means for determining a location of an object proximate to the capacitive sensor array, based on the measured differential capacitance.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first row and the second row are adjacent.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first row is separated from the second row by at least one other row.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for determining the location of the object, based on the measured differential capacitance is configured to detect a presence of the object proximate to the capacitive sensor array, based on the measured differential capacitance.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for measuring the differential capacitance is configured to measure a plurality of differential capacitances over a plurality of rows of the column, and the means for determining the location of the object is configured to integrate the plurality of capacitances to obtain integrated capacitance values, and use the integrated capacitance values to determine the location.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the differential capacitance excludes a contribution from uniform variations in the capacitive sensor array.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for measuring the differential current includes a differential current measurement circuit.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the capacitive sensor array comprises N rows and the means for measuring the differential capacitance performs N−

1 differential capacitance measurements per column.