Active stylus

• US 8,928,635 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2011
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Harley, Jonah A., Simon, David I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H
• Application Number:
  US13/166,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20120327041A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,294 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/179, 345/174, 178/18.06, 178/19.03
• US Class Current: 345/179
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0383 Signal control means within the pointing device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0441 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for receiving changes in electrical potential transmitted by the digitiser, e.g. tablet driving signals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0442 using active external devices, e.g. active pens, for transmitting changes in electrical potential to be received by the digitiser
• 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

Abstract

An active stylus is disclosed. The stylus includes an electrode at a tip of the stylus; and powered circuitry coupled to the electrode and configured for capacitively coupling the electrode with a capacitive touch sensor panel. The powered circuitry can further include drive circuitry configured to output a drive voltage at the electrode and/or sense circuitry configured to sense a voltage received at the electrode.

Claims

1. Capacitive sensor circuitry, comprising:

one or more sense channels coupled to a plurality of sense lines, the one or more sense channels configured for detecting a change in capacitance between an active stylus generating a stimulation signal and the one or more sense lines to determine a location of the active stylus proximate to the one or more sense lines;

wherein the one or more sense channels comprise;

a sense amplifier to adjust a detected change in capacitive coupling;

a clock to generate a demodulation signal;

a phase shifter to shift a phase of the demodulation signal; and

a set of mixers to receive the detected change in capacitive coupling and either the demodulation signal or the phase-shifted demodulation signal to demodulate the sensed voltage.

2. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 1, the sensor circuitry capable of identifying the presence of the stylus based on the stimulation frequency of the active stylus.

3. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 1, wherein the one or more sense channels comprise at least one row channel and at least one column channel.

4. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 1, wherein the mixer receiving the demodulation signal produces an in-phase component;

wherein the mixer receiving the phase-shifted demodulation signal produces a quadrature component; and

wherein the in-phase component and the quadrature component are combined to determine an amplitude proportional to a capacitance formed by the active stylus and the sense channel.

5. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 1, wherein the capacitive sensor circuitry is in communication with the stylus via one of a physical cable and a wireless channel.

6. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 5, wherein the stimulation signal of the active stylus can be synchronized with the output signal of the one or more sense lines.

7. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 5, wherein the wireless channel is a WiFi or BlueTooth channel.

8. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 5, wherein the output signal from a sense line is mixed with a copy of the stimulation signal generated by the active stylus in only one mixer to generate a DC signal proportional to a capacitive coupling between the stimulation signal and the sense line.

9. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 1, further comprising at least one drive line configured to generate a signal that can be sensed by at least one of the sense channels.

10. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 9, wherein the at least one drive line is capable of generating a signal with a frequency different than the stimulation signal of the active stylus.

11. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 9, wherein the at least one drive line is capable of generating a signal when the capacitive sensor circuitry is not detecting the change in capacitance between the active stylus and the one or more sense lines.

12. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 9, wherein the at least one of the sense channels is configured to mix a copy of the signal generated by the drive line with the output signal from at least one sense line to generate a DC signal proportional to a capacitive coupling between the at least one drive line and the at least one sense line.

13. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 1, wherein the clock is capable of generating a demodulation signal with a frequency matching the stimulation signal of the active stylus.

14. The capacitive sensor circuitry of claim 1, wherein the one or more sense channels comprise a plurality of row channels and a plurality of column channels and the location of the active stylus can be determined based on output signals from the plurality of row channels and the plurality of column channels representative of a charge coupling between the active stylus and the one or more sense lines corresponding to the plurality of row channels and the plurality of column channels.

15. An active stylus, comprising:

an electrode at a tip of the stylus;

powered circuitry coupled to the electrode and configured for capacitively coupling the electrode with a capacitive sensor panel,

wherein the powered circuitry comprises sense circuitry configured to sense a voltage received at the electrode, the sense circuitry further comprising;

an amplifier to adjust the sensed voltage;

a clock to generate a demodulation signal;

a phase shifter to shift the phase of the demodulation signal; and

a set of mixers to receive the sensed voltage and either the demodulation signal or the phase-shifted demodulation signal to demodulate the sensed voltage.

16. The active stylus of claim 15, wherein the mixer receiving the demodulation signal produces an in-phase component;

wherein the mixer receiving the phase-shifted demodulation signal produces a quadrature component; and

wherein the in-phase component and the quadrature component are combined to determine an amplitude proportional to a capacitance formed by the electrode.

17. The active stylus of claim 16, wherein the electrode is stimulated with a pattern that identifies a presence of the stylus.

18. The active stylus of claim 15, the active stylus incorporated into a touch-based input system, the system comprising:

one or more drive channels coupled to the plurality of drive lines, wherein an identity of a drive line being stimulated by a drive channel is used to determine a location by the active stylus proximate to the sensor panel.

19. The active stylus of claim 18, wherein the capacitive sensor panel is in communication with the stylus via one of a physical cable and a wireless channel.

20. The active stylus of claim 18, wherein a signal from each of the drive channels can be distinguished by a unique code.