Two-dimensional position sensor

• US 9,495,042 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2009
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neodrón Limited (Atlantic IP Services Limited)
• Original Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Inventors: Yilmaz, Esat
• Primary Examiner(s): SIMPSON, LIXI CHOW
• Application Number:
  US12/423,148
• Publication Number:
  US 20100258360A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,772 Days
• Field of Search: 178/18.05, 341/33, 341/22, 345/168
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes

Abstract

A two dimensional position sensor having a touch-sensitive panel defined by a single-layer electrode pattern arranged on one side of a substrate. The electrode pattern is made up of ‘n’ electrode units extending row-wise over the panel. Each electrode unit is made up of a single drive electrode extending across the touch-sensitive area of the panel and a plurality of ‘m’ sense electrodes, which collectively laterally extend across the touch-sensitive area and individually each occupy only a portion of the lateral extent. The sense electrodes are longitudinally offset from their associated drive electrode so that one edge of each sense electrode lies adjacent to one edge of the drive electrode, these coupling edges being separated by a gap dimensioned so that in use each pair of drive and sense electrodes have efficient capacitively coupling across the gap. This electrode pattern allows the longitudinal extent of each electrode unit to be made relatively small, which in turn is better for sensing multiple simultaneous touches, since this benefits from having more electrode units in any given panel.

Claims

1. A two dimensional position sensor comprising:

a touch-sensitive area defined by a single-layer electrode pattern arranged on one side of a substrate, the electrode pattern having a lateral extent in a first direction and a longitudinal extent in a second direction transverse thereto, the electrode pattern comprising;

at least three electrode units extending row-wise over the touch-sensitive area longitudinally offset from one another, each electrode unit comprising;

a drive electrode laterally extending across the touch-sensitive area; and

at least three sense electrodes which collectively laterally extend across the touch-sensitive area and individually each occupy a non-overlapping range of the lateral extent, the sense electrodes of each particular electrode unit being longitudinally offset from the drive electrode of the particular electrode unit so that an edge of each sense electrode lies adjacent to an edge of the drive electrode, the edges of the sense and drive electrodes being separated by a gap dimensioned so that in use each pair of drive and sense electrodes capacitively couple across the gap, wherein;

the sense electrodes comprise one or more rectangular shapes; and

at least one sense electrode occupies a different lateral width from one or more other sense electrodes of the same electrode unit, the different lateral width of the at least one sense electrode being non-overlapping in the lateral extent with lateral widths of the one or more other sense electrodes of the same electrode unit.

2. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the sense electrodes of each electrode unit have two different lateral widths.

3. The sensor of claim 2, wherein the two different lateral widths alternate between first and second values for laterally adjacent sense electrodes.

4. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the at least three electrode units comprises a first electrode unit and a second electrode unit, the electrode pattern further comprising at least one laterally extending ground electrode positioned between a drive electrode of the first electrode unit and sense electrodes of the second electrode unit, the ground electrode operable to suppress capacitive coupling between the first electrode unit and the second electrode unit.

5. The sensor of claim 1, further comprising tracks extending from the periphery of the touch sensitive area to connect to respective ones of the sense electrodes, wherein the tracks extend adjacent to a further edge of the sense electrodes opposed to the coupling edge.

6. The sensor of claim 5, wherein the tracks have extension portions that extend in the first direction arranged between the sense electrodes of the electrode unit and a drive electrode of an adjacent electrode unit.

7. The sensor of claim 5, wherein some of the tracks from the sense electrodes connect to one lateral side of the touch-sensitive area and the other tracks connect to the other lateral side.

8. The sensor of claim 1, wherein each electrode unit has a longitudinal extent of no more than 7 mm.

9. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the drive and sense electrodes each have a longitudinal extent of no more than 1 mm.

10. The sensor of claim 1, further comprising:

a capacitance measurement circuit connected to the electrodes and operable to acquire sets of capacitance signal values from the touch-sensitive area, each set comprising a capacitance signal value from each pair of drive and sense electrodes, each pair constituting a sensing element; and

a processor operable to receive the sets of capacitance signal values and process each set to compute and output coordinates of single or multiple touch locations on the touch-sensitive area, the processing of each set comprising;

identifying a particular sensing element having the largest capacitance signal value;

defining a region of the touch-sensitive area including the particular sensing element having the largest capacitance signal value and selected ones of neighboring sensor elements;

identifying and defining one or more further sensing elements and regions respectively, wherein each iteration excludes capacitance signal values from consideration if they lie in previously defined regions of the touch-sensitive area; and

outputting data indicating the coordinates of the touch location in each region identified.

11. The sensor of claim 1, wherein each sense electrode has four edges, each edge of the sense electrodes being parallel to either the first or second direction.

12. A two dimensional position sensor comprising:

a touch-sensitive area defined by a single-layer electrode pattern arranged on one side of a substrate, the electrode pattern having a lateral extent in a first direction and a longitudinal extent in a second direction transverse thereto, the electrode pattern comprising;

at least three electrode units extending column-wise over the touch-sensitive area laterally offset from one another, each electrode unit comprising;

a sense electrode longitudinally extending down the touch-sensitive area; and

at least three drive electrodes which collectively longitudinally extend down the touch-sensitive area and individually each occupy a non-overlapping range of the longitudinal extent, the drive electrodes of each particular electrode unit being laterally offset from the sense electrode of the particular electrode unit so that an edge of each drive electrode lies adjacent to an edge of the sense electrode, the edges of the sense and drive electrodes being separated by a gap dimensioned so that in use each pair of drive and sense electrodes capacitively couple across the gap, wherein;

the drive electrodes comprise one or more rectangular shapes; and

at least one drive electrode occupies a different longitudinal height from one or more other drive electrodes of the same electrode unit, the different longitudinal height of the at least one drive electrode being non-overlapping in the longitudinal extent with longitudinal heights of the one or more other drive electrodes of the same electrode unit.

13. The sensor of claim 12, further comprising longitudinally extending ground electrodes arranged between adjacent electrode units, the ground electrodes operable to suppress capacitive coupling between adjacent electrode units.

14. The sensor of claim 12, further comprising tracks extending from the periphery of the touch sensitive area to connect to respective ones of the drive electrodes, wherein the tracks extend adjacent to a further edge of the drive electrodes opposed to the coupling edge.

15. The sensor of claim 14, wherein the tracks have extension portions that extend in the second direction arranged between the sense electrodes of the electrode unit and a drive electrode of an adjacent electrode unit.

16. The sensor of claim 14, wherein some of the tracks from the drive electrodes connect to one longitudinal side of the touch-sensitive area and the other tracks connect to the other longitudinal side.

17. The sensor of claim 12, wherein each electrode unit has a lateral extent of no more than 7 mm.

18. The sensor of claim 12, wherein the drive and sense electrodes each have a lateral extent of no more than 1 mm.

19. The sensor of claim 12, further comprising:

a capacitance measurement circuit connected to the electrodes and operable repeatedly to acquire sets of capacitance signal values from the touch-sensitive area, each set comprising a capacitance signal value from each pair of drive and sense electrodes, each pair constituting a sensing element; and

a processor operable to receive the sets of capacitance signal values and process each set to compute and output coordinates of single or multiple touch locations on the touch-sensitive area, the processing of each set comprising;

identifying a particular sensing element having the largest capacitance signal value;

defining a region of the touch-sensitive area including the particular sensing element having the largest capacitance signal value and selected ones of neighboring sensor elements;

identifying and defining one or more further sensing elements and regions respectively, wherein each iteration excludes capacitance signal values from consideration if they lie in previously defined regions of the touch-sensitive area; and

outputting data indicating the coordinates of the touch location in each region identified.

20. The sensor of claim 12, wherein each sense electrode has four edges, each edge of the sense electrodes being parallel to either the first or second direction.

21. A method comprising:

identifying, by a processor coupled to a capacitance measurement circuit, a sensing element having a largest capacitance signal value, the sensing element identified from a plurality of sensing elements, each sensing element comprising a drive and a sense electrode from a particular electrode unit of a plurality of electrode units, each electrode unit comprising;

a drive electrode laterally extending across a touch-sensitive area of a two-dimensional touch-sensitive capacitive position sensor, the touch-sensitive area defined by a single-layer electrode pattern arranged on one side of a substrate, the electrode pattern having a lateral extent in a first direction and a longitudinal extent in a second direction transverse thereto; and

at least three sense electrodes which collectively laterally extend across the touch-sensitive area and individually each occupy a non-overlapping range of the lateral extent, the sense electrodes of each particular electrode unit being longitudinally offset from the drive electrode of the particular electrode unit so that an edge of each sense electrode lies adjacent to an edge of the drive electrode, the edges of the sense and drive electrodes being separated by a gap dimensioned so that in use each pair of drive and sense electrodes capacitively couple across the gap, wherein;

the sense electrodes comprise one or more rectangular shapes; and

at least one sense electrode occupies a different lateral width from one or more other sense electrodes of the same electrode unit, the different lateral width of the at least one sense electrode being non-overlapping in the lateral extent with lateral widths of the one or more other sense electrodes of the same electrode unit;

defining, by the processor, a region of the touch-sensitive area including the sensing element having the largest capacitance signal value and one or more neighboring sensing elements;

identifying and defining, by the processor, one or more further sensing elements and regions respectively, wherein each iteration excludes capacitance signal values from consideration if they lie in previously defined regions of the touch-sensitive area; and

outputting, by the processor, data indicating coordinates of single or multiple touch locations on the touch-sensitive area in each region identified.

22. A method comprising:

identifying, by a processor coupled to a capacitance measurement circuit, a sensing element having a largest capacitance signal value, the sensing element identified from a plurality of sensing elements, each sensing element comprising a drive and a sense electrode from a particular electrode unit of a plurality of electrode units, each electrode unit comprising;

a sense electrode longitudinally extending down a touch-sensitive area of a two-dimensional touch-sensitive capacitive position sensor, the touch-sensitive area defined by a single-layer electrode pattern arranged on one side of a substrate, the electrode pattern having a lateral extent in a first direction and a longitudinal extent in a second direction transverse thereto; and

at least three drive electrodes which collectively longitudinally extend down the touch-sensitive area and individually each occupy a non-overlapping range of the longitudinal extent, the drive electrodes of each particular electrode unit being laterally offset from the sense electrode of the particular electrode unit so that an edge of each drive electrode lies adjacent to an edge of the sense electrode, the edges of the sense and drive electrodes being separated by a gap dimensioned so that in use each pair of drive and sense electrodes capacitively couple across the gap, wherein;

the drive electrodes comprise one or more rectangular shapes; and

at least one drive electrode occupies a different longitudinal height from one or more other drive electrodes of the same electrode unit, the different longitudinal height of the at least one drive electrode being non-overlapping in the longitudinal extent with longitudinal heights of the one or more other drive electrodes of the same electrode unit;

defining, by the processor, a region of the touch-sensitive area including the sensing element having the largest capacitance signal value and one or more neighboring sensing elements;

identifying and defining, by the processor, one or more further sensing elements and regions respectively, wherein each iteration excludes capacitance signal values from consideration if they lie in previously defined regions of the touch-sensitive area; and

outputting, by the processor, data indicating coordinates of single or multiple touch locations on the touch-sensitive area in each region identified.