Multipoint touch surface controller

• US 9,547,394 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2009
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hotelling, Steven Porter, Krah, Christoph Horst, Huppi, Brian Quentin
• Primary Examiner(s): HORNER, JONATHAN R
• Application Number:
  US12/549,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20090315850A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,700 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-178, 327 50- 57, 327/292, 250/214
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/04182 Filtering of noise external to the device and not generated by digitiser components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• 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 multipoint touch surface controller is disclosed herein. The controller includes an integrated circuit including output circuitry for driving a capacitive multi-touch sensor and input circuitry for reading the sensor. Also disclosed herein are various noise rejection and dynamic range enhancement techniques that permit the controller to be used with various sensors in various conditions without reconfiguring hardware.

Claims

1. A charge amplifier for detecting changes in capacitance at one or more touch nodes of a touch sensor panel, comprising:

an operational amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal, an inverting input terminal coupled to the one or more touch nodes, and an output terminal;

a feedback capacitor connected between the output terminal and the inverting input terminal, wherein the feedback capacitor is programmable to take on a range of values; and

a feedback resistor connected between the output terminal and the inverting input terminal, wherein the feedback resistor is programmable to take on a range of values,

wherein a capacitance of the feedback capacitor is set on a per-node basis using a value having a component adjustable on a row by row basis.

2. The charge amplifier of claim 1, wherein the charge amplifier further comprises a resistor coupled between the inverting input terminal and the one or more touch nodes to form an anti-aliasing filter in combination with the feedback resistor and capacitor.

3. The charge amplifier of claim 1 wherein the non-inverting input of the amplifier is coupled to ground.

4. The charge amplifier of claim 1, the value of the feedback capacitor selected for maximizing a dynamic range of the charge amplifier.

5. The charge amplifier of claim 1, further comprising a register for setting the value of the feedback capacitor.

6. The charge amplifier of claim 5, the register comprising a lookup table of values configured to provide the value of the feedback capacitor for each touch node.

7. A method for detecting changes in capacitance at one or more touch nodes of a touch sensor panel, comprising:

transmitting a signal indicating the changes in capacitance at one or more of the touch nodes to a charge amplifier comprising an operational amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal and an inverting input terminal coupled to the one or more touch nodes;

providing, by the charge amplifier, virtual ground charge amplification of touch nodes sense lines to detect the changes in capacitance at the one or more touch nodes;

setting a feedback capacitance of the charge amplifier on a per-node basis using a value having a component adjustable on a row by row basis; and

programmably optimizing a dynamic range of the virtual ground charge amplification.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising programmably performing gain compensation on the virtual ground charge amplification.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising optimizing the dynamic range of the virtual ground charge amplification on a per-node basis to account for manufacturing tolerances.

10. A touch sensor panel, comprising:

a plurality of touch nodes; and

one or more charge amplifiers coupled to the plurality of touch nodes for detecting changes in capacitance at each of the plurality of touch nodes due to a touch by receiving a signal indicating the changes in capacitance at one or more of the touch modes, each of the charge amplifier comprising an operational amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal and an inverting input terminal coupled to the one or more touch nodes;

wherein the one or more charge amplifiers are configurable on a per-node basis using a value having a component adjustable on a row by row basis to account for variations at the touch sensor panel by setting a feedback capacitance of each of the one or more charge amplifiers based on node to which it is attached.

11. The touch sensor panel of claim 10, each charge amplifier including a feedback capacitor configurable for maximizing a dynamic range of the charge amplifier.

12. The touch sensor panel of claim 10, further comprising a register configured for setting the feedback capacitance.

13. The touch sensor panel of claim 12, the register comprising a lookup table of values configured to provide the feedback capacitance for each touch node.

14. The touch sensor panel of claim 10, each charge amplifier including a feedback resistor programmable for performing gain compensation.

15. A method for compensating a touch sensor panel having a plurality of touch nodes, comprising:

coupling one or more charge amplifiers to the plurality of touch nodes in the touch sensor panel to detect changes in capacitance due to a touch at each of the touch nodes, each of the charge amplifiers comprising an operational amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal and an inverting input terminal coupled to the one or more touch nodes;

receiving by the one or more charge amplifiers a signal indicating the changes in capacitance at one or more of the touch nodes; and

configuring the one or more charge amplifiers on a per-node basis using a value having a component adjustable on a row by row basis to compensate for variations at the touch sensor panel by setting a feedback capacitance of each of the one or more charge amplifiers based on node to which it is attached.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising configuring a feedback capacitor in each charge amplifier to maximize a dynamic range of the charge amplifier.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising utilizing a lookup table of values configured to provide the value of the feedback capacitor for each touch node.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising programming a feedback resistor in each charge amplifier for performing gain compensation.

19. A computing device including a touch sensor panel, the touch sensor panel comprising:

a plurality of touch nodes; and

one or more charge amplifiers coupled to the plurality of touch nodes for detecting changes in capacitance at each of the plurality of touch nodes due to a touch by receiving a signal indicating the changes in capacitance at one or more of the touch modes, each of the charge amplifier comprising an operational amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal and an inverting input terminal coupled to the one or more touch nodes;

wherein the one or more charge amplifiers are configurable on a per-node basis using a value having a component adjustable on a row by row basis to account for variations at the touch sensor panel by setting a feedback capacitance of each of the one or more charge amplifiers based on node to which it is attached.

20. An apparatus for detecting changes in capacitance at one or more touch nodes of a touch sensor panel, comprising:

means for transmitting a signal indicating the changes in capacitance at one or more of the touch nodes to a charge amplifier comprising an operational amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal and an inverting input terminal coupled to the one or more touch nodes;

means for providing, by the charge amplifier, virtual ground charge amplification of touch nodes sense lines to detect the changes in capacitance at the one or more touch nodes;

means for setting a feedback capacitance of the charge amplifier on a per-node basis using a value having a component adjustable on a row by row basis; and

means for programmably optimizing a dynamic range of the virtual ground charge amplification.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising means for programmably performing gain compensation on the virtual ground charge amplification.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising means for optimizing the dynamic range of the virtual ground charge amplification on a per-node basis to account for manufacturing tolerances.