Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110148435 | TRANSCAPACITIVE SENSOR DEVICES WITH OHMIC SEAMS - A transcapacitive sensing device has and ohmic seam which sections a plurality of transmitter electrodes and also sections a plurality of receiver electrodes. A processing system is communicatively coupled with the transmitter electrodes and the receiver electrodes and configured to: transmit a first transmitter signal with a first transmitter electrode disposed on a first side of the ohmic seam; transmit a second transmitter signal with a second transmitter electrode disposed on a second side of the ohmic seam; receive a first response corresponding to said first transmitter signal with a first receiver electrode disposed on the first side of the ohmic seam; and receive a second response corresponding to said second transmitter signal with a second receiver electrode disposed on the second side of the ohmic seam. | 06-23-2011 |
20110210939 | VARYING DEMODULATION TO AVOID INTERFERENCE - In a method of interference avoidance for a capacitive sensor device, a transmitter signal is transmitted with a transmitter electrode of the capacitive sensor device. A resulting signal is received with a receiver electrode of the capacitive sensor device. The resulting signal corresponds to the transmitter signal. A first demodulated output is acquired by demodulating the resulting signal in a first way. A second demodulated output is acquired by demodulating the resulting signal in a second way, where the second way and the first way differ. A shift is made from using the first demodulated output for determining positional information to using the second demodulated output for determining positional information. The shift is based at least in part upon an amount of interference. | 09-01-2011 |
20110210941 | SENSING DURING NON-DISPLAY UPDATE TIME TO AVOID INTERFERENCE - In a method of capacitive sensing using an integrated capacitive sensor device and display device, a transmitter signal is transmitted with a combination electrode of the integrated capacitive sensor device and display device. The combination electrode is configured for both capacitive sensing and display updating. The transmitter signal transitions at least twice during a non-display update time period associated with row update of the display device. A display of the display device is updated during an update time period. A resulting signal is received with a receiver electrode of the integrated capacitive sensor device and display device during the non-display update time period. The resulting signal corresponds to the transmitter signal. | 09-01-2011 |
20110278078 | INPUT DEVICE WITH FORCE SENSING - Devices and methods are provided that utilize a first electrode disposed on a first substrate and a second electrode disposed on a second substrate, where the first electrode and the second electrode define at least part of a variable capacitance. A third substrate is arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate, the third substrate having an opening arranged such that at least a portion of the first electrode and the second electrode overlap the opening. A transmission element is provided that partially overlaps the opening. The transmission element is physically coupled to the second electrode such that a force biasing the transmission element causes the second electrode to deflect relative to the first electrode, thus changing the variable capacitance. A measurement of the variable capacitance may then be used to determine force information. | 11-17-2011 |
20120182229 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INTERFERENCE AVOIDANCE IN AN INPUT DEVICE - Devices and methods are provided that facilitate improved interference avoidance performance. The devices and methods determine a relative ranking for a plurality of transmitter signals based on a first class of interference for each transmitter signal of the plurality of transmitter signals. The devices and methods transmit a first transmitter signal of the plurality of transmitter signals with a sensor electrode of the plurality of sensor electrodes. The first transmitter signal is selected based on the relative ranking for the plurality of transmitter signals. The devices and methods shift from transmitting the first transmitter signal to transmitting a second transmitter signal of the plurality of transmitter signals with the sensor electrode is based on an amount of a second class of interference in the first transmitter signal. The second transmitter signal is selected based on the relative ranking for the plurality of transmitter signals. | 07-19-2012 |
20120229415 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING USER INPUT AND INTERFERENCE ON AN INPUT DEVICE - The embodiments described herein provide devices and methods that facilitate improved performance. In one embodiment, an input device comprises a processing system, a transmitter sensor electrode, and a receiver sensor electrode, where the transmitter sensor electrode and the receiver sensor electrode are capacitively coupled. The processing system is configured to receive a resulting signal from the receiver sensor electrode, where the resulting signal includes responses that correspond to the transmitter signal. The processing system is further configured to separately accumulate, for each cycle of the transmitter waveform, a first portion and a second portion of the resulting signal to respectively produce a first accumulation and a second accumulation, wherein the first accumulation is used for determining user input to the input device and the second accumulation is used for determining interference, and wherein the first portion and the second portion are non-coterminous. | 09-13-2012 |
20120229418 | BASELINE MANAGEMENT FOR INPUT DEVICES - Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and system that is able to minimize or remove the affect of substantially non-random electrical interference on an input device's ability to reliably and accurately sense the position of an object. In one embodiment, the input device is configured to systematically correct for a cyclic variation in the electromagnetic interference (EMI) generated by components within the electronic system, such as interference generated by the process of refreshing or updating an image on a display module that affects the capacitive sensing measurements acquired from a plurality of capacitive sensing elements. However, in some embodiments of the invention, the performance of an input device is improved by reducing the affect that external interference generated outside of the electronic system have on the position sensing data acquired by the input device. | 09-13-2012 |
20120229419 | BASELINE MANAGEMENT FOR INPUT DEVICES - Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and system that is able to minimize or remove the affect of substantially non-random electrical interference on an input device's ability to reliably and accurately sense the position of an object. In one embodiment, the input device is configured to systematically correct for a cyclic variation in the electromagnetic interference (EMI) generated by components within the electronic system, such as interference generated by the process of refreshing or updating an image on a display module that affects the capacitive sensing measurements acquired from a plurality of capacitive sensing elements. However, in some embodiments of the invention, the performance of an input device is improved by reducing the affect that external interference generated outside of the electronic system have on the position sensing data acquired by the input device. | 09-13-2012 |
20120262222 | CAPACITIVE INPUT DEVICE INTERFERENCE DETECTION AND OPERATION - A processing system for a capacitive input device comprises sensor circuitry and control logic. The sensor circuitry is configured to be communicatively coupled with sensor electrodes of the capacitive input device. The control logic is configured to operate the capacitive input device in a first mode comprising interference sensing at a first level and input object sensing. The control logic is also configured to operate the capacitive input device in a second mode instead of in the first mode in response to: interference measured in the first mode meeting an interference condition; and a determination that input is in a sensing region of the capacitive input device. While operating in the second mode, interference sensing with the capacitive input device is either not performed or else is performed at a second level that is lower in fidelity than the first level. | 10-18-2012 |
20120287077 | INPUT SIGNAL CORRECTION ARCHITECTURE - A capacitive input device processing system comprises input signal correction circuitry. The input signal correction circuitry includes an amplifier, a correction signal generator, and a charge collection mechanism. The amplifier is configured to receive a combination signal. The combination signal comprises a resulting signal from a sensor element and a correction charge. The correction signal generator is configured to generate a correction signal. The charge collection mechanism is configured to accumulate the correction charge from the correction signal. | 11-15-2012 |
20120326910 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SIGNALING IN SENSOR DEVICES - A processing system includes transmitter module, receiver module, and a demodulating module. The transmitter module comprises transmitter circuitry and is configured to simultaneously transmit a first transmitter signal with a first transmitter electrode and a second transmitter signal with a second transmitter electrode. The first transmitter signal includes a combination of a first heterodyne frequency and a carrier frequency. The second transmitter signal comprises a combination of a second heterodyne frequency and the carrier frequency. The receiver module comprise receiver circuitry and is configured to receive a first resulting signal with a receiver electrode, wherein the first resulting signal comprises first effects corresponding to the first transmitter signal and second effects corresponding to the second transmitter signal. The demodulating module is configured to demodulate the first resulting signal to produce a plurality of demodulation signals, wherein the demodulating module comprises a first mixer, a second mixer, a third mixer, a first filter, a second filter and a third filter. The first mixer includes a mixing frequency corresponding to the carrier frequency, the second mixer includes a mixing frequency corresponding to the first heterodyne frequency, and the third mixer includes a mixing frequency corresponding to the second heterodyne frequency. | 12-27-2012 |
20130057511 | CAPACITIVE SENSING DURING NON-DISPLAY UPDATE TIMES - Embodiments of the invention generally provide an input device with display screens that periodically update (refresh) the screen by selectively driving common electrodes corresponding to pixels in a display line. In general, the input devices drive each electrode until each display line (and each pixel) of a display frame is updated. In addition to updating the display, the input device may perform capacitive sensing using the display screen as a proximity sensing area. To do this, the input device may interleave periods of capacitive sensing between periods of updating the display based on a display frame. For example, the input device may update the first half of display lines of the display screen, pause display updating, perform capacitive sensing, and finish updating the rest of the display lines. Further still, the input device may use common electrodes for both updating the display and performing capacitive sensing. | 03-07-2013 |
20130162585 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING USER INPUT USING SIMULTANEOUS TRANSMISSION FROM MULTIPLE ELECTRODES - The embodiments described herein provide improved sensor devices. In one embodiment, an input device comprises a processing system, transmitter sensor electrodes, and a receiver sensor electrode. The processing system is configured to simultaneously transmit a first transmitter signal with a first transmitter electrode and a second transmitter signal with a second transmitter electrode. In one embodiment the first transmitter signal corresponds to an upper sideband and the second transmitter signal corresponds to a lower sideband. In another embodiment the first transmitter signal is in quadrature with the second transmitter signal. The processing system is further configured to receive a resulting signal with a receiver electrode, the resulting signal comprising effects corresponding to both the first transmitter signal and the second transmitter signal. The determination module is configured to demodulate the resulting signal to produce a first output signal and a second output signal and to determine positional information. | 06-27-2013 |
20130335252 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SENSOR DEVICES HAVING A NON-COMMENSURATE NUMBER OF TRANSMITTER ELECTRODES - A processing system for an input device includes a transmitter modules coupled to a plurality of transmitter electrodes including a first set and a second set of transmitter electrodes, the first set and second set being disjoint and having different sizes. The transmitter module is configured to simultaneously transmit a first plurality of transmitter signals with the first set of transmitter electrodes during a first period, and to simultaneously transmit a second plurality of transmitter signals with the second set of transmitter electrodes during a second period, wherein the first period and the second period are non-overlapping. Each of the first plurality of transmitter signals is based on a different sequence of a code, which includes a set of mathematically independent sequences and has a size equal to the size of the first set of transmitter electrodes. | 12-19-2013 |
20140002114 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING TYPES OF USER INPUT | 01-02-2014 |
20140002340 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SWITCHING SENSING REGIMES FOR GLOVED AND UNGLOVED USER INPUT | 01-02-2014 |
20140021966 | CAPACITANCE MEASUREMENT - A differential amplifier has an output and differential first and second inputs. A switch disposed between a sensor electrode and the second input is opened to initiate a reset phase where the sensor electrode and the differential amplifier are decoupled. A feedback capacitance disposed between the second input and the output is reset to a first level of charge. The switch is closed to initiate a measurement phase where the second input and sensor electrode are coupled. In the measurement phase: charge is balanced between the sensor electrode and the feedback capacitance such that a sensor electrode voltage equals a voltage of the first input equals a voltage of the second input, and the sensor electrode is charged; and the differential amplifier is utilized to integrate charge on the sensor electrode, such that an absolute capacitance corresponding to a coupling between the sensor electrode and an input object is measured. | 01-23-2014 |
20140049509 | METHOD FOR DRIVING TOUCH SENSOR TO ACHIEVE FASTER SENSOR SETTLING - A method and system for driving capacitive pixels in a touch sensor device using a multi-level drive scheme. The drive scheme includes driving a transmitter electrode with a boosted voltage for a first period, and driving the transmitter electrode with a second voltage for a second period. The multi-level transmitter signal is determined based on different settling responses associated with the capacitive pixels of the touch sensor device. | 02-20-2014 |
20140062937 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED INPUT SENSING USING A DISPLAY PROCESSOR REFERENCE SIGNAL - Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and apparatus that is configured to reduce the effects of interference that is undesirably provided to a transmitter signal that is delivered from a transmitter signal generating device to a sensor processor to determine if an input object is disposed within a touch sensing region of a touch sensing device. In one embodiment, the sensor processor includes a receiver channel that has circuitry that is configured to separately receive a transmitter signal delivered from a display processor and a sensor processor reference signal that is based on a display processor reference signal to reliably sense the presence of an object. Embodiments of the invention described herein thus provide an improved apparatus and method for reliably sensing the presence of an object by a touch sensing device. | 03-06-2014 |
20140070875 | ROUTING TRACE COMPENSATION - A capacitive input device includes first and second pluralities of sensor electrodes disposed in a first region of a substrate. The first and second pluralities of sensor electrodes are substantially orthogonal to one another. The first region is configured to overlap a display screen. At least one routing trace is disposed in a second region of the substrate and is ohmically coupled to a sensor electrode of one of the first and second pluralities of sensor electrodes and also to a processing system. The second region comprises a non-display screen overlapping portion of the substrate. A compensation trace is disposed in the second region and ohmically coupled to the processing system. The compensation trace has substantially the same length as and is substantially parallel and proximate to the at least one routing trace. The compensation trace is not ohmically coupled to any sensor electrode located in the first region. | 03-13-2014 |
20140092031 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOW POWER INPUT OBJECT DETECTION AND INTERACTION - In a method of operating a touch screen, an object interaction is detected with the touch screen while in a first doze mode. It is determined if a detected object interaction with the touch screen is a valid input object interaction with the touch screen. In response to determining the object interaction is a valid input object interaction, the touch screen is transitioned from the first doze mode to a gesture recognition mode. The touch screen is transitioned from the gesture recognition mode to an active mode in response to a determination of a valid gesture interaction with the touch screen by the input object. | 04-03-2014 |
20140152324 | TRANSCAPACITIVE SENSOR DEVICES WITH SEAMS - A processing system for a transcapacitive sensing device comprises a plurality of sensor electrodes sectioned by a seam, a first sensor electrode integrated circuit, and a second sensor electrode integrated circuit. The plurality of sensor electrodes comprises a plurality of transmitter electrodes intersecting a plurality of receiver electrodes. The first sensor electrode integrated circuit is communicatively coupled to a first subset of the plurality of sensor electrodes. The second sensor electrode integrated circuit is communicatively coupled to a second subset of the plurality of sensor electrodes. The first sensor electrode integrated circuit and the second sensor electrode integrated circuit are configured to operate the plurality of sensor electrodes in synchrony to transmit with the plurality of transmitter electrodes a set of transmitter signals and receive with the plurality of receiver electrodes a set of responses corresponding to the set of transmitter signals. | 06-05-2014 |
20140160056 | SENSOR DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DETECTING PROXIMITY EVENTS - Methods, systems and devices are described for determining positional information for objects using an input device. The various embodiments provide improved user interface functionality by facilitating user input with input objects that are at the surface and objects that are away from the surface. The input device includes a processing system and an array of sensor electrodes adapted to capacitively sense objects in a sensing region. The processing system is configured to determine first positional information for an input object in a first portion of the sensing region based on a difference between a first frame of the first plurality of frames and a filtered frame even when the input object is determined to be in the sensing region when the first plurality of frames are acquired, wherein the filtered frame is based on one or more of the first plurality of frames | 06-12-2014 |
20140176480 | COMPENSATION FOR AIR GAP IN AN INPUT DEVICE - Embodiments of the present invention generally provide a processing system for a display device integrated with a capacitive sensing device. The processing system includes a driver module, a receiver module, and a determination module. The driver module is coupled to a plurality of common electrodes configured to be driven for display updating and capacitive sensing. The receiver module is coupled to a plurality of receiver electrodes and configured for receiving resulting signals with the receiver electrodes. The determination module is configured for comparing a delta capacitive image to one or more saturation capacitance values and replacing the saturation capacitance values with one or more capacitance values from the delta capacitive image. The determination module is further configured for determining calibration values based on the saturation capacitance values. The calibration values calibrate for an air gap defined between a cover lens of a display device and the plurality of common electrodes. | 06-26-2014 |
20140267131 | PROXIMITY SENSING - A processing system for capacitance sensing includes a sensor module and a determination module. The sensor module includes sensor circuitry coupled to sensor electrodes, the sensor module configured to generate sensing signals received with the sensor electrodes. The determination module is connected to the sensor electrodes and configured to obtain, for a predetermined timeframe, a profile from the sensing signals, obtain, for the predetermined timeframe, a noise statistic, and calculate, for the predetermined timeframe, a data signal statistic for the predetermined timeframe using the profile. The determination module is further configured to calculate a signal to noise ratio (SNR) by dividing the data signal statistic by the noise statistic. When the SNR satisfies a predetermined detection threshold, an input object is detected in a sensing region of the capacitance sensing input device. | 09-18-2014 |
20140267134 | SHEAR FORCE DETECTION USING CAPACITIVE SENSORS - An input device having a sensing region overlapping an input surface includes a first substrate, a second substrate physically coupled to the first substrate, and a sensor electrode disposed on the first substrate and configured to detect input objects in the sensing region. A first force sensor includes a first electrode disposed on the first substrate and a first conductive portion of the second substrate capacitively coupled with the first electrode. The first conductive portion is configured to move relative to the first electrode such that a first variable capacitance of the first force sensor changes in response to force applied to the input surface in a first direction parallel to the touch surface. | 09-18-2014 |
20140267137 | PROXIMITY SENSING USING DRIVEN GROUND PLANE - A method and apparatus for operating an input device having an array of capacitive sensor electrodes disposed on a substrate with a ground plane, and a proximity sensor electrode are disclosed herein. The input device includes a processing system configured to operate in an input mode and a proximity mode. When operating in the input mode, the processing system drives the ground plane to a grounding voltage and scans the array of capacitive sensor electrodes to detect input from an object in an active region of the input device. When operating in the proximity mode, the processing system drives a sensing signal on the ground plane, and optionally, one or more sensor electrodes of the array of capacitive sensor electrodes and receives a resulting signal from the proximity sensor electrode. The processing system generates an indication of an object presence in a second sensing region based on the resulting signal. | 09-18-2014 |
20140267143 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A TRANSCAPACITIVE PROXIMITY SENSING DEVICE - A processing system for a transcapacitive input device configured to detect input objects in a sensing region of the input device includes a transmitter module including transmitter circuitry, a receiver module, and a determination module. The transmitter module is configured to simultaneously transmit, using a plurality of transmitter electrodes, a plurality of transmitter signals according to a plurality of significantly non-orthogonal digital codes. At least two codes of the plurality of significantly non-orthogonal digital codes are significantly non-orthogonal. The receiver module is configured to receive, with a plurality of receiver electrodes, a plurality of resulting signals. Each resulting signal of the plurality of resulting signals comprises multiple effects corresponding to multiple transmitter signals of the plurality of transmitter signals. The determination module is configured to determine object information for input in the sensing region using the plurality of resulting signals. | 09-18-2014 |
20140278173 | BASELINE MANAGEMENT FOR SENSING DEVICE - A processing system for baseline management includes a sensor module comprising sensor circuitry coupled to sensor electrodes, where the sensor module is configured to receive resulting signals with at least a portion of the sensor electrodes. The processing system further includes a determination module operatively connected to the sensor electrodes. The determination module is configured to obtain a first profile from the resulting signals, calculate, using the first profile, a first statistic and a second statistic for the first profile, and select, according to a first range of the first statistic and a second range of the second statistic, a baseline relaxation technique from a plurality of baseline relaxation techniques to obtain a selected baseline relaxation technique. The determination module is further configured to adjust a baseline for the capacitance sensing input device according to the selected baseline relaxation technique. | 09-18-2014 |
20150084876 | USING A PRINTED CIRCUIT TO OFFSET CHARGE DURING CAPACITIVE SENSING - In a method of capacitive sensing an absolute capacitive sensing signal is driven through at least one of a plurality of routing traces of a printed circuit. Absolute capacitive sensing is performed with at least one sensor electrode of a plurality of sensor electrodes in a sensor electrode pattern. The at least one sensor electrode is coupled with the at least one of the plurality of routing traces. An offsetting signal is transmitted on a parallel conductor overlapping the at least one of the plurality of routing traces, such that charge is offset from the at least one of the plurality of routing traces during the absolute capacitive sensing. | 03-26-2015 |