Circuit for cancelling offset capacitance of capacitive touch screen panel and device including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10082916-B2
Application number	US-201615201532-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 4, 2016
Priority date	Jul 8, 2015
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

A touch screen controller for cancelling an offset capacitance of a capacitive touch screen panel includes a code generator configured to generate a time-invariant digital code and a time-variant digital code during an offset cancellation time. A switched-capacitor array converts the time-invariant digital code and the time-variant digital code into an amount of electric charges corresponding to the offset capacitance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A touch screen controller for cancelling an offset capacitance of a capacitive touch screen panel, the touch screen controller comprising:
a code generator configured to generate a time-invariant digital code and a time-variant digital code during an offset cancellation time; and
a switched-capacitor array configured to convert the time-invariant digital code and the time-variant digital code into an amount of electric charges corresponding to the offset capacitance to cancel the offset capacitance.

2. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , wherein the time-invariant digital code controls a most significant bit (MSB) among bits corresponding to the offset capacitance and the time-variant digital code controls a least significant bit (LSB) among the bits.

3. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , wherein the switched-capacitor array comprises:
a first switched-capacitor array configured to convert the time-invariant digital code into a first portion of the amount of the electric charges;
a second switched-capacitor array configured to convert the time-variant digital code into a second portion of the amount of the electric charges other than the first portion; and
a summation node configured to sum up the first portion and the second portion.

4. The touch screen controller of claim 3 , wherein the first portion is greater than the second portion.

5. The touch screen controller of claim 3 , wherein the second switched-capacitor array comprises a unit capacitor and the capacitance of the unit capacitor is greater than an offset cancellation resolution related with the offset capacitance.

6. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , further comprising:
a capacitance-to-voltage converter configured to convert the amount of the electric charges into a voltage; and
an integrator connected to the capacitance-to-voltage converter.

7. The touch screen controller of claim 6 , wherein an offset cancellation resolution of the offset capacitance cancelled by the time-variant digital code is related to an integration count of the integrator.

8. The touch screen controller of claim 6 , wherein the switched-capacitor array comprises a plurality of unit capacitors and the amount of offset capacitance cancelled by the time-variant digital code at a time is determined according to the capacitance of one of the unit capacitors and an integration count of the integrator.

9. The touch screen controller of claim 8 , further comprising:
an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert an output signal of the integrator into a digital code; and
a memory configured to store the time-invariant digital code and the time-variant digital code, wherein
the code generator is configured to store the time-invariant digital code and the time-variant digital code, which are determined when a reference digital code is the same as an output digital code of the analog-to-digital converter, in the memory.

10. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , wherein the time-variant digital code is related to a charge count of at least one capacitor included in the switched-capacitor array.

11. A touch screen system comprising:
a capacitive touch screen panel including a touch sensor; and
a touch screen controller connected to the capacitive touch screen panel, wherein
the touch screen controller comprises:
a code generator configured to generate a time-invariant digital code and a time-variant digital code during an offset cancellation time; and
a switched-capacitor array configured to convert the time-invariant digital code and the time-variant digital code into an amount of electric charges corresponding to an offset capacitance of the touch sensor to cancel the offset capacitance.

12. The touch screen system of claim 11 , wherein the time-invariant digital code includes a most significant bit (MSB) among bits corresponding to the offset capacitance and the time-variant digital code includes a least significant bit (LSB) among the bits.

13. The touch screen system of claim 11 , wherein the switched-capacitor array comprises:
a first switched-capacitor array configured to convert the time-invariant digital code into a first portion of the amount of the charges;
a second switched-capacitor array configured to convert the time-variant digital code into a second portion of the amount of the charges other than the first portion; and
a subtraction circuit configured to subtract the sum of the first portion and the second portion from the offset capacitance.

14. The touch screen system of claim 13 , wherein the second switched-capacitor array comprises a unit capacitor and the capacitance of the unit capacitor is greater than an offset cancellation resolution for cancelling the offset capacitance.

15. The touch screen system of claim 11 , wherein the touch screen controller further comprises:
a capacitance-to-voltage converter configured to convert the amount of the electric charges into a voltage; and
an integrator connected to the capacitance-to-voltage converter.

16. The touch screen system of claim 15 , wherein an offset cancellation resolution of the offset capacitance cancelled by the time-variant digital code is related to an integration count of the integrator.

17. The touch screen system of claim 15 , wherein the switched-capacitor array comprises a plurality of unit capacitors and the amount of offset capacitance cancelled by the time-variant digital code at a time is determined according to the capacitance of one of the unit capacitors and an integration count of the integrator.

18. The touch screen system of claim 15 , wherein the touch screen controller further comprises a driver configured to transmit a driving signal having as many pulse sequences as an integration count of the integrator to the touch sensor during the offset cancellation time.

19. A switched-capacitor digital-to-analog converter comprising:
a first switched-capacitor array configured to convert a time-invariant digital code input during an operating time into an amount of first charges;
a second switched-capacitor array configured to convert a time-variant digital code input during the operating time into an amount of second charges; and
a subtraction circuit configured to subtract a sum of the amount of the first charges and the amount of the second charges from a capacitance input through an input node.

20. The switched-capacitor digital-to-analog converter of claim 19 , wherein the first switched-capacitor array comprises a plurality of switched-capacitors connected to the subtraction circuit, the second switched-capacitor array comprises at least one switched-capacitor connected to the subtraction circuit, a total capacitance of the plurality of switched-capacitors is controlled based on the time-invariant digital code related to a most significant bit (MSB) among bits corresponding to the capacitance input through the input node, and a total capacitance of the at least one switched-capacitor is controlled based on the time-variant digital code related to a least significant bit (LSB) among the bits.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Bum Soo
• Park Jun Chul
• Ouh Hyun Kyu
• Kim Cha Dong
• Byun San Ho
• Lee Jin Chul
• Choi Yoon Kyung

Classifications

• G06F3/0418 Primary

  for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment · CPC title

• G06F3/044 Primary

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F3/0446

  using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes · CPC title

• G06F3/04166

  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 title