Increasing the dynamic range of an integrator based mutual-capacitance measurement circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10082922-B2
Application number	US-201715612289-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2017
Priority date	Sep 26, 2012
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

In one embodiment, a device includes one or more processors and one or more memory units. The one or more memory units collectively store logic configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including obtaining a first measurement associated with a first voltage, the first voltage output by the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a first change in capacitance, and obtaining a second measurement associated with a second voltage, the second voltage output by the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a second change in capacitance. The operations further include calculating a differential measurement using a difference between the first measurement and the second measurement and determining whether a touch or proximity event has occurred based at least in part on the calculated differential measurement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more memory units coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memory units collectively storing logic configured to, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a first measurement associated with a first voltage, the first voltage output by a mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a first change in capacitance;
obtaining a second measurement associated with a second voltage, the second voltage output by the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a second change in capacitance;
calculating a differential measurement using a difference between the first measurement and the second measurement; and
determining whether a touch or proximity event has occurred based at least in part on the calculated differential measurement; wherein:
obtaining the first measurement comprises measuring the first change in capacitance of a sensor capacitor; and
obtaining the second measurement comprises measuring the second change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein calculating the differential measurement further comprises using measurements obtained during calibration phases performed when the device is initially powered on.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the first voltage flows hack through an inverting input of an op-amp until a voltage at the inverting input of the op-amp is rebalanced to a first reference voltage; and
the second voltage flows back through the inverting input of the op-amp until the voltage at the inverting input of the op-amp is rebalanced to a second reference voltage.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first measurement and the second measurement are obtained by converting the first voltage and the second voltage, respectively, into a corresponding digital value.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first and second measurements are obtained, respectively, while the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit is configured in integration mode.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein:
measuring the first change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor is measuring the first change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor at a first polarity; and
measuring the second change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor is measuring the second change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor with the first polarity reversed.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit comprises:
the sensor capacitor;
a compensation capacitor;
an integrator circuit comprising an integration capacitor, an op-amp, and a feedback loop; and
an analog-to-digital converter.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying logic configured to, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a first measurement associated with a first voltage, the first voltage output by a mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a first change in capacitance;
obtaining a second measurement associated with a second voltage, the second voltage output by the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a second change in capacitance;
calculating a differential measurement using a difference between the first measurement and the second measurement; and
determining whether a touch or proximity event has occurred based at least in part on the calculated differential measurement; wherein:
obtaining first measurement comprises measuring the first change in capacitance of a sensor capacitor; and
obtaining the second measurement comprises measuring the second change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein calculating the differential measurement further comprises using measurements obtained during calibration phases performed when the device is initially powered on.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein:
the first voltage flows back through an inverting input of an op-amp until a voltage at the inverting input of the op-amp is rebalanced to a first reference voltage; and
the second voltage flows back through the inverting input of the op-amp until the voltage at the inverting input of the op-amp is rebalanced to a second reference voltage.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first measurement and the second measurement are obtained by converting the first voltage and the second voltage, respectively, into a corresponding digital value.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first and second measurements are obtained, respectively, while the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit is configured in integration mode.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein;
measuring the first change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor is measuring the first change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor at a first polarity; and
measuring the second change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor is measuring the second change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor with the first polarity reversed.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit comprises:
the sensor capacitor;
a compensation capacitor;
an integrator circuit comprising an integration capacitor, an op-amp, and a feedback loop; and
an analog-to-digital converter.

15. A method, comprising:
obtaining a first measurement associated with a first voltage, the first voltage output by a mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a first change in capacitance;
obtaining a second measurement associated with a second voltage, the second voltage output by the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit in response to a second change in capacitance;
calculating a differential measurement using a difference between the first measurement and the second measurement; and
determining whether a touch or proximity event has occurred based at least in part on the calculated differential measurement; wherein:
obtaining the first measurement comprises measuring the first change in capacitance of a sensor capacitor; and
obtaining the second measurement comprises measuring the second change in capacitance of the sensor capacitor.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein calculating the differential measurement further comprises using measurements obtained during calibration phases performed when the device is initially powered on.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the first voltage flows back through an inverting input of an op-amp until a voltage at the inverting input of the op-amp is rebalanced to a first reference voltage; and
the second voltage flows back through the inverting input of the op-amp until the voltage at the inverting input of the op-amp is rebalanced to the second voltage.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first measurement and the second measurement are obtained by converting the first voltage and the second voltage, respectively, into a corresponding digital value.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first and second measurements are obtained, respectively, while the mutual-capacitance measurement circuit is configured in integration mode.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
measuring the first change in capacitance of the sensor

Assignees

• Atmel Corp

Inventors

• Hanssen Ingar
• Whelan Rian

Classifications

• H03K2217/960745

  Capacitive differential; e.g. comparison with reference capacitance · CPC title

• H03K2217/960725

  Charge-transfer · CPC title

• G01R27/2605

  Measuring capacitance (capacitive sensors G01D5/24) · CPC title

• G06F3/038

  Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry · CPC title

• G06F3/045

  using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact · CPC title