Selective receiver electrode scanning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10126896-B2
Application number	US-201615195150-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2016
Priority date	Jun 28, 2016
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A processing system, including: a sensor module that: receives, in a first sensing modality, first resulting signals from electrodes in a sensing region; and receives, in a second sensing modality, second resulting signals from a subset of receiver electrodes; and receiver hardware channels that process the second resulting signals, where the number of receiver electrodes exceeds the number of hardware channels; and a determination module that: measures a first plurality of capacitive changes based on the first resulting signals; determines, based on the first plurality of capacitive changes, the section of the sensing region in which an input object is located; selects the subset of the receiver electrodes corresponding to the section; measures a second plurality of capacitive changes based on the second resulting signals; and determines a position of the input object within the section based on the second plurality of capacitive changes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A processing system for a capacitive sensing device, comprising:
a sensor module comprising circuitry configured to:
receive, in a first sensing modality, a first plurality of resulting signals from a plurality of sensor electrodes in a sensing region, the sensing region partitioned into a plurality of sections comprising:
a first section comprising a plurality of receiver electrode groups; and
a second section comprising a first receiver electrode group and a second receiver electrode group; and

receive, in a second sensing modality, a second plurality of resulting signals from a subset of a plurality of receiver electrodes, the subset of the plurality of receiver electrodes corresponding to the second section of the sensing region;

a first multiplexer coupled to one of the plurality of receiver electrode groups and the first receiver electrode group;
a second multiplexer coupled to one of the plurality of receiver electrode groups and the second receiver electrode group,
wherein the number of multiplexers equals the number of receiver electrode groups in the second section;
a plurality of receiver hardware channels comprising:
a first set of receiver hardware channels coupled to the first multiplexer and comprising circuitry configured to process, in parallel, a first subset of the second plurality of resulting signals corresponding to the first receiver electrode group; and
a second set of receiver hardware channels coupled to the second multiplexer and comprising circuitry configured to process, in parallel, a second subset of the second plurality of resulting signals corresponding to the second receiver electrode group,

wherein the number of receiver electrodes exceeds the number of receiver hardware channels, and
wherein the number of receiver hardware channels in the first set equals the number of receiver electrodes in the first receiver electrode group coupled to the first multiplexer; and
a determination module comprising circuitry configured to:
measure a first plurality of capacitive changes based on the first plurality of resulting signals and the first sensing modality;
determine, based on the first plurality of capacitive changes, an input object is located in the second section;
actively couple, using the first multiplexer and the second multiplexer, the subset of the plurality of receiver electrodes corresponding to the second section of the sensing region to the plurality of receiver hardware channels in response to determining the input object is in the second section;
measure a second plurality of capacitive changes based on the second plurality of resulting signals and the second sensing modality; and
determine a position of the input object within the second section based on the second plurality of capacitive changes.

2. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the determination module comprising circuitry is configured to determine the position of the input object within the second section based on the first plurality of capacitive changes.

3. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor module comprising circuitry is configured to:
drive, in the second sensing modality, a plurality of transmitter electrodes,
wherein the second sensing modality is transcapacitance sensing.

4. The processing system of claim 3 , wherein the sensor module comprising circuitry is configured to:
drive, in the first sensing modality, the plurality of transmitter electrodes,
wherein the first sensing modality is transcapacitance projection sensing.

5. The processing system of claim 3 , wherein the first sensing modality is absolute capacitance sensing.

6. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of capacitive changes comprise capacitive changes over a first portion of the sensing region, wherein the second plurality of capacitive changes comprise capacitive changes over a second portion of the sensing region, and wherein the second portion is smaller than the first portion.

7. A method for operating a capacitive sensing device associated with a sensing region, comprising:
receiving, in a first sensing modality, a first plurality of resulting signals from a plurality of sensor electrodes in the sensing region, the sensing region partitioned into a plurality of sections comprising:
a first section comprising a plurality of receiver electrode groups; and
a second section comprising a first receiver electrode group and a second receiver electrode group;

measuring a first plurality of capacitive changes based on the first plurality of resulting signals and the first sensing modality;
determining, based on the first plurality of capacitive changes, an input object is located in the second section;
actively coupling, using a plurality of multiplexers, a subset of a plurality of receiver electrodes corresponding to the second section of the sensing region to a plurality of receiver hardware channels in response to determining the input object is located in the second section,
wherein the plurality of multiplexers comprises:
a first multiplexer coupled to one of the plurality of receiver electrode groups and the first receiver electrode group;
a second multiplexer coupled to one of the plurality of receiver electrode groups and the second receiver electrode group,

wherein the number of multiplexers equals the number of receiver electrode groups in the second section;
receiving, in a second sensing modality, a second plurality of resulting signals from the subset of the plurality of receiver electrodes;
processing, by the plurality of receiver hardware channels, the second plurality of resulting signals,
wherein the plurality of receiver hardware channels comprises:
a first set of receiver hardware channels coupled to the first multiplexer and comprising circuitry configured to process, in parallel, a first subset of the second plurality of resulting signals corresponding to the first receiver electrode group; and
a second set of receiver hardware channels coupled to the second multiplexer and comprising circuitry configured to process, in parallel, a second subset of the second plurality of resulting signals corresponding to the second receiver electrode group,

wherein the number of receiver hardware channels in the first set equals the number of receiver electrodes in the first receiver electrode group coupled to the first multiplexer, and
wherein the number of receiver electrodes exceeds the number of receiver hardware channels;
measuring a second plurality of capacitive changes based on the second plurality of resulting signals and the second sensing modality; and
determining a position of the input object within the second section based on the second plurality of capacitive changes.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
driving, in the second sensing modality, a plurality of transmitter electrodes,
wherein the second sensing modality is transcapacitance sensing.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
driving, in the first sensing modality, the plurality of transmitter electrodes,
wherein the first sensing modality is transcapacitance projection sensing.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first plurality of capacitive changes comprise capacitive changes over a first portion of the sensing region, wherein the second plurality of capacitive changes comprise capacitive changes over a second portion of the sensing region, and wherein the second portion is smaller than the first portion.

11. An input device, comprising:
a sensing region partitioned into a plurality of sections comprising:
a first section comprising a plurality of receiver electrode groups; and

Assignees

• Synaptics Inc

Inventors

• Solven Derek
• Losh Jonathan
• Mani Sanjay
• Stevenson Matthew

Classifications

• G06F2203/04101

  2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup · CPC title

• G06F3/044 Primary

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title

• G06F3/0446 Primary

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

• G06F3/041662

  using alternate mutual and self-capacitive scanning · CPC title