Touch screen controller, touch sensing device, and touch sensing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10156935-B2
Application number	US-201615189528-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2016
Priority date	Jun 22, 2015
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

A touch screen controller is provided. The touch screen controller includes: an offset cancellation circuit configured to cancel offset capacitance of a touch screen panel including a first channel and a second channel crossing the first channel, the offset cancellation circuit connected to the touch screen panel through a sensing node; a charge amplifier configured to generate a sensing voltage from a sensing signal output from the touch screen panel, the charge amplifier including an amplifier having a first input terminal connected to the sensing node and a second input terminal to which an input voltage is applied; and a channel driver configured to provide a driving voltage, which is equal to or greater than the input voltage, to the second channel in a self capacitance sensing mode for the first channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A touch screen controller comprising:
an offset cancellation circuit configured to cancel offset capacitance of a touch screen panel comprising a first channel and a second channel crossing the first channel, the offset cancellation circuit connected to the touch screen panel through a sensing node;
a charge amplifier configured to generate a sensing voltage from a sensing signal output from the touch screen panel, the charge amplifier comprising an amplifier having a first input terminal connected to the sensing node and a second input terminal to which a first driving voltage is applied in a self capacitance sensing mode for the first channel, the first driving voltage being provided to the first channel to generate the sensing signal; and
a channel driver configured to provide a second driving voltage, which is equal to or greater than the first driving voltage, to the second channel in the self capacitance sensing mode for the first channel.

2. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , wherein the offset cancellation circuit comprises an offset cancellation capacitor having capacitance that is less than offset self capacitance of the first channel.

3. The touch screen controller of claim 2 , wherein the offset cancellation capacitor has a first terminal connected to the sensing node and a second terminal to which an offset cancellation voltage higher than the first driving voltage is applied.

4. The touch screen controller of claim 3 , wherein the offset cancellation voltage is twice the first driving voltage.

5. The touch screen controller of claim 3 , wherein the channel driver provides the second driving voltage corresponding to k times the first driving voltage to the second channel in the self capacitance sensing mode for the first channel, wherein k is an integer that is equal to or greater than 1.

6. The touch screen controller of claim 5 , wherein the capacitance of the offset cancellation capacitor corresponds to Cs−(k−1)*Cm,
wherein Cs is the offset self capacitance of the first channel, and Cm is offset mutual capacitance between the first channel and the second channel.

7. The touch screen controller of claim 5 , wherein capacitance of the sensing signal corresponds to ΔCs+(k−1)*ΔCm,
wherein ΔCs is a variation in an amount of self capacitance of the first channel, and ΔCm is a variation in an amount of mutual capacitance between the first channel and the second channel.

8. The touch screen controller of claim 2 , wherein offset mutual capacitance between the first channel and the second channel cancels at least some of the offset self capacitance.

9. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , wherein a level of the sensing signal increases due to a variation in an amount of mutual capacitance between the first channel and the second channel.

10. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , wherein the amplifier further comprises an output terminal outputting the sensing voltage,
wherein the charge amplifier further comprises a feedback capacitor connected between the first input terminal and the output terminal.

11. The touch screen controller of claim 1 , wherein the second driving voltage has a square wave form.

12. A touch sensing device comprising:
a touch screen panel configured to sense a touch or proximity input, the touch screen panel including a first channel and a second channel crossing the first channel; and
a touch screen controller configured to provide a first driving voltage to the first channel in a self capacitance sensing mode for the first channel, provide a second driving voltage to the second channel in the self capacitance sensing mode for the first channel, and sense a variation in an amount of capacitance of the first channel, caused by the touch or proximity input,
wherein the touch screen controller further comprises a charge amplifier configured to generate a sensing voltage from a sensing signal output from the touch screen panel, and
wherein the charge amplifier comprises an amplifier having a first input terminal connected to a sensing node between the touch screen panel and the touch screen controller and a second input terminal to which the first driving voltage is applied in the self capacitance sensing mode, the first driving voltage being provided to the first channel to generate the sensing signal.

13. The touch sensing device of claim 12 , wherein the touch screen controller comprises an offset cancellation circuit configured to cancel offset capacitance of the touch screen panel,
wherein the offset cancellation circuit comprises an offset cancellation capacitor having capacitance that is less than offset self capacitance of the first channel.

14. The touch sensing device of claim 13 , wherein the touch screen controller further comprises a channel driver configured to provide the second driving voltage, which is equal to or greater than the first driving voltage, to the second channel.

15. The touch sensing device of claim 14 , wherein the channel driver provides the second driving voltage corresponding to k times the first driving voltage to the second channel, k being an integer that is equal to or greater than 1, and the offset cancellation capacitor has a first terminal connected to the sensing node and a second terminal to which a voltage that is twice the first driving voltage is applied.

16. A touch sensing device comprising:
a touch screen panel configured to sense a touch or proximity input, and comprising:
a first channel and a second channel crossing the first channel; and
an offset self capacitor and an offset mutual capacitor configured to have offset self capacitance and offset mutual capacitance, respectively, when an input voltage is applied to the first channel, and

a touch screen controller configured to sense a variation in an amount of capacitance of the first channel caused by the touch or proximity input, and generate a sensing voltage from a sensing signal output from the touch screen panel,
wherein the touch screen controller comprises an offset cancellation capacitor connected to the offset self capacitor and the offset mutual capacitor of the touch screen panel, and
wherein the offset mutual capacitor along with the offset cancellation capacitor are configured to cancel at least some of the offset self capacitance.

17. The touch sensing device of claim 16 , wherein the offset self capacitor is configured such that a voltage between both terminals thereof is equal to the input voltage Vin applied to the first channel,
wherein the offset mutual capacitor is configured to such that a voltage between both terminals thereof is equal to Vin−k*Vin, k being equal to or greater than 1, and
wherein the offset cancellation capacitor is configured to such that a voltage between both terminals thereof is equal to −Vin.

18. The touch sensing device of claim 16 , wherein the touch screen controller further comprises:
a charge amplifier configured to generate the sensing voltage from the sensing signal output from the touch screen panel, and comprising an amplifier having a first input terminal connected to the offset cancellation capacitor and a second input terminal to which the input voltage is applied; and
a channel driver configured to provide a driving voltage, which is equal to or greater than the input voltage, to the second channel.

19. The touch sensing device of claim 16 , wherein the offset cancellation capacitor is configured to have capacitance equal to Cs−(k−1)*Cm,
wherein Cs is the offset self capacitance, and Cm is th

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Kyeong-Gon
• Kim Bum-Soo
• Park Jun-Chul
• Choi Yoon-Kyung
• Byun San-Ho
• Kim Cha-Dong
• Lee Jin-Chul

Classifications

• G06F3/0418 Primary

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

• 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

  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

• G06F3/0416 Primary

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title