Power consumption optimization using interference measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10216257-B2
Application number	US-201715456262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2017
Priority date	Mar 10, 2017
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

A method and related processing system and input device are disclosed for power consumption optimization using interference measurements. The method comprises applying, within a predefined first low-power operational mode, a first set of values for at least one predefined sensing parameter and corresponding to a first power consumption level; acquiring, within the first low-power operational mode, a first interference measurement using the plurality of sensor electrodes; transitioning, upon determining the first interference measurement exceeds a first interference threshold value, into a predefined high-power operational mode; and applying, within the high-power operational mode, a second set of values for the at least one predefined sensing parameter and corresponding to a second power consumption level greater than the first power consumption level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A processing system comprising:
a sensing module comprising sensing circuitry configured to couple with a plurality of sensor electrodes,
wherein the sensing module is operable in at least a first low-power operational mode or a high-power operational mode and configured to:
apply a first set of values for at least one predefined sensing parameter while operating in the first low-power operational mode, the first set of values corresponding to a first power consumption level;
acquire a first interference measurement using the plurality of sensor electrodes while operating in the first low-power operational mode;
transition from the first low-power operational mode to the high-power operational mode upon determining that the first interference measurement exceeds a first interference threshold value; and
apply a second set of values for the at least one predefined sensing parameter while operating in the high-power operational mode, the second set of values corresponding to a second power consumption level that is greater than the first power consumption level.

2. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one predefined sensing parameter is selected from a group consisting of:
whether a timing of the sensing is based on one of a horizontal sync (HSYNC) signal and a vertical sync (VSYNC) signal;
a duration of integration periods associated with sensing;
a timing mode for performing transcapacitive sensing;
a burst size associated with sensing;
a setting for an anti-aliasing filter;
a number of bursts during a sensing period;
a setting of a charge pump;
a code length for code division multiplexing;
a modulation amplitude of a sensing signal; and
a setting for a reference channel.

3. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the first low-power operational mode is one of a plurality of predefined low-power operational modes, each of the low-power operational modes having a respective power consumption level that is less than the second power consumption level of the high-power operational mode,
wherein transitioning from the first low-power operational mode to the high-power operational mode is performed responsive to determining to not transition from the first low-power operational mode to a predefined moisture operational mode of the plurality of predefined low-power operational modes.

4. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the sensing module is further configured to:
acquire a second interference measurement using the plurality of sensor electrodes while operating in the high-power operational mode; and
determine, based on a comparison of the second interference measurement with a second interference threshold value, whether to transition from the high-power operational mode to a second low-power operational mode.

5. The processing system of claim 4 , wherein the sensing module is further configured to:
applying a third set of values for the at least one predefined sensing parameter when operating in the second low-power operational mode.

6. The processing system of claim 1 , wherein the sensing module is further configured to:
apply a baseline shift value to subsequent capacitance measurements upon transitioning from the first low-power operational mode to the high-power operational mode, the baseline shift value reflecting a difference between a first baseline capacitance measurement of the first low-power operational mode and a second baseline capacitance measurement of the high-power operational mode.

7. The processing system of claim 6 , wherein the baseline shift value comprises at least one of:
an updated global coarse baseline correction (CBC) value corresponding to all of the plurality of sensor electrodes, or
an updated local CBC value corresponding to fewer than all of the plurality of sensor electrodes.

8. A method performed using a processing system coupled with a plurality of sensor electrodes, the method comprising:
applying a first set of values for at least one predefined sensing parameter while the processing system operates in a first low-power operational mode, the first set of values corresponding to a first power consumption level;
acquiring a first interference measurement using the plurality of sensor electrodes while the processing system operates in the first low-power operational mode;
transitioning the processing system from the first low-power operational mode to a high-power operational mode upon determining that the first interference measurement exceeds a first interference threshold value; and
applying a second set of values for the at least one predefined sensing parameter while the processing system operates in the high-power operational mode, the second set of values corresponding to a second power consumption level that is greater than the first power consumption level.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one predefined sensing parameter is selected from a group consisting of:
whether a timing of the sensing is based on one of a horizontal sync (HSYNC) signal and a vertical sync (VSYNC) signal;
a duration of integration periods associated with sensing;
a timing mode for performing transcapacitive sensing;
a burst size associated with sensing;
a setting for an anti-aliasing filter;
a number of bursts during a sensing period;
a setting of a charge pump;
a code length for code division multiplexing;
a modulation amplitude of a sensing signal; and
a setting for a reference channel.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first low-power operational mode is one of a plurality of predefined low-power operational modes, each of the low-power operational modes having a respective power consumption level that is less than the second power consumption level of the high-power operational mode,
wherein transitioning the processing system from the first low-power operational mode to the high-power operational mode is performed responsive to determining to not transition the processing system from the first low-power operational mode to a predefined moisture operational mode of the plurality of predefined low-power operational modes.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
acquiring a second interference measurement using the plurality of sensor electrodes while operating in the high-power operational mode; and
determining, based on a comparison of the second interference measurement with a second interference threshold value, whether to transition from the high-power operational mode to a second low-power operational mode.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
applying a third set of values for the at least one predefined sensing parameter when operating the processing system in the second low-power operational mode.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
applying a baseline shift value to subsequent capacitance measurements upon transitioning the processing system from the first low-power operational mode to the high-power operational mode, the baseline shift value reflecting a difference between a first baseline capacitance measurement of the first low-power operational mode and a second baseline capacitance measurement of the high-power operational mode.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the baseline shift value comprises at least one of:
an updated global coarse baseline correction (CBC) value corresponding to all of the plurality of sensor electrodes, or
an updated local CBC value corresponding to fewer than all of the plurality of sensor electrodes.

15. An input device, comprising:
a plurality of sensor electrodes; and
a processi

Assignees

• Synaptics Inc

Inventors

• Stevenson Matthew
• Mani Sanjay
• Fotopoulos Nickolas V
• Solven Derek
• Ramakrishnan Shubha

Classifications

• G06F1/324

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• G06F1/3287 Primary

  by switching off individual functional units in the computer system · CPC title

• G06F1/3296

  by lowering the supply or operating voltage · CPC title

• G06F1/3262 Primary

  Power saving in digitizer or tablet · CPC title

• G06F1/3293 Primary

  by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU · CPC title