Electronic device and method of determining touch in electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10230367-B2
Application number	US-201615348234-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2016
Priority date	Nov 10, 2015
Publication date	Mar 12, 2019
Grant date	Mar 12, 2019

Abstract

An electronic device and a method a provided. The electronic device includes a first surface, a second surface opposite to the first surface, and a side surface that surrounds at least part of a space between the first and second surfaces; a Radio Frequency (RF) communication circuit; an antenna radiator that forms at least part of at least one of the first surface, the second surface, and the side surface and is connected to the RF communication circuit; a sensor that detects whether an external object contacts the antenna radiator; a switching circuit connected to the antenna radiator and the sensor; and a processor configured to receive a first value from the sensor when the antenna radiator and the sensor are connected to each other and to receive a second value from the sensor when the antenna radiator and the sensor are separated from each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a housing that comprises a first surface, a second surface opposite to the first surface, and a side surface that surrounds at least part of a space between the first and second surfaces;
a Radio Frequency (RF) communication circuit disposed in the housing;
a first conductive member disposed in the housing;
a switching circuit disposed in the housing;
a sensor electrically connected to the first conductive member through the switching circuit and configured to detect at least one of contact and proximity of an external object to the first conductive member;
a processor electrically connected to the RF communication circuit, the switching circuit, and the sensor; and
a memory electrically connected to the processor,
wherein the memory stores instructions that allow the processor, when being executed, to determine whether at least a part of the electronic device has been activated and to provide a first state in which the sensor and the first conductive member are electrically separated from each other when at least a part of the electronic device is deactivated and a second state in which the sensor and the first conductive member are electrically connected to each other when at least a part of the electronic device is activated, by using the switching circuit, and
wherein the instructions allow the processor to acquire, by using the sensor, first data in the first state in which the sensor and the first conductive member are electrically separated from each other when the at least the part of the electronic device is deactivated, and second data in the second state in which the sensor and the first conductive member are electrically connected to each other when the at least the part of the electronic device is activated.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions allow the processor to determine whether a user's body is in contact or near contact with the first conductive member at least partially based on the first data and the second data.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the instructions allow the processor to determine that the user's body is in contact with or near contact with the first conductive member when the difference between the first data and the second data exceeds a threshold value, and to determine that the user's body is not in contact with and is not in near contact with the first conductive member when the difference between the first data and the second data is less than a threshold value.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions allow the processor to correct the second data at least partially based on the first data and to determine whether a user's body is in contact or near contact with the first conductive member at least partially based on the corrected second data.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , further comprising:
an offset compensation circuit electrically connected between the switching circuit and the sensor and configured to store at least a part of the first data,
wherein the instructions allow the processor to correct the second data using the offset compensation circuit.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second conductive member insulated from the first conductive member.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein capacitance C c formed between the first and second conductive members, capacitance C f formed between a user's body and the first conductive member and/or the second conductive member, parasitic capacitance C P1 formed in the first conductive member, and parasitic capacitance C P2 formed in the second conductive member satisfy at least one relation of C P1 >C P2 , C f ≥C P2 , and C f ≤C c .

8. The electronic device of claim 6 , further comprising:
a third conductive member insulated from the first and second conductive members.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein capacitance C c1 formed between the first and second conductive members, capacitance C c2 formed between the first and third conductive members, capacitance C c3 formed between the second and third conductive members, capacitance C f formed between a user's body and the first conductive member, the second conductive member, and/or the third conductive member, parasitic capacitance C P1 formed in the first conductive member, parasitic capacitance C P2 formed in the second conductive member, and parasitic capacitance C P3 formed in the third conductive member satisfy at least one relation of C P1 >C P2 or C P3 , C f ≥C P2 or C P3 , C f ≤C c1 or C c2 , C P2 ≠C P3 , or C c1 ≠C c2 ≠C c3 .

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a printed circuit board disposed in the housing; and
a connecting member electrically connected between the first conductive member and the printed circuit board.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the RF communication circuit, the sensor, the switching circuit, the processor, and the memory is disposed on the printed circuit board.

12. The electronic device of claim 10 , further comprising:
a protecting circuit electrically connected between the printed circuit board and the first conductive member and configured to interrupt at least part of static electricity that is applied to the antenna radiator and is introduced into the printed circuit board.

13. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the switching circuit comprises at least one transistor, and is configured to perform a switching operation based on at least one signal that is applied to the at least one transistor.

14. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to detect a change in capacitance formed between the first conductive member and an external object, based on a signal that is generated from the sensor and returns thereto through the first conductive member.

15. An electronic device comprising:
a housing that comprises a first surface, a second surface opposite to the first surface, and a side surface that surrounds at least part of a space between the first and second surfaces;
a Radio Frequency (RF) communication circuit disposed in the housing;
an antenna radiator that forms at least part of at least one of the first surface, the second surface, and the side surface and is electrically connected to the RF communication circuit;
a sensor configured to detect whether an external object is in contact or near contact with the antenna radiator;
a switching circuit that comprises a first terminal electrically connected to the antenna radiator and a second terminal electrically connected to the sensor;
a processor electrically connected to the sensor and the switching circuit; and
a memory electrically connected to the processor,
wherein the memory stores instructions that allow the processor, when being executed, to receive a first measurement value from the sensor when the antenna radiator and the sensor are electrically connected to each other through the switching circuit and to receive a second measurement value from the sensor when the antenna radiator and the sensor are electrically separated from each other by the switching circuit, and
wherein the instructions allow the processor to determine whether the external object is in contact or near contact with the antenna radiator, by using the first and second measurement values.

16. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the instructions allow the processor to at least temporarily store the second measurement value in the memory.

17. The electronic device of c

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Jin-Man
• Kim Joo-Han
• Choi Jung-Sik
• Yang Chul-Hyung
• Lee Ji-Woo

Classifications

• G06F3/0418

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

• G06F1/3287

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

• H03K17/955 Primary

  using a capacitive detector · CPC title

• H03K2217/94026

  Automatic threshold calibration; e.g. threshold automatically adapts to ambient conditions or follows variation of input · CPC title

• H03K2017/9455

  constructional details · CPC title