Touch sensor controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10488985-B2
Application number	US-201715660330-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2017
Priority date	Nov 2, 2016
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

A touch sensor controller may include a transmitter configured to output a driving signal to sensor lines of a touch panel, a charge amplifier configured to generate and output a voltage signal by using a charge generated in the sensor lines, a sampling circuit including a first sampler and a second sampler for detecting the voltage signal, and a logic circuit configured to determine whether the transmitter is operating according to a magnitude of a noise signal included in the voltage signal, and, in response to an operation of the transmitter being interrupted, control one of the first sampler and the second sampler to sample the voltage signal according to a sign of the noise signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A touch sensor controller, comprising:
a transmitter configured to output a driving signal to sensor lines of a touch panel;
a charge amplifier configured to generate and output a voltage signal by using a charge generated in the sensor lines;
a sampling circuit comprising a first sampler and a second sampler for detecting the voltage signal; and
a logic circuit configured to:
determine whether the transmitter is operating according to a magnitude of a noise signal included in the voltage signal, and
based on an operation of the transmitter being interrupted, control one of the first sampler and the second sampler to sample the voltage signal according to a sign of the noise signal.

2. The touch sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuit is further configured to:
control the first sampler to detect the voltage signal, based on the sign of the noise signal being positive (+), and
controls the second sampler to detect the voltage signal, based on the sign of the noise signal being negative (−).

3. The touch sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuit is further configured to control the transmitter to refrain from outputting the driving signal to the sensor lines, based on a difference between the voltage signal and a predetermined common voltage being greater than a predetermined reference value.

4. The touch sensor controller of claim 3 , wherein the logic circuit is further configured to:
control the first sampler to detect the voltage signal, based on the voltage signal being greater than the predetermined common voltage, and
control the second sampler to detect the voltage signal, based on the voltage signal being less than the predetermined common voltage.

5. The touch sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the charge amplifier is further configured to convert the charge into the voltage signal for each predetermined sampling period.

6. The touch sensor controller of claim 5 , wherein the logic circuit is further configured to control the transmitter to refrain from outputting the driving signal to the sensor lines, based on a difference between the voltage signal and a previous voltage signal output by the charge amplifier in a previous sampling period being greater than a predetermined threshold value.

7. The touch sensor controller of claim 6 , wherein the logic circuit is further configured to control the first sampler to detect the voltage signal, based on the voltage signal being greater than the previous voltage signal output by the charge amplifier in the previous sampling period, and
control the second sampler to detect the voltage signal, based on the voltage signal being less than the previous voltage signal output by the charge amplifier in the previous sampling period.

8. The touch sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuit comprises a comparison circuit configured to compare the magnitude of the noise signal included in the voltage signal with a predetermined reference value.

9. The touch sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuit is further configured to control the first sampler and the second sampler to alternatively detect the voltage signal based on the transmitter inputting the driving signal to the sensor lines.

10. The touch sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuit is further configured to, based on the operation of the transmitter being interrupted, generate:
a positive integration signal having (i) a high logic value when a sign of the noise signal is positive (+), and (ii) a low logic value when the sign of the noise signal is negative (−), and
a negative integration signal having (i) the low logic value when the sign of the noise signal is positive (+), and (ii) the high logic value when the sign of the noise signal is negative (−).

11. The touch sensor controller of claim 10 , wherein the first sampler is configured to detect the voltage signal while the positive integration signal has the high logic value, and
wherein the second sampler is configured to detect the voltage signal while the negative integration signal has the high logic value.

12. The touch sensor controller of claim 10 , wherein the positive integration signal and the negative integration signal are synchronized with a main clock signal of the logic circuit.

13. The touch sensor controller of claim 1 , wherein the logic circuit is configured to:
generate a first sampling clock signal and a second sampling clock signal based on the sign and a frequency of the noise signal, and
control the first sampler and the second sampler using the first sampling clock signal and the second sampling clock signal.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Jin Chul
• Lee Choong Hoon
• Choi Yoon Kyung
• Kim Cha Dong
• Park Jun Chul
• Lim Dong Wook

Classifications

• G06F3/0418 Primary

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

• G06F3/044

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F2203/04104

  Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger · CPC title

• G06F3/04182 Primary

  Filtering of noise external to the device and not generated by digitiser components · CPC title

• G06F2203/04111

  Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate · CPC title