High sensitivity readout circuit for touch panel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10585539-B2
Application number	US-201816022710-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2018
Priority date	Oct 26, 2017
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

A readout circuit of a touch panel is provided. The readout circuit includes a charge modulator and a correlated double sampling demodulator. The charge modulator is configured to provide a driving current to charge or discharge a sensing electrode of the touch panel and generate a sensing voltage signal. The correlated double sampling demodulator is coupled to the charge modulator. The correlated double sampling demodulator is configured to sample the sensing voltage signal to obtain a voltage variation when a touch event happens. A method for driving the touch panel is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A readout circuit of a touch panel, the readout circuit comprising:
a charge modulator configured to provide a driving current to charge or discharge a sensing electrode of the touch panel and generate a sensing voltage signal; and
a correlated double sampling demodulator coupled to the charge modulator and configured to sample the sensing voltage signal to obtain a voltage variation when a touch event happens, wherein the charge modulator modulates the driving current with a predetermined frequency, and the correlated double sampling demodulator demodulates the sensing voltage signal with the same predetermined frequency.

2. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the charge modulator comprises at least one current source to provide the driving current.

3. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the charge modulator charges or discharges the sensing electrode based on at least one control clock.

4. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the charge modulator resets a voltage of the sensing electrode to a common voltage according to a reset signal before charging or discharging the sensing electrode.

5. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the correlated double sampling demodulator samples the sensing voltage signal during a time period between a charging period and a discharging period.

6. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a low-pass filter circuit coupled to the correlated double sampling demodulator and configured to filter a noise signal from the sensing voltage signal.

7. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the correlated double sampling demodulator samples the sensing voltage signal to obtain a base voltage when the touch event does not happen, and the voltage variation is obtained according to the base voltage.

8. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the correlated double sampling demodulator samples the sensing voltage signal during different time periods to respectively generate a first voltage signal and a second voltage signal when the touch event happens,
wherein the voltage variation is obtained further according to a voltage difference of the first voltage signal and the second voltage signal.

9. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the charge modulator converts the sensing voltage signal of a direct-current format into the sensing voltage signal of an alternating-current format.

10. The readout circuit as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the first voltage signal and the second voltage signal of the direct-current format are generated.

11. A method for driving a touch panel, the method comprising:
providing a driving current to charge or discharge a sensing electrode of the touch panel and generate a sensing voltage signal, wherein the driving current is modulated with a predetermined frequency; and
sampling the sensing voltage signal to obtain a voltage variation when a touch event happens, wherein the sensing voltage signal is demodulated with the same predetermined frequency.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising:
sampling the sensing voltage signal to obtain a base voltage when the touch event does not happen, wherein the voltage variation is obtained according to the base voltage.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the step of sampling the sensing voltage signal to obtain the voltage variation when the touch event happens comprises:
sampling the sensing voltage signal during different time periods to respectively generate a first voltage signal and a second voltage signal when the touch event happens,
wherein the voltage variation is obtained further according to a voltage difference of the first voltage signal and the second voltage signal.

14. The method as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising
resetting a voltage of the sensing electrode to a common voltage according to a reset signal before charging or discharging the sensing electrode.

15. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the sensing voltage signal is sampled during a time period between a charging period and a discharging period.

16. The method as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising:
filtering a noise signal from the sensing voltage signal.

17. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein in the step of providing the driving current to charge or discharge the sensing electrode of the touch panel and generate the sensing voltage signal, the sensing voltage signal of a direct-current format is converted into the sensing voltage signal of an alternating-current format.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein in the step of sampling the sensing voltage signal during the different time periods to respectively generate the first voltage signal and the second voltage signal when the touch event happens, the first voltage signal and the second voltage signal of the direct-current format are generated.

Assignees

• Novatek Microelectronics Corp

Inventors

• Liu I-Te
• Chen Wei-Zen

Classifications

• H03K17/962

  Capacitive touch switches · CPC title

• G06F3/04182

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

• G06F3/04166

  Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving (Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184) · CPC title

• G06F3/044 Primary

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F3/041

  Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means · CPC title