Method and apparatus for data transmission via capacitance sensing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11271608-B2
Application number	US-202016991648-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 12, 2020
Priority date	Feb 23, 2012
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

A system made up of a first device which includes a communication interface and a processing device and a second device which includes a touch sensor assembly and a controller, where the controller uses the touch sensor assembly to communicate with the processing device through a capacitor that is jointly formed by the touch sensor assembly and a conductive portion of the communications interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of transferring data between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:
generating, using an output circuit, an analog signal based on a data signal for an application associated with the first device and the second device; and
transmitting the data signal over an interface between the first device and the second device, the transmitting of the data signal over the interface comprising capacitively coupling the analog signal through a capacitor formed by at least one sensor electrode, of an array of sensor electrodes, of the first device and a conductor of the second device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the analog signal using the output circuit includes using an output circuit of the first device and the transmitting of the data signal includes transmitting the data signal from the first device to the second device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the analog signal using the output circuit includes using an output circuit of the second device and the transmitting of the data signal includes transmitting the data signal from the second device to the first device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application associated with the first device and the second device is selected from the group of applications consisting of, a device authentication application, a user identification application, a mobile payments application, an access control application, and an electronic business information transfer application.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating, using the output circuit, the analog signal based on the data signal includes generating a modulated analog signal to represent the data signal.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving another data signal over the interface between the first device and the second device, the receiving of the other data signal over the interface comprising capacitively coupling another analog signal through the capacitor formed by the at least one of the sensor electrode of the first device and the conductor of the second device; and
generating, using an input circuit, the other data signal based on the other analog signal.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the generating, using the input circuit, the other data signal based on the other analog signal includes demodulating the other analog signal.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, receiving the data signal over the interface between the first device and the second device, the receiving of the data signal on the at least one sensor electrode of the array of sensor electrodes.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, detecting that a conductive object is proximate to the at least one sensor electrode of the array of sensor electrodes based on a capacitance of the at least one sensor electrode, the conductive object being at least the conductor of the second device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the array of sensor electrodes is arranged as a matrix of perpendicular rows and columns capable of measuring a mutual capacitance between at a row electrode and a column electrode.

11. An electronic system to transmit data, the electronic system comprising:
input/output (I/O) circuitry coupled to a signal generator; and
a plurality of capacitance sensing electrodes coupled to I/O circuitry, wherein the I/O circuitry is configured to provide an analog signal from the signal generator to at least one capacitance sensing electrode of an array of capacitance sensing electrodes, wherein the at least one capacitance sensing electrode is configured transmit the data to another device through one or more capacitors to be formed by the at least one capacitance sensing electrode and a conductive element of the other device.

12. The electronic system of claim 11 , wherein at least one capacitance sensing electrode of an array of capacitance sensing electrodes is configured to receive data from another device through one or more capacitors to be formed by the at least one capacitance sensing electrode and the conductive element of the other device.

13. The electronic system of claim 11 , wherein at least one other capacitance sensing electrode of the array of capacitance sensing electrodes is configured to receive data from another device through one or more capacitors to be formed by the at least one other capacitance sensing electrode and the conductive element of the other device.

14. The electronic system of claim 13 , wherein the I/O circuitry is configured to demodulate an analog signal received on the at least one other capacitance sensing electrode of the array of capacitance sensing electrodes and use the demodulated analog signal to provide the data to a device including the I/O circuitry and the plurality of capacitance sensing electrodes.

15. The electronic system of claim 13 , wherein the data is associated with an application selected from the group of applications consisting of, a device authentication application, a user identification application, a mobile payments application, an access control application, and an electronic business information transfer application.

16. The electronic system of claim 11 , wherein the signal generator includes at least one of a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), an analog to digital converter, a digital to analog converter, and a pulse width modulation circuit.

17. The electronic system of claim 11 , wherein at least one capacitance sensing electrode of the plurality of capacitance sensing electrodes is for detecting that a conductive object is proximate to the at least one capacitance sensing electrode based on a capacitance of the at least one capacitance sensing electrode.

18. A method of transferring digital data to a capacitance sensing device, the method comprising:
detecting a presence of the capacitance sensing device to a transmitting device; and
responsive to detecting the presence of the capacitance sensing device, transferring the digital data to the capacitance sensing device, the transferring of the digital data comprising capacitively coupling an analog signal through a capacitor formed by the capacitance sensing device and the transmitting device.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein detecting the presence of the capacitance sensing device comprises detecting a capacitance change by the transmitting device.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising generating the analog signal based on the digital data, wherein the digital data includes at least one of device authentication information, user identification information, payment information, access information, media data information.

Assignees

• Cypress Semiconductor Corp

Inventors

• Wright David G

Classifications

• G06F3/0393

  Accessories for touch pads or touch screens, e.g. mechanical guides added to touch screens for drawing straight lines, hard keys overlaying touch screens or touch pads · CPC title

• G06Q20/3674

  involving authentication · CPC title

• G06F3/041661

  using detection at multiple resolutions, e.g. coarse and fine scanning; using detection within a limited area, e.g. object tracking window · CPC title

• G06F3/0443

  using a single layer of sensing electrodes · CPC title

• G06F3/04162

  for exchanging data with external devices, e.g. smart pens, via the digitiser sensing hardware · CPC title