Touch circuit for processing touch-associated data, electronic device comprising touch circuit, and method for operating same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11669202-B2
Application number	US-202017432275-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 17, 2020
Priority date	Feb 19, 2019
Publication date	Jun 6, 2023
Grant date	Jun 6, 2023

Abstract

According to an embodiment, an electronic device may include: a processor; and a touch circuit configured to output, to the processor, information associated with a touch on at least one surface of the electronic device. The touch circuit may be configured to: generate first raw data including a first value associated with capacitance for each of multiple channels of the touch circuit; generate a first baseline on the basis of the first raw data; identify whether the first raw data satisfies a designated condition; and identify whether the first baseline is reset, on the basis of whether the raw data satisfies the designated condition.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a processor; and
a touch circuit configured to output, to the processor, information associated with a touch to at least one surface of the electronic device,
wherein the touch circuit is configured to:
generate first raw data including a first value associated with capacitance for each of a plurality of channels of the touch circuit,
generate a first baseline based on the first raw data,
identify whether the first raw data meets a designated condition, and
identify to reset the first baseline based on the designated condition being met,
reset the first baseline based on the designated condition being met,
wherein the designated condition includes a case in which a difference between data among the first raw data exceeds a threshold, wherein the data includes a value associated with a first channel and a value associated with a second channel, wherein the first channel and the second channel are adjacent to each other.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the touch circuit includes a plurality of transmission channels arranged in a first direction and a plurality of reception channels arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and
wherein the touch circuit is configured to, as at least part of generating the first raw data, obtain a second value associated with capacitance of a first transmission channel among the plurality of transmission channels, from each of the plurality of reception channels, and generate the first raw data based on the second value associated with the capacitance obtained from each of the plurality of reception channels.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the touch circuit is configured to generate second raw data including a third value associated with the capacitance for each of the plurality of channels after generating the first baseline and generate signal data based on the first baseline and the second raw data.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the touch circuit is configured to output, to the processor, the information associated with the touch to the at least one surface of the electronic device based on the signal data in response the first baseline not being reset.

5. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the touch circuit is configured to discard the signal data in response the first baseline being reset.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the touch circuit is configured to, as at least part of discarding the signal data, generate third raw data including a fourth value associated with the capacitance for each of the plurality of channels and generate a second baseline based on the third raw data and reset the first baseline to the second baseline.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the touch circuit is configured to generate new signal data based on the second baseline and the second raw data and output, to the processor, the information associated with the touch to the at least one surface of the electronic device based on the new signal data.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the touch circuit is configured to correct data corresponding to each of the first channel and the second channel using at least part of the first raw data other than the data corresponding to each of the first channel and the second channel in response to the difference between the data corresponding to the first channel and the data corresponding to the second channel exceeding the threshold.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the touch circuit is configured to, as at least part of identifying whether the first raw data meets the designated condition, identify whether a designated event occurs and identify whether the first raw data meets the designated condition based on whether the designated event has occurred.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the designated event includes a display mode switch, detection of connection of an external device, detection of a user's gripping, and/or detection of RF noise.

11. A method for operating an electronic device including a touch circuit and a processor, the method comprising:
generating first raw data including a first value associated with capacitance for each of a plurality of channels of the touch circuit, by the touch circuit;
generating a first baseline based on the first raw data, by the touch circuit;
identifying whether the first raw data meets a designated condition, by the touch circuit; and
identifying to reset the first baseline based on the designated condition being met, by the touch circuit,
reset the first baseline based on the designated condition being met,
wherein the designated condition includes a case in which a different between data among the first raw data exceeds a threshold, wherein the data includes a value associated with a first channel and a value associated with a second channel, wherein the first channel and the second channel are adjacent to each other.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the touch circuit includes a plurality of transmission channels arranged in a first direction and a plurality of reception channels arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and
wherein generating the first raw data includes obtaining a second value associated with capacitance of a first transmission channel among the plurality of transmission channels, from each of the plurality of reception channels, and generating the first raw data based on the second value associated with the capacitance obtained from each of the plurality of reception channels.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
generating second raw data including a third value associated with the capacitance for each of the plurality of channels after generating the first baseline, by the touch circuit; and
outputting, to the processor, signal data based on the first baseline and the second raw data, by the touch circuit.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
outputting information associated with a touch to at least one surface of the electronic device based on the signal data in response to it being identified not to reset the first baseline, by the touch circuit; and
discarding the signal data in response the first baseline not being reset, by the touch circuit.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein discarding the signal data further comprises:
generating third raw data including a fourth value associated with the capacitance for each of the plurality of channels;
generating a second baseline based on the third raw data and resetting the first baseline to the second baseline;
generating new signal data based on the second baseline and the second raw data; and
outputting the information associated with the touch to the at least one surface of the electronic device based on the new signal data.

16. An electronic device, comprising:
a processor; and
a touch circuit configured to output, to the processor, information associated with a touch to at least one surface of the electronic device,
wherein the touch circuit is configured to generate first raw data including a value associated with a capacitance for each of a plurality of channels of the touch circuit at a first time, generate a baseline based on the first raw data, generate second raw data including the value associated with the capacitance for each of the plurality of channels of the touch circuit at a second time, process, in a first scheme, data corresponding to each of a first channel and a second channel among the first raw data, based on a differenc

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kwak Sanghun
• Yoo Daehyun
• Ko Bongjun
• Kim Mansung
• Lee Jaeho
• Choi Junghoon
• Kim Changjin
• Park Sangheon
• Park Jongdae

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

• G06F3/04186

  Touch location disambiguation · CPC title

• G06F3/0446 Primary

  using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes · 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