Channel scan architecture for multiple stimulus multi-touch sensor panels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9348451-B2
Application number	US-20831508-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2008
Priority date	Sep 10, 2008
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A channel scan architecture for detecting touch events on a touch sensor panel is disclosed. The channel scan architecture can combine drive logic, sense channels and channel scan logic on a single monolithic chip. The channel scan logic can be configured to implement a sequence of scanning processes in a panel subsystem without intervention from a panel processor. The channel scan architecture can provide scan sequence control to enable the panel processor to control the sequence in which individual scans are implemented in the panel subsystem. Type of scans that can be implemented in the panel subsystem can include a spectral analysis scan, touch scan, phantom touch scan, ambient light level scan, proximity scan and temperature scan.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device comprising:
a sensor panel including a plurality of touch sensors; and
a single integrated circuit including:
drive logic configured to stimulate the sensor panel,
sense channels configured to sense touch applied to the sensor panel,
panel subsystem logic configured to:
perform a scan of the touch sensors to generate touch sense data, wherein the scan of the touch sensors includes concurrently stimulating the touch sensors with a plurality of stimulation signals, wherein the plurality of stimulation signals includes at least a first stimulation signal with a first stimulation phase and a second stimulation signal with a second stimulation phase, the first stimulation phase different from the second stimulation phase, and
perform a no stimulation scan of the touch sensors to generate calibration data, and

a processor configured to:
process the touch sense data to identify an occurrence or absence of a touch event at the sensor panel; and
process calibration data to adjust the baseline noise level associated with the touch sensors;

wherein the panel subsystem logic is configured to perform the scan of the touch sensors and the no stimulation scan of the touch sensors without intervention from the processor.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the scan of the touch sensors includes concurrently stimulating the touch sensors with multiple stimulation frequencies.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein
the processor is configured to process frequency selection data to select a clean frequency for use in the scan of the touch sensors, and
the panel subsystem logic is configured to perform a spectral analysis scan of the touch sensors to generate the frequency selection data without intervention from the processor.

4. The computing device of claim 3 , wherein the spectral analysis scan includes performing quadrature demodulation of different frequencies at sense channels associated with the touch sensors.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein
the sensor panel includes a plurality of light sensors,
the processor is configured to process light sense data to identify an ambient light level at the sensor panel, and
the panel subsystem logic is configured to perform an ambient light level scan of the light sensors to generate the light sense data without intervention from the processor.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein
the sensor panel includes a plurality of proximity sensors,
the processor is configured to process proximity sense data to identify an occurrence or absence of a proximity event at the sensor panel, and
the panel subsystem logic is configured to perform a scan of the proximity sensors to generate the proximity sense data without intervention from the processor.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein
the computing device includes a temperature sensor,
the processor is configured to process temperature data to calibrate parameters associated with the touch sensors that are susceptible to temperature-related drift, and
the panel subsystem logic is configured to perform a scan of the temperature sensor to generate the temperature data without intervention from the processor.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the panel subsystem logic performs each of a plurality of different types of scans, without intervention from the processor, in a sequence controlled by the processor.

9. An application-specific integrated circuit comprising:
a plurality of first drive channels configured to stimulate a touch sensor panel;
a plurality of first sense channels configured to sense a touch event at the touch sensor panel; and
panel subsystem logic configured to control the plurality of first drive channels and the plurality of first sense channels during a scan of the touch sensor panel and during a no stimulation scan of the touch sensor panel, wherein the scan of the touch sensor panel includes concurrently stimulating the touch sensors with a plurality of stimulation signals, wherein the plurality of stimulation signals includes at least a first stimulation signal with a first stimulation phase and a second stimulation signal with a second stimulation phase, the first stimulation phase different from the second stimulation phase and wherein the no stimulation scan of the touch sensor panel includes generating calibration data used to adjust the baseline noise level associated with the touch sensors;
wherein the panel subsystem logic is configured to perform the scan of the touch sensor panel and the no stimulation scan of the touch sensor panel without intervention from a processor.

10. The application-specific integrated circuit of claim 9 , wherein the scan of the touch sensor panel includes concurrently stimulating the touch sensors with multiple stimulation frequencies.

11. The application-specific integrated circuit of claim 9 , wherein the panel subsystem logic is configured to perform a spectral analysis scan of the touch sensor panel to generate frequency selection data.

12. The application-specific integrated circuit of claim 9 , further comprising:
a plurality of second drive channels configured to stimulate a proximity sensor panel;
a plurality of second sense channels configured to sense a proximity event at the proximity sensor panel; and
panel subsystem logic configured to control the plurality of second drive channels and the plurality of second sense channels during a scan of the proximity sensor panel.

13. The application-specific integrated circuit of claim 9 , the application-specific integrated circuit being incorporated within a computing device.

14. A computing device comprising:
a sensor panel including a plurality of touch sensors, wherein the plurality of touch sensors are stimulated with a plurality of stimulation signals during a scan of the plurality of touch sensors, the plurality of stimulation signals including at least a first stimulation signal with a first stimulation phase and a second stimulation signal with a second stimulation phase, the first stimulation phase different from the second stimulation phase, and wherein the plurality of touch sensors are not stimulated during a no stimulation scan of the plurality of touch sensors; and
a panel subsystem including a sense channel and decode logic,
the sense channel coupled to the plurality of touch sensors, the sense channel superposing output signals indicative of a touch input event generated by the plurality of touch sensors and generating composite sense data based on the superposed output signals during a scan of the plurality of touch sensors, and the sense channel generating, during the no stimulation scan, calibration data used to adjust the baseline noise level associated with the touch sensors, and
the decode logic configured to decode the composite sense data into sensor-specific sense data;

wherein the panel subsystem is configured to perform the scan of the touch sensors and the no stimulation scan of the touch sensors without intervention from a processor.

15. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the panel subsystem further comprises spectral scan logic, the spectral scan logic configured to perform a spectral analysis scan of the sensor panel.

16. A method for detecting and processing touch events on a touch sensor panel, comprising:
combining drive logic and sense channels on a single monolithic chip configured for being coupled to the touch sensor panel, wherein the drive logic is configured to stimulate the touch sensor panel concurrently with a plurality of stimula

Assignees

• Wilson Thomas James
• Krah Christoph Horst
• Vu Minh-Dieu Thi
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Wilson Thomas James
• Krah Christoph Horst
• Vu Minh-Dieu Thi

Classifications

• G06F3/0416 Primary

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · 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

• G06F3/0418 Primary

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