Self-capacitance measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9372582-B2
Application number	US-201213451352-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2012
Priority date	Apr 19, 2012
Publication date	Jun 21, 2016
Grant date	Jun 21, 2016

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes modifying an amount of charge of a capacitance of a touch sensor. The modified amount of charge resulting in a voltage at the capacitance being a first pre-determined voltage level. The method also includes applying a first pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance. The application of the first pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance modifying the voltage at the capacitance from the first pre-determined voltage level to a first charging voltage level. The method also includes determining a first difference between the first charging voltage level and a reference voltage level; and determining whether a touch input to the touch sensor has occurred based on the first difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
modifying an amount of charge of a measurement capacitance of a touch sensor, the modified amount of charge resulting in a voltage at the measurement capacitance being a first pre-determined voltage level;
applying charge to an electrode associated with the measurement capacitance resulting in a first pre-determined amount of charge on the measurement capacitance, the application of the charge to the electrode resulting in the first pre-determined amount of charge on the measurement capacitance modifying the voltage at the measurement capacitance from the first pre-determined voltage level to a first charging voltage level;
transferring a portion of the charge on the measurement capacitance to a sampling capacitance such that a voltage level of the sampling capacitance increases as a function of a first difference between the first charging voltage level resulting from the first pre-determined amount of charge and a reference voltage level, and such that the voltage at the measurement capacitance is modified from the first charging voltage level to the reference voltage level, wherein the reference voltage level is a pre-determined voltage corresponding to the voltage obtained by applying the first pre-determined amount of charge to the electrode when a touch input has not occurred;
measuring the first difference between the first charging voltage level resulting from the first pre-determined amount of charge and the reference voltage level by measuring the voltage level of the sampling capacitance; and
determining whether a touch input to the touch sensor has occurred based at least in part on the voltage level of the sampling capacitance.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
modifying the amount of charge of the capacitance, the modified amount of charge resulting in the voltage at the capacitance being a second pre-determined voltage level;
applying a second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance, the application of the second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance modifying the voltage at the capacitance from the second pre-determined voltage level to a second charging voltage level;
determining a second difference between the second charging voltage level and the reference voltage level; and
determining whether a touch input to the touch sensor has occurred based on the first and second differences.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the first pre-determined amount of charge comprises:
applying a portion of the first pre-determined amount of charge with a first pre-determined current for a first pre-determined amount of time; and
applying another portion of the first pre-determined amount of charge with a second pre-determined current for a second pre-determined amount of time, the second pre-determined current being larger than the first pre-determined current.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the pre-determined amount of charge comprising applying a pre-determined current for a pre-determined amount of time, the pre-determined current is a function of a reference current.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising periodically adjusting the pre-determined amount of time based on the first difference.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein further comprising periodically adjusting the reference current based on the first difference.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying a second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance, the application of the second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance modifying the voltage at the capacitance from the reference voltage level to a second charging voltage level;
determining a second difference between the second charging voltage level and a second pre-determined voltage level; and
determining whether a touch input to the touch sensor has occurred based on the first and second differences.

8. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium embodying logic configured when executed to:
modify an amount of charge of a measurement capacitance of a touch sensor, the modified amount of charge resulting in a voltage at the measurement capacitance being a first pre-determined voltage level;
apply charge to an electrode associated with the measurement capacitance resulting, in a first pre-determined amount of charge on the measurement capacitance, the application of the charge to the electrode resulting in the first pre-determined amount of charge on the measurement capacitance modifying the voltage at the measurement capacitance from the first pre-determined voltage level to a first charging voltage level;
transfer a portion of the charge on the measurement capacitance to a sampling capacitance such that a voltage level of the sampling capacitance increases as a function of a first difference between the first charging voltage level resulting from the first pre-determined amount of charge and a reference voltage level, and such that the voltage at the measurement capacitance is modified from the first charging voltage level to the reference voltage level, wherein the reference voltage level is a pre-determined voltage corresponding to the voltage obtained by applying the first pre-determined amount of charge to the electrode when a touch input has not occurred;
measure the first difference between the first charging voltage level resulting from the first pre-determined amount of charge and the reference voltage level by measuring the voltage level of the sampling capacitance; and
determine whether a touch input to the touch sensor has occurred based at least in part on the voltage level of the sampling capacitance.

9. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the logic is further configured to:
modify the amount of charge of the capacitance, the modified amount of charge resulting in the voltage at the capacitance being a second pre-determined voltage level;
apply a second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance, the application of the second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance modifying the voltage at the capacitance from the second pre-determined voltage level to a second charging voltage level;
determine a second difference between the second charging voltage level and the reference voltage level; and
determine whether a touch input to the touch sensor has occurred based on the first and second differences.

10. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the logic is further configured to:
apply a portion of the first pre-determined amount of charge with a first pre-determined current for a first pre-determined amount of time; and
apply another portion of the first pre-determined amount of charge with a second pre-determined current for a second pre-determined amount of time, the second pre-determined current being larger than the first pre-determined current.

11. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the logic is further configured to apply a pre-determined current for a pre-determined amount of time, the pre-determined current is a function of a reference current.

12. The medium of claim 11 , wherein the logic is further configured to periodically adjust the pre-determined amount of time based on the first difference.

13. The medium of claim 11 , wherein the logic is further configured to periodically adjust the reference current based on the first difference.

14. The medium of claim 8 , wherein the logic is further configured to:
apply a second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance, the application of the second pre-determined amount of charge to the capacitance modifying the voltage at the capacitance from the reference voltag

Assignees

• Brunet Samuel
• Hermes Bernard J
• Pedersen Trond Jarle
• Hristov Luben Hristov
• Shahparnia Shahrooz
• Pant Vivek
• Atmel Corp

Inventors

• Brunet Samuel
• Hermes Bernard J
• Pedersen Trond Jarle
• Hristov Luben Hristov
• Shahparnia Shahrooz
• Pant Vivek

Classifications

• G06F3/044 Primary

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• H03K2217/960725

  Charge-transfer · CPC title

• H03K2217/960745

  Capacitive differential; e.g. comparison with reference capacitance · CPC title

• H03K17/9622 Primary

  using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard · CPC title

• G06F3/0445

  using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer · CPC title