# US 10,121,045 B2 · Fingerprint sensor array having duplex sensor cells > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,121,045 B2 - Document ID: US10121045B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/174,851 - Filed: 2016-06-06 - Published: 2017-11-16 - Granted: 2018-11-06 - Earliest claimed: 2016-05-10 - Assignees: Silead Inc. - Applicants: Silead (Cayman) Inc. - Inventors: Taiyi Cheng - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10121045B2 ## CPC - G06V 40/1306: {non-optical, e.g. ultrasonic or capacitive sensing} - H10F 39/803: {Pixels having integrated switching, control, storage or amplification elements} - G01R 27/2605: {Measuring capacitance (capacitive sensors G01D5/24)} - G06V 40/1335: {Combining adjacent partial images (e.g. slices) to create a composite input or reference pattern; Tracking a sweeping finger movement} - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING - H10F: INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION - G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12) ## Abstract A fingerprint sensing device comprises a substrate and an array of sensor cells formed over the substrate. The sensor cells are divided into multiple groups. Each group is associated with a group-identifiable signal. The sensor cells in each group are configured to transmit the group-identifiable signal of the respective group and are further configured to simultaneously receive the group-identifiable signals transmitted by the sensor cells in other groups. The group-identifiable signals are orthogonal with respect to each other. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A fingerprint sensing device, comprising: a substrate; and an array of sensor cells formed over the substrate, wherein the sensor cells are divided into multiple groups; each group is associated with a group-identifiable signal; the sensor cells in each group are configured to transmit the group-identifiable signal of the respective group and are further configured to simultaneously receive the group-identifiable signals transmitted by the sensor cells in other groups; and the group-identifiable signals are orthogonal with respect to each other. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 1, wherein the array of sensor cells comprise rows and columns of sensor cells, and each of the groups comprises complete rows of sensor cells. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 2, wherein the complete rows of sensor cells belonging to a same group are arranged contiguously. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 2, wherein the complete rows of sensor cells belonging to different groups are arranged contiguously. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 1, wherein a sensor cell belonging to a first group is surrounded by sensor cells belonging to groups different from the first group. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 1, wherein the array of sensor cells comprise rows and columns of sensor cells, and each of the groups is arranged into one or more N×M blocks of sensor cells, wherein each of N and M is an integer less than the number of sensor cells in a row and less than the number of sensor cells in a column. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 1, wherein the group-identifiable signals are orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 1, wherein a sensor cell is configured to assign different weights to the group-identifiable signals that it receives from the sensor cells of the other groups. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 1, wherein a sensor cell is configured to ignore the group-identifiable signals that are transmitted by sensor cells that immediately surround the sensor cell. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 1, further comprising a controller integrated with the sensor cells, and designed to collect capacitances reported by the sensor cells. ### Claim 11 A fingerprint sensing device, comprising: a substrate; an array of sensor cells formed over the substrate; and a controller integrated with the sensor cells, and designed to collect capacitances sensed by the sensor cells, wherein: the sensor cells are divided into multiple groups; the sensor cells in each group are configured to transmit a group-identifiable signal and to receive group-identifiable signals transmitted by the sensor cells of other groups; each sensor cell is configured to assign different weights to the group-identifiable signals that it receives from the sensor cells of the other groups based on a distance between this sensor cell and the sensor cells of the other groups; and the group-identifiable signals are orthogonal in frequency or in code. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 11, wherein a sensor cell is configured to ignore the group-identifiable signals that are transmitted by sensor cells that surround the sensor cell. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 11, wherein a sensor cell belonging to a first group is surrounded by sensor cells belonging to groups different from the first group. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 11, wherein each of the groups is arranged into one or more N×M blocks of sensor cells, and wherein an N×M block belonging to a group is surrounded by N×M blocks belonging to other groups. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 11, wherein each of the groups comprises complete rows of sensor cells, and wherein rows of sensor cells belonging to different groups are arranged contiguously. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to activate N rows of sensor cells at a time, wherein N is the number of the groups. ### Claim 17 A fingerprint sensing device, comprising: a substrate; an array of sensor cells formed over the substrate and configured into rows and columns, and a controller integrated with the sensor cells, and designed to collect capacitances detected by the sensor cells, wherein: the sensor cells are divided into multiple groups and each group is associated with a group-identifiable signal; each sensor cell comprises an antenna plate, a transmitter, and a receiver; the transmitter is configured to transmit the respective group-identifiable signal through the antenna plate; the receiver is configured to receive group-identifiable signals from other sensor cells through the antenna plate; the receiver is further configured to assign different weights to the group-identifiable signals that it receives based on a distance between this sensor cell and the transmitting sensor cells; and the group-identifiable signals are orthogonal. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 17, wherein each of the groups comprises complete rows of sensor cells, and wherein rows of sensor cells belonging to a same group are arranged contiguously. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 17, wherein each of the groups comprises complete rows of sensor cells, and wherein rows of sensor cells belonging to different groups are arranged contiguously. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The fingerprint sensing device of claim 19, wherein the controller is configured to activate all sensor cells to transmit and receive at the same time.