# US 10,122,360 B2 · Touch panel device

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- Number: US 10,122,360 B2
- Document ID: US10122360B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/854,375
- Filed: 2015-09-15
- Published: 2016-08-04
- Granted: 2018-11-06
- Earliest claimed: 2015-02-03
- Assignees: Denso Wave Incorporated
- Applicants: Denso Wave Incorporated
- Inventors: Yuya Morita
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10122360B2

## CPC

- H03K 17/962: {Capacitive touch switches}
- G06F 3/04166: {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)}
- G06F 3/0418: {for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment}
- G06F 3/044: by capacitive means
- H03K 2217/9607: Capacitive touch switches
- H03K 2217/960705: Safety of capacitive touch and proximity switches, e.g. increasing reliability, fail-safe
- H03K: PULSE TECHNIQUE (measuring pulse characteristics G01R; modulating sinusoidal oscillations with pulses H03C; transmission of digital information H04L; discriminator circuits detecting phase difference between two signals by counting or integrating cycles of oscillation H03D3/04; automatic control, starting, synchronisation or stabilisation of generators of electronic oscillations or pulses where the type of generator is irrelevant or unspecified H03L; coding, decoding or code conversion, in general H03M)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

When sampling an A/D-converted data of a voltage signal that a touch IC outputs at a fixed period, a microcomputer of a touch panel device monitors a variation in data values within a monitoring time, and changes a timing of sampling the data when a frequency of the variation exceeds an allowed value. Then, the timing is kept constant and the data is sampled when the frequency of the variation is within a range of the allowed value.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A touch panel device comprising:
a touch panel operated by AC power supply, the touch panel being configured to receive an input of an operation instruction, from a user, controlling an apparatus;
a signal output unit in communication with the touch panel, the signal output unit A/D converting a voltage signal corresponding to a change of capacitance in the touch panel and outputting converted data based on the converted voltage signal; and
a control circuit in communication with the signal output unit, the control circuit being configured to:
sample the converted data from the signal output unit at a predetermined period of time;
determine whether a touch operation received by the touch panel has occurred or not based on the converted data acquired by sampling;
output a determination result to the signal output unit;
monitor and detect a variation of values of the converted data for the predetermined period of time;
upon detecting that a frequency of the variation of the values exceeds an allowed value, change a timing of sampling the data to determine whether the touch operation of the touch panel occurred within the predetermined period of time; and
upon detecting that the frequency of the variation of the values does not exceed the allowed value, maintain the timing and continue to sample the data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein,
the control circuit sets a sampling period to ½ of a period of the AC power supply; and
the timing for sampling the data is changed at less than ½ of the period of the AC power supply.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The touch panel device according to claim 2, wherein, the control circuit obtains a difference value between currently sampled data and previously sampled data, and monitors the variation according to a presence or absence of the difference value.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The touch panel device according to claim 3, wherein, the apparatus is an air conditioner.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The touch panel device according to claim 2, wherein, the apparatus is an air conditioner.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein, the control circuit obtains a difference value between currently sampled data and previously sampled data, and monitors the variation according to a presence or absence of the difference value.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The touch panel device according to claim 6, wherein, the apparatus is an air conditioner.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein, the apparatus is an air conditioner.