Touch sensor panel with multi-power domain chip configuration
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsChristoph H. Krah, Christian M. Sauer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A touch sensing system is disclosed. The touch sensing system includes a guard signal generation chip operating in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage, the guard signal generation chip configured to generate a guard signal. A touch sensing chip operates in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to the guard signal, the touch sensing chip configured to sense touch at one or more touch electrodes included in a touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal, and the touch sensing chip a different chip than the guard signal generation chip. A voltage regulator is configured to selectively regulate a voltage of the guard signal at the touch sensing chip.
Claims24
A system comprising:
- first circuitry operating in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage;
- touch sensing circuitry communicatively coupled to the first circuitry and operating in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to a guard signal, different from the first voltage, the touch sensing circuitry configured to sense touch at one or more touch electrodes included in a touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal;
- and
- level-shifting circuitry coupled between the first circuitry and the touch sensing circuitry, wherein the level shifting circuitry is configured to selectively level-shift communications between the first circuitry and the touch sensing circuitry.
A method of operating a system, the method comprising:
- operating first circuitry in a first power domain referenced to a first voltage;
- communicatively coupling touch sensing circuitry to the first circuitry and operating the touch sensing circuitry in a second power domain, different from the first power domain, referenced to a guard signal, different from the first voltage, the touch sensing circuitry configured to sense touch at one or more touch electrodes included in a touch sensor panel operating in the second power domain referenced to the guard signal;
- and
- selectively level-shifting communications between the first circuitry and the touch sensing circuitry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.