# US 10,871,850 B2 · Simultaneous sensing arrangement

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- Number: US 10,871,850 B2
- Document ID: US10871850B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/380,747
- Filed: 2016-12-15
- Published: 2017-04-06
- Granted: 2020-12-22
- Earliest claimed: 2007-01-03
- Assignees: Apple Inc.
- Applicants: Apple Inc.
- Inventors: Steven P. Hotelling; John Greer Elias; Kapil Vinod Sakariya
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10871850B2

## CPC

- 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 1/3262: {Power saving in digitizer or tablet}
- G06F 1/3265: {Power saving in display device}
- G06F 3/0416: {Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers}
- G06F 3/041661: {using detection at multiple resolutions, e.g. coarse and fine scanning; using detection within a limited area, e.g. object tracking window}
- G06F 3/044: by capacitive means
- G06F 3/0445: {using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer}
- G06F 3/0446: {using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes}
- G06F 3/047: using sets of wires, e.g. crossed wires
- G06F 2203/04101: 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
- G06F 2203/04104: Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

Multi-touch touch-sensing devices and methods are described herein. The touch sensing devices can include multiple sense points, each located at a crossing of a drive line and a sense line. In some embodiments, multiple drive lines may be simultaneously or nearly simultaneously stimulated with drive signals having unique characteristics, such as phase or frequency. A sense signal can occur on each sense line that can be related to the drive signals by an amount of touch present at sense points corresponding to the stimulated drive lines and the sense line. By using processing techniques based on the unique drive signals, an amount of touch corresponding to each sense point can be extracted from the sense signal. The touch sensing methods and devices can be incorporated into interfaces for a variety of electronic devices such as a desktop, tablet, notebook, and handheld computers, personal digital assistants, media players, and mobile telephones.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A touch sensing device comprising:
drive circuitry configured to:
apply a first drive signal to a first drive line of a plurality of drive lines during a first stimulus window; and
apply a second drive signal to a second drive line of the plurality of drive lines during a second stimulus window, the second stimulus window at least partially overlapping the first stimulus window during an overlapping stimulus window, wherein the first and second drive signals have a predetermined frequency relationship and are in phase during a first portion of the overlapping stimulus window and out of phase during a second portion of the overlapping stimulus window; and
sense circuitry configured to:
detect a sense signal from at least one sense line, the sense signal being related to the first and second drive signals by touch or proximity of one or more objects to one or more sensing points associated with the at least one sense line, a sensing point being associated with at least one of the plurality of drive lines and at least one of a plurality of sense lines; and
derive touch information for the one or more sensing points from the sense signal.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The touch sensing device of claim 1, wherein the sense circuitry comprises at least one microcontroller.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The touch sensing device of claim 2, wherein the at least one microcontroller is an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The touch sensing device of claim 2, wherein the at least one microcontroller is a digital signal processor (DSP).

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The touch sensing device of claim 1, wherein the sense circuitry derives touch information from the sense signal by deriving a plurality of values from the sense signal and deriving touch information from a mathematical combination of the plurality of values.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The touch sensing device of claim 5, wherein the sense circuitry derives a plurality of values from the sense signal by integrating the sense signal over time.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The touch sensing device of claim 5, wherein the plurality of values correspond to a capacitance measurement at a plurality of sensing points.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The touch sensing device of claim 1, the drive circuitry further configured to:
apply a third drive signal to a third drive line of the plurality of drive lines during a third stimulus window; and
apply a fourth drive signal to a fourth drive line of the plurality of drive lines during a fourth stimulus window, the first, second, third and fourth stimulus windows at least partially overlapping during the overlapping stimulus window;
wherein the first, second, third and fourth drive signals have the predetermined frequency relationship and two of the first, second, third and fourth drive signals are out of phase with another two of the first, second, third and fourth drive signal during a third portion of the overlapping stimulus window.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The touch sensing device of claim 1, wherein a phase relationship between the first and second drive lines during the overlapping stimulus window is selected to eliminate a DC component of the sense signal.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The touch sensing device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of drive lines and the plurality of sense lines are part of a touch screen.

### Claim 11

A method of stimulating a touch sensitive surface, the touch sensitive surface comprising a plurality of sensing points, a sensing point being associated with at least one of a plurality of drive lines and at least one of a plurality of sense lines, the method comprising:
stimulating a first drive line of the plurality of drive lines with a first drive signal during a first stimulus window; and
stimulating a second drive line of the plurality of drive lines with a second drive signal during a second stimulus window, the second stimulus window at least partially overlapping the first stimulus window during an overlapping stimulus window;
wherein the first and second drive signals have a predetermined frequency relationship and are in phase during a first portion of the overlapping stimulus window and out of phase during a second portion of the overlapping stimulus window.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, the method further comprising:
sensing a sense signal on at least one sense line, wherein the sense signal is related to the first and second drive signals by touch or proximity of one or more objects to one or more sensing points associated with at least one of the first and second drive lines and the at least one sense line; and
deriving touch information from the sense signal;
wherein deriving touch information from the sense signal comprises:
deriving a plurality of values from the sense signal; and
deriving touch information from a mathematical combination of the plurality of values.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein deriving touch information from the sense signal comprises integrating the sense signal over time.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of values from the sense signal include a capacitance measurement.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising:
stimulating a third drive line of the plurality of drive lines with a third drive signal during a third stimulus window; and
stimulating a fourth drive line of the plurality of drive lines with a fourth drive signal during a fourth stimulus window, the first, second, third and fourth stimulus windows at least partially overlapping during the overlapping stimulus window;
wherein the first, second, third and fourth drive signals have the predetermined frequency relationship and two of the first, second, third and fourth drive signals are out of phase with another two of the first, second, third and fourth drive signals during a third portion of the overlapping stimulus window.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the first, second, third and fourth drive signals are in phase during a fourth portion of the overlapping stimulus window.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein a predetermined phase relationship of the first and second drive signals is selected to eliminate a DC component of a sense signal.