Capacitance touch near-field—far field switching
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsJohn Greer Elias, Steven Porter Hotelling
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A touch sensor panel configured to switch between a mutual capacitance near field sensing architecture and a self-capacitance far field sensing architecture. The touch sensor panel includes circuitry that can switch the configuration of touch electrodes to act as either drive lines in a mutual capacitance configuration or as sense electrodes in a self-capacitance configuration. The touch sensor panel also includes circuitry that can switch the configuration of touch electrodes to act as either sense lines in a mutual capacitance configuration or a sense electrode in a self-capacitance configuration.
Claims15
A method for switching a touch sensor panel between a self-capacitance configuration and a mutual capacitance configuration, the method comprising:
- configuring a first set of multiple lines as sense electrodes in a self-capacitance configuration by applying a stimulation signal to the first set of multiple lines through one or more virtual ground charge amplifiers, and as drive lines in a mutual capacitance configuration;
- and
- configuring a second set of multiple lines as sense electrodes in either a self-capacitance configuration or a mutual capacitance configuration.
A touch controller for operating a touch sensor panel in a self-capacitance configuration or a mutual capacitance configuration, comprising:
- a plurality of input/output (I/O) lines for connecting to the touch sensor panel;
- a plurality of drivers configured for providing first stimulation signals to the touch sensor panel;
- one or more sense amplifiers configured for receiving sense signals from the touch sensor panel;
- and
- switching circuitry coupled to the plurality of I/O lines, plurality of drivers, and one or more sense amplifiers, the switching circuitry configured for coupling the plurality of drivers to the plurality of I/O lines in the mutual capacitance configuration, and for coupling the one or more sense amplifiers to the plurality of I/O lines and applying a second stimulation signal to the plurality of I/O lines through the one or more sense amplifiers in the self-capacitance configuration.
A computing device including a touch controller, the touch controller comprising:
- a plurality of input/output (I/O) lines for connecting to the touch sensor panel;
- a plurality of drivers configured for providing first stimulation signals to the touch sensor panel;
- one or more sense amplifiers configured for receiving sense signals from the touch sensor panel;
- and
- switching circuitry coupled to the plurality of I/O lines, plurality of drivers, and one or more sense amplifiers, the switching circuitry configured for coupling the plurality of drivers to the plurality of I/O lines in the mutual capacitance configuration, and for coupling the one or more sense amplifiers to the plurality of I/O lines and applying a second stimulation signal to the plurality of I/O lines through the one or more sense amplifiers in the self-capacitance configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.