TWI502412B - Active pen ic with a reduced amount of pads and amethod thereof - Google Patents

Description

Active pen integrated circuit for reducing the number of bonding pads and method thereof

The present invention relates to an active pen, and more particularly to an active pen tip circuit that reduces the number of bond pads.

Active pens or stylus are usually paired with mobile devices such as smart phones to allow users to interact directly with the displayed person. Active pens use integrated circuits to process the receive (RX) signals sensed from the printed circuit board (PCB). As the resolution or size of the mobile device increases, the number of bond pads used by the active pen IC circuit to receive the sensed signal will also increase. Therefore, the increased number of bond pads will occupy a considerable circuit area.

Therefore, it is urgent to propose a novel mechanism to effectively reduce the number of bonding pads without sacrificing the resolution of the active pen.

In view of the above, one of the objects of embodiments of the present invention is to provide an integrated circuit for an active pen having a number of bond pads that is much smaller than the number of bond pads of a conventional active pen-integral circuit having the same resolution.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, an active pen tip circuit that reduces the number of bond pads includes a plurality of bond pads and an array unit. The bond pads receive a plurality of receive (RX) signals sensed from the mobile device, the received RX signals forming an original TX signal group. The aligning unit is configured to arrange the bonding pads such that the RX signals corresponding to the aligning bonding pads constitute a generated RX signal group.

11‧‧‧Active Pitch Circuit

111‧‧‧Material pads

112‧‧‧ Arrangement unit

12‧‧‧Mobile devices

X ₁ ~X ₃₉ ‧‧‧RX signal

P ₁ ~P ₁₃ ‧‧‧ bonding pads

The first figure shows a block diagram of an active pen tip circuit that reduces the number of bond pads in an embodiment of the present invention.

The second A and second B diagrams illustrate the RX signal and corresponding bond pads.

The third figure illustrates the relationship between the RX signal and the aligned bond pads.

The fourth figure illustrates the relationship between the RX signal and the aligned bond pads.

The first figure shows a block diagram of an active pen integrated circuit (IC) 11 that reduces the number of bond pads in an embodiment of the present invention. The active pen IC circuit 11 of the present embodiment can be applied to the mobile device 12, such as a smart phone. The number of bonding pads required for the active pen IC circuit 11 of the present embodiment is much smaller than that of the active pen IC circuit used in the conventional mobile device.

The active pen integrated circuit 11 includes a plurality of bond pads 111 for receiving a plurality of receive (RX) signals that are sensed from the mobile device 12. The number of RX signals is approximately the same as the number of bond pads 111. In the present embodiment, the active pen tip circuit 11 includes an aligning unit 112 for arranging the bonding pads 111 (i.e., changing the order of the bonding pads 111). The aligning unit 112 can be implemented using software and hardware, where the hardware can be a circuit or a processor. Since the aligning unit 112 is used in the present embodiment, the number of the bonding pads 111 (of the active stylus circuit 11) can be much smaller than that of the phase The number of bond pads of a conventional active pen IC circuit of the same resolution. Therefore, a large amount of circuit area can be saved or the resolution or size can be increased.

In a simplified example, the active pen IC circuit 11 has seven bond pads P ₁ -P ₇ for receiving seven RX signals X ₁ -X ₇ . The RX signals X ₁ ~X ₇ constitute the original first RX signal group and correspond to the bonding pads P ₁ -P _{7 , respectively} . The aligning unit 112 then aligns the bonding pads P ₁ -P ₇ , for example, to generate P ₂ , P ₄ , P ₆ , P ₁ , P ₃ , P ₅ , P ₇ , which respectively correspond to the RX signal X ₈ ~ X ₁₄ . The RX signals X ₈ ~X ₁₄ form a second set of RX signals generated. The second A diagram illustrates the RX signals X ₁ ~X ₁₄ and the corresponding bond pads P ₁ -P ₇ . According to one of the features of the embodiment, by arranging the bonding pads 111, any bonding pads and their adjacent bonding pads are combined with each RX signal group (for example, the original first RX signal group and the generated second RX). The signal group is different.

As illustrated in FIG. A second, there are two maximum signal RX X ₃ and X ₁₂ (a first RX signal from the original group, another group of the second signal RX is produced from a), to the corresponding bonding pads P _3. In order to determine a position from among the two largest RX signals, it is necessary to further select the second largest RX signal X ₁ /X ₁₁ (corresponding to P ₁ ) and the third largest RX signal X ₅ /X ₁₃ (corresponding to P ₅ ) , as illustrated in Figure B. In the second B diagram, the second largest RX signal X ₁₁ , the third largest RX signal X ₁₃ and the maximum RX signal X ₁₂ together form a normal distribution, wherein the signal voltage gradually increases from the peak value (ie, X ₁₂ ). Lower to the second largest value (ie, X ₁₁ ) and the third largest value (ie, X ₁₃ ). On the other hand, the second largest RX signal X ₅ , the third largest RX signal X ₃ and the maximum RX signal X ₃ fail to form a normal distribution because the signal voltage is not gradually reduced from the peak value (ie, X ₃ ) to The second largest value (ie, X ₁ ) and the third largest value (ie, X ₅ ). It can be seen that the pen position occurs at the position corresponding to the RX signal X ₁₂ .

The third figure illustrates twenty-one RX signals X ₁ ~X ₂₁ , which are generated from seven bond pads P ₁ -P ₇ , and the figure shows the RX signals X ₁ ~X ₂₁ and the alignment pads P ₁ -P ₇ Relationship. In detail, the RX signals X ₁ ~X ₇ received from the mobile device 12 constitute the original first RX signal group. The aligning unit 112 then aligns the bonding pads P ₁ -P ₇ to produce P ₂ , P ₄ , P ₆ , P ₁ , P ₃ , P ₅ , P ₇ , which correspond to the RX signals X ₈ ~X, respectively. ₁₄ . The RX signals X ₈ ~X ₁₄ form a second set of RX signals generated. The aligning unit 112 further aligns the bonding pads P ₁ -P ₇ to generate P ₃ , P ₆ , P ₂ , P ₅ , P ₁ , P ₄ , P ₇ , which respectively correspond to the RX signal X ₁₅ ~X ₂₁ . The RX signals X ₁₅ ~X ₂₁ constitute a third RX signal group generated.

According to one of the features of the embodiment, as illustrated in the third figure, the distances of adjacent two bonding pads are different in different RX signal groups. For example, in the first RX signal group, the distance between adjacent two bonding pads (for example, P ₂ and P ₃ ) is 1 (= 3-2); in the second RX signal group, adjacent two bonding pads (for example, P ₄ and The distance of P ₆ ) is 2 (=6-4); in the third RX signal group, the distance between adjacent two bonding pads (for example, P ₃ and P ₆ ) is 3 (= 6-3). Moreover, in different RX signal groups, the combination of any of the bond pads and their adjacent two bond pads (one adjacent to the left and the other adjacent to the right) is different. In general, for N RX signals and B bond pads (B is preferably prime), N has the following relationship with B: N = B‧ [B/2], where [ ] is an integer (or Gaussian) Operator.

The fourth figure illustrates thirty-nine RX signals X ₁ ~X ₃₉ , which are generated from thirteen bonding pads P ₁ -P ₁₃ , which show RX signals X ₁ ~X ₃₉ and alignment pads P ₁ -P ₁₃ Relationship between. In detail, the RX signals X ₁ ~X ₁₃ received from the mobile device 12 constitute the original first RX signal group. The aligning unit 112 then aligns the bonding pads P ₁ -P ₁₃ to produce P ₃ , P ₆ , P ₉ , P ₁₂ , P ₂ , P ₅ , P ₈ , P ₁₁ , P ₁ , P ₄ , P ₇ , P ₁₀ , P ₁₃ , which correspond to the RX signals X ₁₄ ~X _{26 , respectively} . The RX signals X ₁₄ ~X ₂₆ constitute the generated second RX signal group. The aligning unit 112 further aligns the bonding pads P ₁ -P ₁₃ to produce P ₄ , P ₈ , P ₁₂ , P ₃ , P ₇ , P ₁₁ , P ₂ , P ₆ , P ₁₀ , P ₁ , P ₅ , P ₉ , P ₁₃ , which correspond to the RX signals X ₂₇ ~ X _{39 , respectively} . The RX signals X ₂₇ ~ X ₃₉ form the generated third RX signal group.

According to one of the features of the embodiment, as illustrated in the fourth figure, the distances of adjacent two bonding pads are different in different RX signal groups. For example, in the first RX signal group, the distance between adjacent two bonding pads (for example, P ₂ and P ₃ ) is 1 (= 3-2); in the second RX signal group, adjacent two bonding pads (for example, P ₃ and The distance of P ₆ ) is 3 (=6-3); in the third RX signal group, the distance between adjacent two bonding pads (for example, P ₄ and P ₈ ) is 4 (=8-4). Moreover, in different RX signal groups, the combination of any of the bond pads and their adjacent four bond pads (two adjacent to the left and the other adjacent to the right) is different. In general, for N RX signals and B bond pads (B is preferably prime), then N has the following relationship with B: N = B‧ [B/4], where [ ] is an integer (or Gaussian) Operator.

The above description is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention; all other equivalent changes or modifications which are not departing from the spirit of the invention should be included in the following Within the scope of the patent application.

11‧‧‧Active Pitch Circuit

111‧‧‧Material pads

112‧‧‧ Arrangement unit

12‧‧‧Mobile devices

Claims (10)

An active pen assembly circuit for reducing the number of bond pads, comprising: a plurality of bond pads receiving a plurality of received (RX) signals from a mobile device, the received RX signals forming an original TX signal group; and an array unit And arranging the bond pads such that the RX signals corresponding to the array bond pads constitute a generated RX signal group. An active pen tip circuit for reducing the number of bond pads according to claim 1, wherein the bond pads are arranged such that any of the bond pads and the adjacent bond pads are different for different RX signal groups combination. An active pen tip circuit for reducing the number of bond pads according to claim 1, wherein the bond pads are arranged such that adjacent RX signal groups have different distances between adjacent two bond pads. An active pen tip circuit for reducing the number of bond pads according to claim 3, wherein any of the bond pads and the adjacent two bond pads may have different combinations for different RX signal groups. An active pen tip circuit for reducing the number of bond pads according to claim 3, wherein any of the bond pads and the adjacent four bond pads may have different combinations for different RX signal groups. A method for reducing the number of bond pads of an active pen IC circuit, comprising: receiving a plurality of receive (RX) signals induced from a mobile device, the received RX signals forming an original TX signal group; and arranging the bond pads The RX signals corresponding to the array bond pads are configured to form a generated RX signal group. A method for reducing the number of bond pads of an active pen tip circuit according to claim 6 wherein the pads are arranged such that any bond pads and adjacent pads thereof may be in different scan cycles. Different combinations. The method for reducing the number of bonding pads of an active pen-integral circuit according to claim 6, wherein the bonding pads are equivalently arranged such that adjacent RX signal groups have different adjacent bonding pads distance. A method of reducing the number of bond pads of an active pen tip circuit as described in claim 8 wherein different bond pads and adjacent bond pads have different combinations for different RX signal groups. A method of reducing the number of bond pads of an active pen tip circuit as described in claim 8 wherein different bond pads and adjacent bond pads have different combinations for different RX signal groups.