CN111459342A

CN111459342A - Shield for capacitive touch system

Info

Publication number: CN111459342A
Application number: CN202010050800.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 乔恩·艾伦·伯特德
Original assignee: Siqua
Current assignee: Siqua; Cirque Corp
Priority date: 2019-01-18
Filing date: 2020-01-17
Publication date: 2020-07-28
Also published as: TWI790413B; TW202107259A

Abstract

Touch sensor systems and methods are disclosed. The touch sensor system includes a radio frequency antenna that may be placed on or very close to the touch panel. The touch pad sensor includes a patterned shield that shields the touch pad sensor from backside signals and has an opening large enough to allow radio frequencies to pass through the touch pad sensor.

Description

Shield for capacitive touch system

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This application claims priority from united states provisional patent application No. 62/794,392 entitled "radio frequency transparent capacitive touch system and method" filed by Jon Bertrand et al on 2019, month 1 and 18, which is assigned to the assignee hereof and is expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to capacitive sensors, such as touchpads, and methods of operation. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequencies through a touch panel and a method thereof.

Background

Touch pads are typically included on processor-based devices, such as notebook computers and the like, to allow users to use fingers, styluses, and the like as a source of input and selection. Further, processor-based devices typically include radio frequency (e.g., 3MHz-30GHz) transmitters, receivers, transceivers, etc. (collectively, "transceivers") for WiFi, bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), etc. However, capacitive touchpads typically require electrical shielding to prevent noise from the processor-based device from interfering with normal touchpad functionality. When in close proximity to a radio transceiver, the shield may prevent the transmission and reception of radio frequencies.

For example, the touchpad may be the only opening in the base of a processor-based device (such as a laptop computer), and this single opening may be used for multiple purposes, such as sending and receiving WiFi or NFC communications. Existing devices may place a radio frequency antenna near (e.g., below) the touch pad and fill the touch pad ground plane shield with a pattern (hash) to pass some radio frequencies through the shield. However, this approach typically requires tuning the antenna to transmit through the shield, which is often difficult. In addition, the antenna system may waste more power than a typical installation, and the performance of the touch pad may still be affected. In addition, the above-described system may be more difficult to manufacture because variations in the touch pad Printed Circuit Board (PCB) affect the antenna resonance. Other drawbacks, inconveniences, and problems exist with the prior devices and methods.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, the disclosed embodiments address the above and other shortcomings, inconveniences, and problems of prior devices and methods. Disclosed embodiments include touch sensor systems and methods that include a radio frequency antenna that may be placed on or very close to a touch panel. The touch pad sensor includes a patterned shield that shields the touch pad sensor from backside signals and has an opening large enough to allow radio frequencies to pass through the touch pad sensor. The patterned shield replaces the typical ground plane with a layer designed to shield the mutual capacitance junctions, but leave the center of each touchpad sensor unit open (to allow radio frequencies to pass). In addition, the patterned shield is divided into individual cells that shield individual sensor junctions. The shield unit may be connected in a pattern that minimizes induced current of the NFC antenna and reduces power of the NFC system. In some cases, radially connecting the shield units may minimize induced currents. In other examples, the shield unit may be connected in other configurations to reduce induced currents. Other embodiments, advantages, and features exist.

In some examples, a device may include a touch sensor; a first antenna; a shield structure positioned between the touch sensor and the first antenna; and at least one radio frequency transparent (rf) section integrated into the shield structure.

The shield structure may include a metal layer deposited on the electrically insulating material, and the radio frequency transparent portion includes an opening defined in the metal layer.

The touch sensor may include a mutual capacitance intersection between the first electrode and the second electrode; the RF transparent portion is offset from the mutual capacitance crossover point.

The metal layer may overlap the mutual capacitance intersection.

The metal layer may have an increased area that overlaps the mutual capacitance intersection.

The touch sensor may include a first mutual capacitance intersection spaced a first distance from the first antenna and a second mutual capacitance intersection spaced a second distance from the first antenna, wherein the second distance is further from the first antenna than the first distance.

The touch sensor may include a first metal layer area of the shield structure overlapping the first mutual capacitance intersection that is smaller than a second metal layer area of the shield structure overlapping the second mutual capacitance intersection.

The shield structure may further include a metal layer deposited on the electrically insulating material, and the radio frequency transparent portion includes a plurality of shield openings defined in the metal layer.

At least some of the plurality of shield openings may taper with increasing distance from the first antenna.

The shield structure may comprise a first area having a first subset of shield openings of a first size and a second area having a second subset of shield openings of a second size, wherein the first area is closer to the first antenna than the second area, and wherein the first size is larger than the second size. In some cases, the first size is used uniformly throughout the first area and the second size is used uniformly throughout the second area. In other examples, the dimensions may transition in distance from a first dimension to a second dimension.

The apparatus may include a second antenna and a second radio frequency transparent portion integrated into the shield structure, which may be sized at least in part according to proximity to the second antenna. The first radio frequency transparent portion may be sized based at least in part on proximity to the first antenna.

In some examples, a device may include a touch sensor; an antenna; a shield structure positioned between the touch sensor and the first antenna; and a patterned shielding region integrated into the shield structure.

The patterned shield regions may be separated by openings defined in the conductive material.

The patterned shielding regions can be positioned to shield mutual capacitance junctions of the touch sensors while leaving the centers of at least some of the touch sensor cells open to allow radio frequencies to pass through.

The patterned shielding regions may be positioned to shield the respective sensor junctions.

The antenna may be configured to transmit WiFi signals.

The patterned shielding regions may be radially connected.

The patterned shielding region may be configured to minimize induced currents from the near field communication antenna and reduce power of the near field communication system.

In some examples, a device may include a touch sensor, an antenna, a shield structure positioned between the touch sensor and the antenna, and a plurality of shield openings defined in a conductive layer of the shield structure, the shield openings being large enough to allow radio frequencies to pass through the shield structure.

The conductive layer can define the shield openings with a plurality of vertical columns and a plurality of horizontal rows positioned to overlap a grid of electrodes in the touch sensor.

The plurality of shield openings may be located in a first region of the touch sensor proximate to the antenna, and the shield structure includes a solid conductive layer without the shield openings in a second region of the touch sensor spaced further from the antenna than the first region.

Drawings

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a capacitive touchpad system.

FIG. 2 depicts an example of a processor-based device including a touchpad and a radio frequency transmitter in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a touch pad shield in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 4 depicts an example of a touchpad shield in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts an example of a touchpad shield in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 6 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 7 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 8 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 9 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 10 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 11 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 12 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 13 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 14 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 15 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 16 depicts an example of a shield structure in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

Fig. 17 depicts an example of a method for transmitting a wireless signal in accordance with a disclosed embodiment.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Detailed Description

This description provides various examples, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention. Rather, the ensuing description will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an embodiment of the invention. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements.

Accordingly, various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various processes or components as appropriate. For example, it should be understood that the methods may be performed in an order different than that described, and that various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, aspects and elements described in connection with some embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. It should also be understood that the following systems, methods, apparatus and software may stand alone or together as a component of a larger system, where other processes may take precedence over or otherwise modify its application.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "aligned" generally refers to being parallel, substantially parallel, or forming an angle of less than 35.0 degrees. For purposes of this disclosure, the term "transverse" generally refers to perpendicular, substantially perpendicular, or forming an angle between 55.0 degrees and 125.0 degrees. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "length" generally refers to the longest dimension of an object. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "width" generally refers to the dimension of an object from side to side, and may refer to a measurement through the object that is perpendicular to the length of the object.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "electrode" generally refers to a portion of an electrical conductor that is intended to be used to make a measurement, and the terms "route" and "trace" generally refer to portions of the electrical conductor that are not intended to be used to make a measurement. For purposes of the circuits associated with the present disclosure, the term "wire" generally refers to a combination of "routes" or "paths" portions of electrodes and electrical conductors. For purposes of this disclosure, the term "Tx" generally refers to transmit lines and the term "Rx" generally refers to sense lines.

It should be understood that the use of the term "touch sensor" throughout this document may be used interchangeably with "capacitive touch sensor", "capacitive touch and proximity sensor", "touch and proximity sensor", "touch panel", "touchpad" and "touch screen".

It will also be understood that, as used herein, the terms "vertical," "horizontal," "lateral," "up," "down," "left," "right," "inner," "outer," and the like may refer to the relative orientation or position of features in the disclosed devices and/or components shown in the drawings. For example, "up" or "uppermost" may refer to a feature that is closer to the top of the page than another feature. However, these terms should be broadly interpreted to include devices and/or components having other orientations, such as one or more of the following: top/bottom, above/below, up/down and left/right may be interchanged depending on the orientation of the upside down or tilted orientation.

The invention utilizes

Company touchpad technology. Therefore, it is useful to understand to some extent the operation of touchpad technology.

The company touchpad technology is a mutual capacitance sensing device 100 and an example is shown in FIG. 1 for this device 100, a touchpad 10 having a grid of row electrodes 12 and column electrodes 14 is used to define the touch sensitive area of the touchpad 10 generally, the touchpads are configured in appropriate numbers (e.g., 8 × 6, 16 × 12)9 × 15, etc.).

As shown in FIG. 1, the mutual capacitance sensing device 100 also includes a touch controller 16. The touch controller 16 generally includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), at least one of an Analog Front End (AFE) including an amplifier, a Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC), another type of microprocessor, and/or combinations thereof, and may be implemented as an integrated circuit, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a combination of logic gates, other types of digital or analog electrical design components, or combinations thereof, using appropriate circuitry, hardware, firmware, and/or software selected according to the available operating modes.

Typically, touch controller 16 also includes at least one multiplexing circuit that alternates the use of row electrodes 12 or column electrodes 14 as drive electrodes or sense electrodes. The drive electrodes may be driven sequentially or randomly one at a time, or all drive electrodes may be driven simultaneously in a coded pattern. Other configurations are possible, such as a self-capacitance mode of driving and sensing the electrodes simultaneously. The electrodes may also be arranged in a non-rectangular array, such as a radial pattern, linear string, or the like. As also shown in fig. 1, a ground plane shield 18 may be provided below the

electrodes

12, 14 to reduce noise or other interference. The shield 18 is shown extending beyond the

electrodes

12, 14 for ease of illustration only. Other configurations are also possible.

Typically, no fixed reference point is used for the measurement. Touch controller 16 generates signals that are sent in various patterns directly to row electrodes 12 and column electrodes 14.

The touchpad 10 does not rely on absolute capacitance measurements to determine the position of a finger (or stylus, pointer, or other object) on the surface of the touchpad 10. The touchpad 10 measures a charge imbalance of an electrode that serves as a sensing electrode (illustratively shown as row electrode 121 in fig. 1, but may be any of row electrode 12, column electrode 14, or other dedicated sensing electrode). When no target is indicated on or near the touchpad 10, the touch controller 16 is in a state of equilibrium and there is no signal on the sensing electrode (e.g., electrode 121). When an unbalanced imbalance of the finger or other pointing object occurs due to capacitive coupling, a change in capacitance occurs across the plurality of

electrodes

12, 14 that make up the touchpad electrode grid. What is measured is the change in capacitance, not the absolute capacitance values of the

electrodes

12, 14.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a processor-based device including a touch pad 26 and a radio frequency transmitter 28 in accordance with the disclosed embodiments. As shown in this embodiment, the processor-based device may be a laptop computer 20 having a display 22, a keyboard 24, and a touchpad 26.

As also shown, the laptop computer 20 may also include a radio frequency transceiver 28. In the embodiment of fig. 2, the transceiver 28 is shown in dashed lines to indicate that it is below the touch pad 26, however, this location is merely exemplary and other locations may be used. In addition, multiple transceivers 28 may be used, or separate transmitters and receivers may be used.

Likewise, the type of transceiver 28 varies with the function of the device, as persons of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure will appreciate. For example, for NFC applications, transceiver 28 may operate in the frequency range of 13.5 MHz; for bluetooth applications, the transceiver 28 may operate in the range of 2.4GHz to 2.5 GHz; and for WiFi applications, the transceiver 28 may operate in the range of 2.4GHz, 5GHz, or other frequencies. Other applications and frequency ranges are also possible.

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a touch pad shield 30 in accordance with the disclosed embodiments. As disclosed herein, a solid or filled pattern ground plane shield (e.g., ground plane shield 18) may interfere with the higher radio frequencies typically employed by transceivers 28 and the like, however, the ground plane shield needs to shield the touch panel 28 from noise and other interference so that the touch panel 28 may function properly. Thus, the touch pad shield 30 is designed to have a high impedance at higher frequencies (e.g., 13.5MHz for NFC; 900MHz, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, etc. for WiFi) and a low impedance at the operating frequency of the touch pad 28 (e.g., 100kHz to 3 MHz).

In some cases, the touchpad shield 30 may be configured to replace the typical solid or filled pattern ground plane shield 18 with another layer that acts as a projection or combination of touch sensor electrode layers (e.g., electrodes 12 and 14). In other examples, the touchpad shield may have a shape configured to shield the junction region without shielding regions away from the junction. In the example shown in fig. 3, a plurality of vertical rows 32 and horizontal rows 34 of shield material may be made to be placed beneath the

respective electrode

12, 14 layers. The shield material may comprise copper, aluminum, or other suitable shield material, and may be etched, printed, or otherwise deposited on the substrate. As shown, the touchpad shield 30 specifically shields the mutual capacitance junctions (e.g., junction 36) where the electrodes (e.g., electrodes 12, 14) overlap, but leaves the center (e.g., center 38) of each sensor cell open to allow radio frequencies to pass through. In addition, the patterned shield is divided into individual cells that shield individual sensor nodes. In some embodiments, a shield unit may be connected to reduce and/or minimize induced current from NFC antennas and the like and to reduce power for NFC systems. In some cases, the units may be connected radially, vertically, or in other arrangements to reduce induced current. The particular shape and rectangular grid shown in fig. 3 for the touchpad shield 30 are merely exemplary, and other shapes and patterns may be used.

For example, fig. 4 and 5 illustrate other exemplary shapes and patterns that may be used in accordance with the disclosed embodiments. Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a touchpad shield 40 having relatively small junctions 46 and a relatively large open center 48, and fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a touchpad shield 50 having relatively dense junctions 56 and a relatively small open center 58. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure, other shapes, patterns, junctions, open centers, etc. may be employed depending on the functions and frequencies involved in a particular processor-based device, touchpad, transceiver, etc.

Fig. 6 depicts an example of a grid 100 of electrodes of a touch sensor 102. In this example, a plurality of emitter electrodes 104 are disposed on a substrate, and orthogonally arranged sense electrodes 106 are also disposed on the substrate. The transmit electrode 104 and the sense electrode 106 overlap each other, but are electrically isolated from each other, forming a mutual capacitance crossover 108. In some cases, electrical isolation is provided by the substrate, with the transmit electrode 104 disposed on a first side of the substrate and the sense electrode 106 disposed on a second side of the substrate. In some cases, as the voltage on the first transmit electrode changes, the capacitance on each sense electrode that intersects the first transmit electrode changes at the intersection where the electrodes intersect. Further, when a conductive object approaches the touch sensor, mutual capacitance intersections near the object touching or approaching the touch sensor have a change in capacitance.

In some examples, a surface of the touch sensor configured to receive a touch or proximity signal from a user is on the front interface surface. The surface of the touch sensor includes a shield near or at the opposite or rear side of the touch sensor. The shield structure may be disposed between the back surface of the touch sensor and the antenna.

In the example of fig. 6, the shield structure includes a conductive layer 110 that defines an opening 112. The wireless signal transmitted by the antenna may pass through an opening 112 defined in the conductive layer 110. However, the remaining portion of the conductive layer 110 may overlap the transmit electrode 104, the sense electrode 106, the mutual capacitance intersection 108 between the transmit electrode and the sense electrode, other portions of the touch sensor, or combinations thereof. In the example shown, the conductive layer 110 includes a narrow cross-sectional width 114 that is aligned with the emitter electrode 104. At the areas of the shield structure that overlap the mutual capacitance intersections 108, the conductive layer 110 includes a width and area that forms a patterned shield region 116 to provide more effective shielding at the mutual capacitance intersections. In this example, patterned shield regions 116 are electrically connected along vertical columns 118 by narrow cross-sectional widths 114.

Fig. 7 is an example depicting a conductive layer 110 having a narrow cross-sectional width 114 and a patterned shield region 116 that overlap at mutual capacitance intersections. The openings 112 are defined by the spaces between the vertical columns 118. In this particular example, portions of the sensor electrodes are not shielded by portions of the conductive layer 110.

In the example of FIG. 8, patterned shield region 116 is radially connected with additional narrow cross-sectional widths 114 that overlap with the sense electrodes to form horizontal rows 120. In this example, the openings are located between the vertical columns 118 and the horizontal rows 120. In some examples, radially connecting the vertical columns may minimize induced currents and/or reduce the power required to transmit wireless signals for certain types of antennas.

Fig. 9 depicts a cross-sectional view of a stack 200 with a touch sensor 102 and a shield structure 202. The touch sensor 102 may include a substrate 204. The substrate 204 may be any suitable type of substrate, such as a printed circuit board, fiberglass, electrically insulating material, another type of material, or a combination thereof. A first set of electrodes 208 may be deposited on the first side 206 of the substrate 204. The first set of electrodes 208 may be transmit electrodes, sense electrodes, or another type of electrodes. A second set of electrodes 212 may be deposited on a second side 210 of the substrate 204 opposite the first side 206. The second set of electrodes 212 may be transmit electrodes, sense electrodes, or another type of electrodes. In this example, the first set of electrodes 208 and the second set of electrodes 212 are orthogonal to each other.

Electrically insulating material 214 may be adjacent to second set of electrodes 212, and electrically conductive material 216 may be deposited on a distal side 218 of electrically insulating material 214 opposite second set of electrodes 212.

The conductive material 216 may shield certain portions of the touch sensor 102 from radio frequencies emitted by the antenna. However, the conductive material 216 may include all radio frequency openings 220 through the shielding material.

In the example of fig. 9, the width of the conductive material 216 that overlaps the mutual capacitance intersection is as wide as the electrodes in the first group 208. However, in the example of fig. 10, the width of the conductive material 216 is wider than the width of the first set of electrodes 208 or wider than the mutual capacitance intersection. The width of the conductive material may depend on the tuning and/or other electrical characteristics of the antenna. However, the width of the conductive material 216 may also vary throughout the touch sensor based on proximity to the antenna.

In some examples, it may be desirable to have larger openings in the conductive material in those areas closer to the antenna. In such areas, the conductive material 216 may cover less surface area to allow for larger openings, thereby providing more space for radio frequency to pass through. In those areas of the touch sensor that are farther from the antenna, the openings may be smaller, with the conductive material 216 covering a larger surface area of the touch sensor.

Fig. 11 depicts an example of the touch sensor 102, the first antenna 300, and the second antenna 302. In this example, the touch sensor 102 has a first region 304, a second region 306, and a third region 308. Dashed

lines

303 and 305 may generally represent boundary changes between regions. The first region 304 may be closest to the

antennas

300, 302, the second region 306 may be next to the

antennas

300, 302, and the third region 308 may be located furthest from the

antennas

300, 302. In this example, the openings in the shielding material of the first region 304 may be larger than the openings in other regions, and thus, the shielding material may cover a smaller total surface area in the first region 304. In the second region 306, the shielding material may cover an increased surface area, thereby making the opening smaller. In the third region 308, the openings may be minimal, such that the shielding material covers even more surface area than the openings in the second region 306. In some cases, the shielding material in the third region 308 may cover all of the surface area without providing openings. The shielding material may be the conductive layer described in connection with the embodiments of fig. 3-10.

Fig. 12 depicts an example of a boundary variation curve at the edge of the touch sensor 102. In this example, the boundary change may be located at a preset distance from the surface of the antenna or the active portion of the antenna. In this example, the ends of the antennas do not reach the ends of the touch sensor 102, allowing the second region 306 and the third region 308 of the touch sensor 102 to have a larger area.

In the example of fig. 13, only a single antenna 400 is depicted adjacent to the touch sensor 102. In this example, the antenna 400 is located at a portion along the length of the touch sensor 102. In this example, the boundary of the first region 304 may decrease, while the regions of the second region 306 and the third region 308 may increase.

The touch sensor 102 may include any suitable number of regions having different amounts of shielding material. For example, FIG. 14 depicts that the touch sensor 102 may include more than four

regions

304, 306, 308, 310, but in other embodiments includes more regions. In some examples, there may be only two regions with different numbers of shields.

Furthermore, the geometry of those regions having different numbers of shields may have different surface areas. In the example of fig. 15, the

boundaries

303, 305 between regions are irregular. In this example, the

boundary regions

303, 305 may be shaped to accommodate different characteristics of each antenna. For example, depending on the electrical characteristics of the first antenna 300, it may be desirable for the first region 304 to have a larger area, while due to the electrical characteristics of the second antenna, it may be desirable for the first region 304 to have a smaller area. Thus, the geometry of the different regions may include having a smaller area on one side of the touch sensor 102 than on the other side.

Fig. 16 depicts an example where the number of shields includes a larger area with less shields, but more quickly transitions to a second area 306 with more shields, depending on the electrical characteristics of the first antenna 300. On the other hand, the electrical characteristics of the second antenna 302 may be desired to have a smaller area of less shield near the second antenna, and to have a longer transition region to a region where there are no openings in the shield. Although these examples depict a touch sensor having a particular configuration with a different number of shields, any arrangement of different sizes and geometries of regions with different numbers of shields may be used in accordance with the principles described herein.

Fig. 17 depicts an example of a method 1700 of transmitting a signal. The method 1700 may be performed based on the apparatus, modules, and principles described in fig. 1-16. In this example, method 17 includes transmitting 1702 a wireless signal through a shield structure of the touch sensor, wherein the shield structure includes at least one opening in a conductive layer, the opening being large enough to pass the wireless signal.

In some examples, the wireless signal is a WiFi signal, a bluetooth signal, a near field communication signal, a wireless signal having another radio frequency, or a combination thereof. The device with a touch panel may be a laptop, a desktop computer, an external panel for providing input to a computing device or a cloud computing device, a networking device, an electronic tablet, a mobile device, a personal digital assistant, a control panel, a gaming device, a tablet, a display, a television, another type of device, or a combination thereof.

It should be noted that the methods, systems, and devices discussed above are intended to be examples only. It must be emphasized that various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various processes or components as appropriate. For example, it should be understood that in alternative embodiments, the methods may be performed in an order different than that described, and that various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Moreover, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Moreover, it should be emphasized that technology is evolving and, thus, many of the elements are exemplary in nature and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Additionally, it should be noted that the embodiments may be described as a process that depicts a flowchart or block diagram. Although each operation may be described as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may have other steps not included in the figure.

While several embodiments have been described, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications, substitutions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the above elements may simply be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over or modify the application of the invention. Also, many steps may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a touch sensor;

a first antenna;

a shield structure positioned between the touch sensor and the first antenna; and

at least one radio frequency transparent portion integrated into the shield structure.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shield structure further comprises a metal layer deposited on an electrically insulating material, and the radio frequency transparent portion comprises an opening defined in the metal layer.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the touch sensor comprises a mutual capacitance intersection between a first electrode and a second electrode; and the radio frequency transparent portion is offset from the mutual capacitance intersection.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the metal layer overlaps the mutual capacitance crossover point.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the metal layer has an increased area that overlaps the mutual capacitance crossover point.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the touch sensor further comprises: a first mutual capacitance crossover point spaced a first distance from the first antenna; and a second mutual capacitance crossover point spaced a second distance from the first antenna, wherein the second distance is further from the first antenna than the first distance;

wherein a first metal layer area of the shield structure overlapping the first mutual capacitance intersection is smaller than a second metal layer area of the shield structure overlapping the second mutual capacitance intersection.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shield structure further comprises a metal layer deposited on an electrically insulating material, and the radio frequency transparent portion comprises a plurality of shield openings defined in the metal layer.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein at least some of the plurality of shield openings taper with increasing distance from the first antenna.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the shield structure comprises a first area having a first subset of shield openings of a first size and a second area having a second subset of shield openings of a second size, wherein the first area is closer to the first antenna than the second area, and wherein the first size is greater than the second size.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a second antenna;

a second radio frequency transparent portion integrated into the shield structure, the second radio frequency transparent portion sized at least partially according to proximity to a second antenna; and is

Wherein the first radio frequency transparent portion is sized at least in part according to proximity to the first antenna.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a touch sensor;

an antenna;

a shield structure positioned between the touch sensor and the antenna; and

a patterned shield region integrated into the shield structure.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the patterned shield regions are separated by openings defined in a conductive material.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the patterned shielding region is positioned to shield mutual capacitance junctions of the touch sensor while leaving a center of at least some touch sensor cells open to allow radio frequencies to pass through.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the patterned shielding regions are positioned to shield individual sensor junctions.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the antenna is configured to transmit WiFi signals.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the patterned shield regions are radially connected.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the patterned shielded region is configured to minimize induced current from a near field communication antenna and reduce power of a near field communication system.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a touch sensor;

an antenna;

a shield structure positioned between the touch sensor and the antenna; and

a plurality of shield openings defined in a conductive layer of the shield structure, and the plurality of shield openings are large enough to allow radio frequencies to pass through the shield structure.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the conductive layer defines the shield opening with a plurality of vertical columns and a plurality of horizontal rows that overlap a gate of an electrode in the touch sensor.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the plurality of shield openings are located in a first region of the touch sensor near the antenna, and the shield structure comprises a solid conductive layer in a second region of the touch sensor without the shield openings, the second region being spaced further from the antenna than the first region.