CN111966250A - Mouse and capacitive touch device - Google Patents

Abstract

A mouse and capacitance touch device, the mouse includes a plurality of induction conductors, at least one of the induction conductors is used as clock frequency bit, and one of the induction conductors is used as positioning bit, the positioning bit is used to identify the placing direction of the mouse; and the controller is coupled with the plurality of induction conductors and is used for modulating the electric potentials of the plurality of induction conductors to be used as configuration characteristics so as to judge whether the mouse belongs to a specific object.

Description

Mouse and capacitive touch device

The application is a divisional application of Chinese patent application with the application number of 201610404744.9, the application date of 2016, 06, 08 and the name of 'capacitive communication system and Bluetooth pairing method'.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an interactive input device, and more particularly, to a capacitive touch device, a capacitive communication device and a communication system.

Background

Capacitive sensors (capacitive sensors) typically include a pair of electrodes for sensing a finger. When a finger is present, the amount of charge transfer between the pair of electrodes is changed, and thus the presence or absence of the finger can be detected based on the change in the voltage value. A sensing array is formed by arranging a plurality of electrode pairs in an array.

Fig. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams of a conventional capacitive sensor, which includes a first electrode 91, a second electrode 92, a driving circuit 93 and a detecting circuit 94. The driving circuit 93 is used for inputting a driving signal to the first electrode 91, and an electric field is generated between the first electrode 91 and the second electrode 92 to transfer charges to the second electrode 92. The detection circuit 94 can detect the amount of charge transfer of the second electrode 92.

When a finger is present, for example, as represented by the equivalent circuit 8, the finger interferes with the electric field between the first electrode 91 and the second electrode 92 to reduce the amount of charge transfer. The detection circuit 94 can detect the voltage variation, so as to determine the presence of the finger.

In addition, when another capacitive sensor is close to the other capacitive sensor, the electric field between the first electrode 91 and the second electrode 92 can be changed to change the amount of charge transfer. The detection circuit 94 can also detect the voltage variation, so as to determine the presence of the other capacitive sensor.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides a capacitive touch device, a capacitive communication device and a communication system capable of detecting a touch event and performing near field communication.

The invention provides a capacitive touch device, a capacitive communication device and a communication system, which can judge a touch event according to the vector norm change of two detection components and carry out near field communication according to the phase change of a detection signal.

The invention also provides a capacitive touch device, a capacitive communication device and a communication system, which have longer transmissible distance.

The invention also provides a capacitive communication system which identifies different objects and exchanges data with the objects through near field communication.

The present invention also provides a Bluetooth pairing (Bluetooth pairing) method having a simplified triggering procedure.

The invention provides a capacitive communication system, which comprises an object and a capacitive touch panel. The object includes at least one sensing conductor and a controller. The controller is coupled with the at least one sensing conductor and used for modulating the potential of the at least one sensing conductor to serve as identification data. The capacitive touch panel comprises at least one detection electrode and a processing unit. The at least one detection electrode is used for forming a coupling electric field with the at least one induction conductor, wherein the detection electrode is used for outputting a detection signal corresponding to the identification data according to the coupling electric field. The processing unit is used for judging whether the object belongs to a specific object according to the detection signal.

The invention also provides a Bluetooth pairing method, which is suitable for a Bluetooth pairing procedure between a master device comprising the capacitive touch panel and a slave device comprising at least one induction conductor. The Bluetooth pairing method comprises the following steps: sensing the at least one sensing conductor by the capacitive touch panel; when the capacitive touch panel senses the at least one sensing conductor, the main device identifies a configuration characteristic of the at least one sensing conductor; and when the main device judges that the configuration characteristics accord with the preset protocol, performing the Bluetooth pairing program.

The invention also provides a capacitive communication system, which comprises an object and a capacitive touch panel. The object comprises a plurality of sensing conductors for presenting different potential distributions at different times by modulating the potential thereof. The capacitive touch panel comprises a plurality of detection electrodes for forming coupling electric fields with the plurality of sensing conductors to sense the different potential distributions at the different times, wherein near field communication between the capacitive touch panel and the object is established when the different potential distributions conform to a predetermined protocol.

The invention provides a mouse comprising a plurality of induction conductors and a controller. At least one of the sensing conductors is used as a clock frequency bit, and one of the sensing conductors is used as a positioning bit for identifying the placement direction of the mouse. The controller is coupled with the plurality of induction conductors and used for modulating the electric potentials of the plurality of induction conductors to serve as configuration characteristics so as to judge whether the mouse belongs to a specific object.

The invention provides a capacitive touch device, which is used for carrying out near field communication with an object comprising a plurality of sensing conductors, wherein one of the sensing conductors is used as a positioning bit. The capacitive touch device comprises at least one detection electrode and a processing unit. The detection electrode is used for forming a coupling electric field with the plurality of induction conductors, wherein the detection electrode is used for outputting a detection signal according to the coupling electric field. The processing unit is used for judging whether the object belongs to a specific object according to the detection signal and identifying the placement direction of the object relative to the capacitive touch device according to the positioning bit.

The invention also provides a mouse which comprises a plurality of induction conductors and is used for presenting different potential distributions at different times by modulating the potential of the induction conductors after entering the near field communication mode. The plurality of induction conductors have preset areas, preset arrangements and preset potential distributions before entering the near field communication mode, so that the mouse and other objects can be distinguished.

In the capacitive touch device, the capacitive communication device and the communication system according to some embodiments of the present invention, the phase modulation driving signal may be a Phase Shift Keying (PSK) signal or a Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) signal. The phase shift key modulated (PSK) signal may be a binary phase shift key modulated (BPSK) signal, a quadrature phase shift key modulated (QPSK) signal, an 8-PSK modulated signal, or a 16-PSK modulated signal. The Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) signal may be a Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying (DBPSK) signal, a Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (DQPSK) signal, a D-8PSK modulated signal, or a D-16PSK modulated signal.

In the invention, the capacitive touch panel is a self-capacitance type touch panel or a mutual capacitance type touch panel.

In the present invention, the object is, for example, an electronic lock, a mouse, an earphone, a watch, a bracelet, a smart pen, a doll, or an electronic mobile device (electronic mobile device) including another capacitive touch panel.

In order that the manner in which the above recited and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention are obtained will become more apparent, a more particular description of the invention briefly described below will be rendered by reference to the appended drawings. In the present invention, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and are described in advance.

Drawings

FIGS. 1A-1B are block schematic diagrams of known capacitive sensors;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a capacitive touch sensing device according to an embodiment of the invention;

3A-3B are schematic diagrams of a capacitive touch sensing device according to some embodiments of the invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a vector norm and a threshold in a capacitive touch sensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a capacitive touch sensing device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the capacitive touch sensing device of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of quadrature phase shift keying phase modulation;

FIG. 8 is another block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating operation of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a timing diagram illustrating operation of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 11A-11C are schematic diagrams of the electric field between the driving electrode and the receiving electrode;

fig. 12 is a flow chart of a communication method of the communication system according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a capacitive communication system according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a capacitive communication system according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15A is a diagram illustrating identification data in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15B is a diagram illustrating data transmission according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of an object and a sensing conductor according to yet another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 is an operational schematic view of the object of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of controlling the potential of the sensing conductor in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of Bluetooth pairing in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 20-21 are flow diagrams of Bluetooth pairing in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the reference numerals

10、10₁₁-10_nm410, 510 sensing unit

101. 91 first electrode

102. 92 second electrode

103 coupling capacitance

11 time schedule controller

12、12₁-12_nDrive unit

13. 94 detection circuit

131. 131', 531', 551 multiplier

132. 132' integrator

133. 133' analog-to-digital conversion unit

14 processing unit

400 first capacitive touch device

500 second capacitive touch device

401. 501 touch sensing area

40. 50 touch panel

42. 52 drive circuit

421. 521 drive unit

422. 522 phase modulation unit

522' modulator

4221 encoder

4222 modulation unit

43. 53 detection circuit

44. 54 processing unit

541 coordinate rotation digital computer

542 decoding unit

55 performance circuit

93 drive circuit

8 finger

x (t) drive signal

y (t) detection signal

y₁(t)、y₂(t) post modulation detection signal

y_d(t) digitized detection signal

SW₁-SW_mSwitching element

S₁、S₂Signal

I. Component of Q detection vector

Dc near field communication distance

Ec coupling electric field

Data transmission

Ed drive electrode

An Er receiving electrode.

Detailed Description

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a capacitive touch sensing device according to an embodiment of the invention. The capacitive touch sensing device of the present embodiment includes a sensing unit 10, a driving unit 12, a detection circuit 13 and a processing unit 14. The capacitive touch sensing device detects whether an object (for example, but not limited to, a finger or a metal sheet) approaches the sensing unit 10 by determining a change in charge of the sensing unit 10.

The sensing unit 10 includes a first electrode 101 (e.g., a driving electrode) and a second electrode 102 (e.g., a receiving electrode), and when a voltage signal is input to the first electrode 101, an electric field is generated between the first electrode 101 and the second electrode 102 to form a coupling capacitor 103. The first electrode 101 and the second electrode 102 may be appropriately configured without particular limitation as long as the coupling capacitor 103 can be formed (e.g., through a dielectric layer); the principles of generating the electric field between the first electrode 101 and the second electrode 102 and the coupling capacitor 103 are known and are not described herein. The invention can eliminate the interference of the phase difference caused by the signal on-line capacitance to the detection result.

The driving unit 12 is, for example, a signal generating unit, and is configured to input a driving signal x (t) to the first electrode 101 of the sensing unit 10. The drive signal x (t) may be a time-varying signal, such as a periodic signal. In other embodiments, the driving signal x (t) may be a meander signal (sine wave), such as a sine wave, or a pulse signal (square wave), but not limited thereto. The driving signal x (t) can couple the detection signal y (t) to the second electrode 102 via the coupling capacitor 103.

The detection circuit 13 is coupled to the second electrode 102 of the sensing unit 10, and is configured to detect the detection signal y (t) and modulate the detection signal y (t) with two signals respectively to generate a pair of modulated detection signals as two components I, Q of a two-dimensional detection vector. The two signals are, for example, consecutive signals or vectors that are orthogonal or non-orthogonal to each other. In one embodiment, the two signals include a sine signal and a cosine signal; that is, the two signals preferably have different phases.

The processing unit 14 is configured to calculate a magnitude (magnitude) of the pair of modulated detection signals as a vector norm of the two-dimensional detection vector (I, Q), and compare the vector norm with a threshold TH to determine a touch event (touch event). In one embodiment, the processing unit 14 can calculate the vector norm by software

In another embodiment, the processing unit 14 may also utilize hardware or software to calculate, for example, a coordinate rotation digital calculator (CORDIC) shown in fig. 4 to calculate the vector norm

CORDIC is a known fast algorithm. For example, when no object is close to the sensing unit 10, the vector norm calculated by the processing unit 14 is assumed to be R; when an object approaches the sensing cell 10, the vector norm is reduced to R'. When the vector norm R' is smaller than the threshold TH, the processing unit 14 can determine that an object is located near the sensing unit 10 and causes a touch event. It should be noted that other objects, such as metal sheets, may also cause the vector norm R to increase when they approach the sensing unit 10. Thus, the processing unit 14 may determine a touch event when the vector norm changes to be greater than a preset threshold.

In another embodiment, the processing unit 14 may encode the two components I and Q of the two-dimensional detection vector using Quadrature Amplitude Shift Keying (QASK), such as 16-QASK. The processing unit 14 has previously corresponded a portion of the codes to a touch event and another portion of the codes to a non-touch and stored the codes. When the processing unit 14 calculates the QASK codes of the two current components I and Q from the modulated detection signal, it can determine whether the object approaches the sensing unit 10.

Fig. 3A and 3B show another schematic diagram of a capacitive touch sensing device according to an embodiment of the invention, which shows an implementation manner of the detection circuit 13.

In fig. 3A, the detection circuit 13 includes two multipliers 131 and 131', two integrators 132 and 132', and an analog-to-digital conversion unit (ADC)133 for processing the detection signal y (t) to generate a two-dimensional detection vector (I, Q). The analog-to-digital conversion unit 133 is configured to digitize the detection signal y (t) to generate a digitized detection signal y_d(t) of (d). The two multipliers 131 and 131' are used for respectively multiplying two signals S₁、S₂And the digitized detection signal y_d(t) modulating to produce a pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) of (d). For sampling the pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) modulating the pair of modulated detection signals y with the two integrators 132 and 132₁(t) and y₂(t) integrating to produce two digital components I, Q of the two-dimensional detection vector (I, Q); in the present embodiment, the two integrators 132 and 132' may be any suitable integrating circuit, such as a capacitor (capacitor).

In fig. 3B, the detection circuit 13 includes two multipliers 131 and 131', two integrators 132 and 132', two analog-to-digital conversion units (ADCs) 133 and 133' for processing the detection signal y (t) to generate two-dimensional detection vectors (I, Q). The two multipliers 131 and 131' are used to respectively apply two signals, e.g. shown as such

And

modulates with the detection signal y (t) to generate a pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) of (d). For sampling the pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) modulating the pair of modulated detection signals y with the two integrators 132 and 132₁(t) and y₂(t) integration is performed. In the present embodiment, the two integrators 132 and 132' are not limited in form, and may be capacitors, for example. The two analog-to-digital conversion units 133 and 133' are used for digitizing the integrated pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) to produce two digital components I, Q of the two-dimensional detection vector (I, Q). It can be appreciated that the two analog-to-digital conversion units 133 and 133 'can start to acquire digital data when the potential changes of the two integrators 132 and 132' are stable.

The two signals may be two vectors, e.g. S, in addition to the two successive signals described above₁＝[1 0 -1 0]And S₂＝[0 -1 0 1]To simplify the circuit architecture. The two signals are not limited in any way as long as they are properly simplified vectors that simplify the modulation and demodulation processes.

In summary, the detection method of the capacitive touch sensing device according to the embodiment of the invention includes the following steps: inputting a driving signal to a first electrode of a sensing unit; modulating the driving signal with two signals respectively and coupling the driving signal to the detection signal of the second electrode through a coupling capacitor to generate a pair of modulated detection signals; and calculating the magnitude of the pair of modulated detection signals to judge a touch event according to the magnitude.

For example, referring to fig. 3A, after the driving unit 12 inputs a driving signal x (t) to the first electrode 101 of the sensing unit 10, the driving signal x (t) couples a detection signal y (t) to the second electrode 102 of the sensing unit 10 through the coupling capacitor 103. Then, the adc 133 digitizes the detection signal y (t) to generate a digitized detection signal y_d(t) of (d). The detection circuit 13 takes two signals S₁And S₂Separately modulating the digitized detection signals y_d(t) to produce a pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t); wherein the two signals may now be two vectors S₁＝[1 0 -1 0]And S₂＝[0 -1 0 1]. The treatment sheetElement 14 calculates the pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) determining the size of the touch event; wherein the pair of modulated detection signals y is calculated₁(t) and y₂The manner of the size of (t) can be referred to, for example, fig. 4 and the related description thereof. Furthermore, the pair of modulated detection signals y are calculated₁(t) and y₂Before the magnitude of (t), the integrator 132 and/or 132' may be utilized to integrate the pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) then two digital components I, Q of the two-dimensional detection vector (I, Q) are output.

For example, referring to fig. 3B, after the driving unit 12 inputs a driving signal x (t) to the first electrode 101 of the sensing unit 10, the driving signal x (t) couples the detection signal y (t) to the second electrode 102 of the sensing unit 10 through the coupling capacitor 103. Then, the detection circuit 13 takes two signals S₁And S₂Modulating the detection signals y (t) to generate a pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) of (d). The processing unit 14 calculates the pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂(t) determining the size of the touch event; wherein the pair of modulated detection signals y is calculated₁(t) and y₂The manner of the size of (t) can be referred to, for example, fig. 4 and the related description thereof. Furthermore, the pair of modulated detection signals y are calculated₁(t) and y₂Before the magnitude of (t), the integrator 132 and/or 132' may be utilized to integrate the pair of modulated detection signals y₁(t) and y₂After (t), it is digitized by the analog-to-digital conversion units 133 and/or 133' to output two digital components I, Q of the two-dimensional detection vector (I, Q).

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of a capacitive touch sensing device according to another embodiment of the invention. The sensing units 10 arranged in an array form a capacitive sensing array, wherein each row of sensing units 10 is driven by a driving unit 12₁-12_nDriving and said detection circuit 13 passing through a plurality of switch elements SW₁-SW_mOne of which detects an output signal of each row of the sensing cells 10. As shown in fig. 5, for the driving unit 121In driving the first row sensing unit 10₁₁-10_1m(ii) a Drive unit 12₂For driving the second column of sensing cells 10₂₁-10_2m(ii) a …, respectively; drive unit 12_nFor driving the nth column of sensing cells 10_n1-10_nm(ii) a Where n and m are positive integers and the values thereof can be determined according to the size and resolution of the capacitive sensing array without specific limitation.

In the present embodiment, each sensing unit 10 (represented by a circle herein) includes a first electrode and a second electrode for forming a coupling capacitance therebetween, as shown in fig. 2, 3A and 3B. The plurality of driving units 12₁-12_nAre respectively coupled to the first electrodes of a row of sensing units 10. The timing controller 11 is used for controlling the plurality of driving units 12₁-12_nSequentially outputting driving signals x (t) to the first electrodes of the sensing units 10.

The detection circuit 13 passes through a plurality of switch components SW₁-SW_mThe second electrodes are respectively coupled to the second electrodes of a row of sensing units 10, and are used for sequentially detecting the driving signal x (t) and the detection signal y (t) coupled to the second electrodes through the coupling capacitors of the sensing units 10. The detection circuit 13 modulates the detection signal y (t) with two signals to generate a pair of modulated detection signals; the manner of generating the pair of modulated detection signals is described in detail in fig. 3A and 3B and related description, and therefore is not described herein again.

The processing unit 14 determines a touch event and a touch position according to the pair of modulated detection signals. As described above, the processing unit 14 may calculate a vector norm of a two-dimensional detection vector formed by the pair of modulated detection signals, and determine the touch event when the vector norm is greater than or equal to or less than a threshold TH, as shown in fig. 4.

In this embodiment, when the timing controller 11 controls the driving unit 12₁Outputting the driving signal x (t) to the first row sensing unit 10₁₁-10_1mWhile, the plurality of switch components SW₁-SW_mAre sequentially turned on to enable the detection circuit 13 to sequentially detect the first senses of the rowsTest unit 10₁₁-10_1mThe detection signal y (t) output by each sensing unit. Then, the timing controller 11 sequentially controls the other driving units 12₂-12_nOutputting the driving signal x (t) to each row of sensing units. When the detection circuit 13 detects all the sensing units, a scan period is completed. The processing unit 14 determines the position of the sensing unit where the touch event occurs as the touch position. It can be understood that the touch position may not only occur in one sensing unit 10, and the processing unit 14 may regard all positions of the sensing units 10 as the touch position, or regard the position of one (e.g., the center or the gravity center) of the sensing units 10 as the touch position.

Referring to fig. 6, it shows an operation flow chart of the capacitive touch sensing device of fig. 5, which includes the following steps: inputting a driving signal to a sensing unit of a capacitive sensing array (step S)₃₁) (ii) a Digitizing the detection signal output by the sensing unit (step S)₃₂) (ii) a Modulating the digitized detection signals with two signals, respectively, to generate a pair of modulated detection signals (step S)₃₃) (ii) a Integrating the pair of modulated detection signals (step S)₃₄) (ii) a And determining the touch event and the touch position (step S)₃₅). The operation of the present embodiment is described in detail in fig. 5 and its related description, and therefore is not described herein again.

In another embodiment, in order to save the power consumption of the capacitive touch sensing device in fig. 5, the timing controller 11 can control a plurality of driving units 12₁-12_nAnd outputting the driving signal x (t) to the sensing units in the corresponding row. The detection circuit 13 generates two different continuous signals S₁、S₂Each column detection signal y (t) is modulated separately for discrimination. In addition, the manner of determining the touch event and the touch location is similar to that shown in FIG. 5, and therefore, the detailed description thereof is omitted.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the detection circuit 13 may further include components such as a filter and/or an amplifier to increase the signal quality. Furthermore, the processing unit 14 may also be incorporated in the detection circuit 13.

In the above embodiment, since the phase change of the transmitted signal caused by the signal line does not affect the vector norm of the two detection components I, Q (i.e. the digital components) of the detection signal y (t), the effect of the phase difference generated by the signal line is eliminated at the receiving end by modulating the detection signal y (t) with two signals. Similarly, if the driving signal itself or the sensing signal from the external device has a phase change, as mentioned above, the phase change in the driving signal and the external sensing signal will not affect the vector norm of the two detection components of the detection signal, and thus will not affect the determination of the touch event. Therefore, the capacitive touch device, the capacitive communication device and the communication system have the touch judgment and near field communication functions simultaneously by performing near field communication based on phase modulation.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the invention, which includes a first capacitive touch device 400 and a second capacitive touch device 500. In one embodiment, the first capacitive touch device 400 and the second capacitive touch device 500 are respectively applied to a portable electronic device, such as a smart phone, a smart watch, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant, or a wearable electronic device (wearable electronic device), for performing near field communication through an induced electric field coupled between the two devices. In another embodiment, one of the first capacitive touch device 400 and the second capacitive touch device 500 is applied to a portable electronic device or a wearable electronic device, and the other is applied to a home appliance device, a security system, an automation system or an automotive electronic device for accessing related information of the electronic device or performing relative control.

The first capacitive touch device 400 includes a touch panel 40, a plurality of driving circuits 42 (only one of which is shown for simplicity), a detection circuit 43, and a processing unit 44. The second capacitive touch device 500 includes a touch panel 50, a plurality of driving circuits 52 (only one of which is shown for simplicity), a detection circuit 53, and a processing unit 54. In the present embodiment, near field communication is performed by the coupling electric field Ec between the touch panel 40 and the touch panel 50. In other words, the touch panel 50 is an external touch panel with respect to the first capacitive touch device 400; the touch panel 40 is an external touch panel with respect to the second capacitive touch device 500.

The touch panel 40 includes a plurality of driving electrodes Ed and a plurality of receiving electrodes Er (for example, refer to fig. 8). As described above, the sensing unit 410 may be formed between the plurality of driving electrodes Ed and the plurality of receiving electrodes Er for sensing a proximity conductor. As shown in fig. 8, the touch sensing area 401 of the touch panel 40 includes a plurality of sensing units 410. When an external touch panel (here, for example, the touch panel 50) approaches, the plurality of driving electrodes Ed and the plurality of receiving electrodes Er may thereby form a coupling electric field Ec with the external touch panel. More specifically, the driving electrodes Ed of the touch panel 40 and at least one receiving electrode of the external touch panel form the coupling electric field Ec, or the receiving electrodes Er of the touch panel 40 and at least one driving electrode of the external touch panel form the coupling electric field Ec, depending on the function of the touch panel 40, for example, as a transmitting terminal, a receiving terminal or a transceiver (transceiver). Similarly, the touch panel 50 includes a plurality of driving electrodes Ed and a plurality of receiving electrodes Er for forming the sensing unit 510 therebetween and forming a coupling electric field Ec with an external touch panel (here, for example, the touch panel 40). As shown in fig. 8, the touch sensing area 501 of the touch panel 50 includes a plurality of sensing units 510. It can be appreciated that the touch sensing area 401 and the touch sensing area 501 can have the same or different resolutions.

The driving circuits 42 are respectively coupled to the driving electrodes Ed of the touch panel 40 (for example, refer to fig. 5), and respectively include a driving unit 421 and a phase modulation unit 422. The driving unit 421 can output a fixed phase driving signal x (t) or transmission Data 1; the fixed phase driving signal x (t) is a driving signal in a touch detection mode and the transmission Data1 is used in a near field communication mode and transmitted to an external touch panel. The fixed phase driving signal x (t) may be a continuous or discontinuous signal of square wave, sine wave, triangular wave, trapezoidal wave, etc., without any particular limitation. In one embodiment, the driving circuits 42 are respectively coupled to the driving electrodes Ed through a plurality of switching elements (not shown), for example.

The phase modulation unit 422 includes an encoding unit 4221 and a modulation unit 4222. The encoding unit 4221 is configured to encode the transmission Data1, and the modulation unit 4222 modulates the encoded transmission Data by phase modulation and outputs a phase modulation driving signal X₁(t)＝r₁∠θ₁. In one embodiment, the phase modulated drive signal X₁(t) may be a phase shift key modulated (PSK) signal; the phase shift key modulation signal may be a binary phase shift key modulation (BPSK) signal, a quadrature phase shift key modulation (QPSK) signal, an 8-PSK modulation signal, or a 16-PSK modulation signal, but is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the phase modulated drive signal X₁(t) may be a differential phase shift key modulation (DPSK) signal; the differential phase shift keying modulation signal may be a differential binary phase shift keying modulation (DBPSK) signal, a differential quadrature phase shift keying modulation (DQPSK) signal, a D-8PSK modulation signal, or a D-16PSK modulation signal, but is not limited thereto.

Similarly, the driving circuits 52 are respectively coupled to the driving electrodes Ed of the touch panel 50. The plurality of driving circuits 52 includes a driving unit 521 for outputting a fixed phase driving signal X (t) or transmission Data2, and a phase modulation unit 522 for outputting a phase modulation driving signal X₂(t)＝r₂∠θ₂To the coupled driving electrode Ed. In one embodiment, the driving circuits 52 are respectively coupled to the driving electrodes Ed through a plurality of switching elements (not shown), for example.

For example, fig. 7A is a schematic diagram of Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) phase modulation. The encoding unit 4221 encodes the transmission data into four codes of 11, 01, 00 and 10, for example, and the modulation unit 4222 outputs the driving signals X with four phases of 45 °, 135 °, 225 ° and 315 ° according to the code modulation of the encoding unit 4221 respectively₁(t)＝r₁∠θ₁And the driving signal X₁(t) isTo the plurality of driving electrodes Ed.

As mentioned above, the receiving electrodes Er of the touch panel 40 are respectively used for outputting the detection signal y according to the coupling electric field Ec and the coupling electric field between the driving electrode and the receiving electrode therein₁(t) of (d). In the touch detection mode, the detection signal y₁(t) is related to a driving signal input to the touch panel 40. In the near field communication mode, the detection signal y₁(t) may be related to only the driving signal inputted to the touch panel 50 or to both the driving signals inputted to the touch panel 40 and the touch panel 50. The receiving electrodes Er of the touch panel 50 are respectively configured to output a detection signal y according to the coupling electric field Ec and the coupling electric field between the driving electrode and the receiving electrode therein₂(t); in the same way, the detection signal y₂The information included in (t) depends on the current operation mode of the touch panel 50.

As mentioned above, the detecting circuit 43 is sequentially coupled to the receiving electrodes Er of the touch panel 40 (as shown in fig. 5), and modulates the detecting signal y with two signals respectively₁(t) to generate two detected components I₁、Q₁As shown in fig. 3A and 3B. The detection circuit 53 is sequentially coupled to the receiving electrodes Er of the touch panel 50 (as shown in fig. 5), and utilizes two signals S₁、S₂Modulating the detection signals y separately₂(t) to generate two detected components I₂、Q₂. As mentioned above, the detection circuit 43, 53 may further comprise an integrator for integrating the detection signal y (t) and an analog-to-digital conversion unit (ADC) for performing analog-to-digital conversion, as shown in fig. 3A and 3B.

The processing unit 44 is coupled to the detection circuit 43 for detecting the two detection components I₁、Q₁A vector norm is obtained to determine the touch event, wherein the processing unit 44 can calculate the vector norm by using a coordinate rotation digital calculator (CORDIC) and compare the vector norm with a threshold TH as shown in fig. 4. The processing unit 54 is coupled to the detection circuit 53 for detecting the two detection components I₂、Q₂Obtaining vector norm to judge touch event and according to the two detection components I₂、Q₂Obtaining the phase value to decode the transmission Data 1'; the transmission Data1' is completely or partially equal to the transmission Data1 transmitted by the first capacitive touch device 400, depending on the bit error rate (bit error rate). In this embodiment, the two detection components I are calculated by the coordinate rotation digital calculator 541 for the transmission Data1₂、Q₂Arctangent function arctan (Q)₂，I₂) After obtaining the phase value, the decoding unit 542 decodes the phase value. It can be appreciated that the decoding unit 542 decodes the phase values corresponding to the encoding by the encoding unit 4221.

In addition, in order to reduce the error rate of the transmitted data in the present embodiment, the processing unit 54 may further include an efficiency circuit 55. The performance circuit 55 includes, for example, an error detector (error detector) for detecting bit error rate and a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) for synchronizing signals, tracking an input frequency, or generating a multiple of the input frequency. The phase locked loop includes, for example, a loop oscillator (loop oscillator), a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), or a Numerically Controlled Oscillator (NCO), and the output of the performance circuit 55 can be fed back (feedback) to multipliers 531, 531', 551; wherein the plurality of multipliers 531, 531' are used to combine two signals (e.g., S of fig. 7)₁,S₂) And the detection signal y₂(t) and the multiplier 551 is used to feed back the output of the performance circuit 55 to the detection signal y₂(t), for example, the gain (gain) is adjusted.

In addition, if the touch panel 40 is also used as a receiving end of the communication system, the processing unit 44 also detects the two detection components I₁、Q₁The phase values are obtained to decode the transmission Data2', and the same procedure and the same function as those of the processing unit 54 are executed, for example, but not limited to, a performance circuit and a decoding unit are also included.

It should be noted that, in fig. 7, the driving power of the second capacitive touch device 500The way 52 may comprise both the driving unit 521 and the phase modulation unit 522, or the driving unit 521 and not the phase modulation unit 522, depending on its function. For example, if the second capacitive touch device 500 is used for receiving near field transmission data and not for sending near field transmission data, the driving circuit 52 may only include the driving unit 521 for sending out the phase-fixed driving signal x (t). In addition, the detection circuit 43 and the processing unit 44 of the first capacitive touch device 400 in fig. 7 can be the same as the detection circuit 53 and the processing unit 54 of the second capacitive touch device 500, which are not shown for simplifying the drawing. In addition, the processing unit 44 of the first capacitive touch device 400 in fig. 7 may not include a performance circuit and a decoding unit, depending on its function. For example, if the first capacitive touch device 400 is used to determine a touch event without performing near field communication, it may only include a coordinate rotation digital calculator for calculating two detection components I₁、Q₁Without data to calculate the phase values.

More specifically, in the first capacitive touch device 400 and the second capacitive touch device 500, when the capacitive touch device has a function of sending out near field transmission data, the driving end includes a phase modulation unit, otherwise, the driving end may not include the phase modulation unit; when the function of receiving near field transmission data is available, the receiving end includes a decoding unit (in some embodiments, a performance circuit) and is configured to calculate a phasor norm and a phase value according to the two detected components; otherwise, the receiving end may not include the performance circuit and the decoding unit, and is configured to calculate the phasor norm of the two detection components without calculating the phase value according to the two detection components.

For example, in one embodiment, the first capacitive touch device 400 acts as a transmitting device for near field communication and the second capacitive touch device 500 acts as a receiving device for near field communication. When the distance between the first capacitive touch device 400 and the second capacitive touch device 500 is greater than the near field communication distance Dc (e.g., 10 cm), as shown in fig. 9, the second capacitive touch device 500 operates in a touch detection mode, and the driving circuit 52 outputs the fixed-phase driving signal x (t). When the driving circuit 52 does not receive the communication enable signal, the fixed phase driving signal x (t) is continuously output; the communication enabling signal is used to enable the second capacitive touch device 500 to enter a near field communication mode from the touch detection mode.

In one embodiment, the second capacitive touch device 500 may detect an access code (access code) continuously or at predetermined intervals during a synchronization procedure, so as to determine whether to enter the near field communication mode; the access code includes, for example, a synchronization word (synchronization word), a compensation bit (compensation code), and/or a device address (device address). To detect whether to enter the near field communication mode, the processing unit 54 may detect the component I from two detection components of the same group₂、Q₂The vector norm and the phase value are calculated as shown in the lower half of fig. 10. As indicated above, the two detection components I are not affected by phase variations in the detection signal₂、Q₂So that the processing unit 54 can be based on the same time interval (e.g., t of fig. 10)_touch&t_com) Two detection components I₂、Q₂The vector norm and the phase value are calculated simultaneously. In another embodiment, the processing unit 54 may also detect the component I from two different sets₂、Q₂Alternately (e.g. t of FIG. 10)_touch、t_com) The vector norm and the phase value are calculated as shown in the upper half of fig. 10.

In the synchronization procedure, the processing unit 54 is configured to compare a plurality of transmission data with a preset code sequence (e.g., access code) to determine whether synchronization is completed; the predetermined coding sequence includes Barker Codes (Barker Codes), which can be used to synchronize the phases of the transmitting end and the receiving end, but not limited thereto. The predetermined code sequence may also be other codes used by known communication systems. In one embodiment, when the processing unit 54 identifies that the correlation (correlation) between the phase values (or transmission data) and the preset code sequence exceeds a threshold value, indicating that synchronization is completed, the processing unit 54 controls the second capacitive touch device 500 to enter a near field communication mode. In another embodiment, when the processing unit 54 identifies that the phase values (or transmission data) conform to a predetermined code sequence (e.g., an access code), indicating that synchronization is completed, the processing unit 54 controls the second capacitive touch device 500 to enter a near field communication mode. For example, when entering the near field communication mode, the processing unit 54 outputs the communication enabling signal to the driving circuit 52 and stops determining the touch event and decodes only the transmission data. When the driving circuit 52 receives the communication enable signal, the output of the driving signal x (t) is stopped.

In another embodiment, the communication enabling signal may be issued according to a start signal of a preset application software (APP) or a pressing signal of a key. For example, when an icon (icon) displayed on the display screen of the second capacitive touch device 500 is clicked or a key is pressed, the processing unit 54 receives the start signal or the pressing signal and outputs the communication enable signal to the driving circuit 52. Then, the processing unit 54 detects an access code through the synchronization period, and receives a load (payload), i.e., transmission Data1, from the first capacitive touch device 400 when the synchronization is completed.

In this embodiment, the first capacitive touch device 400 is used as a transmission terminal for communicating with an external electric field, so the first capacitive touch device 400 is used as a capacitive communication device. The first capacitive touch device 400 includes at least one driving electrode Ed for forming the coupling electric field Ec with an external electric field. The driving circuit 42 is configured to output a phase modulation driving signal of the preset coding sequence (e.g., an access code) to the at least one driving electrode Ed of the touch panel 40 for transmission through the coupling electric field Ec. For example, the first capacitive touch device 400 may only include the driving electrode Ed as a transmitting antenna to form a touch detection point.

In this embodiment, the second capacitive touch device 500 is used as a receiving terminal for communicating with an external electric field, so the second capacitive touch device 500 is used as a capacitive communication device. The second capacitive touch device 500 may comprise at least one receiving electrode Er for use as a receiving electrode ErThe receiving antenna is used for forming a coupling electric field Ec with the external electric field, and the receiving electrode Er is used for outputting a detection signal y according to the coupling electric field Ec₂(t)。

Fig. 11A-11C are schematic diagrams illustrating the induced electric field between the driving electrode Ed and the receiving electrode Er. According to fig. 11A and 11B, when the finger approaches, the induced electric field is reduced, i.e., E2< E1. According to fig. 11A and 11C, when the external capacitive touch device 500 approaches, the induced electric field is increased, i.e., E3> E1. Therefore, although the touch event and the transmission data can be detected simultaneously in the present invention, the threshold TH for comparing the vector norm can be different between the touch detection mode and the nfc mode, thereby increasing the accuracy of determining the touch event. For example, in near field communication mode, a higher threshold may be used.

Referring to fig. 12, a flowchart of a communication method of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, including the following steps: inputting a phase modulation driving signal to a touch sensing area of the first touch panel (step S61); sensing the coupling electric field with the touch sensing area of the second touch panel and outputting a detection signal (step S62); inputting a fixed phase driving signal to a touch sensing area of the second touch panel (step S63); modulating the detection signals with two signals, respectively, and generating two detection components (step S64); obtaining a phase value according to the two detection components to decode transmission data from the first touch panel (step S65); obtaining a vector norm according to the two detection components to determine a touch event of the second touch panel (step S66); the steps S63 and S66 may not be performed according to different embodiments.

Referring to fig. 7, 9 and 12, the following describes the details of the present embodiment.

Step S61: when the distance between a first touch panel (e.g., the touch panel 40) and a second touch panel (e.g., the touch panel 50) is less than the near field communication distance Dc, the first touch panel 40 enters a near field communication mode. At this time, the driving circuit (e.g., the driving circuit 42) of the first capacitive touch device 400 inputs the phase modulation driving signalNumber X₁(t)＝r₁∠θ₁To the touch sensing area 401 of the first touch panel 40. For example, the distance may be determined from the electric field increment (see fig. 11C).

Step S62: since the distance between the first touch panel 40 and the second touch panel 50 is smaller than the near field communication distance Dc, a coupling electric field Ec is formed therebetween. The touch sensing area 501 of the second touch panel 50 outputs a detection signal y according to the coupling electric field Ec₂(t)。

Step S63: if the second touch panel 50 does not detect a touch event in the nfc mode, this step may not be performed. Otherwise, the driving circuit 52 of the second capacitive touch device 500 can output a constant phase driving signal x (t) to the touch sensing area 501 of the second touch panel 50, so that the detection signal y₂(t) includes output information of both the driver circuit 42 and the driver circuit 52.

Step S64: the detection circuit 53 of the second capacitive touch device 500 utilizes two signals (e.g., S shown in fig. 3A)₁、S₂) Modulating the detection signals y separately₂(t) and generating two detection components I₂、Q₂。

Step S65: the processing unit 54 of the second capacitive touch device 500 is configured to detect the two detection components I₂、Q₂The phase value is obtained to decode the transmission Data1' from the first touch panel 40.

Step S66: if the second touch panel 50 does not detect a touch event in the nfc mode, this step may not be performed. Otherwise, the processing unit 54 of the second capacitive touch device 500 further detects the two detection components I₂、Q₂The vector norm is obtained and compared with at least one threshold (as shown in fig. 4) to determine the touch event of the second touch panel 400.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first touch panel 40 can also be used as a receiving end and the second touch panel 50 can also be used as a transmitting end. It can be understood that when the first touch panel 40 and the second touch panel 50 are both used for transmitting data, the data transmission time must be coordinated after the synchronization is completed, for example, data is transmitted in turn.

Referring to fig. 13 and 14, fig. 13 is a block diagram of a capacitive communication system according to still another embodiment of the present invention; fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a capacitive communication system according to still another embodiment of the invention. The capacitive communication system of the present embodiment includes an object 60 and a capacitive touch device; the capacitive touch device is described by taking the second capacitive touch device 500 of fig. 7 to 9 as an example.

As mentioned above, the second capacitive touch device 500 includes the capacitive touch panel 50 and has the touch sensing area 501. The components of the second capacitive touch device 500 are described above, and therefore are not described herein again. In contrast, the capacitive touch device 500 in the present embodiment includes a modulator 522', which is not limited to performing phase modulation, but may also perform amplitude or frequency modulation.

The object 60 includes a plurality of sensing conductors (e.g., 4 sensing conductors P1-P4 are illustrated herein) for presenting different potential distributions at different times by modulating their potentials. For example, in FIG. 15A, the plurality of sensing conductors P1-P4 are at time t₁-t₄Respectively at different potentials. FIG. 15A is a diagram illustrating identification data according to yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a filled rectangle is, for example, "1" and a blank rectangle is "0"; the reverse is also possible. The material of the sensing conductors P1-P4 is not particularly limited, as long as the sensing conductors can cause the capacitance value detected by the touch sensing area 501 to change when approaching the capacitive touch panel 50.

The capacitive touch panel 50 includes a plurality of detecting electrodes (e.g., Er and Ed in fig. 8) for forming a coupling electric field Ec (as shown in fig. 14) with the plurality of sensing conductors P1-P4 at different times (as shown at time t in fig. 15A)₁-t₄) The different potential distributions are sensed. When the different potential distributions conform to a predetermined coordination between the capacitive touch panel 50 (or the capacitive touch device 500) and the object 60, near field communication between the capacitive touch panel 50 and the object 60 is established. In one embodiment, the near field communicationBut not limited to, bluetooth communication.

The predetermined protocol is not particularly limited as long as the object 60 and the capacitive touch device 500 can be identified with each other. Therefore, the predetermined protocol may be preset before factory shipment or implemented by installing application software on the capacitive touch device 500. In one embodiment, the plurality of sense conductors P1 and/or P4 are used to transmit clock frequency Data, e.g., as clock frequency bits, and the plurality of sense conductors P2 and P3 are used to transmit Data1, e.g., as Data bits. The predetermined protocol is, for example, the relative time t of the capacitive touch device 500₁-t₄The sensing frames (sensing frames) sequentially detect the potential distribution as shown in fig. 15A. More specifically, the plurality of sensing conductors P1-P4 are at various times (e.g., t)₁-t₄) And between each time (e.g. t)₁-t₄) Can be detected by the capacitive touch panel 50.

In addition, in order to confirm the placement direction of the object 60 with respect to the capacitive touch panel 50, one of the sensing conductors P1-P4 may be used as a positioning bit (orientation bit), for example, one of clock frequency bits is used as the positioning bit. Thereby, the relative direction of the object 60 and the capacitive touch panel 50 can be identified to confirm the bit sequence of the sensing conductors P2 and P3, such as P2 before P3 in the present invention.

The object 60 is, for example, an electronic lock, a mouse, an earphone, a watch, a bracelet, a smart pen, a doll, or an electronic mobile device including another capacitive touch panel. The plurality of sensing conductors P1-P4 are disposed on the object surface 61 of the object 60, for example, to facilitate sensing by the capacitive touch panel 50. For example, when the object 60 is a mouse 60 '(refer to fig. 16), the sensing conductors P1-P4 are respectively disposed on the lower surface of the mouse 60', for example, at 4 protruding points of the lower surface (i.e., the object surface 61), but not limited thereto. The plurality of sensing conductors P1-P4 may also be disposed inside the object 60.

Thus, when the mouse 60' is placed on the capacitive touch panel 50 of the capacitive touch device 500 (fig. 17, a notebook computer is taken as an example), the capacitive touch device 500 can detect the approach of the sensing conductors P1-P4, such as the change of capacitance. The capacitive touch device 500 can confirm whether to enter a near field communication mode according to the configuration characteristics of the plurality of sensing conductors P1-P4.

For example, the sensing conductors P1-P4 have configuration characteristics of a predetermined area, a predetermined potential distribution and a predetermined arrangement, and the configuration characteristics are pre-stored in the memory of the capacitive touch device 500. When the capacitive touch device 500 confirms the predetermined area (the respective area of each sensing conductor), the predetermined potential distribution (the potential of each sensing conductor at a certain time), and/or the predetermined arrangement (pitch and/or arrangement shape), for example, the sensing units 510 (as shown in fig. 8) of the sensing conductors P1-P4 are sensed to conform to the predetermined area, the predetermined potential distribution, and/or the predetermined arrangement, and enter a near field communication mode to sense the different potential distributions at different times. More specifically, the capacitive touch device 500 can identify the areas, the potentials or the potential changes, the arrangement shapes or the intervals of the sensing conductors P1 to P4 according to the sensing units 510 sensing the sensing conductors P1 to P4. When the configuration feature matches the information stored in the capacitive touch device 500, a near field communication mode is entered.

In some embodiments, the configuration feature may also be a continuous time variation, such as a preset potential variation (i.e., a potential variation pattern) of one or more of the sensing conductors P1-P4 within a predetermined time. Further, the configuration features may be a combination of multiple sets of features to enhance the recognition accuracy. For example, the predetermined area, the predetermined potential distribution and/or the predetermined arrangement of the one or more sensing conductors P1-P4 are used as configuration characteristics of a first stage, and the predetermined potential variation of the one or more sensing conductors P1-P4 are further used as configuration characteristics of a second stage.

When using the potential variation mode as a configuration feature, the capacitive touch device 500 preferably has a buffering time exceeding the predetermined time when determining a touch; that is, the occurrence of the touch event is determined only when the touch is detected in a plurality of consecutive sensing frames, and the detected capacitance change is not considered as the touch event within the predetermined time.

Referring again to fig. 13 and 14, it should be noted that although fig. 13 and 14 show the object 60 including 4 sensing conductors P1-P4, this is for illustrative purposes only and is not meant to be a limitation of the present invention. The object 60 may comprise at least one sensing conductor (e.g., one, two), and the number is not limited to those mentioned in the present invention. In addition, each of the sensing conductors P1-P4 may have different areas or shapes for separation.

The object 60 also includes a controller 63, such as a Microcontroller (MCU) or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), coupled to the at least one sensing conductor. The controller 63 is configured to modulate the potential of the at least one sensing conductor as identification data; the identification data is, for example, in a synchronization pattern (synchronization pattern) in fig. 15A, time t₁-t₄The potential distribution of the at least one sensing conductor (e.g., P1-P4). The identification data is used for the capacitive touch device 500 to identify different objects. In other words, the capacitive touch device 500 stores therein (e.g., a memory) identification data related to at least one object for comparison with the detection result. The memory may be a volatile or non-volatile memory, and is not particularly limited.

The capacitive touch panel 50 includes at least one detection electrode (e.g., Er of fig. 8) and a processing unit 54. The at least one detection electrode is used for forming a coupling electric field Ec with the at least one induction conductor, wherein the detection electrode is used for outputting a detection signal y corresponding to the identification data according to the coupling electric field Ec₂(t) of (d). The processing unit 54 is, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) for detecting the signal y₂(t) determining whether the object 60 belongs to a specific object; the specific object is, for example, an object preset with a corresponding application software in the capacitive touch device 500, and the information thereof is pre-stored in the capacitive touch device 500.

In one embodiment, the controller 63 modulates at a certain periodThe potential of the at least one sensing conductor is changed to generate potential change. For example, in FIG. 15A, at time t₁-t₄The potential change of the induction conductor P1 is, for example, 1 → 1 → 0 → 1, where t₁And t₂Is equal to t₂And t₃Time interval of (1) and (t)₃And t₄The time interval of (c); the potential changes of the plurality of sensing conductors P2-P4 are also shown in FIG. 15A. Fig. 15A shows an embodiment of two clock frequency bits (upper half) and one clock frequency bit (lower half), but is not limited thereto. The processing unit 54 of the capacitive touch device 500 is configured to detect the signal y according to the detection signal y₂(t) taking the potential change and judging whether the detected object belongs to a specific object or not based on the potential change. For example, when the potential change of the sensing conductor P1 (distinguished by a positioning bit, for example) coincides with 1 → 1 → 0 → 1 in continuous time, it can be judged that the object belongs to a predetermined specific object. Then, the capacitive touch device 500 can perform Application (APP) or other control with respect to the specific object, which depends on different applications.

Referring to fig. 18, in some embodiments, the controller 63 controls the sensing conductors P1-P4 to be Grounded (GRD) or floating (floating) through the switch element 67, for example, to change the potential thereof to 1 or 0, but not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the controller 63 is configured to modulate at least one of the amplitude, frequency and phase of the electric potentials of the plurality of sensing conductors P1-P4, as long as the potential can be separated by 1 or 0.

When the object 60 includes a plurality of sensing conductors (e.g., two of P1-P4), the controller 63 is used to control the potential of each sensing conductor separately. For example, in FIG. 15A, sense conductors P2 and P4 are at time t₁-t₄Are not the same.

If the capacitive touch device 500 performs near field communication with two sensing conductors only by using one detection electrode (e.g. one of Er in fig. 8), the detection electrode is used to detect the sum of the potentials of the two sensing conductors; that is, the single detection electrode functions as a receiving antenna. In other words, the capacitive touch device 500 stores not a potential variation pattern of a single sensing conductor but a variation pattern of the sum of the two. Similarly, when the object 60 includes more than two sensing conductors, the single detection electrode is also used to detect the sum of the potentials of the more than two sensing conductors.

If the capacitive touch panel 50 includes a plurality of detection electrodes (e.g., Er in fig. 8) for performing near field communication with two sensing conductors, the detection electrodes are used to detect respective potentials of the two sensing conductors. In other words, the capacitive touch device 500 stores the potential variation pattern of each sensing conductor, as shown in fig. 15A. Likewise, when the object 60 includes two or more sensing conductors, the respective potentials of the two or more sensing conductors may be detected.

As mentioned above, in order to eliminate the interference of the phase difference caused by the capacitance on the signal line to the detection result, the capacitive touch device 500 further includes a detection circuit 53 coupled to the detection electrode for utilizing the two signals S₁And S₂Modulating the detection signals y respectively₂(t) to generate two detected components I₂And Q₂. The processing unit 54 is used for detecting the two detected components S₁And S₂The vector norm is obtained, and a plurality of vector norms corresponding to the identification data are compared with a preset code, so as to determine whether the object 60 belongs to a preset specific object. In other words, in the present embodiment, the processing unit 54 determines the touch event (for example, refer to fig. 4) by using the vector norm, and further identifies the potential variation pattern (for example, refer to fig. 15A) of each sensing conductor (for example, P1-P4) according to a plurality of vector norms.

The capacitive touch device 500 preferably has a mechanism to enter a near field communication mode from a touch detection mode. As mentioned above, the capacitive touch device 500 can be used as a determination mechanism according to whether a key is pressed or whether the capacitance of the capacitive touch panel 50 is increased. In other embodiments, the capacitive touch device 500 can further use the configuration characteristics of the at least one sensing conductor (e.g., P1-P4) as a determination mechanism. As described above, when the capacitive touch device 500 recognizes at least one of the preset area, the preset potential distribution and the preset arrangement and/or a change in the preset potential, a near field communication mode is entered.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 54 may choose to stop according to the detection signal y when entering the near field communication mode₂(t) determining a touch event.

In the near field communication mode, the processing unit 54 is further configured to send out a transmission start signal when the identification data (such as the synchronization pattern of fig. 15A) conforms to a preset code. The object 60 starts transmitting transmission data after receiving the transmission start signal. For example, FIG. 15B shows the transmission data 11,10,00 and 01 (relative time t) of two clock frequency bits and one clock frequency bit₁’-t₄') but the invention is not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the synchronization pattern of fig. 15A is used as the identification data, and the data pattern of fig. 15B contains, for example, transmission data relating to the operation of the object 60.

The transmission data is, for example, related information of the object 60, such as digital information of power information, operation mode information, time information, music information, tag information, and the like. In addition, the capacitive touch device 500 can select to display the transmission data on a screen.

In the nfc mode, the processing unit 54 is further configured to control the capacitive touch panel 50 to output response transmission data through the coupling electric field Ec when the identification data matches a predetermined code (e.g., the synchronization pattern of fig. 15A). For example, when the object 60 is an electronic mobile device comprising another capacitive touch panel (e.g., the first capacitive touch device 400 of fig. 7-8), the capacitive touch device 500 transmits Data2 in response; the response transmission data may control the operating state (e.g., on/off or sleep) of the object 60, for example. In addition, when the object 60 is the first capacitive touch device 400, the sensing conductors are, for example, a part of the driving electrodes Ed shown in fig. 8. For example, sensing conductor P1 of fig. 15A is replaced with the first drive electrode Ed of fig. 8, sensing conductor P2 is replaced with the third drive electrode Ed of fig. 8, sensing conductor P3 is replaced with the fifth drive electrode Ed of fig. 8, and so on. In other words, the shape of the plurality of sensing conductors is not limited to a circle.

Preferably, the spacing between the plurality of sensing conductors is at least greater than 12mm, but not limited thereto. The pitch may be determined according to the resolution of the capacitive touch panel 50.

It is known that the bluetooth pairing procedure between the master device and the slave device is complicated, for example, more than 6 steps may be required, which includes setting the master device and the slave device respectively and completing the pairing within a predetermined time. An embodiment of the capacitive communication system can be used to simplify the triggering procedure of bluetooth pairing.

Fig. 19 is a block diagram of bluetooth pairing according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment is suitable for a Bluetooth pairing procedure (Bluetooth pairing procedure) between a master device 73 including a capacitive touch panel and a slave device 71 including at least one sensing conductor.

In this embodiment, the slave device 71 is, for example, the object 60, and includes at least one sensing conductor 711 (e.g., sensing conductors P1-P4), a controller 713 (e.g., controller 63), and a receiving terminal 715. The object 60, the at least one sensing conductor P1-P4 and the controller 63 have been described above and thus are not described in detail herein. The receiving end 715 is used for receiving the device information ID from the master device 73₂(e.g., address information) which may be, for example, an optical receiver (e.g., photodiode), an audio receiver (e.g., microphone), a capacitive sensing element (e.g., capacitive touchpad), or a magnetic sensing element (e.g., hall sensor), etc., depending on the application.

The master device 73 is, for example, the capacitive touch device 500, and includes a central processing unit 731 (e.g., the processing unit 54), a capacitive touch panel 733 (e.g., the capacitive touch panel 50), a transmitting terminal 735, and a bluetooth interface 737. The capacitive touch device 500 and the capacitive touch panel 50 thereof are described in the foregoing, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted. The transmitter 735 is used for outputting the device information ID of the master device 73₂Depending on the application, for example, a light emitter (e.g., a light emitting diode), a sound generator (e.g., a speaker), a detection electrode (e.g., Ed, Er of fig. 8), or a magnetic generating element (e.g., (ii)Such as a magnet), etc. The bluetooth interface 737 is configured to perform bluetooth pairing with the slave device 71. The cpu 731 is electrically coupled to the capacitive touch panel 733, the transmitting terminal 735, and the bluetooth interface 737, and is configured to determine whether the slave device 71 is a predetermined specific object, control the transmitting terminal 735 to send device information ID2 to the slave device 71, and control the bluetooth interface 737 to perform bluetooth pairing.

Referring to fig. 20, in an embodiment, the bluetooth pairing method includes the following steps: sensing at least one sensing conductor by the capacitive touch panel (step S81); when the capacitive touch panel senses the at least one sensing conductor, the master device identifies a configuration characteristic of the at least one sensing conductor (step S83); and performing a bluetooth pairing procedure when the main device determines that the configuration feature conforms to a preset protocol (step S85).

Step S81: as mentioned above, when the slave device 71 approaches the capacitive touch panel 733, the at least one sensing conductor 711 may cause a capacitance change of the capacitive touch panel 733. Accordingly, the master device 73 can determine that the slave device 71 is present near the capacitive touch panel 733.

Step S82: when the master device 73 determines that the capacitive touch panel 733 senses the at least one sensing conductor 711, the master device 73 identifies a configuration characteristic of the at least one sensing conductor 711.

In one embodiment, the slave device 71 includes a single sensing conductor 711, such as one of P1-P4 in FIGS. 13-15A. The configuration features may include at least one of area, potential, and change in potential of the sensing conductor (e.g., P1) 711; wherein the potential, for example, causes a capacitance change of the capacitive touch panel 733 to reach a preset value; the potential change is, for example, at different times t in FIG. 15A₁-t ₄1 → 1 → 0 → 1.

In one embodiment, the slave device 71 includes a plurality of sensing conductors 711, such as P1-P4 in FIGS. 13-15A. The configuration features may include at least one of a pitch Dp (as shown in fig. 13), an arrangement pattern (e.g., spatially distributed positions and shapes), an electric potential distribution pattern, and an electric potential variation pattern (e.g., temporal electric potential variation) as shown in fig. 15A and 15B.

Step S85: when the master device 73 judges that the configuration characteristics conform to the preset protocol between the master device 73 and the slave device 71, directly performing a bluetooth pairing procedure; the bluetooth pairing procedure is known, and the present embodiment is to simplify the triggering procedure of the bluetooth pairing procedure. The user simply needs to place the slave device 71 (e.g., the object 60) having a predetermined recognizable agreement with the master device 73 in the detectable range of the capacitive touch panel 733, such as the nfc distance Dc in fig. 9, so as to complete the bluetooth pairing procedure.

Please refer to fig. 21, which is another flowchart illustrating bluetooth pairing between a master device and a slave device according to the present invention, comprising the following steps: sensing at least one sensing conductor by the capacitive touch panel (step S81); when the capacitive touch panel senses the at least one sensing conductor, the master device identifies a configuration characteristic of the at least one sensing conductor (step S83); when the master device determines that the configuration feature conforms to a preset protocol, transmitting device information to a slave device (step S851); and performing a bluetooth pairing procedure when the slave device receives the device information (step S852).

The difference between this embodiment and fig. 20 is that in fig. 21, the slave device 71 does not directly enter the bluetooth pairing mode before approaching the capacitive touch panel 733, and needs to receive the device information ID of the master device 73 from the master device 73₂(e.g., identification information) is not received, the bluetooth pairing mode is entered (step S851) to complete the bluetooth pairing process (step S852). Steps S81 and S83 are the same as those in fig. 20, and therefore are not described herein again.

More specifically, the bluetooth pairing triggering procedure of the present invention can be divided into two types.

In one procedure, when the slave device 71 approaches the capacitive touch panel 733 of the master device 73, the slave device 71 enters a bluetooth pairing mode. Therefore, when the master device 73 determines that the configuration characteristics of the sensing conductor 711 of the slave device 71 conform to the preset protocol, the bluetooth pairing procedure is directly performed (as shown in fig. 20).

In another procedure, before the slave device 71 approaches the capacitive touch panel 733 of the master device 73, the slave device 71 does not enter the bluetooth pairing mode. Therefore, when the master device 73 determines that the configuration characteristics of the sensing conductors 711 of the slave device 71 have met the predetermined protocol, the master device 73 first transmits the device information ID₂(e.g., address information) to the slave device 71 when the slave device 71 receives the device information ID₂Then the bluetooth pairing procedure is performed (as shown in fig. 21). In this embodiment, the main device 73 can transmit the device information ID by capacitive sensing, optical, acoustic, or magnetic induction₂. More specifically, the master device 73 and the slave device 71 also have the ID for transmitting the device information₂Such as a speaker and a microphone, a light source and a light sensor, a magnetic field generator and a hall sensor. The near field communication exchanges device information (e.g., ID) of the object (e.g., 71) and the capacitive touch panel (e.g., 73) with each other for Bluetooth communication₁、ID₂)

In other embodiments, the slave device 71 also includes a capacitive touch panel to provide configuration features to the master device 73 through the capacitive touch panel, in which case the slave device 71 may not need to additionally provide sensing conductors for providing configuration features, for example, the capacitive touch panel serves as a signal providing source. The slave device 71 can provide configuration features and encoding information to the master device 73 through its capacitive touch panel and receive encoding information from the master device 73 through its capacitive touch panel, thereby allowing the two devices to be interconnected through a near field communication pair for out-of-band pairing.

It should be noted that, although the mutual capacitance type touch panel is taken as an example in the above embodiments to describe, that is, the driving electrodes and the receiving electrodes are mutually staggered electrodes, and the detecting electrodes include the driving electrodes and the receiving electrodes, the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the capacitive touch panel is a self-capacitive touch panel, that is, the driving electrode and the receiving electrode are the same electrode, and thus the detection electrodes are the driving electrode and the driving electrode.

In summary, in the conventional capacitive touch device, whether a touch event occurs can be determined only by detecting the amplitude change of the signal. Therefore, the present invention also provides a capacitive communication system (fig. 13 and 14) and a bluetooth pairing method (fig. 20-21), which can achieve the object identification and data transmission by using near field communication.

Although the present invention has been disclosed by way of examples, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention is subject to the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A mouse, the mouse comprising:

at least one of the sensing conductors is used as a clock frequency bit, and one of the sensing conductors is used as a positioning bit for identifying the placement direction of the mouse; and

the controller is coupled with the plurality of induction conductors and is used for modulating the electric potentials of the plurality of induction conductors to serve as configuration characteristics so as to judge whether the mouse belongs to a specific object.

2. The mouse of claim 1, wherein the controller further modulates the plurality of potentials of the plurality of sensing conductors at a period to produce a potential change.

3. The mouse of claim 1, wherein the mouse comprises two sensing conductors, the controller further configured to modulate the potential of each sensing conductor separately.

4. The mouse of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to modulate at least one of an amplitude, a frequency, and a phase of a plurality of potentials of the plurality of sensing conductors.

5. A capacitive touch device for near field communication with an object comprising a plurality of sensing conductors, one of which is used as a positioning bit, the capacitive touch device comprising:

at least one detection electrode, which is used for forming a coupling electric field with the plurality of induction conductors, wherein the detection electrode is used for outputting a detection signal according to the coupling electric field; and

and the processing unit is used for judging whether the object belongs to a specific object according to the detection signal and identifying the placement direction of the object relative to the capacitive touch device according to the positioning bit.

6. The capacitive touch device of claim 5, further comprising:

a detection circuit coupled to the detection electrode for modulating the detection signal by two signals to generate two detection components,

the processing unit is further configured to obtain a vector norm according to the two detection components, and compare the vector norms with a preset code to determine whether the object belongs to the specific object.

7. The capacitive touch device according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of sensing conductors have a predetermined area, a predetermined potential and a predetermined arrangement, and the processing unit is configured to

Entering a near field communication mode when at least one of the preset area, the preset potential and the preset arrangement is identified.

8. The capacitive touch device of claim 7, wherein

In the near field communication mode, the processing unit is further configured to send a transmission start signal when the detection signal matches a preset code.

9. A mouse, the mouse comprising:

a plurality of sensing conductors for exhibiting different potential distributions at different times by modulating their potentials after entering a near field communication mode,

the plurality of induction conductors have preset areas, preset arrangements and preset electric potential distribution before entering the near field communication mode, so that the mouse and other objects can be distinguished.

10. The mouse of claim 9, wherein the plurality of sensing conductors are further configured to transmit transmission data via near field communication after the mouse receives the transmission initiation signal.

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