CN113760111A

CN113760111A - Method for touch sensing enhancement, single chip and arithmetic device

Info

Publication number: CN113760111A
Application number: CN202010490340.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李俊贤; 叶云翔; 陈彦亨
Original assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corp
Current assignee: Novatek Microelectronics Corp
Priority date: 2020-06-02
Filing date: 2020-06-02
Publication date: 2021-12-07

Abstract

A method for touch sensing enhancement, a single chip and an arithmetic device. The single chip is used for being coupled to a display panel with a touch sensor and a fingerprint sensor. The computing device may include a display panel, a single chip and a processing unit, wherein the single chip is coupled between the display panel and the processing unit. The method includes acquiring touch sensing data through a touch sensing module disposed within a single chip and coupled to a touch sensor; acquiring fingerprint sensing data through a fingerprint sensing module which is arranged in a single chip and coupled with a fingerprint sensor; and generating output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data. With the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data, touch sensing enhancement may be achieved.

Description

Method for touch sensing enhancement, single chip and arithmetic device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a technology for touch sensing enhancement, and more particularly, to a method for touch sensing enhancement, a single chip, and an arithmetic device, and more particularly, to a method for touch sensing enhancement implemented in a single chip, a single chip capable of implementing touch sensing enhancement, and an arithmetic device.

Background

With respect to computing devices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, or other information processing devices, touch screens have become an essential component for user interaction in computing devices. The user may input or control the operation device through a single touch or multi-touch gesture by touching the touch screen using one or more fingers or a special stylus.

The demand for better touch performance of touch screens continues to grow. Touch performance can be affected by a number of factors, such as the size of the sensor spacing, the stability of the common ground, the length of the sensing time, the magnitude of the ambient noise, and the circuit configuration of the analog front end.

In addition, touch screens have their own limitations, and thus improving their touch performance is a challenge. For example, the touch resolution of capacitive touch screens is typically less than the display resolution. The location of the touch may not be accurately obtained. For multi-touch functionality, if two fingers touch the touch screen too close to be distinguishable, an erroneous touch event may be determined, resulting in a poor user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for touch sensing enhancement, in particular a method, a single chip and an arithmetic device for touch sensing enhancement, wherein output touch data can be generated based on touch sensing data and fingerprint sensing data. With the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data, touch sensing enhancement may be achieved.

To achieve at least the above objects, the present invention provides a method for touch sensing enhancement implemented in a single chip for coupling to a display panel having a touch sensor and a fingerprint sensor. The method includes acquiring touch sensing data through a touch sensing module disposed within a single chip and coupled to the touch sensor; acquiring fingerprint sensing data by a fingerprint sensing module disposed within the single chip and coupled to the fingerprint sensor; and generating output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

Optionally, the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved when the display panel does not display any request for a fingerprint.

Optionally, after user identification is complete (i.e. the user has been authenticated) or may even be unrelated to user identification, the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved and used within the interior of the single chip for touch sensing enhancement.

Optionally, the method further comprises requesting the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing module when the touch sensing data represents a touch event.

Optionally, the method further comprises determining that the touch sensing data is indicative of a touch event when the touch sensing data exceeds a threshold.

Optionally, the step of retrieving the fingerprint sensing data comprises converting the fingerprint sensing data from a first domain corresponding to a fingerprint sensing resolution to a second domain corresponding to a touch sensing resolution.

Optionally, the step of retrieving the fingerprint sensing data comprises controlling a fingerprint sensing resolution of the fingerprint sensor to be equal to a touch sensing resolution.

Optionally, the output touch data contains a location representing a touch point.

Optionally, a location representative of a touch point is determined based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

Optionally, the touch sensing data includes a first location detected by the touch sensor, the fingerprint sensing data includes a second location detected by the fingerprint sensor, and the location representing the touch point is determined from the first location and the second location.

Optionally, the location representing the touch point is a weighted average of the first location and the second location.

Optionally, the output touch data includes a plurality of positions correspondingly representing a plurality of touch points.

Optionally, the step of generating output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data comprises: determining a plurality of fingerprint data regions in the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing data; determining a plurality of touch data regions in the touch sensing data from the plurality of fingerprint data regions; and determining the output touch data based at least on at least one of the plurality of touch data regions.

Optionally, the step of determining the output touch data includes: determining a corresponding one of the touch data regions based on one of the plurality of touch data regions, wherein the output touch data includes the corresponding one of the touch data regions.

To achieve at least the above objects, the present invention provides a single chip capable of implementing touch sensing enhancement, wherein the single chip is for coupling to a display panel having a touch sensor and a fingerprint sensor. The single chip comprises a touch sensing circuit, a fingerprint sensing module and a control unit. The touch sensing circuit is used for being coupled to the touch sensor and acquiring touch sensing data. The fingerprint sensing module is used for being coupled to the touch sensor and acquiring fingerprint sensing data. A control unit is coupled to the touch sensing circuit and the fingerprint sensing module for generating output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

In order to achieve at least the above object, the present invention also provides an arithmetic device including a display panel having a touch sensor and a fingerprint sensor, a processing unit, and a single chip capable of realizing touch sensing enhancement. The single chip comprises a touch sensing circuit, a fingerprint sensing module and a control unit. The touch sensing circuit is coupled to the touch sensor and used for obtaining touch sensing data. The fingerprint sensing module is coupled to the fingerprint sensor for obtaining fingerprint sensing data. A control unit is coupled to the touch sensing circuit and the fingerprint sensing module for generating output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the fingerprint sensing data is fetched when the display panel does not display any request for a fingerprint.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved and used in the interior of the single chip for touch sensing enhancement after user identification is complete (i.e. the user has been authenticated) or may even be unrelated to user identification.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the control unit is configured to request the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing module when the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the control unit is configured to determine that the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event when the touch sensing data exceeds a threshold.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the fingerprint sensing data is converted from a first domain corresponding to a fingerprint sensing resolution to a second domain corresponding to a touch sensing resolution.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the fingerprint sensor is controlled to have equal fingerprint sensing resolution and touch sensing resolution.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the output touch data includes a location represented as a touch point.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the control unit is configured to determine the location based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the touch sensing data includes a first location detected by a fingerprint sensor, the fingerprint sensing data includes a second location detected by the fingerprint sensor, and the location representing a touch point is determined from the first location and the second location.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the location representing the touch point is a weighted average of a first location and a second location.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the output touch data includes a plurality of locations correspondingly representing a plurality of touch points.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the control unit is configured to determine a plurality of touch data regions in the touch sensing data from the fingerprint sensing data, and to determine the output touch data based at least on the plurality of touch data regions.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the control unit is configured to determine a location based at least on a corresponding one of the plurality of touch data regions, wherein the output touch data comprises the location.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the control unit is configured to determine a plurality of fingerprint data regions in the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing data; the control unit is configured to determine a plurality of touch data regions in the touch sensing data from the plurality of fingerprint data regions; and the control unit is configured to determine the output touch data based on the plurality of touch data regions.

Optionally, in some embodiments of the single chip or the computing device, the control unit is configured to determine a position of each of the touch data areas based on at least each of the plurality of touch data areas, respectively, wherein the output touch data comprises the position of each of the touch data areas.

For a better understanding of the nature and technical content of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings, which are provided for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art that other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without inventive labor.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a single chip capable of touch sensing enhancement according to an embodiment of the present invention employed in a computing device;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a single chip capable of touch sensing enhancement according to another embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of touch sensing data;

figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of fingerprint sensing data;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for touch sensing enhancement implemented in a single chip in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a fingerprint sensing resolution being greater than a touch sensing resolution;

FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of associations between one touch data node and a plurality of fingerprint data nodes according to the example of FIG. 6A;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of determining representative points based on touch sensing data and fingerprint sensing data;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating conversion of coordinates between touch sensing data and fingerprint sensing data;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment based on step S30 of the method of FIG. 5;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a change in touch sensing data;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a change in fingerprint sensing data;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of determining a fingerprint data area in fingerprint sensing data;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of determining a touch data area (on the right side) in touch sensing data based on the fingerprint data area (on the left side) determined as shown in fig. 12;

fig. 14 is a diagram showing another example of determining a touch data area;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a single chip capable of touch sensing enhancement according to another embodiment of the present invention employed in a computing device.

Reference numerals

1 arithmetic device

5 processing Unit

9 display panel

10 single chip

10A single chip

10B single chip

11 touch sensing module

12 fingerprint sensing module

12A fingerprint sensing module

19 display driving module

91 display module

93 touch sensor

95 fingerprint sensor

110 touch sensing circuit

112 control unit

120 fingerprint sensing circuit

122 control unit

300 screen area

301 block

310 region

320 square block

410 Square block

600 square

610 Block

700 area

701 image

910 Block (B)

911 arrow

912 arrow

915 curve

920 Block (B)

921 arrow

922 arrow head

Curve 925

926 point

931 first part

932 second part

941 Block

Block 942

943 Square block

Block 944 is given by

951 Square block

952 block (B)

F1 block

F2 block

T square

Direction of XX axis

S10, S20, S30 steps

S310, S320, S330

Detailed Description

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the objects, features and effects of the invention, embodiments for describing the invention in detail are provided together with the accompanying drawings.

Various embodiments of techniques for touch sensing enhancement are provided below in which output touch data can be generated based on touch sensing data as well as fingerprint sensing data. Touch sensing may be enhanced by the contribution of fingerprint sensing data.

For illustration, in the following embodiments, a single chip capable of realizing touch sensing enhancement and an arithmetic device using the same are first described. Then, embodiments of a method for touch sensing enhancement in a single chip are provided.

Referring to fig. 1, a single chip 10 capable of implementing touch sensing enhancement is shown in block diagram form, which may be employed in a computing device 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the computing device 1 includes a processing unit 5, a display panel 9, and a single chip 10. The single chip 10 enabling touch sensing enhancement may be used to be coupled between the display panel 9 and the processing unit 5. As will be exemplified later, the single chip 10 may be configured to perform the method for touch sensing enhancement shown in fig. 5, wherein the single chip 10 is capable of generating output touch data based on touch sensing data as well as fingerprint sensing data, thus enhancing touch sensing by the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data.

Based on the structure of the computing device 1 shown in fig. 1, it can be implemented as any electronic device, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer or any other information processing device, wherein the computing device 1 may further include, but is not limited to, additional components such as a memory, a circuit for wireless or wired communication, an image capturer, etc. as appropriate.

The processing unit 5 can be configured to control the display panel 9 to provide a specific function. For example, the processing unit 5 executes an application under an operating system to control the display panel 9 through the single chip 10, so that the computing device 1 can interact with a user through the display panel 9.

The display panel 9 includes a display module 91 such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) module, an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) module, and the like, and is provided with a touch sensor 93 and a fingerprint sensor 95. The display panel 9 may be integrated with fingerprint sensing, for example, by an in-cell (e.g., "in-cell" or "on-cell") touch display panel, wherein the display module 91, the touch sensor 93, and the fingerprint sensor 95 are integrated in a layered manner or in any suitable manner. The touch sensor 93 may be implemented using a capacitive touch sensor 93 in the form of a touch sensing array. The fingerprint sensor 95 may be implemented, for example, by an optical fingerprint sensor, a capacitive fingerprint sensor, an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, or any device for sensing fingerprint signals. In some embodiments, the fingerprint sensor 95 may be implemented to detect at least a portion of a viewable area displayed by an image of the display module 91. In a preferred embodiment, the fingerprint sensor 95 is a full screen fingerprint sensor, which may cover substantially the same area as used for image display by the display module 91 and touch sensing by the touch sensor 93. Of course, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to the above examples.

A single chip 10 capable of touch sensing enhancement may be used for coupling to a display panel 9 having a touch sensor 93 and a fingerprint sensor 95. In fig. 1, the single chip 10 may include a touch sensing circuit 110, a fingerprint sensing module 12, and a control unit 112. In one embodiment, the control unit 112 and the touch sensing circuit 110 can be implemented or considered as a touch sensing module 11. From the point of view of the processing unit 5, said single chip 10 may be used as a display panel 9 and the "bridge" between the processing units 5 the processing unit 5 may be configured to control said single chip 10 to retrieve output touch data and/or output fingerprint data. It should be noted that although a single chip is shown in the present embodiment, in other embodiments, multiple chips may be implemented according to design requirements. For example, in some embodiments, the touch sensing module and the fingerprint sensing module may be implemented as different chips.

The touch sensing circuit 110 may be used to couple to the touch sensor 93 and retrieve touch sensing data. For example, the touch sensing circuitry 110 may include touch Front End (AFE) circuitry for converting Analog touch signals received from the touch sensors 93 into corresponding digital touch data, such as a set of raw touch data associated with and distributed across an area of the screen of the display panel 9 where at least one touch was detected. The touch sensing data may be further retrieved based on the digital touch data by, for example, the control unit 112.

The fingerprint sensing module 12 may be configured to couple to the fingerprint sensor 95 and to retrieve fingerprint sensing data. For example, the fingerprint sensing module 12 may be implemented for converting a fingerprint signal received from the fingerprint sensor 95 into corresponding digital fingerprint data, e.g. a set of raw fingerprint data associated with and distributed over an area of the screen of the display panel 9 where the fingerprint (or a portion of the fingerprint) is detected. For example, the fingerprint sensing data may be further retrieved by the fingerprint sensing module 12 or the control unit 112 based on digital fingerprint data.

The control unit 112 may be coupled to the touch sensing circuit 110 and the fingerprint sensing module 12. In one example, the control unit 112 can retrieve touch sensing data based on digital touch data output by the touch sensing circuit 110.

Referring to FIG. 2, another embodiment of a single chip capable of touch sensing enhancement is shown in block diagram form. As shown in fig. 2, as an embodiment based on the single chip 10 in fig. 1, a single chip 10A includes a touch sensing module 11 and a fingerprint sensing module 12A. The fingerprint sensing module 12A may include a fingerprint sensing circuit 120 and a control unit 122 for fingerprint sensing.

For example, the fingerprint sensing circuitry 120 may include fingerprint Front End (AFE) circuitry for converting fingerprint signals received from the fingerprint sensor 95 into corresponding digital fingerprint data, such as a set of raw fingerprint data associated with and distributed over an area in which a fingerprint (or a portion of a fingerprint) is detected. The fingerprint sensing data may further be retrieved based on digital fingerprint data, e.g. by the control unit 122.

The control unit 122 is coupled to the fingerprint sensing circuit 120 and the touch sensing module 11, and the control unit 122 may be used for fingerprint sensing, for example, generating fingerprint sensing data based on digital fingerprint data.

In the above examples, the touch sensing circuit 110 or the fingerprint sensing circuit 120 may include an analog front end circuit implemented by circuit components such as low noise amplifiers, analog to digital converters. In the above examples, the

control unit

112 or 122 is implemented by using a processor, a microprocessor, or a programmable Circuit such as a Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an Application-Specific integrated Circuit (ASIC). In an example, the

control units

112 and 122 may be implemented by using a single control unit. Of course, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to the above examples.

Referring to fig. 3, an example of touch sensing data is shown in schematic form. As shown in fig. 3, the display panel 9 has a screen area 300 in which a plurality of blocks are schematically shown to represent an array of touch sensing components of the touch sensor 93 corresponding to a touch sensing resolution (e.g., 18 × 36). When a touch is detected on the screen area 300, a region 310 (e.g., 5 × 5) within the screen area 300 may be determined and represented by using touch sensing data, which may contain a plurality of touch sensing values associated with positions in the region 310. As shown in FIG. 3, block 320 illustrates an enlarged version of area 310 representing touch sensing values associated with locations in area 310. Moreover, in FIG. 3 or other related figures, only the sensed values within block 320 (or other blocks) are shown for illustrative purposes; the larger the sensing value (e.g., touch sensing value or fingerprint sensing value), the larger the detected size (e.g., touch or fingerprint). Of course, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to these examples.

For example, as shown by block 410 in fig. 4, an area 310 (e.g., 5 x 5) within the screen area 300 of fig. 3 may also be associated with fingerprint sensing data. As shown in fig. 4, block 401 illustrates that the fingerprint sensing data may comprise a plurality of fingerprint sensing values, which are associated with positions in the area 310 of fig. 3, e.g. with different resolutions. In the example of fig. 3 and 4, with respect to region 310, touch sensing data (e.g., 5 × 5) of a1 × a2 (e.g., 5 × 5) is associated with fingerprint sensing data of B1 × B2 (e.g., 15 × 15), where a1 and a2 represent the same or different quantities; b1 and B2 represent the same or different numbers. The fingerprint sensing resolution may be greater than or equal to the touch sensing resolution. Further, for illustrative purposes only, some of the fingerprint sensing values having relatively large values are shown in block 410 as thick virtual borderlines to indicate that the fingerprint sensing values within the virtual borderlines may correspond to touch points. Of course, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Referring to FIG. 5, a method for touch sensing enhancement is shown in accordance with an embodiment shown in flow chart form. The method for touch sensing enhancement is implemented in a single chip, such as the

single chip

10 or 10A of the above example, the

single chip

10 or 10A for coupling to the display panel 9 having the touch sensor 93 and the fingerprint sensor 95. As shown in fig. 5, the method includes the following steps.

As shown in step S10, the touch sensing data is obtained through the touch sensing module 11 disposed on the single chip 10 and coupled to the touch sensor 93. The touch sensing data is shown, for example, in fig. 3.

As shown in step S20, the fingerprint sensing data is obtained by the fingerprint sensing module 12 disposed on the single chip 10 and coupled to the fingerprint sensor 95. The fingerprint sensing data is for example shown in fig. 4.

As shown in step S30, output touch data is generated based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data. For example, the step S30 may be performed by the control unit 112.

In this way, touch sensing enhancement may be achieved by the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data. For example, if the output touch data contains a position such as coordinates representing one touch point, the coordinates can be more accurately retrieved using the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data as in step S30. In another example for a multi-touch operation, if the output touch data contains multiple locations, such as coordinates, that correspondingly represent the coordinates of multiple touch points, the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data may be utilized to enable these touch points to be more accurately distinguished, as in step S30.

In an embodiment, when the display panel 9 does not display any request for a user to input a fingerprint, fingerprint sensing data is retrieved as shown in step S20. For example, step S20 is performed because touch sensing enhancement is required in the interior of the

single chip

10 or 10A, so the processing unit 5 does not control the display panel 9 to display any request message for the user to input a fingerprint.

In an embodiment, the taking of the fingerprint sensing data is performed after the user identification is completed (i.e. the user has been authenticated) or may even be unrelated to the user identification. In other words, the fingerprint sensing data may be used to facilitate generating touch data, and the accuracy of the touch data may be enhanced. For example, the fingerprint sensing data retrieved in step S20 may be used in step S30 to achieve touch sensing enhancement in the interior of the

single chip

10 or 10A, while the processing unit 5 does not require the

single chip

10 or 10A to provide output fingerprint data for user identification. These may occur after the computing device 1 has been unlocked such that the user is authorized to operate the computing device 1.

In some embodiments of the method of fig. 5, step S20 is performed when at least one criterion is met. In one embodiment, the method further comprises requesting fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing module 12 when the fingerprint sensing data is represented as a touch event. For example, the control unit 112 may send a request for fingerprint sensing data to the fingerprint sensing module 12 when the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event. Conversely, when the touch sensing data does not represent a touch event, the control unit 12 cannot send a request to the fingerprint sensing module 12. In this way, the fingerprint sensing data may be used to more effectively enhance the generation of output touch data. In some embodiments, the method further includes determining that the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event when the touch sensing data exceeds a threshold. For example, assuming that touch sensing data represents a plurality of touch sensing values associated with detecting (e.g., region 310 of fig. 3) a location in a region of touch, the touch sensing data may be represented by an average of the touch sensing values, and the control unit 112 may determine that the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event when the average of the touch sensing values exceeds a corresponding threshold. In another example, the control unit 112 may determine that the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event when one or more of the touch sensing values exceeds a threshold value.

In some embodiments, the fingerprint sensing resolution is greater than the touch sensing resolution. The fingerprint sensing resolution may be adjusted by hardware (e.g., by adjusting the operation of the fingerprint sensor) or software (e.g., by processing fingerprint sensing data) to match the touch sensing resolution. For example, in the example of fig. 3 and 4, with respect to region 310, touch sensing data of a1 × a2 (e.g., 5 × 5) is associated with fingerprint sensing data of B1 × B2 (e.g., 15 × 15). Referring to fig. 6A, in one example, a 1080 × 2160 fingerprint sensing resolution, represented by block 600, is greater than an 18 × 36 touch sensing resolution, represented by block 300. Any one location of touch sensing in block 300 may be associated with a corresponding location of at most 60 x 60 fingerprint sensing in block 600. To reduce the complexity of the association between touch-sensing locations and fingerprint-sensing locations, a grouping technique (grouping technique) may be employed. Referring to FIG. 6B, an example of associations between one touch data node (e.g., represented by block 301) and a plurality of fingerprint data nodes (e.g., represented by 3 x 3 blocks 610) according to the example of FIG. 6A is shown. In fig. 6B, each fingerprint data node represented by block 610 is associated with a plurality of fingerprint sensing components (e.g., 20 x 20). In other words, a plurality of fingerprint sensing components (e.g., 20 x 20) or locations may be grouped into fingerprint data nodes associated with touch data nodes (or touch sensing components) or locations. In this way, simplification of signal or data processing and a fast processing speed can be achieved.

In one of the embodiments, the step S20 of retrieving the fingerprint sensing data includes converting the fingerprint sensing data from a first domain corresponding to a fingerprint sensing resolution to a second domain corresponding to a touch sensing resolution (e.g., block 300 of 18 x 36). Taking the above example in fig. 6A and 6B as an example, in block 600 of fig. 6A where the resolution is 1080 × 2160, an example of a first field corresponding to a fingerprint sensing resolution is shown and a second field is a fingerprint sensing resolution of 54 × 108 corresponding to the touch sensing resolution as shown in block 300 of 18 × 36, which reduces the resolution of block 600 by means of 20 × 20 fingerprint sensing assemblies as one fingerprint data node, as illustrated in block 610 in fig. 6B. In this way, simplification of signal or data processing may be achieved, while accuracy may be improved with relatively higher resolution fingerprint sensing data, even if the resolution of the fingerprint sensor data is reduced.

In an embodiment, the step of retrieving the fingerprint sensing data comprises controlling a fingerprint sensing resolution of the fingerprint sensor 95 to be equal to a touch sensing resolution. For example, assume that the fingerprint sensor 95 has an adjustable resolution function, and the control unit 112 may send a control signal to the fingerprint sensing module 12, thereby controlling the fingerprint sensor 95 to have the same fingerprint sensing resolution as the touch sensing resolution.

In an embodiment, the fingerprint sensor 95 may have a lower fingerprint sensing resolution. For example, the fingerprint sensing devices may be divided into a plurality of groups (e.g., N × M devices as a group, where N and M may be the same or different numbers), and each group is connected to a corresponding analog front end circuit in the

fingerprint sensing module

12 or 12A to reduce fingerprint sensing resolution, thereby achieving fast processing or power saving.

In the embodiment of step S20, the fingerprint sensing module 12 or the fingerprint sensing circuit 120 may comprise a plurality of analog front-end circuits, each of which may be configured to be coupled to a plurality of fingerprint sensing elements of the fingerprint sensor 95 for obtaining fingerprint signals.

In the following, embodiments of methods for touch sensing enhancement in a single chip 10 are provided to enhance the accuracy of determining one or more touch points.

In a scenario where the arithmetic device 1 such as a smart phone is not held by a human hand, since the smart phone does not have a common ground, a Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) may be reduced as compared with a case where the smart phone is held by a hand. In particular, if the display panel 9 is a capacitive touch display panel 9 and the single chip 10 is configured to generate the location of the touch point, the coordinates of the touch point, derived from the signal from the touch sensor 93 (or detected by the touch sensor 93), may be sensitive or affected by noise, resulting in inaccurate or jittery touch points. Thus, in the following embodiments, the position of the touch point is generated based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data to improve the accuracy of the position with the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data.

In some embodiments, the output touch data includes a location representing the touch point. In one of the embodiments, the location representing a touch point is determined based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

In another of said embodiments said touch sensing data comprises a first position detected by the touch sensor 93 or derived from a signal of the touch sensor 93, said fingerprint sensing data comprises a second position detected by said fingerprint sensor 95 or derived from a signal of said fingerprint sensor 95, and said position representing a touch point is determined from said first position and said second position. Optionally, in one of the embodiments, in step S30 of the method of fig. 5, a first position detected by the touch sensor 93, or a first position derived from a signal of the touch sensor 93, is determined based on the touch sensing data, a second position detected by the fingerprint sensor 95, or a second position derived from a signal of the fingerprint sensor 95, is determined based on the fingerprint sensing data, and the position representing a touch point is determined from the first position and the second position. Examples are provided below with respect to implementing the described embodiments.

For example, the first position, the second position may be determined by calculation of a representative point, such as a centroid or center of a set of data. To illustrate the calculation of the centroid for a set of data, please refer to fig. 7, assume that one image 701 as a set of data is on an area 700 with a coordinate system of Index _ X (Index _ X) and Index _ Y (Index _ Y) as shown. The coordinates of the center (or centroid) of the image 701, denoted by P ═ X, Y, can be defined by the following equation (1):

p ═ X, Y ═ X (numerator _ X/denominator, numerator _ Y/denominator), equation (1)

Where D (x, y) represents a gray-scale value associated with the coordinates (x, y) of one of the pixels of the image 701,

denominator ∑ D (x, y), i.e., the sum of D (x, y) of all pixels of image 701;

molecule _ X ═ Σ Index _ X × D (X, y); and

the molecule _ Y ∑ Index _ Y ═ D (x, Y).

For the image 701 in fig. 7, for example, it is determined that:

denominator ═ D (2,2) + D (3,2) + D (4,2) + … + D (5, 5);

molecule _ X ═ 2 × D (2,2) +3 × D (3,2) +4 × D (4,2) + … +5 × D (5, 5); and

molecule _ Y ═ 2 × D (2,2) +2 × D (3,2) +2 × D (4,2) + … +5 × D (5, 5).

With respect to touch sensing data derived from signals detected by the touch sensor 93, a plurality of touch sensing values (e.g., represented by block 320 of fig. 3) may be regarded as an image, and coordinates of representative points of the plurality of touch sensing values may be determined in a similar manner by equation (1). Therefore, the coordinates of the representative points of the plurality of touch sensing values obtained by using equation (1) are represented by Pt ═ (Xt, Yt), and can be regarded as the first position detected by the touch sensor 93.

With respect to fingerprint sensing data derived from signals detected by the fingerprint sensor 95, a plurality of fingerprint sensing values (e.g., represented by block 410 of fig. 4) may be regarded as an image, and coordinates of representative points of the plurality of fingerprint sensing values may be determined in a similar manner by equation (1). Therefore, the coordinates of the representative points of the plurality of fingerprint sensing values obtained by using equation (1) are represented by Pf ═ (Xf, Yf), and can be regarded as the second position detected by the fingerprint sensor 95.

Accordingly, the position representing the touch point represented by P ═ X, Y can be determined according to the first position (e.g., Pt ═ Xt, Yt) and the second position (e.g., Pf ═ Xf, Yf).

In some embodiments, the location representing the touch point is a weighted average of the first location and the second location. For example, the location representing the touch point (e.g., P ═ X, Y) can be determined according to equation (2) below:

(X, Y) ═ ((1-w) × Xt + w) × Xf, (1-w) × Yt + w) × Yf, equation (2)

Where w is a positive real number value and is 0< w ≦ 1, provided that the fingerprint sensing resolution is equal to the touch sensing resolution. For example, if w is 0.5, the position representing the touch point may be determined based on the coordinates of (0.5 × (Xt + Xf), 0.5 × (Yt + Yf)) according to equation (2).

In addition, if the fingerprint sensing resolution is greater than the touch sensing resolution, the coordinates of the representative points of the plurality of fingerprint sensing values obtained by using equation (1) are represented by Pf ═ Xf, Yf, or the second position, and need to be narrowed down to the touch sensing area.

Referring to fig. 8, a conversion of coordinates between touch sensing data and fingerprint sensing data according to an embodiment is shown in schematic form. As shown in FIG. 8, a block T representing 3 touch data nodes is shown at the touch sensing resolution. A block F1 representing 6 fingerprint data nodes is shown at a first fingerprint sensing resolution, the value of the first fingerprint sensing resolution being greater than twice the value of the touch sensing resolution; and block F2 showing 8 fingerprint data nodes at a second fingerprint sensing resolution, the value of the second fingerprint sensing resolution being greater than three times the value of the touch sensing resolution. According to the relationship of resolution in the X-axis direction shown in fig. 8, the X-coordinate (X-coordinate) in the fingerprint sensing domain represented by Xf can be converted to or reduced to the X-coordinate (X-coordinate) in the touch sensing domain represented by Xfd by the following equation (3):

xfd ═ (Xf + 0.5)/SL-0.5, equation (3)

Where SL represents the ratio of fingerprint sensing resolution to touch sensing resolution. Further, a y-coordinate relationship for converting or shrinking a y-coordinate in the fingerprint sensing domain to or into the touch sensing domain may be derived in a similar manner. For the sake of brevity, details will not be repeated. Of course, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to the above examples.

Accordingly, if the fingerprint sensing resolution is greater than the touch sensing resolution, a position representing a touch point (e.g., P ═ X, Y)) may be determined according to a first position (e.g., Pt ═ Xt, Yt) and a second position (e.g., Pf ═ Xf, Yf)) scaled down to the touch sensing domain.

Thus, in the above embodiment, the position of the touch point may be generated based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data. The contribution of the fingerprint sensing data may be used to accurately generate the location of the touch point. In a practical application scenario based on the computing device 1 of fig. 1, such as a smart phone, the touch point of the user can be accurately determined based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data, and even in a case where the user does not hold the smart phone by hand or the touch sensor 93 may be sensitive to noise, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the touch sensing may be reduced.

In order to implement the above-described embodiments related to the method of fig. 5 in a single chip 10 based on fig. 1 or fig. 2, for example, the position representing the touch point may be determined by the touch sensing module 11 (e.g. the control unit 112). The first position and the second position may be determined by the touch sensing module 11 and the fingerprint sensing module 12, respectively. Alternatively, for example, the first position, the second position, the position representing a touch point may be determined by the touch sensing module 11 (e.g., the control unit 112).

In some scenarios, the user may perform a multi-touch operation on the display panel 9 of the computing device 1. An embodiment based on the method of fig. 5 is provided below to enhance touch sensing for multi-touch operations.

In some embodiments, the output touch data may include a plurality of locations that correspondingly represent a plurality of touch points. Examples are provided below with respect to implementing the various embodiments, wherein the fingerprint sensing resolution is greater than the touch sensing resolution.

In the embodiment based on the method of fig. 5, step S30 may be implemented by a process comprising steps S310-S330, as shown in fig. 9.

As shown in step S310, a plurality of fingerprint data areas in the fingerprint sensing data are determined from the fingerprint sensing data.

A plurality of touch data areas in the touch sensing data are determined according to the plurality of fingerprint data areas, as shown in step S320.

As shown in step S330, the output touch data is determined based on at least one of the plurality of touch data areas.

In this way, based on fig. 1, the processing shown in fig. 9 can be adopted in the context of practical application of the arithmetic device 1 such as a smart phone, and even if a plurality of touch points cannot be distinguished by using touch sensing data, a plurality of touch points generated by a user can be accurately determined based on the touch sensing data and fingerprint sensing data.

To illustrate, for example, it is assumed that two fingers of a user touch the display panel 9, and the single chip 10 internally generates touch sensing data as shown in fig. 10 and fingerprint sensing data as shown in fig. 11, which correspond to the same area on the screen area of the display panel 9. In fig. 10, the multiple touch sensing values of the touch sensing data, represented by block 910, fail to represent any data "Valley" (Valley) that may be used for data partitioning (e.g., a local minimum occurs between two peaks). As can be observed from fig. 10, the curve 915 shows the touch sensing values taken along the middle column indicated by the arrow 911, and smoothly changes and maintains a higher value in the middle portion of the curve 915. In this case, the touch sensing data may not significantly represent the valley value due to the touch sensing resolution, and thus, if data division is performed only on the touch sensing data, one area for acquiring coordinates of one touch position may be acquired. In this way, the touch sensing data appears to be characteristic of a single touch, and thus the computing device 1 may determine an erroneous touch event and not coincide with an event desired by the user.

In contrast, referring to fig. 11, the plurality of fingerprint sensing values of the fingerprint sensing data, represented by block 920, clearly represent the "valleys" of data that may be used for data segmentation. As can be observed from fig. 11, curve 925 shows a plurality of fingerprint sensing values taken along the middle column indicated by arrow 921 and contains data "valleys," e.g., point 926, which represents a fingerprint sensing value of 429, between two peaks in the middle portion of curve 925. Thus, the fingerprint sensing data accurately shows the characteristics of the multi-touch. In the above scenario, since the fingerprint sensing resolution is greater than the touch sensing resolution, the fingerprint sensing data more significantly represents the valley, and when data division is performed on the fingerprint sensing data, two or more corresponding areas can be obtained, resulting in two or more touch positions and/or corresponding touch information.

By implementing step S30 using the process in fig. 9, the method of fig. 5 may be further exploited to facilitate data segmentation of the fingerprint sensing data under the contribution of the fingerprint sensing data. In the example of step S310, crossing a valley (e.g., point 926) and a boundary row indicated by arrow 922 may be determined and the fingerprint sensing data divided into two fingerprint data regions (e.g., upper and lower portions of block 920). In the example of step S320, the touch sensing data (represented by block 910) may also be divided into two corresponding touch data regions (e.g., an upper portion and a lower portion of block 910) using the boundary row indicated by arrow 912, which may be derived from the boundary row indicated by arrow 922. Then, in step S330, output touch data may be determined based on at least one of the plurality of touch data regions; that is, based at least on one or more touch data regions, based at least on at least one of the plurality of touch data regions and at least one of the plurality of fingerprint data regions, or based at least on the plurality of touch data regions and the plurality of fingerprint data regions. In this way, a single chip 10 implementing the methods based on fig. 5 and 9 can accurately provide output touch data associated with a multi-touch operation.

In other words, even though the touch sensing data may only represent a single touch data area and a single touch point (touch position), the fingerprint sensing data may represent a plurality of touch data areas, and one or more touch points (touch positions) may be distinguished in different situations. Therefore, more accurate touch determination results can be obtained by integrating the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

In some embodiments, step S330 may include determining a location based on at least one of the plurality of touch data regions or at least one of the plurality of touch data regions and a corresponding one of the plurality of fingerprint data regions, wherein the output touch data includes the location. For example, for one or more touch data regions determined in step S320 (e.g., upper and lower portions of block 910 relative to the boundary row indicated by arrow 912 in fig. 10), a location representing a touch point in a corresponding one of the touch data regions may be determined based on the corresponding one of the touch data regions, or at least based on the corresponding one of the touch data regions and the corresponding one of the fingerprint data regions. For example, the respective location of each of the plurality of touch data regions may be determined based on a corresponding one of the plurality of touch data regions, wherein the output touch data includes the respective location of each of the plurality of touch data regions. In the example shown in fig. 11, the respective touch points included in the two touch data areas can be correspondingly determined. To enable determination of the location of the touch point, the above example of determining a representative point based on equation (1) and/or equation (3) above (as shown in fig. 7 or 8) may be used for each touch data region. In this way, the touch point of the multi-touch operation by the user can be accurately determined, and then the multi-touch event can be accurately determined. In some embodiments, steps S30 or S330 may additionally or alternatively be implemented to provide output touch data containing one or more multi-touch parameters, such as the distance between two touch points, the size of the touch data area, and the like. For example, if any two touch points are determined (e.g., the examples shown in fig. 10 and 11), a distance between the locations of the touch points, such as a Euclidean distance (Euclidean distance), a city block distance (city block distance), or a chessboard distance (chess board distance), may be determined. In another example, when one of the touch data regions is determined, an area or size of the touch data region may also be determined. Of course, the implementation of the invention is not limited to the above examples.

Examples of data segmentation that may be employed in step S310 or S320 are provided below. For example, a watershed algorithm (watershed algorithm) for image segmentation may be employed to segment fingerprint sensing data into a plurality of fingerprint data regions based on an association between any valleys and peaks found in the fingerprint sensing data. For example, the criteria described in the pseudo code shown in Table 1 may be employed in an implementation of the watershed algorithm for steps S310 or S320.

Table 1

In the example of table 1 above, "peak 0" and "peak 1" represent two local maximums, and "valley" is a local minimum at a corresponding position adjacent to a position at which the two local maximums are located. If the threshold is set to 90% and the fingerprint sensing data shown in fig. 11 is used, valley 429, peak0 485, peak1 481, valley/min (peak0, peak1) 429/481 89.2% < 90%, thereby satisfying the criterion. In this case, it is determined that the fingerprint sensing data has two peaks and may be marked as having two areas, as shown in fig. 12. In FIG. 12, it is shown that block 920 contains a plurality of fingerprint data nodes, where a first portion 931 of the fingerprint data points is labeled 0 and a second portion 932 of the fingerprint data nodes is labeled 1. To implement the labeling, the function Label () may be configured to find boundaries (e.g., boundary rows indicated by arrow 922) for one or more of the segmentations of the fingerprint sensing data and to divide the fingerprint sensing data into a plurality of fingerprint data regions, for example, by assigning corresponding tag values (e.g., 0, 1, etc.) to fingerprint data nodes in the fingerprint sensing data. Referring to fig. 12, each fingerprint data node is then associated with at least one location (e.g., coordinates Index _ X and Index _ Y), a fingerprint sensing value, and a tag. Of course, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to these examples.

In an embodiment of step S320, the touch data area in the touch sensing data may be determined based on the plurality of fingerprint data areas and the association of the touch data nodes and the fingerprint data nodes. For example, referring to fig. 10 and 11, one touch data node of the touch sensing data represented by block 910 is associated with 3 x 3 fingerprint data nodes of the fingerprint sensing data represented by block 920. In this manner, as shown in FIG. 13, each set of 3 x 3 fingerprint data nodes (e.g., those represented by block 941) is associated with one of the touch data nodes, and a label may be assigned to the touch data node (e.g., one represented by block 942) based on the label (e.g., 0) the associated set of fingerprint data nodes has.

In one embodiment, the representative label may be retrieved and assigned to the associated touch data node by taking a particular location (e.g., center, corner, etc.) of each set of fingerprint data nodes. This method is efficient. More specifically, in another embodiment, the representative tags for each set of fingerprint data nodes may be determined by counting which tags are present in the greatest number. For example, tag 0 appears 9 times in the group of fingerprint data nodes (e.g., the plurality of nodes represented by block 941) such that the representative tag is tag 0, and tag 0 can be assigned to the touch data node (e.g., the node represented by block 942). In another example, because tag 0 appears 6 times and tag 1 appears 3 times in the group of fingerprint data nodes (e.g., the plurality of nodes represented by block 943), tag 0 may be assigned to a touch data node (e.g., the node represented by block 944). In another embodiment, if two tags occur the same number of times in a group of fingerprint data nodes, a representative tag may be assigned to the associated touch data node, where the representative tag is taken from a tag at the center of the group of fingerprint data nodes. Of course, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to the above examples.

The above-described embodiments for determining representative labels assigned to associated touch sensing nodes may be utilized when the number of fingerprint sensing regions is two, three, or more. Referring to fig. 14, it is assumed that the division of the fingerprint sensing data into three or more fingerprint data regions, which may be in any form, is represented by block 920 in one example. In the example, for purposes of illustration, assume that three

Claims

1. A method for touch sensing enhancement, wherein the method is implemented in a single chip for coupling to a display panel having a touch sensor and a fingerprint sensor, the method comprising:

acquiring touch sensing data through a touch sensing module disposed within the single chip and coupled to the touch sensor;

acquiring fingerprint sensing data by a fingerprint sensing module disposed within the single chip and coupled to the fingerprint sensor; and

generating output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved when the display panel does not display any request for a fingerprint.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved and used in the interior of the single chip for touch sensing enhancement after user identification is completed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing module when the touch sensing data represents a touch event.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining that the touch sensing data is indicative of a touch event when the touch sensing data exceeds a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving the fingerprint sensing data comprises converting the fingerprint sensing data from a first domain corresponding to a fingerprint sensing resolution to a second domain corresponding to a touch sensing resolution.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving the fingerprint sensing data comprises controlling a fingerprint sensing resolution of the fingerprint sensor to be equal to a touch sensing resolution.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the output touch data comprises a location representing a touch point.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the location representing a touch point is determined based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the touch sensing data includes a first location detected by the touch sensor, the fingerprint sensing data includes a second location detected by the fingerprint sensor, and the location representing a touch point is determined from the first location and the second location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the location representing the touch point is a weighted average of the first location and the second location.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the output touch data comprises a plurality of locations that correspondingly represent a plurality of touch points.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data comprises:

determining a plurality of fingerprint data regions in the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing data;

determining a plurality of touch data regions in the touch sensing data from the plurality of fingerprint data regions; and

determining the output touch data based at least on at least one of the plurality of touch data regions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the output touch data comprises:

determining a position of each of the touch data areas based on each of the plurality of touch data areas, respectively, wherein the output touch data includes the position of each of the touch data areas.

15. A single chip, wherein said single chip is capable of touch sensing enhancement and is for coupling to a display panel having a touch sensor and a fingerprint sensor, said single chip comprising:

touch sensing circuitry to couple to the touch sensor and to retrieve touch sensing data;

a fingerprint sensing module for coupling to the touch sensor and taking fingerprint sensing data; and

a control unit coupled to the touch sensing circuit and the fingerprint sensing module for generating output touch data based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

16. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved when the display panel does not display any request for a fingerprint.

17. The single chip of claim 16 wherein the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved and used in the interior of the single chip for touch sensing enhancement after user identification is completed.

18. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the control unit is configured to request the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing module when the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event.

19. The single chip of claim 18, wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the touch sensing data is indicative of a touch event when the touch sensing data exceeds a threshold.

20. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the fingerprint sensing data is converted from a first domain corresponding to a fingerprint sensing resolution to a second domain corresponding to a touch sensing resolution.

21. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the control unit is configured to control a fingerprint sensing resolution of the fingerprint sensor to be equal to a touch sensing resolution.

22. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the output touch data comprises a location representing a touch point.

23. The single chip of claim 22, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the location based on the touch sensing data and the fingerprint sensing data.

24. The single chip of claim 23 wherein the touch sensing data comprises a first location detected by the touch sensor, the fingerprint sensing data comprises a second location detected by the fingerprint sensor, and the location representing a touch point is determined from the first location and the second location.

25. The single chip of claim 24 wherein said location representative of a touch point is a weighted average of said first location and said second location.

26. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the output touch data comprises a plurality of locations corresponding to a plurality of touch points.

27. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the control unit is configured to determine a plurality of touch data regions in the touch sensing data from the fingerprint sensing data and to determine the output touch data based on at least the plurality of touch data regions.

28. The single chip of claim 27, wherein the control unit is configured to determine a location based on at least a corresponding one of the plurality of touch data regions, wherein the output touch data comprises the location.

29. The single chip of claim 15, wherein the control unit is configured to determine a plurality of fingerprint data regions in the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing data; the control unit is configured to determine a plurality of touch data regions in the touch sensing data from the plurality of fingerprint data regions; and the control unit is configured to determine the output touch data based on at least the plurality of touch data regions.

30. The single chip of claim 29, wherein said control unit is configured to determine a location of each of said touch data regions based on at least each of said plurality of touch data regions, respectively, wherein said output touch data comprises said location of said each of said touch data regions.

31. An arithmetic device, comprising:

a display panel having a touch sensor and a fingerprint sensor;

a processing unit; and

a single chip capable of touch sensing enhancement coupled between the display panel and the processing unit, the single chip comprising:

a touch sensing circuit coupled to the touch sensor for obtaining touch sensing data;

a fingerprint sensing module coupled to the fingerprint sensor for acquiring fingerprint sensing data; and

32. The computing device of claim 31, wherein the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved when the display panel does not display any request for a fingerprint.

33. The computing device of claim 32, wherein the fingerprint sensing data is retrieved and used within the interior of the single chip for touch sensing enhancement after user identification is completed.

34. The computing device of claim 31, wherein the control unit is configured to request the fingerprint sensing data from the fingerprint sensing module when the touch sensing data is represented as a touch event.