KR101446471B1 - Method and apparatus for sensing a plurality of touch inputs - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch input sensing method and apparatus for sensing a touch input in a touch sensor device including a sensing electrode is disclosed. A touch input sensing method includes a first step of extracting a sensing signal obtained from each of the sensing electrodes into a plurality of delay signals, a second step of generating a sensitivity signal for each node based on the plurality of delay signals, And a third step of determining a position of the touch input based on the signal. As a result, even when two or more touch inputs are applied as a single sensing electrode, the coordinates of the touch input can be accurately determined.

Description

[0001] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SENSING A PLURALITY OF TOUCH INPUTS [0002]

Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for sensing a touch input, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for accurately determining the position of a contact input when there are two or more touch inputs.

The touch sensor device senses the touch of a user's finger or other instrument and converts the sensed touch signal into a suitable electrical signal and outputs it. The touch sensor device is applied to various electronic devices and is used as an input device. For example, it is used as an input means for controlling the movement of a cursor by being applied to a lap top computer and replacing a mouse, or as an input means for directly selecting an icon or menu displayed on the screen in combination with a display device . It is also used simply as a means of replacing buttons. In recent years, as the screen of an electronic device has become larger and a device has become smaller, an input device such as a keypad has been eliminated and a touch input device (e.g., a touch screen) Means) are increasingly used.

Most touch sensor devices having a contact position recognition function include a plurality of first electrodes arranged two-dimensionally in a sensing area and electrodes arranged in a direction crossing the first electrodes. In the case of a self capacitance type touch sensor device in which a capacitance is formed between a sensing electrode and a touch object, both the first electrode and the second electrode function as sensing electrodes, and the capacitance has a mutual capacitance In the case of a mutual capacitance type touch sensor device, the first electrode may function as a driving electrode and the second electrode may function as a sensing electrode to form a capacitive coupling node therebetween.

As one example, a touch sensor device having a contact position recognizing function includes a plurality of first transducers arranged two-dimensionally in the sensing area 10 as shown in Fig. 1, and a plurality of first transducers arranged in a direction crossing the first electrodes And a plurality of sensing electrodes 12 arranged to form capacitive coupling nodes with the driving electrodes 11. [ In this touch screen panel, a driving signal is sequentially applied to each of the driving electrodes during a touch sensing operation. The driving electrode 11 and the sensing electrode 12 perform different functions. Generally, one driving electrode group drives the current flowing therethrough, while the other sensing electrode group senses capacitive coupling at each of the nodes.

Each of the plurality of driving electrodes in one group is individually connected to a voltage source, the current is generated only for one driving electrode, and the other driving electrodes are grounded. The plurality of sensing electrodes in one sensing electrode group are connected to a capacitance change measuring unit that continuously senses the whole.

When a voltage is applied to a plurality of driving electrodes constituting one group, the electric charges on the corresponding driving electrodes are capacitively coupled to the sensing electrodes crossing the node. When the contact is made, the capacitance change measuring unit can simultaneously detect the degree of change of charge of each of the plurality of sensing electrodes, and it is possible to grasp the degree of change of the capacitance of each node in the sensing region. The degree of change in capacitance of each node can be quantified and calculated as a specific sensitivity value.

However, in order to form the capacitive coupling nodes of the plurality of driving electrodes 11 and the plurality of sensing electrodes 12, in most cases, the driving electrode group and the sensing electrode group are formed on different layers with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, 1, the intersecting portion is implemented as a two-layer structure through the bridge, which increases the thickness of the touch screen panel or requires a complicated process.

Although a technique of forming the capacitive coupling node while forming the driving electrode 11 and the plurality of sensing electrodes 12 in a single layer has been developed, there has been a problem that the electrode pattern is complicated and the production is not easy.

A problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method of implementing capacitive coupling nodes of a plurality of driving electrodes 11 and a plurality of sensing electrodes 12 through a touch sensor system instead of physically implementing the electrode shape will be.

Another problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a contact coordinate acquisition method capable of precisely and precisely obtaining a touch input of a touch sensor device even in a simple electrode shape.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch sensor device including a simple electrode.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing the same.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of sensing a touch input in a touch sensor device including a sensing electrode, the method comprising: sensing a sensing signal obtained from each of a plurality of sensing electrodes, A second step of generating a sensitivity signal for each node on the basis of the generated plurality of delay signals, and a third step of determining a position of the contact input based on the sensing signal calculated in the second step A contact input sensing method is provided.

Preferably, the plurality of delay signals may be extracted sequentially so as to have a constant phase difference from each other. In this case, the phase of the extracted signals may be set so that each of the phases has a constant difference by an interval equal to N times 360 degrees from the phase of the reference signal.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the touch sensor device may include a plurality of sensing electrodes extending in a first direction and disposed to be staggered with respect to each other.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the touch sensor device includes a plurality of sensing electrodes extending in a first direction and a plurality of driving electrodes extending in a first direction in the same manner, The electrode and the driving electrode may be arranged to be staggered from each other.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a step of dividing a sensing signal obtained from each of the plurality of sensing electrodes into a plurality of delay signals (a first step) includes sensing signals having various phase differences at predetermined intervals Extracting a plurality of signals having a phase difference, and these extracting steps may be performed in an operation unit. In this case, the signal extracting step may be performed sequentially in the same operation unit or simultaneously in a plurality of operation units.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of generating a sensitivity signal for each node based on a plurality of generated delay signals, the method comprising the steps of: And may generate the per-node sensitivity signal further based on the known relationship between the sensing signals.

The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the touch sensor device may be formed in a self-capacitance manner such that a sensing electrode disposed in the sensing region 10 is formed with a capacitance between the sensing electrode and the object to be sensed.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the touch sensor device may be formed in a mutually capacitive manner so that the sensing electrodes disposed in the sensing region 10 are capacitances formed between the sensing electrodes and the driving electrodes.

The embodiments of the present invention have at least the following effects.

A capacitive coupling node of a plurality of driving electrodes and a plurality of sensing electrodes may be implemented by a software algorithm instead of physically implementing the electrode shape.

It is possible to provide a contact coordinate which can precisely and accurately obtain the contact input of the touch sensor device even with a simple electrode shape.

It is possible to provide a touch sensor device including a simple electrode.

1 is a view showing a conventional touch sensor device.
2 is a view for explaining a schematic structure of a touch sensor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is an exemplary view for explaining the operation principle of the touch sensor device shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a view for explaining nodes where sensing signals are generated when touch input is generated in a touch sensor device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.
5 is a view for explaining a phase-dependent sensitivity signal obtained when a touch input is generated in a touch sensor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a touch sensor system of a touch sensor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a diagram for explaining a contact sensitivity calculation method of the touch sensor system.
8 is an exemplary diagram for explaining the operation principle of the touch sensor device shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 is an exemplary view for explaining the operation principle of the touch sensor device shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The features of the invention and the manner of achieving it will be apparent with reference to the embodiments detailed below in conjunction with the appended drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Is provided to fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. The dimensions and relative sizes of layers and regions in the figures may be exaggerated for clarity of illustration.

Although the first, second, etc. are used to describe various components, it goes without saying that these components are not limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one component from another. Therefore, it is needless to say that the first component mentioned below may be the second component within the technical spirit of the present invention

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a view showing a conventional touch sensor device. The touch sensor device of the present embodiment includes eight X-axis sensing electrodes X1 to X8 and eight Y-axis sensing electrodes Y1 to Y8, and the X-axis sensing electrodes X1 to X8 extend in the Y- , And the Y-axis sensing electrodes Y1-Y8 extend in the X-axis. In a touch sensor device of a self capacitance type, when a contact input is applied to a capacitor formed by an electrode, a change in capacitance occurs due to contact, and by measuring the change, . In a mutual capacitance touch sensor device, a capacitor formed between a first electrode (X1 to X8) serving as a driving electrode and a second electrode (Y1 to Y8) serving as a sensing electrode, When a contact input is applied to the contact, the capacitance changes due to the contact. By measuring the change, the presence of the contact input is detected.

FIG. 2 illustrates a touch input sensing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The touch sensor device of the present embodiment includes electrodes of a simpler type. That is, the first electrode 230 and the second electrode 220 are arranged side by side, and there is no intersection between the sensing first electrode and the second electrode in the sensing region 200.

3 is an exemplary view for explaining the operation principle of the touch sensor device shown in FIG. In a mutual capacitive touch sensor device, a driving signal is applied to a first electrode 330 functioning as a driving electrode and is formed between a first electrode 330 and a second electrode 310 functioning as a sensing electrode When a contact input 350 is applied to a capacitor, a change in capacitance occurs due to the contact, and the change is acquired as a sense signal 340 and measured to sense the presence of the contact input.

Generally, the sensing signal obtained from one sensing electrode is represented by one value calculated based on the representative phase. However, if only one sensing signal is extracted from one sensing electrode 220 in the touch sensor device shown in FIG. 2, only the contact coordinate values of the one-dimensional coordinate system can be calculated.

In the present invention, a change in capacitance caused in a plurality of nodes from one sensing electrode is extracted. The sensing signal obtained from the same electrode is classified according to a specific phase difference, so that a change in capacitance of each desired node can be extracted.

That is, FIG. 4 shows a touch sensor composed of one driving electrode 430 and one sensing electrode 420. When the drive signal 410 is applied to the touch sensor 400A, a sensing signal 440 is obtained. In this case, a group of various delay signals naturally occurs according to the length of the sensing electrode 420. [ Referring to FIG. 5, it can be seen that one sensing signal can be represented as a group of delay signals having various phase differences (D1, D2, D3, D4, etc.). Generally, the detection signal is representative of a group of delay signals represented by one phase and size and used. In this case, a waveform such as D0 can be extracted as a representative signal.

In the present invention, a signal obtained from one sensing electrode is extracted as a plurality of delay signals, and a sensitivity signal for each node is generated through the respective delay signals. When ten nodes are to be formed from one sensing electrode, the delay of a signal at one electrode will generally be proportional to the length of the electrode. Therefore, There will be a phase difference. Accordingly, ten delay signals are extracted from the sensing signal 440 in proportion to the distance, and the degree of change in capacitance is calculated from the phase and the size obtained from the ten delay signals.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, ten delay signals can be extracted with a predetermined phase difference. Since the cycle to the same phase is 360 degrees, the delay signals can be formed at intervals of 36 degrees each. However, it goes without saying that the intervals of the respective signals may differ depending on the driving voltage, the size of the sensing region, the electrode material, and the like.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, when touch inputs 450 and 460 are generated in the touch sensor 400b of FIG. 4, the sensing signal 440 may be represented by a combined shape of various delay signals as shown in FIG. In this case, conventionally, only the representative signal DO which can acquire the largest signal among the delayed signals is used as the capacitance change information for each node. However, according to the present invention, each delay signal is classified at predetermined intervals, (D1, D2, D3, etc.) can be utilized as the change information of the capacitance of each node. In FIG. 5, it can be seen that the size of D2 is larger than the sizes of D1 and D3. Thus, it is possible to extract a desired number of change information of the capacitance of each node through the sensing electrode.

FIG. 6 illustrates a touch sensor system 600 of a touch sensor device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The touch sensor system 600 includes a signal generator 601, a sensing unit 602, A delay signal extractor 603, a mixer 605, and an A / D converter 606 for delaying and extracting a plurality of delayed signals.

The signal generator 601 may generate a reference signal such as a clock signal and provide it to the sensing unit 602 and the operation unit 605 of each channel. Here, the reference signal output to the sensing unit 602 may be changed according to the touch sensing of the sensing unit 602 and output to the operation unit 605.

When the touch operation is performed by the user on the touch sensor, the sensing unit 602 generates a sensing signal according to the touch and inputs the sensing signal to the operation unit 605. [ That is, the sensing unit 602 senses the touch and changes the capacitance according to the sensed touch. The sensing unit 602 senses a change of the clock of the reference signal applied from the signal generating unit 601 according to the change of the capacitance, And outputs the signal to the arithmetic operation unit 605. [

The operation unit 605 may calculate the reference signal input from the signal generation unit 601 and the sensing signal input from the sensing unit 602 and output the reference signal to the A / D conversion unit 606. That is, The reference signal outputted from the signal generating unit 601 and the sensing signal outputted from the sensing unit 602 may be mixed and then converted into a voltage and output. In this case, for example, when the capacitance of the sensing signal input from the sensing unit 602 changes due to the touch of the user, and the frequency difference between the sensing signal and the reference signal provided by the signal generating unit 601 occurs, Is mixed in the operation unit 605, the voltage level of the signal to be mixed and output may be relatively lower than when the two signals having the same frequency and phase are mixed when the touch is not generated. The change of the voltage level may be converted into a digital value through the A / D converter 606 and used as information for determining whether the user touches the touch sensor.

The A / D converter 606 converts the result of the operation of the arithmetic unit 605, that is, the voltage value in the form of an analog signal, into a digital value and outputs the digital value to the controller 607.

The controller 607 compares the output signal obtained by mixing the sensing signal and the reference signal output from the A / D converter 606 with a predetermined reference voltage level to determine whether or not the touch is based on a digital value, Or not.

At this time, for example, if the digital value of the output signal obtained by mixing the sensing signal and the reference signal is 0.8V or less, the controller 607 can determine that the touch has been performed and output the mixed signal If the digital value is 0.8 to 1.2 V, it can be determined that the touch is not performed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the delay signal extractor 603 includes a delay value setting signal generator 604 for generating N delay value setting signals having different phase differences to extract N delay signals through one sensing electrode, And an arithmetic unit 605 for calculating a signal obtained through the sensing unit 602 for one sensing electrode and N delay value setting signals applied from the delay value setting signal generating unit 604, respectively.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the delay value setting signal generator 604 can generate a signal using a value recorded in a predetermined table. For example, when it is desired to extract N delayed signals from one sensing electrode, a delay value setting signal may be applied at an interval calculated by Equation 1 below.

The arithmetic unit 605 mixes the delay value setting signal set and output with the phase difference of the interval calculated by Equation 1 in the delay value setting signal generating unit 604 and the sensing signal inputted through the sensing unit 602 It can be converted into a voltage and output. For example, when the delayed reference signal provided from the delay value setting signal generating unit 604 is compared with the phase difference between the frequency of the delayed reference signal and the detection signal, the comparator outputs a comparatively high voltage when there are many matching portions. It is possible to output a low voltage.

The A / D converter 606 converts the result of the operation of the arithmetic unit 605, that is, the voltage value of the analog signal type, into a digital value and outputs the digital value to the control unit.

7 is a diagram illustrating a waveform of a signal output from the circuit unit in the operation unit 605 of FIG. 5. Hereinafter, the operation of the operation unit 605 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3, FIG. 5, and FIG. .

First, when the touch input 350 is generated on the sensing electrode of FIG. 3, the sensing signal 340 input from the sensing electrode 320 may have a waveform as shown in FIG. That is, the sensing signal 340 may be a set of delayed signals having various phase differences inevitably generated from the longitudinal direction of the sensing electrode 320. Generally, the sensing signal 340 may be a group of delayed signals, And size. In this case, a waveform such as D0 can be extracted as a representative signal.

3C shows the sensing signal IN generated from the sensing unit 602 due to a touch of the user's finger or the like on the touch sensor. The sensing signal IN input from the sensing unit 602, Is input into the arithmetic unit 605 and computed with the reference signal CLK as shown in Fig. 3 (b). At this time, the detection signal IN has a phase difference of (a) with the reference signal CLK.

FIG. 3 (d) shows the detection signal IN from the sensing unit 602 and the result signal OUT obtained by calculating the reference signal CLK.

The present invention computes a plurality of delay value setting signals corresponding to the detection signal IN and delay signals having various phase differences before the result signal OUT is input to the operation unit 605, .

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate the touch sensor system of the present invention in more detail. Figs. 4 and 8 show the waveforms of the detection signals before the touch inputs 450 and 460 are generated in Fig. FIG. 9 shows a waveform change of the sensing signal when the touch inputs 450 and 460 are generated in FIG. According to this, ten delay signals for ten nodes can be outputted from one sensing electrode 420, so that it is possible to determine whether or not a plurality of nodes are contacted from one sensing electrode.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the described embodiments but should be defined by the appended claims.

The methods described above can be performed by a driving circuit and / or a sensing circuit. The driving circuit is connected to the X-axis sensing electrode and / or the Y-axis sensing electrode, and applies a driving signal to the electrodes for a predetermined time as required. Each drive circuit and sense circuit may include one or more modules for performing the above method, which may be implemented as software modules, hardware modules, or a combination thereof. Such a drive circuit and sense circuit may be operable to perform the method under the control of the controller. On the other hand, one or both of the above-described driving circuit and sensing circuit may be included in the controller. In this case, it is also possible that the controller is configured in the form of an integrated circuit.

In addition, the above methods may be implemented in the form of a program and executed by a computer.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. Skilled artisans may modify or vary the embodiments described within the scope of the present invention. Each of the functional blocks or means described herein may be implemented by various known devices such as an electronic circuit, an integrated circuit, and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and they may be implemented separately or two or more may be integrated into one . It is to be understood that elements such as means described in the specification and claims are merely functionally distinct and may be physically implemented in one means and that components such as means described as a single component Lt; / RTI > Furthermore, each method step described in this specification may be changed in its order without departing from the scope of the present invention, and other steps may be added. In addition, the various embodiments described herein may be implemented as well as independently of each other, as appropriate. The scope of the present invention should, therefore, be determined not by the embodiments described, but by the appended claims and their equivalents.

220, 320, 420: sensing electrode 340, 440: sensing signal
602: Detection unit 603: Delay signal extractor
604: delay value setting signal generator 605:
606: A / D conversion section

Claims (11)

In a touch sensor device including at least one sensing electrode,
Wherein each of the one or more sensing electrodes includes a plurality of nodes,
Obtaining a plurality of sensing signals from the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode;
Extracting the plurality of sensing signals as a plurality of delay signals considering a delay corresponding to a distance from each of the plurality of nodes to a signal extraction end for extracting the plurality of sensing signals;
Generating a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode based on the plurality of delay signals;
Extracting a change in capacitance at each of the plurality of nodes based on the sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode, and determining a position of the contact input
The touch input sensing method comprising: The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the plurality of delay signals are set to a phase difference of an interval calculated by Equation (1).
[Equation 1]

The method according to claim 1,
The step of extracting the plurality of detection signals as a plurality of delay signals
And extracting the sensing signals having various phase differences as a plurality of signals having a phase difference of a predetermined interval, wherein the extracting steps are performed in an operation unit. The method according to claim 1,
The step of extracting the plurality of detection signals as a plurality of delay signals
Are sequentially performed in the same operation unit. The method according to claim 1,
The step of extracting the plurality of detection signals as a plurality of delay signals
Wherein the plurality of operation units are simultaneously performed in a plurality of operation units. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of generating a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode
Wherein the sensitivity signal for each node is generated based on a proportional relationship between a distance from a sensing signal output terminal of each of the at least one sensing electrode and a delay at each of the at least one sensing electrode. A touch sensing integrated circuit for a touch sensor device,
At least one sensing electrode comprising a plurality of nodes; And
Obtaining a plurality of sensing signals from the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode,
Extracting the plurality of sensing signals as a plurality of delay signals in consideration of a delay corresponding to a distance to each of the plurality of nodes from a signal extraction end extracting the plurality of sensing signals,
Generating a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode based on the plurality of delay signals,
A circuit for extracting a change in capacitance in each of the plurality of nodes based on a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode,
Wherein the contact detection circuit comprises: A touch chip comprising an integrated circuit for touch sensing for a touch sensor device,
At least one sensing electrode comprising a plurality of nodes; And
Obtaining a plurality of sensing signals from the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode,
Extracting the plurality of sensing signals as a plurality of delay signals in consideration of a delay corresponding to a distance to each of the plurality of nodes from a signal extraction end extracting the plurality of sensing signals,
Generating a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode based on the plurality of delay signals,
A device for extracting a change in capacitance in each of the plurality of nodes based on a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode,
. In the touch sensor device,
At least one sensing electrode comprising a plurality of nodes; And
Obtaining a plurality of sensing signals from the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode,
Extracting the plurality of sensing signals as a plurality of delay signals in consideration of a delay corresponding to a distance to each of the plurality of nodes from a signal extraction end extracting the plurality of sensing signals,
Generating a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode based on the plurality of delay signals,
A device for extracting a change in capacitance in each of the plurality of nodes based on a sensitivity signal for each of the plurality of nodes included in the same sensing electrode,
And the touch sensor device. 10. The method of claim 9,
And a plurality of sensing electrodes extending in a first direction and arranged to be staggered with respect to each other. 10. The method of claim 9,
A plurality of sensing electrodes extending in a first direction and a plurality of driving electrodes extending in a first direction in the same manner, and the sensing electrodes and the driving electrodes are arranged to be staggered from each other.

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