KR20150141807A - Capacitive touch detecting apparatus comprising hybrid type sensor pads and touch detecting method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, provided is a touch detection apparatus which comprises: a plurality of sensor pads arranged to form a plurality of rows and columns, and arranged to interconnect two or more sensor pads through a channel; and a touch detection unit for applying a driving signal to a sensor pad included in a first channel, and detecting a touch by receiving a response signal from a sensor pad included in a second channel adjacent to the sensor pad to which the driving signal is applied. The sensor pad included in the first channel and the sensor pad included in the second channel are arranged so as not to be adjacent to each other at two or more points.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a capacitive touch sensing device including hybrid type sensor pads and a touch sensing method thereof.

The present invention relates to a capacitive touch sensing device including hybrid type sensor pads and a touch sensing method thereof, and more particularly, to a capacitive touch sensing device including hybrid type sensor pads, which function as both a transmission electrode and a reception electrode, The present invention relates to an apparatus capable of performing touch detection of a capacitive method and a touch detection method thereof.

The touch screen panel is a device for inputting a command of a user by touching a character or a figure displayed on the screen of the image display device with a finger or other contact means of a person, and is attached and used on the image display device. The touch screen panel converts a contact position that is touched by a human finger or the like into an electrical signal, and the converted electrical signal is used as an input signal.

As a method of implementing a touch screen panel, a resistive film type, a light sensing type, and a capacitive type are known. Among them, the capacitive touch panel converts the contact position into an electrical signal by sensing a change in the capacitance that the conductive sensing pattern forms with other peripheral sensing patterns or the ground electrode when a human hand or an object touches. In the electrostatic capacitance type, a mutual capacitance type in which a touch is detected based on an output signal from a receiving electrode according to a driving signal applied through a transmitting electrode has been generally used.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional mutual capacitance type touch panel.

1, a mutual capacitance type touch panel includes a plurality of transmission electrodes 10 arranged in parallel to each other in a first layer, a plurality of transmission electrodes 10 arranged in parallel to each other in a second layer, And a plurality of reception electrodes 20 arranged in a matrix. At this time, between the first layer and the second layer, an insulating layer having a predetermined permittivity may be interposed to separate the first and second conductive layers.

A driving signal is applied to the transmitting electrode 10, and thus an electric field is generated. The receiving electrode 20 is an electrode for sensing a drift current due to an electric field generated by the transmitting electrode 10, that is, a response signal. If a touch occurs at a specific point, the electric field formed by the transmitting electrode 10 is affected, and accordingly, the response signal generated by the receiving electrode 20 is different. It will be.

However, the first layer and the second layer must be formed of different layers, and an insulating layer must be interposed between the first layer and the second layer.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop a technique for forming a single layer of the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode so as to reduce the production cost, and to perform touch detection with a simplified algorithm.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a touch sensing apparatus of a mutual capacitive type using a plurality of sensor pads in a single layer and to realize a plurality of sensor pads by independent channels, .

Another object of the present invention is to provide a touch sensing device of mutual capacitive type using a plurality of sensor pads as a single layer and to apply the same touch detection method irrespective of which sensor pad is used as a receiving electrode, The complexity of the detection operation is reduced, and at the same time, the accuracy and the operation speed of the touch detection are improved.

It is yet another object of the present invention to enable efficient discrimination between a ghost touch and an intrinsic touch while reducing the complexity of a touch detection operation in a mutual capacitance type touch detection apparatus.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device including: a plurality of sensor pads arranged to form a plurality of rows and columns, wherein two or more sensor pads are connected to each other through a channel; And a touch detection unit for applying a driving signal to a sensor pad belonging to a first channel and receiving a response signal from a sensor pad belonging to a second channel adjacent to the sensor pad to which the driving signal is applied, And the sensor pads belonging to the first channel and the sensor pads belonging to the second channel are arranged so as not to be adjacent to each other at two or more points.

In the first sensor pad and the second sensor pad belonging to the first channel, the channels to which the sensor pads adjacent to the first sensor pad belong may be different from the channels to which the sensor pads adjacent to the second sensor pad belong .

Sensor pads connected to the same channel may be spaced apart by a predetermined minimum distance.

The touch detection unit may store information about sensor pads for applying the driving signal to each sensor pad that receives the response signal and may select the one channel based on the stored information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a touch detection method of a touch detection apparatus including a plurality of sensor pads arranged to form a plurality of rows and columns, the method comprising: selecting one of a plurality of channels; Applying a driving signal to at least one of a plurality of sensor pads belonging to the selected one channel and having different channel allocation patterns for adjacent sensor pads and adjacent sensor pads; Receiving a response signal output from sensor pads belonging to the selected one channel according to application of the driving signal; And performing touch detection based on the received response signal.

The specific channel selection step may be performed based on information on a sensor pad to which the driving signal is to be applied for each sensor pad to be a response signal detection object.

The driving signal applying step refers to information about the channel and information about a sensor pad to which the driving signal is to be applied from a memory storing information on sensor pads functioning as receiving electrodes and transmitting electrodes for each node Step < / RTI >

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of sensor pads arranged to form a plurality of rows and columns, each of sensor pads belonging to the same channel may include sensor pads having different channel assignment patterns for adjacent sensor pads, ; A memory for storing a channel to which sensor pads for applying a driving signal belong and a channel to which sensor pads for receiving a response signal according to the driving signal are connected, as node information in the form of a pin map; And a touch detection operation is performed by applying a driving signal to the first channel based on the information stored in the memory and receiving a response signal corresponding to the application of the driving signal from a second channel stored in the same node as the first channel A touch detection apparatus including an analog front end (AFE) is provided.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, a mutual capacitance type touch detection device can be realized as a single layer by utilizing a plurality of sensor pads, and a plurality of sensor pads are formed by independent channels, So that it is possible to reduce the production cost in the process.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, since each sensor pad can be used as a hybrid type sensor pad used as both a transmitting electrode and a receiving electrode, and the same touch detection method can be applied regardless of which sensor pad is used as a receiving electrode , It is possible to implement a mutual capacitance type touch detection device in a single layer without increasing the complexity of the process detection operation, thereby improving the accuracy and the operation speed of touch detection.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the characteristic of the output signal varies depending on which signal is applied to the adjacent sensor pads, so that even when a plurality of sensor pads are connected to one channel, accurate touch points can be determined.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional mutual capacitance type touch panel.
Fig. 2 shows an example in which the mutual capacitance type touch detection device is implemented as a single layer.
Fig. 3 shows another example in which the mutual capacitance type touch detection device is implemented as a single layer.
Fig. 4 shows another example in which a mutual capacitance type touch detection device is implemented as a single layer.
5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a view showing an embodiment of a sensor pad arranged in the form of a 3 × 10 matrix according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a view for explaining a principle of determining a touch detection point according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a diagram illustrating a sensor pad and a channel allocation method in a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
9 shows an embodiment in which sensor pads are arranged in the form of a 12 x 18 matrix in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 shows an embodiment in which sensor pads are arranged in a matrix of 16.times.24 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a touch detection unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
12 is a diagram illustrating a data structure stored in a memory of a touch detection unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
13 is a view for explaining a method of performing touch detection in a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are denoted by like reference characters throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is referred to as being "connected" to another part, it includes not only "directly connected" but also "indirectly connected" . Also, when an element is referred to as "comprising ", it means that it can include other elements, not excluding other elements unless specifically stated otherwise.

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

Fig. 2 shows an example in which the mutual capacitance type touch detection device is implemented as a single layer.

Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen that a plurality of transmitting electrodes 210 are arranged in a group with one receiving electrode 220. More specifically, a plurality of transmitting electrodes 210 may be disposed adjacent to one side of a bar-shaped receiving electrode 220, and a plurality of receiving electrodes 220 may be arranged in parallel with each other.

In this configuration, a driving signal is sequentially applied to the plurality of transmitting electrodes 210 adjacent to the receiving electrode 220, thereby detecting a response signal generated in the receiving electrode 220.

However, in such a configuration, an electric field generated by the transmitting electrode 210 acts on only one side of the receiving electrode 220, that is, a portion indicated by a rectangle with a broken line in FIG. That is, since the electric field generated by the transmitting electrode 210 does not affect the front surface of the receiving electrode 220, the sensitivity or accuracy of the touch detection is inevitably lowered.

Fig. 3 shows another example in which the mutual capacitance type touch detection device is implemented as a single layer.

Referring to FIG. 3, a plurality of reception electrodes 320 are formed adjacent to one transmission electrode 310, and a plurality of transmission electrodes 310 are provided. The transmitting electrode 310 is formed in a bar shape, and a plurality of receiving electrodes 320 are adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction. In other words, in the configuration of FIG. 2, the transmitting electrode 210 and the receiving electrode 220 are formed by mutually changing their arrangement.

However, in the example shown in Fig. 3, the electric field generated by the transmitting electrode 310 affects only one side of the receiving electrode 320, which is the same as the example described with reference to Fig. 2. In the example shown in Fig. 3, since the interval between the reception electrodes 320 generating the response signal is narrow, the influence of the parasitic capacitance between each other can not be ignored.

In the method shown in Figs. 2 and 3, sensitivity and accuracy in touch detection are lowered, and the influence by noise also follows. In order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to increase the size of the electric field generated from the transmitting electrodes 210 and 310 or to increase the interface between the transmitting electrodes 210 and 310 and the receiving electrodes 220 and 320. However, in order to increase the size of the electric field generated from the transmitting electrodes 210 and 310, it is necessary to apply a high voltage signal to the transmitting electrodes 210 and 310 and the transmitting electrodes 210 and 310 and the receiving electrodes 220 and 220, 320, the resolution of the touch detection is inevitably lowered because the size of the electrode is increased.

Fig. 4 shows another example in which a mutual capacitance type touch detection device is implemented as a single layer.

Referring to FIG. 4, it can be seen that the receiving electrode 420 is inserted in a region between the transmitting electrodes 410 which are branched in parallel. Specifically, a plurality of receiving electrodes 420 are also branched in a parallel form, and the branched receiving electrodes 420 are disposed in regions between the transmitting electrodes 410.

According to this structure, the length of the interface between the transmitting electrode 410 and the receiving electrode 420 is increased, and the size of the fringing capacitance is increased. However, according to this structure, the functions of the transmitting electrode 410 and the receiving electrode 420 are independent of each other, so that mutual functional exchange is impossible. In addition, since the arrangement of the transmitting electrode 410 and the arrangement of the receiving electrode 420 are not the same for each region, the analysis method for the electrical information obtained through the receiving electrode 420 must be differentiated for each region, The complexity of the coordinate calculation inevitably increases.

5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a touch panel 510 and a touch detection unit 520.

The touch panel 510 includes a plurality of sensor pads 511 arranged in a matrix of a plurality of rows and columns.

Each of the sensor pads 511 is connected to the touch detection unit 520 through a signal line (not shown). The plurality of sensor pads 511 are grouped into two or more groups, And is connected to the detection unit 520. That is, two or more sensor pads 511 are connected to each other through a channel. In the present specification, the term 'channel' is a unit selected by the touch detection unit 520. Signal wirings extending from each of the sensor pads 511 belonging to the same channel are selected at the same time during the touch detection operation by the touch detection unit 520. [ To this end, the signal wirings extending from each of the sensor pads 511 belonging to the same channel may be electrically connected at or near the region within the touch detection unit 520, and the touch detection unit 520 may include a multiplexer (not shown) Selects one of the channels and applies the same driving signal to the sensor pads 511 belonging to the channel or simultaneously receives a response signal from the corresponding sensor pads 511. Specifically, the touch detection unit 520 applies a driving signal to the sensor pad 511 belonging to the first channel, and outputs the driving signal from the sensor pad 511 belonging to the second channel adjacent to the sensor pad 511 to which the driving signal is applied A touch signal can be detected by receiving a response signal.

In the present invention, a plurality of sensor pads 511 are connected to the touch detection unit 520 by two or more channels. For example, two sensor pads 511 having an identification symbol beginning with '1' That is, signal wirings extending from two sensor pads denoted by '1-a' and '1-b' are connected to the touch detection unit 520 as one channel. The signal wiring extending from the two sensor pads denoted by '2-a' and '2-b' respectively is also the same, and the signal wiring extending from the two sensor pads denoted by '3-a' and '3-b' same.

According to one embodiment, the sensor pad 511 belonging to one channel may function as a transmitting electrode or function as a receiving electrode. For example, when two sensor pads denoted by '1-a' and '1-b' are selected and driven to the receiving electrode, the surrounding sensor pads function as transmitting electrodes.

At this time, one sensor pad adjacent to one of the two sensor pads denoted by '1-a' and '1-b' does not belong to the same channel as the adjacent sensor pad.

That is, in FIG. 5, the sensor pads in the vicinity of the sensor pads denoted by '1-a' are denoted by '4-a' in the vicinity of the sensor pads denoted by '4-a' The sensor pads labeled '4-b' that make up the same channel as the displayed sensor pad should not be adjacent.

Accordingly, even if a plurality of sensor pads 511 are selected as the receiving electrodes by one channel selection, the sensor pads serving as the transmitting electrodes for any one of the selected sensor pads 511 are connected to one sensor There is only a pad. Accordingly, when a touch is made on the first receiving electrode side, a driving signal different from that applied to the sensor pads adjacent to the first receiving electrode is applied to the sensor pads adjacent to the second receiving electrode connected to the same channel, Only the first receiving electrode may be recognized as an actual touch, and the second receiving electrode may not be recognized as a ghost touch.

In other words, when two sensor pads denoted by '1-a' and '1-b' are selected as the receiving electrode, the transmitting electrode for the sensor pad '1-a' And the transmitting electrode for the sensor pad '1-b' becomes a sensor pad indicated by '2-b' which does not belong to the same channel as the sensor pad indicated by the '4-a'. This will be described later in more detail.

The touch detection unit 520 according to an embodiment routes channels connected to each of the plurality of sensor pads 511 to apply a driving signal to a part of the channels, and a detected response signal is received .

Specifically, one of the plurality of channels connected to the at least one sensor pad 511 is selected to function as a receiving electrode, and the sensor pads 511 existing around the sensor pad 511 selected as the receiving electrode A driving signal is applied to the first electrode to function as a transmitting electrode. To this end, the touch detection unit 520 may store information about the sensor pad 511, which should function as a transmitting electrode, when each of the sensor pads 511 functions as a receiving electrode. Conversely, when each of the sensor pads 511 functions as a transmitting electrode, it may store information on the sensor pad 511 corresponding to the receiving electrode.

A driving signal is applied to a sensor pad 511 selected to function as a transmitting electrode and a response signal to the sensor pad 511 is outputted from a sensor pad 511 functioning as a receiving electrode. The touch detection unit 520 collects signals output from the sensor pad 511 functioning as a reception electrode to check whether or not a touch is generated and to determine a position at which the touch is generated. At least a part of the sensor pads 511 may be sequentially selected as the receiving electrodes by the touch detecting unit 520. [ Even if the sensor pad 511 is selected as the receiving electrode, it may function as the transmitting electrode when the other sensor pad 511 functions as the receiving electrode.

In the present invention, since the plurality of sensor pads 511 can function as both the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode, they can be called a hybrid type sensor pad.

Hereinafter, the arrangement of the sensor pads in the touch detection device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an embodiment of a sensor pad arranged in a 3 × 10 form.

In FIG. 6, the identification numbers denoted by numbers in each sensor pad 511 can be understood as a channel identification number. That is, it should be understood that the sensor pads 511 denoted by the same numerals are tied to one channel. As a result, the number of the sensor pads 511 can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Referring to FIG. 6, it can be seen that two to four sensor pads 511 belong to one channel.

The second sensor pad 511 adjacent to the first sensor pad 511 of one of the first sensor pads 511 bundled with one channel is connected to the sensor pad 511 adjacent to the remaining first sensor pads 511 511 in the same channel. Accordingly, when at least two or more sensor pads are connected by one channel, when a touch is made at the A receiving electrode side, the sensor pads adjacent to the B receiving electrode connected to the same channel are applied to the sensor pads adjacent to the A receiving electrode It is possible to recognize only the A receiving electrode as an actual touch and not recognize the B receiving electrode as a ghost touch when touch detection is performed.

When a sensor pad 511 belonging to a channel selected from a plurality of channels functions as a receiving electrode, a total of four sensor pads 511 are arranged in the column direction with respect to the sensor pad 511, The following description will be made by way of example of a case where it is implemented to function as a receiving electrode.

6, there are two sensor pads 511 denoted by '3', and the identification numbers of the sensor pads 511 and 511 disposed at the upper part and the upper and lower sides, respectively, '5', '8', '9'. On the other hand, the identification numbers of '3' sensor pads 511 disposed at the lower portion and the sensor pads 511 adjacent to the upper and lower sides are '0', '1', '6' The identification number does not overlap with the sensor pad 511 adjacent to the '3' sensor pad 511 and the adjacent sensor pads 511.

In other words, when each of the plurality of sensor pads 511 belonging to the same channel is utilized as a receiving electrode, at least one of the first sensor pads 511 used as a transmitting electrode adjacent to the first receiving electrode, At least one of the groups of the second sensor pads 511 adjacent to the receiving electrode and used as a transmitting electrode belongs to different channels.

The first sensor pad 511 and the second sensor pad 511 belong to the same channel when the identification numbers are assigned to the respective channels. The pattern is different from the channel identification number pattern of the sensor pads 511 surrounding the second sensor pads 511. That is, a pattern in which channels are allocated to adjacent sensor pads 511 of the first sensor pad 511 and a pattern in which channels are allocated to adjacent sensor pads 511 of the second sensor pad 511 are different.

When the sensor pad 511 is used as the receiving electrode, the sensor pad 511 disposed at the upper portion and the sensor pad 511 disposed at the lower portion disposed at the upper portion of the sensor pad 511 disposed at the upper portion are respectively connected to the sensor pad 511, 8 ',' 9 ', and' 0 ',' 1 ',' 6 ', and' 13 'sensor pads 511 as the transmission electrode group.

That is, even if two sensor pads labeled '3' are simultaneously selected as the reception electrodes, the adjacent sensor pads 511 serving as transmission electrodes for the two sensor pads 511 do not belong to the same channel. 5 ',' 8 ', and' 9 ', one of the sensor pads 511, which is located at the upper part of the sensor pads 511 denoted by' 3 ' A response signal related to touch generation is output only from the sensor pads 511 disposed at the upper part of the two '3' sensor pads 511, 511, a response signal corresponding to the non-touch occurrence is output.

As a result, even if a plurality of sensor pads 511 are used as a receiving electrode or a transmitting electrode by selecting a specific channel, a pair of the transmitting electrode and the receiving electrode, that is, The combination of the channel identification numbers of the channel IDs is not overlapped. Accordingly, even if a plurality of sensor pads 511 are simultaneously used as a receiving electrode or a transmitting electrode by selecting a specific channel, it is possible to grasp an accurate touch generation point. Accordingly, a ghost The touch phenomenon does not occur.

7 is a diagram for explaining in detail a principle of detecting occurrence of a touch on a sensor pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 (a) shows a case where the same drive signal is applied to a specific sensor pad and an adjacent sensor pad. When there is no touch on the specific sensor pad, the electrical characteristics between the specific sensor pad and the adjacent sensor pad will be the same. If a touch occurs, the electrical characteristics between the specific sensor pad and the adjacent sensor pad will be different. If two adjacent conductors have the same potential, the capacitance between the two conductors is minimized. Therefore, when no touch is generated when the same drive signal is supplied to both the specific sensor pad and the adjacent sensor pads (No Touch) The coupling capacitor between the pad and the adjacent sensor pad is minimized. Therefore, the difference between the output signal magnitude when a touch occurs on a specific sensor pad (Touch) and the output signal magnitude when no touch occurs (No Touch) is maximized.

On the other hand, FIG. 7 (b) shows the case where the ground potential is applied to the adjacent sensor pads of the specific sensor pads. A potential difference is generated between a specific sensor pad and an adjacent sensor pad, thereby forming a coupling capacitance, even if the touch signal is not generated because a driving signal is applied to a specific sensor pad. Therefore, even when no touch occurs, the output signal from the specific sensor pad has a certain size. According to this phenomenon, the difference between the output signal magnitude when a touch is generated on a specific sensor pad (Touch) and the output signal magnitude when no touch is generated (No Touch) Lt; / RTI >

In the present invention, even if a plurality of sensor pads are connected to one specific channel, different signals (driving signals or ground potentials) are applied to the sensor pads and the adjacent sensor pads, The characteristics of the output signal before and after the touch change depending on whether a touch occurs on the pad. That is, even if the sensor pad belongs to the same channel as in the example shown in FIG. 7 (c), the output signal size difference before and after the touch varies depending on whether the ground potential is applied to the adjacent sensor pad or the drive signal is applied Therefore, it is possible to accurately detect which sensor pad among the plurality of sensor pads belonging to one channel has actually touched by using such a characteristic.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7C, a sensor pad indicated by 1-a 'and 1-b' and a sensor pad indicated by 2-a 'and 2-b' , And the ground potential is supplied to the sensor pads denoted by '3-a', '3-b', '4-a', and 4-b '.

Since the ground potential is applied to the adjacent sensor pads of the sensor pad '1-a', the output signal from the sensor pad '1-a' becomes relatively large in size difference before and after the touch is generated. On the other hand, since the drive signal is applied to the adjacent sensor pads of the sensor pad '1-b', the output signals from the sensor pads '1-b' are relatively small in size difference before and after the touch generation.

That is, even if touch detection is performed by grouping the sensor pad 1-a and the sensor pad 1-b into the same channel, the sensor pads 1-a and 1- b 'to which the touch has occurred.

6, 30 sensor pads 511 are illustrated as being composed of 14 channels, but sensor pads 511, which are bundled into one channel, are connected to a sensor belonging to a mutually exclusive channel If the pads 511 are provided with adjacent sensor pads, they may be divided into different numbers of channels.

If the specific sensor pad 511 is selected as the receiving electrode, the number of the sensor pads 511 used as the transmitting electrode is two in the vertical direction, not four in the vertical direction but N in the horizontal direction, or N in the vertical direction , A method of bundling a plurality of sensor pads 511 with channels will be different from that of FIG.

The plurality of channels are sequentially selected so that the sensor pads 511 belonging to the selected channel function as transmission or reception electrodes and the remaining sensor pads 511 function as reception electrodes or transmission electrodes corresponding thereto. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the channels from '0' to '13' are sequentially selected, and the sensor pads 511 bundled with the selected channel sequentially function as reception electrodes. At this time, And the sensor pads 511 function as a transmitting electrode. That is, thirty sensor pads 511 can function not only as a receiving electrode or a transmitting electrode, but also as two electrodes.

In a typical case, when sensor pads are arranged in a 3 x 10 form, each sensor pad is assigned to one channel. That is, each sensor pad is connected to a channel independent of each other, sequentially selecting each channel, and recognizing a touch generation point based on an output signal from each sensor pad. A total of thirty channels are required by the touch generating method.

However, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, only 14 channels are required, so that the number of channels is significantly reduced, and thus the area required for realizing the channels in the entire touch panel can be minimized.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a method of allocating a sensor pad and a channel (channel routing) in a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the sensor pads, channel allocation methods, and sensor pad placement characteristics in the touch sensing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 8. FIG. Assume that the sensor pads 511 are arranged in a 3 × 10 array as shown in FIG.

The following process can be performed by specifying the number of channels to be connected to all the sensor pads 511 in advance. For example, assuming that channels 1 to N are used, the following process can be performed.

First, one of the positions where the sensor pad 511 is disposed is selected (S810). Thereafter, it is checked whether there is a candidate channel to be connected to the sensor pad 511 disposed at the selected position (S820). The candidate channel means a usable channel from channel 1 to channel N. [ In step S820, it is determined whether there is a selectable channel, that is, whether or not there is a channel satisfying a condition described later, and whether or not the condition is satisfied by performing the steps described below. May be omitted.

If there is no candidate channel, it is concluded that the arrangement of the sensor pads 511 and the allocation of the channel have failed. In this case, since it means that the number of channels assumed in advance is small, the number of channels can be increased (S821) and the process can be started again from the step S810.

If there is a candidate channel, one of the candidate channels is selected (S830). Assuming that the sensor pad 511 disposed at the position of the second row and the second column in FIG. 6 is selected and the '3' channel is selected from the candidate channels, the description will be continued.

It is checked whether a sensor pad 511 connected to the same channel as the channel selected in step S830 exists around the currently selected sensor pad 511 in step S840. Step S840 is to secure a certain distance between the sensor pads 511 connected to the same channel. For example, the minimum distance by which sensor pads 511 connected to the same channel are spaced apart from each other may be calculated according to the size of each sensor pad 511, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The sensor pads 511 connected to the same channel as the sensor pads 511 indicated by '3' in FIG. 6 are separated by a length corresponding to five sensor pads 511 in the column direction, Assume that the minimum separation distance between the pads 511 is satisfied.

If it is determined that there is a sensor pad 511 connected to the same channel in the vicinity, the flow returns to step S820 to select another candidate channel. Conversely, if it is confirmed that there is no sensor pad 511 connected to the same channel in the vicinity, the process proceeds to step S850.

In step S850, it is determined whether adjacent sensor pads 511 of the other sensor pads 511 connected to the currently selected sensor pads 511 through the same channel are connected to each other through mutually exclusive channels. As described above, when the sensor pads 511 connected to the same channel function as reception electrodes at the same time, the sensor pads 511 serving as transmission electrodes around the sensor pads 511 are connected to different channels This is because they must be connected.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, two sensor pads 511 in the column direction in the column direction with respect to one sensor pad 511 are connected to the adjacent sensor pads 511 511).

The adjacent sensor pads 511 of the sensor pad 511, which are present in the second row and the second column, are connected to channels 5, 8, and 9, respectively, The adjacent sensor pads 511 of the sensor 511 are connected to the channels '0', '1', '6', and '13', respectively.

If it is determined in step S850 that adjacent sensor pads 511 of the other sensor pads 511 connected to the same channel as the currently selected sensor pads 511 are not connected to each other through mutually exclusive channels, the process returns to step S820 Another channel to be connected to the currently selected sensor pad 511 should be selected.

The sensor pads 511 adjacent to the currently selected sensor pad 511 and adjacent sensor pads 511 connected to the same channel as the selected sensor pad 511 are connected to each other through mutually exclusive channels If confirmed, proceed to the next step.

The above process is repeated to check whether the channel allocation has been performed for all the N × M sensor pads 511 (S760). If so, the arrangement of the sensor pads and the channel allocation process are completed. If not, the channel allocation process is repeatedly performed for the sensor pads 511 disposed at different positions.

If the sensor pad 511 is disposed according to the above process, a plurality of sensor pads 511 connected to the sensor pad 511 are selected to select one channel, but the transmission electrodes are connected to each other through mutually exclusive channels This eliminates the problem of ghost touch generation.

FIG. 9 shows an example of allocating each channel to the sensor pad so that a maximum of four sensor pads function as a transmission electrode, one at a time when one sensor pad functions as a receiving electrode, X < RTI ID = 0.0 > 18 < / RTI >

In FIG. 9, the numbers assigned to the respective sensor pads indicate the identification numbers of the channels connected to the respective sensor pads. That is, it should be understood that sensor pads having the same identification number are tied to the same channel.

Referring to FIG. 9, a channel pattern assigned to adjacent sensor pads of the first sensor pad among the sensor pads belonging to the same channel and a channel pattern assigned to adjacent sensor pads of the second sensor pad are different from each other. Also, at least one of the adjacent sensor pads of the first sensor pad is connected to a channel to which the adjacent sensor pads of the second sensor pad do not belong. In other words, the sensor pads belonging to the first channel and the sensor pads belonging to the second channel are arranged so as not to be adjacent to each other at two or more points. In addition, in the first sensor pad and the second sensor pad belonging to the same channel, the channels to which the first sensor pad and the adjacent sensor pads belong may be different from the channels to which the second sensor pad and the adjacent sensor pads belong.

A total of 216 (= 12 × 18) channels are required if each sensor pad is assigned to one sensor. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, 216 sensor pads are arranged with only a total of 35 channels.

In addition, all of the sensor pads can perform both the functions of the receiving electrode and the transmitting electrode, and no ghost touch occurs. That is, the complexity in the touch detection operation can be eliminated while implementing the mutual capacitance type touch panel having a single-layer structure.

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment in which 16 × 24 sensor pads are arranged according to the method of FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, when one sensor pad functions as a receiving electrode, each channel is allocated to the sensor pad so that a maximum of four sensor pads function as transmission electrodes, that is, two up and down in the column direction.

A total of 384 (= 16 × 24) channels are required if each sensor pad is assigned one channel. In the embodiment of FIG. 10, 384 sensor pads are arranged with only 44 channels, which is significantly smaller.

11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a touch detection unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

11, the touch detection unit 520 may include a touch detection circuit 521, an AFE (Analog Front End) 522, an AFE control unit 523, a memory 524, and a control unit 525 have.

As described above, each of the sensor pads according to the embodiment of the present invention can function as a receiving electrode, and adjacent sensor pads functioning as a transmitting electrode corresponding to the receiving electrode function as specified. The opposite is true, of course. Therefore, when each sensor pad functions as a receiving electrode, information about adjacent sensor pads selected as a transmitting electrode must be stored.

12 shows a data structure in which identification information for the corresponding transmission electrodes is stored for each reception electrode.

12, "RX ID" and "TX ID" indicate channel identification information. That is, when a channel having a specific identification number in the form of "RX ID" is selected and the sensor pads connected thereto function as the receiving electrode, the sensor pads connected to the channel identified by the corresponding & . Information stored in the form of a table in which the information on the pair of "RX ID" and "RX ID" is stored is called "Pin Map". In other words, the identification information on the channel connected to the sensor pads for applying the driving signal and the identification information on the channel connected to the sensor pads for receiving the response signal according to the driving signal application are stored in the form of a pin map . A pair of one reception electrode and one or more transmission electrodes may be referred to as a single node. In FIG. 11, a method of performing touch detection by implementing N nodes is illustrated, but the number of nodes may be increased or decreased.

Referring again to FIG. 11, a data structure, such as a pin map, as shown in FIG. 12 may be stored in the memory 524. When the touch detection operation is started, the data structure stored in the memory 524 is loaded into the AFE control unit 523.

The AFE control unit 523 transmits the reception electrode channel identification information and the transmission electrode channel identification information of each node to the AFE 522 before the touch detection operation for each node is started based on the loaded data structure, . To this end, the AFE 522 may include a port for receiving channel identification information of the reception electrode and a port for receiving channel identification information of the transmission electrode.

In accordance with the information received by the AFE 522, the touch detection circuit 521 can perform a touch detection operation for each node. Specifically, a drive signal is applied to a first channel designated as a transmission electrode for each node, a response signal is received from a second channel designated as a reception electrode, and a touch detection operation can be performed based on the received response signal.

The control unit 525 controls data transmission / reception and interface between the AFE control unit 523 and the memory 524.

Although the AFE 522, the AFE control unit 523, the memory 524 and the control unit 525 are all included in the touch detection unit 520 in the above description, all or at least a part of them may be provided separately from the touch detection unit 520 .

13 is a view for explaining a method of performing touch detection in a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

11 to 13, first, based on the information stored in the memory 524, that is, the information about the sensor pads functioning as the receiving electrode and the transmitting electrode for each node as shown in FIG. 12, Select a specific node. The selection of a specific node is performed by selecting a specific channel among a plurality of channels and functioning as a receiving electrode connected to the corresponding channel (S100). This selection can be performed by the AFE control unit 523. [

When the selection of the specific channel is completed, the channel identification information of the sensor pad to function as the reception electrode and the channel identification information of the sensor pad to function as the transmission electrode are transmitted to the AFE 522.

The touch detection circuit 521 applies a driving signal to a channel connected to a sensor pad to function as a transmitting electrode at step S200 and receives a response signal from a sensor pad functioning as a receiving electrode at step S300.

Based on the received response signal, it is possible to determine whether a touch is generated and a point where a touch is generated (S400).

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing description of the present invention is for illustrative purposes only and that those of ordinary skill in the art can readily understand that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the present invention. will be. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single entity may be distributed and implemented, and components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents should be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention.

510: Touch panel
520: touch detection unit
521: Touch detection circuit
522: AFE
523: AFE control section
524: Memory
525:

Claims (8)

A plurality of sensor pads arranged to form a plurality of rows and columns and arranged so that two or more sensor pads are connected to each other through a channel; And
And a touch detection unit for applying a driving signal to a sensor pad belonging to a first channel and receiving a response signal from a sensor pad belonging to a second channel adjacent to the sensor pad to which the driving signal is applied,
Wherein the sensor pads belonging to the first channel and the sensor pads belonging to the second channel are arranged so as not to be adjacent to each other at two or more points. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the channels of the first sensor pad and the second sensor pad belonging to the first channel and the sensor pads adjacent to the first sensor pad are different from the channels of the second sensor pad and the adjacent sensor pads, Touch detection device. The method according to claim 1,
And the sensor pads connected to the same channel are disposed apart from the predetermined minimum distance. The method according to claim 1,
The touch detection unit includes:
Stores information about sensor pads for applying the driving signal to each sensor pad that receives the response signal, and selects the one channel based on the stored information. A touch detection method of a touch detection apparatus including a plurality of sensor pads arranged to form a plurality of rows and columns,
Selecting one of the plurality of channels;
Applying a driving signal to at least one of a plurality of sensor pads belonging to the selected one channel and having different channel allocation patterns for adjacent sensor pads and adjacent sensor pads;
Receiving a response signal output from sensor pads belonging to the selected one channel according to application of the driving signal; And
And performing touch detection based on the received response signal. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the specific channel selection step comprises:
Wherein the detection of the response signal is performed based on information on the sensor pad to which the drive signal is to be applied to each of the sensor pads to be detected. 6. The method of claim 5,
The driving signal applying step includes:
And referring to information on the channel and information on a sensor pad to which the drive signal is to be applied from a memory storing information on sensor pads serving as reception electrodes and transmission electrodes for each node, / RTI > A plurality of sensor pads arranged to form a plurality of rows and columns, wherein each of the sensor pads belonging to the same channel includes sensor pads having different channel assignment patterns for adjacent sensor pads;
A memory for storing a channel to which sensor pads for applying a driving signal belong and a channel to which sensor pads for receiving a response signal according to the driving signal are connected, as node information in the form of a pin map; And
An AFE for applying a driving signal to the first channel based on the information stored in the memory and receiving a response signal corresponding to the application of the driving signal from a second channel stored in the same node as the first channel, (Analog Front End).

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