IP Library Granted Patent US 12,701,602
Granted Patent B2
US 12,701,602 · App. 18/766,293 · Granted Aug 4, 2026

Sensor controller and pen

Inventor: Haruhiko Hisano (Saitama, JP)
Assignee: Wacom Co., Ltd.
H04W72/542G06F3/03545G06F3/038G06F3/04162H04L5/0048H04W72/0446H04W72/1273H04W72/21H04W72/30H04W72/541
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,701,602
App. No.
18/766,293
Granted
Aug 4, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A change of a resource allocation scheme in a multi-pen supporting electronic apparatus can be made in a shorter period of time than in the prior art. A sensor controller 50 assigns communication resources to one or more pens 2 , respectively, and detects a position of each of the one or more pens 2 on the basis of a downlink signal DS received from each of the one or more pens 2 using the assigned communication resources. When changing a resource allocation scheme, which indicates a structure of the communication resources or a method of using the communication resources, the sensor controller 50 broadcasts information indicating a new resource allocation scheme to the one or more pens 2.

Claims (26)

1 . A sensor controller comprising a processor and a memory configured to:

detect a position of a pen by receiving a downlink signal from the pen by using a receiving method,

transmit an uplink signal indicating a change in a bit rate of the downlink signal to the pen, and

change the receiving method for the downlink signal to a new receiving method corresponding to the bit rate after the change, wherein

the uplink signal indicating the change in the bit rate of the downlink signal is a signal indicating a change in a symbol length of the downlink signal, and

a reception window for detecting the downlink signal is changed according to the symbol length after the change.

2 . The sensor controller according to claim 1 , wherein

information indicating the bit rate of the downlink signal is broadcast to one or more paired pens.

3 . A pen comprising a processor and a memory configured to:

transmit a downlink signal to a sensor controller, and

change a symbol length of the downlink signal in response to reception of an uplink signal indicating a change in the symbol length of the downlink signal from the sensor controller, wherein

the uplink signal indicating the change in the symbol length of the downlink signal is a signal indicating a change in a bit rate of the downlink signal, and

a reception window of the sensor controller for detecting the downlink signal from the pen is changed according to the symbol length after the change.

4 . A sensor controller comprising a processor and a memory configured to:

perform communication with one or more pens in units of a super-frame including a plurality of frames each including a plurality of time slots,

transmit a start uplink signal including setting information applied to the entire super-frame by using a start frame located at a start among the plurality of frames, and

in each of one or more succeeding frames as a frame other than the start frame among the plurality of frames, transmit a succeeding uplink signal indicating a reference time for the plurality of time slots arranged within the succeeding frame, wherein

in each of the one or more succeeding frames, the sensor controller transmits the succeeding uplink signal at a timing moved forward or rearward by a time difference, for each succeeding frame, from a transmission timing determined from a temporal position of the super-frame.

5 . The sensor controller according to claim 4 , wherein

the setting information includes information indicating the number of the frames arranged within the super-frame.

6 . A pen comprising a processor and a memory configured to:

perform communication with a sensor controller in units of a super-frame including a plurality of frames each including a plurality of time slots,

when an uplink signal received from the sensor controller is a start uplink signal including setting information applied to the entire super-frame, set the setting information in the memory, and

when the uplink signal received from the sensor controller is a succeeding uplink signal indicating a reference time for the plurality of time slots arranged in one of one or more succeeding frames as a frame other than a start frame located at a start among the plurality of frames, obtain a temporal position of each time slot within the corresponding succeeding frame on the basis of a reception timing of the succeeding uplink signal, wherein

the setting information includes division information indicating the number of the frames arranged within the super-frame, and

the pen obtains the number of the frames arranged within the super-frame on the basis of the division information.