Driven shield control
View Patent ↗In an embodiment, a circuit comprises: an analog driver operable to drive a sensor voltage on a capacitive sensor; a digital driver; a shield drive control coupled to the analog driver and the digital driver, the shield drive control operable to: during a one or more phases of a capacitive measurement of the capacitive sensor, disable the analog driver and enable the digital driver to drive a driven shield; and during one or more other phases of a capacitive measurement of the capacitive sensor, disable the digital driver and enable the analog driver to drive the driven shield with a driven shield voltage that replicates the sensor voltage.
1. A circuit comprising:
an analog driver operable to drive a sensor voltage on a capacitive sensor;
a digital driver;
a shield drive control circuit coupled to the analog driver and the digital driver, the shield drive control operable to:
during a one or more phases of a capacitive measurement of the capacitive sensor, disable the analog driver and enable the digital driver to drive a driven shield; and
during one or more other phases of the capacitive measurement of the capacitive sensor, disable the digital driver and enable the analog driver to drive the driven shield with a driven shield voltage that replicates the sensor voltage.
2. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the analog driver is an analog buffer that includes an input for receiving an output enable signal from the shield drive control circuit.
3. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein enabling the digital driver or analog driver includes electrically coupling the digital driver or analog driver, respectively, to the driven shield.
4. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the shield drive control circuit is operable to generate one or more signals for enabling and disabling the digital and analog drivers based on one or more signals from a finite state machine.
5. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the shield drive control circuit is operable to decode one or more signals applicable to capacitive measurements so as to generate one or more output enable signals for enabling and disabling the digital and analog drivers.
6. A method comprising:
providing a sensor voltage to a capacitive sensor;
during one or more phases of a capacitive measurement of the capacitive sensor, enable a digital driver to drive a driven shield; and
during one or more other phases of the capacitive measurement, disable the digital driver and enable an analog driver to drive the driven shield with a driven shield voltage that replicates the sensor voltage.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the analog driver includes an input for receiving an output enable signal from a shield drive control circuit.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein enabling the digital driver or analog driver includes electrically coupling the digital driver or analog driver, respectively, to the driven shield.
9. A touch measurement system comprising:
a touch sensor;
a driven shield;
sense drive circuit coupled to the touch sensor and operable to generate a sensor voltage on the touch sensor;
sense circuit coupled to the touch sensor and operable for measuring capacitance at the touch sensor;
a controller comprising:
an analog driver;
a digital driver;
a shield drive control circuit coupled to the analog driver and the digital driver, the drive control circuit operable to:
during one or more phases of a capacitive measurement of the touch sensor, enable the digital driver to drive the driven shield; and
during one or more other phases of the capacitive measurement of the touch sensor, disable the digital driver and enable the analog driver to drive the driven shield with a driven shield voltage that replicates the sensor voltage.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the analog driver is an analog buffer that includes an input for receiving an output enable signal from the shield drive control circuit.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein enabling the digital driver or analog driver includes electrically coupling the digital driver or analog driver, respectively, to the driven shield.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the shield drive control circuit is operable to generate one or more signals for enabling and disabling the digital and analog drivers based on one or more signals from a finite state machine.
13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the shield drive control circuit is operable to decode one or more signals applicable to capacitive measurements so as to generate one or more output enable signals for enabling and disabling the digital and analog drivers.