MULTIFUNCTION FINGERPRINT SENSOR HAVING OPTICAL SENSING CAPABILITY
A fingerprint sensor device includes a touch panel with an integrated touch sensor module is provided. The integrated touch sensor module includes sensing circuitry to generate a sensor signal responsive to detecting a contact input associated with a fingerprint. The sensing circuitry includes a fingerprint sensor to detect the contact input and generate a signal indicative of an image of the fingerprint, and a biometric sensor to generate a signal indicative of a biometric marker different form the fingerprint. The generated sensor signal includes the signal indicative of the image of the fingerprint and the signal indicative of the biometric marker different from the fingerprint. The sensing circuitry includes processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the sensing circuitry to process the generated sensor signal to determine whether the contact input associated with the fingerprint belongs to a live finger.
1 . An electronic device with touching sensing and fingerprint sensing capabilities, comprising:
a touch screen that provides touch sensing operations;
a top transparent layer formed over the touch screen as an interface being touched by a user for the touch sensing operations; and
an optical sensor module located below the touch screen to receive light that is returned from the top transparent layer and transmits through the touch screen, the optical sensor module including an optical detector array of photodetectors positioned to receive at least a portion of the returned light to detect a fingerprint.
2 . The electronic device as in claim 1 , wherein:
the optical sensor module includes an array of optical collimators located between the touch screen and the optical detector array to direct the received portion of the returned light to the photodetectors through the optical collimators.
3 . The electronic device as in claim 2 , wherein:
the optical collimators include optical fibers.
4 . The electronic device as in claim 2 , wherein:
the optical collimators include a layer and an array of holes through the layer.
5 . The electronic device as in claim 1 , wherein:
the touch screen includes display pixels that produce light for displaying images and for illuminating a user's finger in touch with the top transparent layer to produce the returned light.
6 . The electronic device as in claim 5 , further comprising:
one or more illumination light sources that are separate from the display pixels of the touch screen and produce illumination light for illuminating a user's finger in touch with the top transparent layer to produce the returned light.
7 . The electronic device as in claim 1 , wherein:
the touch screen includes a fingerprint sensing zone for a user to touch for fingerprint sensing to generate the returned light received by the optical detector array for detecting a fingerprint; a first optical sensing zone and a second optical sensing zone;
the optical module includes (1) a first additional optical detector located on a first side of the optical detector array to receive a portion of the returned light from the first optical sensing zone, and (2) a second additional optical detector located on a second opposite side of the optical detector array to receive a portion of the returned light from the second optical sensing zone,
wherein the first and second additional optical detectors produce detector signals indicating whether the returned light is reflected from a finger of a live person.
8 . The electronic device as in claim 7 , wherein:
the first and second additional optical detectors produce detector signals indicating a heartbeat of a live person.
9 . The electronic device as in claim 7 , wherein:
the first and second additional optical detectors produce detector signals indicating a blood flow speed of a live person.
10 . The electronic device as in claim 7 , wherein:
the optical sensor module includes an array of optical collimators located between the touch screen and the optical detector array to direct the received portion of the returned light to the photodetectors through the optical collimators.
11 . The electronic device as in claim 1 , wherein:
the touch screen includes display pixels that produce light for displaying images and for illuminating a user's finger in touch with the top transparent layer to produce the returned light; and
the touch screen includes a fingerprint sensing zone for a user to touch for fingerprint sensing to receive illumination light from one or more display pixels that are located to generate illumination light to the fingerprint sensing zone in a way that the illumination light undergoes total optical reflection at a top surface of the top transparent layer to direct the totally reflected light to the optical detector array for detecting a fingerprint.
12 . The electronic device as in claim 1 , comprising:
a control that controls illumination light in fingerprint sensing by the optical sensor module.
13 . The electronic device as in claim 12 , wherein the control modulates the illumination light in fingerprint sending.