IP Library Granted Patent US 11,442,586
Granted Patent B2
US 11,442,586 · App. 15/997,518 · Granted Sep 13, 2022

Canceling unwanted capacitive effects in a capacitive touch measurement, and related systems, methods, and devices

Inventor: Anders Vinje (Trondheim, NO)
Assignee: Microchip Technology Incorporated
G06F3/0446G06F3/04186G06F3/041662G06F2203/04107
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,442,586
App. No.
15/997,518
Granted
Sep 13, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to systems and methods for canceling mutual capacitive effects in a capacitive touch measurement, and more specifically, implementing a driven shield using rail-to-rail voltage.

Claims (23)

1. A capacitive touch circuitry, the circuitry comprising:

an electrode circuitry;

a driven shield circuitry to:

drive one or more inactive electrodes of the electrode circuitry at a first reference voltage rail for a first period of time; and

drive one or more inactive electrodes of the electrode circuitry in a generally increasing or decreasing manner between the first reference voltage rail and a second reference voltage rail for a second period of time, and at least in part thereby induce cancelling mutual capacitance effects at an active sense electrode;

a sensing circuitry to drive an active drive electrode and at least in part thereby induce self-capacitance effects at the active sense electrode;

a self-capacitance sensing circuitry to provide one or more measurable signals that are indicative of the induced cancelling mutual capacitance effects and the induced self- capacitance effects; and

a measurement circuitry to:

combine a first and second measurement values, the first measurement value corresponding to a measurable signal generated during the first period of time and the second measurement value corresponding to a measurable signal generated during the second period of time; and

obtain a self-capacitance measurement.

2. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the sensing circuitry and the driven shield circuitry are to drive the active drive electrode and the one or more inactive electrodes, respectively, at substantially the same time.

3. The circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the driven shield circuitry is to generate a rail-to-rail pulse.

4. A microcontroller package, comprising:

a number of programmable input/output (I/O) pins;

a touch controller to generate a first voltage at one or more programmable I/O pins associated with inactive drive lines and inactive sense lines during a measurement acquisition cycle, the measurement acquisition cycle comprising a positive pre-charge measurement phase and a negative pre-charge measurement phase, wherein providing the shield voltage comprises:

holding the one or more programmable I/O pins associated with inactive drive lines and inactive sense lines to a first voltage rail during one of the positive pre-charge measurement phase and the negative pre-charge measurement phase; and

driving the one or more programmable I/O pins associated with inactive drive lines and inactive sense lines from the first voltage rail to a second voltage rail during the other one of the positive pre-charge measurement phase and the negative pre-charge measurement phase; and

a digital control bus operatively coupled to the touch controller.

5. The microcontroller package of claim 4 , wherein the touch controller is an embedded microcontroller.

6. The microcontroller package of claim 4 , wherein the first voltage rail is equal to ground and the second voltage rail is equal to a supply voltage.

7. The microcontroller package of claim 4 , further comprising general purpose input/output drivers that are operably coupled to the digital control bus.

8. The microcontroller package of claim 7 , wherein the general purpose I/O drivers are configurable responsive to one or more digital control signals provided by the touch controller to the digital control bus.

9. The microcontroller package of claim 4 , wherein the touch controller comprises one or more custom input/output (I/O) drivers that are to control one or more of the number of programmable input/output (I/O) pins.

Assignments (13)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 14, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 060894/0437 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 11, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059363/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 10, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059863/0400 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 9, 2022
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059358/0335 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 28, 2022
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 059263/0001 →
GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT RIGHTS Recorded Nov 19, 2021
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 058214/0625 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 4, 2021
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 057935/0474 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 24, 2020
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 055671/0612 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC.; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 052856/0909 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 5, 2020
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC.; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 053468/0705 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 30, 2020
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC.; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 053466/0011 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Apr 24, 2020
From: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC.; SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC.; ATMEL CORPORATION; MICROSEMI CORPORATION; MICROSEMI STORAGE SOLUTIONS, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 053311/0305 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 4, 2018
From: VINJE, ANDERS
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 045983/0879 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation PCTUS2018033511 · May 18, 2018
Provisional Application 62508848 · May 19, 2017
Related Publication 20180335872A1 · Nov 22, 2018