IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,528,190
Granted Patent B2
US 10,528,190 · App. 16/208,034 · Granted Jan 7, 2020

Water robustness and detection on capacitive buttons

Inventors: Axel Heim (Munich, DE); Joao Ferreira (Gilching, DE)
Assignee: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY GERMANY GMBH
G06F3/0418G06F3/044G06F3/0416G06F2203/04108
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,528,190
App. No.
16/208,034
Granted
Jan 7, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for touch detection includes identifying a high-pass filtered sequence from a plurality of sensor measurements, accumulating a number of samples from a first high-pass filtered sequence into an accumulated value, comparing the first accumulated value against a threshold of accumulated values, and, based upon a determination whether the accumulated value is greater than the threshold of accumulated values, identify whether the sensor has been approached.

Claims (64)

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions, the instructions, when loaded and executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

identify a first high-pass filtered sequence from a plurality of sensor measurements;

accumulate a plurality of samples from the first high-pass filtered sequence into a first accumulated value;

compare the first accumulated value against a first threshold of accumulated values; based upon a determination whether the first accumulated value is greater than the first threshold of accumulated values, identify whether the sensor has been approached; reset the first accumulated value when:

the first high-pass filtered sequence changes its sign; or

a result of low-pass filtering the high-pass filtered sequence changes its sign;

count a number of resets of the first accumulated value, wherein a given reset occurred after the first accumulated value exceeded an accumulation threshold during a defined time interval; and

determine, through comparing the number of resets of the accumulated value within the defined time interval to a counting threshold, whether the identification of whether the sensor has been approached is false.

2. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for causing a first low-pass filtering of the sensor measurements before or after the high-pass filtering.

3. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for causing the processor to:

identify a second high-pass filtered sequence from the plurality of sensor measurements; accumulate a plurality of samples from the second high-pass filtered sequence into a second accumulated value;

compare the second accumulated value against a second threshold of accumulated values; and

based upon a determination whether the second accumulated value is greater than the second threshold of accumulated values, identify whether the sensor has been approached.

4. The medium of claim 1 , where the first high-pass filtered sequence is computed by computing a sequence of differentials between sensor measurements.

5. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for causing the processor to reset the first accumulated value when the high-pass filtered sequence reaches a reset threshold.

6. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for causing the processor to input the high-pass filtered sequence into a Schmitt trigger with user-defined trigger hysteresis thresholds, wherein the first accumulated value is reset when the Schmitt trigger output is in one pre-defined level of a possible two output levels.

7. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for causing the processor to debounce the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on a determination that the identification that the sensor was approached is false.

8. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for causing the processor to debounce the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on whether the first accumulated value has decreased.

9. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising instructions for causing the processor to extend a time for debouncing the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on a determination that the identification that the sensor was approached is false.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions, the instructions, when loaded and executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

identify a first high-pass filtered sequence from a plurality of sensor measurements;

accumulate a plurality of samples from the first high-pass filtered sequence into a first accumulated value;

compare the first accumulated value against a first threshold of accumulated values;

based upon a determination whether the first accumulated value is greater than the first threshold of accumulated values, identify whether the sensor has been approached;

reset the first accumulated value when:

the first high-pass filtered sequence changes its sign; or

a result of low-pass filtering the high-pass filtered sequence changes its sign;

count a number of resets of the first accumulated value, wherein a given reset occurred after the first accumulated value exceeded an accumulation threshold during a defined time interval; and

determine, through comparing the number of resets of the accumulated value within the defined time interval to a counting threshold, whether the identification of whether the sensor has been approached is false.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the medium further comprises instructions for causing a first low-pass filtering of the sensor measurements before or after the high-pass filtering.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the medium further comprises instructions for causing the processor to:

identify a second high-pass filtered sequence from the plurality of sensor measurements; accumulate a plurality of samples from the second high-pass filtered sequence into a second accumulated value;

compare the second accumulated value against a second threshold of accumulated values; and

based upon a determination whether the second accumulated value is greater than the second threshold of accumulated values, identify whether the sensor has been approached.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , where the first high-pass filtered sequence is computed by computing a sequence of differentials between sensor measurements.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the medium further comprises instructions for causing the processor to reset the first accumulated value when the high-pass filtered sequence reaches a reset threshold.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the medium further comprises instructions for causing the processor to input the high-pass filtered sequence into a Schmitt trigger with user-defined trigger hysteresis thresholds, wherein the first accumulated value is reset when the Schmitt trigger output is in one pre-defined level of a possible two output levels.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the medium further comprises instructions for causing the processor to debounce the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on a determination that the identification that the sensor was approached is false.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the medium further comprises instructions for causing the processor to debounce the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on whether the first accumulated value has decreased.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the medium further comprises instructions for causing the processor to extend a time for debouncing the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on a determination that the identification that the sensor was approached is false.

19. A method, comprising:

identifying a first high-pass filtered sequence from a plurality of sensor measurements;

accumulating a plurality of samples from the first high-pass filtered sequence into a first accumulated value;

comparing the first accumulated value against a first threshold of accumulated values;

based upon a determination whether the first accumulated value is greater than the first threshold of accumulated values, identifying whether the sensor has been approached;

resetting the first accumulated value when:

the first high-pass filtered sequence changes its sign; or

a result of low-pass filtering the high-pass filtered sequence changes its sign;

counting a number of resets of the first accumulated value, wherein a given reset occurred after the first accumulated value exceeded an accumulation threshold during a defined time interval; and

determining, through comparing the number of resets of the accumulated value within the defined time interval to a counting threshold, whether the identification of whether the sensor has been approached is false.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising performing a first low-pass filtering of the sensor measurements before or after the high-pass filtering.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

identifying a second high-pass filtered sequence from the plurality of sensor measurements;

accumulating a plurality of samples from the second high-pass filtered sequence into a second accumulated value;

comparing the second accumulated value against a second threshold of accumulated values; and

based upon a determination whether the second accumulated value is greater than the second threshold of accumulated values, identifying whether the sensor has been approached.

22. The method of claim 19 , where the first high-pass filtered sequence is computed by computing a sequence of differentials between sensor measurements.

23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising resetting the first accumulated value when the high-pass filtered sequence reaches a reset threshold.

24. The method of claim 19 , further comprising inputting the high-pass filtered sequence into a Schmitt trigger with user-defined trigger hysteresis thresholds, wherein the first accumulated value is reset when the Schmitt trigger output is in one pre-defined level of a possible two output levels.

25. The method of claim 19 , further comprising debouncing the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on a determination that the identification that the sensor was approached is false.

26. The method of claim 19 , debouncing the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on whether the first accumulated value has decreased.

27. The method of claim 19 , further comprising extending a time for debouncing the identification of whether the sensor has been approached based on a determination that the identification that the sensor was approached is false.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 3, 2018
From: HEIM, AXEL; FERREIRA, JOAO
To: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY GERMANY GMBH
Reel/Frame 047661/0454 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 15471322 · Mar 28, 2017
Provisional Application 62314886 · Mar 29, 2016
Related Publication 20190163323A1 · May 30, 2019