Fingerprint sensing control device and operation method thereof

Abstract

A fingerprint sensing control device and an operation method thereof. The fingerprint sensing control device includes a touch control circuit and a fingerprint sensing control circuit. The touch control circuit determines that an object is in a touch area of ​​a touch panel. The fingerprint sensing control circuit performs fingerprint sensing control on the touch panel, and determines a target sub-area overlapped by the touch area from a plurality of sub-areas of a fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel. When the target sub-area includes an adjacent first sub-area and a second sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the first sub-area along a first direction starting from a common edge between the first sub-area and the second sub-area, and the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the second sub-area along a second direction starting from the common edge.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic device, and in particular to a fingerprint sensing control device and an operating method thereof. Background Art

[0002] The fingerprint sensor can be placed on the display panel. Alternatively, the fingerprint sensor can be placed under the display panel. Alternatively, the fingerprint sensor can be embedded in the display panel. Therefore, a portion (or all) of the display area of ​​the display panel can be used as a fingerprint sensing area to sense fingerprints. Generally speaking, the larger the area of ​​the fingerprint sensing area, the higher the user's operating freedom. The fingerprint sensor has multiple fingerprint sensing units (sensing pixels). When the user's finger is pressed anywhere on the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the display panel, the fingerprint sensor can sense / identify the fingerprint of the user's finger.

[0003] Generally speaking, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans these fingerprint sensing units row by row in a scanning order from top to bottom to perform fingerprint sensing. Based on the scanning, the system can read the sensing results of all fingerprint sensing units of the fingerprint sensor row by row from top to bottom via the fingerprint sensing control circuit. As the panel size (the area of ​​the sensing area) increases, the fingerprint sensing control circuit takes longer to perform a global reading operation on the fingerprint sensing area.

[0004] It should be noted that the contents of the "Background Technology" section are used to help understand the present invention. Some (or all) of the contents disclosed in the "Background Technology" section may not be the prior art known to those skilled in the art. The contents disclosed in the "Background Technology" section do not mean that the contents have been known to those skilled in the art before the present invention is applied. Summary of the invention

[0005] The invention provides a fingerprint sensing control device and an operating method thereof to accelerate the scanning operation of a fingerprint sensing area of ​​a touch panel.

[0006] The fingerprint sensing control device of the present invention can perform fingerprint sensing control on a touch panel. The touch panel includes a fingerprint sensing area divided into a plurality of sub-areas. The fingerprint sensing control device includes a touch circuit and a fingerprint sensing control circuit. The touch circuit is configured to perform touch detection on the touch panel to determine the touch area of ​​the object. The fingerprint sensing control circuit is configured to perform fingerprint sensing control on the touch panel, and determine at least one target sub-area overlapped by the touch area from these sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area. When the at least one target sub-area includes an adjacent first sub-area and a second sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the first sub-area along a first direction starting from a common edge between the first sub-area and the second sub-area, and the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the second sub-area along a second direction starting from the common edge.

[0007] The operating method of the present invention includes: performing touch detection on a touch panel by a touch circuit to determine a touch area of ​​an object, wherein the touch panel includes a fingerprint sensing area divided into a plurality of sub-areas; performing fingerprint sensing control on the touch panel by a fingerprint sensing control circuit, and determining at least one target sub-area overlapped by the touch area from the sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area; and when the at least one target sub-area includes an adjacent first sub-area and a second sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the first sub-area along a first direction starting from a common edge between the first sub-area and the second sub-area, and scans the second sub-area along a second direction starting from the common edge.

[0008] Based on the above, the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel described in the embodiments of the present invention is divided into multiple sub-areas. When an object (such as a finger) touches the touch panel, the touch panel can perform touch detection to obtain the touch area of ​​the object. The fingerprint sensing control circuit can determine one (or more) target sub-areas from these sub-areas based on the touch area. The fingerprint sensing control circuit can scan the scan lines of the touch area in these target sub-areas, and skip scanning (not scanning) other scan lines except the target sub-area to speed up the fingerprint scanning operation on the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel.

[0009] In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, embodiments are listed below and described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a circuit block of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Figure 2 The diagram is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation scenario of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 3 FIG. 4 is a circuit block diagram illustrating a fingerprint sensing control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of signal timing of a fingerprint sensing control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 5 FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an operation method of a fingerprint sensing control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 6 FIG. 4 is a signal timing diagram of a fingerprint sensing control circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] Reference numerals list

[0017] 20: Touch area

[0018] 20A: First contact area

[0019] 20B: Second touch area

[0020] 100: Electronic devices

[0021] 110: Application Processor

[0022] 120: Fingerprint sensing control circuit

[0023] 121: Control circuit

[0024] 122: Multi-tasking circuit

[0025] 123: Read circuit

[0026] 130: Touch circuit

[0027] 140: Display driver circuit

[0028] 150: Touch panel

[0029] 160: Fingerprint sensor

[0030] CE: Common Edge

[0031] CK: frequency signal

[0032] D_1, D_2, D_3, D_4, ..., D_n: direction control signal

[0033] RST: reset signal

[0034] S510, S520, S530, S540: Steps

[0035] SG_1, SG_2, SG_3, SG_4, SG_n: sensing sub-areas

[0036] SG20: During target scanning

[0037] SN_1, SN_2: sensor groups

[0038] SP_1, SP_2, SP_3, SP_4, SP_n: start pulse signal

[0039] SR_1, SR_2, SR_3, SR_4, SR_n: shift register circuit

[0040] SR2_1, SR2_2, SR2_i, SR3_1, SR2_3, SR3_i: Scan signal

[0041] Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4: Fingerprint sensing unit area DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] The term "coupled (or connected)" used in the entire specification of this case (including the scope of the patent application) may refer to any direct or indirect means of connection. For example, if the text describes a first device coupled (or connected) to a second device, it should be interpreted that the first device can be directly connected to the second device, or the first device can be indirectly connected to the second device through other devices or some connection means. The terms "first", "second", etc. mentioned in the entire specification of this case (including the scope of the patent application) are used to name the components (element) or to distinguish different embodiments or scopes, and are not used to limit the upper or lower limit of the number of components, nor to limit the order of components. In addition, wherever possible, components / components / steps with the same number in the drawings and embodiments represent the same or similar parts. Components / components / steps using the same number or the same terminology in different embodiments can refer to the relevant descriptions of each other.

[0043] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a circuit block of an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device 100 may be a mobile device or other non-mobile computing device. In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 may include an application processor 110. In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 may further include a touch panel 150 with a display function. In addition, the touch panel 150 may be a touch display panel with a fingerprint sensing function. The embodiment of the present invention does not limit the circuit architecture for implementing touch sensing in the touch panel 150. If the touch panel 150 is a self-capacitive touch sensing architecture, the touch panel 150 may include a touch sensor array, for example, in the touch sensing stage, the common electrodes of multiple display pixels are connected to serve as a self-capacitive touch sensor (or touch sensing electrode).

[0044] Figure 1 The electronic device 100 further includes a display driving circuit 140 and a fingerprint sensing control device. Figure 1 In the illustrated embodiment, the fingerprint sensing control device includes a fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 and a touch circuit 130. It should be noted that although the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the touch circuit 130 and the display driver circuit 140 are illustrated as different circuit blocks, part or all of each block can be integrated with part or all of another (or two) blocks. In some embodiments, part or all of the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the touch circuit 130 and the display driver circuit 140 can be integrated into a single chip, or separated into different chips. The chip can be used to communicate with the application processor 110 and control the touch panel 150.

[0045] According to design requirements, in some embodiments, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the touch circuit 130 and the display driver circuit 140 may be different integrated circuits. In other embodiments, the touch circuit 130 and the display driver circuit 140 may be integrated into a touch display driver integration (TDDI) chip (or TDDI integrated circuit), and the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 is implemented in another chip (or integrated circuit). For example, the touch panel 150 may include a TDDI GOA circuit (not shown), and the TDDI chip (or TDDI integrated circuit) may communicate with the TDDI GOA circuit to control touch and display operations on the touch panel 150. In some other embodiments, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the touch circuit 130 and the display driver circuit 140 may be integrated into a single integrated circuit.

[0046] The application processor 110 may be coupled to the display driver circuit 140 to provide an image frame. The display driver circuit 140 may be coupled (directly or indirectly connected) to the touch panel 150. The display driver circuit 140 may drive / control the touch display panel (touch panel 150) to display an image in a display area of ​​the touch panel 150. For example, the touch panel 150 may include an integrated gate driver on array (GOA) circuit (not shown), and the display driver circuit 140 may communicate with the GOA circuit of the touch panel 150 to control the touch panel 150.

[0047] The touch panel 150 may include a touch detector (not shown). For example, the touch panel 150 may be a touch display panel. The touch circuit 130 is coupled to (and controls) the touch detector of the touch panel 150. The touch circuit 130 may perform touch detection on the touch panel 150 to obtain information about the touch area of ​​an object (e.g., a finger) on the touch panel 150, such as the area and position of the touch area, the center coordinates of the touch area, etc. The touch circuit 130 may calculate the information about the above touch area based on a plurality of touch sensing values ​​obtained by detecting the touch panel 150 (e.g., detecting the self-capacitive touch sensor array of the touch panel 150). In the same or alternative embodiments, the touch circuit 130 may obtain the touch area of ​​the object on the touch panel 150. The application processor 110 is coupled to the touch circuit 130 to receive the touch detection result. In some embodiments, the application processor 110 may obtain the touch area of ​​the object on the touch panel 150.

[0048] exist Figure 1 In the illustrated embodiment, the touch panel 150 further includes a fingerprint sensor 160, which is embedded inside the touch panel 150. According to design requirements, the fingerprint sensor 160 may be an optical fingerprint sensor or other fingerprint sensors, such as a capacitive fingerprint sensor. In other embodiments, the fingerprint sensor 160 may be placed outside the touch panel 150, for example, below the touch panel 150, referred to as an under-display configuration, or above the touch panel 150, referred to as an under-display configuration. A portion (or all) of the display area of ​​the touch panel 150 overlaps with the sensing area of ​​the fingerprint sensor 160 to sense the fingerprint. Generally speaking, the larger the area of ​​the fingerprint sensing area, the higher the user's freedom of operation.

[0049] When the user's finger is pressed anywhere on the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150 , the fingerprint sensor 160 can sense / recognize the fingerprint of the user's finger. In some embodiments, the application processor 110 is coupled to the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 .

[0050] The fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may be coupled (directly or indirectly connected) to (and control) the fingerprint sensor 160 of the touch panel 150 to perform fingerprint sensing control on the touch panel 150 and read the sensing signal, and generate fingerprint image data (as a digital value). For example, the touch panel 150 may include a GOA circuit (not shown), and the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may communicate with the GOA circuit to control the fingerprint sensor 160 of the touch panel 150. The application processor 110 may also be coupled to the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 to receive fingerprint image data.

[0051] In some embodiments, the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150 may be divided into a plurality of sub-areas, and the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 is further coupled to the touch control circuit 130 to obtain information about the area touched by the object on the touch panel 150. The fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may determine at least one target sub-area from the sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150 according to the information about the touched area (e.g., one or more of the area and position of the touched area, the center coordinates of the touched area, etc.).

[0052] In other embodiments, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 is not coupled to the touch control circuit 130. The touch control circuit 130 may provide information about the touch area of ​​the object on the touch panel 150 to the application processor 110, and the application processor 110 may directly provide the information about the touch area provided by the touch circuit 130 or provide it to the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 after processing. In some embodiments, the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150 may be divided into a plurality of sub-areas, and the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may obtain at least one sub-area instruction corresponding to the information about the touch area from the application processor 110. The fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may determine at least one target sub-area from the sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150 according to the sub-area instruction.

[0053] Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation scenario of the touch panel 150 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The touch control circuit 130 can perform touch detection on the touch panel 150 to obtain the touch area 20 of the finger on the touch panel 150. Figure 2 In the example shown, the sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150 is divided into a plurality of fingerprint sensing unit areas (i.e. Figure 2 The multiple small squares shown, for example Figure 2 The fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 are shown).

[0054] The touch control circuit 130 can perform touch detection on the touch panel 150 to determine the touch area 20 of the object (such as one or more fingers) on the touch panel 150. The fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 can determine at least one target fingerprint sensing unit area from these fingerprint sensing unit areas of the touch panel 150 based on the information of the touch area 20. For example, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 can determine the position of the target fingerprint sensing unit area based on the area and position of the touch area 20 or the center coordinates of the touch area. The touch area 20 may be located in the at least one target fingerprint sensing unit area. In addition, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 can determine the total number of the target fingerprint sensing unit areas based on the area of ​​the touch area 20. Figure 2 In the illustrated example, because the touch area 20 overlaps the fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1 , Z2 , Z3 , and Z4 , the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 determines the fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1 , Z2 , Z3 , and Z4 as the target fingerprint sensing unit areas.

[0055] Figure 3 FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram illustrating a fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 The touch panel 150 shown can refer to Figure 2 The relevant description of the touch panel 150 is not repeated here. Figure 1 and Figure 3 The fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 includes a control circuit 121 and a reading circuit 123. The touch panel 150 includes one or more sensing groups extending along a column direction, such as Figure 3 The sensing groups SN_1 and SN_2 are shown. Each of these sensing groups includes one or more sensing lines. The multi-tasking circuit 122 is coupled to the sensing groups of the touch panel 150. The fingerprint reading circuit 123 is coupled to the multi-tasking circuit 122. Based on design requirements, the multi-tasking circuit 122 can be set on the touch panel 150. In other embodiments, the multi-tasking circuit 122 can be set in the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120.

[0056] The fingerprint reading circuit 123 can read the sensing signal (fingerprint sensing result) of the finger pressing area 20 from the target fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 through the multi-tasking circuit 122, and skip reading the other fingerprint sensing unit areas except the target fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 among the fingerprint areas of the touch panel 150. For example, the control circuit 121 can control the multi-tasking circuit 122 to turn on one or more signal paths from the target sensing groups SN_1 and SN_2 of the finger pressing area 20 to the fingerprint reading circuit 123, and turn off one or more signal paths from the other sensing groups except the target sensing groups SN_1 and SN_2 among the sensing groups to the fingerprint reading circuit 123.

[0057] The touch panel 150 further includes one or more shift registers, such as Figure 3 The shift register circuits SR_1, SR_2, SR_3, SR_4, ..., SR_n are shown, where n is an arbitrary integer according to design requirements. Each shift register circuit includes a plurality of shift register units. Each shift register circuit outputs a scanning signal for controlling a plurality of fingerprint scanning lines. The scanning signal is a signal for controlling the gate of a reset transistor of a fingerprint pixel circuit, or a signal for controlling the gate of a select transistor of a fingerprint pixel circuit. The conduction of the reset transistor indicates the reset of the fingerprint pixel circuit, and the conduction of the select transistor indicates the readout of the sensing signal. That is, the reset transistor and / or the select transistor of the fingerprint pixel circuit can be controlled according to the fingerprint sensing control circuit and the corresponding method of the embodiment of the present invention. According to design requirements, the shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n configured on the touch panel 150 can be integrated gate driver on array (GOA) circuits. In other embodiments, the shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n can be arranged in the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120. In other embodiments, according to design requirements, part or all of the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 and part or all of the GOA circuit can be integrated or separated.

[0058] Figure 3 The fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150 shown in the figure can be divided into a plurality of sensing sub-areas SG_1, SG_2, SG_3, SG_4, ..., SG_n along the vertical direction, which are called sensing sub-areas. Each sensing sub-area includes a plurality of fingerprint sensing unit areas with smaller areas, such as Figure 2Each of the sensing sub-regions SG_1 to SG_n may include one or more scan lines. Each of the sensing sub-regions SG_1 to SG_n may be coupled to a corresponding one of the shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n, such as Figure 3 As shown. Each of these shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n can receive a corresponding start pulse signal from a plurality of start pulse signals (e.g., SP_1, SP_2, SP_3, SP_4, ..., SP_n, from the control circuit 121), and receive a corresponding direction control signal from a plurality of direction control signals (e.g., D_1, D_2, D_3, D_4, ..., D_n, from the control circuit 121). The GOA circuit can generate or receive a frequency signal CK, which can trigger the shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n to control a plurality of fingerprint sensing units of the touch panel 150. This embodiment does not limit the implementation details of these shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n. According to design requirements, in some embodiments, any of these shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n can be an existing shift register or other shift register circuits.

[0059] Figure 4 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of signal timing of the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 The embodiments shown can be applied to (but not limited to) Figure 3 Embodiment of the invention. Figure 3 The touch area 20, the target fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1-Z4, the shift register circuit SR_2 and the shift register circuit SR_3 are extracted from Figure 4 Please refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4 The control circuit 121 can adjust the logic state of the direction control signals D_1~D_n to change the shift direction (corresponding to the fingerprint scanning direction) of these shift register circuits SR_1~SR_n. For example, the control circuit 121 can set the logic state of the direction control signals D_1~D_n to a first logic state (e.g., a high logic level) to control the shift direction (scanning direction) of these shift register circuits SR_1~SR_n to a first direction (e.g., from bottom to top). Figure 4In the illustrated embodiment, the logic state of the direction control signals D_1 to D_n is assumed to be a second logic state (e.g., a low logic level) to indicate that the shift direction (scanning direction) of the shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n is a second direction (e.g., from top to bottom). According to the start pulse signal SP_2 and the clock signal CK, the shift register circuit SR_2 can output scan signals SR2_1, SR2_2, ..., SR2_i to the sensing sub-region SG_2, where i is an arbitrary integer according to design requirements. According to the start pulse signal SP_3 and the clock signal CK, the shift register circuit SR_3 can output scan signals SR3_1, SR2_3, ..., SR3_i to the sensing sub-region SG_3.

[0060] In some embodiments, the control circuit 121 may obtain information about the touch area 20 (including position and / or area size or center coordinates, etc.) from the touch control circuit 130. In other embodiments, the control circuit 121 may obtain the information about the touch area 20 from the application processor 110. The control circuit 121 may perform accelerated scanning operations based on the information about the touch area 20. Figure 4 In the illustrated embodiment, the operation of the "accelerated scanning operation" includes: the control circuit 121 can skip scanning the sensing sub-areas SG_1 and SG_4 to SG_n other than the sensing sub-areas SG_2 and SG_3 to which the target fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 belong, wherein the "skipping" operation includes not sending any scanning signal to the sensing sub-areas SG_1 and SG_4 to SG_n. For example, according to the information of the touch area 20, the control circuit 121 can apply the corresponding start pulse to the target shift register circuits SR_2 and SR_3, but not apply the start pulse to the other shift register circuits SR_1 and SR_4 to SR_n, such as Figure 4 That is, a start pulse is provided to trigger the target shift register circuits SR_2 and SR_3 corresponding to the target sensing sub-regions SG_2 and SG_3, and the start pulse is not provided to the shift register circuits SR_1 and SR_4 to SR_n corresponding to the sensing sub-regions SG_1 and SG_4 to SG_n other than the sensing sub-regions SG_2 and SG_3 to which the target fingerprint sensing unit regions Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 belong.

[0061] exist Figure 4In the illustrated embodiment, the control circuit 121 may set the scanning speed of the target scanning period SG20 corresponding to the touch area 20 to the first speed, and the scanning speed of other scanning periods except the target scanning period SG20 to the second speed (the second speed is higher than the first speed). For example, the control circuit 121 may set the frequency signal CK in the target scanning period SG20 to have the first frequency, and set the frequency signal CK in other scanning periods except the target scanning period SG20 to the second frequency (the second frequency is higher than the first frequency). That is, the scanning speed of the target sensing sub-areas SG_2 and SG_3 to which the target fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 belong is set to the first speed, and the scanning speed of other sensing sub-areas in the sensing sub-areas SG_1 to SG_n except the target sensing sub-areas SG_2 and SG_3 is set to the second speed (the second speed is higher than the first speed).

[0062] Figure 5 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of an operation method of a fingerprint sensing control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 , Figure 3 and Figure 5 In step S510, the touch control circuit 130 may perform touch detection on the touch panel 150 to determine the touch area 20 of the object (e.g., one or more fingers) on the touch panel 150. In step S520, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may perform fingerprint sensing control on the touch panel 150 and determine at least one target sensing sub-area overlapped by the touch area 20 from the sensing sub-areas SG_1 to SG_n of the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel 150. For example, in Figure 3 In the illustrated scenario, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may determine the sensing sub-regions SG_2 and SG_3 among the sensing sub-regions SG_1 ˜SG_n of the touch panel 150 as the target sensing sub-regions (because the touch region 20 overlaps the sub-regions SG_2 and SG_3 ).

[0063] Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of signal timing of the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 according to another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 The embodiments shown can be applied to (but not limited to) Figure 3 Embodiment of the invention. Figure 3 The touch area 20, the target fingerprint sensing unit areas Z1-Z4, the shift register circuit SR_2 and the shift register circuit SR_3 are extracted from Figure 6The touch region 20 is divided into a first touch region 20A and a second touch region 20B based on the common edge CE between the target sensing sub-regions SG_2 and SG_3. The first touch region 20A falls in the sensing sub-region SG_2, and the second touch region 20B falls in the sensing sub-region SG_3. Figure 6 The illustrated embodiment can be referred to Figure 4 Please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 5 and Figure 6 The control circuit 121 can output a reset signal RST to reset the shift register circuits SR_1 to SR_n. After resetting, according to the start pulse signal SP_2 and the clock signal CK, the shift register circuit SR_2 can output scan signals SR2_1 to SR2_i to the sensing sub-region SG_2. According to the start pulse signal SP_3 and the clock signal CK, the shift register circuit SR_3 can output scan signals SR3_1 to SR3_i to the sensing sub-region SG_3.

[0064] The control circuit 121 can obtain information about the touch area 20 (including the position and / or area size) from the touch control circuit 130 (or the application processor 110). The control circuit 121 can perform Figure 5 How to operate. Figure 3 In the illustrated scenario, the target sensing sub-region includes adjacent sensing sub-region SG_2 (first sub-region) and sensing sub-region SG_3 (second sub-region). Figure 3 , Figure 5 and Figure 6 . In step S530, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may apply a pulse to the start pulse signal SP_2, and set the logic state of the direction control signal D_2 to a first logic state (e.g., a high logic level) to control the shift direction (scanning direction) of the shift register circuit SR_2 to be a first direction (e.g., from bottom to top). Therefore, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may control the shift register circuit SR_2 to scan the target sensing sub-area SG_2 along the first direction (e.g., from bottom to top) starting from the common edge CE between the target sensing sub-areas SG_2 and SG_3. When the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 completes scanning the first touch area 20A along the first direction starting from the common edge CE, but has not yet completed scanning the sensing sub-area SG_2, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may reset the shift register circuit SR_2 corresponding to the sensing sub-area SG_2 by means of the reset signal RST to stop scanning the sensing sub-area SG_2.

[0065] In step S540, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may apply a pulse to the start pulse signal SP_3, and set the logic state of the direction control signal D_3 to a second logic state (e.g., a low logic level) to control the shift direction (scanning direction) of the shift register circuit SR_3 to be a second direction (e.g., from top to bottom). Therefore, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may control the shift register circuit SR_3 to scan the target sensing sub-area SG_3 from the common edge CE along the second direction (e.g., from top to bottom). When the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 completes scanning the second touch area 20B from the common edge CE along the second direction, but has not yet completed scanning the sensing sub-area SG_3, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may reset the shift register circuit SR_3 corresponding to the sensing sub-area SG_3 by means of the reset signal RST to stop scanning the sensing sub-area SG_3.

[0066] According to design requirements, in some embodiments, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may not apply pulses to other start pulse signals SP_1, SP_4-SP_n. Therefore, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may skip scanning other sensing sub-regions SG_1, SG_4-SG_n that are not overlapped by the touch area 20.

[0067] When the target sensing sub-area is a single target sensing sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may scan the single target sensing sub-area along the first direction (or the second direction) starting from one edge of the single target sensing sub-area. When the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 completes scanning the touch area 20 but has not completed scanning the single target sensing sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120 may reset the shift register corresponding to the single target sensing sub-area to stop scanning the single target sensing sub-area.

[0068] When the number of sensing sub-areas divided in the vertical direction of the fingerprint sensor 160 increases, the number of start pulse signals that the control circuit 121 needs to output also increases. For example, when the fingerprint sensor 160 has 32 sensing sub-areas, the fingerprint sensing circuit according to the aforementioned embodiment needs to provide 32 start pulse signals to the touch panel 150. Therefore, according to another embodiment of the present invention, a decoding circuit can be set in the GOA circuit for fingerprint sensing of the touch panel 150, and the control circuit 121 outputs M (for example, 5) control signals (which can be expressed as B[0:(M-1)], for example, B[0:4]) to indicate 2 MThe fingerprint sensing GOA circuit of the touch panel 150 is provided with or without a start pulse signal (for example, 32 start pulse signals), and the decoder decodes and generates a corresponding start pulse signal. In this way, the chip pins used to transmit the start pulse signal can be greatly reduced. For example, when the touch area is located in the third sensing sub-area (considered as the upper area) and the fourth sensing sub-area (considered as the lower area) from top to bottom in a total of 32 fingerprint sensing sub-areas, the fingerprint sensing circuit can output a control signal S[0:4]=00010 to enable the decoder to generate a start pulse signal output to the shift register circuit SR_3, and output a control signal S[0:4]=00011 to enable the decoder to generate a start pulse signal output to the shift register circuit SR_4.

[0069] According to different design requirements, the blocks of the application processor 110, fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, control circuit 121, reading circuit 123 and / or touch circuit 130 may be implemented in the form of hardware, firmware, software (i.e., program) or a combination of more than one of the above three.

[0070] In terms of hardware, the blocks of the application processor 110, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the control circuit 121, the reading circuit 123 and / or the touch circuit 130 can be implemented as logic circuits on an integrated circuit. The related functions of the application processor 110, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the control circuit 121, the reading circuit 123 and / or the touch circuit 130 can be implemented as hardware using hardware description languages ​​(such as Verilog HDL or VHDL) or other suitable programming languages. For example, the related functions of the application processor 110, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the control circuit 121, the reading circuit 123 and / or the touch circuit 130 can be implemented in various logic blocks, modules and circuits in one or more controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and / or other processing units.

[0071] In terms of software and / or firmware, the related functions of the application processor 110, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the control circuit 121, the reading circuit 123 and / or the touch circuit 130 can be implemented as programming codes. For example, the application processor 110, the fingerprint sensing control circuit 120, the control circuit 121, the reading circuit 123 and / or the touch circuit 130 can be implemented using general programming languages ​​(such as C, C++ or assembly language) or other suitable programming languages. The programming codes can be recorded / stored in a recording medium, and the recording medium includes, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), a storage device and / or a random access memory (RAM). A computer, a central processing unit (CPU), a controller, a microcontroller or a microprocessor can read and execute the programming codes from the recording medium to achieve the related functions. As the recording medium, a "non-transitory computer readable medium" may be used, such as a tape, a disk, a card, a semiconductor memory, a programmable logic circuit, etc. In addition, the program may be provided to the computer (or CPU) via any transmission medium (communication network or broadcast wave, etc.). The communication network may be, for example, the Internet, wired communication, wireless communication, or other communication medium.

[0072] In summary, the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel described in the embodiments of the present invention is divided into multiple sub-areas. When an object (such as a finger) touches the touch panel, the touch panel can perform touch detection to obtain the touch area of ​​the object. The fingerprint sensing control circuit can determine one (or more) target sub-areas from these sub-areas based on the touch area. The fingerprint sensing control circuit can scan the scan lines of the touch area in these target sub-areas, and skip scanning (not scanning) other scan lines except the target sub-areas to speed up the fingerprint scanning operation on the fingerprint sensing area of ​​the touch panel.

[0073] Although the present invention has been disclosed as above by way of embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any technician in the relevant technical field may make slight changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be based on the scope defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A fingerprint sensing control device capable of performing fingerprint sensing control on a touch panel, characterized in that: The touch panel includes a fingerprint sensing area divided into a plurality of sub-areas, and the fingerprint sensing control device includes: A touch circuit configured to perform touch detection on the touch panel to determine a touch area of ​​the object; and The fingerprint sensing control circuit is configured to perform the fingerprint sensing control on the touch panel and determine at least one target sub-area overlapped by the touch area from the multiple sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area, wherein When the at least one target sub-area includes an adjacent first sub-area and a second sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the first sub-area along a first direction starting from a common edge between the first sub-area and the second sub-area, and the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the second sub-area along a second direction starting from the common edge.

2. The fingerprint sensing control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fingerprint sensing control circuit skips scanning other sub-areas of the plurality of sub-areas that are not overlapped by the touched area.

3. The fingerprint sensing control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the at least one target sub-region is a single target sub-region, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the single target sub-region starting from an edge of the single target sub-region along the first direction or the second direction, and When the fingerprint sensing control circuit completes scanning the touch area but has not completed scanning the single target sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit resets the shift register corresponding to the single target sub-area to stop scanning the single target sub-area.

4. The fingerprint sensing control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The touch area is divided into a first touch area and a second touch area based on the common edge, the first touch area falls within the first sub-area, and the second touch area falls within the second sub-area. When the fingerprint sensing control circuit completes scanning the first touch area along the first direction starting from the common edge but has not yet completed scanning the first sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit resets the first shift register corresponding to the first sub-area to stop scanning the first sub-area, and When the fingerprint sensing control circuit completes scanning the second touch area along the second direction starting from the common edge but has not completed scanning the second sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit resets the second shift register corresponding to the second sub-area to stop scanning the second sub-area.

5. The fingerprint sensing control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The touch panel is a touch display panel with a fingerprint sensing function.

6. The fingerprint sensing control device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The fingerprint sensing control device further comprises: The display driving circuit is configured to drive the touch display panel to display an image in a display area of ​​the touch display panel.

7. The fingerprint sensing control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The touch control circuit provides the information of the touch area to the application processor, the fingerprint sensing control circuit obtains a sub-area instruction corresponding to the information of the touch area from the application processor, and the fingerprint sensing control circuit determines at least one target sub-area from the multiple sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area according to the sub-area instruction.

8. The fingerprint sensing control device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fingerprint sensing control circuit is coupled to the touch control circuit to obtain information of the touch area, and the fingerprint sensing control circuit determines the at least one target sub-area from the multiple sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area according to the information of the touch area.

9. A method for operating a fingerprint sensing control device, characterized in that: The operation method comprises: The touch control circuit performs touch detection on the touch panel to determine the touch area of ​​the object, wherein the touch panel includes a fingerprint sensing area divided into a plurality of sub-areas; The fingerprint sensing control circuit performs fingerprint sensing control on the touch panel, and determines at least one target sub-area overlapped by the touch area from the multiple sub-areas of the fingerprint sensing area; and When the at least one target sub-area includes an adjacent first sub-area and a second sub-area, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the first sub-area along a first direction starting from a common edge between the first sub-area and the second sub-area, and scans the second sub-area along a second direction starting from the common edge.

10. The operating method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The operation method further includes: The scanning of other sub-areas in the multiple sub-areas that are not overlapped by the touched area is skipped.

11. The operating method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The operation method further includes: When the at least one target sub-region is a single target sub-region, the fingerprint sensing control circuit scans the single target sub-region starting from an edge of the single target sub-region along the first direction or the second direction; and When the scanning of the touch area is completed but the scanning of the single target sub-area is not completed, the shift register corresponding to the single target sub-area is reset to stop the scanning of the single target sub-area.

12. The operating method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The touch area is divided into a first touch area and a second touch area based on the common edge, the first touch area falls within the first sub-area, the second touch area falls within the second sub-area, and the operation method further includes: When the scanning of the first touched area is completed but the scanning of the first sub-area is not completed, resetting the first shift register corresponding to the first sub-area to stop scanning the first sub-area, and When the scanning of the second touched area is completed but the scanning of the second sub-area is not completed, the second shift register corresponding to the second sub-area is reset to stop scanning the second sub-area.

13. The operating method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The touch panel is a touch display panel with a fingerprint sensing function.

14. The operating method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The operation method further includes: The touch display panel is driven by a display driving circuit to display an image in a display area of ​​the touch display panel.

15. The operating method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The operation method further includes: The touch control circuit provides information of the touch area to an application processor; The fingerprint sensing control circuit obtains a sub-area instruction corresponding to the information of the touch area from the application processor; and The fingerprint sensing control circuit determines the at least one target sub-region from the plurality of sub-regions of the fingerprint sensing area according to the sub-region instruction.

16. The operating method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The operation method further includes: The fingerprint sensing control circuit obtains the information of the touch area from the touch control circuit; and The fingerprint sensing control circuit determines the at least one target sub-region from the plurality of sub-regions of the fingerprint sensing area according to the information of the touched region.

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