Touch controller, method for determining touch position, chip and electronic equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a touch controller, a method for determining a touch position, a chip and electronic equipment, and belongs to the technical field of touch control. In the touch controller, a driving module is connected with a transmitting electrode of a touch sensor, and a sensing module is connected with a receiving electrode of the touch sensor; the driving module is used for acquiring a plurality of first carrier signals in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of frequencies, and fusing the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal; the driving module is further used for transmitting a driving signal to the transmitting electrode based on the second carrier signal, and the driving signal is used for enabling the receiving electrode to generate a sensing signal; and the sensing module is used for acquiring the sensing signal and demodulating the sensing signal according to the plurality of frequencies to obtain a plurality of measurement results in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of frequencies, and at least one of the plurality of measurement results is used for determining the touch position. According to the touch controller, seamless frequency hopping can be achieved, and the efficiency of determining the touch position is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of touch control technology, and in particular to a touch controller, a method for determining a touch position, a chip, and an electronic device. Background Art

[0002] The touch controller can perform measurements on the touch sensor at a certain frequency to obtain measurement results, which are used to determine the capacitance of the touch sensor, such as self-capacitance or mutual capacitance, etc. The capacitance of the touch sensor is used to determine the touch position. Therefore, how the touch controller can flexibly perform measurements has become a problem worthy of attention. Summary of the invention

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide a touch controller, a method for determining a touch position, a chip and an electronic device, which can be used to flexibly perform measurements. The technical solution includes the following aspects.

[0004] In a first aspect, a touch controller is provided, the touch controller comprising a driving module and a sensing module, the driving module being connected to a transmitting electrode of a touch sensor, the sensing module being connected to a receiving electrode of the touch sensor, and the receiving electrode being coupled to the transmitting electrode; the driving module being used to obtain a plurality of first carrier signals corresponding one-to-one to a plurality of frequencies, and to fuse the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal; the driving module being further used to transmit a driving signal to the transmitting electrode based on the second carrier signal, the driving signal being used to cause the receiving electrode to generate a sensing signal; the sensing module being used to obtain the sensing signal, and to demodulate the sensing signal respectively according to the plurality of frequencies to obtain a plurality of measurement results corresponding one-to-one to the plurality of frequencies, and at least one of the plurality of measurement results being used to determine a touch position.

[0005] In an exemplary embodiment, the driving module includes a fusion device and a plurality of carrier signal generating units corresponding one by one to the plurality of frequencies; the plurality of carrier signal generating units are used to generate the plurality of first carrier signals according to the respective corresponding frequencies; the fusion device is used to fuse the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain the second carrier signal.

[0006] In an exemplary embodiment, the sensing module includes multiple demodulation units and multiple sampling units, the multiple demodulation units correspond one-to-one to the multiple frequencies, and the multiple demodulation units also correspond one-to-one to the multiple sampling units; the multiple demodulation units are used to demodulate the sensing signals according to their respective corresponding frequencies to obtain multiple demodulation results; the multiple sampling units are used to perform sampling on the demodulation results obtained by their respective corresponding demodulation units to obtain the multiple measurement results.

[0007] In an exemplary embodiment, the multiple measurement results correspond one-to-one to multiple difference planes, and at least one measurement result for determining the touch position is determined from the multiple measurement results based on the multiple difference planes; wherein the difference plane corresponding to any measurement result is determined based on any measurement result and a baseline result corresponding to any measurement result, and the baseline result corresponding to any measurement result is determined in the absence of the touch position.

[0008] In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the difference plane corresponding to the at least one measurement result is within a specified range, and the specified range is the value range of the difference plane when the corresponding frequency is not affected by noise.

[0009] In a second aspect, a method for determining a touch position is provided, the method comprising: obtaining, through a driving module, a plurality of first carrier signals corresponding one-to-one to a plurality of frequencies, and fusing the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal; transmitting, through the driving module, a driving signal to a transmitting electrode of a touch sensor based on the second carrier signal, the driving signal being used to cause a receiving electrode of the touch sensor to generate a sensing signal; obtaining the sensing signal through the sensing module, demodulating the sensing signal according to the plurality of frequencies respectively, to obtain a plurality of measurement results corresponding one-to-one to the plurality of frequencies, and at least one of the plurality of measurement results being used to determine the touch position.

[0010] In an exemplary embodiment, the method of acquiring a plurality of first carrier signals corresponding one-to-one to a plurality of frequencies through a driving module and fusing the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal comprises: generating the plurality of first carrier signals according to the respective corresponding frequencies through a plurality of carrier signal generating units in the driving module; and fusing the plurality of first carrier signals through a fuser in the driving module to obtain the second carrier signal.

[0011] In an exemplary embodiment, the demodulating the sensing signal according to the multiple frequencies respectively to obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to the multiple frequencies includes: demodulating the sensing signal according to the respective corresponding frequencies by multiple demodulation units in the sensing module to obtain multiple demodulation results; and sampling the demodulation results obtained by the respective corresponding demodulation units by multiple sampling units in the sensing module to obtain the multiple measurement results.

[0012] In an exemplary embodiment, the multiple measurement results correspond one-to-one to multiple difference planes, and at least one measurement result for determining the touch position is determined from the multiple measurement results based on the multiple difference planes; wherein the difference plane corresponding to any measurement result is determined based on any measurement result and a baseline result corresponding to any measurement result, and the baseline result corresponding to any measurement result is determined in the absence of the touch position.

[0013] In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the difference plane corresponding to the at least one measurement result is within a specified range, and the specified range is the value range of the difference plane when the corresponding frequency is not affected by noise.

[0014] According to a third aspect, a chip is provided, wherein the chip includes the touch controller provided by the first aspect or any exemplary embodiment of the first aspect.

[0015] According to a fourth aspect, an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a touch sensor and the chip provided according to the third aspect, wherein the chip is connected to the touch sensor.

[0016] The technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application brings at least the following beneficial effects:

[0017] The embodiment of the present application obtains multiple first carrier signals corresponding to multiple frequencies one by one through the driving module, and can generate a driving signal and a sensing signal based on the second carrier signal obtained by fusing the multiple first carrier signals. By using multiple frequencies to demodulate the sensing signals respectively, multiple measurement results corresponding to multiple frequencies are obtained, and at least one measurement result is selected from the multiple measurement results to accurately and quickly determine the touch position. Since multiple measurement results correspond to multiple frequencies one by one, the process of selecting at least one measurement result is also the process of determining the frequency. This method does not need to monitor whether the frequency is affected or spend extra time switching the frequency, but can achieve fast frequency hopping, thereby improving the efficiency of determining the touch position and ensuring the performance of the touch controller. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0019] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a related technology provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0020] Figure 2is a schematic diagram of another related technology provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0021] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of another related technology provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0022] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of another related technology provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0023] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of another related technology provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a touch controller and a touch sensor provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of another touch controller and touch sensor provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 8 is a flow chart of a method for determining a touch position provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the implementation methods of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0028] With the development of touch control technology, touch sensors are integrated into display modules of many devices, such as mobile phones, notebook computers, and smart car devices, etc. The touch sensor is, for example, a projected capacitive touch (PCAP) sensor.

[0029] The PCAP sensor includes at least one set of transmitting (TX) electrodes and receiving (RX) electrodes, each set of transmitting electrodes and receiving electrodes are orthogonal and mutually coupled. At the intersection of the orthogonal transmitting electrodes and receiving electrodes, there is a mutual capacitance. When the user's finger touches the touch sensor, the above mutual capacitance can be changed.

[0030] In addition, there is a self-capacitance between each transmitting electrode and the system reference, and between each receiving electrode and the system reference, which can be designated as ground. When a user's finger touches the touch sensor, the self-capacitance can also be changed.

[0031] The touch sensor is connected to a touch controller, which can measure mutual capacitance or self-capacitance and determine the position of an object near the touch sensor according to the change in mutual capacitance or self-capacitance. The object is, for example, the user's finger.

[0032] See also Figure 1 , Figure 1 An exemplary touch controller and touch sensor are shown for measuring the mutual capacitance of a pair of coupled transmitting electrodes and receiving electrodes in the touch sensor. Figure 1 In the present invention, the touch controller includes a signal generator, a driver, a first pad, a second pad, an amplifier, a demodulator, a low-pass filter (LPF) and a memory.

[0033] Among them, the signal generator generates a clock signal and transmits the clock signal to the driver. The driver is connected to the transmitting electrode through the first pad and transmits the driving signal to the transmitting electrode. Correspondingly, a sensing signal is generated on the receiving electrode. The amplifier amplifies the sensing signal, the demodulator demodulates the amplified sensing signal according to the clock signal generated by the signal generator, and the LPF filters the demodulated signal, and the filtered signal can be stored in the memory. The processor can obtain the stored filtered signal from the memory and calculate the mutual capacitance based on the obtained signal.

[0034] The second pad, amplifier, demodulator and LPF corresponding to a receiving electrode are recorded as a receiver channel. In the time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme, the touch controller transmits a driving signal to one transmitting electrode at a time, and measures all the receiver channels corresponding to this transmitting electrode. In the code division multiplexing (CDM) scheme, the touch controller transmits a driving signal to multiple transmitting electrodes at a time, and the driving signal transmitted to multiple transmitting electrodes is modulated by a carrier coding mode of 0 and 180°, and all the receiver channels corresponding to multiple transmitting electrodes are measured.

[0035] In the CDM scheme, the filtered signal output by the LPF in the receiver channel can be sampled, and the sampling result (for example, a matrix) is multiplied by the inverse matrix of the coding matrix to obtain a signal proportional to the mutual capacitance. The carrier coding mode of 0 and 180° can be implemented based on Hadamard code, and an example of Hadamard code is as follows.

[0036]

[0037] Accordingly, the waveform of the driving signal transmitted by the touch controller to the plurality of transmitting electrodes is as follows: Figure 2As shown. The four waveforms are transmitted by the touch controller to the transmitting electrode N to the transmitting electrode N+3 respectively, and each waveform includes a portion corresponding to code segment 0, code segment 1, code segment 2 and code segment 3. From left to right, the four elements in a row of the Hadamard code correspond to code segment 0, code segment 1, code segment 2 and code segment 3 respectively.

[0038] See also Figure 3 , Figure 3 An exemplary touch controller and touch sensor are shown for measuring self-capacitance in a touch sensor. Figure 3 In the embodiment, the touch controller includes a signal generator, a first driver, a second driver, a first pad, a second pad, a resistor, an amplifier, a demodulator, an LPF and a memory. In the process of measuring the self-capacitance, a voltage signal can be applied to the transmitting electrode of the touch sensor to measure the voltage difference across the resistor. The voltage difference can be used to measure the current signal converted by the resistor, and then the self-capacitance can be calculated by the measured current signal. When applying the voltage signal, the voltage signal can be applied to all the transmitting electrodes of the touch sensor to avoid the influence of mutual capacitance when measuring the self-capacitance. Optionally, the above-mentioned demodulator is a narrowband demodulator.

[0039] The signal generator generates a voltage signal and transmits the voltage signal to both the first driver and the second driver. The first driver transmits a driving signal to the transmitting electrode through the first pad. The second driver transmits a voltage signal to the resistor, and the resistor converts the voltage signal into a current signal. There is a voltage difference between the two ends of the resistor, and the voltage difference can be used to measure the current signal converted by the resistor, and then used to measure the self-capacitance.

[0040] Next, the amplifier amplifies the voltage difference, and the amplified voltage difference is transmitted to the demodulator. The demodulator demodulates the amplified voltage difference according to the voltage signal generated by the signal generator. The LPF filters the demodulated signal, and the filtered signal can be stored in the memory. The processor can obtain the stored filtered signal from the memory and calculate the self-capacitance based on the obtained signal.

[0041] In addition, the touch controller can also support an active stylus, such as the active stylus defined by the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI). Figure 4 , Figure 4 An exemplary touch controller for accommodating an active stylus is shown.

[0042] Among them, the active stylus includes two spatially separated transmitting antennas, such as Figure 4As shown, the transmitting antenna located at the tip of the pen is used to transmit a signal of the F1 frequency, and the transmitting antenna located at the body of the pen is used to transmit a signal of the F2 frequency. Accordingly, the touch controller includes a signal generator of the F1 frequency, a signal generator of the F2 frequency, a pad, an amplifier, multiple demodulators, multiple LPFs, and a memory.

[0043] After the active stylus transmits signals through two transmitting antennas respectively, the touch controller demodulates the two signals of different frequencies. Taking the demodulation of the signal of F1 frequency as an example, after the transmitting antenna of the active stylus transmits the signal of F1 frequency, a sensing signal is generated on the receiving electrode, the pad can obtain the sensing signal, the amplifier amplifies the sensing signal, and the amplified sensing signal is transmitted to the demodulator, and the demodulator demodulates the amplified sensing signal according to the signal generated by the signal generator of F1 frequency. LPF filters the demodulated signal, and the filtered signal can be stored in the memory. The processor can obtain the stored filtered signal from the memory, calculate based on the obtained signal, and obtain mutual capacitance 1. In addition, mutual capacitance 2 can be calculated for the signal of F2 frequency. The position of the active stylus and its angle relative to the screen can be determined based on mutual capacitance 1 and mutual capacitance 2.

[0044] In the related art, mutual capacitance measurement can be achieved by mixing analog circuits and digital circuits. Figure 5 As shown, the touch controller includes a signal generator (e.g., a clock signal generator for providing a common clock signal), a frequency divider, a digitally controlled oscillator (NCO), a code segment counter, a CDM code memory, a modulator, a buffer, a first pad, a second pad, an amplifier, a band-pass filter (BPF), an analog digital converter (ADC), a demodulator (also called a mixer), an LPF, a sampler, a multiplier, and a memory. The steps of measuring mutual capacitance include the following steps 1 to 8.

[0045] Step 1: The frequency divider divides the common clock, and the NCO generates a carrier signal based on the divided signal at a certain frequency.

[0046] Step 2: The code segment counter is incremented by multiples of the common clock, and the obtained count is used to track the index of the CDM code so that the modulator can correctly modulate the carrier signal in each code segment of the CDM code.

[0047] Step 3: The modulated carrier signal is transmitted to the transmitting electrode of the touch sensor through the buffer.

[0048] Step 4: Based on the modulated carrier signal (corresponding to the above-mentioned driving signal), a sensing signal is generated on the receiving electrode.

[0049] Step 5, the amplifier amplifies the analog signal from the receiving electrode, the BPF filters the amplified analog signal, the ADC samples the filtered analog signal, and the ADC works according to the frequency division of the common clock.

[0050] Step 6: The demodulator demodulates the digital signal output by the ADC according to the signal output by the NCO, wherein the frequency of the NCO matches the carrier signal to transfer the CDM code component in the digital signal to the baseband.

[0051] Step 7, LPF performs low-pass filtering on the baseband signal, and the sampler samples the filtered baseband signal before the code segment conversion. The sampler is controlled by a frequency divider that matches the code segment counter, but there may be a phase offset, and the value of the phase offset is adapted to the system delay.

[0052] Step 8: The signal sampled by the sampler is a matrix, and each sampled value in the matrix corresponds to the difference between each receiving electrode in each code segment. The matrix is ​​multiplied by the inverse matrix of the CDM code to generate a result matrix, which includes the signal components corresponding to each intersecting transmitting electrode and receiving electrode, and the result matrix is ​​stored in the memory. The processor can calculate the touch position based on the result matrix.

[0053] Figure 5 The touch sensor and touch controller shown can also be used in the self-capacitance measurement scheme in the related art or the scheme of measuring mutual capacitance based on an active stylus, which will not be described in detail here. In the scheme of measuring mutual capacitance based on an active stylus, the touch controller can have two concurrent complete IQ demodulators (such as the above-mentioned receiver channels), and the IQ demodulators are used to complete the above-mentioned steps 6 and 7.

[0054] During the operation of the touch controller, a certain frequency needs to be used to avoid expected noise sources in the system, such as noise from the OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display, noise from the AC or DC power supply used for battery charging (charger noise), etc. Among them, the high-frequency switching used by the power supply will generate common-mode noise with strong harmonic components, and common-mode noise will generate high-frequency potentials. When the frequency of the power supply is similar to that of the touch controller, the touch controller will be affected by the noise. In this regard, the touch controller can have a set of alternative frequencies. If the current frequency is too affected by noise, it can switch to other frequencies in this set of alternative frequencies. This process is called frequency hopping.

[0055] In the related art, two additional processes are required to implement frequency hopping.

[0056] Process 1, monitoring the current frequency being affected by noise. For example, monitoring abnormal signals (such as abnormally large signals) within the current frequency. For another example, without driving the transmitting electrode, the frequency is measured alone. If there is no noise, the measured response is often small, but if there is noise, the measured response will be large.

[0057] Process 2, monitoring each of the above-mentioned set of alternative frequencies to determine which alternative frequency is suitable for replacing the current frequency when the current frequency is affected by noise. The monitoring process can be implemented by demodulating the signal of the alternative frequency, for example, by demodulating the signal of the alternative frequency through a reserved receiver channel. In addition, the alternative frequency can also be measured separately without driving the transmitting electrode, similar to the above-mentioned process 1.

[0058] However, the above frequency hopping method has at least the following two limitations.

[0059] Limitation 1: Monitoring the noise of the current frequency and other alternative frequencies consumes more power. For many devices using touch controllers, power consumption is a key performance criterion because the battery capacity of the device is limited.

[0060] Limitation 2: Once the current frequency is detected to be problematic, the mutual capacitance or self-capacitance measured using the current frequency needs to be abandoned, and other alternative frequencies need to be used to re-measure the mutual capacitance or self-capacitance, which affects the overall performance of the touch controller. When the user uses fast-moving gestures (such as swiping gestures), the overall low performance of the touch controller may affect the user experience.

[0061] The present application embodiment provides a touch controller 1, such as Figure 6 As shown, the touch controller 1 includes a driving module 11 and a sensing module 12. The driving module 11 is connected to the transmitting electrode of the touch sensor 2, and the sensing module 12 is connected to the receiving electrode of the touch sensor 2. The receiving electrode is coupled to the transmitting electrode.

[0062] The driving module 11 is used to obtain multiple first carrier signals corresponding to multiple frequencies (i.e., at least two frequencies) one by one, and fuse the multiple first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal. The driving module 11 is also used to transmit a driving signal to the transmitting electrode based on the second carrier signal, and the driving signal is used to make the receiving electrode generate a sensing signal. The sensing module 12 is used to obtain the sensing signal, demodulate the sensing signal according to the multiple frequencies, and obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to the multiple frequencies one by one, and at least one of the multiple measurement results is used to determine the touch position. Among them, the touch position can refer to the position where the object (such as a user's finger or a stylus, etc.) contacts the touch sensor 2, or it can be the position where the object is near the touch sensor 2 (for example, the distance between the object and the touch sensor 2 is less than or equal to the distance threshold).

[0063] Among them, a plurality of first carrier signals are generated in the driving module 11, each first carrier signal corresponds to a frequency, and different first carrier signals correspond to different frequencies, so that the plurality of first carrier signals correspond to the plurality of frequencies one by one. The fusion of such a plurality of first carrier signals can obtain a second carrier signal. In one example, the fusion of the plurality of first carrier signals refers to adding the plurality of first carrier signals. The driving signal can be obtained based on the second carrier signal. In one example, the driving signal is obtained by modulating and buffering the second carrier signal.

[0064] Since the driving module 11 is connected to the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2, the driving module 11 can send a driving signal to the transmitting electrode 21. Since the transmitting electrode 21 is coupled to the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2, the receiving electrode 22 can generate a sensing signal when there is a touch position. Since the sensing module 12 is connected to the receiving electrode 22, the sensing module 12 can obtain the sensing signal.

[0065] The sensing module 12 demodulates the sensing signal according to the above-mentioned multiple frequencies, that is, demodulates the sensing signal once according to each frequency, so as to obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to the multiple frequencies one by one. In one example, each measurement result is a matrix. Among them, demodulating the sensing signal once according to each frequency can be performed concurrently so as to obtain multiple measurement results synchronously. Thus, multiple measurement results can be compared to select at least one measurement result from multiple measurement results, such as selecting a measurement result corresponding to a frequency (or multiple frequencies less affected by noise) least affected by noise, and the capacitance (such as self-capacitance or mutual capacitance) can be accurately determined according to the selected at least one measurement result, and the touch position can be determined according to the capacitance because the selected measurement result eliminates the influence of noise.

[0066] Since the embodiments of the present application can synchronously obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to multiple frequencies one by one, when a certain frequency is affected by noise, it is sufficient to select measurement results corresponding to other frequencies except for the frequency (i.e., the frequency affected by noise) from the multiple measurement results. Through this selection process, seamless frequency hopping, i.e., seamless frequency switching, is achieved, which improves the efficiency of determining the touch position and ensures the performance of the touch controller 1.

[0067] Below, a comparison is made between the time T1 required to determine a touch position in the embodiment of the present application and the time T2 required to determine a touch position in the related art.

[0068] T1=T11+T12, T11 is used to synchronously obtain a plurality of measurement results corresponding to a plurality of frequencies one by one, and T12 is used to determine a touch position according to at least one measurement result among the plurality of measurement results.

[0069] T2=T11+T13+T14+T11+T12, the first T11 is used to obtain the measurement result corresponding to frequency A, T13 is used to monitor whether frequency A is affected by noise, T14 is used to monitor and obtain frequency B which is different from frequency A and is not affected by noise, the second T11 is used to obtain the measurement result corresponding to frequency B, and T12 is used to determine the touch position according to the measurement result corresponding to frequency B.

[0070] Obviously, the above T2>T1, so compared with the related art, the embodiment of the present application shortens the time required to touch the position, thereby improving the efficiency of determining the touch position, thereby ensuring the performance of the touch controller 1. Optionally, considering that there are multiple first carrier signals in the embodiment of the present application, the amplitude of the transmitted signal may be shared, resulting in a reduction in the energy of each first carrier signal. In this regard, the embodiment of the present application can extend the measurement time, for example, extending the measurement time from T1 to a duration less than T2 (for example only, not limited thereto), and the embodiment of the present application can also add multiple first carrier signals and determine that there is no noise to provide a second carrier signal with a larger signal amplitude.

[0071] Next, combine Figure 6 The structures of the driving module 11 and the sensing module 12 are described.

[0072] In an exemplary embodiment, the driving module 11 includes a fuser 111 and a plurality of carrier signal generating units 112 corresponding to a plurality of frequencies. The plurality of carrier signal generating units 112 are configured to generate a plurality of first carrier signals according to the respective corresponding frequencies. The fuser 111 is configured to fuse the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal. As can be seen from the above description, a driving signal for sending to the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2 can be obtained based on the second carrier signal.

[0073] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of carrier signal generating units 112, and the number of carrier signal generating units 112 can be determined based on experience or actual needs. For example, the number of carrier signal generating units 112 is 4.

[0074] Exemplarily, the driving module 11 includes a signal generator (e.g., a clock signal generator for providing a common clock signal), a first frequency divider, multiple carrier signal generating units 112, a second frequency divider, a code segment counter, a CDM code memory, a fuser 111, a modulator, a buffer and a first pad.

[0075] The signal generator is connected to the first frequency divider and the second frequency divider respectively, the first frequency divider is connected to the multiple carrier signal generating units 112 respectively, and the fuser 111 is also connected to the multiple carrier signal generating units 112 respectively. The modulator is connected to the fuser 111, the CDM code memory and the buffer respectively, and the buffer is also connected to the first pad, and the first pad is connected to the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2.

[0076] The signal generator is used to generate a signal (such as a common clock signal), and the first frequency divider and the second frequency divider divide the generated signal respectively. On the one hand, the first frequency divider transmits the divided signal to multiple carrier signal generating units 112 respectively, and each carrier signal generating unit 112 generates a first carrier signal corresponding to a frequency, thereby obtaining multiple first carrier signals corresponding to multiple frequencies one by one. After the fusion device 111 fuses the multiple first carrier signals, a second carrier signal is obtained. On the other hand, the second frequency divider transmits the divided signal to the code segment counter, and the code segment counter increases by a multiple of the signal to obtain a count, which is used to track the index of the CDM code so that the modulator can perform correct modulation in each code segment of the CDM code. The CDM code memory is used to store the count and the coding matrix (see the corresponding description of the CDM scheme above for details).

[0077] The modulator is used to modulate the second carrier signal according to the count and coding matrix to obtain a driving signal, and transmit the driving signal to the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2 through the buffer.

[0078] Optionally, the carrier signal generating unit 112 is an NCO, and the carrier signal generating unit 112 may also be referred to as a carrier signal generator. Among them, the NCO may be configured with a certain frequency (or, frequency and phase), and the configured frequency is the frequency corresponding to the NCO. The carrier signal generated by the NCO in the driving module 11 is a carrier signal for signal modulation, and the carrier signal generated by the NCO has a frequency corresponding to the NCO. Exemplarily, the fusion device 111 is an adder, and the adder is used to add multiple first carrier signals to obtain a composite second carrier signal.

[0079] In one example, if Figure 7 As shown, the multiple carrier signal generating units 112 include a first NCO, a second NCO, a third NCO and a fourth NCO, and the fuser 111 is an adder. The first frequency divider is connected to the first NCO, the second NCO, the third NCO and the fourth NCO respectively. In addition, the adder is also connected to the first NCO, the second NCO, the third NCO and the fourth NCO respectively, and the adder is also connected to the modulator. Based on this, the steps performed in the driving module 11 at least include the following steps 1 to 6.

[0080] Step 1: A first frequency divider divides the frequency of a signal generated by a signal generator to obtain a first signal. For example, the signal generator is a clock signal generator, and the generated signal is a common clock signal. The first frequency divider divides the frequency of the common clock signal to obtain the first signal. The first frequency divider transmits the first signal to a first NCO, a second NCO, a third NCO, and a fourth NCO, respectively.

[0081] Step 2: The first NCO generates a first carrier signal 1 corresponding to a first frequency according to the first signal, and transmits the first carrier signal 1 having the first frequency to the adder. The second NCO generates a first carrier signal 2 corresponding to a second frequency according to the first signal, and transmits the first carrier signal 2 having the second frequency to the adder. The third NCO generates a first carrier signal 3 corresponding to a third frequency according to the first signal, and transmits the first carrier signal 3 having the third frequency to the adder. The fourth NCO generates a first carrier signal 4 corresponding to a fourth frequency according to the first signal, and transmits the first carrier signal 4 having the first frequency to the adder.

[0082] Step 3: the adder adds the first carrier signal 1, the first carrier signal 2, the first carrier signal 3 and the first carrier signal 4 to obtain a second carrier signal, and transmits the second carrier signal to the modulator.

[0083] Step 4: The second frequency divider divides the signal generated by the signal generator (eg, the common clock signal) to obtain a second signal, and transmits the second signal to the code segment counter.

[0084] Step 5: The code segment counter counts according to the second signal, for example, the code segment counter increments by a multiple of the second signal to obtain a count. The obtained count is used to track the index of the CDM code so that the modulator performs correct modulation in each code segment of the CDM code. For example, the obtained count and the coding matrix are stored in the CDM code memory, and the modulator performs correct modulation in each code segment of the CDM code by reading the contents stored in the CDM code memory.

[0085] Step 6: The modulator modulates the second carrier signal according to the above count to obtain a driving signal, and the driving signal is transmitted to the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2 through the buffer and the first pad.

[0086] After the driving signal has been transmitted to the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2, since the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2 is coupled with the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2, the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2 also generates a signal accordingly. In the case of a touch position, the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2 generates a sensing signal, and there is a difference between the sensing signal and the driving signal. In the case of no touch position (for example, the distance between the object (user's finger or stylus, etc.) and the touch sensor 2 is greater than the distance threshold), the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2 generates a baseline signal, and there is no difference between the baseline signal and the driving signal, or in other words, the difference between the baseline signal and the driving signal is so small that it can be ignored.

[0087] In an exemplary embodiment, the sensing module 12 includes a plurality of demodulation units 121 and a plurality of sampling units 122. The plurality of demodulation units 121 correspond to the plurality of frequencies one by one, and the plurality of demodulation units 121 also correspond to the plurality of sampling units 122 one by one. The plurality of demodulation units 121 are used to demodulate the sensing signal according to the respective corresponding frequencies to obtain a plurality of demodulation results. The plurality of sampling units 122 are used to perform sampling on the demodulation results obtained by the respective corresponding demodulation units 121 to obtain a plurality of measurement results.

[0088] In one example, the number of demodulation units 121 is 4, because by simply modifying 2 complete IQ demodulators, 4 demodulation units 121 can be obtained. Of course, the 4 demodulation units 121 are only an example, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of demodulation units 121. The number of demodulation units 121 can be set according to experience or actual needs. The number of sampling units 122 is consistent with the number of demodulation units 121, and will not be repeated here.

[0089] Exemplarily, the sensing module 12 includes a second pad, an amplifier, a BPF, an ADC, a third frequency divider, a fourth frequency divider, a plurality of demodulation units 121, a plurality of sampling units 122 and a multiplier. The second pad is connected to the receiving electrode and the amplifier of the touch sensor 2 respectively, and the amplifier, the BPF and the ADC are connected in sequence, and the ADC is also connected to the plurality of demodulation units 121 respectively. The plurality of demodulation units 121 are connected to the plurality of sampling units 122 one by one, and the plurality of sampling units 122 are also connected to the multiplier. The third frequency divider is connected to the signal generator and the ADC respectively, and the third frequency divider is also connected to the plurality of demodulation units 121 respectively. The fourth frequency divider is connected to the signal generator, and the fourth frequency divider is also connected to the plurality of sampling units 122. Exemplarily, the fourth frequency divider matches the above-mentioned code segment counter, but there may be a phase offset to facilitate the delay in the adaptation system (including the touch sensor 2 and the touch controller 1). Optionally, the above-mentioned multiplier can also be connected to a memory, and the memory can be read by the processor.

[0090] The third frequency divider and the fourth frequency divider divide the frequency of the signal generated by the signal generator. The third frequency divider transmits the divided signal to the ADC and the multiple demodulation units 121 respectively, so that the ADC can realize the conversion of the analog form signal to the digital form signal, and the multiple demodulation units 121 can realize signal demodulation. The fourth frequency divider transmits the divided signal to the multiple sampling units 122 respectively, so that the multiple sampling units 122 can realize sampling.

[0091] After the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2 generates a signal (a sensing signal or a baseline signal, both in the form of analog signals), the amplifier receives the signal through the second pad, amplifies the signal, obtains the amplified signal, and transmits the amplified signal to the BPF. The BPF filters the amplified signal to obtain a filtered signal, and sends the filtered signal to the ADC. The ADC converts the filtered signal from an analog signal form to a digital signal form according to the signal obtained by the frequency division of the third frequency divider, obtains the converted signal, and transmits the converted signal to the multiple demodulation units 121 respectively. Each demodulation unit 121 in the multiple demodulation units 121 is used to demodulate the converted signal according to the signal obtained by the frequency division of the third frequency divider and the corresponding frequency, obtain a demodulation result (also called a baseband signal), and send the demodulation result to the corresponding sampling unit 122. The sampling unit 122 is used to sample the demodulation result according to the signal obtained by the frequency division of the fourth frequency divider to obtain a measurement result. The multiplier is used to perform multiplication calculation on the measurement result to obtain a calculation result, and the calculation result can be stored in the above-mentioned memory. The processor determines the touch position by reading the calculation result stored in the memory.

[0092] Optionally, each demodulation unit 121 includes an NCO, a demodulator (also referred to as a mixer) and an LPF connected in sequence. The ADC is connected to the demodulator, thereby realizing the connection between the ADC and the demodulation unit 121 described above. The LPF is connected to the sampling unit 122, thereby realizing the one-to-one connection between the demodulation unit 121 and the sampling unit 122 described above. The third frequency divider is connected to the NCO, thereby realizing the connection between the third frequency divider and the demodulation unit 121 described above. Among them, the NCO can be configured with a certain frequency (or, frequency and phase), and the configured frequency is the frequency corresponding to the NCO. The carrier signal generated by the NCO in the sensing module 12 is a carrier signal for signal demodulation, and the carrier signal generated by the NCO has a frequency corresponding to the NCO. Among them, the NCO in the sensing module 12 can correspond one-to-one to the NCO in the driving module 11 described above, and the corresponding NCO can be configured with the same frequency (or, frequency and phase).

[0093] Exemplarily, the sampling unit 122 is a sampler. The measurement result obtained by sampling by the sampler is a matrix, and each sampling value in the matrix corresponds to a receiving electrode in a code segment. Since there can be multiple code segments in the CDM code, and in the CDM scheme, the touch controller 1 transmits a driving signal to multiple transmitting electrodes 21 at the same time, and multiple transmitting electrodes 21 correspond to multiple receiving electrodes, multiple code segments and multiple receiving electrodes correspond to multiple sampling values, thereby forming the above-mentioned matrix. Accordingly, the multiplier multiplies the measurement result to obtain a calculation result, which may refer to: the multiplier multiplies the matrix by the inverse matrix of the CDM code (that is, the inverse matrix of the above-mentioned encoding matrix), and the calculation result obtained is a result matrix, and the result matrix includes the signal components of the intersection of each transmitting electrode 21 and each receiving electrode. The result matrix can be stored in a memory.

[0094] In one example, if Figure 7 As shown, the number of demodulation units 121 is 4, the first demodulation unit 121 includes the fifth NCO, the first demodulator and the first LPF, the second demodulation unit 121 includes the sixth NCO, the second demodulator and the second LPF, the third demodulation unit 121 includes the seventh NCO, the third demodulator and the third LPF, and the fourth demodulation unit 121 includes the eighth NCO, the fourth demodulator and the fourth LPF. The sampling unit 122 is a sampler, and the number of samplers is also 4, namely the first sampler, the second sampler, the third sampler and the fourth sampler. Based on this, the steps performed in the sensing module 12 at least include the following steps 7 to 15.

[0095] Step 7: The third frequency divider divides the signal generated by the signal generator (eg, the common clock signal) to obtain a third signal, and transmits the third signal to the ADC, the fifth NCO, the sixth NCO, the seventh NCO, and the eighth NCO respectively.

[0096] Step 8: The fourth frequency divider divides the signal generated by the signal generator (eg, the common clock signal) to obtain a fourth signal, and transmits the fourth signal to the first sampler, the second sampler, the third sampler, and the fourth sampler respectively.

[0097] Step 9: When there is a touch position, the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2 generates a sensing signal based on the driving signal in the above step 6, and the sensing signal is an analog signal.

[0098] Step 10: The amplifier amplifies the sensing signal to obtain an amplified sensing signal.

[0099] Step 11: The BPF filters the amplified sensing signal to obtain a filtered sensing signal, which is also an analog signal.

[0100] In step 12, the ADC converts the filtered sensing signal into a digital signal according to the third signal, that is, obtains the converted sensing signal, and the ADC transmits the converted sensing signal to the first demodulator, the second demodulator, the third demodulator and the fourth demodulator respectively.

[0101] Step 13: The fifth NCO generates a first carrier signal 5 corresponding to the first frequency according to the third signal, and transmits the first carrier signal 5 having the first frequency to the first demodulator. The first demodulator demodulates the converted sensing signal according to the first carrier signal 5 to obtain a demodulation result 1 (i.e., baseband signal 1), the first LPF filters the demodulation signal 1 to obtain a filtered demodulation result 1, the first sampler samples the filtered demodulation result 1 to obtain a measurement result 1 (i.e., matrix 1), and the multiplier performs multiplication calculation based on matrix 1 to obtain a result matrix 1.

[0102] In step 14, the second demodulation unit 121 outputs measurement result 2 (i.e., matrix 2), and obtains result matrix 2 through the multiplier. The third demodulation unit 121 outputs measurement result 3 (i.e., matrix 3), and obtains result matrix 3 through the multiplier. In addition, the fourth demodulation unit 121 outputs measurement result 4 (i.e., matrix 4), and obtains result matrix 4 through the multiplier. The acquisition process of result matrix 2 to result matrix 4 can refer to the description in step 13, which will not be repeated here.

[0103] Step 15, the memory stores result matrix 1 to result matrix 4, the processor reads result matrix 1 to result matrix 4, selects at least one result matrix from result matrix 1 to result matrix 4, and determines the touch position according to the selected result matrix.

[0104] In an exemplary embodiment, the plurality of measurement results correspond to the plurality of difference planes one by one, and at least one measurement result for determining the touch position is determined from the plurality of measurement results based on the plurality of difference planes. The difference plane corresponding to any measurement result is determined based on any measurement result and a baseline result corresponding to any measurement result, and the baseline result corresponding to any measurement result is determined in the absence of a touch position.

[0105] According to the above description, after the driving signal is transmitted to the transmitting electrode 21 of the touch sensor 2, in the absence of a touch position, the receiving electrode 22 of the touch sensor 2 generates a baseline signal. Each of the above-mentioned multiple frequencies corresponds to a baseline signal, and the baseline signal is processed by the second pad, amplifier, BPF, ADC, demodulation unit 121 and sampling unit 122 to obtain a baseline result. The processing process has been described above and will not be repeated here. Therefore, for each of the multiple frequencies, the baseline result can be subtracted from the measurement result corresponding to the frequency to obtain a delta plane corresponding to the frequency. There are multiple delta planes, and each delta plane represents the difference between the measurement result and the baseline result.

[0106] In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the difference plane corresponding to at least one measurement result is within a specified range, and the specified range is the value range of the difference plane when the corresponding frequency is not affected by noise. Optionally, the frequency is not affected by noise can mean that the degree to which the frequency is affected by noise is within a tolerable degree, or it can mean that the frequency is not affected by any noise.

[0107] If a certain frequency is affected by noise, it may affect the difference represented by the difference plane corresponding to the frequency. For example, when a certain frequency is not affected by noise, the value of the difference plane is within the specified range, and when a certain frequency is affected by noise, the value of the difference plane is outside the specified range. Therefore, the measurement result corresponding to the difference plane whose value is within the specified range can be selected as at least one measurement result for determining the touch position, thereby eliminating the influence of noise.

[0108] In summary, the embodiment of the present application obtains multiple first carrier signals corresponding to multiple frequencies one by one through the driving module, and can generate a driving signal and a sensing signal based on the second carrier signal obtained by fusing the multiple first carrier signals. By using multiple frequencies to demodulate the sensing signals respectively, multiple measurement results corresponding to multiple frequencies are obtained. By selecting at least one measurement result from the multiple measurement results, the touch position can be accurately and quickly determined. Since multiple measurement results correspond to multiple frequencies one by one, the process of selecting at least one measurement result is also the process of determining the frequency. This method does not need to monitor whether the frequency is affected or spend extra time switching the frequency, but can achieve fast and seamless frequency hopping, thereby improving the efficiency of determining the touch position and ensuring the performance of the touch controller.

[0109] The present application also provides a method for determining a touch position, which can be performed by the above-mentioned touch controller. Figure 8 As shown, the method includes but is not limited to steps 801 to 803.

[0110] Step 801: acquiring a plurality of first carrier signals corresponding to a plurality of frequencies one by one through a driving module, and fusing the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal.

[0111] Step 802: Transmitting a driving signal to a transmitting electrode of a touch sensor based on a second carrier signal through a driving module, wherein the driving signal is used to enable a receiving electrode of the touch sensor to generate a sensing signal.

[0112] In an exemplary embodiment, step 802 includes: generating a plurality of first carrier signals according to respective corresponding frequencies by a plurality of carrier signal generating units in a driving module; and fusing the plurality of first carrier signals by a fuser in the driving module to obtain a second carrier signal.

[0113] Step 803: Acquire a sensing signal through a sensing module, demodulate the sensing signal according to the multiple frequencies respectively, obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to the multiple frequencies, and at least one of the multiple measurement results is used to determine the touch position.

[0114] In an exemplary embodiment, step 803 includes: demodulating the sensing signal according to the respective corresponding frequencies by multiple demodulation units in the sensing module to obtain multiple demodulation results; and performing sampling on the demodulation results obtained by the respective corresponding demodulation units by multiple sampling units in the sensing module to obtain multiple measurement results.

[0115] In an exemplary embodiment, multiple measurement results correspond one-to-one to multiple difference planes, and at least one measurement result for determining a touch position is determined from the multiple measurement results based on the multiple difference planes; wherein the difference plane corresponding to any measurement result is determined based on any measurement result and a baseline result corresponding to any measurement result, and the baseline result corresponding to any measurement result is determined in the absence of a touch position.

[0116] In an exemplary embodiment, a value of a difference plane corresponding to at least one measurement result is within a specified range, and the specified range is a value range of the difference plane when the corresponding frequency is not affected by noise.

[0117] Figure 8 The method embodiment shown is similar to the above Figure 6 and Figure 7 The touch controller shown in the figure belongs to the same concept, therefore, the specific implementation method and technical effect corresponding to the embodiment of the method can be referred to above. Figure 6 and Figure 7 The corresponding instructions are not repeated here.

[0118] In an exemplary embodiment, the present application also provides a chip, and the chip includes the touch controller described above.

[0119] Exemplarily, an embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device, the electronic device comprising a touch sensor and the above chip, wherein the chip is connected to the touch sensor. For example, the electronic device is a display device.

[0120] The terms "first", "second", etc. (if any) in the specification and claims of the present application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequential order. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. The embodiments described in the above exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. On the contrary, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0121] It should be understood that the "plurality" mentioned in this article refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0122] The above description is only an exemplary embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the principles of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A touch controller, characterized in that: The touch controller includes a driving module and a sensing module, the driving module is connected to the transmitting electrode of the touch sensor, the sensing module is connected to the receiving electrode of the touch sensor, and the receiving electrode is coupled to the transmitting electrode; The driving module is used to obtain a plurality of first carrier signals corresponding to a plurality of frequencies one by one, and fuse the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal; The driving module is further used to transmit a driving signal to the transmitting electrode based on the second carrier signal, wherein the driving signal is used to enable the receiving electrode to generate a sensing signal; The sensing module is used to acquire the sensing signal, demodulate the sensing signal according to the multiple frequencies respectively, and obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to the multiple frequencies one by one, and at least one of the multiple measurement results is used to determine the touch position.

2. The touch controller according to claim 1, characterized in that: The driving module includes a fuser and a plurality of carrier signal generating units corresponding to the plurality of frequencies one by one; The multiple carrier signal generating units are configured to generate the multiple first carrier signals according to their respective corresponding frequencies; The fuser is used to fuse the multiple first carrier signals to obtain the second carrier signal.

3. The touch controller according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sensing module comprises a plurality of demodulation units and a plurality of sampling units, wherein the plurality of demodulation units correspond one-to-one to the plurality of frequencies, and the plurality of demodulation units also correspond one-to-one to the plurality of sampling units; The multiple demodulation units are used to demodulate the sensing signal according to their respective corresponding frequencies to obtain multiple demodulation results; The multiple sampling units are used to perform sampling on the demodulation results obtained by the respective corresponding demodulation units to obtain the multiple measurement results.

4. The touch controller according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The plurality of measurement results correspond one-to-one to a plurality of difference planes, and at least one measurement result for determining the touch position is determined from the plurality of measurement results based on the plurality of difference planes; The difference plane corresponding to any measurement result is determined based on the any measurement result and a baseline result corresponding to the any measurement result, and the baseline result corresponding to the any measurement result is determined in the absence of the touch position.

5. The touch controller according to claim 4, characterized in that: The value of the difference plane corresponding to the at least one measurement result is within a specified range, and the specified range is the value range of the difference plane when the corresponding frequency is not affected by noise.

6. A method for determining a touch position, characterized in that: The method comprises: Acquire a plurality of first carrier signals corresponding to a plurality of frequencies one by one through a driving module, and fuse the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal; Transmitting a driving signal to a transmitting electrode of a touch sensor based on the second carrier signal by the driving module, wherein the driving signal is used to enable a receiving electrode of the touch sensor to generate a sensing signal; The sensing signal is acquired through the sensing module, and the sensing signal is demodulated according to the multiple frequencies to obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to the multiple frequencies one by one, and at least one of the multiple measurement results is used to determine the touch position.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The method of acquiring a plurality of first carrier signals corresponding to a plurality of frequencies one by one through a driving module and fusing the plurality of first carrier signals to obtain a second carrier signal comprises: Generate the plurality of first carrier signals according to the respective corresponding frequencies by using the plurality of carrier signal generating units in the driving module; The second carrier signal is obtained by fusing the multiple first carrier signals through a fuser in the driving module.

8. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The demodulating the sensing signal according to the multiple frequencies to obtain multiple measurement results corresponding to the multiple frequencies comprises: Demodulating the sensing signal according to respective corresponding frequencies by multiple demodulation units in the sensing module to obtain multiple demodulation results; The plurality of sampling units in the sensing module perform sampling on the demodulation results obtained by the respective corresponding demodulation units to obtain the plurality of measurement results.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that: The plurality of measurement results correspond one-to-one to a plurality of difference planes, and at least one measurement result for determining the touch position is determined from the plurality of measurement results based on the plurality of difference planes; The difference plane corresponding to any measurement result is determined based on the any measurement result and a baseline result corresponding to the any measurement result, and the baseline result corresponding to the any measurement result is determined in the absence of the touch position.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The value of the difference plane corresponding to the at least one measurement result is within a specified range, and the specified range is the value range of the difference plane when the corresponding frequency is not affected by noise.

11. A chip, characterized in that: The chip includes the touch controller described in any one of claims 1-5.

12. An electronic device, characterized in that: The electronic device comprises a touch sensor and the chip according to claim 11, wherein the chip is connected to the touch sensor.

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