Differential drive and sensing for touch sensor panels

Abstract

The invention relates to differential driving and sensing for touch sensor panels. A touch sensor panel (or touch screen) may improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by using a touch electrode pattern for differential driving and / or differential sensing techniques. In some examples, a touch sensor panel may include a two-dimensional array of touch nodes formed from a plurality of touch electrodes. Each column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven with a plurality of drive signals. For example, a first column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven by a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column (or row) and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column (or row). In some examples, the first drive signal and the second drive signal may be complementary drive signals. In some examples, each row (or column) of touch electrodes may be sensed by a differential sensing circuit.

Description

[0001] This application is filed on May 24, 2021, with application number 202110563593.2 and invention name “for touching A divisional application for an invention patent application entitled "Differential driving and sensing of a touch sensor panel".

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 032,523, filed May 29, 2020, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. Technical Field

[0004] The present disclosure relates generally to touch sensor panels / screens, and more particularly to touch sensor panels / screens with differential drive and sensing. Background Art

[0005] Many types of input devices are currently available for performing operations in a computing system, such as buttons or keys, mice, trackballs, joysticks, touch sensor panels, touch screens, and the like. In particular, touch screens are popular for their ease and flexibility in operation and their ever-decreasing prices. A touch screen may include a touch sensor panel and a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display, or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, the touch sensor panel being a transparent panel having a touch-sensitive surface, the display device being partially or completely positioned behind the panel so that the touch-sensitive surface may cover at least a portion of the visible area of ​​the display device. A touch screen may allow a user to perform various functions by touching the touch sensor panel at a location generally indicated by a user interface (UI) displayed by a display device using a finger, a stylus, or other object. In general, a touch screen may identify a touch and the location of the touch on the touch sensor panel, and the computing system may then interpret the touch according to the display content that appears when the touch occurs, and may then perform one or more actions based on the touch. For some touch sensing systems, a physical touch on the display is not required to detect a touch. For example, in some capacitive touch sensing systems, the fringing electric field used to detect touch may extend beyond the surface of the display, and objects approaching the surface may be detected as being near the surface without actually contacting the surface.

[0006] Capacitive touch sensor panels can be formed from a matrix of partially or fully transparent or non-transparent conductive plates (e.g., touch electrodes) made of materials such as indium tin oxide (ITO). In some examples, the conductive plates can be formed from other materials, including conductive polymers, metal grids, graphene, nanowires (e.g., silver nanowires), or nanotubes (e.g., carbon nanotubes). As described above, in part because they are substantially transparent, some capacitive touch sensor panels can be overlaid on a display to form a touch screen. Some touch screens can be formed by partially integrating touch sensing circuitry into the display pixel stack structure (i.e., the stacked material layers that form the display pixels). Summary of the invention

[0007] The present disclosure relates to a touch sensor panel (or touch screen or touch-sensitive surface) with an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In some examples, the touch sensor panel may include a two-dimensional array of touch nodes formed by a plurality of touch electrodes (e.g., arranged in rows and columns). Each column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven using a plurality of drive signals. For example, a first column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven by a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column (or row) and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column (or row) (at least partially simultaneously). In some examples, the first drive signal and the second drive signal may be complementary drive signals (e.g., 180 degrees out of phase with each other). In some examples, a second column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven by a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column (or row) and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column (or row) (at least partially simultaneously). In some examples, the second drive signal and the third drive signal may be complementary drive signals (e.g., 180 degrees out of phase with each other). The second drive signal and the third drive signal may be applied to adjacent column (or row) electrodes. Each row (or column) of sensing (receiver) touch electrodes may be sensed by a sensing circuit (e.g., differentially). In some examples, the receiver electrodes may be interleaved with the driven touch nodes in the columns (or rows). The electrostatic fringe field coupling of the driven touch nodes may be substantially alternating high and low with consecutive receiver electrodes in a repeating pattern. Differential drive (e.g., using complementary drive signals) and / or differential sensing may reduce noise in the touch and / or display system of the touch screen. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figures 1A to 1E An exemplary system that may include a touch screen according to examples of the present disclosure is shown.

[0009] Figure 2 An exemplary computing system including a touch screen according to examples of the present disclosure is shown.

[0010] Figure 3A An exemplary touch sensor circuit corresponding to self-capacitance measurement of touch node electrodes and sensing circuits according to examples of the present disclosure is shown.

[0011] Figure 3B Exemplary touch sensor circuits corresponding to mutual capacitance drive and sense lines and sensing circuits according to examples of the present disclosure are shown.

[0012] Figure 4A A touch screen having touch electrodes arranged in rows and columns according to an example of the present disclosure is shown.

[0013] Figure 4B A touch screen having touch node electrodes arranged in a pixelated touch node electrode configuration is shown according to examples of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 5A A symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown.

[0015] Figure 5B A symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential drive and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown.

[0016] FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C A touch sensor panel implementing differential driving and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown.

[0017] FIG. 7A to FIG. 7B A touch sensor panel implementing differential driving and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown.

[0018] Figure 8 A touch sensor panel having a non-linear arrangement according to examples of the present disclosure is shown.

[0019] Fig. 9 A touch sensor panel implementing differential driving and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] In the following description of the examples, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the following description and in which are shown by way of example specific examples that may be implemented. It should be understood that other examples may be used and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosed examples.

[0021] The present disclosure relates to a touch sensor panel (or touch screen) with an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In some examples, the touch sensor panel may include a two-dimensional array of touch nodes formed by a plurality of touch electrodes (e.g., arranged in rows and columns). Each column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven using a plurality of drive signals. For example, a first column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven by a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column (or row) and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column (or row) (at least partially simultaneously). In some examples, the first drive signal and the second drive signal may be complementary drive signals (e.g., 180 degrees out of phase with each other). In some examples, a second column (or row) of touch nodes may be driven by a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column (or row) and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column (or row) (at least partially simultaneously). In some examples, the second drive signal and the third drive signal may be complementary drive signals (e.g., 180 degrees out of phase with each other). The second drive signal and the third drive signal may be applied to adjacent column (or row) electrodes. Each row (or column) of touch electrodes can be sensed by a sensing circuit (e.g., differentially). Differential drive (e.g., using complementary drive signals) and / or differential sensing can reduce noise in the touch and / or display system of the touch screen.

[0022] Figures 1A to 1E An exemplary system that may include a touch screen according to examples of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1A An exemplary mobile phone 136 including a touch screen 124 is shown according to examples of the present disclosure. Figure 1B An exemplary digital media player 140 including a touch screen 126 is shown according to examples of the present disclosure. Figure 1C An exemplary personal computer 144 including a touch screen 128 is shown according to examples of the present disclosure. Figure 1D An exemplary tablet computing device 148 including a touch screen 130 is shown according to examples of the present disclosure. Figure 1E An exemplary wearable device 150 is shown that includes a touch screen 132 and can be attached to a user using a band 152 according to examples of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the touch screen can also be implemented in other devices.

[0023] In some examples, touch screens 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 may be based on self-capacitance. A touch system based on self-capacitance may include a matrix of conductive material or a single conductive material plate group that forms larger conductive areas, which may be referred to as touch electrodes or touch node electrodes (as described below with reference to Figure 4BAs described above). For example, a touch screen may include multiple individual touch electrodes, each of which identifies or represents a unique location on the touch screen to sense touch or proximity (e.g., a touch node), and each touch node electrode is electrically isolated from other touch node electrodes in the touch screen / panel. Such a touch screen may be referred to as a pixelated self-capacitance touch screen, although it should be understood that in some examples, the touch node electrodes on the touch screen may be used to perform scans other than self-capacitance scanning (e.g., mutual capacitance scanning) on ​​the touch screen. During operation, an alternating current (AC) waveform may be used to excite the touch node electrodes, and the self-capacitance of the touch node electrodes to ground may be measured. When an object approaches the touch node electrodes, the self-capacitance of the touch node electrodes to ground may change (e.g., increase). This change in the self-capacitance of the touch node electrodes may be detected and measured by a touch sensing system to determine the locations of multiple objects when multiple objects touch or approach the touch screen. In some examples, the touch node electrodes of a self-capacitance-based touch system may be formed by rows and columns of conductive material, and similar to the above, changes in the self-capacitance of the rows and columns to ground may be detected. In some examples, the touch screen may be multi-touch, single-touch, projection scanning, full-imaging multi-touch, capacitive touch, etc.

[0024] In some examples, touch screens 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 can be based on mutual capacitance. A mutual capacitance based touch system can include electrodes arranged as drive and sense lines that can cross each other on different layers (in a double-sided configuration) or can be adjacent to each other on the same layer (e.g., as described below with reference to Figure 4A As described herein). This intersection or adjacent location can form a touch node. During operation, the drive line can be excited with an AC waveform, and the mutual capacitance of the touch node can be measured. When an object approaches the touch node, the mutual capacitance of the touch node can change (e.g., decrease). This change in the mutual capacitance of the touch node can be detected and measured by the touch sensing system to determine the location of multiple objects when multiple objects touch or approach the touch screen. As described herein, in some examples, a mutual capacitance-based touch system can form touch nodes from a matrix of small individual conductive material plates.

[0025] In some examples, touch screens 124, 126, 128, 130, and 132 can be based on mutual capacitance and / or self capacitance. The electrodes can be arranged as a matrix of small, individual plates of conductive material (e.g., as in touch node electrodes 4B in touch screen 402 in FIG. 408), or arranged as drive lines and sense lines (e.g., as in FIG. 409 ). Figure 4AThe electrodes may be arranged in a pattern such as row touch electrodes 404 and column touch electrodes 406 in touch screen 400 in FIG. 1 , or arranged in another pattern. The electrodes may be configured for mutual capacitance or self-capacitance sensing, or a combination of mutual capacitance sensing and self-capacitance sensing. For example, in one operating mode, the electrodes may be configured to sense mutual capacitance between electrodes, and in a different operating mode, the electrodes may be configured to sense the self-capacitance of the electrodes. In some examples, some of the electrodes may be configured to sense mutual capacitance between each other, and some of the electrodes may be configured to sense their self-capacitance.

[0026] Figure 2 An exemplary computing system including a touch screen according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. The computing system 200 may be included in, for example, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a touchpad, a portable or desktop computer, a portable media player, a wearable device, or any mobile or non-mobile computing device including a touch screen or a touch sensor panel. The computing system 200 may include a touch sensing system, which includes one or more touch processors 202, a peripheral device 204, a touch controller 206, and a touch sensing circuit (described in more detail below). The peripheral device 204 may include, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of memory or storage devices, a watchdog timer, and the like. The touch controller 206 may include, but is not limited to, one or more sensing channels 208, a channel scan logic component 210, and a driver logic component 214. The channel scan logic component 210 can access the RAM 212, read data autonomously from the sensing channel, and provide control for the sensing channel. Additionally, channel scan logic 210 can control driver logic 214 to generate excitation signals 216 at various frequencies and / or phases that can be selectively applied to drive regions of touch sensing circuitry of touch screen 220, as described in greater detail below. In some examples, touch controller 206, touch processor 202, and peripherals 204 can be integrated into a single application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and in some examples can be integrated with touch screen 220 itself.

[0027] It is obvious that Figure 2 The architecture shown is only one exemplary architecture of computing system 200, and the system may have more or fewer components than shown or components in a different configuration. In some examples, computing system 200 may include an energy storage device (e.g., a battery) to provide power and / or communication circuitry to provide wired or wireless communication (e.g., cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.). Figure 2 The various components shown in the drawings may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof, including one or more signal processing and / or application specific integrated circuits.

[0028] The computing system 200 may include a host processor 228 for receiving outputs from the touch processor 202 and performing actions based on the outputs. For example, the host processor 228 may be connected to a program storage device 232 and a display controller / driver 234 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) driver). It should be understood that although some examples of the present disclosure may be described with reference to LCD displays, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto and may be extended to other types of displays, such as light emitting diode (LED) displays, including organic LED (OLED), active matrix organic LED (AMOLED), and passive matrix organic LED (PMOLED) displays. The display driver 234 may provide a voltage to each pixel transistor on a select (e.g., gate) line and may provide data signals to these same transistors along data lines to control the pixels to display an image.

[0029] The host processor 228 may use the display driver 234 to generate a display image such as a display image of a user interface (UI) on the touch screen 220, and may use the touch processor 202 and the touch controller 206 to detect a touch on or near the touch screen 220, such as a touch input to a displayed UI. The touch input may be used by a computer program stored in the program storage device 232 to perform an action, which may include, but is not limited to: moving an object such as a cursor or pointer, scrolling or panning, adjusting a control setting, opening a file or document, viewing a menu, making a selection, executing an instruction, operating a peripheral device connected to the host device, answering a phone call, placing a phone call, terminating a phone call, changing volume or audio settings, storing information related to telephone communications (such as addresses, frequently dialed numbers, received calls, missed calls), logging into a computer or computer network, allowing authorized individuals to access restricted areas of a computer or computer network, loading a user profile associated with a user's preferred arrangement of a computer desktop, allowing access to web page content, launching a specific program, encrypting or decrypting a message, etc. The host processor 228 may also perform additional functions that may not be related to touch processing.

[0030] It should be noted that one or more of the functions described herein may be implemented by a memory device (e.g. Figure 2The firmware may be stored and / or delivered in any non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, a system including a processor, or other system that can obtain instructions from and execute instructions on an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In the context of this document, a "non-transitory computer-readable storage medium" may be any medium (excluding signals) that may contain or store a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In some examples, RAM 212 or program storage 232 (or both) may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. One or both of RAM 212 and program storage 232 may have instructions stored therein that, when executed by touch processor 202 or host processor 228 or both, may cause a device including computing system 200 to perform one or more functions and methods of one or more examples of the present disclosure. Computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor systems, apparatuses or devices, portable computer disks (magnetic), random access memory (RAM) (magnetic), read-only memory (ROM) (magnetic), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) (magnetic), portable optical disks such as CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R or DVD-RW, or flash memory such as compact flash cards, secure digital cards, USB storage devices, memory sticks, etc.

[0031] The firmware may also be transmitted in any transmission medium for use or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, device or apparatus such as a computer-based system, a system including a processor, or other system that can obtain instructions from an instruction execution system, device or apparatus and execute instructions. In the context of this article, a "transmission medium" can be any medium that can transmit, propagate or transmit a program for use or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, device or apparatus. Transmission media may include, but are not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic or infrared wired or wireless transmission media.

[0032] The touch screen 220 can be used to derive touch information at a plurality of discrete locations of the touch screen, referred to herein as touch nodes. The touch screen 220 can include a touch sensing circuit that can include a capacitive sensing medium having a plurality of drive lines 222 and a plurality of sense lines 223. It should be noted that the term "line" is sometimes used herein to refer to a simple conductive path, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art, and is not limited to a strictly straight path, but includes paths that change direction, and includes paths having different sizes, shapes, materials, etc. The drive line 222 can be driven by an excitation signal 216 from the driver logic component 214 via a drive interface 224, and the resulting sense signal 217 generated in the sense line 223 can be passed to the sense channel 208 in the touch controller 206 via a sense interface 225. In this way, the drive line and the sense line can be part of a touch sensing circuit that can interact to form a capacitive sensing node, which can be considered a touch picture element (touch pixel) and is referred to herein as a touch node, such as touch nodes 226 and 227. This understanding may be particularly useful when the touch screen 220 is viewed as capturing an "image" of touch (a "touch image"). In other words, after the touch controller 206 determines whether a touch has been detected at each touch node in the touch screen, the pattern of touch nodes in the touch screen where the touch occurs may be viewed as an "image" of the touch (e.g., a pattern of fingers touching the touch screen). As used herein, an electronic component that is "coupled to" or "connected to" another electronic component includes a direct or indirect connection that provides an electrical path for communication or operation between the coupled components. Thus, for example, the drive line 222 may be directly connected to the driver logic component 214 or indirectly connected to the drive logic 214 via the drive interface 224, and the sense line 223 may be directly connected to the sense channel 208 or indirectly connected to the sense channel 208 via the sense interface 225. In either case, an electrical path for driving and / or sensing the touch nodes may be provided.

[0033] Figure 3AAn exemplary touch sensor circuit 300 corresponding to self-capacitance measurement of a touch node electrode 302 and a sensing circuit 314 according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. The touch node electrode 302 may correspond to a touch electrode 404 or 406 of the touch screen 400 or a touch node electrode 408 of the touch screen 402. The touch node electrode 302 may have an inherent self-capacitance to ground associated therewith, and also have an additional self-capacitance to ground formed when an object such as a finger 305 approaches or touches the electrode. The total self-capacitance to ground of the touch node electrode 302 may be shown as capacitance 304. The touch node electrode 302 may be coupled to the sensing circuit 314. Although other configurations may be employed, the sensing circuit 314 may include an operational amplifier 308, a feedback resistor 312, and a feedback capacitor 310. For example, the feedback resistor 312 may be replaced by a switched capacitor resistor to minimize parasitic capacitance effects that may be caused by a variable feedback resistor. The touch node electrode 302 may be coupled to the inverting input (-) of the operational amplifier 308. AC voltage source 306 (V ac ) can be coupled to the non-inverting input (+) of the operational amplifier 308. The touch sensor circuit 300 can be configured to sense a change (e.g., an increase) in the total self-capacitance 304 of the touch node electrode 302 caused by a finger or object touching or approaching the touch sensor panel. The output 320 can be used by a processor to determine the presence of a proximity event or a touch event, or the output can be input into a discrete logic network to determine the presence of a proximity event or a touch event.

[0034] Figure 3B An exemplary touch sensor circuit 350 corresponding to mutual capacitance drive 322 and sense lines 326 and sense circuit 314 according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. Drive line 322 can be excited by excitation signal 306 (e.g., AC voltage signal). Excitation signal 306 can be capacitively coupled to sense line 326 through mutual capacitance 324 between drive line 322 and sense line. When a finger or object 305 approaches a touch node formed by the intersection of drive line 322 and sense line 326, mutual capacitance 324 can change (e.g., decrease). As described herein, this change in mutual capacitance 324 can be detected to indicate a touch event or proximity event at the touch node. The sense signal coupled to sense line 326 can be received by sense circuit 314. Sense circuit 314 can include operational amplifier 308 and at least one of feedback resistor 312 and feedback capacitor 310. Figure 3B The general case of using both resistive and capacitive feedback elements is shown. The sense signal (referred to as V 输入 ) can be input into the inverting input of the operational amplifier 308, and the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier can be coupled to the reference voltage V 参考 The operational amplifier 308 can drive its output to a voltage V 输出 , so that V输入 Basically equal to V 参考 , and thus V 输入 constant or effectively grounded. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in this context, equals may include deviations of up to 15%. Thus, the gain of the sensing circuit 314 may generally be a function of the ratio of the mutual capacitance 324 and the feedback impedance, which is formed by the resistor 312 and / or the capacitor 310. The output V of the sensing circuit 314 may be 输出 is fed into the multiplier 328 to filter it and produce a heterodyne effect or a homodyne effect, where V 输出 can be multiplied by the local oscillator 330 to generate V 检测 . V 检测 may be input to filter 332. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the placement of filter 332 may be varied; thus, the filter may be placed after multiplier 328, as shown, or two filters may be used: one before the multiplier and the other after the multiplier. In some examples, there may be no filter at all. 检测 The DC portion of the signal can be used to determine whether a touch event or proximity event has occurred. FIG. 3A to FIG. 3B indicates that the demodulation at multiplier 328 occurs in the analog domain, but the output V 输出 It may be digitized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and blocks 328, 332, and 330 may be implemented digitally (eg, 328 may be a digital demodulator, 332 may be a digital filter, and 330 may be a digital NCO (numerically controlled oscillator)).

[0035] Re-reference Figure 2 In some examples, the touch screen 220 may be an integrated touch screen, in which the touch sensing circuit elements of the touch sensing system may be integrated into the display pixel stacking structure of the display. The circuit elements in the touch screen 220 may include, for example, elements present in an LCD or other display (LED display, OLED display, etc.), such as one or more pixel transistors (e.g., thin film transistors (TFTs)), gate lines, data lines, pixel electrodes, and common electrodes. In a given display pixel, the voltage between the pixel electrode and the common electrode may control the brightness of the display pixel. The voltage on the pixel electrode may be provided by the data line through the pixel transistor, which may be controlled by the gate line. It should be noted that the circuit element is not limited to the entire circuit component, such as the entire capacitor, the entire transistor, etc., but may include a portion of the circuit, such as only one of the two plates of a parallel plate capacitor.

[0036] Figure 4AA touch screen 400 having touch electrodes 404 and 406 arranged in rows and columns is shown according to an example of the present disclosure. Specifically, the touch screen 400 may include a plurality of touch electrodes 404 arranged in rows and a plurality of touch electrodes 406 arranged in columns. The touch electrodes 404 and the touch electrodes 406 may be located on the same or different material layers on the touch screen 400 and may intersect each other, such as Figure 4A As shown. In some examples, the electrodes may be formed on opposite sides of a transparent (partial or complete) substrate and formed of a transparent (partial or complete) semiconductor material such as ITO, but other materials are also possible. Electrodes displayed on layers on different sides of a substrate may be referred to herein as a double-sided sensor. In some examples, touch screen 400 may sense the self-capacitance of touch electrodes 404 and 406 to detect touch and / or proximity activity on touch screen 400, and in some examples, touch screen 400 may sense the mutual capacitance between touch electrodes 404 and 406 to detect touch and / or proximity activity on touch screen 400.

[0037] although Figure 4A Touch electrodes 404 and touch electrodes 406 are shown as rectangular electrodes, but in some examples, other shapes and configurations of row and column electrodes are possible. For example, in some examples, some or all of the row and column electrodes may be formed by multiple touch electrodes formed from (partially or completely) transparent semiconductor material on one side of the substrate. The touch electrodes in a particular row or column may be interconnected by coupling segments and / or bridges. Row and column electrodes formed in layers on the same side of a substrate may be referred to herein as single-sided sensors. As described in more detail below, row and column electrodes may have other shapes. For example, FIG. 6A to FIG. 6B interlocking rectangular and U-shaped conductive segments, Figure 6C Interlocking L-shaped conductive sections, FIG. 7A to FIG. 7B interlocking double-bar cross-shaped and E-shaped conductive segments, a diamond architecture in which a plurality of diamond touch electrodes (touch electrodes having a diamond shape) are arranged to form rows and a plurality of diamond touch electrodes are arranged to form columns (e.g., Fig. 9 In addition, in some examples, non-linear arrangements (e.g., Figure 8 shown).

[0038] Figure 4BA touch screen 402 having touch node electrodes 408 arranged in a pixelated touch node electrode configuration is shown according to an example of the present disclosure. Specifically, the touch screen 402 may include a plurality of individual touch node electrodes 408, each of which identifies or represents a unique location on the touch screen where a touch or proximity (i.e., a touch event or proximity event) is to be sensed, and each of which is electrically isolated from other touch node electrodes in the touch screen / panel, as previously described. The touch node electrodes 408 may be located on the same or different material layers on the touch screen 402. In some examples, the touch screen 402 may sense the self-capacitance of the touch node electrodes 408 to detect touch and / or proximity activity on the touch screen 402, and in some examples, the touch screen 402 may sense mutual capacitance between the touch node electrodes 408 to detect touch and / or proximity activity on the touch screen 402.

[0039] As described herein, in some examples, the touch electrodes of a touch screen may be driven differentially and / or sensed differentially. Differential drive and differential sensing can reduce noise that may occur in the touch and / or display system of the touch screen due to the proximity of the touch system to the display system. For example, a touch screen may include touch electrodes that are partially or completely disposed above or otherwise close to a display (e.g., a touch sensor panel laminated to a display or otherwise integrated on or in a display stacking structure). For example, a touch electrode (e.g., formed by a metal mesh) may be capacitively coupled to a display electrode (e.g., a cathode electrode), which may cause the display operation to inject noise into the touch electrode (e.g., reduce touch sensing performance). In addition, a touch operation (e.g., stimulating a touch electrode) may cause noise to be injected into the display (e.g., introducing image artifacts). Differential drive and differential sensing may cause most of the noise coupled to the sensing circuit due to the display to become common mode, and the common mode noise may be suppressed by a differential sensing circuit. Similarly, differential drive may reduce local imbalances from touch electrodes on display electrodes. Thus, differential driving may allow the cathode of the display to shield the display from touch operations, which may reduce noise injected into the display system (and / or allow more margin to increase the amplitude of the drive signal compared to non-differential drive schemes).

[0040] As described herein, differential driving refers to simultaneously driving the first of two drive electrodes with a first excitation signal (e.g., a sine wave, a square wave, etc.), and driving the second of the two drive electrodes with a second excitation signal (e.g., an inverse sine wave, an inverse square wave, etc.) that is 180 degrees out of phase with the first excitation signal. In some examples, the first excitation signal and the second excitation signal may be driven by a differential drive circuit. In some examples, the first excitation signal and the second excitation signal may be driven by two single-ended drive circuits. Differential driving may be extended to more than two drive electrodes, so that for N simultaneously driven drive electrodes, half of the drive electrodes may be driven simultaneously by a first set of excitation signals, and the other half of the drive electrodes may be driven simultaneously by a second set of excitation signals complementary to the first set (e.g., an inverted version of the first set). As described herein, differential sensing refers to differentially sensing two sensing electrodes. For example, the first of the two sensing electrodes may be input into a first terminal (e.g., an inverting input) of a differential amplifier, and the second of the two sensing electrodes may be input into a second terminal (e.g., a non-inverting input) of the differential amplifier. In some examples, differential sensing can be implemented with two single-ended amplifiers (e.g., sensing circuit 314) and two ADCs configured to convert the outputs of the two single-ended amplifiers to digital outputs, each sensing one sensing electrode. A difference can be calculated between the digital outputs of the two amplifiers (e.g., in the analog or digital domain). In some examples, using a differential amplifier (rather than two single-ended amplifiers) can provide improved input-referred noise for the differential portion of the signal (removing common-mode noise and reducing dynamic range). In some examples, using a single-ended amplifier (rather than a differential amplifier) ​​can provide an output that represents common-mode noise, which can be useful for the system.

[0041] Figure 5A A symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 5A A touch sensor panel 500 is shown that includes row electrodes 502A-502D (also referred to as drive electrodes or lines) and column electrodes 504A-504H (also referred to as sense electrodes or lines). The touch sensor panel 500 may also include drive circuits (e.g., drivers / emitters 506A-506D that may correspond to driver logic 214) configured to drive the row electrodes 502A-502D and sense circuits (e.g., differential amplifiers 508A-508D that may correspond to a portion of sense channel 208) configured to sense the column electrodes 504A-504H. It should be understood that while the terms "row" and "column" may be used throughout this disclosure in conjunction with the figures that show row and column arrangements, these terms are used for ease of description and the actual orientations may be interchanged according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0042] Specifically, touch sensor panel 500 shows a touch sensor panel having four row electrodes 502A-502D and eight column electrodes 504A-504H. Each driver / transmitter 506A-506D can be coupled to a corresponding row electrode in row electrodes 502A-502D (e.g., driver / transmitter 506A can be coupled to row electrode 502A, driver / transmitter 506B can be coupled to row electrode 502B, etc.). Each differential amplifier 508A-508D can be coupled to a corresponding pair of column electrodes in column electrodes 504A-504H (e.g., differential amplifier 508A can be coupled to column electrodes 504A-504B, differential amplifier 508B can be coupled to column electrodes 504C-504D, etc.). Differential amplifiers 508A-508D can each include a common-mode feedback circuit (e.g., including a resistive circuit element and / or a capacitive circuit element) to keep the input terminal virtually grounded. A first column electrode of a corresponding pair of column electrodes may be coupled to an inverting terminal of a corresponding differential amplifier, and a second column electrode of a corresponding pair of column electrodes may be coupled to a non-inverting terminal of the corresponding differential amplifier.

[0043] Touch sensor panel 500 can be driven and sensed to detect sixteen capacitance values. Technically, mutual capacitance (electrostatic fringe field) can be formed between the intersections (or adjacent points) of each row electrode and each column electrode. For example, a first mutual capacitance C'0 can be formed between row electrode 502A and column electrode 504A, and a second mutual capacitance C0 can be formed between row electrode 502A and column electrode 504B. However, as Figure 5A As shown, the amount of conductive material at some intersections (or adjacent points) of row electrodes and column electrodes may be less than the amount of conductive material at other intersections (or adjacent points) of row electrodes. Figure 5A As shown, the amount of conductive material at the intersection of row electrode 502A and column electrode 504A may be less than the amount of conductive material at the intersection of row electrode 502A and column electrode 502B. Therefore, in some examples, the mutual capacitance (electrostatic fringe field) of the former may be relatively negligible relative to the latter, so that the mutual capacitance of the former may be substantially negligible. (In some examples, the relatively negligible capacitance may be reduced by increasing the distance between certain portions of the row and column electrodes and / or electrically isolating certain portions of the row and column electrodes.) For example, the mutual capacitance (C′0) between row electrode 502A and column electrode 504A may be relatively small compared to the mutual capacitance (C0) between row electrode 502A and column electrode 504B or the mutual capacitance (C1) between row electrode 502B and column electrode 504A.

[0044] for Figure 5AFor each corresponding driver and corresponding differential sense amplifier in the touch sensor panel 500, one of the mutual capacitances may be a primary (or main) mutual capacitance, and one of the mutual capacitances may be a secondary mutual capacitance (where the mutual capacitance / electrostatic fringe field may vary with the amount of conductive material and the arrangement of the conductive material). In some examples, the primary mutual capacitance may correspond to a fringe field coupling that is above a threshold of the corresponding driver / differential amplifier (e.g., above 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, etc.), and the secondary mutual capacitance may correspond to a fringe field coupling that is below a threshold of the corresponding driver / differential amplifier (e.g., below 20%, 15%, 10%, 5%, etc.). Thus, the sixteen values ​​measured for the touch sensor panel 500 may represent the primary mutual capacitance with the aid of the pattern of conductive material used for the row and column electrodes. For example, C0 may represent the main mutual capacitance between row electrode 502A and column electrode 504B, C1 may represent the main mutual capacitance between row electrode 502B and column electrode 504A, C2 may represent the main mutual capacitance between row electrode 502C and column electrode 504B, and C3 may represent the main mutual capacitance between row electrode 502D and column electrode 504A. Each of these main mutual capacitances may represent an effective touch node of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the "effective touch node" described herein may alternatively be referred to as a "touch node" because it may represent the main mutual capacitance of an area of ​​the touch sensor panel.

[0045] In some examples, primary mutual capacitance (relatively high electrostatic fringe field) and secondary mutual capacitance (relatively low electrostatic fringe field) can alternate spatially. The spatial alternation can occur along one or two dimensions. For example, for driver 506A / row electrode 502A, primary capacitances C0, C4, C8, C 12 (formed by column electrodes 504B, 504D, 504F, 504H and the inverting terminals of differential amplifiers 508A-508D) can be connected to subcapacitors C'0, C'4, C'8, C' 12 Alternate spatially. For the remaining drivers / row electrodes, the primary and secondary capacitances may also alternate spatially. For the inverting terminal / column electrode 504B of the differential amplifier 508A, the primary capacitances C0 and C2 (formed by the row electrodes 502A and 502C and the corresponding drivers 506A and 506C) may alternate spatially with the secondary capacitances C′1 and C′3. For the inverting terminal / column electrode 504A of the differential amplifier 508A, the primary capacitances C1 and C3 (formed by the row electrodes 502B and 502D and the corresponding drivers 506B and 506D) may alternate spatially with the secondary capacitances C′0 and C′2. For the remaining differential amplifiers / column electrodes, the primary and secondary capacitances may also alternate spatially.

[0046] During operation, the row electrodes 502A-502D may be excited using multiple excitation patterns of drive signals (H0-H3), and the column electrodes 504A-504D may be differentially sensed using differential amplifiers 508A-508D. For example, the multiple excitation patterns may be a Hadamard matrix (e.g., a 4x4 matrix including "1" and "-1" values ​​indexed to the drivers and drive steps) applied to a common excitation signal (e.g., a sine wave, a square wave, etc.) to encode the drive signal. The multiple excitation patterns may allow the primary mutual capacitance to be measured and decoded based on the multiple excitation drive patterns. Differentially sensing the column electrodes may remove common mode noise from the touch measurement. It should be understood that although the touch sensor panel 500 includes sixteen primary capacitance values ​​(e.g., corresponding to sixteen touch nodes in a 4x4 array), the touch sensor panel may be enlarged or reduced to include fewer or more touch nodes.

[0047] In some examples, to reduce noise and thereby improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the touch sensor panel 500 can be modified to implement differential drive. For example, instead of implementing one drive line per row of valid touch nodes, two drive lines can be used per row of valid touch nodes. Figure 5B A symbolic representation of a touch sensor panel implementing differential drive and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 5B A touch sensor panel 510 is shown that includes row electrodes 502A-502D and row electrodes 502A'-502D' (eight row electrodes) and column electrodes 504A-504H (eight column electrodes). Touch sensor panel 510 may also include driving circuits (e.g., drivers / emitters 506A-506D and drivers / emitters 506A'-506D') configured to drive row electrodes 502A-502D and 502A'-502D' and sensing circuits (e.g., differential amplifiers 508A-508D) configured to sense column electrodes 504A-504H.

[0048] Each driver / transmitter 506A-506D, 506A'-506D' can be coupled to a corresponding one of the row electrodes 502A-502D, 502A'-502D', and each differential amplifier 508A-508D can be coupled to a corresponding pair of column electrodes 504A-504H. Although the row electrodes are doubled compared to touch sensor panel 500, touch sensor panel 510 can be driven and sensed to detect sixteen primary mutual capacitance values ​​(in Figure 5Arepresented by relatively large amounts of conductive material for some row and column electrodes). The sixteen primary mutual capacitance values ​​may represent a 4x4 array of touch nodes for the touch sensor panel. During operation, the row electrodes 502A-502D and the row electrodes 502A'-502D' may be excited using multiple excitation patterns of drive signals (H0-H3 and H0'-H3'), and the column electrodes 504A-504D may be differentially sensed using differential amplifiers 508A-508D. In some examples, the multiple excitation patterns may be two orthogonal Hadamard matrices (e.g., 4x4 matrices each indexed to a driver and a drive step including "1" and "-1" values) applied to a common excitation signal (e.g., a sine wave, a square wave, etc.) to encode the drive signal. In some examples, the multiple excitation patterns may be one Hadamard matrix and its complementary signal (180 degrees out of phase) applied to a common excitation signal (e.g., a sine wave, a square wave, etc.) to encode the drive signal. The multi-excitation mode can allow the measurement and decoding of the main mutual capacitance based on the multi-excitation drive mode. Differentially sensing the column electrodes can remove common mode noise from the touch measurement. It should be understood that although the touch sensor panel 510 includes sixteen main capacitance values ​​(e.g., corresponding to sixteen touch nodes), the touch sensor panel can be enlarged or reduced to include fewer or more touch nodes.

[0049] As compared to Figure 5A As stated in Figure 5B In the embodiment of the present invention, the primary mutual capacitance (relatively high electrostatic fringe field) and the secondary mutual capacitance (relatively low electrostatic fringe field) can be patterned spatially. In some examples, the spatial alternation can occur along one or two dimensions. For example, for driver 506A / row electrode 502A, the primary capacitance can be formed at the intersection with column electrodes 504B and 504F, while the secondary capacitance is formed at the remaining intersections with column electrodes 504A, 504C-504E, 504G, and 504H. In a similar manner, for driver 506B / row electrode 502A', the primary capacitance can be formed at the intersection with column electrodes 504D and 504H, while the secondary capacitance is formed at the remaining intersections with column electrodes 504A-504C and 504E-504G. The spatial pattern of the primary capacitance and the secondary capacitance can be repeated for the remaining rows. For the inverting terminal / column electrode 504B of the differential amplifier 508A, primary capacitances C0 and C2 may be formed at the intersections with the row electrodes 502A and 502C and the corresponding drivers 506A and 506C, while secondary capacitances are formed at the remaining intersections of the column 504B. For the inverting terminal / column electrode 504A of the differential amplifier 508A, primary capacitances C1 and C3 may be formed at the intersections with the row electrodes 502B and 502D, while secondary capacitances are formed at the remaining intersections of the column 504A. The spatial pattern of primary and secondary capacitances may be repeated for the remaining columns. Thus, along the rows and along the columns, the primary capacitances may be spatially composed of Figure 5BThe three subcapacitors in the spatial pattern are separated from each other.

[0050] FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C A touch sensor panel implementing differential driving and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C The touch sensor panel may be similar to that described above with respect to Figure 5B The approach described has a spatial pattern of mutual capacitance / electrostatic fringe field coupling. Fig. 6A A touch sensor panel 600 including row electrodes 602A-602H and column electrodes 604A-604H is shown. The touch sensor panel 600 may also include a driving circuit configured to drive the column electrodes 604A-604H (e.g., a driver / emitter 606A-606H that may correspond to the driver logic component 214) and a sensing circuit configured to sense the row electrodes 602A-602H (e.g., a differential amplifier 608A-608D that may correspond to a portion of the sensing channel 208 including a common-mode feedback circuit). Specifically, Fig. 6A A touch sensor panel 600 is shown having eight row electrodes 602A-602H and eight column electrodes 604A-604H. Each driver / transmitter 606A-606D can be coupled to a corresponding one of the column electrodes 604A-604H (e.g., driver / transmitter 606A can be coupled to column electrode 604A, driver / transmitter 606B can be coupled to column electrode 604B, etc.). Each differential amplifier 608A-608D can be coupled to a corresponding pair of row electrodes in the row electrodes 602A-602H (e.g., differential amplifier 608A can be coupled to row electrodes 602A-602B, differential amplifier 608B can be coupled to row electrodes 602C-602D, etc.). A first row electrode in a corresponding pair of row electrodes can be coupled to an inverting terminal of a corresponding differential amplifier, and a second row electrode in a corresponding pair of row electrodes can be coupled to a non-inverting terminal of a corresponding differential amplifier.

[0051] The column electrodes 604A-604H may include multiple conductive segments interconnected by wiring. For example, the column electrode 604A includes conductive segments 604A' and 604A" (e.g., having a rectangular shape) that form valid touch nodes of the touch sensor panel 600, and the conductive segments are connected by wiring such as wiring 604A"'. Similarly, the row electrodes 602A-602H may include multiple conductive segments interconnected by wiring. For example, the row electrode 602A includes conductive segments 602A' and 602A" (e.g., having a "U" shape) that form valid touch nodes of the touch sensor panel 600, and the conductive segments are connected by wiring such as wiring 602A"'. The touch sensor panel 600 can be viewed as a two-dimensional array (four rows and four columns) including valid touch nodes. Each valid touch node of the touch sensor panel 600 can measure a capacitance dominated by the capacitance between the conductive segments of the corresponding row electrode and column electrode (formed by the interlocking conductive segments). For example, for an active touch node corresponding to an area of ​​column 1 and row 1 of touch sensor panel 600, the mutual capacitance between portion 602A' of row electrode 602A and portion 604A' of column electrode 604A may dominate. The capacitive influence of a routing portion of a nearby row electrode or column electrode may form a secondary mutual capacitance that is negligible by comparison (e.g., the influence of a routing portion of column electrode 604B on portion 602A' of row electrode 602A). Due to the pattern of the row and column electrodes, the primary / secondary mutual capacitance / electrostatic fringe field coupling may be spatially patterned, as described herein. For example, column electrode 606A may be primarily coupled to row electrodes 602A and 602E, with secondary coupling to row electrodes 602B-602D and 602F-602H. Row electrode 602A may be primarily coupled to column electrodes 604A and 604E, with secondary coupling to column electrodes 604B-604D and 604F-604H. The spatial pattern of primary / secondary mutual capacitance / electrostatic fringe field coupling can continue in a similar manner. It should be noted that the dimensions of the wiring are exaggerated for illustrative purposes, and the dimensions of the wiring relative to the conductive segments may be smaller than shown. In some examples, the conductive segments of the row electrodes and column electrodes are formed in a common layer (i.e., the same layer of the touch sensor panel). In some examples, the wiring for the row electrodes and column electrodes can be at least partially formed in a common layer. In some examples, some or all of the wiring can be in different layers (e.g., to allow electrical separation of the electrodes at overlapping locations in the illustration, and further reduce the impact of the wiring on the capacitance at the effective touch nodes).

[0052] like Fig. 6AAs shown, the touch sensor panel 600 may include four rows and four columns of touch nodes (e.g., valid touch nodes). For example, the first column of touch nodes may be mainly formed by the conductive segments of the row electrodes 602A, 602C, 602E, 602G and the conductive segments of the column electrodes 604A, 604B (e.g., segments 604A', 604A", 604B', and 604B"). As another example, the second column of touch nodes may be mainly formed by the conductive segments of the row electrodes 602B, 602D, 602F, 602H and the conductive segments of the column electrodes 604C, 604D. In a similar manner, the first row of touch nodes may be mainly formed by the conductive segments of the row electrodes 602A and 602B (e.g., segments 602A', 602A", 602B', and 602B") and the conductive segments of the column electrodes 604A, 604C, 604E, and 604G. As another example, a second row of touch nodes can be formed primarily from the conductive segments of row electrodes 602C and 602D and the conductive segments of column electrodes 604B, 604D, 604F, and 604H.

[0053] During operation, a drive circuit coupled to the column electrodes may drive the column electrodes differentially, and a differential amplifier may sense the row electrodes differentially. For example, the column electrodes 604A-604H may be excited (e.g., simultaneously excited) using multiple excitation patterns of drive signals (D0-D3) through multiple scanning steps. For example, the multiple excitation patterns may be a Hadamard matrix including values ​​1 (for 0 degree phase) and -1 (for 180 degree phase) applied to a common excitation signal (e.g., a sine wave at frequency f1) to encode the drive signal, thereby allowing measurement and decoding of the primary mutual capacitance based on the multiple excitation drive patterns. For example, D0-D3 may be represented by the following Hadamard matrix:

[0054]

[0055] Wherein each row in the matrix represents a step of scanning, and each column represents one of the drive signals D0-D3, so that the value of the matrix represents the phase of the common excitation signal applied to D0, D1, D2 and D3 for each step. For each drive signal in the multi-excitation mode of the drive signal, a complementary signal (e.g., drive signals D0-D3 and D0'-D3') can be applied simultaneously. For example, the first row corresponding to the first scanning step indicates that the drive signal D0 has a phase of 180 degrees. The drive signal D0 can be applied differentially to the column electrodes 604A and 604B, so that the signal applied to the column electrode 604A is 180 degrees out of phase with the signal applied to the column electrode 604B. According to the above example Hadamard matrix, the driver / buffer 606A outputs a drive signal with a phase of 0 after inversion, and the driver / buffer 606B outputs a drive signal with a phase of 180 degrees. In a similar manner, two complementary drive signals can be applied to the touch sensor panel for each of the drive signals D0-D3. For example, the first row corresponding to the first scanning step indicates that the drive signals D1-D3 have a phase of 0, so that the drivers / buffers 606D, 606F, and 606H output drive signals with a phase of 0, and the drivers / buffers 606C, 606E, and 606G output drive signals with a phase of 180 degrees after inversion. For the subsequent three scanning steps, the drive signals for the drive lines may be output according to the remaining rows of the Hadamard matrix.

[0056] Considering an example receiver for differential amplifier 608D, for drive signal D0, the secondary coupling between column electrode 604A and row electrode 602G can be relatively small compared to the primary coupling between column electrode 604B and row electrode 602G (e.g., through fringe field coupling between segments 604B″ and 602G′). The primary coupling can be represented by capacitance C0 (for row 4, column 1), which is coupled to the non-inverting (positive) input terminal of differential amplifier 608D. Therefore, a current proportional to C0 can appear at the output of differential amplifier 608D. In a similar manner, for drive signal D1, the primary coupling between column electrode 606D and row electrode 602H can be represented by capacitance C1 (for row 4, column 2) coupled to the inverting (negative) input terminal of differential amplifier 608D, and a current proportional to C1 can appear at the output of differential amplifier 608D. Source; for drive signal D2, the main coupling between column electrode 606F and row electrode 602G can be represented by capacitance C2 (for row 4, column 3) coupled to the non-inverting input terminal of differential amplifier 608D, and a current proportional to C2 can appear at the output of differential amplifier 608D; and for drive signal D3, the main coupling between column electrode 606H and row electrode 602H can be represented by capacitance C3 (for row 4, column 4) coupled to the inverting input terminal of differential amplifier 608D, and a current proportional to C3 can appear at the output of differential amplifier 608D. Therefore, for the first scanning step, the output of the current measurement of differential amplifier 608D can be proportional to C0-C1-C2-C3. The same procedure is followed for the remaining three steps, and the output of the four scanning steps can be represented as a vector proportional to the following:

[0057]

[0058] This vector code can be matrix decoded or inverted to extract the individual capacitances, but the entire measurement has an effective accumulation time as shown in the following equation:

[0059]

[0060] although Fig. 6A The driver circuit is shown as including eight discrete drivers 606A-606H, but it will be appreciated that other implementations are possible. For example, four differential drivers may be used, each of which outputs a signal and its complement.

[0061] In some examples, complementary drive signals can be applied to adjacent column electrodes such that the net electrical effect caused by the drive signals can be zero (or within a threshold of zero) localized to the two column electrodes. For example, adjacent column electrodes 604A and 604B (or 604B and 604C) can be driven with complementary signals and produce a net zero (or near zero) electrical effect (e.g., to reduce noise from a touch system coupled to a display system). Although the application of complementary signals is shown in adjacent electrodes, it should be understood that complementary signals can be applied to non-adjacent column electrodes such that the net electrical effect of the touch sensor panel can be zero (or within a threshold of zero), but may not be zero at localized areas of the touch sensor panel.

[0062] For each column of touch nodes in touch sensor panel 600, a first drive signal and a second drive signal may be applied. For example, column 1 of the touch sensor panel may be driven with a first drive signal on column electrode 604A (applied to two touch nodes in the column of touch nodes), and may be driven with a second drive signal on column electrode 604B (applied to two different touch nodes in the column of touch nodes). Fig. 6A As shown, a first drive signal is applied to alternating touch nodes in a column, and a second drive signal is applied to alternating touch nodes in a column.

[0063] The row electrodes 602A-602H may be differentially sensed using differential amplifiers 608A-608D. Differentially sensing the column electrodes may remove common mode noise from the touch measurement. In some examples, the coupling between the row electrodes and the differential amplifier may correspond to the drive signal applied to the column electrodes. For example, row electrodes driven by an inverted drive signal may be coupled to opposite terminals of the corresponding differential amplifiers compared to row electrodes driven by an in-phase drive signal. For example, for the first row of the touch sensor panel 600, segments 602A' and 602A" of the row electrode 602A may be driven primarily by inverted drive signals applied to segments of the column electrodes 604A and 604E. These segments 602A' and 602A" may be coupled to the inverting terminals of the differential amplifier 608A. Segments 602B′ and 602B″ of row electrode 602B can be driven primarily by the inverted drive signals applied to segments of column electrodes 604C and 604G, and can be coupled to the non-inverting terminal of differential amplifier 608A. In contrast, for a second row of touch sensor panel 600, segments of row electrode 602C of a touch node driven primarily by the in-phase drive signals applied to segments of column electrodes 604B and 604F can be coupled to the non-inverting terminal of differential amplifier 608B. Segments of row electrode 602D of a touch node driven primarily by the in-phase drive signals applied to segments of column electrodes 604D and 604H can be coupled to the inverting terminal of differential amplifier 608B. Inverting the polarity of the connection between the row electrodes and the terminals of the differential amplifier for the inverted drive signals as compared to the inverted drive signals can account for the polarity difference between the complementary drive signals and can produce a consistent phase at the output of the sensing circuit.

[0064] Although complementary signals are shown applied to adjacent electrodes in each column (e.g., complementary signals D0 / D0' are applied to column 1, complementary signals D1 / D1' are applied to column 2, and so on), it should be understood that complementary signals may be applied to different column electrodes such that the net electrical effect may be zero (or within a threshold of zero) over a larger local area of ​​the touch sensor panel (e.g., at diagonal touch nodes), but may not be net zero within a column of the touch sensor panel (e.g., for adjacent touch nodes). In some examples, cancellation of complementary signals may occur at diagonal touch nodes. For example, the drive circuit may be configured to drive column electrode 604A with D0', column electrode 604B with D1, column electrode 604C with D1', and column electrode 604D with D0. Thus, cancellation of transmitted signals may occur at the diagonal. For example, cancellation of D0' and D0 may occur at Fig. 6A In a similar manner, the cancellation of D1' and D1 can occur between the transmitter electrode of the touch node in the 1st row and 1st column of the array and the transmitter electrode of the touch node in the 2nd row and 2nd column. Fig. 6ABetween the transmitter electrode of the touch node in row 1, column 2 of the array and the transmitter electrode of the touch node in row 2, column 1. In some examples, due to the increased distance along the diagonal, the diagonal cancellation of the complementary drive signals can result in an increased sense signal in response to the touch object compared to the sense signal of the touch sensor panel with complementary drive signal cancellation within the columns of touch nodes (because the cancellation of the signal is reduced).

[0065] In some examples, similar improvements in touch signals can be achieved by increasing the spacing between touch nodes sensed by the receiver. For example, a method of applying complementary signals within a column of touch nodes can be used. Fig. 6A 's transmit configuration, but the receiver configuration may be modified. For example, differential receiver 608A may be coupled to the conductive segments of the touch nodes at row 1, column 1, row 2, column 2, row 1, column 3, and row 2, column 4, such that conductive segments 602A' and 602A" remain coupled to the inverting terminal of differential amplifier 608A, but the connection may be changed so that the non-inverting terminal of differential amplifier 608A may be coupled to the conductive segments of the touch nodes in the second row that are diagonally opposite conductive segments 602A' and 602A". The same pattern may be repeated for the remaining receivers so that the complementary receiver inputs are diagonal to each other. In some examples, as described below with reference to Figure 6B As described above, the spacing between the complementary receiver inputs of the differential amplifier can be further increased to increase the touch signal (and potentially reduce the spatial resolution of noise cancellation from the differential drive / sense scheme).

[0066] It should be understood that although the touch sensor panel 600 includes a 4×4 array of sixteen primary capacitance values ​​(e.g., corresponding to sixteen valid touch nodes), the touch sensor panel can be enlarged or reduced to include fewer or more touch nodes. For example, the touch sensor panel can be expanded to 8×8 touch nodes (e.g., 64 capacitance values ​​for 64 valid touch nodes) by doubling the row electrodes, column electrodes, drivers / emitters, and differential amplifiers.

[0067] In addition, it should be understood that although reference Fig. 6A Although the touch sensor panel 600 in FIG. 1 describes differential driving and sensing, in some examples, the touch sensor panel 600 can be operated in a non-differential sensing configuration to sense stimuli from an input device (e.g., a provided stylus) that is in contact with or in proximity to the touch sensor panel 600. For example, to detect input device stimuli, a switching circuit can be used to couple two row electrodes of a row of touch nodes to the same input terminal (e.g., an inverting input terminal) of a differential amplifier, and to couple another input terminal (e.g., a non-inverting input terminal) of the differential amplifier to a ground potential or another reference potential (e.g., corresponding to the use of a reference potential). Figure 3B608B). In contrast, for differential drive and sense as described herein, a switch circuit may couple the row electrodes, as shown by differential amplifiers 608A-608D. For example, a switch circuit 605 may optionally be included between the two routing traces of row electrodes 602C and 602D and the corresponding differential amplifier 608B. The switch circuit 605 may include one or more switches including a multiplexer 607 and a switch 609 that may be controlled by a mode select input. In a differential drive / sense mode of operation, the multiplexer 607 may couple the row electrode 602C to the in-phase terminal (and the row electrode 602C may be decoupled from the inverting terminal by opening the switch 609), and the row electrode 602D may be coupled to the inverting terminal of the differential amplifier 608B. In a non-differential sensing configuration for sensing a stimulus from an input device, row electrode 602C and row electrode 602D may be coupled to an inverting terminal of differential amplifier 608B by closing switch 609, and a non-inverting terminal of differential amplifier 608B may be coupled to ground (or a virtual ground) using multiplexer 607. In some examples, for non-differential operation, the column electrodes in each column may use the same phase stimulus signal instead of a complementary signal (e.g., D0 may be applied to column electrodes 604A-604B of the first column, D1 may be applied to column electrodes 604C-604D of the second column, etc.).

[0068] Figure 6BA touch sensor panel 610 is shown that is similar to touch sensor panel 600, the details of which are not repeated here for simplicity. However, touch sensor panel 610 may include different couplings between row electrodes 602A-602H and differential amplifiers 608A-608D. Specifically, in the configuration of touch sensor panel 610, sensing is differential on alternating rows. For example, row electrode 602A may be coupled to differential amplifier 608C, row electrode 602B may be coupled to differential amplifier 608A, row electrode 602C may be coupled to differential amplifier 608D, row electrode 602D may be coupled to differential amplifier 608B, row electrode 602E may be coupled to differential amplifier 608A, row electrode 602F may be coupled to differential amplifier 608C, row electrode 602G may be coupled to differential amplifier 608B, and row electrode 602H may be coupled to differential amplifier 608D. In other words, differential amplifier 608A may measure the difference between row electrodes 602B and 602E (of alternating rows 1 and 3), differential amplifier 608B may measure the difference between row electrodes 602D and 602G (of alternating rows 2 and 4), differential amplifier 608C may measure the difference between row electrodes 602F and 602A (of alternating rows 1 and 3), and differential amplifier 608D may measure the difference between row electrodes 602H and 602C (of alternating rows 2 and 4). Differentially sensing the column electrodes may remove common-mode noise from touch measurements, and the row spacing measured by the differential amplifiers may be used to detect local common-mode signals (e.g., from a stylus or other input device).

[0069] Although for Figure 6B Complementary signals are shown being applied to adjacent electrodes in each column (e.g., complementary signals D0 / D0' are applied to column 1, complementary signals D1 / D1' are applied to column 2, etc.), but it should be understood that complementary signals can be applied to different column electrodes over larger local areas of the touch sensor panel (e.g., at diagonal touch nodes) to further increase the sensed signal in response to a touch object.

[0070] It should be understood that FIG. 6A to FIG. 6B 1 shows some examples of wiring between electrodes (rows in this example) and differential amplifiers. Fig. 6A In , each touch node in a particular row is routed to the differential amplifier via two input terminals of the same differential amplifier, where there is a spatial alternation of the touch nodes routed between the two input terminals. Figure 6BIn the example, half of the touch nodes in each row are routed to one input terminal of a first differential amplifier, and the other half of the touch nodes in the row are routed to one input terminal of a second differential amplifier, wherein the routing relative to the touch nodes to the differential amplifier inputs has a spatial pattern. In other examples, other routing between the electrodes and the differential amplifiers can be used. For example, routing of electrodes from a spatial alternating pattern of rows or columns to specific differential amplifiers, non-contiguous touch nodes along a row or column, non-straight line arrangements, diagonal arrangements (e.g., as Figure 8 shown) etc.

[0071] Generally speaking, the interlacing of the drive electrodes with the sense electrodes in a pattern and the differential and orthogonal driving of the drive electrodes can result in patterning of the amount of mutual capacitive coupling (electrostatic fringe field coupling) between the drive electrodes and the sense electrodes. For example, for a corresponding first sense electrode, the amount of electrostatic fringe field coupling with the first group of drive electrodes can be relatively large (greater than a first threshold), thereby forming a primary capacitance, and the amount of electrostatic field coupling with the second group of drive electrodes can be relatively small (less than a second threshold), thereby forming a secondary capacitance. For a corresponding second sense electrode, the amount of electrostatic fringe field coupling with the second group of drive electrodes can be relatively large (greater than a first threshold), thereby forming a primary capacitance, and the amount of electrostatic field coupling with the first group of drive electrodes can be relatively small (less than a second threshold), thereby forming a secondary capacitance. The primary capacitance and the secondary capacitance can be spatially patterned according to the pattern of the drive electrodes and the sense electrodes.

[0072] Figure 6C A touch sensor panel 620 is shown that is similar to touch sensor panel 600, and for the sake of brevity, its details are not repeated here. Touch sensor panel 620 includes row electrodes 622A-622H and column electrodes 624A-624H that correspond to row electrodes 602A-602H and column electrodes 604A-604H, respectively. However, the conductive segments of row electrodes 622A-622H and column electrodes 624A-624H may have the same Fig. 6AThe electrodes shown have different shapes. Specifically, instead of one conductive segment per electrode and per node (e.g., interlocking rectangular and U-shaped conductive segments), multiple conductive segments per electrode (e.g., interlocking L-shaped conductive segments) can be distributed within a touch node. The distribution of conductive segments within a touch node can improve touch signal levels (and therefore improve the SNR for touch sensing) because the mutual capacitance in a single-layer touch sensor panel can be a function of the distance between the conductive materials of the driven and sensed electrodes. For example, the mutual capacitance along the boundary between the conductive segment of the driven electrode and the conductive segment of the sensed electrode can be larger than the center of the two conductive segments. Therefore, by distributing the conductive segments within the touch node area (thereby reducing the maximum spacing between the area of ​​the drive electrode and the area of ​​the sense electrode in the touch node), the signal measured at the touch node can be increased (e.g., relative to other touch electrode patterns, such as FIG. 6A to FIG. 6B The increase in mutual capacitance can provide increased modulation between the finger and the sensor (e.g., for increasing the signal). Additionally, the distribution of the conductive segments can provide improved linearity of the touch signal detected as the object moves across the touch sensor panel (e.g., a more uniform signal measured by the object, regardless of the object's location on the touch sensor panel). The improved linearity can provide various benefits of improved touch performance, including more precise and accurate touch location detection, reduced wobble, etc.

[0073] like Figure 6C As shown, the driving circuitry may include four differential drivers 626A-626D. Each column of touch nodes shown may have two column electrodes driven by complementary drive signal outputs of a corresponding one of the differential drivers. The sensing circuitry may include four differential amplifiers 628A-628D (e.g., including common-mode feedback circuitry). Each row of touch nodes shown may have two row electrodes sensed by a corresponding one of the differential amplifiers.

[0074] FIG. 7A to FIG. 7B FIG. 7 shows a touch sensor panel 700 that implements differential drive and / or differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure. FIG. 7 shows a touch sensor panel 700 that implements differential drive and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure. The touch sensor panel 700 shows a touch sensor panel similar to FIG. FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C 4×4 array of sixteen capacitance values ​​of a touch sensor panel of FIG. 700 , but with a different arrangement of touch electrodes (e.g., with different shapes). For ease of illustration, touch sensor panel 700 shows conductive segments forming touch nodes of touch sensor panel 700 without showing wiring. In some examples, touch sensor panel 700 can be similar to the above with respect to FIG. 700 due to wiring. Figure 5B The approach described has a spatial pattern of mutual capacitance / electrostatic fringe field coupling. Fig. 7AEach touch node shown in the touch sensor panel 700 includes a conductive segment shaped like a double-bar cross and two conductive segments shaped like the letter E (mirrored and interlocked with the conductive segments shaped like the double-bar cross). For each row, the conductive segments shaped like the letter E can be coupled by wiring. For example, in the first row ("row 1"), the row electrode 702A may include four conductive segments shaped like the letter E, and the row electrode 702B may include four conductive segments shaped like the letter E. Similarly, the row electrodes 702C-702H of the remaining rows may each include four conductive segments shaped like the letter E. Each column of touch nodes in the touch sensor panel 700 may include four conductive segments with a double-bar cross, wherein the alternating conductive segments are coupled together via wiring (and / or driven with the same drive signal) and form a column electrode. For example, the first column of the touch sensor panel 700 may include two conductive segments (double-bar cross) that together form the column electrode 704A, and may include two conductive segments (double-bar cross) that together form the column electrode 704B. Likewise, column electrodes 704C-704H may each include alternating rows of two double-rod cross-shaped electrodes.

[0075] The touch sensor panel 700 can utilize multiple excitation patterns of drive signals to excite the column electrodes 704A-704H. For example, multiple excitation patterns of drive signals (D0-D3) and their complements (D0'-D3') can be simultaneously applied to the column electrodes 704A-704H (e.g., applied by a drive circuit that is not shown but represented by drive signals D0-D3 and D0'-D3'). Fig. 7A In the example of the sensor shown, column 1 may be driven by drive signal D0 and its complement D0' (e.g., the negative value of drive signal D0), column 2 may be driven by drive signal D1 and its complement D1' (e.g., the negative value of drive signal D1), column 3 may be driven by drive signal D2 and its complement D2' (e.g., the negative value of drive signal D2), and column 4 may be driven by drive signal D3 and its complement D3' (e.g., the negative value of drive signal D3). For example, column electrode 704A may be driven with drive signal D0 and column electrode 704B may be driven with its complement D0', column electrode 704C may be driven with drive signal D1 and column electrode 704D may be driven with its complement D1', column electrode 704E may be driven with drive signal D2 and column electrode 704F may be driven with its complement D2', and column electrode 704G may be driven with drive signal D3 and column electrode 704H may be driven with its complement D3'.

[0076] In the differential drive scheme described above, each drive signal and its complement are applied to the column electrodes in the corresponding column (e.g., for a net zero voltage for the column). In some examples, each drive signal and its complement may not be applied within the same column (e.g., resulting in a net zero voltage for the touch sensor panel, but not necessarily a net zero voltage for each column). For example, driving the sensor differentially may include driving column electrodes 704A-704D with drive signals D0-D3, respectively, and driving electrodes 704E-704H with complementary drive signals D0'-D3', respectively.

[0077] Row electrodes 702A-702H may be differentially sensed using differential amplifiers 708A-708D (e.g., including common-mode feedback circuitry). For example, row electrodes 702A-702B may be differentially sensed using differential amplifier 708A, row electrodes 702C-702D may be differentially sensed using differential amplifier 708B, row electrodes 702E-702F may be differentially sensed using differential amplifier 708C, and row electrodes 702G-702H may be differentially sensed using differential amplifier 708D. Differentially sensing column electrodes may remove common-mode noise from touch measurements.

[0078] It should be understood that although touch sensor panel 700 includes a 4×4 array of sixteen capacitance values ​​(e.g., corresponding to sixteen touch nodes), the touch sensor panel can be enlarged or reduced to include fewer or more touch nodes. In addition, in some examples, sensing can be differential on alternating rows (e.g., differentially sensing some row electrodes of row 1 from some row electrodes of different rows, e.g., as described in reference to FIG. Figure 6B described above).

[0079] Figure 7B A touch sensor panel 710 implementing differential driving and / or differential sensing according to examples of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 7B The configuration depends on FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C and Fig. 7A The configuration may include fewer differential amplifiers (e.g., two differential amplifiers instead of four differential amplifiers).

[0080] Touch sensor panel 710 shows a 4×4 array of sixteen capacitance values. For ease of illustration, touch sensor panel 710 shows the conductive segments that form the touch nodes of touch sensor panel 710 without showing most of the wiring. In some examples, due to the wiring, touch sensor panel 710 can be similar to the above with respect to Figure 5B The approach described has a spatial pattern of mutual capacitance / electrostatic fringe field coupling. Figure 7BEach touch node shown in includes a conductive segment shaped like a double-bar cross and two conductive segments shaped like the letter E (mirrored and interlocked with the conductive segments shaped like the double-bar cross). For each row electrode, the conductive segments shaped like the letter E can be coupled by wiring. For example, row electrode 712A may include eight conductive segments shaped like the letter E. Similarly, row electrodes 712B-712D may each include eight conductive segments shaped like the letter E. Each column of touch nodes in the touch sensor panel 710 may include four conductive segments with a double-bar cross, wherein the alternating conductive segments are coupled together via wiring (and / or driven with the same drive signal) and form a column electrode. For example, the first column of the touch sensor panel 710 may include two conductive segments (double-bar cross) that together form a column electrode 714A, and may include two conductive segments (double-bar cross) that together form a column electrode 714B. Similarly, column electrodes 714C-714H may each include two double-bar cross electrodes in alternating rows. Figure 7B The configuration of includes a similar arrangement of touch electrodes including column electrodes 714A-714H (formed by conductive segments shaped like a double-bar cross) and row electrodes 712A-712D (formed by conductive segments shaped like the letter E).

[0081] Touch sensor panel 710 utilizes multiple excitation patterns of drive signals to excite column electrodes 704A-704H. For example, multiple excitation patterns of drive signals (D0-D7), such as an 8×8 Hadamard matrix, can be simultaneously applied to column electrodes 704A-704H (e.g., applied by a drive circuit that is not shown but represented by drive signals D0-D7). In some examples, drive signals D0-D7 can be driven differentially (e.g., drive signals D0-D7 can correspond to Fig. 7A In some examples, the drive signals D0-D7 may be at least partially driven differentially (e.g., D0 and D1 may be complementary for some or all steps of the multiple excitation mode, D2 and D3 may be complementary for some or all steps of the multiple excitation mode, D4 ​​and D5 may be complementary for some or all steps of the multiple excitation mode, and / or D6 and D7 may be complementary for some or all steps of the multiple excitation mode).

[0082] Row electrodes 712A-712D may be differentially sensed using differential amplifiers 718A-718B (e.g., including common-mode feedback circuitry). For example, row electrodes 712A-712B may be differentially sensed using differential amplifier 718A, and row electrodes 712C-712D may be differentially sensed using differential amplifier 718B. Differentially sensing column electrodes may remove common-mode noise from touch measurements.

[0083] It should be understood that although touch sensor panel 710 includes a 4×4 array of sixteen capacitance values ​​(e.g., corresponding to sixteen touch nodes), the touch sensor panel can be enlarged or reduced to include fewer or more touch nodes. In addition, in some examples, sensing can be differential on alternating rows (e.g., differentially sensing rows 1 and 3, and differentially sensing rows 2 and 4, as shown in reference to FIG. Figure 6B described above).

[0084] FIG. 5A to FIG. 7B A touch sensor panel with row electrode wiring and column electrode wiring arranged in a straight line is shown. The touch sensor panel according to the examples of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some examples, a non-straight line arrangement can be used, where the touch nodes can be arranged in a row and column array, but the wiring can be diagonal (e.g., on a different axis than the row-column array of the touch nodes). Figure 8 A touch sensor panel 800 having a non-linear arrangement according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. Specifically, the touch sensor panel 800 may include first electrodes 802A-802N arranged on a first diagonal (upper left to lower right) and second electrodes 804A-804N arranged on a diagonal (upper right to lower left). The first and second electrodes may have a square within a square electrode pattern, wherein the first electrodes 802A-802N are formed by inner square segments connected by wiring and / or bridges, and the second electrodes 804A-804N are formed by outer (hollow) square segments connected by wiring and / or bridges. In some examples, the pair of first electrodes 802A-802N can be differentially sensed by differential amplifiers 808A-808G (including common-mode feedback circuitry, not shown) as described herein (and not repeated for the sake of brevity), and the pair of second electrodes 804A-804N can be differentially driven by differential drivers 806A-806G as described herein (and not repeated for the sake of brevity).

[0085] Compared to a linear arrangement, a non-linear arrangement can reduce the total number of transmitter circuits and receiver circuits. For example, Figure 8 A 6×9 array of touch nodes uses seven differential transmitters and seven differential receivers, while a row-column arrangement can use six differential transmitters and nine differential receivers. In addition, the non-straight arrangement can reduce the number of routing traces (because the total number of differential transmitter and receiver circuits can be reduced). Reducing the number of routing traces can allow the border area to be reduced or provide space for wider routing traces. In addition, the non-straight arrangement can reduce the number of jumpers used for routing traces. For example, for Figure 8For a non-straight arrangement, there may be one jumper at the intersection between four touch nodes (e.g., the intersection of two diagonal lines), while for a row-column arrangement, more jumpers may be needed because there may be more routing trace intersections between rows and columns (e.g., each column and each row may include a pair of crossing routing traces). Figure 8 A touch node dual axis array (e.g., a row-column array) formed by square electrodes is shown, where the diagonal wiring can be at an angle of 45° relative to the linear row-column array, but it should be understood that this is an example of non-linear wiring. In some examples, the diagonal wiring can be wiring that is angled relative to the axis of the touch node dual axis array so that the wiring connections form connections along the diagonals of the touch nodes in the touch node dual axis array.

[0086] In some examples, a unique code may be used for the stimulation of each of the emitters, and the code may be optimized to reduce the amount of charge injected into the touch sensor panel due to touch sensor operation. For example, display data lines may run parallel to (e.g., underneath) columns of touch nodes, and the codes of the emitters may be selected to reduce the net amount of charge injected along the electrode columns, thereby reducing interference between the display system and the touch system.

[0087] In some examples, to improve the performance of non-linear arrangements, the number of transmitters and receivers can be increased. Figure 8 Each diagonal line of the touch sensor panel is shown including a routing trace for one terminal of a differential transmitter or one terminal of a differential receiver. For example, each outer square segment along the diagonal line is coupled to one terminal of a differential transmitter, and each inner square segment is coupled to one terminal of a differential receiver. In some examples, the number of transmitters and receivers and the number of routing traces can be doubled so that the outer square segments along the diagonal lines can be coupled to either the positive terminal or the negative terminal of the differential transmitter in an alternating pattern, and the inner square segments along the diagonal lines can be coupled to either the positive terminal or the negative terminal of the differential receiver in an alternating pattern. Doubling the number of transmitters and receivers can improve the spatial resolution of noise cancellation due to phase reversal by times.

[0088] Although Figure 8 A non-straight arrangement of routing traces for both transmitters and receivers is shown, but it should be understood that in some examples, a non-straight arrangement may be used for the transmitters and a straight arrangement may be used for the receivers. For example, transmitters 806A-806G may be coupled using a non-straight arrangement of routing traces for the outer square segments, such as Figure 8As shown, the receivers can be coupled using a straight line arrangement. In such a configuration, nine differential receivers can be used, and the inner square segments within the columns can be connected in an alternating pattern so that half of the inner square segments can be coupled to the inverting terminals of the differential receivers, and the other half of the inner square segments can be coupled to the non-inverting terminals of the differential receivers. It should be understood that in alternative configurations, non-straight line arrangements can be used for the receivers, and straight line arrangements can be used for the transmitters.

[0089] Fig. 9 A touch sensor panel 900 implementing differential drive and differential sensing according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. The touch sensor panel 900 shows a portion of a touch sensor panel having different arrangements of touch electrodes of split diamond geometry (e.g., triangular electrodes or V-shaped electrodes for a central hollow diamond). For ease of illustration, the touch sensor panel 900 shows the conductive segments of the touch sensor panel 900 without showing all wiring. The conductive segments are arranged in a split diamond pattern, where "row diamonds" form staggered first electrodes that separate the diamonds in the horizontal direction, and "column diamonds" form staggered second electrodes that separate the diamonds in the vertical direction. For example, the first electrode 902A is formed by an upper half diamond conductive segment (or V-shaped electrode) and a lower half diamond conductive segment (or V-shaped electrode), and is wired to a first input terminal (e.g., an inverting input terminal) of a differential amplifier 908. Although the first electrode 902A is shown as including only two half-diamond shaped conductive segments, it should be understood that additional half-diamond shaped segments may be included for larger touch sensor panels (e.g., where the first electrode 902A alternates between an upper half-diamond shaped electrode and a lower half-diamond shaped electrode). In a similar manner, the first electrode 902B is formed by a lower half-diamond shaped conductive segment and an upper half-diamond shaped conductive segment and is routed to a second input terminal (e.g., a non-inverting input terminal) of the differential amplifier 908. Although the first electrode 902B is shown as including only two half-diamond shaped conductive segments, it should be understood that additional half-diamond shaped segments may be included for larger touch sensor panels (e.g., where the first electrode 902B alternates between a lower half-diamond shaped electrode and an upper half-diamond shaped electrode). For ease of description, staggered first electrodes 902A-902B are described, but it should be understood that additional differential amplifiers may be coupled to additional first electrodes in a similar arrangement.

[0090] The second electrodes 904A-904D are formed by the left half diamond-shaped conductive segment or the right half diamond-shaped conductive segment. Fig. 9The second electrode 904A is shown to be formed of two left half diamond-shaped conductive segments, wherein the left half diamond-shaped conductive segment of the second electrode 904C is located between the two left half diamond-shaped conductive segments of the second electrode 904A. Although the second electrode 904A is shown to include two half diamond-shaped conductive segments, and 904C is shown to include one half diamond-shaped segment, it should be understood that additional half diamond-shaped segments may be included for larger touch sensor panels (e.g., the half diamond-shaped conductive segments of the second electrodes 904A and 904C alternate along the columns). In a similar manner, the second electrode 904B is formed of two right half diamond-shaped conductive segments, wherein the right half diamond-shaped conductive segment of the second electrode 904D is located between the two right half diamond-shaped conductive segments of the second electrode 904B. Although second electrode 904B is shown as including two half-diamond shaped conductive segments, and 904D is shown as including one half-diamond shaped segment, it should be understood that additional half-diamond shaped segments may be included for larger touch sensor panels (e.g., alternating half-diamond shaped conductive segments of second electrodes 904B and 904D). Second electrodes 904A-904D may be coupled to drive signals H0-H3. For ease of description, second electrodes 904A-904D are described, but it should be understood that additional columns of second electrodes may be added in a similar arrangement.

[0091] The touch sensor panel 900 can utilize multiple excitation patterns of drive signals to excite the second electrodes 904A-904D. For example, multiple excitation patterns of drive signals (H0-H3) can be simultaneously applied to the second electrodes 904A-904D (e.g., applied by a drive circuit not shown but represented by drive signals H0-H3). Fig. 9 In the example of the sensor shown, the second electrode 904A may be driven by a drive signal H0, and the second electrode 904B may be driven by a drive signal H1, where H1 is the complement of H0 (e.g., the negative value of the drive signal H0). In a similar manner, the second electrode 904C may be driven by a drive signal H2, and the second electrode 904D may be driven by a drive signal H3, where H3 is the complement of H2 (e.g., the negative value of the drive signal H2). Additional orthogonal grouped multi-excitation patterns of the drive signals may be applied to additional "columns" of the second electrodes. In the differential drive scheme described above, each drive signal and its complement are applied to the second electrode in the corresponding column (e.g., for a net zero voltage for the column). In some examples, each drive signal and its complement may not be applied within the same column (e.g., resulting in a net zero voltage for the touch sensor panel, but not necessarily a net zero voltage for each column).

[0092] The first electrodes may be differentially sensed using a differential amplifier (e.g., including a common-mode feedback circuit). For example, the first electrodes 902A-902B may be differentially sensed using differential amplifier 908. Fig. 9As shown, for one "column" and one "row" of the diamond, the differential amplifier can measure four capacitive coupling signals between the second electrodes 904A-904D and the first electrodes 902A-902B. The four capacitive coupling signals may include a first capacitive coupling 920A between the first electrode 902A and the second electrode 904C, a second capacitive coupling 920B between the first electrode 902B and the second electrode 904A, a third capacitive coupling 920C between the first electrode 902A and the second electrode 904B, and a fourth capacitive coupling 920D between the first electrode 902B and the second electrode 904D. The differential amplifier can differentially measure the first capacitive coupling 920A and the third capacitive coupling 920C and the fourth capacitive coupling 920B and the second capacitive coupling 902D to represent Fig. 9 The capacitance in the area shown by the box in FIG. 1 (eg, with a specified spatial coupling pattern). Differentially sensing the column electrodes can remove common mode noise from the touch measurement.

[0093] It should be understood that touch sensor panel 900 can be scaled up or down to form a larger or smaller touch sensor panel array (and measure more or fewer capacitance values). In addition, in some examples, sensing can be differential on alternating rows (e.g., differentially sensing a first electrode of a first row from a first electrode of a second row, e.g., as described in reference to FIG. Figure 6B described above).

[0094] Therefore, according to the above, some examples of the present disclosure relate to a touch-sensitive surface (or touch sensor panel or touch screen). The touch-sensitive surface may include: a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-dimensional array of touch nodes, the two-dimensional array of touch nodes including a first column of touch nodes and a second column of touch nodes; a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes; and a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of second touch electrodes. The drive circuit may be configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of drive signals, and the sensing circuit may be configured to differentially sense the plurality of second touch electrodes (e.g., differentially). For the first column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes. The first drive signal and the second drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes. The first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal, and the fourth drive signal are at least partially applied simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes. The third signal may be an inversion of the first drive signal or the second drive signal (e.g., a complementary signal 180 degrees out of phase). In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first column of touch nodes and the second column of touch nodes may be adjacent columns in the two-dimensional array of touch nodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, a 4×4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes may include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes and eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the driving circuit may include: four transmitters, the four transmitters coupled to four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of first touch electrodes; and four inverters, the four inverters coupled between the four transmitters and another four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of first touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the sensing circuit may include: four differential amplifiers.The inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to four of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other four of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes may include eight of the plurality of first touch electrodes and four of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include eight transmitters coupled to the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of first touch electrodes, and the sensing circuit may include two differential amplifiers. The inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to two of the four touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other two of the four touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes may be formed in a common layer.

[0095] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a portable consumer electronic device. The portable consumer electronic device can include: an energy storage device (e.g., a battery); a communication circuit (e.g., wireless); and a touch screen. The touch screen may include: a display; a plurality of touch electrodes (e.g., disposed above the display), the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-dimensional array of touch nodes, the two-dimensional array of touch nodes including a first column of touch nodes and a second column of touch nodes; a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of second touch electrodes. The drive circuit may be configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of drive signals. For the first column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes. The first drive signal and the second drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. The sensing circuit may be configured to differentially sense the plurality of touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes. The first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal, and the fourth drive signal are at least partially applied simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes. The third signal may be an inversion of the first drive signal or the second drive signal (e.g., a complementary signal 180 degrees out of phase). In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first column of touch nodes and the second column of touch nodes may be adjacent columns in the two-dimensional array of touch nodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, a 4×4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes may include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes and eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the driving circuit may include: four transmitters, the four transmitters coupled to four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of first touch electrodes; and four inverters, the four inverters coupled between the four transmitters and another four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of first touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the sensing circuit may include: four differential amplifiers.The inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to four of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other four of the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes may include eight of the plurality of first touch electrodes and four of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include eight transmitters coupled to the eight touch electrodes in the plurality of first touch electrodes, and the sensing circuit may include two differential amplifiers. The inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to two of the four touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other two of the four touch electrodes in the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes may be formed in a common layer.

[0096] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a touch sensor panel. The touch sensor panel may include: a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-dimensional array of touch nodes, the two-dimensional array of touch nodes including a plurality of columns of touch nodes and a plurality of rows of touch nodes; and a plurality of wiring traces including a first wiring trace and a second wiring trace. A first row of the plurality of rows of touch nodes may include a first group of row touch nodes coupled to a touch sensing circuit via the first wiring trace and a second group of row touch nodes coupled to a touch sensing circuit via the second wiring trace. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of wiring traces may include a third wiring trace and a fourth wiring trace. A first column of the plurality of columns of touch nodes may include a first group of column touch nodes coupled to a touch sensing circuit via the third wiring trace and a second group of column touch nodes coupled to a touch sensing circuit via a fourth wiring trace.

[0097] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a touch-sensitive surface. The touch-sensitive surface includes: a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming an array of touch nodes, the array of touch nodes including a first group of touch nodes in a first pattern and a second group of touch nodes in a second pattern. The touch-sensitive surface also includes a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of drive signals, wherein for the first group of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first group of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second group of touch nodes, wherein the first drive signal and the second drive signal are at least partially applied simultaneously. The touch-sensitive surface also includes a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of second touch electrodes and configured to differentially sense the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first group of touch nodes in the first pattern and the second group of touch nodes in the second pattern are arranged in a first orientation.

[0098] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a mutual capacitance touch sensor panel. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel includes a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of transmitter electrodes and a plurality of receiver electrodes interlaced with the plurality of transmitter electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes being interconnected in groups to form a touch node dual axis array. In some examples, the plurality of transmitter electrodes are configured to be driven with a plurality of excitation signals so that the electrostatic fringe field coupling of the plurality of transmitter electrodes is substantially alternating high and low with consecutive groups of receiver electrodes in a repeating pattern.

[0099] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a touch-sensitive surface. The touch-sensitive surface includes a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes configured as transmitter electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes configured as receiver electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming an array of touch nodes, the array of touch nodes including a first group of touch nodes in a first pattern and a second group of touch nodes in a second pattern. The touch-sensitive surface also includes a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of drive signals, wherein for the first group of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first group of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second group of touch nodes, wherein the first drive signal and the second drive signal are at least partially applied simultaneously. In some examples, the capacitive coupling between a group of receiver electrodes and consecutive groups of transmitter electrodes is substantially alternating in space.

[0100] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a mutual capacitance touch sensor panel. The touch sensor panel may include a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of transmitter electrodes and a plurality of receiver electrodes interlaced with the plurality of transmitter electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes being interconnected in groups to form a touch node dual-axis array. The plurality of transmitter electrodes may be configured to be driven with a plurality of excitation signals so that the electrostatic fringe field coupling of the plurality of transmitter electrodes may be substantially alternating high and low with the receiver electrodes in the consecutive groups in a repeating pattern. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch sensor panel may further include: a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of transmitter electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of transmitter electrodes with a plurality of drive signals; and a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of receiver electrodes and configured to differentially sense the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a first column of touch nodes in the touch node dual-axis array, the plurality of drive signals may include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes. The first drive signal and the second drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a second column of touch nodes in the touch node dual-axis array, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes. The first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal, and the fourth drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first drive signal and the third drive signal may be complementary drive signals from a first emitter, and the second drive signal and the fourth drive signal may be complementary drive signals from a second emitter (e.g., such that the complementary drive signals are diagonal to each other between two columns). In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, in some examples, the first drive signal and the second drive signal may be complementary drive signals (e.g., such that the complementary drive signals are adjacent within a column). In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch sensor panel may include a plurality of wiring traces, the plurality of wiring traces including a first wiring trace and a second wiring trace. A first row of touch nodes in the touch node dual axis array may include a first group of row touch nodes coupled to a touch sensing circuit via the first wiring trace and a second group of row touch nodes coupled to the touch sensing circuit via the second wiring trace.In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of wiring traces may include a third wiring trace and a fourth wiring trace. A first column of touch nodes in the touch node dual-axis array may include a first group of column touch nodes coupled to the touch sensing circuit via the third wiring trace and a second group of column touch nodes coupled to the touch sensing circuit via the fourth wiring trace. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, a 4×4 portion of the touch node dual-axis array may include eight transmitter electrodes of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and eight receiver electrodes of the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include four transmitters coupled to four of the eight transmitter electrodes of the plurality of transmitter electrodes, and four inverters coupled between the four transmitters and another four of the eight transmitter electrodes of the plurality of transmitter electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the sensing circuit may include four differential amplifiers. The inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to four of the eight receiver electrodes in the plurality of receiver electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other four of the eight receiver electrodes in the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the touch node dual-axis array may include eight of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and four of the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include eight transmitters coupled to the eight of the plurality of transmitter electrodes, and the sensing circuit may include two differential amplifiers. The inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to two of the four of the plurality of receiver electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other two of the four of the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes may be formed in a common layer.

[0101] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a portable consumer electronic device. The portable consumer electronic device can include: an energy storage device (e.g., a battery); a communication circuit (e.g., wireless); and a touch screen. The touch screen may include: a display; a plurality of touch electrodes (e.g., disposed above the display), the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a touch node dual-axis array. The capacitive coupling of the plurality of first touch electrodes configured as transmitter electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes configured as receiver electrodes may be substantially alternating in space (e.g., alternating along one or two dimensions). In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include: a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of drive signals; and a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of second touch electrodes and configured to differentially sense the plurality of touch electrodes. For a first group of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes of the first group of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes of the first group of touch nodes. The first drive signal and the second drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for the second group of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes of the second group of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes of the second group of touch nodes. The first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal, and the fourth drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the touch node dual-axis array may include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes and eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include: four transmitters, the four transmitters coupled to four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes; and four inverters, the four inverters coupled between the four transmitters and the other four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the sensing circuit may include: four differential amplifiers. The inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to four touch electrodes among the eight touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to another four touch electrodes among the eight touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes.In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes may include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes and four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include eight transmitters coupled to the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes, and the sensing circuit may include two differential amplifiers. The inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to two touch electrodes of the four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other two touch electrodes of the four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes may be formed in a common layer.

[0102] Some examples relate to a mutual capacitance touch sensor panel. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel may include a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of transmitter electrodes and a plurality of receiver electrodes interlaced with the plurality of transmitter electrodes. The plurality of touch electrodes may be interconnected into groups to form a touch node dual axis array. The plurality of transmitter electrodes may be configured to be driven with a plurality of excitation signals so that the electrostatic fringe field coupling of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes may include a spatial patterned arrangement of electrostatic fringe field couplings above a threshold and electrostatic fringe field couplings below a threshold along at least a first axis of the touch node dual axis array. In the spatial patterned arrangement, the electrostatic fringe field couplings above the threshold may be separated by one or more electrostatic fringe field couplings below the threshold along the first axis. In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, the plurality of transmitter electrodes may be configured to be driven with a plurality of excitation signals so that the electrostatic fringe field coupling of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes may include a spatial patterned arrangement of electrostatic fringe field couplings above a threshold and electrostatic fringe field couplings below a threshold along a second axis of the touch node dual axis array. In the spatial patterned arrangement, electrostatic fringe field couplings above a threshold may be separated along a second axis by one or more of the electrostatic fringe field couplings below a threshold. In addition to or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the spatial patterned arrangement may alternate between electrostatic fringe field couplings above a threshold and electrostatic fringe field couplings below a threshold along a first axis and / or a second axis. In addition to or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, in the spatial patterned arrangement, electrostatic fringe field couplings above a threshold may be separated (along a first axis and / or a second axis) by two or more of the electrostatic fringe field couplings below a threshold. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch sensor panel may further include: a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of transmitter electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of transmitter electrodes using a plurality of drive signals; and a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of receiver electrodes and configured to differentially sense the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a first column of touch nodes in the touch node dual-axis array, the plurality of drive signals may include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the first column of touch nodes. The first drive signal and the second drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously.In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a second column of touch nodes in the touch node dual-axis array, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes. The first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal, and the fourth drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch sensor panel may include a plurality of wiring traces, the plurality of wiring traces including a first wiring trace and a second wiring trace. A first row of touch nodes in the touch node dual-axis array may include a first group of row touch nodes coupled to a touch sensing circuit via the first wiring trace and a second group of row touch nodes coupled to the touch sensing circuit via the second wiring trace. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of wiring traces may include a third wiring trace and a fourth wiring trace. The first column touch nodes in the touch node dual-axis array may include a first group of column touch nodes coupled to the touch sensing circuit via the third wiring trace and a second group of column touch nodes coupled to the touch sensing circuit via the fourth wiring trace. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the touch node dual-axis array may include eight transmitter electrodes of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and eight receiver electrodes of the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include four transmitters coupled to four of the eight transmitter electrodes of the plurality of transmitter electrodes, and four inverters coupled between the four transmitters and the other four of the eight transmitter electrodes of the plurality of transmitter electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the sensing circuit may include four differential amplifiers. The inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to four of the eight receiver electrodes of the plurality of receiver electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other four of the eight receiver electrodes of the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the touch node dual-axis array may include eight of the plurality of transmitter electrodes and four of the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include eight transmitters coupled to the eight of the plurality of transmitter electrodes, and the sensing circuit may include two differential amplifiers.Inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to two of the four of the plurality of receiver electrodes, and non-inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to another two of the four of the plurality of receiver electrodes. In addition or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of transmitter electrodes and the plurality of receiver electrodes may be formed in a common layer.

[0103] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a portable consumer electronic device. The portable consumer electronic device can include: an energy storage device (e.g., a battery); a communication circuit (e.g., wireless); and a touch screen. The touch screen may include: a display; a plurality of touch electrodes (e.g., disposed above the display), the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes forming a touch node dual-axis array. The capacitive coupling of the plurality of first touch electrodes configured as transmitter electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes configured as receiver electrodes may be spatially patterned so that capacitive couplings above a threshold are separated by one or more capacitive couplings below the threshold along the first axis of the touch node dual-axis array. In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, the capacitive couplings of the plurality of first touch electrodes configured as transmitter electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes configured as receiver electrodes may be spatially patterned so that capacitive couplings above the threshold are separated by one or more capacitive couplings below the threshold along the second axis of the touch node dual-axis array. In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, in some examples, the capacitive coupling may alternate between capacitive coupling above a threshold and capacitive coupling below a threshold along the first axis and / or the second axis. In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, in some examples, the capacitive coupling above a threshold may be separated by two or more of the capacitive coupling below a threshold (along the first axis and / or the second axis). In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch screen may further include: a drive circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of drive signals; and a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of second touch electrodes and configured to differentially sense the plurality of touch electrodes. For a first group of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes of the first group of touch nodes and a second drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes of the first group of touch nodes. The first drive signal and the second drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, for a second group of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals may include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes of the second group of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes of the second group of touch nodes. The first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal, and the fourth drive signal may be applied at least partially simultaneously.In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the touch node dual-axis array may include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes and eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include: four transmitters, the four transmitters coupled to four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes; and four inverters, the four inverters coupled between the four transmitters and the other four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the sensing circuit may include: four differential amplifiers. The inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the 4×4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes may include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes and four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the drive circuit may include eight transmitters coupled to the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes, and the sensing circuit may include two differential amplifiers. The inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to two touch electrodes of the four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting inputs of the two differential amplifiers may be coupled to the other two touch electrodes of the four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes. In addition to or alternatively to the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes may be formed in a common layer.

[0104] Some examples of the present disclosure relate to a mutual capacitance touch sensor panel (or a portable consumer electronic device including a mutual capacitance touch sensor panel, an energy storage device, and a communication circuit). The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel may include a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of transmitter electrodes and a plurality of receiver electrodes interlaced with the plurality of transmitter electrodes. The plurality of touch electrodes are interconnected in groups to form a touch node dual axis array. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel may also include a plurality of wiring traces, the plurality of wiring traces including a plurality of transmitter wiring traces and a plurality of receiver wiring traces. The plurality of transmitter wiring traces may interconnect the plurality of transmitter electrodes, and the plurality of receiver wiring traces may interconnect the plurality of receiver electrodes. The plurality of transmitter wiring traces or the plurality of receiver wiring traces may be oriented differently from the dual axis array. In addition to or alternatively to one or more examples disclosed above, in some examples, the touch node dual axis array may be a row-column array, and the plurality of transmitter wiring traces or the plurality of receiver wiring traces may be oriented along a diagonal (or multiple diagonals) different from the axis of the row-column array. In addition to or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of transmitter wiring traces and the plurality of receiver wiring traces can be oriented differently from the dual-axis array (e.g., diagonally from the dual-axis array). In addition to or alternatively to one or more of the examples disclosed above, in some examples, the plurality of transmitter wiring traces can be oriented in a non-straight arrangement, and the plurality of receiver wiring traces can be oriented in a straight arrangement.

[0105] Although the examples of the present disclosure have been fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It should be understood that such changes and modifications are considered to be included within the scope of the examples of the present disclosure defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A mutual capacitance touch sensor panel, comprising: a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes comprising a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes being formed in a single electrode layer, and the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-dimensional array of touch nodes, the two-dimensional array of touch nodes comprising a first column of touch nodes and a second column of touch nodes; as well as A driving circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of driving signals, wherein for the first column touch nodes, the plurality of driving signals include a first driving signal applied to a first subset of the plurality of first touch electrodes within the first column touch nodes of one or more first touch nodes in the first column touch nodes and a second driving signal applied to a second subset of the plurality of first touch electrodes within the first column touch nodes of one or more second touch nodes in the first column touch nodes, wherein the first driving signal and the second driving signal are at least partially applied simultaneously. 2 . The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel of claim 1 , further comprising a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of second touch electrodes and configured to differentially sense the plurality of second touch electrodes.

3. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes, wherein the first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal and the fourth drive signal are at least partially applied simultaneously.

4. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes, wherein the third drive signal is an inversion of the first drive signal or the second drive signal. 5 . The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel of claim 4 , wherein the first column of touch nodes and the second column of touch nodes are adjacent columns in the two-dimensional array of touch nodes. 6 . The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel of claim 2 , wherein a 4×4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes includes eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes and at least four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes.

7. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel of claim 6, wherein the driving circuit comprises: four transmitters, the four transmitters being coupled to four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes; as well as Four inverters are coupled between the four transmitters and another four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes.

8. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel of claim 6, wherein: The at least four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes; The sensing circuit includes four differential amplifiers; as well as Inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers are coupled to four touch electrodes among the eight touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes, and non-inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers are coupled to another four touch electrodes among the eight touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes.

9. The mutual capacitance touch sensor panel according to claim 6, wherein the driving circuit includes eight transmitters coupled to the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes, and the sensing circuit includes two differential amplifiers, wherein the inverting input terminals of the two differential amplifiers are coupled to two touch electrodes of the at least four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting input terminals of the two differential amplifiers are coupled to the other two touch electrodes of the at least four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes.

10. A portable consumer electronic device comprising: Energy storage equipment; Communication circuits; as well as A touch screen, the touch screen comprising: monitor; a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes including a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes being formed in a single electrode layer, and the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-dimensional array of touch nodes, the two-dimensional array of touch nodes including a first column of touch nodes and a second column of touch nodes; and A driving circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of driving signals, wherein for the first column touch nodes, the plurality of driving signals include a first driving signal applied to a first subset of the plurality of first touch electrodes within the first column touch nodes of one or more first touch nodes in the first column touch nodes and a second driving signal applied to a second subset of the plurality of first touch electrodes within the first column touch nodes of one or more second touch nodes in the first column touch nodes, wherein the first driving signal and the second driving signal are at least partially applied simultaneously. 11 . The portable consumer electronic device of claim 10 , further comprising a sensing circuit coupled to the plurality of second touch electrodes and configured to differentially sense the plurality of touch electrodes.

12. The portable consumer electronic device of claim 10 , wherein for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes and a fourth drive signal applied to one or more second touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes, wherein the first drive signal, the second drive signal, the third drive signal, and the fourth drive signal are at least partially applied simultaneously.

13. The portable consumer electronic device of claim 10 , wherein for the second column of touch nodes, the plurality of drive signals include a third drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the second column of touch nodes, wherein the third drive signal is an inversion of the first drive signal or the second drive signal.

14. The portable consumer electronic device of claim 13, wherein the first column of touch nodes and the second column of touch nodes are adjacent columns in the two-dimensional array of touch nodes.

15. The portable consumer electronic device of claim 11, wherein the 4x4 portion of the two-dimensional array of touch nodes includes eight touch electrodes of the first plurality of touch electrodes and at least four touch electrodes of the second plurality of touch electrodes.

16. The portable consumer electronic device of claim 15, wherein the drive circuit comprises: four transmitters, the four transmitters being coupled to four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes; as well as Four inverters are coupled between the four transmitters and another four touch electrodes of the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes.

17. The portable consumer electronic device of claim 15, wherein: The at least four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes include eight touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes; The sensing circuit includes four differential amplifiers; as well as Inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers are coupled to four touch electrodes among the eight touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes, and non-inverting input terminals of the four differential amplifiers are coupled to another four touch electrodes among the eight touch electrodes among the plurality of second touch electrodes.

18. A portable consumer electronic device according to claim 15, wherein the driving circuit includes eight transmitters coupled to the eight touch electrodes of the plurality of first touch electrodes, and the sensing circuit includes two differential amplifiers, wherein the inverting input terminals of the two differential amplifiers are coupled to two touch electrodes of the at least four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes, and the non-inverting input terminals of the two differential amplifiers are coupled to the other two touch electrodes of the at least four touch electrodes of the plurality of second touch electrodes.

19. A touch screen, comprising: monitor; a plurality of touch electrodes, the plurality of touch electrodes comprising a plurality of first touch electrodes and a plurality of second touch electrodes, the plurality of first touch electrodes and the plurality of second touch electrodes being formed in a single electrode layer, and the plurality of touch electrodes forming a two-dimensional array of touch nodes, the two-dimensional array of touch nodes comprising a first column of touch nodes and a second column of touch nodes; as well as A driving circuit coupled to the plurality of first touch electrodes and configured to drive the plurality of first touch electrodes using a plurality of driving signals, wherein for the first column touch nodes, the plurality of driving signals include a first driving signal applied to a first subset of the plurality of first touch electrodes within the first column touch nodes of one or more first touch nodes in the first column touch nodes and a second driving signal applied to a second subset of the plurality of first touch electrodes within the first column touch nodes of one or more second touch nodes in the first column touch nodes, wherein the first driving signal and the second driving signal are at least partially applied simultaneously.

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