Electronic assembly, device and method for detecting a user's fingerprint - Patents.com

Abstract

An electronic assembly and method (100) for detecting a user's fingerprint comprising a touch-sensitive surface (110) configured to register a user's touch, a fingerprint sensor (120) for detecting a user's fingerprint on at least a portion of the touch-sensitive surface, a first controller circuit (CU1) configured to activate the fingerprint sensor and receive fingerprint information from the fingerprint sensor, and a second controller circuit (CU2) configured to detect a position and / or movement of the user's finger on (154) or above (152) the touch-sensitive surface in response to signals from the touch-sensitive surface. The electronic assembly further comprises a host system (CPU) connected to the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit, the host system comprising circuit elements for processing information received from the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit. a first controller circuit configured to receive from the second controller circuit information relating to a current position (142, 152) and / or movement (v) of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface, and to activate a portion (165) of the fingerprint sensor on which a fingerprint reading is to be performed.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present application relates to an electronic assembly for detecting a user's fingerprint on a touch-sensitive surface. Additionally, the present application relates to an apparatus including the electronic assembly and a method for detecting a user's fingerprint on a touch-sensitive surface. Furthermore, the present application also relates to a computer program product comprising computer program code for implementing the method for detecting a user's fingerprint, and a computer-readable medium storing the computer program product. [Background technology]

[0002] User fingerprint detection has been around for many years. It has become commonplace, especially on smartphones, tablets, and computers. Typically, it is implemented as an area either outside the device's touchscreen or near the keyboard, where it is either reserved exclusively for fingerprint scanning or used as a physical or virtual button. Fingerprint scanning has also become nearly universally available in premises requiring user identification, such as border control stations and police stations. In some cases, to be able to identify a user via their fingerprint, an identification procedure is required in which the user is required to touch an area reserved for fingerprint scanning with the same finger multiple times at different angles. With each new position of the user's finger during the identification procedure, a new fingerprint scan is performed and stored as a fingerprint template. These fingerprint templates increase the accuracy of subsequent fingerprint scans, which are compared to the particular user's stored fingerprint template.

[0003] Recently, fingerprint sensors have also been placed below the touchscreen of some devices, in some cases to provide a larger display and touchscreen area while still incorporating fingerprint functionality. Examples of such devices are smartphones and tablets.

[0004] Recently, ideas have emerged in which the fingerprint sensor is approximately or as large in size as the device's touchscreen. Such an implementation is outlined in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20150036065A1. While this idea offers the advantage of being able to perform fingerprint scanning on any part of the touchscreen, the downside is increased power consumption compared to standard fingerprint scanners implemented as smaller units below the touchscreen or on a separate area outside the touchscreen.

[0005] Furthermore, standard fingerprint sensor implementations typically include a host system, which includes, among other units, a central processing unit (CPU), and the host system has a built-in driver unit for the fingerprint sensor that controls the fingerprint sensor. This means that the host system is always involved in the fingerprint scanning operation, and also leads to higher power consumption.

[0006] Therefore, there is a need to solve or at least alleviate some of the problems associated with known fingerprint solutions that are either available on the market or disclosed in various patent publications. Summary of the Invention

[0007] Solutions are presented in the independent claims. Preferred embodiments are set out in the dependent claims.

[0008] According to one aspect, the solution relates to an electronic assembly for detecting a user's fingerprint. The electronic assembly includes a touch-sensitive surface configured to register a user's touch. The electronic assembly further includes a fingerprint sensor for detecting a fingerprint on at least a portion of the touch-sensitive surface. The electronic assembly also includes a first controller circuit configured to activate the fingerprint sensor and receive fingerprint information from the fingerprint sensor. The electronic assembly also includes a second controller circuit configured to detect a position and / or movement of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface in response to a signal from the touch-sensitive surface. The electronic assembly further includes a host system (CPU) connected to the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit, the host system including circuitry for processing information received from the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit. The first controller circuit is further configured to receive information related to a current position and / or movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface from the second controller circuit. The first controller circuit is also configured to activate a portion of the fingerprint sensor on which a fingerprint reading is to be performed.

[0009] One advantage of this solution is that the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit can perform fingerprint reading without involving the host system. As a result, fewer computing resources are used when performing fingerprint scanning. This has the advantage of reducing power consumption by the electronic assembly. Moreover, if the area occupied by the fingerprint sensor is either as large as the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic assembly or at least much larger than the area of ​​the user's finger to be scanned, the above solution will also result in reduced power consumption of the fingerprint sensor, since only a portion of the fingerprint sensor will be activated.

[0010] In particular, the two advantageous features mentioned above, namely, the non-involvement of the host system in calculating the position of the user's finger and the activation of the portion of the fingerprint scanner where the user's finger is detected on or above the touch-sensitive surface, together result in an even lower power consumption of the electronic assembly.

[0011] In one embodiment of the solution presented above, the first controller circuit is further configured to instruct the fingerprint sensor to perform a fingerprint reading at a portion of the fingerprint sensor that corresponds to the position of the user's finger on the touch-sensitive surface received from the second controller circuit, which has the advantage that the fingerprint sensor is activated only after the user touches the touch-sensitive surface and at the position covered by the user's finger.

[0012] In another embodiment of the present solution, the electronic assembly further includes a processing circuit in one of the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit. In this embodiment, the processing circuit is configured to calculate, from signals received from the touch-sensitive surface, data related to movement of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface. Moreover, the processing circuit is further configured to compare the data related to the movement of the user's finger with a movement threshold. This has the advantage that a fingerprint scan of a user's finger can be prepared at the correct time and location on the touch-sensitive surface even when the user is moving their finger across the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic assembly. Also, a fingerprint scan of a user's finger can be prepared even when the user has not yet actually touched the touch-sensitive surface but is sufficiently close to the touch-sensitive surface so that the position of the user's finger can be detected by the second controller circuit. As described above, the second controller circuit is configured to detect the position and / or movement of the user's finger.

[0013] In another embodiment, the first controller circuit is configured to activate the fingerprint sensor at a location where data associated with the movement of the user's finger is equal to or below a movement threshold. An advantage of this embodiment is its ability to provide for fingerprint scanning of a user's finger moving over the surface of the touch-sensitive surface, as well as its ability to provide for fingerprint scanning when the user's finger moves slowly enough, where slow enough is defined as equal to or less than the movement threshold. This is also useful for situations where the user is not actually touching the touch-sensitive surface, but the user's finger is close enough to the touch-sensitive surface that the position of the user's finger can be detected by the second controller circuit. By close enough, it is meant that the orthogonal distance of the user's finger to the touch-sensitive surface is such that a minimum capacitance (in the case of a capacitive touch-sensitive surface) will be registered by the second controller circuit.

[0014] In yet another embodiment of the solution, the first controller circuit is further configured to instruct the fingerprint sensor to perform a fingerprint reading at a location on the touch-sensitive surface where data related to the user's finger movement is equal to or below a movement threshold. The advantage of this is that the fingerprint scanner will already be activated when the user's finger movement reaches a value equal to or below the threshold, and will therefore perform a faster scan when the user finally touches the touch-sensitive surface.

[0015] In yet another embodiment of the solution, the data calculated by the processing circuitry relating to the movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface is generated in the form of a movement vector, which has the advantage that the processing circuitry can predict when and / or where on the touch-sensitive surface a fingerprint scan should be performed.

[0016] A movement vector may include the speed, acceleration, deceleration, or direction of movement of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface. A movement vector may also include combinations of these values, such speed, acceleration, deceleration combined with the direction of movement. Similarly, a movement threshold may include the speed, acceleration, deceleration, or direction of movement of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface.

[0017] According to another embodiment of the present solution, the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit in the first operating mode are configured to communicate with each other independently of the host system. An advantage of this embodiment is that in operating modes where the electronic assembly may not require full computing resources from the host system, such as in lock screen mode, standby mode, battery saving mode, and others, the electronic assembly can conserve power by performing user touch sensing and user finger scanning without involving the host system.

[0018] According to another embodiment, the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit in a second operating mode are configured to communicate with a host system. In this second operating mode, the host system is configured to transmit data related to the position and / or movement of a user's finger over one or more interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface to the processing circuit. These one or more interactive areas may be associated with expected user input via touch. This would allow for situations where the electronic assembly is in a normal operating mode with the host system running a specific software application (and therefore not in standby mode or some other power-saving mode). An advantage of this embodiment is that finger touch or movement over application-specific interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface can be predicted by the host system.

[0019] In another embodiment, the processing circuit is further configured to compare the data received from the host system with a movement threshold and the location of one or more interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface. As a result of the comparison, the processing circuit may instruct the first controller circuit to activate the fingerprint sensor when movement of the user's finger is below the movement threshold and within one or more interactive areas. This has the advantage that the fingerprint sensor may be ready for fingerprint scanning when the user has moved or is moving the user's finger into an area that is interactive for an application that the host system is currently running.

[0020] According to another embodiment, the processing circuit is configured to instruct the first controller circuit to cause the fingerprint scanner to perform a fingerprint scan when the user's finger movement is below a movement threshold and within one or more interactive areas and when the user's finger movement is over the touch-sensitive surface. Thus, when the user eventually touches and / or moves over one or more interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface, the fingerprint scanner will already be active and will perform a faster fingerprint scan.

[0021] In one embodiment, the fingerprint sensor may be located behind the touch-sensitive surface and may have a size that covers at least a portion of the touch-sensitive surface, which has the advantage that fingerprint scanning can be performed over a much larger surface rather than one specific area.

[0022] Additionally, the fingerprint sensor may be located behind the touch-sensitive surface and may be sized to cover the entire touch-sensitive surface.

[0023] In another embodiment, the electronic assembly may further comprise a memory configured to store information relating to movements of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface and / or fingerprints registered by the fingerprint sensor, the memory may be located in a secure area of ​​the host system for securely storing user-specific finger movement and fingerprint information.

[0024] In another embodiment, the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic assembly may be a touchscreen.

[0025] According to another aspect of the solution, the solution relates to an electronic device comprising the aforementioned electronic assembly and various embodiments of the electronic assembly, wherein the electronic device further comprises a display for displaying a graphical user interface for user interaction with the electronic device, the display being located behind the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic assembly and the fingerprint sensor of the electronic device.

[0026] In another embodiment of the electronic device, the display may be located in front of the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic assembly, rather than behind the touch-sensitive surface of the electronic assembly.

[0027] In one embodiment of the electronic device, the electronic device is a communications device.

[0028] In another embodiment, the communication device is one of a wireless communication device for a cellular communication system, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a touchscreen terminal.

[0029] According to yet another aspect of the present solution, the present solution relates to a method for detecting a user's fingerprint on a touch-sensitive surface. The method includes receiving information related to a current position and / or movement of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface in a second controller circuit. The method further includes activating a portion of a fingerprint sensor on which a fingerprint read is to be performed by a first controller circuit. Furthermore, the method includes performing a fingerprint read on a portion of the fingerprint sensor that corresponds to the position of the user's finger and / or where the movement of the user's finger is below a movement threshold on the touch-sensitive surface. The activation of the fingerprint sensor and the fingerprint read are performed independently of a host system communicating with the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit.

[0030] According to yet another aspect of the present solution, the present solution relates to a computer program product comprising computer program code for performing the above-mentioned method when the computer program code is executed by a programmable processing circuit of the aforementioned electronic device.

[0031] According to yet another aspect of the present solution, the present solution relates to a computer-readable medium storing a computer program product comprising computer program code, the computer program code being for performing the aforementioned method when the computer program code is executed by a programmable processing circuit of the aforementioned electronic device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0032] [Figure 1] 1A-1C are diagrams illustrating a first embodiment of an electronic assembly according to the present solution. [Figure 2A] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating a first embodiment of an electronic assembly in a first situation. [Figure 2B]1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating the first embodiment of the electronic assembly in a second situation. [Figure 2C] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating the first embodiment of the electronic assembly in a third situation. [Figure 3] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating a second embodiment of an electronic assembly according to the present solution. [Figure 4] 10A-10C are diagrams illustrating a third embodiment of an electronic assembly according to the present solution. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a method according to the present solution. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0033] Before continuing with a detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the present solution, some terms and expressions are clarified.

[0034] The term "electronic assembly" as used in the description and claims should be understood to mean any assembly of electronic components that communicate with each other, whether the electronic components are integrated into a single unit or as separate electronic units.

[0035] The term "comprising" as used in the description and claims should be understood to mean the inclusion of the subsequently mentioned features or method steps, but not the exclusion of the presence of other features, components and / or method steps.

[0036] In the following, some embodiments of the present solution are described, bearing in mind that these embodiments are merely for illustrative purposes and should not be construed as limiting the present solution solely to these embodiments. After considering the following embodiments, those skilled in the art may be able to make other possible embodiments within the scope of the appended claims.

[0037] FIG. 1 shows an electronic assembly 100 with a touch-sensitive surface 110, which may be, for example, a touchscreen module with a display based on OLED, AMOLED, LCD, LED, TFT, or other technology. The electronic assembly includes a touch-sensitive portion that registers single or multiple touches via surface capacitance, projected capacitance, SAW (surface acoustic wave), infrared light, ultrasonic sensing, or other principles. To more clearly illustrate the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , we will assume that a user is using only one finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface 110. This does not exclude that the idea works equally well if a user uses multiple fingers simultaneously. In another variation, the electronic assembly 100 may include only a touchscreen module using the aforementioned technology, with the display being separate and not forming part of the electronic assembly 100.

[0038] Touch-sensitive surface 110 is then electrically connected to a second controller circuit CU2, whose task is to receive data regarding the position of one or more user fingers 150 on or above the touch-sensitive surface (152, 154). It should be mentioned here that by the expression “position” is meant the location of the area occupied by a user's finger on or above touch-sensitive surface 110. With the exception of surface acoustic wave-based, resistive touchscreens, and touchscreens using ultrasonic touch sensing technology, most touchscreen technologies used in electronic devices today or known to those skilled in the art may be capable of registering not only the position or area occupied by one user's finger directly above the surface of the touchscreen module, but also the position or area occupied by one user's finger slightly above the same surface. Using one of these technologies, touch-sensitive surface 110 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 is also capable of registering the presence of a user's finger above touch-sensitive surface 110.

[0039] Furthermore, the second controller circuit CU2 is not only capable of receiving data regarding the position of the user's finger, but also of registering the movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface 110 in the form of a speed, acceleration, deceleration or direction of the movement, which is calculated by the second processing circuit PC2 from the position data of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface 110.

[0040] Moreover, the second controller circuit CU2 is also connected to a memory MEM in which data relating to the position and / or movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface 110 is registered. This data relating to the movement of the user's finger may be registered and stored in the memory MEM in the form of a movement vector v, the elements of which may include several entries relating to past and current movement values.

[0041] As mentioned above, some examples of user's finger movement may be the velocity, acceleration, or deceleration or direction of movement of the user's finger on or over touch-sensitive surface 110 .

[0042] The memory MEM itself can be any type of internal or external memory known to those skilled in the art, such as RAM (random access memory), DRAM (dynamic random access memory), SRAM (static random access memory), memory card, USB (universal serial bus) memory, CD (compact disc) based media, etc.

[0043] Additionally, and depending on the operating mode of electronic assembly 100, second controller circuit CU2 may or may not communicate directly with the host system CPU, which itself is tasked with running various applications visible on the display of a device incorporating electronic assembly 100. Furthermore, the host system CPU may also include an internal memory MEMint located in a secure area SEC of the host system CPU. The internal memory MEMint is tasked with storing user fingerprints, while the secure area SEC is capable of securely communicating with first controller unit CU1. The user fingerprints in internal memory MEMint are used as reference fingerprints, and fingerprints scanned by first controller unit CU1 are compared with the reference fingerprints to identify whether the scanned fingerprint belongs to a known user. These reference fingerprints may also be periodically updated. One reason for storing the reference fingerprints in the secure area SEC of the host system CPU is that the security of a device using electronic assembly 100 cannot be easily compromised.

[0044] 1, fingerprint sensor 120 is located below touch-sensitive surface 110. However, while the embodiment in FIG. 1 focuses on this particular configuration, it may equally be possible to have the fingerprint sensor integrated into the same layer as touch-sensitive surface 110. Fingerprint sensor 120 may have a size that matches the size of touch-sensitive surface 110, with fingerprint sensor 120 located on top of it, or fingerprint sensor 120 may be smaller, depending on the particular design chosen. Also, fingerprint sensor 120 may be distributed across different locations below touch-sensitive surface 110 or integrated into different locations on the touch-sensitive surface. Moreover, fingerprint sensor 120 may be of any type known to those skilled in the art, such as capacitive, thermal, image sensor, or some other known type.

[0045] In most cases, the electronic assembly may be placed in front of the display, which is the standard configuration in electronic devices today. In other configurations, such as in resistive touchscreens and touchscreens based on ultrasonic technology, the touch-sensitive surface 110 may be located behind the display, while the fingerprint sensor may be located in front of the display.

[0046] The primary task of the fingerprint sensor is to perform a scan of the user's finger 150 when it touches the touch-sensitive surface 110 at 154 and when the movement of the user's finger 150 on the touch-sensitive surface reaches or is below a certain movement threshold vt. This movement threshold vt may be related to a threshold velocity, acceleration, or deceleration of the user's finger on the touch-sensitive surface 110 and is indicated by square 140 in FIG. 1.

[0047] Fingerprint sensor 120 is in electrical contact with a first controller circuit CU1, which receives data regarding the shape of user's finger 154 pressing down on touch-sensitive surface 110 and data regarding the position and / or movement of user's finger 154 on or above touch-sensitive surface 110. When user's finger 152 is already at an orthogonal distance above touch-sensitive surface 110 from which second controller circuit CU2 can receive signals, first controller circuit CU1 may already activate fingerprint sensor 120 at an appropriate position to prepare for fingerprint scanning. The appropriate position on fingerprint sensor 120 for a user's finger resting in air above touch-sensitive surface 110 may either be orthogonally below the orthogonal projection of user's finger 152 onto touch-sensitive surface 110, i.e., at position 142, or the appropriate position may be orthogonally below the predicted final position of user's finger 154 on touch-sensitive surface 110. The appropriate position may be calculated either in a first processing circuit PC1 located in the first controller circuit CU1 or in a second processing circuit PC2 located in the second controller circuit CU2. Also, the processing circuits PC1, PC2 may be distributed across the first controller circuit CU1 and the second controller circuit CU2. The predicted final position may be calculated from the movement vector of the user's finger and from a comparison with a movement threshold vt.

[0048] In addition to these components, the aforementioned host system CPU has the task of controlling the functionality of touch-sensitive surface 110 and fingerprint sensor 120 via second controller circuit CU2 and first controller circuit CU1 in several operating modes of the electronic assembly different from, for example, a lock screen mode, a standby mode, or a battery saving mode. Such different modes may be a normal power mode, a performance mode, a balance mode, or some other non-power saving mode in which second controller circuit CU2 and first controller circuit CU1 communicate directly with the host system CPU and share data obtained from touch-sensitive surface 110 and fingerprint sensor 120. In these different modes, the host system CPU may execute one or more applications that require user interaction, the applications having one or more interactive areas on touch-sensitive surface 110 that require user interaction. This is explained further below in the description.

[0049] Returning now to the situation where the fingerprint sensor is activated, we have identified two exemplary cases. In the first case, fingerprint sensor 120 will be activated orthogonally and below the current position of user's finger 152 shown in FIG. 1 , which is relatively rare since a user will rarely lower their finger exactly orthogonally from their current position to touch-sensitive surface 110. In the second case, i.e., a user will move user's finger 152 from a position above touch-sensitive surface 110 to a different position on touch-sensitive surface 110, it is much more common.

[0050] 2A , where a user's finger is at an initial position 142 above touch-sensitive surface 110 and moves the user's finger along line 144 toward touch-sensitive surface 110 at a rate indicated by movement vector v toward position 146 corresponding to area 165 on the touch-sensitive surface. If, at position 165, first processing circuit PC1 detects from movement data received from second control unit CU2 that the user's finger movement is equal to or lower than movement threshold vt, first controller circuit CU1 will activate fingerprint sensor 120 and instruct fingerprint sensor 120 to perform a fingerprint scan at position 172 corresponding to position 165 on touch-sensitive surface 110 where the user's finger movement is equal to or lower than movement threshold vt.

[0051] As mentioned above, the movement of a user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface may be stored in the form of a movement vector, and the elements of the movement vector may be, for example, the velocity, acceleration, or deceleration of the user's finger. Similarly, the movement threshold v may be one of the velocity, acceleration, or deceleration of the user's finger on the touch-sensitive surface.

[0052] 2B and 2C illustrate scenarios in which a user's finger is present on touch-sensitive surface 110 and is moving from an initial position to an end position on the surface, or moving toward a position where it has either reached or fallen below a movement threshold vt.

[0053] In FIG. 2B , the user's finger is positioned at initial position 152 covering area 161 on touch-sensitive surface 110. The user then subsequently moves the finger along line 163 toward position 154, occupying area 165, which can be either an end position or a position where the user's finger movement v is either equal to or less than movement threshold v. The first processing circuit PC1 or the second processing circuit PC2 can already predict at which position on the touch-sensitive surface the user's finger will be equal to or less than movement threshold v by examining the user's finger movement value received from second controller CU2 and stored in the movement vector v. In this way, controller circuit CU1 can already pre-activate fingerprint sensor 120 at position 172 to speed up fingerprint scanning. In some cases, first controller circuit CU1 can wait to activate the fingerprint sensor until the movement threshold is reached or undercut.

[0054] 2C shows a situation in which a user's finger moves from initial position 152 along an irregular trajectory 163 from a start area 161 on touch-sensitive surface 110 to an end position 154 occupying an area 165 on touch-sensitive surface 110. The movement is registered in a movement vector v, the elements of which may comprise, as in the previous case, the movement velocity, acceleration, or deceleration of the user's finger on touch-sensitive surface 110. When second controller unit CU2, with the aid of calculations performed by second processing circuit PC2, detects that the movement of the user's finger on touch-sensitive surface 110 has reached or fallen below a movement threshold vt (i.e., v≦vt), second controller unit CU2 may send the position of the user's finger at which this occurred to first controller circuit CU1, which in turn commands fingerprint scanner 120 to start scanning the user's finger at a corresponding position 172 on fingerprint scanner 120. When the second processing circuit PC2 detects, through monitoring the user's finger movement in the movement vector, that the trajectory is somewhat irregular, it may be difficult to predict where on the touch-sensitive surface 110 the user's finger movement will satisfy the criterion v≦vt. Therefore, it may be difficult for the first controller circuit CU1 to activate the fingerprint sensor 120 in advance, compared to the previous case where the movement is more linear. It should be noted that tracking of the user's finger movement can be performed either in the first processing circuit PC1 or in the second processing circuit PC2, as needed. If performed in the first processing circuit PC1, data regarding where the movement threshold criterion v≦vt is satisfied does not need to be sent from the second controller circuit CU2 to the first controller circuit CU1.

[0055] In any of the above-described cases shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C, the second controller circuit CU2 and the first controller circuit CU1 may exchange data regarding the movement of the user's finger, activate fingerprint sensor 120, and instruct fingerprint sensor 120 to activate the fingerprint scanner at a location where the v≦vt condition is met without the involvement of the host system CPU. This has the advantage of using fewer computing resources and thus saving battery power. Typically, and in accordance with what was described in FIG. 1, this will be the case when the electronic assembly is in a lock screen mode, a power saving mode, a standby mode, or some other power-conserving mode. In other cases, and particularly when the host system CPU is actively running one or more applications, the host system CPU will also be involved and will essentially control the operation of first controller circuit CU1 and second controller circuit CU2 and the respective functions of touch-sensitive surface 110 and fingerprint scanner 120.

[0056] FIG. 3 illustrates a communication device 300 incorporating the electronic assembly 100 from FIG. 1. In addition to the electronic assembly 100 itself and the above-described components of the electronic assembly 100, the communication device further includes a receiver ANT1 and a transmitter ANT2 for receiving and transmitting communication signals from other communication devices. The receiver and transmitter may be integrated into a single component and may be capable of wireless communication, including communication in a mobile communication network with other communication devices and / or a base station transceiver (not shown). The receiver and transmitter may be capable of MIMO transmission in a wireless network according to IEEE 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11b / g / n, or any other wireless standard. Furthermore, the communication device 300 may be capable of communication in a mobile communication network according to known 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards via the receiver ANT1 and transmitter ANT2 of the communication device 300.

[0057] As described in the embodiment in Figure 1, communications device 300 may have memory MEM located external to the host system CPU, or memory MEM located internal to the host system CPU, shown as a dotted rectangle within the host system CPU. Also, in another variation, the portion of memory that stores a user's fingerprint, which is later compared with a fingerprint scanned by fingerprint scanner 120 from Figure 1, may be located in the host system CPU for security reasons. The remaining portion of memory MEM that stores movement vectors that map the movement of a user's finger on or above touch-sensitive surface 110 may be internal to the host system CPU, as shown in Figure 3, or external to the host system CPU.

[0058] The communication device 300 incorporating the aforementioned electronic assembly 100 may be a smartphone, a tablet, a phablet (a combination smartphone and tablet), a smartwatch, or any other device having touchscreen and fingerprint reading technology incorporated into the electronic assembly 100.

[0059] 1 , the second controller circuit CU2 is electrically connected to the touch-sensitive area 340 and receives a signal from the touch-sensitive area 340 whenever the user's finger 354 is positioned above or on the touch-sensitive area 320. The second controller circuit CU2 is also in communication with the first controller circuit CU1 to transmit data received from the touch-sensitive area 320 to the first controller circuit CU1. Based on this data received from the second controller circuit CU2, the first controller circuit CU1, which is in electrical contact with a fingerprint sensor (not shown), instructs the fingerprint sensor to begin scanning the user's finger when the user's finger touches the surface of the touch-sensitive area 320 or when the movement of the user's finger falls below a movement threshold on the touch-sensitive area 320. The first controller circuit CU1 may also activate the fingerprint sensor at a predicted location to prepare for a fingerprint scan if, as in Figure 1, the first controller circuit CU1 detects from data received from the second controller circuit CU2 that the user's finger 354 is in proximity to the touch-sensitive surface 320 and that the movement threshold has been reached or undercut when the user's finger 354 finally touches the touch-sensitive surface 320. This was previously described in more detail in Figure 1 and previous figures.

[0060] 3 illustrates a typical scenario for an electronic device, such as electronic device 300, in which a user uses their finger to "open" electronic device 300 from a lock screen mode or power saving mode to a normal operating mode. The user may do so by drawing a predefined pattern, shown in this example as the shape of the alphabet letter "Z," on touch-sensitive surface 320. The user may use their finger to touch touch-sensitive area 320 at location 324 and draw the "Z" shape on the screen to final location 322. During the movement of the user's finger from the initial position 324 to the final position 322, the second controller circuit CU2 can either deliver data from the touch-sensitive area 320 directly to the first controller circuit CU1, or, as previously described, convert those data into a movement vector before sending them to the first controller circuit CU1, which can then use that data to calculate whether the movement of the user's finger 354 from the initial position 324 to the user's finger 352 at the final position 322 on the touch-sensitive surface has reached or fallen below a movement threshold. At any point on the "Z" trajectory represented by the finger, the first controller circuit CU1 can command the fingerprint scanner to initiate scanning and, if the movement threshold criteria are met, scan the user's finger. This can be done entirely by the first controller circuit CU1 without the involvement of the host system CPU, which saves computational power and, therefore, battery power.

[0061] In another scenario, the "Z" shape used to open the electronic device 300 from the lock screen mode or standby mode can instead be used as a command gesture by the user. This gesture can instruct the electronic device to perform one or a series of predefined actions while the device 300 is not in the standby mode or the lock screen mode, but in a normal operating mode. In that operating mode, the first controller circuit CU1 and the second controller circuit CU2 can communicate with the host system CPU, which can then instruct the first controller circuit CU1 to perform the necessary movement vector calculations and instruct the fingerprint scanner to scan the user's fingerprint when a movement threshold criterion is met.

[0062] It should be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading the description of FIG. 3 that, regardless of whether in lock screen mode or standby mode or normal mode, once the movement threshold criteria is met, any other shape other than “Z” can be used to involve the second controller circuit CU2 and the first controller circuit CU1 in the movement vector calculation and fingerprint scanning action.

[0063] 3 , when electronic device 300 is in normal operating mode, host system CPU may be running a software application that requires user interaction via one or more interactive areas that are shown on the display of electronic device 300 when the one or more interactive areas are activated by the touch of the user's finger. When second controller circuit CU2 detects the presence of user's finger 354 on or above touch-sensitive area 320, second controller circuit CU2 records movement data of the user's finger in a movement vector. The host system CPU may then receive this movement data and, from the data in the movement vector, predict where the user's finger is likely to be on or above touch-sensitive surface 320 that is equal to or less than movement threshold vt. If the predicted position of the user's finger reaches or is below the movement threshold vt, and if the predicted position enters one of the interactive areas of the application associated with these interactive areas, the host system may instruct the first controller circuit CU1 to activate the fingerprint sensor to prepare for a fingerprint scan. When the user's finger lands on or reaches an interactive area on the touch-sensitive surface 320, the host system CPU may then issue a command to the first controller circuit to instruct the fingerprint scanner 120 to perform a fingerprint scan.

[0064] As already mentioned in Figure 1, the host system CPU in Figure 3 may comprise a secure area SEC, which comprises an internal memory MEMint for storing reference user fingerprints. The secure area SEC is in communication with the first controller unit CU1 when a scanned user fingerprint should be compared with the stored reference user fingerprints in the internal memory MEMint to determine whether the scanned user fingerprint belongs to a known user.

[0065] Figure 4 shows another possible scenario for an electronic device implementing the electronic assembly 100 from Figure 1, depicted in the form of a computer or data terminal, namely an electronic device 400. The presence of a keyboard 460 is optional.

[0066] The operation of the electronic device 400 is similar to the aforementioned electronic device 300 with the difference that the receiver Rx and transmitter Tx may be adapted for wired communication. Also, although shown as separate units, the receiver Rx and transmitter Tx may be integrated into one unit and thus function as a transceiver. It is also worth mentioning that the receiver Rx and transmitter Tx may be adapted to function in both wired communication networks and wireless communication networks, of which a mobile communication network is an example.

[0067] The second controller circuit CU2 is in electrical communication with touch-sensitive surface 420, as in the case of FIG. 3, and is adapted to control the operation of touch-sensitive surface 420 and to receive data related to user touches on touch-sensitive surface 420.

[0068] Furthermore, the second controller circuit CU2 is connected to the first controller circuit CU1, which performs the same operations as in Figure 3. Also, the function of the first controller circuit CU1 with respect to the fingerprint scanner (not shown) is the same as in Figure 3.

[0069] In lock screen mode, standby mode, or other low-power modes, the second controller circuit CU2 and the first controller circuit CU1 may not involve the host system CPU in the calculations necessary to determine when and where to perform a fingerprint scan of the user's finger 452. The user may then move the user's finger 452 from a location above the touch-sensitive surface 420 to a location 440 on the touch-sensitive surface 420. The second controller circuit CU2 will monitor the movement of the user's finger, collect movement data in a movement vector v, and transfer the data to the first controller circuit CU1. When a movement threshold criterion is met, i.e., v≦vt, the first controller circuit CU1 will instruct the fingerprint scanner to perform a fingerprint scan on the user's finger 454 at location 440. As in FIG. 3 , the first controller circuit CU1 may also predict the position of the user's finger 452 that will meet the movement threshold criterion and activate the fingerprint scanner already before the user's finger reaches the predicted location in order to perform a faster fingerprint scan.

[0070] In other operational modes of electronic device 400, such as normal mode, performance mode, balance mode, or any other custom mode, in which an active application requiring user interaction is run by the host system CPU, the CPU may monitor the movement of user's finger 452, calculate movement vectors, predict locations on touch-sensitive surface 420 where a movement threshold will be met, and activate the fingerprint sensor for fingerprint scanning via first controller circuit CU1 in much the same manner as previously described in the description of Figure 3. The same is true for detection of a user's finger in one or more interactive areas associated with a software application run by the host system CPU, as already described previously with respect to the embodiment in Figure 3.

[0071] As previously described in Figure 1, the host system CPU in Figure 3 may comprise a secure area SEC, which comprises an internal memory MEMint that stores reference user fingerprints. The secure area SEC is in communication with the first controller unit CU1 when a scanned user fingerprint is to be compared with the stored reference user fingerprints in the internal memory MEMint to determine whether the scanned user fingerprint belongs to a known user.

[0072] Figure 5 shows a method according to one embodiment of the present solution. It should be mentioned here that the method steps described below do not necessarily imply that the method according to the present solution is limited solely to the embodiment of Figure 5, nor does the absence of some method steps in Figure 5 indicate the absence of that method step in the method according to the present solution. For clarity, the method steps in Figure 5 are described in a certain order, but it should also be emphasized that this should not be construed as the method according to the present solution being limited solely to this order or these steps, as some steps may be performed simultaneously or in different orders in different embodiments.

[0073] Therefore, the following description of the method in FIG. 5 is for illustrative purposes only.

[0074] Next, in step 500, the movement or even presence of a user's finger is detected above or on a touch-sensitive surface, such as touch-sensitive surface 110 of electronic assembly 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. The movement or presence is detected by a controller circuit, such as second controller circuit CU2, electrically connected to the touch-sensitive surface. By using the term movement or presence above the touch-sensitive surface, it is meant that the orthogonal distance between the tip of the user's finger and the touch-sensitive surface is such that capacitance (in the case of a capacitive touchscreen) or standing wave interference (in the case of a standing wave screen) can be detected and converted into a measurable voltage signal by the second controller circuit.

[0075] In step 510, a first controller circuit, such as first controller circuit CU1 from FIG. 1, checks whether the electronic assembly is in a first operating mode, i.e., Mode 1. Mode 1 may be characterized as a lock screen mode, a low power mode, a standby mode, or some other battery saving mode of an electronic assembly, such as electronic assembly 100 from FIG. 1.

[0076] When the electronic assembly is in the first operating mode, the second controller circuit begins collecting movement data about the user's finger, which may be stored in the form of a movement vector, in step 530. The elements of the movement vector may register the velocity, acceleration, or deceleration of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface.

[0077] Otherwise, i.e., if the electronic assembly is in Mode 2, meaning that it is in normal mode, balance mode, performance mode, or some other non-battery saving mode, collecting the user's finger position and / or movement data is still performed by the second controller circuit, but forming the movement vector may be performed by a host system, such as the host system CPU shown in Figure 1. When the electronic assembly is in Mode 2, all subsequent steps 540-580 will be performed with the active participation of the host system CPU.

[0078] In step 540, and in Mode 1, the elements of the movement vector are compared to a movement threshold to check whether the movement threshold criterion v≦vt, where vt is a threshold, is met. As mentioned above, when the electronic assembly is in Mode 1, the comparison between the elements of the movement vector and the movement threshold will be performed without the participation of the host system. This can be done by a processing circuit, such as the first processing circuit PC1 in FIG. 1, located in the first controller circuit. In practice, the first controller circuit will receive the user's finger movement values ​​from the second controller circuit, convert the user's finger movement values ​​to a movement vector in the processing circuit, and compare the movement vector with the movement threshold vt.

[0079] When in mode 2, the host system will instead perform the same calculations and comparisons.

[0080] In step 540, and in mode 1, if the processing circuitry in the first controller circuit detects that the movement threshold criterion v≦vt is met, then in step 550 the processing circuitry checks from the data received from the second controller circuit whether the user's finger is on the touch-sensitive surface.

[0081] If yes, the first controller circuit instructs, in step 580, the fingerprint scanner with which it is in electrical contact to perform a fingerprint scan of the user's finger at a location on the touch-sensitive area where the movement threshold criteria is met.

[0082] In a next step 590, the first controller circuit commands the fingerprint scanner to be switched off until the next time a fingerprint scan is required for user identification.

[0083] On the other hand, in mode 1, and if it is detected in step 550 that the user's finger is still not on the touch-sensitive surface, the processing circuit may predict from data received from the second controller circuit regarding the movement of the user's finger over the touch-sensitive surface in step 560 a position of the user's finger where the movement threshold criterion will be met and the user's finger will be on the touch-sensitive surface.

[0084] In step 570, the first controller circuit 570 may then activate the fingerprint sensor at a location corresponding to the predicted location of the user's finger on the touch-sensitive surface where the movement threshold criteria will be met.

[0085] Otherwise, if in mode 2, the host system will perform a comparison in step 540 between the elements of the motion vector formed in step 520 and a motion threshold.

[0086] In step 550, and in mode 2, the host system will check from the data received from the second controller circuit whether the user's finger is on the touch-sensitive surface.

[0087] If yes, the host system will instruct the first controller circuit to send a signal to the fingerprint scanner to perform a fingerprint scan of the user's finger at a location on the fingerprint scanner that corresponds to the location of the user's finger on the touch-sensitive surface where the movement threshold criteria was met, in step 580. Thereafter, in step 590, the host system will instruct the first controller circuit to turn the fingerprint scanner off.

[0088] However, if in step 550 and in mode 2 the host system detects that the user's finger is not on the touch-sensitive surface, the host system will predict possible future positions of the user's finger on the touch-sensitive surface from data regarding the movement of the user's finger above the touch-sensitive surface in step 560. The host system may then instruct the first controller circuit to activate the fingerprint scanner at a predicted position corresponding to the predicted position on the touch-sensitive surface in step 570.

[0089] It should be mentioned that in addition to step 550, when in mode 2, the method according to the present solution may also include a further comparison between the current movement of the user's finger and the position of one or more interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface associated with the software application currently run by the host system. If the host system predicts, through calculation of the current movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface, that the user's finger will reach or land on one of these interactive areas, the host system may issue a command to the first controller circuit to activate the fingerprint sensor corresponding to this interactive area in preparation for fingerprint scanning. When the host system finally detects that the threshold criterion v≦vt is satisfied over the interactive area, the host system may then issue a command to the first controller circuit to instruct the fingerprint scanner to scan the user's finger at a position on the fingerprint scanner corresponding to the position of the user's finger on the interactive area.

[0090] It should be mentioned that the method steps shown in FIG. 5 may be implemented by a computer program product comprising computer program code when the computer program code is executed by a host system of the aforementioned electronic assembly.

[0091] Also, the steps of the method according to FIG. 5 may be implemented by a computer program product comprising computer program code stored on a computer-readable medium.

[0092] These exemplary embodiments attempt to clarify the main idea behind the present solution, but it will be clear to a person skilled in the art upon reading the above description that other possible embodiments can be constructed without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An electronic assembly (100) for detecting a user's fingerprint, comprising: a touch-sensitive surface (110) configured to register user touches; a fingerprint sensor (120) for detecting a user's fingerprint on at least a portion of said touch-sensitive surface; a first controller circuit (CU1) configured to activate said fingerprint sensor and to receive fingerprint information from said fingerprint sensor; a second controller circuit (CU2) configured to detect the position and / or movement of a user's finger on (154) or above (152) said touch-sensitive surface in response to signals from said touch-sensitive surface; a host system (CPU) connected to the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit; the host system comprising circuitry for processing information received from the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit; the first controller circuit receiving information from the second controller circuit relating to the current position (142, 152) and / or movement (v) of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface; activating a portion (165) of the fingerprint sensor on which a fingerprint reading is to be performed; performing a fingerprint reading on the portion (165) of the fingerprint sensor corresponding to the position of the user's finger and / or where the movement of the user's finger is below a movement threshold on the touch-sensitive surface; The fingerprint sensor is activated and the fingerprint is read independently of the host system communicating with the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit. It will be further configured as An electronic assembly (100) characterized by:

2. 2. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the first controller circuit is further configured to instruct the fingerprint sensor to perform a fingerprint reading at the portion of the fingerprint sensor that corresponds to the position of the user's finger (150) on the touch-sensitive surface received from the second controller circuit.

3. 3. The electronic assembly of claim 1, further comprising a processing circuit (PC1, PC2) in one of the first and second controller circuits, the processing circuit configured to calculate, from signals received from the touch-sensitive surface, data relating to the movement (v) of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface, and the processing circuit further configured to compare the data relating to the movement of the user's finger with a movement threshold (vt).

4. 4. The electronic assembly of claim 3, wherein the first controller circuit is configured to activate the fingerprint sensor at a location (165) where the data associated with the movement of the user's finger is equal to or below the movement threshold.

5. 5. The electronic assembly of claim 3, wherein the first controller circuit is further configured to instruct the fingerprint sensor to perform a fingerprint reading at the location on the touch-sensitive surface where the data associated with the movement of the user's finger is equal to or below the movement threshold.

6. 6. The electronic assembly of claim 3, wherein the data calculated by the processing circuitry relating to the movements of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface is generated in the form of a movement vector.

7. 7. The electronic assembly of claim 3, wherein the data relating to the movement of the user's finger comprises one of a speed, acceleration, deceleration or direction of movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface.

8. 8. The electronic assembly of claim 4, wherein the movement threshold comprises one of a speed, acceleration, deceleration or direction of movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface.

9. 9. The electronic assembly of claim 3, wherein the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit in a second mode of operation are configured to communicate with the host system, and the host system in the second mode of operation is configured to transmit data to the processing circuit related to the position and / or the movement of the user's finger over one or more interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface, the one or more interactive areas being associated with expected user input via touch.

10. 10. The electronic assembly of claim 9, wherein the location of one or more interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface depends on a particular software application run by the host system.

11. 11. The electronic assembly of claim 9 or 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to compare the data received from the host system with a movement threshold and the positions of one or more interactive areas on the touch-sensitive surface, and to instruct the first controller circuit to activate the fingerprint sensor when the movement of the user's finger is below the movement threshold and the user's finger is within the one or more interactive areas.

12. 12. The electronic assembly of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is configured to instruct the first controller circuit to cause the fingerprint sensor to perform a fingerprint scan when the movement of the user's finger is below the movement threshold and the position of the user's finger is within the one or more interactive areas and on the touch-sensitive surface.

13. 13. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the first controller circuit (CU1) is in communication with a secure area (SEC) of the host system (CPU), and the first controller circuit (CU1) is configured to compare the fingerprint scanned by the fingerprint sensor (120) with one or more reference user fingerprints in the secure area (SEC) of the host system (CPU).

14. 14. The electronic assembly of claim 13, wherein said one or more reference user fingerprints are stored in an internal memory (MEMint) of said secure area (SEC).

15. 15. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint sensor is located behind the touch-sensitive surface and the size of the fingerprint sensor is such that the fingerprint sensor covers at least a portion of the touch-sensitive surface.

16. 15. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint sensor is located behind the touch-sensitive surface, and the size of the fingerprint sensor is such that the fingerprint sensor covers the entire touch-sensitive surface.

17. 17. The electronic assembly of claim 1, further comprising a memory, the memory configured to store information related to the movements of the user's finger on or over the touch-sensitive surface and / or fingerprints registered by the fingerprint sensor.

18. 18. The electronic assembly of claim 1, wherein the touch-sensitive surface is a touchscreen.

19. An electronic device comprising an electronic assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 17, a display for displaying a graphical user interface for user interaction with an electronic device, said display being located behind a touch-sensitive surface of said electronic assembly and a fingerprint sensor of said electronic device; The electronic device further comprises:

20. 20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the electronic device is a communications device.

21. 21. The electronic device of claim 20, wherein the communication device is one of a wireless communication device for a cellular communication system, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a touchscreen terminal.

22. 1. A method for detecting a user's fingerprint on a touch-sensitive surface, comprising: receiving information relating to the current position and / or movement of the user's finger on or above the touch-sensitive surface in a second controller circuit; - activating by a first controller circuit a portion of the fingerprint sensor on which a fingerprint reading is to be performed; performing a fingerprint reading on the portion of the fingerprint sensor that corresponds to the position of the user's finger and / or where the movement of the user's finger is below a movement threshold on the touch-sensitive surface; Including, The method, wherein activation of the fingerprint sensor and fingerprint reading occurs independently of a host system communicating with the first controller circuit and the second controller circuit.

23. A computer program comprising computer program code, the computer program code being for performing the method of claim 22 when executed by a programmable processing circuit.

24. 24. A computer readable medium storing a computer program according to claim 23.

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