system

Abstract

To provide a system that allows a first integrated circuit and a second integrated circuit to transmit uplink signals at the same time in the case where two screens provided in a dual screen model are each formed of an in-cell touch display.SOLUTION: A system according to the present invention comprises: a first sensor electrode group that includes some of electrodes for driving pixels of a first display; a second sensor electrode group that includes some of electrodes for driving pixels of a second display; a first integrated circuit that transmits a first uplink signal from the first sensor electrode group; and a second integrated circuit that transmits a second uplink signal from the second sensor electrode group. The first and second displays are configured so that signals indicating a rewrite timing of a screen operate in synchronization. The first and second uplink signals are transmitted at the same timing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a sensor system, and more particularly to a sensor system for a dual screen model. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, there has been progress in the development of electronic devices with two screens. Hereinafter, this type of electronic device will be referred to as a "dual screen model." Along with the development of dual screen models, there has also been progress in the development of technology that enables input using a stylus (hereinafter referred to as "pen input") and input using fingers (hereinafter referred to as "touch input") on each of the two screens.

[0003] An example of such technology is disclosed in Patent Document 1. As shown in Patent Document 1, a dual-screen model is provided with a sensor system including an integrated circuit and a group of sensor electrodes for the first screen, an integrated circuit and a group of sensor electrodes for the second screen, and a host processor connected to each integrated circuit, and this sensor system realizes pen input and touch input. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-133487 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Some styluses are configured to receive uplink signals sent from the screen and operate in response to the received uplink signals. To enable this type of stylus to be used in a dual-screen model, it is necessary to prevent interference between the uplink signals sent from each of the two screens.

[0006] Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a sensor system that can prevent interference between uplink signals transmitted from each of the two screens provided in a dual-screen model.

[0007] Furthermore, when using pen input with a dual-screen model, it is preferable that after starting to use the stylus on one screen, the pen tip can be used continuously even when it is moved to the other screen.

[0008] It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a sensor system that allows for continuous stylus use between the two screens that make up a dual screen model.

[0009] Furthermore, when using touch input on a dual-screen model, if a user touches both screens at the same time, the finger touch detection signal sent from one integrated circuit may be received by the other integrated circuit, which must be avoided because it may cause the integrated circuits and host processor to malfunction.

[0010] Therefore, it is still another object of the present invention to provide a sensor system that can prevent a finger touch detection signal sent from one integrated circuit from being received by another integrated circuit.

[0011] In addition, because the two integrated circuits in the dual-screen model previously operated asynchronously, the host processor could incorrectly process the order of the position data supplied from each integrated circuit, which could affect the rendering results.

[0012] Therefore, it is yet another object of the present invention to provide a sensor system in which the order of position data supplied from each integrated circuit can be correctly processed by a host processor. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] A sensor system according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a first group of sensor electrodes and a first integrated circuit connected to the first group of sensor electrodes, and a second group of sensor electrodes and a second integrated circuit connected to the second group of sensor electrodes, and controls the first and second integrated circuits so that a first uplink signal transmitted by the first integrated circuit via the first group of sensor electrodes and a second uplink signal transmitted by the second integrated circuit via the second group of sensor electrodes are not transmitted at the same time.

[0014] A sensor system according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a first group of sensor electrodes and a first integrated circuit connected to the first group of sensor electrodes, and a second group of sensor electrodes and a second integrated circuit connected to the second group of sensor electrodes, and when the first integrated circuit is paired with a stylus, it shares pairing information related to the pairing with the second integrated circuit.

[0015] A sensor system according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a first group of sensor electrodes and a first integrated circuit connected to the first group of sensor electrodes, and a second group of sensor electrodes and a second integrated circuit connected to the second group of sensor electrodes, and when one of the first and second integrated circuits is performing a touch input detection operation, the sensor system restricts the touch input detection operation by the other of the first and second integrated circuits.

[0016] A sensor system according to a fourth aspect of the present invention includes a first sensor electrode group and a second sensor electrode group, a first integrated circuit that performs a touch input detection operation by supplying a first finger touch detection signal to the first sensor electrode group, and a second integrated circuit that performs a touch input detection operation by supplying a second finger touch detection signal to the second sensor electrode group, wherein the first and second finger touch detection signals are pulse signals configured so that the temporal positions of the edges of pulse sections are different from each other.

[0017] A sensor system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention includes a first group of sensor electrodes and a first integrated circuit connected to the first group of sensor electrodes, and a second group of sensor electrodes and a second integrated circuit connected to the second group of sensor electrodes, wherein the first and second integrated circuits perform touch input detection operations in synchronization with each other. [Effects of the Invention]

[0018] According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first and second uplink signals are not transmitted at the same time, making it possible to prevent interference between the uplink signals sent from each of the two screens provided in a dual-screen model.

[0019] According to a second aspect of the present invention, pairing information is shared between the first and second integrated circuits, thereby enabling continuous use of the stylus between the two screens that make up a dual-screen model.

[0020] According to the third aspect of the present invention, while one integrated circuit is performing a touch input detection operation, the touch input detection operation by the other integrated circuit is restricted, thereby preventing the finger touch detection signal sent by one integrated circuit from being received by the other integrated circuit.

[0021] According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the temporal positions of the edges of the pulse sections of the first finger touch detection signal and the second finger touch detection signal are different from each other, so that it is possible to prevent the finger touch detection signal sent by one integrated circuit from being received by the other integrated circuit.

[0022] According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the first and second integrated circuits perform touch input detection operations in synchronization with each other, allowing the host processor to correctly process the order of position data supplied from each integrated circuit. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1]1 is a diagram showing the appearance of an electronic device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a sensor system 3 provided in an electronic device 1. FIG. [Figure 3] 2 is a timing diagram showing an outline of the operation of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23. FIG. [Figure 4] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating the principle of a touch detection operation TD. [Figure 5] 10(a) and 10(b) are diagrams showing examples of specific waveforms of signals s1 to sK constituting the finger touch detection signal FDS. [Figure 6] 10 is a timing diagram of signals transmitted and received by the first integrated circuit 13, the second integrated circuit 23, and the stylus P, respectively. [Figure 7] 10 is a diagram showing a state in which a user places a hand H on a second panel surface 21 and slides a finger F on a first panel surface 11. FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a limitation on the touch detection operation TD. [Figure 9] 10(a) and 10(b) are diagrams showing waveforms of a finger touch detection signal FDS according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0025] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the appearance of an electronic device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The diagram also shows a stylus P and a finger F that are targets of detection by the electronic device 1. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a sensor system 3 provided in the electronic device 1 to detect the stylus P and the finger F.

[0026] 1, electronic device 1 is configured to have a first housing 10 and a second housing 20 connected by a connecting portion 2. Connecting portion 2 is configured to include a hinge and a flexible substrate, and first housing 10 is configured to be rotatable 360° around connecting portion 2, as indicated by dashed arrow A in the figure. The flexible substrate is a board configured to deform at an angle according to the relative positions of first housing 10 and second housing 20, and wiring for connecting wiring inside first housing 10 and wiring inside second housing 20 is arranged therein.

[0027] The first housing 10 is provided with a first panel surface 11, and the second housing 20 is provided with a second panel surface 21. The surfaces of the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 are each flat, allowing a user to slide the pen tip of a stylus P and a finger F on the surfaces of the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21. The first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 are disposed on the surface of each housing so as to face the same direction when the first housing 10 is set at a 180° angle. The first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 are both rectangular, and are disposed so that the long side direction of each is perpendicular to the alignment direction of the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 when the first housing 10 is set at a 180° angle.

[0028] Here, the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 may or may not double as display surfaces of the display. Specific methods for using the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 as display surfaces include an in-cell method in which some of the electrodes for driving pixels in the display (e.g., common electrodes of a liquid crystal display) are also used as part of a sensor electrode group (e.g., multiple sensor electrodes 12x or multiple sensor electrodes 22x) described below; an on-cell method in which a sensor electrode group (described below) is provided within the display but separate from the electrodes for driving pixels in the display; and an out-cell method in which a sensor electrode group (described below) is disposed on the display panel. When both the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 are used as display surfaces, the electronic device 1 becomes the dual-screen model described above.

[0029] 2, the sensor system 3 includes first sensor electrode groups 12x and 12y, a first integrated circuit 13, first lead-out wirings 14x and 14y, a second sensor electrode group 22x and 22y, a second integrated circuit 23, second lead-out wirings 24x and 24y, and a host processor 30. Of these, the first sensor electrode groups 12x and 12y, the first integrated circuit 13, and the first lead-out wirings 14x and 14y are arranged in a first housing 10, and the second sensor electrode groups 22x and 22y, the second integrated circuit 23, the second lead-out wirings 24x and 24y, and the host processor 30 are arranged in a second housing 20. Note that arranging the host processor 30 in the second housing 20 is merely an example, and it may be arranged in the first housing 10.

[0030] As shown in Fig. 2, the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 are connected to each other by a wiring 31. The first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 are also connected to the host processor 30 by wirings 32 and 33, respectively. Of these, a portion of the wirings 31 and 32 extends within the flexible substrate described above. Note that although each of the wirings 31 to 33 is depicted by a single line in Fig. 2, in reality, each is a collection of multiple wirings.

[0031] 1, the first sensor electrode groups 12x and 12y are arranged inside the first panel surface 11. Similarly, the second sensor electrode groups 22x and 22y are arranged inside the second panel surface 21. The first sensor electrode groups 12x and 12y each include a plurality of sensor electrodes 12x that extend along the long side direction of the first panel surface 11 and are arranged at equal intervals along the short side direction of the first panel surface 11, and a plurality of sensor electrodes 12y that extend along the short side direction of the first panel surface 11 and are arranged at equal intervals along the long side direction of the first panel surface 11. In addition, the second sensor electrode groups 22x, 22y are each configured to include a plurality of sensor electrodes 22x that extend along the long side direction of the second panel surface 21 and are arranged at equal intervals along the short side direction of the second panel surface 21, and a plurality of sensor electrodes 22y that each extend along the short side direction of the second panel surface 21 and are arranged at equal intervals along the long side direction of the second panel surface 21.

[0032] The first integrated circuit 13 is connected to each sensor electrode 12x by a first lead-out wiring 14x provided for each sensor electrode 12x, and is connected to each sensor electrode 12y by a first lead-out wiring 14y provided for each sensor electrode 12y. Similarly, the second integrated circuit 23 is connected to each sensor electrode 22x by a second lead-out wiring 24x provided for each sensor electrode 22x, and is connected to each sensor electrode 22y by a second lead-out wiring 24y provided for each sensor electrode 22y.

[0033] The first integrated circuit 13 has the functions of detecting a stylus P and a finger F present on the first panel surface 11, deriving the position of the detected stylus P or finger F on the first panel surface 11 and supplying position data indicating the derived position to the host processor 30, and transmitting and receiving signals bidirectionally with the stylus P via the first sensor electrode groups 12x and 12y. Similarly, the second integrated circuit 23 has the functions of detecting a stylus P and a finger F present on the second panel surface 21, deriving the position of the detected stylus P or finger F on the second panel surface 11 and supplying position data indicating the derived position to the host processor 30, and transmitting and receiving signals bidirectionally with the stylus P via the second sensor electrode groups 22x and 22y. The first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 are configured to execute these functions in a synchronized manner under the control of the host processor 30 or by communicating with each other via wiring 31.

[0034] In the following description, the signal transmitted from the first integrated circuit 13 to the stylus P will be referred to as a first uplink signal US1, and the signal transmitted from the second integrated circuit 23 to the stylus P will be referred to as a second uplink signal US2. When there is no need to distinguish between the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2, they may be collectively referred to as an uplink signal US. Furthermore, the signal transmitted by the stylus P will be referred to as a downlink signal DS.

[0035] The area US1a shown in FIG. 1 is the reachable range of the first uplink signal US1. The area US2a shown in FIG. 1 is the reachable range of the second uplink signal US2. As is clear from the description of FIG. 1, the areas US1a and US2a overlap depending on the angle formed by the first housing 10 and the second housing 20. A stylus P located within this overlapping area can receive both the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2. Therefore, in the electronic device 1, it is necessary to prevent interference between the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2.

[0036] Returning to FIG. 2, the host processor 30 is a central processing unit of the electronic device 1 that executes the operating system and various applications of the electronic device 1 by reading and executing programs stored in a memory (not shown). The host processor 30 also receives pen input using a stylus P or touch input using a finger F via the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 and supplies the input to the operating system or applications. Applications that operate in response to pen input or touch input include, for example, drawing applications. In these types of applications, stroke data is generated and drawing is performed based on the pen input or touch input.

[0037] 3 is a timing diagram showing an outline of the operations of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23. As shown in the diagram, the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 are each configured to alternately and repeatedly execute a pen detection operation PD for detecting a stylus P and a touch detection operation TD for detecting a finger F at the same timing.

[0038] The pen detection operation PD and the touch detection operation TD will be outlined below. Note that although the following description will be given taking the first integrated circuit 13 as an example, the same applies to the second integrated circuit 23.

[0039] First, the pen detection operation PD will be described. As shown in Fig. 3, the section in which the pen detection operation PD is performed includes a transmission / reception section P1 of the uplink signal US and a transmission / reception section P2 of the downlink signal DS. Of these, the transmission / reception section P2 of the downlink signal DS is divided into a plurality of time slots TS1 to TSn, and is configured so that a plurality of styluses P can transmit the downlink signals DS by time division multiplexing. Although not shown, other multiplexing methods such as frequency division multiplexing or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing may be used in addition to or instead of time division multiplexing. The following description will continue taking the case in which time division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing are used as an example.

[0040] The first integrated circuit 13 is configured to periodically transmit a first uplink signal US1, using the transmission / reception section P1 of the uplink signal US, including pairing information that specifies a local pen ID, a time slot, and a frequency to be assigned to a newly detected stylus P. When the stylus P receives this first uplink signal US1 and is not yet paired with any integrated circuit, it transmits a downlink signal DS including the pen ID stored in its own memory using the time slot and frequency indicated by the first uplink signal US1, and stores the pairing information included in the first uplink signal US1 in its own memory.

[0041] Here, each time slot in the transmission / reception section P2 is assigned a number in advance, and the first integrated circuit 13 is configured to identify the time slot by identifying this number. The stylus P is configured to determine the temporal position of each time slot based on the reception timing of the first uplink signal US1, and then transmit the downlink signal DS in the time slot assigned by the pairing information. Figure 3 shows an example in which time slots TS2, TS4, and TSn are assigned by the pairing information.

[0042] The first integrated circuit 13, which has received the downlink signal DS, stores the received pen ID in its own memory in association with the pairing information. Through the processing up to this point, pairing between the first integrated circuit 13 and the stylus P is completed. Thereafter, the first integrated circuit 13 instructs the paired stylus P on the data to be transmitted by transmitting a first uplink signal US1 including a local pen ID and a command as necessary.

[0043] The stylus P is configured to transmit, as the downlink signal DS, a position signal, which is a burst signal, and a data signal obtained by modulating a predetermined carrier signal with data specified by the first uplink signal US1. The first integrated circuit 13 derives the position of the stylus P based on the reception strength of the position signal at each of the sensor electrodes 12x, 12y, and acquires the data transmitted by the stylus P by receiving and demodulating the data signal. The first integrated circuit 13 then outputs the position data indicating the derived position and the data acquired from the stylus P to the host processor 30.

[0044] Next, the touch detection operation TD will be described. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the principle of the touch detection operation TD. For simplicity, only four sensor electrodes 12x are shown in the figure, but in reality, more sensor electrodes 12x are arranged. In the following description, it is assumed that the number of sensor electrodes 12x is K.

[0045] When performing the touch detection operation TD, the first integrated circuit 13 supplies a finger touch detection signal FDS to each sensor electrode 12x. As shown in Fig. 4, the finger touch detection signal FDS is, for example, K signals s1 to s2 each consisting of K pulses represented by "1" or "-1". K The signals s1 to s K Each nth (n=1~K) pulse is a pulse group p n and one pulse group p n The pulses constituting the pulses are input in parallel to the sensor electrodes 12x.

[0046] In the following description, it is assumed that the number of sensor electrodes 12x is four (i.e., K=4), but the same applies to cases where the number of sensor electrodes 12x is three or less or five or more. When the number of sensor electrodes 12x is four, signals s1 to s KEach of the signals s1 and s4 is composed of four pulses represented by "1" or "-1." Specifically, as shown in Figure 4, signal s1 is composed of "1,1,1,1," signal s2 is composed of "1,1,-1,-1," signal s3 is composed of "1,-1,-1,1," and signal s4 is composed of "1-1,1,-1."

[0047] The first integrated circuit 13 includes a shift register 13a and a correlator 13b. The shift register 13a is a FIFO-type memory unit and is configured to be able to store the same number of data (i.e., K data) as the number of sensor electrodes 12x. When new data is stored in the shift register 13a, the data stored K times previously is erased. The first integrated circuit 13 selects one sensor electrode 12y and inputs pulse groups p1 to p4 to each sensor electrode 12x in sequence, repeating this operation for each sensor electrode 12y. As a result, four levels L1 to L4 corresponding to the pulse groups p1 to p4 appear in sequence on the selected sensor electrode 12y. The first integrated circuit 13 thus sequentially acquires the levels L1 to L4 appearing on the sensor electrode 12y and stores them in the shift register 13a each time.

[0048] The specific contents of the levels L1 to L4 will be described in detail by taking the case where the sensor electrode 12y1 shown in FIG. 4 is selected as an example. In the following description, the capacitances formed between the sensor electrode 12y1 and each of the four sensor electrodes 12x1 to 12x4 are respectively referred to as C 11 ~C 41 Let's say.

[0049] First, the level L1 stored in the shift register 13a corresponding to the pulse group p1 is expressed as a capacitance vector (C 11 ,C 21 ,C 31 ,C 41 ) and the vector (1,1,1,1) representing the pulse group p1. This inner product is C 11 +C 21 +C 31 +C 41Similarly, the level L2 stored in the shift register 13a corresponding to the pulse group p2 is calculated as a capacitance vector (C 11 ,C 21 ,C 31 ,C 41 ) and the vector (1,1,-1,-1) representing the pulse group p1, and 11 +C 21 -C 31 -C 41 The level L3 stored in the shift register 13a corresponding to the pulse group p3 is calculated as follows: 11 ,C 21 ,C 31 ,C 41 ) and the vector (1,-1,-1,1) representing the pulse group p3, which is C 11 -C 21 -C 31 +C 41 The level L4 stored in the shift register 13a corresponding to the pulse group p4 is calculated as follows: 11 ,C 21 ,C 31 ,C 41 ) and the vector (1,-1,1,-1) representing the pulse group p4, and 11 -C 21 +C 31 -C 41 It is calculated as follows.

[0050] The first integrated circuit 13 uses the correlator 13b to sequentially calculate correlation values ​​T1 to T4 between the levels L1 to L4 stored in the shift register 13a and each of the four pulse groups p1 to p4. The specific contents of the correlation values ​​T1 to T4 calculated in this way are respectively 4C 11 ,4C 21 ,4C 31 ,4C 41That is, the correlation values ​​T1 to T4 reflect the change in capacitance formed at the intersection of the sensor electrodes 12x1 to 12x4 and the sensor electrode 12y1, respectively. Therefore, the first integrated circuit 13 can detect the position of the finger F by referring to the correlation values ​​T1 to T4 calculated for each sensor electrode 12y. Specifically, an area within the first panel surface 11 where the change in capacitance is equal to or greater than a predetermined value may be determined, and the center position of that area may be detected as the position of the finger F, for example. The first integrated circuit 13 is configured to also output position data indicating the position thus detected to the host processor 30.

[0051] 5(a) and 5(b) show signals s1 to s2 constituting the finger touch detection signal FDS, respectively. K 5(a) shows an example of a specific waveform of the signals s1 to s2 according to the first example shown in FIG. K is composed of signals that represent "1" with a relatively high voltage and "-1" with a relatively low voltage. On the other hand, the signals s1 to s2 in the second example shown in FIG. 5(b) are K are the signals s1 to s according to the first example. K 5(a)(b) is a signal obtained by Manchester encoding the above signal. Specifically, the signal represents one value, with the first half representing "1" or "-1" by high or low voltage, and the second half having an intermediate voltage. Hereinafter, the section in which the voltage reflects the value of "1" or "-1" may be referred to as one pulse section PS, as shown in Figures 5(a) and 5(b).

[0052] Next, the configuration of the sensor system 3 according to the characteristic features of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

[0053] 6 is a timing diagram of signals transmitted and received by the first integrated circuit 13, the second integrated circuit 23, and the stylus P. This diagram shows a state in which the first integrated circuit 13 and the stylus P have been paired.

[0054] 6, the sensor system 3 according to this embodiment controls the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 so that a first uplink signal US1 transmitted by the first integrated circuit 13 via the first sensor electrode groups 12x and 12y and a second uplink signal US2 transmitted by the second integrated circuit 23 via the second sensor electrode groups 22x and 22y are not transmitted at the same time. Specifically, the host processor 30 may control the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 so that the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2 are not transmitted at the same time, or the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 may communicate with each other to control the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 so that the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2 are not transmitted at the same time.

[0055] 6, the first uplink signal US1 is transmitted within a period of time length T1 from the beginning of the section in which the pen detection operation PD is performed, while the second uplink signal US2 is transmitted after a period of time length T2 (>T1), which is longer than the period of time T1, has elapsed from the beginning of the pen detection operation PD. In this way, the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2 are not transmitted at the same time, making it possible to prevent interference between the uplink signals US transmitted from the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21.

[0056] Furthermore, the first integrated circuit 13 further controls the paired stylus P so that it does not perform reception operations (denoted by "R" in FIG. 6) except during the period when it is transmitting the first uplink signal US1. Specifically, the first integrated circuit 13 notifies the stylus P of the time length INT of the transmission interval of the uplink signal US shown in the figure during pairing, and after receiving the uplink signal US, the stylus P operates to suspend reception operations for the notified time length INT. This prevents the stylus P paired with the first integrated circuit 13 from receiving the uplink signal US transmitted by the second integrated circuit 23.

[0057] The same is true for the second integrated circuit 23, but it is preferable that the second integrated circuit 23 further notify the stylus P of the illustrated time length T3 (the time length from the end of transmission of the second uplink signal US2 to the start of the touch detection operation TD) and time length T4 (the time length of the section in which the touch detection operation TD is performed) at the time of pairing. This enables the stylus P to determine the time position of each time slot for transmitting the downlink signal DS, excluding the section in which the touch detection operation TD is performed, based on the reception timing of the second uplink signal US2.

[0058] Furthermore, when one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 is paired with the stylus P, it is configured to share pairing information related to the pairing with the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23. This sharing may be performed by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 transmitting the pairing information to the host processor 30, and the host processor 30 transmitting the pairing information to the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23, or by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 directly transmitting the pairing information to the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23. In this way, it is not necessary to perform pairing again when the stylus P moves between the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21, and therefore it is possible to use the stylus P continuously between the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21.

[0059] Furthermore, the sensor system 3 according to this embodiment is configured to restrict the touch detection operation TD by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 when the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 is performing the touch detection operation TD. This point will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 7.

[0060] FIG. 7 illustrates a state in which a user places his or her hand H on the second panel surface 21 and slides his or her finger F on the first panel surface 11. When the user performs such a motion, not only is electrostatic coupling generated between the sensor electrodes 12x and 12y and the hand H in the illustrated area A1 (contact area of ​​the finger F) on the first panel surface 11, but also between the sensor electrodes 22x and 22y and the hand H in the illustrated area A2 (contact area of ​​the palm) on the second panel surface 21. As a result, the finger touch detection signal FDS transmitted by the second integrated circuit 23 is received by the first integrated circuit 13 via the illustrated path B. Such reception must be avoided because it can cause malfunctions of the first integrated circuit 13 and the host processor 30.

[0061] Therefore, the sensor system 3 according to the present embodiment is configured to restrict the touch detection operation TD by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 when the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 is performing the touch detection operation TD. This restriction may be performed by the host processor 30 restricting the touch detection operation TD by the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 when coordinates of the finger F are supplied from one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23, or by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 notifying the other of that fact. In this way, it is possible to prevent the finger touch detection signal FDS sent by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 from being received by the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23.

[0062] Preferably, the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 or the host processor 30 detect the area of ​​the region where the touch is detected (areas A1 and A2 shown in FIG. 7), and select an integrated circuit to be subject to the restriction of the touch detection operation TD based on the detected area. Generally, the area detected by the touch of a fingertip is smaller than the area detected by the touch of a palm, so by selecting an integrated circuit in this manner, it becomes possible to give priority to touch input by the finger F.

[0063] In addition, the specific restriction of the touch detection operation TD may be performed, for example, by completely stopping the touch detection operation TD by the selected integrated circuit. In another example, if the selected integrated circuit is the second integrated circuit 23, the restriction may be performed by controlling the second integrated circuit 23 to perform the touch detection operation TD without using some of the sensor electrodes 22x (sensor electrodes 22x in the region C shown in FIG. 7) that are close to the first sensor electrode groups 12x and 12y.

[0064] 8 is a diagram showing yet another example of the restriction on the touch detection operation TD. In this example, when the first integrated circuit 13 is performing the touch detection operation TD, the second integrated circuit 23 does not perform the touch detection operation TD, and when the second integrated circuit 23 is performing the touch detection operation TD, the first integrated circuit 13 does not perform the touch detection operation TD. To achieve this operation, it is preferable that one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 notify the other of the start timing and end timing of the touch detection operation TD directly or via the host processor 30.

[0065] As described above, according to the sensor system 3 of this embodiment, the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2 are not transmitted at the same time, so it is possible to prevent interference between the uplink signals US sent from the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21, respectively.

[0066] Furthermore, according to the sensor system 3 of this embodiment, pairing information is shared between the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23, making it possible to use the stylus P continuously between the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21.

[0067] Furthermore, according to the sensor system 3 of this embodiment, while one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 is performing a touch detection operation TD, the touch detection operation TD by the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 is restricted, so that the finger touch detection signal FDS sent by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 can be prevented from being received by the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23.

[0068] Furthermore, according to the sensor system 3 of this embodiment, the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 perform the touch detection operation TD in a synchronized state with each other, so that the host processor 30 can correctly process the order of the position data of the finger F supplied from each of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23.

[0069] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the method for solving the problem described with reference to Fig. 7, but is otherwise similar to the first embodiment. Therefore, the following description will focus on the differences from the first embodiment.

[0070] 9(a) and 9(b) are diagrams showing waveforms of the finger touch detection signal FDS according to this embodiment. Fig. 9(a) shows a case where the finger touch detection signal FDS is formed by a signal having the waveform shown in Fig. 5(a), and Fig. 9(b) shows a case where the finger touch detection signal FDS is formed by a signal having the waveform shown in Fig. 5(b).

[0071] The first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 are each configured to receive a finger touch detection signal FDS by detecting a signal change at the edge (start) of each pulse section PS. In this embodiment, the first finger touch detection signal FDS (hereinafter referred to as the first finger touch detection signal FDS) supplied by the first integrated circuit 13 to each sensor electrode 12x and the second finger touch detection signal FDS (hereinafter referred to as the second finger touch detection signal FDS) supplied by the second integrated circuit 23 to each sensor electrode 22x are configured so that the temporal positions of the edges of the pulse section PS differ from each other.

[0072] In a typical example, the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS may be configured as pulse signals with different phases. For example, as shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b), the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS may be configured so that their phases differ by PS / 2, which is half the time of one pulse section PS. This makes it possible to make the temporal positions of the edges of the pulse section PS (the timings indicated by black triangles in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b)) different from each other.

[0073] In this way, by configuring the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS so that the time positions of the edges of the pulse section PS are different between the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS, the signal corresponding to the other one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 is always unchanged at the timing when the other one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 performs an operation to detect a change in the signal. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the finger touch detection signal FDS sent by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 from being received by the other one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23.

[0074] Instead of changing the phases of the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS, the frequencies thereof (i.e., the time lengths of the pulse sections PS) may be made different from each other. Even in this case, although not completely, the temporal positions of the edges of the pulse sections PS of the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS can be made different from each other substantially (i.e., at most timings).

[0075] Alternatively, the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS may be configured so that the rise and fall times of the first finger touch detection signal FDS and the second finger touch detection signal FDS are different from each other, and each of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 may be configured to receive only the finger touch detection signal FDS of a specific frequency, for example, by using a band-pass filter that passes only signals of a specific frequency. This also makes it possible to prevent the finger touch detection signal FDS sent by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 from being received by the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23.

[0076] Moreover, the above-mentioned signals s1 to s K If it is acceptable for the bit length of the signals s1 to s2 to be longer, the signals s1 to s3 to be transmitted by the first integrated circuit 13 may be K and the signals s1 to s2 transmitted by the second integrated circuit 23. K All of the signals FDS, FDS, and FDS may be configured with code sequences that are orthogonal to each other. In this way, the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 can distinguish and receive each signal by calculating the correlation with the orthogonal code sequences stored in advance, and as described above, it is possible to prevent the finger touch detection signal FDS sent by one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 from being received by the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23.

[0077] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be embodied in various forms without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0078] For example, the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 may transmit the same uplink signal US at the same timing. In other words, the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 may be operated as a single unit. This also makes it possible to prevent interference between the uplink signals US transmitted from the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21. Even in this case, it is preferable that the touch detection operation TD is performed as described above so that the finger touch detection signal FDS transmitted from one of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 is not received by the other of the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23.

[0079] In addition, when both the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21 are configured using the in-cell touch display described above, and the first integrated circuit 13 and the second integrated circuit 23 transmit the same uplink signal US at the same timing, it is preferable to synchronize the vertical synchronization signal VSync, which indicates the timing of screen rewriting. That is, in an in-cell touch display, the sensor system 3 can perform the pen detection operation PD and the touch detection operation TD only during the blank period when no pixel driving operation is performed. Therefore, in order to transmit the uplink signal US at the same timing from the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21, the temporal positions of the blank periods must be the same between the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21. Synchronizing the vertical synchronization signal VSync as described above makes it possible to match the temporal positions of the blank periods.

[0080] Alternatively, the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2 may be modulated using mutually orthogonal code sequences. This allows the stylus P to distinguish between the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2 by calculating the correlation with a pre-stored orthogonal code sequence. This prevents interference between the uplink signals US transmitted from the first panel surface 11 and the second panel surface 21, as described above. In this case, the stylus P preferably selects one of the first uplink signal US1 and the second uplink signal US2 when both are received, and performs pairing with the integrated circuit corresponding to the selected signal. For example, the stylus P may select the signal with the stronger reception strength from the first uplink signal US1 or the second uplink signal US2. [Explanation of symbols]

[0081] 1 Electronic equipment 2 Connecting part 3 Sensor System 10 First enclosure 11 First panel surface 12x, 12y First sensor electrode group 13 First Integrated Circuit 13a Shift Register 13b Correlator 14x, 14y First lead-out wiring 20 Second enclosure 21 Second panel surface 22x, 22y Second sensor electrode group 23 Second Integrated Circuit 24x, 24y Second lead-out wiring 30 Host Processor 31~33 Wiring A1 Contact area of ​​finger F A2 Palm contact area DS downlink signal F finger FDS Finger touch detection signal H hand INT Time interval between transmissions of uplink signal US P stylus P1 Uplink signal US transmission / reception section P2 Downlink signal DS transmission / reception section p1~p4 pulse group PD pen detection operation PS pulse section s1~s K signal T1 Time length of the transmission period of the first uplink signal US1 T1~T4 correlation value T2: The time length from the beginning of the pen detection operation PD to the start of transmission of the second uplink signal US2 T3: The time length from the end of transmission of the second uplink signal US2 to the start of the touch detection operation TD T4 Time length of the section where touch detection operation TD is performed TD Touch detection operation TS1~TSn time slots US uplink signal US1 First uplink signal US1a Coverage range of the first uplink signal US1 US2 Second uplink signal US2a Coverage range of the second uplink signal US2

Claims

1. a first sensor electrode group including a part of electrodes for driving pixels of the first display; a second sensor electrode group including a part of electrodes for driving pixels of a second display; a first integrated circuit that transmits a first uplink signal via the first group of sensor electrodes; a second integrated circuit configured to transmit a second uplink signal via the second group of sensor electrodes; the first display and the second display are configured to operate in a state where a signal indicating a timing for rewriting the screen is synchronized; the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal are transmitted at the same timing. system.

2. a first housing having a first panel surface that is a display surface of the first display and a second housing having a second panel surface that is a display surface of the second display, the first housing being connected by a connecting portion; The system of claim 1 .

3. the first integrated circuit transmits the first uplink signal via the first sensor electrode group during a blank period in which no pixel driving operation is performed in the first display; the second integrated circuit transmits the second uplink signal via the second sensor electrode group during a blank period in which no pixel driving operation is performed in the second display; The system of claim 1 .

4. the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal are constituted by signals modulated using code sequences that are orthogonal to each other; The system of claim 3 .

5. Includes a stylus When the stylus receives both the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal, the stylus selects one of the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal, and performs pairing with an integrated circuit corresponding to the selected one of the first integrated circuit and the second integrated circuit. The system of claim 4.

6. When the stylus receives both the first uplink signal and the second uplink signal, the stylus selects the signal with the stronger reception strength. The system of claim 5.

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