Apple Inc.

Albert Lin

Martin Paul Grunthaner

John Z Zhong

David H C Shih

Sunggu Kang

Steven Porter Hotelling

Chun-Hao Tung

Sumant Ranganathan

Andrew W Joyce

Pavan Gupta

Isaac W Chan

Prathit Bugnait

Wayne Carl Westerman

Wei Chen

Cheng Kai Chen

Lynn Richard Youngs

Enkhamgalan Dorjgotov

Wonjae Choi

Ari Y Benbasat

Sean Erik O'Connor

Christian M Sauer

Masato Kuwabara

Collin R Petty

Jacob L Matlick

Daniel J Bechstein

Sudip Mondal

John R Matthews

Eric Steven Jol

Christopher S Graham

Benjamin B Lyon

Paul J Thompson

Makiko K Brzezinski

Todd K Moyer

Jean-Marie Bussat

Hao Zhang

Jeffrey M Alves

Yehonatan Perez

Massoud Badaye

Jim C Hwang

Julian K Shutzberg

Wesley William Zuber

Hojjat Seyed Mousavi

Sagar Rajiv Vaze

Ashray Vinayak Gogte

Alexandre Gourevitch

Siddharth Mohapatra

Jason C Hu

Ramachandran Chundru

David Steven Graff

Shwetabh Verma

Priyank D Patel

Seyed Mohammad Navidpour

Qian Zhao

Micah Lewis-Kraus

Wencong Zhu

Mo Li

Joon Heup Kwon

Viswa B Pilla

Hui Zhou

Alexander A Penn

Brian H Knabenshue

Benedict Drevniok

David HC Shih

Touch sensor panel configurations for reducing wobble error for a stylus translating on a surface over and between electrodes of the touch sensor panel are disclosed. In some examples, electrodes with more linear signal profiles are correlated with lower wobble error. In some examples, diffusing elements formed of floating segments of conductive materials can diffuse signal from a stylus to a plurality of electrodes, thus, making the signal profiles associated with the electrodes more linear. In addition, diffusing elements can be configured to improve the optical uniformity of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the diffusing elements can be formed on the same layer as floating dummy pixels and resemble a plurality of merged floating dummy pixels.

Merged floating pixels in a touch screen

A touch sensor panel is disclosed. The touch sensor panel includes a first layer including a plurality of electrodes of a first type that are coupled to respective traces and are configured to operate as touch sensing electrodes during a first time period. The touch sensor panel also includes a second layer including a plurality of electrodes of a second type overlapping with the respective traces of the electrodes of the first type. The electrodes of the second type are configured to operate as guard electrodes for the respective traces of the electrodes of the first type during the first time period and operate as touch sensing electrodes during a second time period.

Touch sensor panel architecture with multiple sensing mode capabilities

A compliant material, such as a conductive foam, is positioned in the dielectric or capacitive gap between drive and sense electrodes and/or other conductive elements of a capacitive and/or other force sensor, such as a TFT or other display element and a sensor assembly. The compliant material prevents damage by preventing and/or cushioning contact. The compliant material may be conductive. By being conductive and being positioned between the electrodes while still being separated from one or more of the electrodes, the compliant material also shortens the effective electrical distance between the electrodes. As a result, the force sensor may be more sensitive than would otherwise be possible while being less vulnerable to damage.

Compliant material for protecting capacitive force sensors and increasing capacitive sensitivity

Location-based swing compensation for touch sensor panels can improve touch sensing performance. Due to differences in impedance characteristics of touch nodes at different locations in a touch sensor panel (due to differences in routing to touch nodes and due to differences in impedance with respect to ground (loading effects) of touch nodes), touch nodes can have non-uniform bandwidth characteristics which can manifest as non-uniform signal and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) across the touch sensor panel. Additionally, the non-uniform signal can reduce the effectiveness of bootstrapping. Swing compensated stimulation signals can be applied to various touch nodes based on location and/or impedance characteristics of the various touch nodes. For example, the stimulation voltage can be increased for touch nodes with longer and/or thinner routing traces so that the signal at the touch node can be uniform with other touch nodes whose routing may be shorter and/or thicker. In some examples, a touch sensing system can include a swing compensation memory including swing compensation parameters to select stimulation signal swing for transmit channels.

Location-based swing compensation for touch channel attenuation

A device includes a housing defining part of an interior volume and an opening to the interior volume; a cover mounted to the housing to cover the opening and further define the interior volume; a display mounted within the interior volume and viewable through the cover; and a system in package (SiP) mounted within the interior volume. The SiP includes a self-capacitance sense pad adjacent a first surface of the SiP; a set of solder structures attached to a second surface of the SiP, the second surface opposite the first surface; and an IC coupled to the self-capacitance sense pad and configured to output, at one or more solder structures in the set of solder structures, a digital value related to a measured capacitance of the self-capacitance sense pad. The SiP is mounted within the interior volume with the first surface positioned closer to the cover than the second surface.

Force or touch sensing on a mobile device using capacitive or pressure sensing

High aspect ratio touch sensor panels are disclosed in which multiple row electrode blocks can be formed in a single row within an active area of the touch sensor panel, each row electrode block including a plurality of vertically adjacent row electrodes, or in some instances only one row electrode. In addition, each column electrode can be separated into multiple column electrode segments, each column electrode segment being vertically oriented and formed in a different column. The column electrode segments associated with any one column electrode can be spread out so that each of these column electrodes segments can be co-located and associated with a different row electrode block.

High aspect ratio capacitive sensor panel

Touch sensor configurations for reducing electrostatic discharge events in the border area of a touch sensor panel is disclosed. Touch sensors (e.g., electrodes formed on the cover material and/or the opaque mask) can be susceptible to certain events such as arcing and discharge/joule heating, which may negatively affect touch sensor performance. Examples of the disclosure can include increasing the trace width, spacing, and/or thickness in the border area relative to the trace width, spacing, and/or thickness in the visible/active area along one or more sides of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, touch electrodes can be located exclusively in the visible/active areas along one or more sides of the touch sensor panel, while dummy sections can be included in both the border and visible/active areas. Additionally or alternatively, one or more gaps between adjacent touch electrodes in the border area or serpentine routing can be included.

Back of cover touch sensors

Electrode configurations for reducing wobble error for a stylus translating on a surface of a touch sensor panel is disclosed. Electrodes associated with a more linear signal profile can correlate to lower wobble error. In some examples, electrodes can be configured such that the signal profile associated with each electrode is spread to be wider, and thus, more linear. In some configurations, electrodes can include two or more bars extending along the length of the electrode with each bar electrically connected to one another at one or both ends. Bars can be of non-uniform width or spacing. Some configurations can include a 'split bar,' which can divide a bar lengthwise in order to improve optical uniformity. In some examples, electrodes can include projections which can interleave with corresponding projections in adjacent electrodes.

Multi-bar capacitive sense electrode

A touch controller is disclosed. In some examples, the touch controller can include sense circuitry configured to be coupled to a first touch pixel and a second touch pixel on a touch sensor panel. In some examples, the sense circuitry can be configured to drive and sense the first touch pixel during a first time period while coupling the second touch pixel to a reference voltage. In some examples, the sense circuitry can be configured to drive and sense the second touch pixel during a second time period while coupling the first touch pixel to the reference voltage. In some examples, the reference voltage can be a system ground of the touch controller. In some examples, the sense circuitry can be configured to drive and sense pluralities of touch pixels in a similar manner.

Reducing floating ground effects in pixelated self-capacitance touch screens

A touch sensitive device that detects the occurrence of an electrostatic discharge event on the device by analyzing an acquired touch image for characteristics associated with the occurrence of an ESD event is provided. An acquired touch image is analyzed for characteristics that differentiate it from a touch image generated by a user input and are correlated with an expected touch image generated by an ESD event.

ESD detection on a touch input device

A transmitter device for an inductive energy transfer system can include a DC-to-AC converter operably connected to a transmitter coil, a first capacitor connected between the transmitter coil and one output terminal of the DC-to-AC converter, and a second capacitor connected between the transmitter coil and another output terminal of the DC-to-AC converter. One or more capacitive shields can be positioned between the transmitter coil and an interface surface of the transmitter device. A receiver device can include a touch sensing device, an AC-to-DC converter operably connected to a receiver coil, a first capacitor connected between the receiver coil and one output terminal of the AC-to-DC converter, and a second capacitor connected between the receiver coil and another output terminal of the AC-to-DC converter. One or more capacitive shields can be positioned between the receiver coil and an interface surface of the receiver device.

Reducing the impact of an inductive energy transfer system on a touch sensing device

Roll-to-roll processes for manufacturing touch sensors on a plastic base film are provided. The touch sensors can be deposited on the base film using various patterning techniques. One or more shorting bars can also be patterned onto the base film to couple together traces, such as drive lines, sense lines, conductive traces, and the like, of the touch sensor to prevent a potential difference from forming between traces due to static buildup during the manufacturing process. After the touch sensor is fully formed on the base film, the touch sensor can be removed from the base film using lithography or a physical cutting process. The removal process can separate the touch sensor from the one or more shorting bars, thereby uncoupling the traces of the touch sensor.

Method of manufacturing touch sensors

A touch sensitive device that detects the occurrence of an electrostatic discharge event on the device by analyzing one or more ESD sensors located in various locations on the touch sensitive device is provided. A touch controller can scan touch nodes on the touch sensitive device while simultaneously scanning one or more ESD sensors to detect if a possible ESD event has occurred during the acquisition of a touch image. If an ESD event has occurred during the acquisition of touch data, the touch controller can act to either ignore the data, or compensate the data to account for effects on the touch data caused by the ESD event.

Sensor-based ESD detection

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Albert Lin