Apple Inc.

Sagar Rajiv Vaze

Marduke Yousefpor

Jean-Marie Bussat

Robert Leo Sheridan

Christophe Blondin

Amit Nayyar

John Z Zhong

Joseph Kurth Reynolds

John Stephen Smith

Sunggu Kang

Chun-Hao Tung

Albert Lin

Massoud Badaye

Isaac W Chan

Prathit Bugnait

Yu-Heng Cheng

Sudip Mondal

Qian Zhao

Electrodes configurable for capacitive touch sensing or inductive sensing are disclosed. The electrodes are formed from a plurality of tiled (connected) sense pixels, each sense pixel including two or four conductive elements. The conductive elements within the plurality of sense pixels of an electrode are connected to form conductive pathways within the electrode. These conductive pathways enable each electrode to be configured as a touch electrode for single-ended or differential capacitive touch sensing, or into one or two loops for inductive sensing. In pixels with four conductive elements, two conductive elements are formed with a comb shape for maximizing current conduction during inductive sensing and maximizing capacitive coupling during touch sensing, and two conductive elements are formed as bypasses. In electrodes formed from sense pixels with four conductive elements, each conductive pathway within the electrode is formed as an alternating series of comb-shaped conductive elements and bypasses.

Inductive stylus sensing

Differential driving and/or differential sensing can reduce noise in the touch and/or display systems of a touch screen. In some examples, the touch sensor panel can include column and row electrodes routed vertically to a first edge of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, a touch sensor panel can be divided into banks. In some examples, the routing traces for rows can be implemented using four routing tracks per column for three banks. In some examples, the arrangement of routing traces within routing tracks can improve optical characteristics and/or reduce routing trace resistances and loading. In some examples, interconnections between routing traces and row electrodes can have a chevron pattern, an S-shape pattern, or a hybrid pattern. In some examples, differential sense routing can reduce cross-coupling within the touch sensor panel. In some examples, staggering differential drive signals can reduce parasitic signal loss.

Architecture for differential drive and sense for touch sensor panel

A touch sensor panel includes a first set of touch electrodes configured to operate as drive lines and that are disposed in a first layer of the touch sensor panel. The touch sensor panel also includes a second set of touch electrodes configured to operate as sense lines and that are disposed in a second layer of the touch sensor panel, different than the first layer of the touch sensor panel, such that one or more mutual capacitance touch nodes are formed by the first set of touch electrodes and the second set of touch electrodes. The touch sensor panel also includes a third set of touch electrodes configured to operate as self-capacitance electrodes and that are disposed in the first layer or the second layer of the touch sensor panel.

Self-capacitance and mutual capacitance touch sensor panel architecture

Differential driving and/or sensing can reduce noise in a touch screen. In some examples, the touch electrodes and/or routing traces can be implemented using metal mesh in first and second metal layers. To mitigate electrical interference at the touch screen from a display, a display-noise shield or sensor can be provided between the display and the touch screen. In some examples, a shield can minimize a noise contribution from the display to signals generated at the touch screen. In other examples, a sensor can enable a differential read out of signals at the touch screen that subtracts a noise component measured by the sensor. Forming the shield or sensor, and the touch screen over the display using an on-cell process can improve touch screen performance and yield. The shield can be connected to a conductive ring and flex circuit via tapping points in a stackup separate from a display stackup.

Touch screen shield layer with ring and tapping points

Differential driving and/or sensing can reduce noise in a touch screen. In some examples, the touch screen can include column and row electrodes routed vertically in the active area. In some examples, the touch electrodes and/or routing traces can be implemented using metal mesh in first and second metal layers. To improve optical performance, overlapping portions of metal mesh can be designed to provide an appearance of uniform width/area. In some examples, a dielectric layer can have an increased thickness and/or a reduced dielectric constant, and/or metal mesh in the first metal layer can be flooded with a transparent conductive material. In some examples, routing traces can be disposed beneath touch electrodes and/or metal mesh for touch electrodes can be flooded with a transparent conductive material without flooding metal mesh for routing traces. In some examples, touch electrodes can be interleaved within a touch node to improve differential cancelation.

Architecture for differential drive and sense touch technology

Touch sensor panels (or touch screens) can improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) using touch electrode patterns for differential drive and/or differential sense techniques. In some examples, a touch sensor panel can include a two-dimensional array of touch nodes formed from a plurality of touch electrodes. Each column (or row) of touch nodes can be driven with a plurality of drive signals. For example, a first column (or row) of touch nodes can be driven by a first drive signal applied to one or more first touch nodes in the first column (or row) and a second drive signal applied to a one or more second touch nodes of the first column (or row). In some examples, the first drive signal and the second drive signal can be complimentary drive signals. In some examples, each row (or column) of touch electrodes can be sensed by differential sense circuitry.

Differential drive and sense for touch sensor panel

Self-capacitance and mutual capacitance touch-sensor panel architecture

Bi-phase touch scanning of a touch sensor panel can reduce interference between touch and display operations for a touch screen including a display and a touch sensor panel. The bi-phase touch scan can include concurrently driving a first plurality of touch electrodes with a first drive signal having a first phase and a second plurality of touch electrodes with a second drive signal having a second phase, different from the first phase (e.g., 180&#xb0; out of phase for improved charge balancing). In some examples, the bi-phase touch scan can be locally guarded such that adjacent touch electrodes to a sensed touch electrode can be driven with the same drive signal as the sensed touch electrode. In some examples, the bi-phase pattern of driving and sensing can balance charge along an axis and/or in a localized region.

System and method for biphase touch sensor panel

A touch sensor panel including a first set of touch electrodes configured to operate as drive electrodes and a second set of touch electrodes configured to operate as sense electrodes. The first set of touch electrodes being disposed within gaps between the second set of touch electrodes, and a given row or column of touch electrodes of the second set of touch electrodes includes a plurality of subsets of touch electrodes that are separately addressable by touch sensing circuitry.

Diamond based touch sensor panel architectures

A touch sensor panel is disclosed. The touch sensor panel includes a first set of touch electrodes configured to operate as drive lines and that are disposed in a first layer of the touch sensor panel. The touch sensor panel also includes a second set of touch electrodes configured to operate as sense lines and that are disposed in a second layer of the touch sensor panel, different than the first layer of the touch sensor panel, such that one or more mutual capacitance touch nodes are formed by the first set of touch electrodes and the second set of touch electrodes. The touch sensor panel also includes a third set of touch electrodes configured to operate as self-capacitance electrodes and that are disposed in the first layer or the second layer of the touch sensor panel.

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.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Sagar Rajiv Vaze