The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Feb. 02, 2016

Filed:

Oct. 02, 2012
Applicant:

Microchip Technology Incorporated, Chandler, AZ (US);

Inventors:

Zeke Lundstrum, Chandler, AZ (US);

Keith Curtis, Gilbert, AZ (US);

Burke Davison, Chandler, AZ (US);

Sean Steedman, Phoenix, AZ (US);

Yann LeFaou, Tempe, AZ (US);

Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03M 1/00 (2006.01); H03K 17/96 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H03K 17/9622 (2013.01); H03K 2217/960705 (2013.01); H03K 2217/960725 (2013.01); H03K 2217/960765 (2013.01);
Abstract

An analog-to-digital (ADC) controller is used in combination with a digital processor of a microcontroller to control the operation of capacitance measurements using the capacitive voltage division (CVD) method. The ADC controller handles the CVD measurement process instead of the digital processor having to run additional program steps for controlling charging and discharging of a capacitive touch sensor and sample and hold capacitor, then coupling these two capacitors together, and measuring the resulting voltage charge thereon in determining the capacitance thereof. The ADC controller may be programmable and its programmable parameters stored in registers.


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