CN102236450A - Scanning method of the touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a scanning method for a touch panel, wherein the touch panel has a horizontal channel group and a vertical channel group, each of which has a plurality of horizontal channels and a plurality of vertical channels. The scanning method simultaneously scans N channels, wherein the N channels are selected from the horizontal channel group or the vertical channel group, and N is a positive integer and is less than the total number of channels in the selected channel group. In this way, the scanning speed can be accelerated and the accuracy of sensing can be improved.

Description

Scanning method of the touch panel

technical field

The present invention relates to a scanning method of a touch panel, and in particular to a scanning method capable of both scanning speed and sensing accuracy.

Background technique

With the development of touch panel technology, touch panels have been widely used in screens of electronic devices, such as mobile phones, notebook computers or tablet computers. The touch panel allows the user to input or operate more conveniently, making the user interface more humanized and convenient. At present, the multi-touch panel has become the mainstream of the touch panel, and related products including Apple computer and Microsoft Windows software have been launched. Due to the support of large companies, the application range of touch panels has been enhanced, such as portable communication equipment, office automation equipment, medical and health care, financial/commercial, industrial or video games.

Currently common touch panels are mainly divided into two types, resistive touch panels and capacitive touch panels. The resistive touch panel is mainly used in a single-point touch panel, and its cost is relatively low, while the capacitive touch panel can be applied in a multi-point touch panel, and has a multi-touch function.

The sensing chip of the multi-touch panel usually uses a plurality of analog-to-digital converters to convert the signal into a digital signal for interpretation by the back-end circuit. As the size of the touch panel increases, the number of channels and the length of the channels will also increase, which will cause difficulties in circuit layout and affect the accuracy of sensing.

Contents of the invention

The invention proposes a scanning method of a touch panel, which has the effect of accelerating the scanning speed and improving the sensing accuracy, and can optimize the configuration mode of the analog-to-digital converter and its channel layout according to the scanning method.

The present invention proposes a scanning method for a touch panel. The touch panel has a horizontal channel group and a vertical channel group. The horizontal channel group has a plurality of horizontal channels, and the vertical channel group has a plurality of vertical channels. The scanning method Including: scanning N channels at the same time, the N channels are selected from a first channel group, wherein the first channel group is the above-mentioned horizontal channel group or the above-mentioned vertical channel group, and the above-mentioned N channels are not adjacent to each other, and N is positive Integer and less than the total number of channels in the first channel group above.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the scanning method further includes the following steps: sequentially scanning all the channels in the first channel group; and scanning a second channel group after scanning all the channels in the first channel group. Wherein, if the first channel group is the horizontal channel group, then the second channel group is the vertical channel group; if the first channel group is the vertical channel group, then the second channel group is the horizontal channel group.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of sequentially scanning all the channels in the first channel group further includes: first scanning the even channels and then scanning the odd channels or scanning the odd channels first and then scanning the even channels.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of scanning the second channel group includes simultaneously scanning N channels in the second channel group, wherein the N channels are not adjacent to each other.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the N channels scanned at the same time are even channels or odd channels. The N channels can be scanned simultaneously by using N analog-to-digital converters. The N analog-to-digital converters can be respectively connected to the corresponding horizontal channel and the vertical channel according to a preset scanning sequence.

Based on the above, the present invention uses a plurality of analog-to-digital converters to simultaneously scan a plurality of non-adjacent channels, which has the effect of accelerating the scanning speed and improving the sensing accuracy.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the following specific embodiments are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a touch panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are connection relationship diagrams of the analog-to-digital converters 122-128 and the pins CH1-CH24 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a scanning method for a touch panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of main component symbols]

110: Touch panel

X1～X12: horizontal channel

Y1～Y12: vertical channel

120: sensing unit

122～128: Analog-to-digital converter

CH1～CH24: pins

ADC1-1～ADC4-6: pins of analog-to-digital converter

S405～S450: steps

Detailed ways

first embodiment

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a touch panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The touch panel 110 has a plurality of horizontal channels X1-X12 and vertical channels Y1-Y12. The horizontal channels X1-X12 are located on the touch panel. One side of the touch panel 110 forms a horizontal channel group, and the vertical channels Y1 - Y12 are located on the other side of the touch panel 110 to form a vertical channel group. The sensing unit 120 is respectively coupled to the horizontal channels X1 - X12 and the vertical channels Y1 - Y12 of the touch panel 110 via pins (Pins) CH1 - CH24 . The sensing unit 120 can detect the touch position on the panel by scanning the horizontal channels X1 ˜ X12 and the vertical channels Y1 ˜ Y12 . The sensing unit 120 has a plurality of analog-to-digital converters 122-128, which can be disposed on the printed circuit board and connected to the horizontal channels X1-X12 and the vertical channels Y1-Y12 to sense touch signals. The touch panel 110 has a plurality of sensing elements (such as capacitive sensing elements), which are arranged in an array in the panel, wherein the horizontal channels X1-X12 and the vertical channels Y1-Y12 are electrically connected to these sensing elements to output Its touch signal.

In this embodiment, the layout and routing of the pins CH1-CH24 connected to the horizontal channels X1-X12 and the vertical channels Y1-Y12 cannot be interspersed, as shown in FIG. 1 , so as not to affect the accuracy of sensing. Each of the analog-to-digital converters 122 - 128 has 6 sensing pins (not shown), which can be connected to 6 channels. The analog-to-digital converters 122 - 128 can be connected to the pins CH1 - CH24 respectively according to a preset scanning order to be connected to the corresponding horizontal channels X1 - X12 and vertical channels Y1 - Y12 . Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 for the connection relationship between the sensing pins of the analog-to-digital converters 122-128 and the pins CH1-CH24. FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are the analog-to-digital converters 122 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The connection diagram of ~128 and pins CH1~CH24. The sensing pins of the analog-to-digital converters 122-128 are represented by ADC1-1-ADC1-6, ADC2-1-ADC2-6, ADC3-1-ADC3-6, and ADC4-1-ADC4-6, respectively. Taking the pins CH1 - CH4 as an example, they are respectively connected to the first sensing pins of the ADCs 122 - 128 , namely ADC1 - 1 , ADC2 - 1 , ADC3 - 1 , ADC4 - 1 . Please refer to FIG. 2 for the connection diagram of other analog-to-digital converters 122 - 128 and the pins CH1 - CH24 , which will not be repeated here. FIG. 3 shows the connection relationship between the respective analog-to-digital converters 122-128 and the pins CH1-CH24.

2 and 3, the sensing unit 120 can simultaneously use the analog-to-digital converters 122-128 to sense the horizontal channels X1-X12 and the vertical channels Y1-Y12 in the touch panel 110, and sequentially All channels of the entire touch panel 110 are scanned to detect touch positions.

Next, the method for scanning the touch panel 110 by using the analog-to-digital converters 122 - 128 will be further described. During the scanning process, the analog-to-digital converters 122-128 can be simultaneously enabled to simultaneously sense 4 channels, but these 4 channels must be located on the same side of the touch panel 110 (ie, the horizontal channels X1-X12 or the vertical channels Y1-Y1). Y12) and not adjacent to each other. Taking scanning the horizontal channels X1-X12 first as an example, the analog-to-digital converters 122-128 can scan the even-numbered channels (ie horizontal channels X2, X4, X6, X8) first, and then scan the odd-numbered channels (ie horizontal channels X8) in the next scan cycle. X1, X3, X5, X7), and vice versa. In this way, after two scan periods, the horizontal channels X1 - X8 can be scanned, and in the same scan period, the horizontal channels scanned by the analog-to-digital converters 122 - 128 are not adjacent. Since the horizontal channels scanned in the same period are not adjacent, the accuracy of the sensing result can be increased, and mutual interference of scanning actions can be avoided.

From the above, it can be known that the analog-to-digital converters 122-128 must meet the following two conditions when scanning the touch panel 110:

(1) The channels scanned in the same scan period must be channels of the same group (horizontal channel group or vertical channel group), for example, all horizontal channels or all vertical channels. Channels of different groups cannot sense simultaneously.

(2) The channels scanned in the same scan period are not adjacent.

In other words, when the sensing unit 120 has N analog-to-digital converters, the sensing unit 120 can use the N analog-to-digital converters to simultaneously sense N channels, but the N channels must all be horizontal channels or all be vertical channels, and the N channels are not adjacent to each other, N is a positive integer and less than the total number of horizontal channels or vertical channels. The so-called non-adjacent channels are, for example, even channels or odd channels, but the embodiment is not limited thereto. The sensing unit 120 can perform sensing in different selection ways such as jumping numbers (such as 2, 5, 7, 11) according to design requirements, as long as the channels to be scanned are not adjacent to each other. Sensing all the horizontal channels X1 - X12 and vertical channels Y1 - Y12 according to the above scanning method can increase the accuracy of sensing.

In addition, it should be noted that although the present embodiment is described by taking four analog-to-digital converters 122-128, 12 horizontal channels X1-X12, and 12 vertical channels Y1-Y12 as examples, the present invention is not limited thereto. . After the disclosure of the present invention, those skilled in the art can easily deduce other implementation manners, which will not be repeated here.

second embodiment

In the above embodiment, the sensing unit 120 can scan the channels in the horizontal channel group first, and then scan the channels in the vertical channel group. In another embodiment of the present invention, the sensing unit 120 can also scan the vertical channel first. After the channels in the group are scanned, the channels in the horizontal channel group are then scanned. Next, please refer to FIG. 4 at the same time. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a scanning method for a touch panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Firstly, the scanning order of the horizontal channel group and the vertical channel group is determined (step S405 ), and then it is determined whether the first channel group scanned first is the horizontal channel group or the vertical channel group (step S410 ). If the horizontal channel group is selected as the first channel group, all horizontal channels X1-X12 in the horizontal channel group are scanned in sequence (step S420), and then all vertical channels Y1-Y12 in the vertical channel group are scanned in sequence (step S420). S430). On the contrary, if the vertical channel group is selected as the first channel group, all vertical channels Y1-Y12 in the vertical channel group are first scanned in sequence (step S440), and then all horizontal channels X1-X12 in the horizontal channel group are scanned in sequence ( Step S450).

Wherein, in the above-mentioned steps S420-S450, the sensing unit 120 can scan multiple channels at a time, but the channels scanned at the same time must not be adjacent to each other, such as even-numbered channels or odd-numbered channels. For the scanning method, please refer to the above-mentioned descriptions in FIGS. 1-3 . After the disclosure of the present invention, those skilled in the art should be able to easily deduce the implementation method, so we will not repeat it here.

To sum up, the present invention proposes a scanning method for a touch panel, wherein the horizontal channel and the vertical channel are not scanned at the same time, and the multiple channels scanned at the same time are not adjacent to each other. Thereby, the scanning speed and sensing accuracy of the touch panel can be increased. In addition, a plurality of analog-to-digital converters can be correspondingly configured and connected to the horizontal channel and the vertical channel according to the above-mentioned scanning method to simultaneously scan (sensing) multiple channels.

Although the present invention has been disclosed as above with embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any person skilled in the art should be able to make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, so the present invention The scope of protection shall be subject to what is defined in the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. A scanning method of a touch panel, the touch panel has a horizontal channel group and a vertical channel group, the horizontal channel group has a plurality of horizontal channels, and the vertical channel group has a plurality of vertical channels, the scanning method includes : Scanning N channels at the same time, the N channels are selected from a first channel group; Wherein, the first channel group is the horizontal channel group or the vertical channel group, and the N channels are not adjacent to each other, and N is a positive integer less than the total number of channels in the first channel group. 2. The scanning method of touch panel as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: sequentially scanning all channels in the first channel group; and After scanning all channels in the first channel group, scan a second channel group; Wherein, if the first channel group is the horizontal channel group, then the second channel group is the vertical channel group; if the first channel group is the vertical channel group, then the second channel group is the horizontal channel group. 3. The scanning method of the touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the step of sequentially scanning all channels in the first channel group, further comprising: Scan the even channels first and then the odd channels or scan the odd channels first and then the even channels. 4. The scanning method of touch panel as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of scanning the second channel group comprises: Simultaneously scan N channels in the second channel group, wherein the N channels are not adjacent to each other. 5. The scanning method of the touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the N channels are even-numbered channels. 6. The scanning method of the touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the N channels are odd-numbered channels. 7. The scanning method of touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the step of simultaneously scanning this N passages also comprises: The N channels are scanned by N analog-to-digital converters respectively. 8. The scanning method of the touch panel according to claim 7, wherein the N analog-to-digital converters are respectively connected to the corresponding horizontal channels and the vertical channels according to a preset scanning sequence.

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