Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/0416—Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/044—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means
  • G06F3/0444—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means using a single conductive element covering the whole sensing surface, e.g. by sensing the electrical current flowing at the corners
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/0416—Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
  • G06F3/0418—Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/0416—Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
  • G06F3/04166—Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/044—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/044—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means
  • G06F3/0443—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/03—Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
  • G06F3/041—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
  • G06F3/044—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means
  • G06F3/0446—Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means by capacitive means using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
  • G06F3/0484—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/00 - G06F3/048
  • G06F2203/041—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/041 - G06F3/045
  • G06F2203/04104—Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/00 - G06F3/048
  • G06F2203/041—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/041 - G06F3/045
  • G06F2203/04107—Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/00 - G06F3/048
  • G06F2203/041—Indexing scheme relating to G06F3/041 - G06F3/045
  • G06F2203/04108—Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction

Definitions

• Capacitive sensing device with arrangement of connecting tracks and method using such a device.
• the present invention relates to a capacitive measuring device between an object and an electrode plane. It applies in particular in the general field of 2D capacitive touch surfaces and 3D capacitive sensing used for human machine interface commands. More and more communication and work devices use a touch control interface such as a pad or screen. Examples include mobile phones, smartphones, electronic notebooks, PCs, mice, slabs, giant screens
• the touch surface is equipped with conductive electrodes connected to electronic means making it possible to measure the variation of the capacitances created between the electrodes and the object to be detected in order to carry out a command.
• This technology makes it possible to detect the presence and the position of the finger through a dielectric.
• This technique has the advantage of obtaining a very good resolution on the location in the XY plane of the sensitive surface of one or more fingers.
• these techniques have the disadvantage of only detecting a contact of the object or even a detection very close but not exceeding a few mm. It is difficult to make tactile commands with thick gloves (ski glove, biker ...), with long nails or a stylus. The low sensitivity of the capacitive electrodes does not allow triggering a command through thick dielectric.
• Detection is done in 3-dimensional space XYZ but also in touch on the XY plane. This time we can trigger a command with a glove or through any type of thick dielectric.
• These techniques are possible by using a measurement electronics absolute capacity to detect as far as possible the position of the object or objects in the space near the active surface (above and around the slab). The ideal is to cover the entire surface of the slab of capacitive electrodes. These electrodes are connected to electronics to convert the capacitance created between each electrode and the object (s) to be detected.
• the detection in a large distance volume has the disadvantage of detecting any object near the panel but outside its surface. This can limit the control possibilities or reduce the visible surface of the panel or untimely trigger commands For this, we can for example ensure that the entire surface of the slab is only equipped with electrodes without apparent electrical connection to prevent the surrounding object or objects such as the end of the fingers of the hand which maintain the portable device is detected as desired objects.
• One solution is to use a multilayer capacitive slab such as a PCB ("Printed Circuit Board").
• the capacitive electrodes are deposited on the outer object-side surface to be detected and all the connecting tracks are located below the electrodes at a lower layer. These tracks are connected to the electrodes through metallized holes via the electrode layer. All tracks are connected to the electronics but are kept until the connection (a guard layer is located below the connecting tracks).
• the electrodes play their guarding role vis-à-vis the tracks using an electronic floating example as described in the patent FR2756048.
• capacitive electrode surfaces must be equipped with transparent electrodes in order to let the light emitted by the display under the slab pass.
• electrically conductive electrodes are made of ITO (Indium tin oxide). This material has good optical and electrical properties. For technical, manufacturing and optical quality problems, it is not possible to use metallized holes and all the capacitive electrodes must be connected to the external circuit at the sensitive surface only by means of a transparent track located on the same layer as these electrodes.
• the object of the present invention is to optimize the arrangement of the connection tracks of the electrodes with the capacitive electronics in order to eliminate all the undesirable capacitances to obtain a tactile capacitive slab and of position detection in the space of one or multiple objects with minimal error.
• Another object of the invention is to introduce new functionalities depending on how a portable apparatus comprising a capacitive sensing device is maintained.
• Another object of the invention is a new arrangement and / or form of electrodes for the improvement of the object detection.
• a human-machine interface device having a transparent detection zone and an access zone, said device comprising:
• the conductive connection tracks are arranged at least partially sandwiched between a second and a third conductive surfaces used as second and third guards for these conductive connection tracks.
• the device according to the invention comprises conductive material connecting tracks for connecting the conductive connection tracks to electrodes of the electrode surface; when a connecting track runs along at least one electrode on the detection surface, this connecting track is made of transparent material and positioned between at least two electrodes.
• this link track is positioned between the second and third guards.
• the connecting tracks are at the end of the flanges, they are all made between two electrodes.
• these connecting tracks are sandwiched between guards, that is to say there is a guard below and another above, these two guards being preferably at the same potential , in particular by electrical connection between them. They are preferably at the same potential as the first guard, especially by link electrically between them. It can therefore be envisaged that at least one of the second and third conductive surfaces is at the same guard potential as the first conductive surface.
• the present invention makes it possible to greatly improve the accuracy (linearity, etc.) of the measurement of the position of the object (s) in contact ("touch") or in the vicinity ("hovering") of the detection surface that can be detected. to be a slab of a device.
• Non-transparent electrodes may also be placed in the access area.
• one of the second and third conductive surfaces is an extension of the first conductive surface.
• the first and second guards can constitute the same surface.
• the extension of the first guard under the access zone may be in transparent material or not.
• the electrodes and the guards are designed from indium oxide doped with tin ITO.
• Other light-transparent materials such as, for example, aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) or tin-doped cadmium oxide can also be used.
• AZO aluminum-doped zinc oxide
• tin-doped cadmium oxide can also be used.
• the electrodes can be of different shapes, such as for example:
• the guards are designed on the basis of a floating bridge technology.
• the capacitive measurement is preferably of the self capacitance type, that is to say a measurement of the capacitance created between an electrode and the measurement object.
• At least one electrode is disposed on the side of the device, outside said detection zone.
• a detection on the edge of the panel can thus be used to make commands on the side of the portable device as a smartphone.
• This electrode may be disposed in place of the third conductive surface serving as a guard.
• a method implemented in an apparatus comprising a human-machine interface device as defined above.
• the fingers disposed on the edges of the apparatus are detected and the functionalities of the display screen of the apparatus are modified according to the arrangement of the detected fingers. This allows to organize or lock icons of the display according to the position of the fingers maintaining a portable device for example.
• the number and positioning of the fingers can be determined so as to identify the type of hand holding the apparatus.
• an edge of the device can be used to detect any object displacement by means of electrodes of the electrode surface so as to trigger commands within the apparatus. This type of command may correspond to a virtual button replacing for example an electromechanical button placed on the edge of a device (volume adjustment, .).
• a capacitive command is generated by detecting on the edge the movement of the thumb without necessarily having electrodes under this thumb.
• This mode of implementation corresponds to a detection by edge effect.
• Another object of the invention is achieved with a human-machine interface device as described previously or any other human-machine interface device not limited to the characteristics described above but comprising software and hardware means making it possible to detect, by example by means of capacitive electrodes, objects such as fingers for example, on the rim of the device.
• This device may include a processing unit configured to:
• the detecting objects on the edges of the upper face of the device in particular it may be the face comprising a transparent part making it possible to display a display screen,
• these icons can be reorganized according to the positions of the holding fingers. For example, we can move icons that would be at least partially hidden by the fingers. So we can change the location and / or functionality of some icons.
• the processing unit may be a microprocessor or microcontroller connected to an electronic capacitive sensing circuit and controlling software applications of the device or generally of an electronic device such as a mobile phone, tablet or other.
• FIGS. 1a and 1b are diagrammatic views from above and in section of an apparatus according to the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an electrode surface according to the prior art
• FIG. 3 is a schematic view a little more detailed of an electrode surface having transparent tracks along the electrodes at the end according to the prior art
• FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a slab according to the invention without transparent edge tracks
• FIG. 5a is a schematic sectional view of a device according to the invention.
• FIG. 5b is a simplified schematic view illustrating the arrangement of connection tracks connecting the electrodes to the connection tracks according to the invention.
• FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a slab according to the invention with guards on the access zones;
• FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a slab according to the invention with guards over the entire access area
• FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a slab according to the invention with guards on the short side of the access area;
• FIGS. 1a and 1b an AP apparatus according to the invention is seen. It can be a "smartphone” type phone or a digital tablet with a touch screen, a remote control, a notebook, ...
• This AP device includes a detection surface SD which is the touch part under which is in particular a plane (flat or curved) of electrodes.
• This detection surface SD comprises from the upper part, several layers of transparent material such as for example an external window VE,
• electrodes E made of conductive transparent material such as tin-doped indium oxide (ITO),
• guard G which is a layer of transparent conductive material such as tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), and
• the electrodes and the guard are therefore under the detection surface and are transparent conductive material which has a high resistivity.
• the access zone can be defined here as any zone between the screen and the outer pane corresponding to the non-detection surface.
• FIG 2 we see a conventional structure of a slab 1 transparent touch operating with an electronic measuring 2 absolute capacity or said self.
• a flexible sheet 3 is used to connect the slab 1 to the measurement electronics which may comprise a microcontroller or microprocessor associated with software and hardware means necessary to achieve absolute capacity measurement as in particular in the documents of the prior art.
• the sensitive surface is equipped with a large number of transparent electrodes 4 made of ITO material which are often but not limited to rectangular shape. Each electrode 4 is connected to a connecting track 5 on the edge of the slab.
• the edge of the slab being outside the surface of the display, the connection tracks 5 may be metallic and non-transparent.
• the advantage of the metal is its low electrical resistivity, which allows the use of long and space-saving edge tracks (10 to 20 pm wide for example).
• Figure 3 shows an example of a conventional trace of transparent tracks for connecting the electrodes to the edge.
• connection tracks between the electrodes and the connection tracks 5 are transparent tracks, while the connection tracks 5 in the access area (slab - the transparent area) are metallic .
• some transparent connection tracks 7 are located on the sensitive surface but outside the electrodes. That is to say, these transparent tracks are between the last electrodes of the top of the detection surface and the access area which is generally opaque.
• This track arrangement increases the failure to detect the position of an object in these areas. Indeed the use of electrodes to the physical edge of the sensitive surface provides a more effective signal processing to determine the position of an object. The presence of a sensitive surface edge bonding track tends to complicate signal processing and degrade the detection accuracy of the object.
• FIG. 5a shows the elements of FIG. 1b, but a new guard G2 is introduced above the connection tracks PT so that these connecting tracks are sandwiched between the guard G1 (corresponding to the guard G in FIG. 1b). ) and the guard G2 which are at the same guard potential, in particular electrically connected to each other.
• These PT connection tracks can be covered with a dielectric then a metal layer (metal guard) or the transparent conductor layer ITO (transparent guard) connected to the guard potential by the flexible link CF.
• these PT connection tracks can not create unwanted capacity measured by the electronics. They can not react to the presence of an object on the edge of the slab as in the example of Figures 2 and 3.
• FIG. 5b shows an exemplary embodiment in which connection tracks PL make it possible to connect conductive connection tracks PT to electrodes E disposed on an electrode surface.
• the electrodes are transparent in ITO material.
• connection tracks PL are transparent when they are in the detection zone corresponding to the detection surface SD. They can be metallic in the access zone. In the access area, the connection tracks PT are arranged, without contact, sandwiched between a guard G2 below and a guard G3 above.
• the guards G2 and G3 are preferably metallic, but may also be made of transparent ITO material.
• the guard G2 may be an extension of the guard G1 provided for the electrodes E. According to the invention, it is intended to replace the guard G3 (placed above the connecting tracks) by electrodes (at least one) of measurement . Indeed, these electrodes like all others can play the role of guard for tracks located below them.
• Electrodes arranged on the side of the device can be used mainly for edge detection, that is to say the object detection, as the fingers, disposed on the edge of the device.
• Figure 6 shows the general solution in top view with the metal tracks 5 located between two guards G1 and G2. Any track on the edges has been removed.
• the flexible connectors CF are also arranged between G1 and G2. All the transparent tracks 8 in the transparent zone 6 are located between two rows of electrodes.
• the apparatus it is possible, for example, to detect the four fingers (at least two fingers) on one side of the apparatus and the thumb on the other side to deduce whether the apparatus is held in the left or right hand. .
• buttons for example, you can correctly place a button (icon) in front of the thumb of the hand that carries the device, clear the icons located under or too close to the other four fingers to facilitate control with the other hand.
• the capacitive detection of the fingers or any object near the slab can advantageously be done with individual electrodes shielded on the screen side by a guard whose potential is substantially equal to that of the electrodes because the measured capacitances are very low (up to a few fF). ) and any unwanted parasitic leakage capability would degrade the detection.
• the electronics manages each electrode to measure each inter-electrode-object capacitance.
• the detected objects are referenced to the ground potential of the electronics.
• Electrodes can also be placed on the sides of the portable device to increase nearby object detection capabilities. We can also detect the shape of the object such as a hand to know in which direction (front or back) the device is held in the hand.
• the device is placed on a flat surface such as a table or housed in a pocket of a garment.
• Figure 7 is a schematic front view of a device according to the invention. It can be seen that the guard G2 is a frame running around the transparent surface 6. The guard G1, not visible in FIG. 6, is disposed in a plane parallel to the guard G2 so as to frame metal tracks.
• the electrode surface is a rectangle for which the connecting tracks 9 of transparent material connect the electrodes from the surface to access areas 10 and 11 on the short sides of the rectangle. Guards G1 and G2 are sandwiched in these access areas. In each access zone there is an integrated circuit IC1, IC2, connected to the connection tracks coming from the nearest electrodes.
• the tracks can be metallic between the transparent surface and the integrated circuits.
• This solution avoids placing conductive connection tracks on long sides that are used most of the time to maintain the device.
• the advantage is the removal of long tracks on the vertical sides. Still some conductive connection tracks 12 are used on the vertical sides so that the two integrated circuits can communicate with each other. But these tracks do not need to be kept. Both integrated circuits can use the same guard potential.
• the integrated circuit IC2 is then connected to a processing unit via the floss CF.
• the electrodes preferably cover as much as possible the sensitive surface of the slab.
• the concave electrodes nested inside each other can make it possible to reduce the frank fracture defect during the passage of an object from one electrode to the other or to add information by playing on the evolutive geometry of each electrode relative to the position of the object.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Position Input By Displaying (AREA)
• User Interface Of Digital Computer (AREA)
• Telephone Function (AREA)

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Citations (5)

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• 2012
  • 2012-04-25 FR FR1253820A patent/FR2990020B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2013
  • 2013-04-16 JP JP2015507470A patent/JP6463669B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2013-04-16 US US14/115,008 patent/US9104283B2/en active Active
  • 2013-04-16 CN CN201710145477.2A patent/CN106933417A/zh active Pending
  • 2013-04-16 EP EP13721285.8A patent/EP2842018A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2013-04-16 CN CN201380021798.1A patent/CN104321726B/zh active Active
  • 2013-04-16 WO PCT/EP2013/057900 patent/WO2013160151A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2013-04-16 FR FR1353417A patent/FR2990033B1/fr active Active
  • 2013-04-16 KR KR1020147030605A patent/KR102028783B1/ko active IP Right Grant
  • 2013-04-24 EP EP13723682.4A patent/EP2842019B1/fr active Active
  • 2013-04-24 JP JP2015507506A patent/JP2015519644A/ja active Pending
  • 2013-04-24 US US14/396,599 patent/US20150091854A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2013-04-24 KR KR1020147032573A patent/KR101875995B1/ko active IP Right Grant
  • 2013-04-24 EP EP16170975.3A patent/EP3079047B1/fr active Active
  • 2013-04-24 CN CN201380022039.7A patent/CN104335150B/zh active Active
  • 2013-04-24 WO PCT/EP2013/058428 patent/WO2013160323A1/fr active Application Filing
• 2018
  • 2018-01-19 JP JP2018007011A patent/JP2018063732A/ja active Pending

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