This application claims the benefit of priority to China Patent Application No. 202010181517.0, filed on Mar. 16, 2020 in People's Republic of China. The entire content of the above identified application is incorporated herein by reference.
Some references, which may include patents, patent applications and various publications, may be cited and discussed in the description of this disclosure. The citation and/or discussion of such references is provided merely to clarify the description of the present disclosure and is not an admission that any such reference is “prior art” to the disclosure described herein. All references cited and discussed in this specification are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties and to the same extent as if each reference was individually incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a touch keyboard, and more particularly to a touch keyboard capable of improving sensitivity.
Compared with traditional keyboards, a touch keyboard integrates a touch panel into a keyboard, such that the keyboard can be provided with touch functions. For example, users can control cursor movement by sliding a finger on a surface of the keyboard. In addition, most existing touch panels on the market use capacitive touch sensors. Touch keyboards including capacitive touch sensors utilize different sensing capacitances generated by the capacitive touch sensors while the user presses and touches the key sets, to determine whether the user is pressing or touching the key set.
However, the sensing capacitance of the capacitive touch sensor from the user pressing the key set is much greater than that from the user touching the key set. Therefore, when two applications of the capacitive touch sensor, such as a press on key and a touch on keyboard (TOK), are both present in a single device, overflow conditions may easily occur for existing capacitor voltage converters, so that the sensing capacitance cannot be correctly converted to a corresponding voltage value. In other words, a touch keyboard needs to have a large detection range in order to detect the press on key and the touch on keyboard at the same time. This also signifies that the detection range is very important for the sensitivity of the touch keyboard. Therefore, there is an urgent need in the art for a touch keyboard capable of preventing the capacitor voltage converter from overflowing as a result of receiving an excessively large sensing capacitance.
In response to the above-referenced technical inadequacies, one aspect of the present disclosure provides a touch keyboard including a key set, a capacitive touch sensor, and a pressure sensing circuit. The capacitive touch sensor is coupled to the key set and is configured to generate a sensing capacitance. The pressure sensing circuit is coupled to the capacitive touch sensor, configured to generate a pressure sensing value, and includes a converter, a cancellation circuit, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a digital signal processor. The converter is coupled to an input pin, configured to receive a sensing signal provided from the input pin, and output an analog voltage signal. The cancellation circuit is coupled between the converter and the input pin, configured to generate a cancellation signal, and enable the converter to output the analog voltage signal according to the sensing signal being added with the cancellation signal. The ADC is coupled to the converter and configured to convert the analog voltage signal into a digital voltage signal. The digital signal processor is coupled to the ADC and configured to generate the pressure sensing value corresponding to the sensing signal according to the digital voltage signal.
In another aspect, the present disclosure further provides a touch keyboard, which includes a key set, a capacitive touch sensor, and a pressure sensing circuit. The capacitive touch sensor is coupled to the key set and is configured to generate a sensing capacitance. The pressure sensing circuit is coupled to the capacitive touch sensor, configured to generate a pressure sensing value, and includes a converter, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a cancellation circuit, and a digital signal processor. The converter is coupled to an input pin, configured to receive a sensing signal provided from the input pin, and output an analog voltage signal. The ADC is coupled to the converter and configured to convert the analog voltage signal into a digital voltage signal. The cancellation circuit is coupled between the converter and the ADC, configured to generate a cancellation signal, and enable the ADC to output the digital voltage signal according to the analog voltage signal after being subtracted with the cancellation signal. The digital signal processor is coupled to the ADC and configured to generate the pressure sensing value corresponding to the sensing signal according to the digital voltage signal.
In another aspect, the present disclosure further provides a touch keyboard, which includes a key set, a capacitive touch sensor, and a pressure sensing circuit. The capacitive touch sensor is coupled to the key set and is configured to generate a sensing capacitance. The pressure sensing circuit is coupled to the capacitive touch sensor, and configured to generate a pressure sensing value, and includes a converter, a suppression circuit, an analog-to-digital converter, and a digital signal processor. The converter is coupled to an input pin, configured to receive a sensing signal provided from the input pin, and output an analog voltage signal. The suppression circuit is coupled between the converter and the input pin, configured to suppress the sensing signal according to a preset parameter, then provide the suppressed sensing signal to the converter, and enable the converter to output the analog voltage signal according to the suppressed sensing signal. The ADC is coupled to the converter and configured to convert the analog voltage signal into a digital voltage signal. The digital signal processor is coupled to the ADC and configured to generate the pressure sensing value corresponding to the sensing signal according to the digital voltage signal.
Preferably, the above-mentioned converters are all capacitor voltage converters, and the content of the sensing signal is the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor. In addition, the input pin is used to couple the pressure sensing circuit to an output terminal of the capacitive touch sensor.
In yet another aspect, the present disclosure further provides a touch keyboard, which includes a key set, a capacitive touch sensor, and a pressure sensing circuit. The capacitive touch sensor is coupled to the key set and is configured to generate a sensing capacitance. The pressure sensing circuit is coupled to the capacitive touch sensor, configured to generate a pressure sensing value, and includes a converter and a cancellation circuit. The converter is coupled to an input pin, configured to receive a capacitance sensing signal provided from the input pin, and outputs a circuit signal corresponding to a pressure value sensed by the capacitance sensing signal. The cancellation circuit is coupled between the converter and the input pin, configured to generate a cancellation signal, and enables the converter to output the circuit signal according to the capacitance sensing signal being added with the cancellation signal.
Preferably, the circuit signal is a voltage signal, and a voltage value of the voltage signal is proportional to the pressure value sensed by the capacitance sensing signal. In addition, the voltage signal is an analog voltage signal, and the converter can be coupled to an analog-to-digital converter, and configured to convert the analog voltage signal into a digital voltage signal. The pressure sensing circuit further includes a digital signal processor coupled to the ADC and configured to generate the pressure sensing value corresponding to the capacitance sensing signal according to the digital voltage signal.
These and other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of the embodiment taken in conjunction with the following drawings and their captions, although variations and modifications therein may be affected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
The present disclosure is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Like numbers in the drawings indicate like components throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural reference, and the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on”. Titles or subtitles can be used herein for the convenience of a reader, which shall have no influence on the scope of the present disclosure.
The terms used herein generally have their ordinary meanings in the art. In the case of conflict, the present document, including any definitions given herein, will prevail. The same thing can be expressed in more than one way.
Alternative language and synonyms can be used for any term(s) discussed herein, and no special significance is to be placed upon whether a term is elaborated or discussed herein. A recital of one or more synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use of examples anywhere in this specification including examples of any terms is illustrative only, and in no way limits the scope and meaning of the present disclosure or of any exemplified term. Likewise, the present disclosure is not limited to various embodiments given herein. Numbering terms such as “first”, “second” or “third” can be used to describe various components, signals or the like, which are for distinguishing one component/signal from another one only, and are not intended to, nor should be construed to impose any substantive limitations on the components, signals or the like.
Reference is made to
In addition, the pressure sensing circuit 12 is coupled to the capacitive touch sensor TK1, configured to generate a pressure sensing value Pv, and includes a converter 120, a cancellation circuit 122, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 124, and a digital signal processor 126. The converter 120 is coupled to an input pin P1, and is configured to receive a sensing signal S1 provided from the input pin P1, and output an analog voltage signal VS1. The cancellation circuit 122 is coupled between the converter 120 and the input pin P1, configured to generate a cancellation signal S2, and enable the converter 120 to output the analog voltage signal VS1 according to the sensing signal S1 being added with the cancellation signal S2. The ADC 124 is coupled to the converter 120 and configured to convert the analog voltage signal VS1 into a digital voltage signal VS2. The digital signal processor 126 is coupled to the ADC 124 and configured to generate the pressure sensing value Pv corresponding to the sensing signal S1 according to the digital voltage signal VS2.
However, since operating principles of the ADC 124 and the digital signal processor 126 are already known to those skilled in the art, details related to the ADC 124 and the digital signal processor 126 will not be repeated here. According to the teachings of the above descriptions, those skilled in the art should understand that content of the sensing signal S1 is a sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1, and the input pin P1 is used to couple the pressure sensing circuit 12 to an output terminal OUT of the capacitive touch sensor TK1. Next, the implementation of the converter 120 and the cancellation circuit 122 will be further described below.
Reference is made to
However, since the operating principles of the capacitor voltage converter 220 are already known to those skilled in the art, details related to the operational amplifier 2201 and the negative feedback circuit 2202 will not be repeated here. As mentioned above, when the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1 is too large, overflow conditions are easily occurred for the capacitor voltage converter 220, causing the sensing capacitance to not be able to be correctly converted into the corresponding voltage value. That is, the capacitor voltage converter 220 cannot effectively output the analog voltage signal VS1 corresponding to the sensing capacitance. Therefore, a technical core of the first embodiment of the present disclosure is to additionally add the cancellation circuit 122 between the input pin P1 and the capacitor voltage converter 220 to enable the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1, that is, the sensing signal S1 can be attenuated to avoid the capacitor voltage converter 220 in the touch keyboard 1 from overflowing due to receiving an excessively large sensing capacitance, and allows the capacitor voltage converter 220 to effectively output the analog voltage signal VS1 corresponding to the attenuated sensing capacitance.
It is worth mentioning that the present disclosure does not limit the specific implementation of attenuating the sensing capacitance, that is, the sensing signal S1. Those skilled in the art should be able to design according to actual needs or applications. It should be noted that the so-called “attenuating the sensing capacitance” may refer to achieving the attenuation effect in a quantitative manner or a non-quantitative manner, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In a word, according to the teachings of the above descriptions and through the existing technology, those skilled in the art should understand that the capacitor voltage converter 220 in
In the present embodiment, the second switch SW2 is coupled between the input pin P1 and the node A, and is controlled by the second control signal TS2 to be turned on or off In addition, the third switch SW3 is coupled between the input pin P1 and the ground voltage GND, and is controlled by the first control signal TS1 to be turned on or off That is, the first switch SW1 and the third switch SW3 are controlled to be turned on simultaneously by the first control signal TS1, and on-times of the first switch SW1 and the third switch SW3 controlled by the first control signal TS1 are staggered with on-times of the second switch SW2 controlled by the second control signal TS2. As shown in
However, to further explain how to attenuate the sensing capacitance, that is, the sensing signal S1, the present disclosure provides the following specific implementation. As shown in
In addition, if it is considered that an effect of attenuation is achieved in a quantitative manner, the branch wiring 222 can further include a constant current source circuit 222a. The constant current source circuit 222a is configured to, in response to the second control signal TS2 controlling the second switch SW2 to be turned on, attenuate the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1 according to a preset parameter to enable the capacitor voltage converter 220 to output the analog voltage signal VS1 according to the attenuated sensing capacitance. It is worth mentioning that since operating principles of the constant current source circuit 222a is also known to those skilled in the art, details of the constant current source circuit 222a will not be repeated here, and the so-called “preset parameter” can be a constant current value I provided by the constant current source circuit 222a. Therefore, when the constant current value I become larger, the degree of attenuation experienced by the sensing capacitance is greater, but the present disclosure does not limit the specific implementation of the constant current value I.
It can be seen that the touch keyboard 1 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure can not only use the constant current source circuit 222a to quantitatively attenuate the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1, but also the touch keyboard 1 of the first embodiment of the present disclosure can also use time differences of the first switch SW1, the second switch SW2, and the third switch SW3 to be staggered controlled to avoid sudden variation of the first capacitor Cf in the capacitor voltage converter 220, thereby making the voltage converter 220 to output a more stable analog voltage signal VS1. It should be noted that the above-mentioned implementation of the constant current source circuit 222a is only an example, and it is not intended to limit the present disclosure. In addition, the capacitor voltage converter 220 can also be considered as a circuit design having a continuous type structure. Therefore, reference is made to
Compared to the capacitor voltage converter 220 of
To further explain how to attenuate the sensing capacitance, that is, the sensing signal S1, the present disclosure provides another specific implementation. As shown in
For example, in other embodiments, when the polarity of the cancellation signal S2 generated by the signal generator 3222 is the same as the polarity of the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1, the adder circuit 3224 can be replaced by a subtractor circuit (not shown in
In other words, the touch keyboard 1 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure can use the cancellation signal S2 generated by the signal generator 3222 to attenuate the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1, thereby avoiding the capacitor voltage converter 320 from overflowing due to receiving an excessively large sensing capacitance, and allowing the capacitor voltage converter 320 to output the analog voltage signal VS1 corresponding to the attenuated sensing capacitance. In practice, the signal generator 3222 can be, for example, a digital-to-analog converter, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the signal generator 3222 can be programmable designed to determine a magnitude of the cancellation signal S2 according to a magnitude of the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1. In short, the present disclosure does not limit the specific implementation of attenuating the sensing capacitance.
Similarly, if it is still considered that an effect of attenuation is achieved in a quantitative manner, in other embodiments, the magnitude of the cancellation signal S2 generated by the signal generator 3222 can be the same as the magnitude of the sensing capacitance of the capacitive touch sensor TK1 that is not pressed. In this way, the touch keyboard 1 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure can not only use the cancellation signal S2 generated by the signal generator 3222 to completely cancel the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1 that is not pressed but the touch keyboard 1 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure can also use the cancellation signal S2 to quantify the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1 due to pressing thereon, thereby avoiding the capacitor voltage converter 320 from overflowing due to receiving an excessively large sensing capacitance.
It can be seen that, the touch keyboard 1 of
In short, compared to the cancellation circuit 122 of
As shown in
The subtractor circuit 4222 is coupled between the output terminal of the operational amplifier 5201 and the ADC 124. An inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 4224 is coupled to an input terminal IN of the capacitive touch sensor TK1, a non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 4224 is coupled to the ground voltage GND, and an output terminal of the operational amplifier 4224 is coupled to the subtractor circuit 4222. The negative feedback circuit 4226 is coupled between the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 4224 and the output terminal of the operational amplifier 4224, and the negative feedback circuit 4226 is composed of a capacitor C1 and a resistor R1 connected in parallel with each other. The reference capacitor Cref is coupled between the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 4224 and the input terminal IN of the capacitive touch sensor TK1.
It should be understood that the operational amplifier 5201 and the negative feedback circuit 4226 can be regarded as the capacitor voltage converter 520 on another branch connection. Therefore, the above-mentioned “capacitor C1 and resistor R1” can refer to the capacitor and the resistor being the same as the first capacitor Cf and the first resistor Rf, respectively, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In short, the present disclosure does not limit the specific implementation of the capacitor voltage converter 520 on the branch connection, those skilled in the art should be able to design the operational amplifier 5201 and the negative feedback circuit 4226 according to actual needs or applications.
According to the teachings of the foregoing descriptions, those skilled in the art should understand that the operational amplifier 4224, the negative feedback circuit 4226, the reference capacitor Cref, and the capacitor voltage converter 520 can be commonly disposed on the same chip substrate, and when a driver signal (not shown in
That is, the ADC 124 outputs the digital voltage signal VS2 according to the attenuated analog voltage signal VS1. It should be noted that the above-mentioned “subtraction result” can refer to a zero result or a non-zero result, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Therefore, the touch keyboard 4 in
On the other hand, if it is still considered that an effect of attenuation is achieved in a quantitative manner, in other embodiments, the magnitude of the reference capacitor Cref can be preset to be the same as the magnitude of the sensing capacitance of the capacitive touch sensor TK1 that is not pressed. In this way, when the capacitive touch sensor TK1 is not pressed and the driving signal is input to the input terminal IN of the capacitive touch sensor TK1, the touch keyboard 4 of
Similarly, when the capacitive touch sensor TK1 is pressed, that is, the sensing capacitance is greater than a capacitance of the reference capacitor Cref, and the driving signal is input to the input terminal IN of the capacitive touch sensor TK1, the touch keyboard 4 of
In addition, reference is made to
The negative feedback circuit 6202 is coupled between the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 6201 and the output terminal of the operational amplifier 6201, the negative feedback circuit 6202 is composed of a first capacitor Cf and a first resistor Rf connected in parallel with each other, the positive feedback circuit 6203 is coupled between the non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 6201 and the output terminal of the operational amplifier 6201, and the positive feedback circuit 6203 is composed of a capacitor C1 and a resistor R1 connected in parallel with each other. However, since operating principles of the capacitor voltage converter 620 are already known to those skilled in the art, details related to the operational amplifier 6201, the negative feedback circuit 6202 and the positive feedback circuit 6203 will not be repeated here. It should be understood that the touch keyboard 4 in
Similarly, if it is still considered that an effect of attenuation is achieved in a quantitative manner, in other embodiments, the magnitude of the reference capacitor Cref can be preset to be the same as the magnitude of the sensing capacitance of the capacitive touch sensor TK1 that is not pressed. In this way, when the capacitive touch sensor TK1 is not pressed and the driving signal (not shown in
In addition, reference is made to
Similarly, if it is still considered that an effect of attenuation is achieved in a quantitative manner, in other embodiments, the magnitude of the reference signal RS generated by the signal generator 7204 can be preset to be the same as the magnitude of the sensing capacitance of the capacitive touch sensor TK1 that is not pressed. In this way, when the capacitive touch sensor TK1 is not pressed, and the driving signal (not shown in
In practice, the signal generator 7204 can be, for example, a digital-to-analog converter, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In summary, compared to the touch keyboards 1 of
On the other hand, as mentioned above, the present disclosure does not limit the specific implementation of attenuating the sensing capacitance. Therefore, reference is made to
In detail, the suppression circuit 822 is coupled between the converter 120 and the input pin P1, and is configured to suppress the sensing signal S1, and then provide a suppressed sensing signal S4 to the converter 120, so that the converter outputs the analog voltage signal VS1 according to the suppressed sensing signal S4. It should be noted that a suppression degree for the sensing signal S1, that is, the sensing capacitance, suppressed by the suppression circuit 822, can be determined by a preset parameter, or determined according to the current operating environment of the pressure sensing circuit 82 (e.g., operating temperature, average sensing capacitance, and the like.) However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
In addition, reference is made to
It should be understood that the suppression circuit 822 can be, for example, an impedance component Z, which is coupled between the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 9201 and the input pin P1. The impedance component Z is served as the preset parameter according to an impedance value of the impedance component Z, thereby suppressing the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor TK1, so that the capacitor voltage converter 920 outputs the analog voltage signal VS1 according to the suppressed sensing capacitance. Since principles of capacitance suppression performed by using the impedance component Z is already known to those skilled in the art, details thereof will not be repeated here.
It should also be understood that the impedance component Z can be composed of at least one passive component. That is, the impedance component Z can be not only a single resistor, a single capacitor, or a single inductor, but also any combination of the above passive components. In summary, the present disclosure does not limit the specific implementation of the impedance component Z. Those skilled in the art should be able to design the impedance component Z according to actual needs or applications. In addition, the impedance component Z can also be integrated in the capacitor voltage converter 920 or can be provided separately, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In any case, compared to the cancellation circuit 122 of
Reference is made to
In addition, if it is further considered that the reference voltage Vref can be, for example, the ground voltage GND, reference is made to
In conclusion, the touch keyboard provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure does not need to introduce a complicated circuit design, but only needs a simple circuit design, such as the cancellation circuit or the suppression circuit, can cause the sensing capacitance generated by the capacitive touch sensor to be attenuated to avoid the capacitor voltage converter in the pressure sensing circuit from overflowing due to receiving an excessively large sensing capacitance, and it also means that a detection range is increased, making it possible to detect a larger sensing capacitance and improving the sensitivity of the touch keyboard.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the disclosure and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from its spirit and scope.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202010181517.0 | Mar 2020 | CN | national |