Apparatus and method for driving touch sensor

摘要

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for driving a touch sensor in which a group sensing method per region or a local channel sensing method in a selected region is used depending upon whether touch is made, thereby reducing touch calculation time and power consumption. An apparatus for driving a touch sensor, including a plurality of first conduction lines and a plurality of second conduction lines, includes a touch controller to divide the touch sensor into a plurality of regions, to periodically sense whether touch has been made per region using a group sensing mode, to select a touch region when the touch region is detected, and to sense whether touch has been made per channel using a channel sensing mode only in the selected region.

主权项

1. An apparatus for driving a touch sensor comprising a plurality of first conduction lines and a plurality of second conduction lines, the apparatus comprising a touch controller to divide the touch sensor into a plurality of regions, to periodically sense whether touch has been made per region using a group sensing mode, to select a touch region when the touch region is detected, and to sense whether touch has been made per channel using a channel sensing mode only in the selected region,
wherein the touch controller uses a group self-sensing mode in which the first conduction lines and second conduction lines are grouped per region to sense self-capacitance variation per region or a group mutual sensing mode to sense mutual-capacitance variation per region as the group sensing mode, and the touch controller uses a channel mutual sensing mode to sense mutual-capacitance variation per channel in the selected region as the channel sensing mode in the selected region, wherein the touch controller comprises: a first self mode block to drive the first conduction lines in the group self-sensing mode; a first mutual mode block to drive the first conduction lines in the group mutual sensing mode and in the channel mutual sensing mode in the selected region; a first mode switching block to connect the first self mode block or the first mutual mode block to the first conduction lines according to the sensing mode; a second self mode block to drive the second conduction lines in the group self-sensing mode; a second mutual mode block to drive the second conduction lines in the group mutual sensing mode and in the channel mutual sensing mode in the selected region; a second mode switching block to connect the second self mode block or the second mutual mode block to the second conduction lines according to the sensing mode; and a microcontroller unit to control the first and second self mode blocks, the first and second mutual mode blocks and the first and second mode switching blocks, wherein, when the group sensing mode, the first mode switching block selects one of the first self mode block and the first mutual mode block and the second mode switching block selects one of the second self mode block and the second mutual mode block according to whether the group sensing mode is one of the group self-sensing mode and group mutual sensing mode.