Abstract:
An improvement in sensor for detecting contact with a human resistive element is disclosed. This design uses additional components to avoid discharging capacitors through the human resistive element, thereby sparing the user the uncomfortable sensation associated therewith and increasing the power requirements of the device. In addition, designs are utilized which multiple sensing points are multiplexed to achieve greater resolution while with a lower pin count at the signal processing chip.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates generally to the field of fingerprint sensors and touchpads for security devices, computer peripherals, and mobile data processing systems and, in particular to an improvement over the prior art devices which eliminates the DC-current component and reduces the number of connection pins from the sensor to the signal processing chip. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to the sensing of the level of contact between parts of the human body and a sensor. In the prior art, the types of technologies that sense the level of human body contact have incorporated technology that uses various semiconductor devices, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,056 (Tsikos), entitled “Capacitive Fingerprint Sensor,” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,442 (Knapp), entitled “Fingerprint Sensing Device And Recognition System Having Predetermined Electrode Activation.” 
   One problem with these types of sensors is that the semiconductor devices used for the sensors have the liability of being sensitive to contamination and being vulnerable to damage by external forces. As a result, technologies that are independent of semiconductor sensors are considered more desirable. 
   Such a prior art sensor is shown in  FIG. 1 . Prior art technologies that sense the level of human body contact generally comprise a sensing component or components, shown as reference number  10  in  FIG. 1 , and a voltage component that provides operating voltage to the sensing component. Typically, the sensing component senses the level of human body contact and sends the outcome to an arbitrary electronic device, such as a signal processing chip (not shown). 
   The sensing component of the prior art sensor  10  of  FIG. 1  comprises a sensing point  3 , parasitic capacitor  1  and output device  2 , for example, an inverter. 
   In operation, the user initiates contact with the device by placing a finger on sensing point  3 , and becomes part of the circuit, in general appearing as a resistor  4  connected to ground. Any electrical charge stored in the parasitic capacitor  1  would flow through the human body resistive path  4  to ground, thereby discharging capacitor  1 . As a result, the voltage level at node P 1  would fall, causing the output of inverter  2  to rise, leading to a high output of sensor  10 . 
   One problem with the prior art device of  FIG. 1  is that the sensing device  10  is generally configured using a continuous activation method, in which capacitance  1  must re-charge while the human body is in contact with sensing point  3 . After the charging of the capacitor  1  is completed, the determination of whether the human body is in contact with sensing point  3  is made by sensing whether the charging voltage is maintained. 
   When this method is used, the body of the user is in contact with sensing point  3  while capacitor  1  is being charged, and thus the user is subject to the danger of excess direct current flowing through the body. These kinds of direct currents, while generally not life threatening, could cause uneasiness and discomfort to the user. 
   From the viewpoint of device performance, the prior art configuration also causes some practical difficulties. If the amount of current flowing through the body is too great, the amount of power consumption will be much more than necessary, thereby increasing the total power consumption of the device. This is especially troublesome for portable type devices which may draw operational power from a battery. 
   Yet another problem with the prior art device exists in connection with the physical size and resolution of the device. Typically, sensing device  10  is connected to a signal processing chip, where there is a one-to-one correspondence between pins on the chip and a plurality of sensing devices  10 . For the sensor to work with sufficient precision, the resolution should be at least 500 dpi. With a typical human finger being about 1 cm in width, there must be at least 400 sensing devices  10  to enable normal operation, and the signal processing chip must therefore have an equivalent number of individual pins for it to process the information from the sensing devices. This leads to excessively large devices and/or high production costs to incorporate the large number of connections in a reasonable area. 
   Because of these problems, the practical uses of the prior art devices are limited. It would therefore be advantageous and desirable to have a sensing device which alleviates the aforementioned problems extant in the prior art devices. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Disclosed herein is a device that senses the strength level of human body contact and the methods for using the device. The device of the present invention is an improvement over the prior art that overcomes the undesirable characteristics of the prior art devices. Specifically, the device of the present invention utilizes a novel configuration that senses the level of human body contact by observing the redistribution of the stored charge, thereby minimizing the amount of direct current flowing through the body of the user. Even when used in continuous activation mode, the phenomenon of current continuously flowing though the body can be prevented, which eliminates the possible discomfort and anxiety felt by the user. Additionally, the power consumption of the device is decreased. 
   Further, the device of the present invention utilizes multiplexed passive circuit elements, which maximizes the effectiveness of each sensing circuit element and requires fewer connections with the signal processing chip. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic of an example of a prior art device. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram showing the improvement of the present invention 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic of a device according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 4  is a graph of the change over time of the voltage at nod P 1  in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic of another embodiment the present invention using multiplexed sensors. 
       FIG. 6  shows the change in the contact over time between a finger and a plurality of sensing points in a sensing array. 
       FIG. 7  is a schematic of another embodiment of the invention wherein the sensing devices can be selected. 
       FIG. 8  is a timing diagram showing the change in the voltage at nod P 3  over time as a function of the voltages on the sensor selecting lines for the circuit of  FIG. 7 . 
       FIG. 9  is a schematic of yet another embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 10  is a graph of the change over time of the voltage at nod P 4  in  FIG. 9 . 
       FIG. 11  is a schematic of yet another embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 12  is a graph of the change over time of the voltage at node P 4  in  FIG. 11 . 
       FIG. 13  is a schematic of yet another embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 14  gives an example of a touch pad, whose sensing area is portioned to several subsections. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   A block diagram of the preferred embodiment of the sensor of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 2 . The sensor consists of a array  100  of sensing devices  20  that are electrically connected to signal processing chip  300 . Signal generator  200  sends controlled input power each of sensing devices  20  in array  100 . Sensing devices  20  output static and dynamic signals to signal processing chip  300 , depending on whether or not there is human contact, and will output a different signal, depending on the level of human contact. 
   The simple sensing device shown in  FIG. 3  can act as one of a plurality of sensing devices  20  in array  100  of sensing devices as shown in  FIG. 2 , receiving input from signal generator  200  that sends controlled power to selected sensing elements array  100 . 
   The sensing device of  FIG. 3  consists of sensing point  21  that provides a place for contact with a portion of a human body, most likely a finger  18 , output device  22  that outputs static or dynamic signals depending on the level of human body contact, and capacitor C 1  which stores the power from the power source for a preset time, and which provides part of the stored electrical charge for capacitor C 2 , which is electrically coupled to capacitor C 1  and which forms an RC delay circuit by interaction with the human resistive element R b  provided by human body  18  and redistributes the electrical charge provided by the capacitor C 1 , depending on the RC time constant. The voltage of the capacitor C 1  is thereby changed depending on the RC time constant. 
   The operation of the circuit of  FIG. 3  is shown in  FIG. 4 . In operation, capacitors C 1  and C 2  are first discharged, thus “initializing” them, and, using the signal from signal generator  200  and buffer  23 , the voltage V a  is supplied to node P 1 . At time t 2 , capacitor C 1  is charged to V a . If there is no human body contact during presetting, the capacitor C 1  maintains its voltage of V a . 
   When human body  18  comes in contact with sensing point  21  after time t 2 , the resistance R b  supplied by human body part  18 , along with capacitor C 2 , forms an RC circuit element which is dependant on the level of contact with body part  18 . As capacitor C 1  starts to discharge through capacitor C 2 , the voltage at node P 1  approaches V f  as shown in  FIG. 4 . Voltage V f  is formed when equilibrium is reached after the charge redistribution between capacitors C 1  and C 2 . When this happens, the final voltage V f  assumes the value of Equation 1, and the redistribution behaviors follows the usual RC delay circuit with an RC time constant as shown in Equation 2. 
               V   f     =         C   1         C   1     +     C   2         ⁢     V   a               (   1   )             
               RC   ⁢           ⁢   time   ⁢           ⁢   constant     =       R   b     ⁡     (         C   1     ⁢     C   2           C   1     +     C   2         )               (   2   )             
 
   As the voltage at node P 1  falls from Va to Vf, it will, at some point t 3 , fall below V m , the threshold voltage of the output element. In the simplest case, device  22  is an inverter and, as the voltage at node P 1  changes to a falls from a HIGH level to a LOW level, at t 3 , the output of  22  will assume a HIGH value. Thus output element  22  sends the signal and duration time of the level of human contact to the signal processing chip  300 . The decay of the voltage at node P 1  is dependent upon the value of R b , which is dependent upon level of contact between human body part  18  and sensing point  21 . 
   Prior to this invention (i.e., without capacitor C 2 ), the fact that there was contact between human body part  18  and sensing point  21  was detected via the flow of the electrical charge in capacitor C 1  directly through human body part  18 , possibly causing discomfort to the user. 
   As stated previously, in the prior art devices, if the continuous activation method is used, the body of the user is in contact with the sensing point while capacitor C 1  is being charged, and thus the user is subject to the danger of excess direct current flowing through the body. Additionally, the undesirable effect of excess power consumption will cause an increase in total power consumption. 
   The use of the circuit in  FIG. 3  eliminates these undesirable characteristics of the prior art. When the circuit of  FIG. 3  is utilized in the continuous activation mode, capacitors C 1  and C 2  must be discharged, thus “initializing” them, and, using the power source  200  and buffer  23  the voltage V a  is supplied to node P 1 . While capacitor C 1  is charged to V a , human body part  18  may maintain contact with the sensing point  21 . 
   Because capacitor C 2  forms an RC-circuit with the human resistive element R b , and because the voltage V a  is charged at the capacitor C 1  at a much smaller time than the R b C 2  time constant, capacitor C 2  is hardly charged at all while capacitor C 1  is re-charged to V a . After capacitor C 1  is charges to V a , the voltage at node P 1  will start to decay toward V f . The rate of decay will be defined by the RC time constant. 
   A second embodiment of the invention, shown in  FIG. 5 , allows the sensing device to be used in “sweeping mode,” that is, the human body part  18  is swept over an array of sensing points. In this embodiment, the resolution of human body contact image can be increased by dividing the sensing point  21  of  FIG. 3  into a plurality of sensing points  21 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 6 , where the shadowed region  25  shows the area of human body contact, it can be seen that while the contact area moves over sensing points SP 1 , SP 2 , and SP 3 , at time t 1  all sensing points are in contact with the human body part, at time t 2  two sensing points are in contact, at time t 3 , one sensing point is in contact, and at time t 4 , no sensing points are in contact. According to the number of contacts, the effective value of body contact resistance value R b  varies and this value can be detected by the resulting RC curve (the internal between t 2  and t 3 ) as shown in  FIG. 4 . The configuration of  FIG. 5  has the advantage of increasing the resolution of the sensor without increasing the number of connection points with signal processing chip  300 . 
   This kind of reduction of connecting pins to the signal processing chip can be made more systematically by the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7 . Here, array  36  of passive elements is connected to the capacitor C 3  and selectively controls the amount of discharge therefrom. 
   As is shown in  FIG. 7 , the passive element array  36  is a combination of a plurality of parallel sensing points  37  and corresponding charge redistribution capacitors C 4 , which form the RC circuit with the human body resistance R b , and which influence the charge redistribution action that depends on the RC time constant when the charge of capacitor C 3  is redistributed. Selecting nodes ( 32 ,  33 , . . . , 34 ,  35 ) receive signals from external sources and selectively influence the charge, or discharge action of the charge redistribution capacitors C 4  and the capacitor C 3 . Between the charge redistribution capacitors C 4  and the selecting nodes ( 32 ,  33 , . . . ,  34 ,  35 ) there are multiple capacitors C 5  that have a one to one correspondence to the charge redistribution capacitors C 4  and that transmit the change in voltage when selecting voltage is applied by the selecting nodes ( 32 ,  33 , . . . , 34 ,  35 ). This has the effect of “selecting” or “deselecting” certain of sensing points  37 . 
   In operation, the configuration of  FIG. 7  work as follows. First, selecting nodes ( 32 ,  33 , . . . , 34 ,  35 ) and node P 3  are grounded, and all the capacitor voltages are, “initialized” zero charge using current sink I 2 , as shown in the timing diagram of  FIG. 8 . Current is then supplied to the storage nodes P 3 , using current source I 1  from the supply voltage source ( 200 ). At time t 1 , the voltage at node P 1  reaches the threshold voltage V m  and the output of device  31  flips. (i.e., changes from HIGH to LOW if device  31  is an inverter). Power source( 200 ) and the current source I 1  supply power to node P 3  for the time Δt 1 . At this time, capacitors C 3 , C 4  and C 5  are charged, and the voltage at node P 3  reaches V a . 
   When this state is reached, the sensing device turns current source I 1  to an off state, and turns the current sink I 2  on for the time Δt 2 , and Δt 3 , enabling capacitor C 3  to be discharged to voltage V b  which is a lower than the threshold voltage V m  of the output device  31 . 
   After current sink I 2  is turned to an off state, there is a set amount of charge stored in the capacitors around node P 3 , and this charge is stored in a state that is electrically isolated from external influences. In this state, the sensing device sends a voltage pulse to selecting nodes ( 32 ,  33 , . . . , 34 ,  35 ) in a particular order and activates them. As an example, a selection voltage pulse is sent to a node, for example to node  32 . When rise time of the pulse is sufficiently short enough compared to the RC time constant determined by the human body contact resistance, then, during the short time the voltage pulse is applied, the voltage at node P 3  rises, at time t 2  to voltage V c  of the, according to the combined capacitance of C 3 , C 4  and C 5 . If there is a human body part in contact with sensing point  37  coupled to the activated selecting node then the voltage at node P 3  follows an RC curve and at time t 3  falls below the threshold voltage of the output device, and the output state of output device  31  flips. Due to this, output device  31  is able to send a signal that represents that there has been contact with a human body to the signal processing chip  300 . 
   After this evaluation process with selecting node  32  is completed, the sensing device deselects sensing point  37  connected to selecting node  32  at time t 4 . At this time, the voltage at node P 3  drops and begins to rise following an RC curve until V b  is reached or until the next node is selected. At time t 5  in the diagram, selecting node  33  is activated, and, as at time t 2 , the voltage at node P 3  rises to V c . If sensing point  37  connected to selecting node  33  is in contact with a human body part, then the process just described with respect to selecting node  32  repeats for selecting node  33 . However, if activated selecting node  33  is not in contact with the human body, then additional voltage has been applied to node P 3 , which means that even after a set time has passed, the voltage of node P 3  does not fall under the voltage V m , and due to this, the output of output device  31  does not change. 
   According to a predefined order, a voltage selecting pulse is sent to successive selecting nodes ( 32 ,  33 , . . . , 34 ,  35 ) and the voltage at node P 3  will either remain above the threshold voltage V m , or fall below it, depending n whether or not there is human body contact with the activated sensing point  37 . 
   In another embodiment of the invention, which is a variation of the circuit of  FIG. 7 , in the circuit of  FIG. 9 , current source I 1  and inverter  31  can, for example, be replaced by transistor  42  and comparator  41 . When this configuration is used, the sensing device uses another operational mode to sense the level of human body contact. 
   First, the sensing device discharges capacitors C 3 , C 4 , and C 5 . Then, all of the selecting nodes  46  are grounded, except for one selecting node  45 . Transistors  42  and  43  are used to raise the voltage at node P 4  up to voltage Va. (For purposes of explanation, only two sensing points  44  and  47  are shown as being associated with sensing device  40 ). 
   In this embodiment, as in previous embodiments, the combination of capacitors, forms an RC circuit with the human resistive element R b . If the charging time of capacitor C 3  is sufficiently shorter than the RC time constant, the voltage of charge redistribution capacitors C 4 , and C 5  connected to selected node  45  do not undergo a sudden change in charge. However, the combination of C 4  and C 5  connected to the grounded selector node  46  stores a charge corresponding to the stored voltage V a . Therefore, node P 4  sees, in effect, the combination of C 3  in parallel to the series connection of C 4  and C 5  (i.e. C 4 C 5 /(C 4 +C 5 )), and obtains a charge according to Equation 3. 
             Q   =       (       C   3     +         C   4     ⁢     C   5           C   4     +     C   5           )     ⁢     V   a               (   3   )             
 
   After the voltage at node P 4  has reached V a , transistors  42 ,  43  are turned off and node P 4  is left in a floating state, isolated electrically from external sources. In this situation, if sensing point  44  that corresponds to selected node  45  is in contact with a human body, and if sensing point  47  is not in contact with a human body, the initially discharged capacitor C 4  draws current from node P 4  while the node voltage of sensing point  44  goes from the initial voltage V a  to ground. 
   Therefore, as shown in  FIG. 10 , the voltage of the node P 4  draws follows an RC curve A 1 , and heads towards it&#39;s final voltage V f , defined by equation 4. 
               V   f     =         V   a     ⁡     (       C   3     +         C   4     ⁢     C   5           C   4     +     C   5           )           2   ⁢     C   4       +     C   3                 (   4   )             
 
   At time t 7 , the voltage at node P 4  falls below the reference voltage V m  of comparator  41 , and the comparator sends a signal signifying contact with the human body to the signal processing chip  300 . 
   Next, the sensing device discharges capacitor C 3 , C 4  and C 5  and selects the next node  46 , while grounding all other selecting nodes. After node P 4  is charged to voltage V a , transistors  43  and  44  are turned off, and the floating state of node P 4  is maintained. 
   Assume in this that sensing point  44 , corresponding to grounded selecting node  45  comes into contact with a human body, while sensing point  47 , corresponding to selected node  46  is not in contact with a human body. The charge stored at in capacitors C 4  and C 5  situated between node P 4  and grounded selecting node  45  and at capacitor C 3  is redistributed while the voltage at node  44  falls from V a /2 to ground potential. In this case, as shown in  FIG. 10 , the voltage at node P 4  follows an RC curve A 2 , and heads toward the final voltage V f , define by Equation 4. 
   At time t 8 , when the voltage at node P 4  falls below the reference voltage of output device  41 , for example a comparator, the comparator sends a signal signifying contact with the human body to the signal processing chip  300 . 
   It is to be noted here, that the sensing point corresponding to the selected selection node, undergoes more voltage change than the sensing points corresponding to the non-selected selection nodes (i.e., the grounded nodes), hence the resulting voltage change at node P 4  at the beginning phase of the charge redistribution process. As shown in  FIG. 10 , because the time t 7  where RC curve A 1  descends beneath the reference voltage of the comparator V m , is faster than the time t 8  where RC curve A 2  descends beneath the reference voltage of the comparator V m , the signal processing chip  300  is able to tell that the human resistive element at sensing point  47  is larger than the human resistive element at sensing point  44 . 
   Because there are many selecting nodes, if the sensing of the level of human body contact is carried out at each selecting node, then the signal processing chip  300  is able to tell the relative magnitude of resistance of each region of the same human body contact. 
   In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 11 , after all capacitors are discharged, multiple sensing points, in this example  63  and  64 , are selected while all other selecting nodes are grounded. The selected selecting nodes  63  and  64  are charged to a voltage V DD  simultaneously. If this charging action occurs in a sufficiently short time compared to the RC time constant, the amount of charge stored at the storage node is given by Equation 5. 
             Q   =       (       C   3     +     m   ⁢         C   4     ⁢     C   5           C   4     +     C   5             )     ⁢     V   DD               (   5   )             
 
where m is the number of selecting nodes that have not been selected in the charging process, and have remained grounded. After a time which is sufficiently shorter than the RC time constant of this circuit, if all the selection nodes except the one which corresponds to the sensing point which is to be observed are brought to the ground potential, the voltage at the storage node fades to the value of Equation 6. 
               V   i     =       V   DD     -         (     m   -   1     )     ⁢         C   4     ⁢     C   5           C   4     +     C   5               C   3     +     n   ⁢           ⁢         C   4     ⁢     C   5           C   4     +     C   5                         (   6   )             
 
where n is the total number of selection node, and m is the number of selecting nodes that have not been selected, By choosing the number m of selection node to be grounded and the number (n−m) to be lifted to V DD  during the pre-charge period, the V i  can be adjusted to an appropriate level as shown in  FIG. 12 .
 
   The evaluation procedure thereafter is exactly the case with the embodiment shown in  FIG. 9 , because the final value of the voltage at the storage node is only determined by the amount of the charge injected to the storage node during the pre-charge period. 
   The advantage of this method compared to that of  FIG. 9  is that, here, comparator  61  can be replaced by an inverter because the voltage level V m  in  FIG. 12  can be adjusted to a value at or near V DD /2. 
   The embodiments and operational methods disclosed up to this point are adequate for fingerprint related sensor applications, where each sensing point has its own value of resistances. For other applications, such as a touch pad, there is a region where there is a human body contact and where there is no contact. In such cases, the area of interest is the transition region between the contact and non-contact regions. 
   For this type of application, the sensing point can be split into several electrodes as shown in  FIG. 13 . Here, selecting node  73  is used for selecting sensing points  74 ,  75  and  76 , selecting node  77  for sensing points  78 ,  79  and  80 , and so on. If any of sensing points  74 ,  75  or  76  is in contact with a human body, operation with node  73  selected reveals a contact signal. Therefore, it is conceptually a kind of “wired OR” equivalent operation. These split electrodes can also be distributed as shown in  FIG. 14 , where the sensing area of a touch pad is partitioned to several areas and the sensing points are repeated regularly. Because the result of evaluation does not reveal which of the multiple sensing point is in contact with human body, the output signal showing the contacted area of a touch pad with ‘image’ areas. 
   The “real position detecting sensing points” implemented at appropriate positions (in the figure, the points a, b, c, d) on the touch pad can show which of the multiple ‘image’ area is the real one. These “real position detecting sensing points” can be a small number, because the purpose of a touch pad is usually to detect the position and movement of the finger on it. 
   By way of an example, assume that the total number of sensing points on a touch pad is a×b (a=40, b=30). If multiplexed with k selection node (k=8), and split sensing electrodes on a portioned touch pad area (l=6), the number of connecting pins to the signal processing chip is given by Equation 7. 
                     #   ⁢           ⁢   of   ⁢           ⁢   pins     =       a   ×   b       k   ×   l                           (         40   ×   30       8   ×   6       =   25     )                 (   7   )             
 
   This means, for example, that without the multiplexing method of this invention an impractical 40×30=1200 pins would have been needed, while with this invention only 25 pins are needed. 
   As explained in detail previously, this invention improves on the structure of the device that senses the level of human contact and changes the mechanism of sensing from one that sends charge through the human body to one that uses the redistribution of charge. This minimizes the amount of direct current flowing through the body and prevents the discomfort and anxiety felt by the user of the prior art devices. 
   Next, by employing multiplexing methods with passive circuit elements only in it&#39;s internal circuitry, this invention maximizes the sensing device&#39;s function and minimizes of the number of pins required on the signal processing chip. Thus, the costs of the device is minimized. 
   Therefore, this invention can be used very effectively in devices which can be equipped with it such as fingerprint sensors, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile communication devices, electronic calculators, and digital cameras. 
   Although certain exemplary embodiments have been disclosed, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied within the scope of the following claims.