Patent ID: 8860684

Claim:
A touch sensing system comprising: a touch panel having a plurality of touch button areas, each having a target conductive node and two neighboring conductive nodes, wherein a shape of each of the plurality of touch button areas is designed such that a touch detected at one of the plurality of touch button areas results in a first capacitance on one of the two neighboring conductive nodes of the one of the plurality of touch button areas, a second capacitance on the other one of the two neighboring conductive nodes, and a third capacitance on the target conductive node of the one of the plurality of touch button areas, wherein the first capacitance and the second capacitance are lower than the third capacitance; and a processor coupled to the touch panel to locate the touch on a surface of the touch panel by processing signals representing the first capacitance, the second capacitance, and the third capacitance, wherein the conductive nodes of the plurality of touch button areas are coupled to input/output (I/O) pins of the processor, wherein two or more of the target conductive nodes are coupled to a same I/O pin and each have at least one of the their two neighboring conductive nodes coupled to a different I/O pin, wherein the processor is configured to distinguish between touches detected at the two or more of the target conductive nodes based on a unique combination of the I/O pins over which the signals representing the first capacitance, second capacitance, and the third capacitance are received.