Patent ID: 8866793

Claim:
A method of improving the sensing performance of a capacitive touch screen device including at least one capacitive touch pad element disposed on a surface of the capacitive touch screen, the method comprising: determining an electrical potential of the at least one capacitive touch pad element for detecting a user touch of the at least one capacitive touch pad element; detecting a condition of the capacitive touch screen device that changes usable detectable range of change in capacitance for the at least one capacitive touch pad element; selectively altering, based on the determined electrical potential of the at least one capacitive touch pad element and the detected condition, a magnitude of an electrical potential of at least one other electrically conductive structure disposed on the surface of the capacitive touch screen proximate the at least one capacitive touch pad element to alter an effective capacitance of the at least one capacitive touch pad element to thereby improve the usable detectable range of change in capacitance for the at least one capacitive touch pad element; and subsequently detecting a user touch of the at least one capacitive touch pad element.