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Microsoft patents touch screen fix for display interference

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This patent describes a method to improve touch accuracy on screens where the display layer sits behind the touch sensors. It works by using unused sensor lines to measure and remove electrical noise that the display creates, allowing the system to better detect where you are touching.

Why it mattersThis is a technical improvement that helps make touch screens more responsive and accurate, which is useful for anyone using a tablet, phone, or monitor.

In the filing’s own words

A method to process touch input on a touch-screen display device having an electronic display layer arranged behind a series of column electrodes and behind a series of row electrodes. The method comprises: concurrently driving one or more row electrodes while leaving undriven one or more other row electrodes; sensing a row signal from the one or more other row electrodes; sensing a column signal from the series of column electrodes; and providing a corrected column output based at least partly on the column signal and on the row signal.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A touch-screen display device comprising: a series of column electrodes; a series of row electrodes crossing the series of column electrodes such that an electrical impedance at each crossing of a row and column electrode is responsive to proximity of a touch input to that crossing; an electronic display layer arranged behind the series of column electrodes and behind the series of row electrodes; a row-drive circuit configured to concurrently drive one or more row electrodes of the series of row electrodes while leaving undriven one or more other row electrodes of the series of row electrodes, the row-drive circuit coupled to a first end of the row electrodes; a row-sense circuit separate from the row-drive circuit, the row-sense circuit configured to sense a row signal from the one or more other row electrodes, the row-sense circuit coupled to a second end of the row electrodes opposite to the row-drive circuit; a column-sense circuit configured to sense a column signal from the series of column electrodes; and a correction circuit coupled to the row-sense circuit, the correction circuit configured to estimate an undesired component of the column signal by scaling the row signal from the row-sense circuit by a complex-valued scaling factor and to provide a corrected column output based at least partly on the column signal and on the estimate of the undesired component.

Facts

Company
Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
Official title
Correcting for touch-screen coupling through display electrode
Patent number
US12748509B2
Application number
18262609
Filed
Jan 31, 2022
Granted
Sep 29, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 3/0418 Physics & computingG06F 3/0412 Physics & computingG06F 3/04166 Physics & computingG06F 3/0446 Physics & computingH10K 59/40 Electricity & electronics

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.