US 11,947,746 B2
Communication protocol for touch sensor and e-pen systems
Patrick Troy Gray, Cedar Park, TX (US); Gerald Dale Morrison, Redmond, WA (US); Daniel Keith Van Ostrand, Leander, TX (US); Richard Stuart Seger, Jr., Belton, TX (US); Michael Shawn Gray, Elgin, TX (US); and Kevin Joseph Derichs, Buda, TX (US)
Assigned to SIGMASENSE, LLC., Austin, TX (US)
Filed by SIGMASENSE, LLC., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed on Dec. 6, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/075,591.
Application 18/075,591 is a continuation of application No. 17/443,491, filed on Jul. 27, 2021, granted, now 11,543,900.
Application 17/443,491 is a continuation of application No. 17/083,998, filed on Oct. 29, 2020, granted, now 11,237,653, issued on Feb. 1, 2022.
Application 17/083,998 is a continuation of application No. 16/195,041, filed on Nov. 19, 2018, granted, now 10,852,857, issued on Dec. 1, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0110019 A1, Apr. 13, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/038 (2013.01); G06F 3/0354 (2013.01); G06F 3/041 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 3/0383 (2013.01) [G06F 3/03545 (2013.01); G06F 3/0416 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system including an electronic pen (e-pen) and a touch sensor device comprising:
the e-pen that includes an e-pen sensor electrode;
the touch sensor device including a drive-sense circuit (DSC) operably coupled to a touch sensor electrode of the touch sensor device, wherein, when enabled, the DSC is configured to:
drive a touch sensor signal via a single line coupling to the touch sensor electrode of the touch sensor device and simultaneously sense, via the single line, change of the touch sensor signal based on interaction of the e-pen with the touch sensor electrode of the touch sensor device; and
process the change of the touch sensor signal to generate a digital signal that is representative of an electrical characteristic of the touch sensor electrode;
a memory that stores operational instructions; and
a processing module operably coupled to the DSC and to the memory, wherein, when enabled, the processing module is configured to execute the operational instructions to:
process the digital signal to detect the interaction of the e-pen with the touch sensor electrode of the touch sensor device;
assign an e-pen signal from one or more available signals that is not used by the e-pen and the touch sensor device to be used by the e-pen sensor electrode of the e-pen for subsequent interaction of the e-pen with the touch sensor device; and
facilitate the subsequent interaction of the e-pen with the touch sensor device based on the e-pen signal that is assigned to the e-pen sensor electrode.