CN101493743B - Touch panel and driving method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a touch panel, which comprises a first transparent substrate, a first conductive pattern, a first electrode, a second transparent substrate, a second conductive pattern, a second electrode and a spacer. The first conductive pattern is disposed on the first transparent substrate and extends along a first direction. The first electrodes are arranged at two ends of each first conductive pattern in the first direction. The second conductive pattern is disposed on the second transparent substrate and extends along a second direction, wherein the first direction intersects the second direction. The second electrodes are arranged at two ends of each second conductive pattern in the second direction. The conductive patterns are positioned between the two transparent substrates, and the areas of the conductive patterns projected onto the first transparent substrate are partially overlapped to form a plurality of sensing blocks. The spacer is configured between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern to form a gap.

Description

Touch panel and driving method thereof

technical field

The present invention relates to a touch panel and its driving method, and in particular to a resistive touch panel and its driving method.

Background technique

In recent years, all kinds of electronic products are constantly moving towards the direction of easy operation, small size and large screen size, especially portable electronic products have stricter requirements on volume and screen size. Therefore, many electronic products integrate the touch panel and the liquid crystal display panel, so as to omit the space required for the keyboard or the control keys, thereby expanding the configurable area of the screen.

Currently, touch panels can be roughly classified into resistive, capacitive, infrared and ultrasonic touch panels, among which resistive touch panels and capacitive touch panels are the most common products. As far as the capacitive touch panel is concerned, the multi-touch feature provides a more user-friendly operation mode, so that the capacitive touch panel is gradually favored by the market. However, the capacitive touch panel must be operated by touching the touch panel with a conductive material, so the user cannot wear gloves or operate with a non-conductive material.

As for the resistive touch panel, no matter what kind of medium the user uses to touch the touch panel, it can operate, thus improving the convenience of use of the touch panel. In addition, the required cost of the resistive touch panel is relatively low and the technology of the resistive touch panel is relatively mature, so the market share is relatively high. In general, resistive touch panels have two circuit designs and corresponding calculation methods, which are analog and digital. The analog resistive touch panel has a high positioning resolution capability and is suitable for the handwriting input operation mode. Digital resistive touch panels can be widely used in customized products by making sensing blocks of different sizes according to customer needs. However, the restriction that the resistive touch panel cannot perform multi-touch makes the operation modes of the resistive touch panel unable to be more diversified.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a touch panel to solve the problem that the existing resistive touch panel cannot perform multi-touch.

The invention also provides a driving method to make the operation modes of the resistive touch panel more diversified.

The present invention proposes a touch panel, including a first transparent substrate, a plurality of first conductive patterns, a plurality of first electrodes, a second transparent substrate, a plurality of second conductive patterns, a plurality of second electrodes and a plurality of spacer. The first conductive patterns are arranged on the first transparent substrate, each first conductive pattern extends along a first direction, and the first conductive patterns are parallel to each other. The first electrodes are arranged at both ends of each first conductive pattern along the first direction. The second conductive patterns are disposed on the second transparent substrate, each second conductive pattern extends along a second direction, and the second conductive patterns are parallel to each other, wherein the first direction intersects the second direction. The second electrodes are disposed at both ends of each second conductive pattern along the second direction. The spacer is disposed between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern, so that a gap is formed between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern. Areas where the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern are projected onto the first transparent substrate partially overlap to form a plurality of sensing blocks.

In the touch panel of the present invention, the above-mentioned first direction and the second direction are substantially perpendicular to each other.

In the touch panel of the present invention, a width of the above-mentioned first conductive pattern in the vertical first direction is greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm.

In the touch panel of the present invention, a width of the above-mentioned second conductive pattern in the vertical second direction is greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm.

In the touch panel of the present invention, a distance between any two adjacent first conductive patterns is greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm.

In the touch panel of the present invention, a distance between any two adjacent second conductive patterns is greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm.

In the touch panel of the present invention, the area of each of the aforementioned sensing regions is between 0.64 cm ² and 4 cm ² .

In the touch panel of the present invention, the material of the spacer includes glass, plastic, polymer material, oxide material or a combination thereof.

In the touch panel of the present invention, the materials of the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate include glass, acrylic, polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC ) or a combination of the above.

In the touch panel of the present invention, the materials of the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern include indium tin oxide (ITO), cadmium tin oxide (CTO), aluminum zinc oxide (AZO), indium zinc oxide (IZO) , zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO) or one of the groups thereof.

In the touch panel of the present invention, the height of the above-mentioned spacers is, for example, 2 μm to 200 μm.

In the touch panel of the present invention, the material of the first electrode and the second electrode includes silver glue.

The present invention further proposes a driving method suitable for driving the above-mentioned touch panel. The driving method includes generating a digital signal by using electrical changes between the first electrode and the second electrode to define at least one sensing area. In addition, an analog signal is generated by utilizing the electrical change between a part of the first electrode and a part of the second electrode connected to the sensing block.

In the driving method of the present invention, the above-mentioned touch panel further includes at least one driving chip connected to the first electrode and the second electrode to detect digital signals and analog signals. In addition, when the number of driving chips is 1, the touch panel further includes a multiplexer connected to the driving chips so that the driving chips detect digital signals and analog signals sequentially.

The touch panel of the present invention can be divided into a plurality of sensing blocks, and each sensing block is connected to a corresponding electrode. Therefore, the touch panel of the present invention can be driven by digital calculation and analog calculation. When the user touches the touch panel of the present invention, multiple touched positions can be sensed simultaneously by using digital calculation, that is, the function of multi-touch. In addition, the touch panel of the present invention can use analog calculations to more accurately define the touched position and its track change. In short, the touch panel of the present invention has high operational convenience and high operational resolution.

Description of drawings

In order to make the above-mentioned purposes, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A is an exploded view of a touch panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a side view of the touch panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the touch panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a touch panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Description of main component symbols:

100, 200: touch panel

110: first transparent substrate

112: first conductive pattern

114, X10～X30, X11～X31: the first electrode

120: second transparent substrate

122: second conductive pattern

124, Y10~Y30, Y11~Y31: second electrodes

130: spacer

140. I～IX: Induction block

A, A', B, B': position

D1: first direction

D2: Second direction

Detailed ways

FIG. 1A is an exploded view of the touch panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a side view of the touch panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 1A and 1B, the touch panel 100 includes a first transparent substrate 110, a plurality of first conductive patterns 112, a plurality of first electrodes 114, a second transparent substrate 120, a plurality of second conductive patterns 122, A plurality of second electrodes 124 and a plurality of spacers 130 . The first conductive pattern 112 is disposed on the first transparent substrate 110 . Each first conductive pattern 112 extends along a first direction D1, and two adjacent first conductive patterns 112 are parallel to each other. The first electrodes 114 are disposed at both ends of each first conductive pattern 112 in the first direction D1. The second conductive pattern 122 is disposed on the second transparent substrate 120 . Each second conductive pattern 122 extends along a second direction D2 and is parallel to each other, wherein the first direction D1 intersects the second direction D2. The second electrodes 124 are disposed at both ends of each second conductive pattern 122 in the second direction D2. The spacer 130 is disposed between the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 . The first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 are substantially located between the first transparent substrate 110 and the second transparent substrate 120 .

In addition, please refer to FIG. 1B , the spacer 130 is disposed between the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 . The height of each spacer 130 is, for example, greater than the sum of the thicknesses of one first conductive pattern 112 and one second conductive pattern 122 , so that a gap d is formed between the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 . That is to say, when the touch panel 100 is not touched, the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 can maintain electrical insulation. In practice, the spacer 130 can be disposed on the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 , or directly disposed on the first transparent substrate 110 and the second transparent substrate 120 . In other words, the spacer 130 is configured to maintain the gap d between the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 , and its distribution position and distribution density can be changed according to the requirements of different products. In addition, the material of the spacer 130 can be transparent or opaque insulating material.

For example, when the spacer 130 is directly disposed on the conductive patterns 112, 122, the spacer 130 can be made of a transparent material. When the spacer 130 is directly disposed on the transparent substrates 110, 120, the spacer 130 can be made of an opaque material. In addition, the manufacturing method of the spacer 130 may be a lithography process, a printing process, or a dispersion process. Of course, in addition to the configuration of the spacer 130 , the present invention can also fill optical glue between the first transparent substrate 110 and the second transparent substrate 120 so that the touch panel 100 has better light transmittance.

In this embodiment, the first direction D1 and the second direction D2 are substantially perpendicular to each other. That is to say, the extension directions of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 are perpendicular to each other, therefore, the projected areas of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 partially overlap on the first transparent substrate 110 . FIG. 2 is a top view of the touch panel according to the first embodiment of the present invention. From the top view of FIG. 2 , referring to FIG. 2 , the projected areas of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 on the first transparent substrate 110 partially overlap to form a plurality of sensing regions 140 . Because, the first electrode 114 and the second electrode 124 are disposed at both ends of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 respectively. Therefore, the sensing block 140 formed by the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 is connected with two first electrodes 114 and two second electrodes 124 correspondingly in the first direction D1 and the second direction D2 .

The touch panel 100 can use different calculation modes to locate the touched position. When the user touches the touch panel 100 , the first electrode 114 and the second electrode 124 can scan the entire surface to receive the current change or the voltage change generated by the touched sensing area 140 . At this time, the touch panel 100 uses digital signals to define the touched sensing area 140 , for example. When different sensing blocks 140 are touched, corresponding current or voltage changes will be generated. Therefore, the touch panel 100 can simultaneously sense the digital signals of a plurality of sensing blocks 140 . That is to say, the touch panel 100 has a multi-touch function. In this embodiment, the overlapping portions of the first electrode pattern 112 and the second electrode pattern 122 constitute four sensing areas 140 , so the touch panel 100 can sense four areas 140 at most at the same time. Of course, if the number of the sensing blocks 140 increases, the touch panel 100 can sense more points at the same time.

Generally speaking, when a user uses a stylus or other tools to operate the touch panel 100 , he often only touches a single position, that is, only performs single-point touch. When the user operates with fingers, it is more likely to touch different positions at the same time to perform multi-touch. Therefore, when designing the touch panel 100 considering the width of human fingers, the width W1 of the first conductive pattern 112 in the vertical first direction D1 is, for example, greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm, and the second conductive pattern 122 is in the vertical first direction D1. A width W2 in the two directions D2 can also be greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm, for example. That is to say, each sensing block 140 can be designed to be an appropriate size substantially considering the width of the finger. In this way, the width of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 does not need to be limited to a very small size, which helps to improve the yield of the process.

In addition, each sensing block 140 is correspondingly connected to two first electrodes 114 and second electrodes 124 in the first direction D1 and the second direction D2. Therefore, the touch panel 100 of this embodiment can perform position calculation of analog signals for each sensing block 140 . That is to say, when the touch panel 100 is touched to generate an electrical change, one or more sensing areas 140 that are touched can be defined. At the same time, the one or more sensing blocks 140 can further scan the analog signal to locate the touched position more accurately. Generally speaking, in addition to the above-mentioned multi-touch function, the touch panel 100 can be applied to the handwriting input operation mode because of the high-resolution analog computing mode.

Of course, the touch panel 100 also includes at least one driver chip (not shown) to perform the above-mentioned calculation of the digital signal and the analog signal. Briefly, the operation method of the touch panel 100 of this embodiment is as follows. Firstly, a digital signal between the first electrode 112 and the second electrode 122 is detected by a driving chip (not shown), and at least one touched sensing area 140 is defined. Then, the driving chip (not shown) can further use an analog signal generated in the touched sensing block 140 to perform more accurate positioning calculation. The operation of the product is carried out by calculating the command to be input by the user through the above-mentioned digital signal and analog signal.

In addition, when the number of driving chips (not shown) is 1, the touch panel 100 may further include a multiplexer (not shown) connected to the driving chips, so that the driving chips (not shown) can be sequentially Scan and calculate digital and analog signals. That is to say, the touch panel of the present invention can achieve multi-touch and high-resolution operation functions without disposing multiple driving chips (not shown).

In one embodiment, if the user intends to use the stylus to draw graphics or write, the driver chip preferably can sense the complete track touched by the stylus. When the gap between the conductive patterns 112 and 122 is too large, the track of the stylus moving between different sensing areas 140 may not be continuously measured. Therefore, a distance d1 between any two adjacent first conductive patterns 112 is, for example, greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm, and a distance d2 between any two adjacent second conductive patterns 122 may also be greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm. That is to say, an appropriate distance must be maintained between any two adjacent conductive patterns 112 , 122 to maintain the resolution of the touch panel 100 .

In fact, the spacer 130 can separate the first conductive pattern 112 from the second conductive pattern 122 , and the height of the spacer 130 is, for example, 2 μm to 200 μm, and a preferred height is, for example, 3 μm to 10 μm. When the touch panel 100 is not touched, the spacer 130 can maintain electrical insulation between the two conductive patterns 112 , 122 . When manufacturing the touch panel 100 , the material used for the spacer 130 includes glass, plastic, polymer material, oxide material or a combination thereof. In addition, the touch panel 100 is mostly attached to the liquid crystal display panel to achieve the function of convenient operation. Therefore, common materials of the first transparent substrate 110 and the second transparent substrate 120 include glass, acrylic, polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC) or combinations thereof. Of course, the material of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 can also be a transparent conductive material, which includes indium tin oxide (ITO), cadmium tin oxide (CTO), zinc aluminum oxide (AZO), indium zinc oxide (IZO ), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO) or one of their groups. The material of the first electrode 114 and the second electrode 124 is, for example, silver glue.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a touch panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3 , the touch panel 200 is substantially similar to the touch panel 100 of the first embodiment. The touch panel 200 includes three first conductive patterns 112 and three second conductive patterns 122 . In addition, the first electrode 114 and the second electrode 124 in the touch panel 200 are respectively disposed at two ends of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122. The overlapping area of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 defines, for example, nine sensing areas I˜IX.

In detail, the first electrodes 114 include first electrodes X10 - X30 at one end of the first conductive pattern 112 and first electrodes X11 - X31 at the other end. The second electrodes 124 include second electrodes Y10 - Y30 and second electrodes Y11 - Y31 located at two ends of the second conductive pattern 122 . The width of the first conductive pattern 112 in the vertical first direction D1 is, for example, greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm, and the width of the second conductive pattern 122 in the vertical second direction D2 can also be, for example, greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm. In this way, the area of each sensing block I˜IX is between 0.64 cm ² to 4 cm ² . The distance between any two adjacent first conductive patterns 112 is, for example, greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm, and the distance between any two adjacent second conductive patterns 122 may also be greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm. When the user touches the position A and the position B of the touch panel 200 with a finger, the driving chip can receive the digital signals generated in the sensing block I and the sensing block II. Immediately, the driving chip can scan and calculate the analog signals for the sensing block I and the sensing block II respectively, and define the position A and the position B.

In terms of analog signal scanning and calculation, in the sensing block I, the first electrodes X10 and X11 can be input with different voltages, for example, the first electrode X10 provides a high potential, and the other first electrode X11 is grounded to form a pressure drop. Then a voltage signal is sensed by one of the second electrodes Y11, Y10 to define the coordinates of the first direction D1. Afterwards, the second electrodes Y11 and Y10 can be input with different voltages, for example, the second electrode Y11 provides a high potential, the other second electrode Y10 is grounded, and the voltage signal measured by one of the first electrodes X10 and X11 defines the The coordinates of the second direction D2. The position A can be precisely defined by the coordinates of the first direction D1 and the second direction D2. Similarly, the position B in the sensing block II can also be defined through the above steps.

If the user's finger gradually moves from position A to position A', the sensing block IV will generate a digital signal, and the scanning action of the analog signal will be transferred to the sensing block IV. That is to say, when the finger moves from the position A to the position A', the driver chip will determine whether to scan and detect the analog signal for the sensing block I or the sensing block IV according to the digital signal. Therefore, the trajectories of the fingers moving in the different sensing areas I˜IX can be accurately located. Of course, when the user's other finger moves from position B to position B', the driver chip can also scan the analog signals of the sensing block II and the sensing block VI successively to accurately define the track input by the user. In other words, the touch panel 200 has a multi-touch function, and can precisely define the track input by the user during operation, so as to provide a high-resolution writing function.

To sum up, the present invention configures electrodes on both sides of the conductive pattern of the touch panel. Therefore, the touch panel can sense the range of the touched sensing area through digital calculation. In addition, the touch panel of the present invention can further perform analog calculation on the touched sensing area, so as to improve the position analysis capability of the touch panel. Furthermore, the touch panel of the present invention can sense different sensing areas at the same time, thereby having a multi-touch function, and the touch panel of the present invention has high position resolution capability and can be applied to handwriting input. In short, the touch panel of the present invention integrates multiple functions such as multi-touch and suitable for handwriting input, so that the operation of the touch panel is more humanized and convenient.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. For example, the sensing area does not necessarily have to be a rectangle as disclosed in the drawings of the above embodiments, but can also be a square or rhombus sensing area. That is to say, the present invention can change the definition of the coordinate system so that the directions D1 and D2 are non-orthogonal, so that the projected areas of the first conductive pattern 112 and the second conductive pattern 122 arranged along the directions D1 and D2 overlap. That is a rhombus (not shown). Therefore, any person with ordinary knowledge in the technical field may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be defined by the appended claims prevail.

Claims (15)

1. A touch panel, comprising: a first transparent substrate; a plurality of first conductive patterns arranged on the first transparent substrate, each of the first conductive patterns extends along a first direction, and the first conductive patterns are parallel to each other; a plurality of first electrodes arranged at both ends of each of the first conductive patterns in the first direction; A second transparent substrate, disposed on one side of the first transparent substrate and opposite to the first transparent substrate; A plurality of second conductive patterns are arranged on the second transparent substrate, the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern are located between the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate, each of the The second conductive patterns extend along a second direction, and the second conductive patterns are parallel to each other, wherein the first direction intersects the second direction; a plurality of second electrodes arranged at both ends of each second conductive pattern in the second direction; and a plurality of spacers, arranged between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern, so that a gap is formed between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern; Wherein, the projected area of the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern on the first transparent substrate partially overlap to form a plurality of sensing blocks. 2. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other. 3 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein a width of the first conductive pattern perpendicular to the first direction is greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm. 4 . 4 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein a width of the second conductive pattern perpendicular to the second direction is greater than 0.8 cm to less than 2 cm. 5 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein a distance between any two adjacent first conductive patterns is greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm. 6 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein a distance between any two adjacent second conductive patterns is greater than 1 μm to less than 1000 μm. 7 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein the area of each sensing area is between 0.64 cm ² and 4 cm ² . 8 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the spacer comprises glass, plastic, polymer material, oxide material or a combination thereof. 9. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the material of the transparent substrate comprises glass, acrylic, polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate or a combination thereof . 10. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the materials of the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern include indium tin oxide, cadmium tin oxide, zinc aluminum oxide, indium zinc oxide, oxide Zinc, tin oxide, or one of their groups. 11 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein the height of the spacers is between 2 μm and 200 μm. 12 . The touch panel according to claim 1 , wherein a material of the first electrode and the second electrode comprises silver glue. 13. A driving method suitable for driving the touch panel according to claim 1, the driving method comprising: generating a digital signal by using electrical changes between the first electrode and the second electrode to define at least one sensing area; and An analog signal is generated by utilizing the electrical change between a part of the first electrode and a part of the second electrode connected to the sensing block. 14. The driving method according to claim 13, wherein the touch panel further comprises at least one driving chip connected to the first electrode and the second electrode to detect the digital signal and the analog signal. 15. The driving method according to claim 14, wherein the number of the driving chips is 1, and the touch panel further comprises a multiplexer connected to the driving chips so that the driving The chip sequentially detects the digital signal and the analog signal.

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