KR101118809B1 - Wiring of touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a glass substrate comprising a transparent conductive layer on an upper surface thereof; A plurality of wirings arranged along a boundary of the glass substrate; A plurality of conductive ends formed on the upper side of the glass substrate, each wiring having a plurality of conductive ends electrically connected to one of the conductive ends; And a flexible circuit board provided in the wirings, the flexible circuit board comprising a plurality of connection terminals each electrically connected to one of the conductive ends. By the use of this wiring structure, conventionally used conductors are replaced by flexible circuit boards to reduce the wiring area, which makes the wiring area of the touch panel even narrower.

Description

Wiring structure of touch panel {WIRING OF TOUCH PANEL}

The present invention relates to touch panels, in particular using flexible circuit boards to reduce wiring area and to make narrower wiring areas than touch panels manufactured using the prior art, to replace conductors on the glass substrate or to the bottom of the glass substrate. It is associated with a touch panel carrying a conductor.

Recently, typical input devices (such as keyboards and mice) have been replaced by touch panels as the choice of human-machine interface devices. This human-machine interface device is widely used in various electronic devices (eg, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), personal digital assistants (PDAs, etc.)). Touch panels provide a direct and better user interface while at the same time eliminating the need for typical input devices. The space saved by the elimination of typical input devices can use larger panels that provided a better graphical user interface.

Typically, conventional resistive touch panels can be constructed and made of 4-wire, 5-wire or 6-wire. 1 shows a touch panel having a structure. The touch panel is a transparent conductive glass substrate having two wires formed along the X and Y axes, respectively, and a wire on a transparent conductive film (eg, an ITO film, not shown) for sampling voltage along the X and Y axes. Has (1). There are five wires located between the edge portion of the touch panel and the transparent operating area 11. The control circuit applies 5 volts across the wiring 10 on the transparent conductive glass substrate. The wiring 16 is grounded when the user touches the touch panel (at point P as shown in the example) using a finger or a pen (the voltage between both ends is zero). As a result, the voltage at point P drops due to the change in resistance. The voltage Vpy is sampled on the Y axis by the wiring on the transparent conductive film. The control circuit applies 5 volts to both ends of the wiring 14 on the transparent conductive film. The wiring 12 is grounded (the voltage between both ends is zero). The voltage Vpx is sampled on the X axis by the wiring on the transparent conductive film. The position of point P is determined by comparing the voltage of Vpy and the voltage of Vpx.

In addition, the wirings 10, 12, 14, and 16 are electrically connected to one end portion electrically connected to the respective conductors 20, 22, 24, and 26, and through the same side of the transparent conductive glass substrate 1 and the transparent conductive film. It has another end extended to the center. A flexible circuit board (not shown) has one end electrically connected to the other ends of the conductors 20, 22, 24, and 26, and the other end extending beyond the transparent conductive glass substrate 1. The transparent conductive film has an electrical connection with the control circuit of the touch panel. The wiring regions of the conductors 20, 22, 24 and 26 and the wirings 10, 12, 14 and 16 are located at the boundary between the transparent operating region 11 and the edge of the touch panel.

New developments in liquid crystal display technology may allow manufacturers to produce display devices with narrower border areas than conventional display devices. Therefore, when the touch panel is used in the liquid crystal display device, it is required to make the border width of the touch panel smaller. This new demand does not give free space for wiring on the edge of the touch screen in the new design of the touch screen. Several inventions have been proposed to solve this problem. U. S. Patent 6,549, 193 discloses a technique for designing a resistive touch panel with improved linear response and reduced boundary width. The invention focuses on pattern design and still uses traces placed on the substrate for connection with the cable. Thus, the boundary width on the side of the panel is wider as compared to the present invention. In US Pat. No. 6,559,835 a resistive panel electrode pattern and a conductive bus design have been proposed. A resistive linearization pattern is formed inwardly parabolic and a conductive bus is superimposed thereon. This invention claims narrower and better linearity than the prior art. An insulating material must be placed between the conductive bus and the linearization pattern. This increases manufacturing time and complexity and consequently increases touch screen costs. U. S. Patent 6,593, 916 suggests how to design a linearization pattern to increase linearity while reducing the width of the screen. However, this invention does not solve the problem of conductive buses. The use of a conductive bus is required and thus the width of the screen is increased. U.S. Patent 6,673,390 is another invention that presents a new linearization pattern design. Like the prior art, this invention does not mention a conductive bus that must be used to send current to the four corners of the screen. This bus increases the size of the screen. US Patent 6,727,895 proposes to place conductive wiring on a substrate instead of regular wiring. This improves the reliability and quality of the screen. However, this invention does not address the screen width problem. U.S. Patent 6,781,579 proposes a touch panel linear pattern design for reducing the width of the screen while increasing linearity. The use of new design techniques for linearization patterns reduces the width of the screen. However, a conductive bus that still flows through the four corners of the touch panel is still placed on the screen and these buses increase the width of the screen. U.S. Patent 6,163,313 describes a method of designing a resistive pattern. This invention does not mention the width of the screen. Most of the techniques used in the prior art can be summarized as follows.

(1) One way to reduce the wiring area is to use wires that are narrower than the normal width. However, this technique increases the wiring resistance. As a result, the voltage drop across the wiring is increased and the signal strength can be reduced. This interferes with signal transmission. In addition, this technology is not economical and more difficult to produce touch panels with narrow connection wiring, as it has a tendency to reduce yield.

(2) In order to reduce the wiring area, the wirings can be overlapped (the wiring and the conductors overlap). This technique was proposed in Taiwan Utility Model 544,824. However, this approach causes short circuits between the wiring and the conductors, increasing manufacturing difficulties and reducing yields. As a result, manufacturing time and costs can be increased.

(3) It is also possible to arrange some conductors on the transparent conductive film in order to reduce the wiring area. However, transparent conductive films are affected by environmental changes, in particular thermal changes. In addition, the wirings formed on the transparent conductive film are inferior in adhesion and firmness as compared to the transparent conductive glass substrate. Moreover, this technique will increase the manufacturing process and at the same time increase the manufacturing time and manufacturing cost.

Therefore, there is a need to overcome the problems of the prior art and to provide a touch panel having wiring and conductors arranged in a narrow boundary region.

After repeated studies and experiments, a new method of wiring in a touch panel that overcomes the above disadvantages of the prior art and successfully places wiring and conductors of the touch panel in a narrow area is proposed.

According to one aspect of the invention, the glass substrate; A plurality of conductive ends formed on one side of the glass substrate; A flexible circuit board having wirings disposed thereon, each of the flexible circuit boards comprising a plurality of connection terminals electrically connected to one of the conductive ends; And a plurality of wirings provided along a boundary of the glass substrate, each having a plurality of wirings electrically connected to one of the conductive ends. The technology replaces conventional conductors by flexible circuit boards.

According to another aspect of the invention, a glass substrate comprising a transparent conductive layer on the upper surface; A plurality of wirings provided along the boundaries of the glass substrate; A plurality of conductors disposed on a bottom surface opposite the transparent conductive layer of the glass substrate; And a plurality of conductive material layers each provided between the wiring and the other end of one of the corresponding conductors at one corner of the glass substrate. By using this wiring structure, the problems associated with the conductors and wiring of the prior art are solved and the wiring area on the same surface is reduced. As a result, it is possible to make narrower wiring of the touch panel.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

According to the present invention, the wiring area is reduced and the touch panel has a narrower boundary area than the touch panel using the conventional wiring structure.

1 is a perspective view of a conductor and a wiring formed on a conventional transparent conductive glass substrate.
2 is a perspective view of a conductor and a wiring formed on the transparent conductive glass substrate according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the connection between the conductors and the flexible circuit board.
4 is a perspective view of a conductor and a wiring formed on the transparent conductive glass substrate according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conductor formed on another surface of the glass substrate shown in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the conductor on the glass substrate of FIG. 4. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of the conductor on the glass substrate of FIG. 5.
8 is a partial perspective view showing a conductive aperture of a wiring formed on a transparent conductive glass substrate according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a partial perspective view of a conductive via hole of a conductor on the glass substrate shown in FIG. 8.

2 and 3, a wiring structure of a touch panel according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown. A transparent conductive layer (not shown) is located on the upper surface of the glass substrate 3. A plurality of wires 30 are provided along the boundary between the edge of the transparent conductive layer and the transparent operating region 32. A flexible circuit board 4 is located on one side of the transparent conductive layer and the wiring 30. The flexible circuit board 4 extends beyond the glass substrate 3 and is electrically connected with the control circuit. Conductive ends 34 are formed in a transparent conductive layer between each wire 30 and flexible circuit board 4. By the use of this technique, many parallel conductors of the prior art are replaced by flexible circuit boards 4. This reduces the space requirement of the wiring area. As a result, it is possible to produce a touch panel having a narrower boundary than a touch panel using a conventional wiring technique.

In the present invention, the wiring 30 of the transparent conductive layer not adjacent to the flexible circuit board 4 has an extension conductor 36 extending to a position adjacent to the flexible circuit board 4. This extension conductor 36 is electrically connected to the conductive end 34 of the wiring 30. A plurality of connection terminals (not shown) are provided in the flexible circuit board 4, each of which is electrically connected to the conductive end 34.

4 and 5, a wiring structure of a touch panel according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown. The transparent conductive layer is located on the upper surface of the glass substrate 3. A plurality of wires 30 are provided along the boundary between the edge of the transparent conductive layer and the transparent operating region 32. A plurality of conductors 35 are provided on the bottom surface opposite the transparent conductive layer of the glass substrate 3. The end of each conductor 35 extends to a position proximate to one side of the glass substrate 3 and the other end extends to a position corresponding to one of the wirings 30. A layer of conductive material 37 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) is provided at one corner of the glass substrate 3 between the wiring 30 and the other end of the corresponding conductor 35. With this configuration, the available wiring area on the transparent conductive layer of the glass substrate 3 will not be consumed to arrange the conductor thereon. This technology makes it possible to produce touch panels with narrower boundaries than panels produced by using the prior art.

In the present invention, the conductive material layer 37 is a metal conductive layer or flexible circuit board formed by conductive ink printing or coating, physical or chemical vapor deposition methods, disposed between the wiring and the other end of the corresponding conductor.

8 and 9, a wiring structure of a touch panel according to a third embodiment of the present invention is shown. The transparent conductive layer is located on the upper surface of the glass substrate 3. A plurality of wires 30 are provided along the boundary between the edge of the transparent conductive layer and the transparent operating region 32.

A plurality of conductors 35 are provided on the bottom surface opposite the transparent conductive layer of the glass substrate 3. One set of ends of the conductor 35 extends to a position proximate one side of the glass substrate 3 and the other ends extend to a corresponding position of one of the wires 30. The conductive via hole 38 is provided between the other end of the conductor 35 and the corresponding wiring 30 at one corner of the glass substrate 3. A layer of conductive material is formed in the conductive via hole 38 and is electrically connected to the conductor 35 and the wiring 30. By constructing as in the second embodiment with the layer of conductive material formed on the side of the glass substrate, the wiring area on the same surface is further reduced to achieve the object of narrowing the wiring of the touch panel.

In the present invention, the conductive via hole 38 is formed in the glass substrate by laser drilling (eg, CO ₂ , YAG, excimer, plasma, UV, etc.), hydrodynamic drills, cutters, or the like.

In the above embodiment, the wiring 30, conductor 35, and extension conductor 36 may be used in conductive ink printing or coating (e.g., silver paste, carbon, copper paste, etc.) means, or physical or chemical vapor deposition methods. Formed by.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Claims (4)

In the wiring structure of the touch panel,
A glass substrate 3 comprising a transparent conductive layer on the top surface;
A plurality of wirings 30 arranged along the boundary of the glass substrate;
A flexible circuit board (4) disposed on one side of the transparent conductive layer and the wiring (30) and extending beyond the glass substrate (3) and electrically connected to a control circuit on the circuit board of the touch panel; And
Each formed in a transparent conductive layer between each of the wirings 30 and the flexible circuit board 4, extending toward the center of the one side on which the flexible circuit board 4 is disposed, or the glass substrate 3 Wiring structure of a touch panel having a plurality of conductive ends 34 that do not extend beyond. The method of claim 1,
And an extension conductor formed on the wiring of the transparent conductive layer not proximate to the flexible circuit board and extending to a position proximate the flexible circuit board and electrically connected to one of the conductive ends. The method of claim 1,
And wherein said flexible circuit board has a plurality of connection terminals each electrically connected to one of said conductive ends. The method of claim 1,
And a transparent operating region on the glass substrate, wherein a boundary of the glass substrate extends from an edge of the transparent conductive layer to the transparent operating region.

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