Display device having a touch sensor and driving method thereof

• US 10,572,059 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2017
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lee, Il Ho, Choi, Sang Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Shen, Yuzhen
• Application Number:
  US15/479,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20180067606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04111 Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04184 Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/40 OLEDs integrated with touch screens

Abstract

A display device and a driving method thereof, in which the display device includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels electrically connected to data lines and scan lines, a touch sensor including a plurality of touch electrodes, a touch controller for supplying a first driving signal to the touch sensor during a display period, and a data driver for supplying a data signal to the data lines during the display period, and supplying a second driving signal to the data lines during a pressure sensing period.

Claims

1. A display device comprising:

a display panel comprising a plurality of pixels electrically connected to data lines and scan lines;

a touch sensor comprising a plurality of touch electrodes;

a touch controller configured to supply first driving signals to the touch sensor during a display period and a pressure sensing period; and

a data driver configured to supply data signals to the data lines during the display period, and supply second driving signals to the data lines during the pressure sensing period,

wherein;

frequencies of the first driving signals in the pressure sensing period and frequencies of the second driving signals in the pressure sensing period are different from each other; and

the frequencies of the second driving signals in the pressure sensing period are greater than zero; and

the frequencies of the first driving signals in the display period are greater than zero.

2. The display device of claim 1, further comprising a scan driver configured to supply scan signals to the scan lines during the display period.

3. The display device of claim 2, wherein the scan driver is configured to not supply the scan signals to the scan lines during the pressure sensing period.

4. The display device of claim 1, wherein the touch controller is configured to detect a position of a touch using first sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the display period, and detect a pressure of the touch using second sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the pressure sensing period.

5. The display device of claim 1, wherein the touch controller is configured to detect a position of a touch using the first sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the display period, and detect a position of a touch and a pressure of the touch using the second sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the pressure sensing period.

6. The display device of claim 5, wherein the touch controller is configured to separate the second sensing signals into a plurality of sub-sensing signals having frequencies different from each other, and detect the position of the touch and the pressure of the touch using the respective sub-sensing signals.

7. The display device of claim 1, wherein the touch sensor comprises a capacitive type touch sensor.

8. The display device of claim 1, wherein the data driver is configured to supply the same second driving signals to all of the data lines during the pressure sensing period.

9. The display device of claim 1, wherein the display panel comprises a liquid crystal display panel or an organic light emitting display panel.

10. The display device of claim 1, wherein at least some of the touch electrodes and at least some of the data lines overlap with each other.

11. A method for driving a display device, the method comprising:

supplying first driving signals to a touch sensor during a display period included in a frame period;

respectively supplying data signals and scan signals to data lines and scan lines, which are electrically connected to pixels of a display panel, during the display period;

supplying the first driving signals to the touch sensor during a pressure sensing period included in the frame period; and

simultaneously supplying second driving signals to the data lines during the pressure sensing period,

wherein;

frequencies of the first driving signals in the pressure sensing period and frequencies of the second driving signals in the pressure sensing period are different from each other;

the frequencies of the second driving signals in the pressure sensing period are greater than zero; and

the frequencies of the first driving signals in the display period are greater than zero.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting a position of a touch using first sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the display period; and

detecting a pressure of the touch using second sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the pressure sensing period.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising

detecting a position of a touch using first sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the display period, and detecting a position of a touch and a pressure of the touch by performing frequency separation on second sensing signals output from the touch sensor during the pressure sensing period.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the touch sensor is located on the display panel, and comprises a plurality of touch electrodes.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein at least some of the touch electrodes and at least some of the data lines overlap with each other.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the touch sensor comprises a capacitive type touch sensor.