Touch panel spacer dots and methods of making
First Claim
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1. A method for making a touch activated user input device comprising:
- providing a first substrate comprising a first conductive coating;
ink jet printing a plurality of dots on the first conductive coating;
hardening the dots to form spacers adhered to the first substrate; and
placing a second substrate comprising a second conductive coating over the first substrate such that the spacers maintain a distance between the first and second substrates to prevent detection of a touch location when no external force is applied and allow detection of a localized touch location when a sufficient localized external force is applied between the first and second substrates.
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Abstract
The present invention provides touch panels and touch panel substrates that include spacer dots comprising a nanocomposite material. The present invention also provides methods of ink jet printing spacer dots for touch panel applications. The spacer dots and methods of making spacer dots can lead to spacers that have good durability, have controllable sizes, shapes, and spacings, and have desirable optical properties.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method for making a touch activated user input device comprising:
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providing a first substrate comprising a first conductive coating;
ink jet printing a plurality of dots on the first conductive coating;
hardening the dots to form spacers adhered to the first substrate; and
placing a second substrate comprising a second conductive coating over the first substrate such that the spacers maintain a distance between the first and second substrates to prevent detection of a touch location when no external force is applied and allow detection of a localized touch location when a sufficient localized external force is applied between the first and second substrates. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for forming dots suitable as spacers in touch panels, which method comprises the steps of:
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providing curable gel composition;
heating the gel composition to form a liquid composition;
ink jetting the liquid composition onto a transparent conductive coating to form a plurality of dots;
cooling the dots into a gel state; and
curing the dots to adhere the dots to the transparent conductive coating, wherein the cured dots have heights of about 2 microns or more, and have height to diameter aspect ratios of about 1;
10 or more. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for making touch panel spacer dots comprising:
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printing a nanocomposite composition comprising surface-modified inorganic nanoparticles dispersed in an energy curable fluid vehicle to form a plurality of curable dots on a conductive coating; and
curing the curable dots to adhere the dots to the conductive coating. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of making touch panel spacer dots comprising:
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selecting a transparent conductive coating suitable for use in a touch panel;
formulating a curable gel composition capable of (i) being ink jet printed onto the transparent conductive coating to form a droplet on the transparent conductive coating that has a height to diameter aspect ratio of about 1;
10 or more for droplets having height of about 2 to 10 microns or more, and (ii) adhering to the transparent conductive coating upon curing, without modifications to the transparent conductive coating. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A touch panel comprising:
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a first substrate comprising a first conductive coating;
a second substrate comprising a second conductive coating; and
a plurality of spacer dots disposed between the first and second substrates to maintain a distance between the first and second substrates to prevent detection of a touch location when no external force is applied and allow detection of a localized touch location when a sufficient localized external force is applied between the first and second substrates, wherein the plurality of spacers dots comprise a nanocomposite material comprising about 5% or more by weight of surface-modified inorganic nanoparticles. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A method for making touch panel spacer dots comprising:
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providing a touch panel substrate comprising a plurality of spacer dots;
inspecting the substrate for missing or damaged spacer dots; and
ink jet printing material to fill in or repair a missing or damaged spacer dot identified in the inspecting step.
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50. A display system comprising a touch panel comprising:
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a first substrate;
a second substrate disposed over the first substrate; and
a plurality of spacer dots disposed between the first and second substrates, wherein said spacer dots are formed by ink jet printing.
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51. A display system comprising a touch panel comprising:
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a first substrate;
a second substrate disposed over the first substrate; and
a plurality of spacer dots comprising a nanocomposite material including about 5% or more by weight of surface-modified inorganic nanoparticles.
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Specification