TOUCHSCREEN ELECTRODE CONFIGURATION

• US 20110102361A1
• Filed: 10/29/2009
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Inventors: Philipp, Harald
• Granted Patent: US 8,599,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134309 characterised by their geometrical arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13439 characterised by their electrical, optical, physical properties; materials therefor; method of making
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• 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 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• 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

Abstract

A touchscreen includes touchscreen electrode elements distributed across an active area of a substrate, and the touchscreen overlays a display. The touchscreen electrode elements are configured to avoid creating moiré patterns between the display and the touchscreen, such as angled, wavy, zig-zag, or randomized lines. In a further example, the electrodes form a mesh pattern configured to avoid moiré patterns.

Claims

1. An assembly, comprising:

a plurality of touchscreen electrode elements distributed across at least an active area of a substrate;

wherein the touchscreen electrode elements comprise electrodes configured to avoid visible moiré

patterns when overlaying a display having a regular repeating pattern of pixels.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the plurality of touchscreen electrode elements form a mesh comprising at least one of polygons, s-curves, random curves, or irregular shapes.

3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the mesh is broken along one or more zone edges to create multiple electrically separate zones within the mesh.

4. The touchscreen display assembly of claim 1, wherein the touchscreen electrode elements comprise fine line metal elements of 10 or less micrometers in width.

5. The touchscreen display assembly of claim 1, wherein the touchscreen electrode elements comprise at least one of angled, wavy, zig-zag, or randomized lines.

6. The touchscreen display assembly of claim 1, wherein the touchscreen electrode elements have a line width 1/10 or less a sub-pixel size of the display.

7. The touchscreen display assembly of claim 1, wherein a spacing between touchscreen line elements is randomized.

8. The touchscreen display assembly of claim 1, wherein a distance between touchscreen line elements is at least 50 times the width of the lines.

9. A method, comprising:

forming a plurality of touchscreen electrode elements distributed across at least an active area of a substrate;

wherein the touchscreen electrode elements comprise lines configured to avoid moiré

patterns when overlaying a display having a regular repeating pattern of pixels.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of touchscreen electrode elements form a mesh comprising at least one of polygons, s-curves, random curves, or irregular shapes.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the mesh is broken along one or more zone edges to create multiple electrically separate zones within the mesh.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the touchscreen line elements comprise fine line metal elements of 10 or less micrometers in width.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the touchscreen line elements comprise at least one of angled, wavy, zig-zag, or randomized lines.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the touchscreen line elements have a line width 1/10 or less a sub-pixel size of the display.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein a spacing between touchscreen line elements is randomized.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein a distance between touchscreen line elements is at least 50 times the width of the lines.

17. An electronic device, comprising:

a display having a pattern of regularly repeating pixels; and

a touchscreen comprising a plurality of touchscreen line elements distributed across at least an active area of a substrate, the touchscreen overlaying the display;

wherein the touchscreen elements comprise lines configured to avoid moiré

patterns between the display and the touchscreen.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the device comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, an appliance, a computer, an automatic teller machine, and a kiosk.

19. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the touchscreen line elements comprise at least one of angled, wavy, zig-zag, or randomized lines.

20. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the plurality of touchscreen electrode elements form a mesh comprising at least one of polygons, s-curves, random curves, or irregular shapes.

21. A method of forming an electronic device, comprising:

forming a display having a pattern of regularly repeating pixels; and

forming a touchscreen comprising a plurality of touchscreen line elements distributed across at least an active area of a substrate, the touchscreen overlaying the display;

wherein the touchscreen elements comprise lines configured to avoid moiré

patterns between the display and the touchscreen.

22. The method of forming an electronic device of claim 21, wherein the device comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, an appliance, a computer, an automatic teller machine, and a kiosk.

23. The method of forming an electronic device of claim 21, wherein the touchscreen line elements comprise at least one of angled, wavy, zig-zag, or randomized lines.

24. The method of forming an electronic device of claim 21, wherein the plurality of touchscreen electrode elements form a mesh comprising at least one of polygons, s-curves, random curves, or irregular shapes.

25. An assembly, comprising:

a first mesh of touchscreen electrode elements distributed across at least an active area of a substrate, the first mesh configured to avoid visible moiré

patterns when overlaying a display having a regular repeating pattern of pixels;

a second mesh of touchscreen electrode elements distributed across at least an active area of a substrate and overlapping the first mesh, the second mesh configured to avoid visible moiré

patterns when overlaying a display having a regular repeating pattern of pixels

wherein the first and second meshes are further configured to have the same pitch, such that mesh intersections in the first mesh occur in open spaces in the second mesh, and mesh intersections in the second mesh occur in open spaces in the first mesh

26. The assembly of claim 25, further comprising multiple electrode connections coupled to each mesh, and a plurality of breaks in the mesh separating adjacent electrodes from one another.

27. The assembly of claim 26, wherein the multiple electrode connections are formed with the same pitch as the coupled mesh, such that a configuration of the connection between the electrode connections and the mesh remain consistent across the mesh.

28. The assembly of claim 25, wherein the first and second mesh comprise at least one of a mesh of polygons and a mesh of wavy lines.

29. The assembly of claim 28, wherein the mesh of polygons comprise oblique polygons.