MULTI-CHANNEL TOUCH PANEL

• US 20110115718A1
• Filed: 11/16/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
• Inventors: Kuo, Chun-Ku, Hsieh, Ming-Lun, Liu, Po-Yuan, Yu, Jian-Shen
• Granted Patent: US 8,194,047 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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

The present invention relates to a multi-channel touch panel. In one embodiment, the multi-channel touch panel includes a plurality of driving electrodes spatial-separately arranged in the form of a matrix, a plurality of sensing electrodes associated with the plurality of driving electrodes such that each sensing electrode is surrounded by a corresponding driving electrode, N driving lines spatial-separately arranged along a row direction and M pairs of sensing lines spatial-separately arranged crossing over the N driving lines along a column direction, where each driving electrode in the row of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a corresponding driving line, and each odd sensing electrode in a column of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a first sensing line of the corresponding paired sensing lines, and each even sensing electrode in the column of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a second sensing line of the corresponding paired sensing lines.

Claims

1. A multi-channel touch panel, comprising:

(a) a plurality of driving electrodes spatial-separately arranged in the form of a matrix;

(b) a plurality of sensing electrodes associated with the plurality of driving electrodes such that each sensing electrode is surrounded by a corresponding driving electrode, wherein the plurality of driving electrodes and the plurality of sensing electrodes define an electrode matrix having N rows and M columns, each of N and M being a positive integer;

(c) N driving lines, {X_n}, n=1, 2, . . . , N, spatial-separately arranged along a row direction of the electrode matrix;

(d) M pairs of sensing lines, {Y_m-1, Y_m-2}, m=1, 2, . . . , M, spatial-separately arranged crossing over the N driving lines {X_n} along a column direction of the electrode matrix, the column direction being perpendicular to the row direction,

wherein each driving electrode in the n-th row of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a corresponding driving line X_n; and

wherein each odd sensing electrode in the m-th column of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a first sensing line Y_m-1 of the m-th paired sensing lines Y_m-1 and Y_m-2, and each even sensing electrode in the m-th column of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a second sensing line Y_m-2 of the m-th paired sensing lines Y_m-1 and Y_m-2.

2. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes and the corresponding one of the plurality of driving electrodes are electrically insulated from one another.

3. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes and the corresponding one of the plurality of driving electrodes that surrounds the sensing electrode are spatially separated from one another.

4. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes is formed to have a body portion and a bridge electrically connected the body portion to a corresponding sensing line of the M pairs of sensing lines.

5. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 4, wherein the body portion of each of the plurality of sensing electrodes has a geometric shape of circle, oval, diamond, square, triangle, or polygon.

6. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of driving electrodes has a concave edge defining a space that is substantially complementary to the geometric shape of the body portion of each sensing electrode.

7. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of driving electrodes and the plurality of sensing electrodes are formed of a thin layer of one or more conductive materials.

8. A multi-channel touch panel, comprising:

(a) a plurality of driving electrodes spatial-separately arranged in the form of a matrix;

(b) a plurality of sensing electrodes associated with the plurality of driving electrodes such that each sensing electrode is surrounded by a corresponding driving electrode, wherein the plurality of driving electrodes and the plurality of sensing electrodes define an electrode matrix having N rows and M columns, each of N and M being a positive integer;

(c) N pairs of driving lines, {X_n-1, X_n-2}, n=1, 2, . . . , N, spatial-separately arranged along a row direction of the electrode matrix;

(d) M sensing lines, {Y_m}, m=1, 2, . . . , M, spatial-separately arranged crossing over the N pairs of driving lines, {X_n-1, X_n-2} along a column direction of the electrode matrix, the column direction being perpendicular to the row direction,

wherein each odd driving electrode in the n-th row of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a first driving line X<sub>μ

-1</sub> of the n-th paired driving lines X_n-1 and X_n-2, and each even driving electrode in the n-th row of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a second driving line X_n-2 of the n-th paired driving lines X_n-1 and X_n-2; and

wherein each sensing electrode in the m-th column of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by a corresponding sensing line Y_m.

9. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes and the corresponding one of the plurality of driving electrodes are electrically insulated from one another.

10. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes and the corresponding one of the plurality of driving electrodes that surrounds the sensing electrode are spatially separated from one another.

11. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of driving electrodes is formed to have a body portion and a bridge electrically connected the body portion to a corresponding driving line of the N pairs of driving lines, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes is formed to have a body portion and a bridge electrically connected the body portion to a corresponding sensing line Y_m

12. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 11, wherein the body portion of each of the plurality of sensing electrodes has a geometric shape of circle, oval, diamond, square, triangle, or polygon.

13. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of driving electrodes has a concave edge defining a space that is substantially complementary to the geometric shape of the body portion of each sensing electrode.

14. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 8, wherein the plurality of driving electrodes and the plurality of sensing electrodes are formed of a thin layer of one or more conductive materials.

15. A multi-channel touch panel, comprising:

(a) a plurality of driving electrodes spatial-separately arranged in the form of a matrix;

(b) a plurality of sensing electrodes associated with the plurality of driving electrodes such that each sensing electrode and a corresponding driving electrode define a sensing capacitor therebetween, wherein the plurality of driving electrodes and the plurality of sensing electrodes define an electrode matrix having N rows and M columns, each of N and M being a positive integer;

(c) N groups of driving lines, {X_n-j,}, n=1, 2, . . . , N, j=1, 2, . . . , J, and J is a positive integer, spatial-separately arranged along a row direction of the electrode matrix, each group having J driving lines, X_n-1, X_n-2, . . . , X_n-J;

(d) M groups of sensing lines, {Y_m-k}, m=1, 2, . . . , M, k=1, 2, . . . , K, and K is a positive integer, spatial-separately arranged crossing over the N groups of driving lines {X_n-j} along a column direction of the electrode matrix, the column direction being perpendicular to the row direction, each group having K sensing lines, Y_m-1, Y_m-2, . . . , Y_m-K,

wherein each of j-th, (J+j)-th, (2J+j)-th, (3J+j)-th, . . . driving electrodes in the n-th row of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by the j-th driving line of the n-th group of driving lines X_n-1, X_n-2, . . . , X_n-J; and

wherein each of k-th, (K+k)-th, (2K+k)-th, (3K+k)-th, . . . sensing electrodes in the m-th column of the electrode matrix is electrically connected to each other by the k-th sensing line Y_m-k of the m-th group of sensing lines Y_m-1, Y_m-2, . . . , Y_m-K.

16. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes and the corresponding one of the plurality of driving electrodes are electrically insulated from one another.

17. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of sensing electrodes is surrounded by a corresponding one of the plurality of driving electrodes and wherein the sensing electrode and the corresponding driving electrode are spatially separated from one another.

18. The multi-channel touch panel of claim 15, wherein each of the N group of driving lines {X_n-j} and each of the M group of sensing lines {Y_m-k} are electrically insulated from one another.