Capacitive Coupling of a Capacitive Touchscreen to a Printed Circuit and Controller
First Claim
1. A capacitive touchscreen system, comprising:
- a capacitive touchscreen comprising drive and sense touchscreen electrodes operably connected at one end to corresponding touchscreen electrode terminals, mutual capacitances existing between the drive and sense electrodes at locations where the drive and sense electrodes intersect, such mutual capacitances changing in the presence of one or more fingers or touch devices brought into proximity thereto;
a touchscreen controller comprising controller terminals, the controller being configured to provide drive signals and to receive sense signals through the controller terminals, anda flex circuit comprising a plurality of flex circuit traces disposed between a first end and a second end thereof, the first end comprising first terminals corresponding to each of the flex circuit traces, the first terminals being operably connected to corresponding ones of the controller terminals, the second end comprising second terminals corresponding to each of the flex circuit traces;
wherein the second terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, the second terminals are not soldered or otherwise physically attached to the touchscreen electrode terminals by means of an electrically conductive bonding agent or material, the second terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm, and the gaps are sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the second terminals.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein are various embodiments of circuits and methods for capacitively coupling touchscreen electrode terminals to terminals of a flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board, without physically attaching the touchscreen electrode terminals to the flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals by means of conventional electrical connection bonding materials or agents such as anisotropic conductive film or solder. The flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals are spaced apart from, or placed in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, but are not soldered or otherwise physically attached to the touchscreen electrode terminals by conventional electrical connection bonding materials or agents such as anisotropic conductive film or solder. The flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals are positioned with respect to the touchscreen electrode terminals such that the flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals are spaced part from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm. The gaps are sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals.
33 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A capacitive touchscreen system, comprising:
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a capacitive touchscreen comprising drive and sense touchscreen electrodes operably connected at one end to corresponding touchscreen electrode terminals, mutual capacitances existing between the drive and sense electrodes at locations where the drive and sense electrodes intersect, such mutual capacitances changing in the presence of one or more fingers or touch devices brought into proximity thereto; a touchscreen controller comprising controller terminals, the controller being configured to provide drive signals and to receive sense signals through the controller terminals, and a flex circuit comprising a plurality of flex circuit traces disposed between a first end and a second end thereof, the first end comprising first terminals corresponding to each of the flex circuit traces, the first terminals being operably connected to corresponding ones of the controller terminals, the second end comprising second terminals corresponding to each of the flex circuit traces; wherein the second terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, the second terminals are not soldered or otherwise physically attached to the touchscreen electrode terminals by means of an electrically conductive bonding agent or material, the second terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm, and the gaps are sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the second terminals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A capacitive touchscreen system, comprising:
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a capacitive touchscreen comprising drive and sense touchscreen electrodes operably connected at one end to corresponding touchscreen electrode terminals, mutual capacitances existing between the drive and sense electrodes at locations where the drive and sense electrodes intersect, such mutual capacitances changing in the presence of one or more fingers or touch devices brought into proximity thereto; a touchscreen controller comprising controller terminals, the controller being configured to provide drive signals and to receive sense signals through the controller terminals; a printed circuit comprising printed circuit traces operably connected at one end to corresponding ones of the controller terminals and at the other end to printed circuit terminals; wherein the touchscreen controller is mounted on the printed circuit, the printed circuit terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, the printed circuit terminals are not soldered or otherwise physically attached to the touchscreen electrode terminals by means of an electrically conductive bonding agent or material, the printed circuit terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm, and the gaps are sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the printed circuit terminals. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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- 22. A method of capacitively coupling touchscreen electrode terminals to terminals of a flex circuit without physically attaching the touchscreen electrode terminals to the flex circuit terminals, the method comprising spacing the flex circuit terminals apart from, or placing the flex circuit terminals in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, not soldering or otherwise physically attaching the flex circuit terminals to the touchscreen electrode terminals by means of an electrically conductive bonding agent or material, and positioning the flex circuit terminals with respect to the touchscreen electrode terminals such that the flex circuit terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm, the gaps being sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the flex circuit terminals.
- 28. A method of capacitively coupling touchscreen electrode terminals to terminals of a printed circuit without physically attaching the touchscreen electrode terminals to the printed circuit terminals, the method comprising spacing the printed circuit terminals apart from, or placing the printed circuit terminals in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, not soldering or otherwise physically attaching the printed circuit terminals to the touchscreen electrode terminals by means of an electrically conductive bonding agent or material, and positioning the printed circuit terminals with respect to the touchscreen electrode terminals such that the printed circuit terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm, the gaps being sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the printed circuit terminals.
Specification