FLEXIBLE TOUCH SCREEN PANEL AND FLEXIBLE DISPLAY DEVICE HAVING THE SAME

• US 20130300678A1
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Byeong-Kyu Jeon, Hak-Sun Kim, Jung-Yun Kim, Sung-Ku Kang, Tae-Hyeog Jung
• Inventors: KANG, Sung-Ku, JUNG, Tae-Hyeog, KIM, Hak-Sun, KIM, Jung-Yun, JEON, Byeong-Kyu
• Granted Patent: US 9,046,975 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• 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 flexible touch screen panel includes a flexible thin-film substrate including an active region and an inactive region, the inactive region being at an outer side portion of the active region, and the thin-film substrate being configured to bend along at least one bending axis, sensing patterns in the active region of the thin-film substrate, the active region being divided into a plurality of electrically independent regions by the at least one bending axis, and sensing lines in the inactive region of the thin-film substrate, the sensing lines being connected to the sensing patterns.

Claims

1. A flexible touch screen panel, comprising:

a flexible thin-film substrate including an active region and an inactive region, the inactive region being at an outer side portion of the active region, and the thin-film substrate being configured to bend along at least one bending axis;

sensing patterns in the active region of the thin-film substrate, the active region being divided into a plurality of electrically independent regions by the at least one bending axis; and

sensing lines in the inactive region of the thin-film substrate, the sensing lines being connected to the sensing patterns.

2. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein sensing patterns in each of the plurality of regions of the active region are separately operated from sensing patterns in other regions of the plurality of regions.

3. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thin-film substrate includes a polyimide material.

4. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 3, wherein the thin-film substrate has a thickness of about 0.005 nm to about 0.05 mm.

5. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein each sensing pattern includes:

first sensing cells connected to each other in a first direction parallel to the bending axis;

first sensing lines connecting adjacent first sensing cells to each other;

second sensing cells connected to each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; and

second sensing lines connecting adjacent second sensing cells to each other.

6. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 5, wherein the first connecting lines and the second connecting lines have an insulating layer interposed therebetween at an intersection portion therebetween.

7. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 5, wherein sensing patterns in a region overlapping the bending axis include divided second sensing cells, each divided second sensing cell including two portions spaced apart from each other.

8. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 7, wherein the two portions in each divided second sensing cell are spaced apart from each other along the second direction, the bending axis being between the two portions.

9. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 7, wherein each of the two portions in each divided second sensing cell includes a protrusion part, the protrusion part extending along the second direction to partially overlap the bending axis.

10. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein sensing patterns in a first region of the plurality of regions are connected to a pad part by different sensing lines than sensing patterns in a second region of the plurality of regions, the first and second regions being different from each other.

11. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 10, wherein the different sensing lines of the first and second regions are connected to a same pad part, the pad part being at a distal end of one side of the inactive region.

12. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 11, wherein some of the sensing lines intersect the bending axis, the sensing lines being branched into a plurality of lines at a portion intersecting the bending axis.

13. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 11, wherein some of the sensing lines intersect the bending axis, a first portion of the sensing lines at a portion intersecting the bending axis having a wider area than other portions of the sensing lines.

14. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 13, wherein the portion of the sensing lines having the wider area includes a plurality of holes.

15. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 11, wherein some of the sensing lines intersect with the bending axis, the sensing lines include a connection part of a different material at a portion intersecting the bending axis, and the connection part being connected to the sensing lines through contact holes.

16. The touch screen panel as claimed in claim 10, wherein the different sensing lines of the first and second regions are connected to a plurality of pad parts at different positions of the inactive region, respectively.

17. A flexible display device having a touch screen panel, comprising:

a flexible thin-film substrate including an active region and an inactive region, the inactive region being at an outer side portion of the active region, and the thin-film substrate being configured to bend along at least one bending axis;

sensing patterns in the active region of the thin-film substrate, the active region being divided into a plurality of electrically independent regions by the at least one bending axis;

sensing lines in the inactive region of the thin-film substrate, the sensing lines being connected to the sensing patterns; and

a flexible display device attached to the thin-film substrate to face the sensing patterns and the sensing lines.

18. The flexible display device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the flexible display device is an organic light emitting diode display device.

19. The flexible display device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a polarizing film and a window substrate sequentially adhered to the thin-film substrate by a transparent adhesive, the polarizing film and flexible display device being attached to opposite surfaces of the thin-film substrate.

20. The flexible display device as claimed in claim 19, wherein the window substrate includes at least one of polymethymethacrylate (PMMA), acryl, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).