DISPLAY DEVICE WITH INTEGRATED TOUCH SCREEN

• US 20150130753A1
• Filed: 09/05/2014
• Published: 05/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: WOO, Yoon-Hwan, SHIN, Hee-Sun
• Granted Patent: US 10,031,626 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/174
• 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 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0443 using a single layer of sensing electrodes
• 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 display device with an integrated touch screen includes a panel including m (m is a natural number) electrodes and m lines; a display driver IC applying a common voltage to the m electrodes; and a touch IC generating a touch scan signal to apply the touch scan signal to the m electrodes and receiving touch sensing signals according to the touch scan signal to detect a location of a touch input on the panel, wherein at least one of the m electrodes includes touch electrode portions and non-touch electrode portions.

Claims

1. A display device with an integrated touch screen, comprising:

a panel including m number of electrodes and m number of lines, where m is a natural number;

a display driver integrated circuit (IC) applying a common voltage to the m number of electrodes; and

a touch IC generating a touch scan signal to apply the touch scan signal to the m number of electrodes and receiving touch sensing signals according to the touch scan signal to detect a location of a touch input on the panel,

wherein at least one of the m number of electrodes includes touch electrode portions and non-touch electrode portions.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the panel is divided into a display area and a non-display area, the m number of electrodes are formed in the display area, and the display driver IC is disposed in the non-display area.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the touch IC is disposed in the non-display area or is formed in the display driver IC.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the display driver IC applies the common voltage to the m number of electrodes when the panel is driven in a display driving mode, and the touch IC applies the touch scan signal to the m number of electrodes when the panel is driven in a touch driving mode.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the display driver IC includes:

a common voltage generation unit generating the common voltage;

a synchronizing signal generation unit generating synchronizing signals placing the panel in the display driving mode or the touch driving mode; and

a switching unit connecting the common voltage generation unit and the m number of electrodes or connecting the touch IC and the m number of electrodes depending on the synchronizing signals.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the touch IC includes:

a touch scan signal generation unit generating the touch scan signal; and

a touch sensing unit receiving the touch sensing signals from the m number of electrodes in response to applying the touch scan signal and detecting the location of the touch input on the panel.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the touch IC provides the touch scan signal and receives the touch sensing signals through the display driver IC.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the non-touch electrodes portions are openings where an electrode pattern is not formed and the touch scan signal is not applied.

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein the openings are rectangular or circular in shape.

10. The device according to claim 8, wherein the openings are connected to each other.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein dummy electrodes to which the touch scan signal is not applied are formed in the non-touch electrode portions.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein the dummy electrodes are rectangular or circular in shape.

13. The device according to claim 11, wherein the dummy electrodes are connected to each other.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one of the m number of electrodes has a mesh pattern shape.

15. A display device with a touch screen, comprising:

a panel formed with;

an array of pixels for generating images,

a touch surface to receive a touch from a user,

a plurality of conductive lines, and

a plurality of electrodes, each of the electrodes having a conductive area that is electrically connected to one of the conductive lines, the conductive area of each of the electrodes smaller than an entire area of each of the electrodes; and

an integrated circuit configured to provide common voltage signals for operating the pixels to the pixels via the conductive lines and the electrodes in a display driving mode, the integrated circuit further configured to provide touch scan signals for detecting a location of the touch on the touch surface to the electrodes via the conductive lines in a touch driving mode.

16. The display device of claim 15, wherein the electrodes are formed as an array on a display area of the panel and the integrated circuit is attached to a non-display area of the panel.

17. The display device of claim 15, wherein the circuit comprises:

a synchronizing signal generation unit configured to generate a synchronizing signal indicating either the display driving mode or the touch driving mode;

a common voltage generation unit configured to generate the common voltage signals; and

a switching unit coupled to the common voltage generation unit and a touch scan circuit configured to generate the touch scan signals, the switching unit configured to transmit the common voltage signals or the touch scan signals to the conductive lines according to the synchronizing signal.

18. The display device of claim 15, further comprising a touch scan circuit comprising a touch scan signal generation unit configured to generate the touch scan signals, and a touch sensing unit configured to receive the touch sensing signals from the electrodes in response to applying the touch scan signals and detecting the location of the touch input on the panel.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the touch scan circuit is configured to provide the touch scan signal and receive the touch sensing signals through the integrated circuit.

20. The device of claim 15, wherein each of the electrodes comprises openings in which conductive material for transmitting the touch scan signals is not formed.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein each of the openings is rectangular or circular in shape.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein each of the electrodes comprises bridges connecting each of the openings.

23. The device of claim 15, wherein each of the electrodes is formed with dummy electrodes that does not transmit the touch scan signals.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein the dummy electrodes are rectangular or circular in shape.

25. The device of claim 23, wherein the dummy electrodes are connected to each other.

26. The device of claim 15, wherein the conductive area in each of the electrodes has conductive sub-areas arranged in a mesh pattern.

27. The device of claim 15, wherein the conductive area comprises edge lines surrounding the electrode, and a plurality of sub-conductive areas enclosed within the edge lines.

28. The device of claim 27, wherein each of the sub-conductive areas is rectangular.