INTEGRATED TOUCH SCREENS
First Claim
1. A capacitive touch screen including a plurality of display pixels, the capacitive touch screen comprising:
- a color filter layer;
a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate including a plurality of drive lines configured to transmit a stimulation signal for stimulating the capacitive touch screen to detect touch input events in a touch sensing operation, each drive line including a plurality of Vcom drive rows, each Vcom drive row being unconnected by fixed electrical connections to other Vcom drive rows within a drive line so as to form individual Vcom drive rows, each Vcom drive row including groups of the plurality display pixels, each display pixel having a TFT including a gate and a common electrode, the gate of the TFT controlling the TFT to operate in a display operation and in the touch sensing operation;
a liquid crystal layer disposed between the TFT substrate and the color filter layer;
an integrated gate driver coupled to the gates of the TFTs in each individual Vcom drive row for individually operating each of the individual Vcom drive rows to display an image on the capacitive touch screen;
a Vcom driver connected to each of the plurality of individual Vcom drive rows within each drive line for providing the same stimulation signal on each individual Vcom drive row within each drive line; and
a plurality of sense lines disposed between liquid crystal layer and the color filter layer, the sense lines configured to receive sense signals based on the stimulation signals transmitted by the drive lines;
wherein the drive lines and the sense lines form a plurality of capacitive sensing nodes.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Integrated touch screens are provided including drive lines formed of grouped-together circuit elements of a thin film transistor layer and sense lines formed between a color filter layer and a material layer that modifies or generates light. The common electrodes (Vcom) in the TFT layer can be grouped together during a touch sensing operation to form drive lines. Sense lines can be formed on an underside of a color filter glass, and a liquid crystal region can be disposed between the color filter glass and the TFT layer. Placing the sense lines on the underside of the color filter glass, i.e., within the display pixel cell, can provide a benefit of allowing the color filter glass to be thinned after the pixel cells have been assembled, for example.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A capacitive touch screen including a plurality of display pixels, the capacitive touch screen comprising:
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a color filter layer; a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate including a plurality of drive lines configured to transmit a stimulation signal for stimulating the capacitive touch screen to detect touch input events in a touch sensing operation, each drive line including a plurality of Vcom drive rows, each Vcom drive row being unconnected by fixed electrical connections to other Vcom drive rows within a drive line so as to form individual Vcom drive rows, each Vcom drive row including groups of the plurality display pixels, each display pixel having a TFT including a gate and a common electrode, the gate of the TFT controlling the TFT to operate in a display operation and in the touch sensing operation; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the TFT substrate and the color filter layer; an integrated gate driver coupled to the gates of the TFTs in each individual Vcom drive row for individually operating each of the individual Vcom drive rows to display an image on the capacitive touch screen; a Vcom driver connected to each of the plurality of individual Vcom drive rows within each drive line for providing the same stimulation signal on each individual Vcom drive row within each drive line; and a plurality of sense lines disposed between liquid crystal layer and the color filter layer, the sense lines configured to receive sense signals based on the stimulation signals transmitted by the drive lines; wherein the drive lines and the sense lines form a plurality of capacitive sensing nodes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A capacitive touch screen including a plurality of display pixels, the capacitive touch screen comprising:
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a color filter substrate; a plurality of drive lines that carry, during a touch sensing operation, stimulation signals for stimulating the capacitive touch screen to detect touch and proximity events, each of the plurality of drive lines including a plurality of Vcom drive rows, each Vcom drive row being unconnected by fixed electrical connections to other Vcom drive rows within a drive line so as to form individual Vcom drive rows, each Vcom drive row including groups of the plurality display pixels, each display pixel having a TFT including a gate and a common electrode, the gate of the TFT controlling the TFT to operate in a display operation and in the touch sensing operation; a pixel material disposed between the plurality of drive lines and the color filter substrate; display circuitry that controls, during a display operation, the pixel material of each display pixel such that a controlled amount of light from each display pixel passes through color filters on the color filter substrate to form an image; an integrated gate driver coupled to the gates of the TFTs in each individual Vcom drive row for individually operating each of the individual Vcom drive rows to display an image on the capacitive touch screen; a Vcom driver connected to each of the plural individual Vcom drive rows within each drive line, wherein individual drive rows may be grouped together, for application of the same stimulation signal in the touch sensing operation or operated individually for displaying the image; and a plurality of sense lines that receive sense signals based on the stimulation signals, the sense lines being disposed between the pixel material and the color filter substrate; and touch sensing circuitry connected to receive the sense signals from the plurality of sense lines; wherein the color filter substrate includes a plurality of individual color filters, and the sense lines include conductive material disposed between individual color filters. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A touch screen including a plurality of display pixels, the touch screen comprising:
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a first substrate including a plurality display pixels disposed thereon, each display pixel including a pixel electrode and a switching element for connecting a data line to the pixel electrode to display an image on the touch screen during a display mode of operation, and for disconnecting the data line from the pixel electrode during a touch sensing mode of operation; a plurality of drive lines, each of the plurality of drive lines including plural Vcom drive rows, each Vcom drive row including a plurality of groups of the display pixels, each display pixel within each group including a TFT having a gate and a transparent common electrode, each Vcom drive row being unconnected by fixed electrical connections to other Vcom drive rows within a drive line so as to form individual Vcom drive rows, the common electrodes receiving a common voltage during the display mode of operation and a stimulation voltage during the touch sensing mode of operation; a second substrate including a color filter layer having individual color filters; a pixel material disposed between the first and second substrates; and the gate of the TFT controlling the TFT to operate in the display mode of operation and in the touch sensing mode of operation; an integrated gate driver coupled to the gates of the TFTs in each individual Vcom drive row for operating the individually operating each of the individual Vcom drive rows to display an image on the capacitive touch screen; a Vcom driver connected to each of the plural individual Vcom drive rows within each drive line wherein individual drive rows may be grouped together, for application of the same stimulation signal in the touch sensing operation or operated individually for displaying the image; and a plurality of sense lines disposed on the second substrate and positioned between the individual color filters. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification