Screen input-type image display system

• US 8,072,436 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2009
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Displays Limited (Japan Display Incorporated), Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Eriguchi, Takuya, Kudo, Yasuyuki, Mamba, Norio, Furuhashi, Tsutomu, Sato, Hideo
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu, Amare
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhou, Hong
• Application Number:
  US12/499,831
• Publication Number:
  US 20100007628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-174, 178 1801- 1806
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact

Abstract

A touch sensor (3) comprises a plurality of X-coordinate electrodes, a plurality of Y-coordinate electrodes placed crossing the X-coordinate electrodes with an insulating layer therebetween, a plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes which are extended from X-coordinate electrodes, and a plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes which are extended from Y-coordinate electrodes, the plurality of X and Y-coordinate electrodes being placed in a two-dimensional matrix form on a display surface of a display device (1) for detecting a change of capacitance due to pressing. A detection circuit (4) which detects a change in capacitance of the touch sensor (3), an analog-to-digital converter (5) which converts a detection output of the detection circuit (4) into digital data, a touch panel control circuit (6) which determines a touched coordinate, and a primary control circuit (7) which receives input of touch coordinate data from the touch panel control circuit (6) are provided.

Claims

1. A screen input-type image display system having a touch sensor which detects a two-dimensional coordinate of a touched position on a display surface of a display device, wherein

the touch sensor comprises a plurality of X-coordinate electrodes, a plurality of Y-coordinate electrodes which are placed crossing the X-coordinate electrodes with an insulating layer therebetween, a plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes which are extended in each area between the X-coordinate electrodes, and a plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes which are extended in each area between the Y-coordinate electrodes, the X-coordinate electrodes and the Y-coordinate electrodes being placed in a two-dimensional matrix form on the display surface of the display device for detecting a change in capacitance due to pressing,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes extend from the X-coordinate electrode, and are formed with a same length and differing line widths from each other,

the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes placed opposing the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween extend from the Y-coordinate electrode, are formed with a same length and differing line widths from each other, and are placed crossing each of the X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes and the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes are formed in a region surrounded by a pair of adjacent X-coordinate electrodes and a pair of adjacent Y-coordinate electrodes,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes have electrode shapes in which the line widths are sequentially increased along a direction of provision of the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes,

the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes have electrode shapes in which the line widths are sequentially increased along a direction of provision of the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes,

the screen input-type image display system comprises a detection circuit which detects a change of capacitance between the X-coordinate electrode and the Y-coordinate electrode of the touch sensor, an analog-to-digital converter which converts a detection output of the detection circuit to digital data, a touch panel control circuit which determines a touched coordinate, a primary control circuit which receives an input of touch coordinate data of the touch panel control circuit and which integrally controls the overall device, and a display control circuit which controls display of the display device,

the primary control circuit determines occurrence of touch by user and a coordinate of the touch from the touch coordinate data, supplies a display signal corresponding to the determined coordinate through the display control circuit to the display device, and reflects on the display,

the touch panel control circuit determines, from digital data of the plurality of X-coordinate electrodes output from the analog-to-digital converter, a coordinate of an X-coordinate electrode showing a digital data value having a greatest difference from a digital data value at the time of non-contact as a contact coordinate, and determines, from digital data of the plurality of Y-coordinate electrodes output from the analog-to-digital converter, a coordinate of a Y-coordinate electrode showing a digital data value having a greatest difference from a digital data value at the time of non-contact as a contact coordinate, and

a coordinate of a touched X-coordinate auxiliary electrode is determined from among the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes according to a level of a digital data value of the X-coordinate electrode showing the digital data value having the greatest difference from the digital data value at the time of non-contact, and a coordinate of a touched Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode is determined from among the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes according to a level of a digital data value of the Y-coordinate electrode showing the digital data value having the greatest difference from the digital data value at the time of non-contact, to output a coordinate of the contact position.

2. The screen input-type image display system according to claim 1, wherein

the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes have a same triangular shape extending in a direction perpendicular to the Y-coordinate electrodes, and are alternately arranged without crossing the X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes which are placed opposing the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes and the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes are formed in a region surrounded by a pair of adjacent X-coordinate electrodes and a pair of adjacent Y-coordinate electrodes,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes extend in a same direction as a direction of extension of the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes and have a same length and differing line widths from each other,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes have the line widths sequentially increased along a direction of provision of the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes, and

the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes having the triangular shape are connected to the Y-coordinate electrode at a wide-width section of the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode.

3. The screen input-type image display system according to claim 1, wherein

the touch panel control circuit comprises a storage circuit which stores a digital data value when each of the X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes or each of the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes is touched, and the coordinates of the touched X-coordinate auxiliary electrode and the touched Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode are determined by comparing a digital data value of a touched X-coordinate electrode and a touched Y-coordinate electrode with the digital data value stored in the storage circuit.

4. The screen input-type image display system according to claim 3, wherein

if a difference in a digital data value is caused in each touched X-coordinate electrode and each touched Y-coordinate electrode and the difference in the digital data value can be calculated from a predetermined coefficient corresponding to coordinates of the X-coordinate electrode and the Y-coordinate electrode, the storage circuit stores the coefficient, and

a digital data value of the X-coordinate auxiliary electrode and the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode for each line which forms a coordinate determination reference is calculated from the coordinates of the touched X-coordinate electrode and the touched Y-coordinate electrode, the coefficient stored in the storage circuit, and the digital data values when each X-coordinate auxiliary electrode and each Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode are touched stored in the storage circuit, the digital data values of the touched X-coordinate electrode and the touched Y-coordinate electrode are compared with the calculated digital data values of the X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes and the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes for each line which forms the determination reference, and the coordinates of the touched X-coordinate auxiliary electrode and the touched Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode are determined.

5. The screen input-type image display system according to claim 3, wherein

if a difference in a digital data value is caused in each touched X-coordinate electrode and each touched Y-coordinate electrode, digital data values when touched for each X-coordinate auxiliary electrode for each X-coordinate electrode and for each Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode for each Y-coordinate electrode are stored in the storage circuit, the digital data values of the touched X-coordinate electrode and the touched Y-coordinate electrode are compared with the digital data values for each X-coordinate auxiliary electrode for each X-coordinate electrode and for each Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode for each Y-coordinate electrode stored in the storage circuit, and the coordinates of the touched X-coordinate auxiliary electrode and the touched Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode are determined.

6. A screen input-type image display system having a touch sensor which detects a two-dimensional coordinate of a touched position on a display surface of a display device, wherein

the touch sensor comprises a plurality of X-coordinate electrodes, a plurality of Y-coordinate electrodes which are placed crossing the X-coordinate electrodes with an insulating layer therebetween, a plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes which are extended in each area between the X-coordinate electrodes, and a plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes which are extended in each area between the Y-coordinate electrodes, the X-coordinate electrodes and the Y-coordinate electrodes being placed in a two-dimensional matrix form on the display surface of the display device for detecting a change in capacitance due to pressing,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes extend from the X-coordinate electrode, and are formed with a same length and differing line widths from each other,

the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes have a same triangular shape extending in a direction perpendicular to the Y-coordinate electrode, and are alternately placed without crossing the X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes placed opposing the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes with the insulating layer therebetween,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes and the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes are formed in a region surrounded by a pair of adjacent X-coordinate electrodes and a pair of adjacent Y-coordinate electrodes, the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes extend in a same direction as a direction of extension of the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode, and have a same length and differing line width from each other,

the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes have the line widths sequentially increased along a direction of provision of the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrode, and the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes having the triangular shape have an electrode shape in which the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode is connected to the Y-coordinate electrode at a wide-width section of the Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode,

the screen input-type image display system comprises a detection circuit which detects a change of capacitance between the X-coordinate electrode and the Y-coordinate electrode of the touch sensor, an analog-to-digital converter which converts a detection output of the detection circuit to digital data, a touch panel control circuit which determines a touched coordinate, a primary control circuit which receives an input of touch coordinate data of the touch panel control circuit and which integrally controls the overall device, and a display control circuit which controls display of the display device,

the primary control circuit determines occurrence of touch by user and a coordinate of the touch from the touch coordinate data, supplies a display signal corresponding to the determined coordinate through the display control circuit to the display device, and reflects on the display, and

the touch panel control circuit determines, from digital data of the plurality of X-coordinate electrodes output from the analog-to-digital converter, a coordinate of an X-coordinate electrode showing a digital data value having a greatest difference from a digital data value at the time of non-contact as a contact coordinate, determines, from digital data of the plurality of Y-coordinate electrodes output from the analog-to-digital converter, a coordinate of a Y-coordinate electrode showing a digital data value having a greatest difference from a digital data value at the time of non-contact as a contact coordinate, determines the coordinate of the touched X-coordinate auxiliary electrode from among the plurality of X-coordinate auxiliary electrodes according to a level of a digital data value of the X-coordinate electrode showing the digital data value having the greatest difference from the digital data value at the time of non-contact, determines the coordinate of the touched Y-coordinate auxiliary electrode from among the plurality of Y-coordinate auxiliary electrodes according to a level of a digital data value of the Y-coordinate electrode showing the digital data value having the greatest difference from the digital data value at the time of non-contact, and outputs the coordinates of the contact position.