Touch panel integrated display device

• US 8,933,911 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2011
• Issued: 01/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Song, Moon-Bong, Kim, Sung-Chul
• Primary Examiner(s): Leiby, Christopher E
• Application Number:
  US13/152,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20110298756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: 345175-176
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen

Abstract

A touch panel integrated display device which can reduce an entire thickness and weight and which can prevent display quality deterioration is discussed. The touch panel integrated display device includes a display panel comprising a plurality of pixels, to display an image; a touch panel formed on an top peripheral area of the display panel, to sense a touch generated on the display panel.

Claims

1. A touch panel integrated display device comprising:

a display panel comprising first and second substrates facing each other and a plurality of pixels disposed between the first and second substrates, to display an image;

a touch panel formed on a peripheral area of a top most surface of the display panel and supported by the first substrate, to sense a touch generated on the top most surface of the display panel,

wherein the touch panel comprises,

a plurality of light sources formed at all edges of the peripheral area, at least one of the plurality of light sources arranged at each edge of the peripheral area, respectively, each light source emitting light towards an opposite edge of the peripheral area;

a plurality of sensors formed at the all edges of the peripheral area and spaced apart from the plurality of light sources in a vertical direction, two or more sensors of the plurality of sensors being spaced apart from each other with an identical distance at the each edge of the peripheral area, wherein each sensor collects light which is emitted from one of the plurality of light sources formed at the opposite edge of the peripheral area;

a waveguide formed at the all edges of the peripheral area and comprising a plurality of cores connected with the plurality of the sensors and a cladding surrounding the plurality of the cores, with a lower refractive index than the plurality of the cores;

a flexible printed circuit formed along an inner surface of the waveguide, supplying each driving voltage to the plurality of light sources and the plurality of sensors; and

a sensor controller connected with the plurality of the sensors via the plurality of cores, to sense whether each of the sensors collects light and to calculate a coordinate of the touch.

2. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the light sources emit light with a wavelength range corresponding to an ultraviolet ray or an infrared ray.

3. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 1, wherein the top most surface of the display panel is divided into a plurality of radiation intensity effective regions corresponding to the plurality of the light sources, respectively;

wherein each radiation intensity effective region corresponds to one light source and includes at least one sensor which is arranged at the opposite edge to the one light source and collects the light emitted from the one light source,

wherein the light which is emitted from the one light source and collected by the at least one sensor in each radiation intensity effective region has a predetermined radiation intensity or more, and

wherein the predetermined radiation intensity is sensed by the sensor controller effectively.

4. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 3, wherein the at least one sensor included in each radiation intensity effective region is arranged in a concave lens shape towards the one light source corresponding to each radiation intensity effective region.

5. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the sensors are arranged at each edge of the top most surface of the display panel in at least one row.

6. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the sensors are arranged in at least two rows as to be zigzag-shaped at each edge of the top most surface of the display panel.

7. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the light sources are arranged in an upper portion at each edge of the top most surface of the display panel, than the sensors.

8. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 1, wherein the display panel is a liquid crystal panel comprising a transistor array substrate and a color filter array substrate bonded oppositely with each other and a liquid crystal layer filled between the transistor array substrate and the color filter array substrate;

and

wherein the transistor array substrate comprises,

the second substrate;

a plurality of data lines and a plurality of gate lines crossed with each other on the second substrate, to define a plurality of pixel regions corresponding to the plurality of the pixels;

a plurality of thin film transistors formed at intersections between the gate lines and the data lines, respectively; and

a plurality of pixel electrodes formed at the plurality of the pixel regions on the second substrate, to be connected with the plurality of the thin film transistors, respectively; and

wherein the color filter array substrate comprises the first substrate and a color filter array part formed on a back surface of the first substrate in opposite to a surface of the first substrate by which the touch panel is supported.

9. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 8, wherein the color filter array part comprises,

a black matrix layer formed in an outer area of the pixel regions formed on the back surface of the first substrate, to block the light leakage in the outer area of the pixel regions;

a color filter layer formed in the pixel regions formed on the back surface of the first substrate, to transmit lights with a wavelength range corresponding to the pixels; and

an overcoat layer formed flat on the color filter layer.

10. The touch panel integrated display device of claim 8, wherein the liquid crystal panel further comprises,

a backlight unit formed under the transistor array substrate to emit lights to the liquid crystal layer;

a first polarization layer formed on a back surface of the second substrate to polarize the lights emitted from the backlight unit; and

a second polarization layer formed on a top surface of the first substrate to polarize lights passing through the liquid crystal layer.