Flexible touch screen panel and flexible display device having the same

• US 9,046,975 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kang, Sung-Ku, Jung, Tae-Hyeog, Kim, Hak-Sun, Kim, Jung-Yun, Jeon, Byeong-Kyu
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAM, VIET DAVID
• Application Number:
  US13/611,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20130300678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 bendable along at least one bending axis;

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

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

wherein each sensing pattern includes first sensing cells connected to each other in a first direction parallel to the bending axis, and second sensing cells connected to each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and

wherein sensing patterns in a region overlapping the bending axis include divided second sensing cells.

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

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

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

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

6. The flexible 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 flexible touch screen panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein each divided second sensing cell includes two portions spaced apart from each other.

8. The flexible 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 flexible 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 flexible 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 flexible 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 flexible 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 flexible 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 flexible 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 flexible 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 flexible 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.

18. The flexible touch screen panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thin-film substrate is bendable in the active region along the at least one bending axis.

19. The flexible touch screen panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one bending axis separates the sensing patterns of a same display panel into a plurality of electrically independent regions.

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 at least one bending axis separating some of the sensing patterns in the active region into a plurality of electrically independent regions;

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,

wherein each sensing pattern includes first sensing cells connected to each other in a first direction parallel to the bending axis, and second sensing cells connected to each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and

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.