Capacitive in cell touch panel and driving method thereof, display device

• US 9,170,691 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2013
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd. (BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd. (BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yang, Shengji, Dong, Xue, Li, Cheng, Wang, Haisheng, Zhao, Weijie, Liu, Yingming, Ren, Tao, Ding, Xiaoliang, Liu, Hongjuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tryder, Gregory J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Trandai, Scott
• Application Number:
  US14/057,413
• Publication Number:
  US 20140111473A1
• Time in Patent Office: 739 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/36 using liquid crystals

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a capacitive in-cell touch panel, a driving method thereof and a display device. Touch sensing electrodes extended along the row direction of pixel units are arranged on a color filter substrate; a thin-film transistor (TFT) array substrate adopts a dual gate structure, that is, two gate signal lines are disposed between every two adjacent rows of pixel units; every two adjacent columns of pixel units are taken as a group of pixel unit columns and share a data signal line disposed between the two pixel unit columns, so that the positions of a part of data signal lines can be saved; and touch driving electrodes for achieving the touch function are arranged at the saved positions of the data signal lines.

Claims

1. A capacitive in-cell touch panel, comprising:

a color filter substrate, a thin-film transistor (TFT) array substrate and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the color filter substrate and the TFT array substrate, wherein

the capacitive in-cell touch panel is formed with a plurality of pixel units arranged in a matrix;

two gate signal lines are disposed between every two adjacent rows of pixel units in the TFT array substrate, every two adjacent columns of pixel units being are taken as a group of pixel unit columns, and a data signal line is disposed between the two pixel unit columns in each group of pixel unit columns and shared by the two pixel unit columns;

the TFT array substrate includes a plurality of touch driving electrodes disposed at gaps between adjacent groups of pixel unit columns;

the color filter substrate includes a plurality of touch sensing electrodes extended along a row direction of the pixel units;

each touch driving electrode and the data signal line in the TFT array substrate are arranged on a same layer;

each touch driving electrode has a protruding structure at a position where the touch driving electrode is overlapped with the two gate signal lines between the adjacent rows of pixel units; and

the protruding structure is extended along the row direction of the pixel units and disposed at gaps between adjacent pixel units.

2. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein each pixel unit of the TFT array substrate includes a transparent common electrode and a transparent pixel electrode.

3. The touch panel according to claim 2, further comprising at least one touch point electrode which is arranged on a same layer with the transparent common electrode in the TFT array substrate;

each touch point electrode being disposed at a position at which each touch driving electrode is overlapped with the two gate signal lines between the two adjacent rows of pixel units, and electrically connected with the overlapped touch driving electrode via a through hole.

4. The touch panel according to claim 2, wherein the common electrode is disposed over the pixel electrode and provided with a hollowed-out structure at a position corresponding to each touch driving electrode.

5. The touch panel according to claim 2, further comprising at least one common electrode line electrically connected with the common electrode in the TFT array substrate;

and each common electrode line being disposed at gaps between adjacent groups of pixel unit columns except for those provided with the touch driving electrodes.

6. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the touch sensing electrodes are disposed between a base substrate and color resins of the color filter substrate, or on a surface of the color filter substrate facing the liquid crystal layer, or on a surface of the color filter substrate facing away from the liquid crystal layer.

7. The touch panel according to claim 6, wherein each touch sensing electrode corresponds to a plurality of rows of pixel units.

8. The touch panel according to claim 7, wherein the touch sensing electrodes have a latticed electrode structure;

and the touch sensing electrodes with the latticed electrode structure are disposed in an area opposite to a black matrix of the color filter substrate.

9. The touch panel according to claim 8, wherein the touch sensing electrodes are made of metals or transparent conductive oxides.

10. The touch panel according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of adjacent touch sensing electrodes are connected to one another at any end through leads;

and a plurality of adjacent touch driving electrodes are connected to one another at any end through leads.

11. A display device, comprising the capacitive in-cell touch panel according to claim 1.

12. A method for driving a capacitive in-cell touch panel comprising:

a color filter substrate, a thin-film transistor (TFT) array substrate and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the color filter substrate and the TFT array substrate, wherein the capacitive in-cell touch panel is formed with a plurality of pixel units arranged in a matrix;

two gate signal lines are disposed between every two adjacent rows of pixel units in the TFT array substrate, every two adjacent columns of pixel units being are taken as a group of pixel unit columns, and a data signal line is disposed between the two pixel unit columns in each group of pixel unit columns and shared by the two pixel unit columns;

the TFT array substrate includes a plurality of touch driving electrodes disposed at gaps between adjacent groups of pixel unit columns;

the color filter substrate includes a plurality of touch sensing electrodes extended along a row direction of the pixel units;

each touch driving electrode has a protruding structure at a position where the touch driving electrode is overlapped with the two gate signal lines between the adjacent rows of pixel units; and

the protruding structure is extended along the row direction of the pixel units and disposed at gaps between adjacent pixel units,

the method comprising the following steps of;

dividing each display frame of the touch panel into a display time period and a touch time period;

in the display time period, applying a gate scanning signal to each gate signal line in the touch panel in sequence, applying gray-scale signals to the data signal lines to control rotation of liquid crystal molecules, and meanwhile, applying low level signals to the touch driving electrodes and the touch sensing electrodes; and

in the touch time period, applying touch scanning signals to the touch driving electrodes so that the touch sensing electrodes couple and output voltage signals of the touch scanning signals, and meanwhile, each gate signal line and each data signal line in the touch panel having no signal input.