Touch panel and electronic device

• US 9,182,870 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2014
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Satou, Mitsuru, Hirouchi, Yasuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): BOYD, JONATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US14/535,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20150062084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 368 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133308 Support structures for LCD panels, e.g. frames or bezels
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133331 Cover glasses
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0236 using selection techniques to select from displayed items
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04166 Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

An electronic device includes a display device; a touch panel overlaid on the display device and including at least a predetermined side; a conductive member provided along the predetermined side; and a variable resistor having one end which is electrically connected to the conductive member and another end which is electrically connected to a predetermined potential. A resistance of the variable resistor is switchable.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a display device;

a touch panel overlaid on the display device and including at least a first side and a second side;

a first conductive member provided along the first side;

a first variable resistor having one end which is electrically connected to the first conductive member and an other end which is electrically connected to a predetermined potential;

a second conductive member provided along the second side; and

a second variable resistor having one end which is electrically connected to the second conductive member and an other end which is electrically connected to the predetermined potential,

wherein a resistance of the first variable resistor and a resistance of the second variable resistor are switchable,

wherein the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be a first resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be a second resistance greater than the first resistance.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the first side and the second side are opposite to each other.

3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the touch panel is quadrangular;

and

wherein the first side and the second side are opposite sides of the quadrangle.

4. The electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the touch panel is rectangular;

and

wherein the first side and the second side are longer opposite sides of the rectangle.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the resistance of the first variable resistor and the resistance of the second variable resistor are switched depending on an operation state.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein in a first operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be the first resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be the second resistance;

and

wherein in a second operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be the second resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be the first resistance.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein in a first operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be the first resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be the second resistance;

and

wherein in a second operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be a third resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be a fourth resistance smaller than the third resistance.

8. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein in a first operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be the first resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be the second resistance;

and

wherein in a third operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor and the resistance of the second variable resistor are set to be the second resistance.

9. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein in a first operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be the first resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be the second resistance;

and

wherein in a third operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be a fifth resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be a sixth resistance that is a predetermined magnification of the fifth resistance.

10. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein in a fourth operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be a seventh resistance greater than the second resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be the seventh resistance.

11. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein in a fourth operation state, the resistance of the first variable resistor is set to be a seventh resistance greater than the second resistance and the resistance of the second variable resistor is set to be an eighth resistance greater than the second resistance.

12. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the operation state is detected on the basis of an output from the touch panel.

13. The electronic device according to claim 5, further comprising

an acceleration sensor that detects an attitude of a body of the electronic device,

wherein the operation state is detected on the basis of output from the acceleration sensor.

14. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined potential is a ground potential.

15. A resistance switching method employable in an electronic device including a display device, a touch panel overlaid on the display device and including at least a first side and a second side, a first conductive member provided along the first side, a first variable resistor having one end which is electrically connected to the first conductive member and an other end which is electrically connected to a predetermined potential, a second conductive member provided along the second side, and a second variable resistor having one end which is electrically connected to the second conductive member and an other end which is electrically connected to the predetermined potential,

the method comprising:

switching a resistance of the first variable resistor set to be a first resistance; and

switching a resistance of the second variable resistor set to be a second resistance greater than the first resistance.