Touch screen border regions

• US 9,864,445 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2015
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Yousefpor, Marduke, Hotelling, Steven P., White, Kevin J., Chang, Shih Chang
• Primary Examiner(s): Mercedes, Dismery
• Application Number:
  US14/627,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20150160769A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/136286 Wiring, e.g. gate line, drain line
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04112 Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material
• 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 3/04164 Connections between sensors and controllers, e.g. routing lines between electrodes and connection pads
• 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 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3677 suitable for active matrices only

Abstract

Touch screens with more compact border regions can include an active area that includes touch sensing circuitry including drive lines, and a border region around the active area. The border region can include an area of sealant deposited on conductive lines, and transistor circuitry, such as gate drivers, between the active area and the sealant. The conductive lines can extend from the sealant to the active area without electrically connecting to the transistor circuitry. The conductive lines can have equal impedances and can connect the drive lines to a touch controller off of the touch screen. A set of drive signal characteristics for the drive lines can be obtained by determining a transfer function associated with each drive line, obtaining an inverse of each transfer function, and applying a set of individual sense signal characteristics to the inverse transfer functions to obtain the corresponding set of drive signal characteristics.

Claims

1. A touch screen including an active area, the active area including a plurality of display pixels and touch sensing circuitry, the touch screen comprising:

a plurality of gate drivers disposed in a first region adjacent to the active area, each of the plurality of gate drivers driving a respective row of display pixels; and

touch sensing lines connected to the touch sensing circuitry in the active area, each touch sensing line extending from the active area to a second region, the second region adjacent to the first region, wherein at least one touch sensing line includes electrically coupled portions routed through gaps between adjacent pairs of gate drivers in the first region, and the touch sensing lines are electrically isolated from each other.

2. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein the second region is a region for sealant, and the first region is an unconstrained region.

3. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein a substantial portion of the touch sensing lines are formed in the second region, wherein the second region is on a side of the plurality of gate drivers opposite to the active area.

4. The touch screen of claim 3,

wherein the first region is an unconstrained region including a plurality of circuit elements,

wherein the second region is a restricted-structure region including sealant and excluding the plurality of circuit elements.

5. The touch screen of claim 1,

wherein a first gap is between a first adjacent pair of gate drivers, and a second gap is between a second adjacent pair of gate drivers,

wherein a first portion of the at least one touch sensing line is formed in the first gap and a second portion of the at least one touch sensing line is formed in the second gap.

6. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein each of the touch sensing lines exits from a same side of the touch screen.

7. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein the plurality of gate drivers includes:

a first group of gate drivers disposed on one side of the active area, the first group of gate drivers driving some of the display pixels; and

a second group of gate drivers disposed on an opposing side of the active area, the second group of gate drivers driving other of the display pixels.

8. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of gate drivers drives a single gate line.

9. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein the touch screen is incorporated in a touch screen device that further comprises:

a processor; and

a memory.

10. The touch screen of claim 9, wherein the touch screen device is one of a digital media player, a mobile telephone, and a personal computer.

11. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein the at least one touch sensing line includes portions formed in an area surrounding the adjacent pairs of gate drivers.

12. The touch screen of claim 1, wherein the at least one touch sensing line includes a perforated material.

13. A touch screen panel comprising:

a restricted-structure region including a sealant; and

a touch screen including an active area having a plurality of display pixels and touch sensing circuitry, the touch screen comprising;

a plurality of gate drivers disposed in an unconstrained region adjacent to the active area, each of the plurality of gate drivers driving a respective row of display pixels;

a plurality of touch sensing lines disposed in the unconstrained region and connected to the touch sensing circuitry in the active area, the plurality of touch sensing lines electrically isolated from each other, wherein at least one touch sensing line in the unconstrained region includes electrically coupled portions routed through gaps between adjacent pairs of gate drivers; and

at least some of the plurality of touch sensing lines further disposed in the restricted-structure region adjacent to the unconstrained region.

14. The touch screen of claim 13, wherein the at least one touch sensing line further includes portions formed in an area surrounding the adjacent pairs of gate drivers.

15. The touch screen of claim 13, wherein at least another touch sensing line is excluded from the restricted-structure region.

16. The touch screen of claim 13, wherein the touch sensing lines in the unconstrained region are formed such that the touch sensing lines occupy substantially all of an area in the unconstrained region and are electrically isolated from the plurality of gate rivers.

17. The touch screen of claim 13, wherein each of the touch sensing lines exit from a same side of the touch screen.

18. A method of routing touch sensing lines on a touch screen having a plurality of display pixels and touch sensing circuitry in an active area of a touch screen, the method comprising:

routing the touch sensing lines from the touch sensing circuitry through an unconstrained region adjacent to the active area,

wherein the touch sensing lines are electrically isolated from each other, and

at least one touch sensing line is routed through the unconstrained region and includes electrically coupled portions routed through gaps between adjacent pairs of gate drivers in the unconstrained region; and

routing at least some of the touch sensing lines to a restricted-structure region adjacent to the unconstrained region, wherein the restricted-structure region includes sealant.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one touch sensing line further includes portions formed in an area surrounding the adjacent pairs of gate driver.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising routing the at least one touch sensing line on a same layer as the adjacent pairs of gate drivers.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising routing the touch sensing lines to a single edge of the touch screen.

22. A touch screen, comprising:

an active area having a plurality of display pixels and touch sensing circuitry;

means for routing touch sensing lines to the touch sensing circuitry through an unconstrained region of the touch screen adjacent to the active area, the unconstrained region including a plurality of gate drivers, wherein at least one touch sensing line includes electrically coupled portions routed through gaps between adjacent pairs of gate drivers un the unconstrained region, and the touch sensing lines are electrically isolated from each other; and

means for routing at least some of the touch sensing lines to a restricted-structure region of the touch screen, the restricted-structure region adjacent to the unconstrained region, the restricted structure region being a region for sealant.

23. The touch screen of claim 22, wherein the means for routing at least some of the touch sensing lines to the restricted-structure region comprises means for forming portions of the at least some of the touch sensing lines, wherein the portions of each of the at least some of the touch sensing lines are routed through gaps between adjacent pairs of gate drivers.

24. The touch screen of claim 22, wherein the means for routing at least some of the touch sensing lines to the restricted-structure region comprises means for forming portions of the at least some of the touch sensing lines, wherein the portions of each of the at least some of the touch sensing lines are formed in an area surrounding the adjacent pairs of gate drivers.

25. The touch screen of claim 22, wherein the means for routing the touch sensing lines to the touch sensing circuitry through the unconstrained region comprises means for routing the touch sensing lines to a same edge of the touch screen.