Touchscreen panel with driving electrodes connected to a plurality of lead lines extending in parallel to sensing electrodes

• US 9,870,111 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2014
• Issued: 01/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Sugita, Yasuhiro, Ogawa, Hiroyuki, Tada, Kenshi, Kanbayashi, Yuuichi, Yamagishi, Shinji
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisen, Alexander
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lam, Nelson
• Application Number:
  US15/029,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20160253001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-179
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1368 in which the switching element is a three-electrode device G02F1/136277 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• 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 3/04164 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 3/0445 using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer
• 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 touchscreen panel according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a transparent substrate (101); a first electrically conductive layer (12) supported on the transparent substrate, the first electrically conductive layer including a plurality of sensing electrodes (12S) extending along a first direction; and a second electrically conductive layer (14) including a plurality of driving electrodes (14D) extending along a second direction intersecting the first direction, the plurality of driving electrodes being electrically insulated from the plurality of sensing electrodes. The plurality of sensing electrodes and the plurality of driving electrodes define a sensor array region (10A), the sensor array region including a plurality of sensor portions (10S) arranged in a matrix array. The first electrically conductive layer further includes a plurality of lead lines (12Dt) extending essentially in parallel to the first direction within the sensor array region. Each of the plurality of driving electrodes is connected to at least one of the plurality of lead lines, and terminals of the plurality of sensing electrodes and terminals of the plurality of lead lines are both provided in the neighborhood of the same edge of the transparent substrate that extends essentially in parallel to the second direction.

Claims

1. A touchscreen panel comprising:

a transparent substrate;

a first electrically conductive layer supported on the transparent substrate, the first electrically conductive layer including a plurality of sensing electrodes extending along a first direction; and

a second electrically conductive layer including a plurality of driving electrodes extending along a second direction intersecting the first direction, the plurality of driving electrodes being electrically insulated from the plurality of sensing electrodes, wherein,

the plurality of sensing electrodes and the plurality of driving electrodes define a sensor array region, the sensor array region including a plurality of sensor portions arranged in a matrix array;

the first electrically conductive layer further includes a plurality of lead lines extending essentially in parallel to the first direction within the sensor array region;

each of the plurality of driving electrodes is connected to at least one of the plurality of lead lines, and terminals of the plurality of sensing electrodes and terminals of the plurality of lead lines are both provided in a neighborhood of a same edge of the transparent substrate that extends essentially in parallel to the second direction;

the plurality of driving electrodes include a first driving electrode which is electrically connected to at least two of the plurality of lead lines at two sensor portions; and

a position at which a distance between the two sensor portions is bisected is a position at which a length of the first driving electrode along the second direction is essentially bisected, and distances between a center of the first driving electrode along the second direction and the two sensor portions are equal to about ⅓

of the length of the first driving electrode along the second direction.

2. The touchscreen panel of claim 1, further comprising an interlevel dielectric layer formed between the first electrically conductive layer and the second electrically conductive layer.

3. The touchscreen panel of claim 2, further comprising a transparent electrically conductive layer formed between the first electrically conductive layer and the interlevel dielectric layer.

4. The touchscreen panel of claim 2, further comprising a transparent electrically conductive layer formed between the second electrically conductive layer and the interlevel dielectric layer.

5. The touchscreen panel of claim 1, further comprising a polymer layer between the first electrically conductive layer and the second electrically conductive layer, the polymer layer having electrically conductive regions and a non-electrically conductive region, the polymer layer being in contact with the plurality of sensing electrodes in the non-electrically conductive region and being in contact with the plurality of driving electrodes in the electrically conductive regions.

6. The touchscreen panel of claim 1, further comprising a dielectric layer formed on the second electrically conductive layer.

7. The touchscreen panel of claim 1, wherein,

the plurality of driving electrodes include a second driving electrode which is electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of lead lines at only one sensor portion;

and

the position of the only one sensor portion is a position at which a length of the second driving electrode along the second direction is essentially bisected.

8. The touchscreen panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of driving electrodes reach an edge of the transparent substrate that is parallel to the first direction.

9. The touchscreen panel of claim 1, further comprising a display cell including a TFT substrate, a counter substrate, and a display medium layer provided between the TFT substrate and the counter substrate, wherein

the transparent substrate doubles as the counter substrate.

10. The touchscreen panel of claim 9, wherein the counter substrate further includes a counter electrode for applying a voltage across the display medium layer.

11. The touchscreen panel of claim 1, further comprising a display cell including a TFT substrate, a counter substrate, and a display medium layer provided between the TFT substrate and the counter substrate, wherein

the second electrically conductive layer of the transparent substrate is disposed on a side of the counter substrate facing away from the display medium layer.