Touch panel having spacers arranged on vertexes of orthogonal hexagons

• US 5,831,691 A
• Filed: 02/25/1997
• Issued: 11/03/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Component Limited (Fujitsu Limited)
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Kurashima, Shigemi, Sakaguchi, Akihiko, Kurasawa, Katsuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Sikes, William L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TON, MINH TOAN T
• Application Number:
  US08/805,776
• Time in Patent Office: 616 Days
• Field of Search: 349/23, 349/155, 349/12, 178/18, 345/173, 345/156
• US Class Current: 349/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact

Abstract

A touch panel includes a display unit having display elements which are arranged in a first lattice, and an input panel, put on the display unit, having a structure in which transparent resistive films maintained at a predetermined distance by insulating dot spacers are provided on a transparent substrate, the insulating dot spacers being arranged in a second lattice, wherein a relative angle θ between a direction in which the display elements are arranged in the first lattice and a direction in which the insulating dot spacers are arranged in the second lattice falls in a range of 15°≦θ≦30°.

Claims

1. A touch panel, comprising:

a display unit having display elements arranged in a lattice; and

an input panel, disposed on said display unit, comprising transparent resistive films spaced at a predetermined distance by a plurality of insulating dot spacers two-dimensionally arranged on vertexes of orthogonal hexagons lying in a plane therebetween and formed.

2. An input panel used in a touch panel, said input panel comprising:

a transparent substrate; and

transparent resistive films provided on said transparent substrate, said transparent resistive films being spaced at a predetermined distance by a plurality of insulating dot spacers which are two-dimensionally arranged on vertexes of orthogonal hexagons lying in a plane disposed between, and in parallel to, the films.

3. A touch panel as claimed in claim 2, wherein a distance between each insulating dot spacer and each of plural and respectively adjacent insulating dot spacers located at respective vertexes of a common orthogonal hexagon is one of three fixed and different, but substantially equal distances.

4. A touch panel, comprising:

a display unit having display elements arranged in a lattice; and

an input panel, disposed on said display-unit, comprising transparent resistive films formed on a transparent substrates, the transparent resistive files being spaced at a predetermined distance by a plurality of insulating dot spacers and wherein the plurality of insulating dot spacers is arranged two-dimensionally, on respective vertexes of orthogonal hexagons spaced in a plane and disposed between the films, with a periodicity of the respective spacings between each insulating dot spacer and the plural insulating dot spacers respectively adjacent thereto selected to produce a reduced number of periodical interferences between the display elements and the insulating dot spacers, in a display produced on the touch panel, relatively to a number thereof produced by a random arrangement of the insulation dot spacers.

5. A touch panel, comprising:

a display unit having display elements arranged in a lattice; and

an input panel, disposed on said display unit, comprising transparent resistive films formed on a transparent substrate, the transparent resistive films being spaced at a predetermined distance by a plurality of insulating dot spacers and wherein the plurality of insulating dot spacers is two-dimensionally arranged in a plane disposed between the films, a distance between each insulating dot spacer and each of plural and respectively adjacent insulating dot spacers located at respective vertexes of a common orthogonal hexagon being a selected one of three fixed and different, but substantially equal, distances and a periodicity of the respective spacings between each insulating dot spacer and the plural insulating dot spacers respectively adjacent thereto being selected to produce a reduced number of periodical interferences between the display elements and the insulating dot spaces, in a display produced on the touch panel, relatively to a number thereof produced by a random arrangement of the insulating dot spacers.

6. An input panel for a touch panel, said input panel comprising:

a transparent substrate; and

transparent resistive films provided on said transparent substrate, said transparent resistive films being spaced at a predetermined distance by a plurality of insulating dot spacers two-dimensionally arranged on respective vertexes of orthogonal hexagons spaced in a plane disposed between the films, with a periodicity of the respective spacings between each insulating dot spacer ad the plural insulating dot spacers respectively adjacent thereto being selected to produce a reduced number of periodical interferences between the insulating dot spacers and display elements of the touch panel, in a display produced on the touch panel, relatively to a number thereof produced by a random arrangement of the insulating dot spacers.

7. A touch panel as claimed in claim 6, wherein a distance, between each insulating dot spacer and each of the plural and respectively adjacent insulating dot spacers located at respective vertexes of a common orthogonal hexagon, is one of three fixed and different, but substantially equal, distances.