Single-layer touch-sensitive display

• US 8,633,915 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2008
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hotelling, Steve Porter, Zhong, John Z.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sitta, Grant
• Application Number:
  US12/038,760
• Publication Number:
  US 20090091551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,155 Days
• Field of Search: 345170-174
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• 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 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 3/0443 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: Y10T 29/43 Electric condenser making

Abstract

A touch sensor panel having co-planar single-layer touch sensors fabricated on a single side of a substrate is disclosed. The drive and sense lines can be fabricated as column-like patterns in a first orientation and patches in a second orientation, where each column-like pattern in the first orientation is connected to a separate metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel, and all patches in each of multiple rows in the second orientation are connected together using a separate metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel. The metal traces in the border areas can be formed on the same side of the substrate as the patches and columns, but separated from the patches and column-like patterns by a dielectric layer.

Claims

1. A touch sensor panel, comprising:

a plurality of patterns of conductive material disposed along a first direction, formed on a single layer and supported on one side of a substrate; and

a plurality of distinct patches of the conductive material supported on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of patterns of conductive material, the plurality of distinct patches disposed in substantially the same single layer, and plural groups of the plurality of distinct patches disposed along a second direction, different from the first direction, the distinct patches in a particular group connected together via at least one of a plurality of conductor traces;

wherein at least sections of the plurality of distinct patches are separate from, non-overlapping with, and adjacent to sections of the plurality of patterns of conductive material such as to form a substantially co-planar, single layer array of mutual capacitance sensors, each mutual capacitance sensor responsive to a fringing electric field between a section of one of the plurality of distinct patches and an adjacent, non-overlapping, co-planar section of one of the plurality of patterns of conductive material; and

wherein;

the plurality of patterns of conductive material disposed along the first direction is configured as one of a drive line or a sense line for the array of mutual capacitance sensors, and the plurality groups of the plurality of distinct patches disposed along the second direction is configured as the other of the drive line or the sense line for the substantially co-planar, single layer array of mutual capacitance sensors; and

in operation, the drive lines driven with one or more stimulation signals to establish the fringing electric field for coupling charge onto the sense lines.

2. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of patterns of conductive material are formed with notches and staggered edges to form the sections.

3. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conductor traces are disposed at least in a border area of the touch sensor panel, the plurality of patterns of conductive material connected to at least one of the plurality of conductor traces.

4. The touch sensor panel of claim 3, wherein the portions of the plurality of patterns of conductive material and portions of the plurality of distinct patches are formed partially over the plurality of conductor traces but separated therefrom by a dielectric material.

5. The touch sensor panel of claim 4, further comprising vias formed in the dielectric material for providing connections between the portions of the plurality of patterns of conductive material and the plurality of conductor traces and between the portions of the plurality of distinct patches and the plurality of conductor traces.

6. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of patterns of conductive material comprises Indium Tin Oxide (ITO).

7. The touch sensor panel of claim 4, wherein the plurality of conductor traces are formed from metal.

8. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a cover material for a touch sensitive device.

9. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, further comprising a cover material for a touch sensitive device coupled to the substrate.

10. The touch sensor panel of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of conductive traces are routed to a single side of the substrate for connecting to a flex circuit.

11. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of distinct patches and adjacent sections of the plurality of patterns of conductive material have about the same surface area.

12. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, each sensor of the mutual capacitance sensors is elongated in at least one of the first and second directions to provide spatial filtering.

13. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, the touch sensor panel integrated into a computing system.

14. The touch sensor panel of claim 13, the computing system integrated into a mobile telephone or digital media player.

15. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conductor traces comprises metal traces which are disposed on a border area of the touch sensor panel;

and

wherein the sections of the plurality of distinct patches which are separate from, non-overlapping with, and adjacent to the plurality of patterns of conductive material are connected to the metal traces by single layer transparent conductive traces disposed substantially along the first direction.

30. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein the plurality of distinct patches and the plurality of patterns of conductive material are disposed in a non-interleaved relationship with respect to one another.

31. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of patterns of conductive material extends across substantially the entirety of the touch sensor panel along the first direction without interleaving with any of the plurality of distinct patches such that a gap is disposed substantially along the first direction separating each of the plurality of patterns of conductive material from the plurality of distinct patches.

32. The touch sensor panel of claim 1, wherein ones of the plurality of patterns of conductive material are connected only along one end thereof to at least one of the plurality of conductive traces, and alternate adjacent ones of the plurality of patterns of conductive patterns of conductive material are connected only along the other end thereof to at least one of the plurality of conductive traces, wherein the plurality of conductor traces are disposed in a border area of the touch sensor panel, the plurality of patterns of conductive material connected to at least one of the plurality of conductor traces.

16. A method for forming a touch sensor panel, comprising:

forming a plurality of column-like patterns of conductive material disposed in a first direction on a single layer on one side of a substrate;

forming a plurality of distinct patches of the conductive material on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of column-like patterns of conductive material and disposed in substantially the same single layer as the plurality of column-like patterns,

arranging the plurality of distinct patches into in a plurality of rows;

providing a plurality of conductor traces;

connecting distinct patches in a particular row together via at least one of the plurality of conductor traces;

forming a substantially co-planar, single layer array of mutual capacitance sensors from at least sections of the plurality of distinct patches together with sections of the plurality of column-like patterns of conductive material, the at least sections of the plurality of distinct patches being separate from, non-overlapping with, and adjacent to the sections of the plurality of column-like patterns of conductive material; and

configuring drive lines from one of the plurality of column-like patters or the plurality of distinct patches and configuring sense lines from the other of the plurality of column-like patters or the plurality of distinct patches.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising forming the column-like patterns of conductive material with notches and staggered edge.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising forming the plurality of conductor traces in a border area of the substrate for providing a connection to each distinct patch in a particular row and for providing a connection to each column-like pattern of conductive material.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising forming the plurality of column-like patterns of conductive material and the plurality of distinct patches partially over the plurality of conductor traces but separated therefrom by a dielectric material.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising forming vias in the dielectric material for providing the connections between the column-like patterns of conductive material and the plurality of conductor traces and the plurality of distinct patches and the plurality of conductor traces.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the conductive material is Indium Tin Oxide (ITO).

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising forming the plurality of conductor traces from metal.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the substrate is a cover material for a touch sensitive device.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising attaching a cover material for a touch sensitive device to the substrate.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising routing the plurality of conductor traces to a single side of the substrate for connecting to a flex circuit.

26. The method of claim 17, further comprising forming each distinct patch and adjacent sections of the column-like patterns to have substantially the same surface area.

27. The method of claim 16, further comprising elongating each sensor to create spatial blurring.

28. A mobile telephone including a touch sensor panel, the touch sensor panel comprising:

a plurality of patterns of conductive material disposed along a first direction, formed on a single layer and supported on one side of a substrate; and

a plurality of distinct patches of the conductive material supported on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of patterns of conductive material, the plurality of distinct patches disposed in substantially the same single layer, and plural groups of the plurality of distinct patches disposed along a second direction, different from the first direction, the distinct patches in a particular group connected together via at least one of a plurality of conductor traces;

wherein at least sections of the plurality of distinct patches are separate from, non-overlapping with, and adjacent to sections of the patterns of conductive material such as to form a substantially co-planar, single layer array of mutual capacitance sensors; and

wherein the plurality of patterns of conductive material disposed along the first direction is configured as one of a drive line or a sense line for the array of mutual capacitance sensors, and the plurality groups of the plurality of distinct patches disposed along the second direction is configured as the other of the drive line or the sense line for the array of mutual capacitance sensors.

29. A digital media player including a touch sensor panel, the touch sensor panel comprising:

a plurality of patterns of conductive material disposed along a first direction, formed on a single layer and supported on one side of a substrate; and

a plurality of distinct patches of the conductive material supported on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of patterns of conductive material, the plurality of distinct patches disposed in substantially the same single layer, and plural groups of the plurality of distinct patches disposed along a second direction, different from the first direction, the distinct patches in a particular group connected together via at least one of a plurality of conductor traces;

wherein at least sections of the plurality of distinct patches are separate from, non-overlapping with, and adjacent to sections of the plurality of patterns of conductive material such as to form a substantially co-planar, single layer array of mutual capacitance sensors; and

wherein the plurality of patterns of conductive material disposed along the first direction is configured as one of a drive line or a sense line for the array of mutual capacitance sensors, and the plurality groups of the plurality of distinct patches disposed along the second direction is configured as the other of the drive line or the sense line for the array of mutual capacitance sensors.

33. A touch sensor panel, comprising:

a plurality of columns of a conductive material formed on a single layer and supported on one side of a substrate;

a plurality of patches of the conductive material supported on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of columns, the plurality of patches formed on the same layer as the plurality of columns adjacent to the plurality of columns and arranged in a plurality of rows, each patch in a particular row connected together in a border area of the touch sensor panel but isolated from each other in a central area of the touch sensor panel;

one of the plurality of columns of conductive material and the plurality of rows configured as drive lines and the other of the plurality of columns of conductive material and the plurality of rows configured as sense line; and

wherein;

portions of the plurality of patches and portions of the plurality of columns configured as a co-planar, single layer, array of mutual capacitance sensors, each mutual capacitance sensor responsive to a fringing electric field between the portion of one of the plurality of patches and an adjacent, non-overlapping, co-planar portion of one of the plurality of patterns of conductive material; and

the drive lines driven with one or more stimulation signals thereby establishing the fringing electric fields for coupling charge onto the sense lines.

34. A touch sensor panel, comprising:

a plurality of columns of a conductive material formed on a single layer and supported on one side of a substrate;

a plurality of distinct patches of the conductive material supported on the same side of the substrate as the plurality of columns, the plurality of distinct patches formed on the same layer as the plurality of columns adjacent to the plurality of columns and arranged in a plurality of rows;

one of the plurality of columns of conductive material and the plurality of rows configured as drive lines and the other of the plurality of columns of conductive material and the plurality of rows configured as sense line; and

wherein;

portions of the plurality of distinct patches and portions of the plurality of columns configured as a co-planar, single layer, array of mutual capacitance sensors, each mutual capacitance sensor responsive to a fringing electric field between the portion of one of the plurality of distinct patches and an adjacent, non-overlapping, co-planar portion of one of the plurality of patterns of conductive material; and

the drive lines configured to be driven with one or more stimulation signals thereby establishing the fringing electric fields for coupling to the sense lines.