Display device with touch detecting function and electronic apparatus

• US 9,471,165 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2014
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Japan Display Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Japan Display Incorporated
• Inventors: Koito, Takeo, Ishizaki, Koji, Kurasawa, Hayato
• Primary Examiner(s): Polo, Gustavo
• Application Number:
  US14/220,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20140292713A1
• Time in Patent Office: 943 Days
• Field of Search: 345/174
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13338 Input devices, e.g. touch panels
• 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 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0448 Details of the electrode shape, e.g. for enhancing the detection of touches, for generating specific electric field shapes, for enhancing display quality

Abstract

According to an aspect, a display device with a touch detecting function includes: a substrate; a display area; a touch detection electrode provided with a plurality of conductive thin wires, each of the conductive thin wires including a plurality of thin wire pieces each having a linear shape and including a first end and a second end; a drive electrode; and a display functional layer. The adjacent thin wire pieces are arranged so as to be bent at a bent portion serving as a portion at which the second end of the one thin wire piece of the adjacent thin wire pieces is connected to the first end of the other thin wire piece of the adjacent thin wire pieces, and the conductive thin wires include a bent portion having an angle formed by the adjacent thin wire pieces different from angles of the other bent portions.

Claims

1. A display device with a touch detecting function comprising:

a substrate;

a display area in which pixels each composed of a plurality of color areas are arranged in a matrix on a plane parallel to a surface of the substrate;

a touch detection electrode provided with a plurality of conductive thin wires extending on a plane parallel to the surface of the substrate, each of the conductive thin wires including a plurality of thin wire pieces each having a linear shape and including a first end and a second end, the second end of one of adjacent thin wire pieces and the first end of the other of the adjacent thin wire pieces being connected to each other;

a drive electrode having capacitance for the touch detection electrode; and

a display functional layer having a function to display an image on the display area, wherein

the adjacent thin wire pieces are arranged so as to be bent at a bent portion serving as a portion at which the second end of the one thin wire piece of the adjacent thin wire pieces is connected to the first end of the other thin wire piece of the adjacent thin wire pieces,

the conductive thin wires include a bent portion having an angle formed by the adjacent thin wire pieces different from angles of the other bent portions, and

the positions of the bent portions of adjacent conductive thin wires are different in a direction in which the adjacent conductive thin wires extend.

2. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein the adjacent conductive thin wires have shapes different from each other.

3. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein the conductive thin wires are configured such that an angle formed by thin wire pieces adjacent to each other at a bent portion different from an angle formed by thin wire pieces adjacent to each other at a bent portion next to the bent portion.

4. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein, when the maximum length of one pixel in a pixel orthogonal direction orthogonal to a pixel array direction on the plane parallel to the surface of the substrate is determined to be a first unit length, and the maximum length of one pixel in a direction parallel to the pixel array direction is determined to be a second unit length, the thin wire pieces extend in a direction inclined at an angle with respect to the pixel array direction, and a tangent value of the angle is larger than a value obtained by dividing the value of the first unit length by a value twice as large as the second unit length, is smaller than a value obtained by dividing a value twice as large as the first unit length by the value of the second unit length, and is different from a value obtained by dividing the value of the first unit length by the value of the second unit length.

5. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein the thin wire pieces extend in a direction inclined at an angle larger than 27 degrees and smaller than 45 degrees or an angle larger than 45 degrees and smaller than 63 degrees with respect to a pixel array direction in which a color area having the highest human visibility among the color areas is aligned.

6. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein the conductive thin wires adjacent to each other are arranged in a manner having no part intersecting with each other.

7. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein the conductive thin wires adjacent to each other are arranged in a manner having a contact part at which the bent portions are into contact with each other, and one conductive thin wire of the adjacent conductive thin wires is connected to the other conductive thin wire of the adjacent conductive thin wires at the contact part.

9. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein the conductive thin wires adjacent to each other are arranged in a manner having contact parts at which the bent portions are into contact with each other to form a plurality of regions each of which surrounded by four thin wire pieces and four contact parts, and at least one of four angles each of which is formed by adjacent thin pieces of a first region of the plurality of regions is different from four angles of a second region adjacent to the first region.

10. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein two thin wire pieces belonging to different conductive thin wires and extending in different directions are adjacent to each other, wherein at least one conductive thin wire is between the different conductive thin wires in a direction in which the conductive thin wires are arrayed.

11. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein at least three conductive thin wires that are arranged in a contiguous manner have different shapes from each other.

12. The display device with a touch detecting function according to claim 1, wherein a difference between a first angle and a second angle is equal to or less than 15 degrees, the first angle being formed by adjacent thin wire pieces at a first bent portion included in one conductive thin wire, the second angle being formed by adjacent thin wire pieces at a second bent portion adjacent to the first bent portion included in the one conductive thin wire.

8. An electronic apparatus having a display device with a touch detecting function, the display device with a touch detecting function comprising:

a substrate;

a display area in which pixels each composed of a plurality of color areas are arranged in a matrix on a plane parallel to a surface of the substrate;

a touch detection electrode provided with a plurality of conductive thin wires extending on a plane parallel to the surface of the substrate, each of the conductive thin wires including a plurality of thin wire pieces each having a linear shape and including a first end and a second end, the second end of one of adjacent thin wire pieces and the first end of the other of the adjacent thin wire pieces being connected to each other;

a drive electrode having capacitance for the touch detection electrode; and

a display functional layer having a function to display an image on the display area, wherein

the adjacent thin wire pieces are arranged so as to be bent at a bent portion serving as a portion at which the second end of the one thin wire piece of the adjacent thin wire pieces is connected to the first end of the other thin wire piece of the adjacent thin wire pieces,

the conductive thin wires include a bent portion having an angle formed by the adjacent thin wire pieces different from angles of the other bent portions, and

the positions of the bent portions of adjacent conductive thin wires are different in a direction in which the adjacent conductive thin wires extend.