Trace border routing

• US 9,491,852 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2011
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lyon, Benjamin B., Chang, Shih Chang, Grunthaner, Martin Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): MA, CALVIN
• Application Number:
  US13/007,493
• Publication Number:
  US 20120092273A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,125 Days
• Field of Search: 345/173, 345/174, 298/46
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04108 Touchless 2D- digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface without distance measurement in the Z direction
• 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: G09G 3/2092 Details of a display terminals using a flat panel, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto suitable for both CRT and flat panel G09G5/003; specific for a CRT G09G1/165
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0242 Structural details of individual signal conductors, e.g. related to the skin effect
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0265 characterized by the lay-out of or details of the printed conductors, e.g. reinforced conductors, redundant conductors, conductors having different cross-sections
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/0784 Uniform resistance, i.e. equalizing the resistance of a number of conductors
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/09272 Layout details of angles or corners
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/09727 Varying width along a single conductor; Conductors or pads having different widths
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49155 Manufacturing circuit on or in base

Abstract

The border routing of conductive traces in devices, such as displays, touch sensor panels, and touch screens, to improve border area space usage, thereby reducing device size, and to reduce trace resistance, thereby improving device operation, is disclosed. The conductive traces can form a staggered stair-step configuration in the device border area, in which the average widths of the traces can be different from each other and each trace can have segments with different widths. The conductive traces can be coupled to an active area of the device to transmit signals to and from the active area in accordance with a device operation. The varying widths can help improve the border area space usage, reduce trace resistance, and reduce the differences in resistance between traces.

Claims

1. A display comprising:

an active area configured to display data;

a plurality of rows in the active area, each forming at least a portion of one or more display pixels;

multiple conductive traces including inner conductive traces and outer conductive traces, the inner conductive traces located between the outer conductive traces, the multiple conductive traces in a plane disposed along a length of the plane, each trace electrically coupled to one of the plurality of rows, the traces having segments of different widths, each width perpendicular to the length in the plane, wherein the width of the trace is constant within each segment, and

further wherein the inner conductive traces have greater widths than the outer conductive traces at a connector location, and at least one of the multiple conductive traces having segments that decrease in width with respect to one another along the length of the trace.

2. The display of claim 1, wherein the conductive traces comprise multiple gate signal lines, the display comprising:

a display driver configured to transmit gate signals over the gate signal lines to the active area to cause the active area to display the data.

3. The display of claim 1, wherein the conductive traces comprise multiple gate driver control lines, the display comprising;

multiple gate drivers configured to drive the active area to display the data; and

a printed circuit board configured to transmit signals over the control lines to the gate drivers to cause the gate drivers to drive the active area.

4. The display of claim 1, wherein the conductive traces comprise multiple common voltage lines, the display comprising:

a voltage supply configured to transmit AC voltage over the voltage lines to the active area to cause the active area to display the data.

5. The display of claim 1, wherein the traces form a stair-step configuration comprising:

at a first location, a first conductive trace coupling at the active area to a first row of the plurality of rows; and

at a second adjacent location, a second conductive trace coupling at the active area to a second row of the plurality of rows and a distal portion of the first coupled conductive trace adjacent to the second coupled conductive trace, the width of the first coupled conductive trace at the second location being smaller than the width of the first coupled conductive trace at the first location to form the stair-step configuration of the first coupled conductive trace.

6. The display of claim 1, wherein the conductive traces have different lengths and wherein shorter ones of the conductive traces have lines coupled thereto to extend the length of the shorter traces to match resistance of the shorter conductive traces to resistance of longer ones of the conductive traces.

7. The display of claim 1, wherein at least one of the conductive traces has a different thickness to match resistance with the other traces.

8. The display of claim 1, wherein at least one of the conductive traces comprises different conductive material so as to match resistance with the other traces.

9. The display of claim 1 incorporated into at least one of a mobile telephone, a digital media player, or a personal computer.

10. A touch sensor panel comprising:

multiple rows of touch pixels configured to sense a touch or hover;

multiple conductive traces including inner conductive traces and outer conductive traces, the inner conductive traces located between the outer conductive traces, the multiple conductive traces in a plane disposed along a length of the plane, each trace coupled to a different row and configured to drive a respective row with stimulation signals, the traces being disposed at a border area of the panel, each trace having segments with multiple widths that are different from the multiple widths of the segments of the other traces, the width perpendicular to the length in the plane, wherein the width of the trace is constant within each segment and

further wherein the inner conductive traces have greater widths than the outer conductive traces at a connector location, and at least one of the multiple conductive traces having segments that decrease in width with respect to one another along the length of the trace.

11. The panel of claim 10, wherein at least two of the multiple widths in each trace are different.

12. The panel of claim 10, wherein the conductive traces are coupled in an interleaved manner to the rows, the traces coupling to every other row.

13. A touch screen comprising:

a display configured to display data;

a touch sensor panel including a plurality of rows configured to sense a touch or hover;

multiple conductive traces including inner conductive traces and outer conductive traces, the inner conductive traces located between the outer conductive traces, the multiple conductive traces in a plane disposed along a length of the plane, each trace coupled to a different row and configured to drive a respective row with stimulation signals, the traces being disposed at a border area of the panel, each trace having segments with multiple widths that are different from the multiple widths of the segments of the other traces, the width perpendicular to the length in the plane, wherein the width of the trace is constant within each segment, and

further wherein the inner conductive traces are have greater widths than the outer conductive traces at a connector location, and at least one of the multiple conductive traces having segments that decrease in width with respect to one another along the length of the trace.

14. The screen of claim 13, wherein the conductive traces comprise common voltage drive lines for driving the panel with voltage signals to cause the panel to sense the touch or hover.

15. The screen of claim 13, wherein the conductive traces are coupled to both sides of the panel to drive the panel from both sides to cause the panel to sense the touch or hover.

16. The screen of claim 13, wherein the different average widths and the different segment widths of the conductive traces reduce interference between the display and the panel when the panel senses the touch or hover.

17. A method of forming conductive traces on a device, comprising:

forming multiple conductive traces in a plane along a length of the plane, in a border area of the device, the traces varying in length, each trace having at least two segments of different widths, the width perpendicular to the length in the plane, wherein the width of a trace is constant within each segment, wherein the multiple conductive traces includes inner conductive traces and outer conductive traces, the inner conductive traces located between the outer conductive traces, further wherein the inner conductive traces have greater widths than the outer conductive traces at a connector location;

forming an active area including a plurality of rows to couple to the conductive traces, each conductive trace coupling to a corresponding row in the active area to transmit signals to and from that row, wherein each row forms at least a portion of one or more display pixels;

forming three or more adjacent traces alongside a first location, each of the three or more adjacent traces having a different width as measured along a line perpendicular to the active area at the border area; and

at least one of the three or more traces having segments that decrease in width with respect to one another along a length of the trace.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein forming multiple conductive traces comprises forming the traces into a stair-step configuration including

at the first location in the active area, coupling a first conductive trace to a first row thereto;

and

at a second adjacent location in the active area, coupling a second conductive trace to a second row thereto and disposing an adjacent distal portion of the first coupled conductive trace, the widths of the segments of the first coupled conductive trace being different at the first and second locations to form the stair-step configuration.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein forming multiple conductive traces comprises forming the different widths for the at least two segments of each trace to optimize space used by the traces in the border area.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein forming multiple conductive traces comprises forming the different widths for the at least two segments of each trace to reduce resistance in that trace.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein forming multiple conductive traces comprises forming the different widths for the at least two segments of each trace to cancel out parasitic capacitance in the device.

22. A method of routing conductive traces around a border of a device, comprising:

routing multiple conductive traces in a plane disposed along a length of the plane and formed in a border area of the device from corresponding active areas of the device, the traces having segments with varying widths, the width perpendicular to the length in the plane, wherein each trace is coupled to one of a plurality of rows forming at least a portion of one or more display pixels, the width of the trace is constant within each segment, and the widths satisfying at least one electrical requirement of the device,

wherein routing the multiple conductive traces comprises forming inner conductive traces having greater widths than the outer conductive traces at a connector location, the inner conductive traces located between the outer conductive traces, and at least one of the three or more traces having segments that decrease in width with respect to one another along a length of the trace.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one electrical requirement includes at least one of reduced resistance in the traces, reduced differences in resistance between the traces, or improved usage of the border area by the traces.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein routing multiple conductive traces comprises forming the different widths so that the traces have resistance at or below a maximum resistance permissible in accordance with the at least one electrical requirement.

25. The method of claim 22, comprising:

prior to the routing, iteratively determining the different widths by repeating adjustments of the widths until the electrical requirement is satisfied.