CN102117146B - Embedded touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

An embedded touch panel includes a first substrate, a second substrate and a plurality of sensing regions formed between the first substrate and the second substrate. Each sensing region includes a first region, a second region and a plurality of supporting structures distributed in the first region and the second region to maintain the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate; wherein the distribution density of the supporting structures in the first region is greater than the distribution density of the supporting structures in the second region.

Description

Embedded touch panel

technical field

The present invention relates to a touch device, and in particular to an in-cell touch panel, which has uneven distribution of support structures and sensing structures.

Background technique

With the popularization of mobile devices, human-machine interface devices are also widely used in mobile devices such as mobile assistants (PDAs), mobile phones and notebook computers to make their operations more user-friendly; and touch screens are more It plays an important role in humanized operation.

At present, the touch screen can mainly use the plug-in or built-in (in-cell) touch panel. The plug-in touch panel generally includes four types: resistive, capacitive, infrared and acoustic wave, and it is mainly to install an additional touch panel on the surface of a display device. However, the additional touch panel will increase the overall thickness of the touch screen and reduce the light transmittance of the display device to affect its brightness performance. Therefore, the industry proposes an in-cell touch panel to solve this problem. The embedded touch panel is a panel including both touch function and display function.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which shows a partial cross-sectional view of a known in-cell touch panel. The in-cell touch panel 90 includes a first substrate 91 and a second substrate 92 . A plurality of supporting structures 911 and sensing structures 912 are evenly formed on the first substrate 91 ; wherein a conductive thin film 9121 is formed on the surface of the sensing structures 912 . A plurality of first stacked structures 921 and second stacked structures 922 are evenly formed on the second substrate 92 ; wherein a conductive film 9221 is formed on the surface of the second stacked structures 922 . In the in-cell touch panel 90 , a support structure 911 is aligned and abutted against a first stack structure 921 to maintain the distance between the first substrate 91 and the second substrate 92 . A sensing structure 912 is opposite to a second stacked structure 922; thereby, when an external force is applied to the outer surface S of the first substrate 91, the conductive film 9121 on the surface of the sensing structure 912 will be electrically connected to the opposite second stacked structure 922. The conductive thin film 9221 on the surface of the stack structure 922 is used to sense the position of the external force.

However, since the touch surface of the in-cell touch panel is located on a glass (ie, the first substrate 91 ), the touch surface of the add-on touch panel, such as a resistive touch panel, is generally made of polyester film (PETfilm). Therefore, the external force required for touching an in-cell touch panel is larger than that for touching an external touch panel, thus reducing the touch sensitivity of the in-cell touch panel.

In view of this, it is necessary to propose an in-cell touch panel with low pressing load to increase its touch sensitivity.

Contents of the invention

The present invention proposes a touch panel, in which the touch area of each sensing area is configured with a lower-density support structure, so as to reduce the pressing load of the touch area and increase the touch sensitivity.

The present invention also proposes a touch panel, wherein the sensing structure in each sensing area is only arranged in the central part and not in the periphery, so as to avoid malfunction caused by pressing two sensing areas at the same time.

The present invention proposes an in-cell touch panel, comprising a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a plurality of sensing regions formed on the Between the first substrate and the second substrate. Wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are formed of transparent materials such as glass or quartz, and each sensing region includes a first region, a second region and a plurality of support structures with uneven distribution density. In the first region and the second region, each support structure includes an upper support structure and a lower support structure abutting against each other to maintain the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate; wherein the support in the first region The distribution density of structures is greater than the distribution density of the supporting structures in the second region.

The present invention also proposes an in-cell touch panel, comprising a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate and a plurality of sensing regions are formed in an array between the first substrate and the second substrate. Wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are formed of transparent materials such as glass or quartz, and each sensing region includes a third region, a fourth region and a plurality of sensing structures to sense an external force. pressure, wherein the plurality of sensing structures are formed only in the third region but not in the fourth region, and each sensing region further includes a plurality of supporting structures respectively distributed in the third region with different distribution densities And in the fourth area, each support structure includes an upper support structure and a lower support structure abutting against each other to maintain a distance between the first substrate and the second substrate.

In the in-cell touch panel of the present invention, the support structure is formed by contacting a support spacer disposed on the first substrate and a stack structure disposed on the second substrate. The sensing structure is formed by aligning a sensing spacer disposed on the first substrate and a stack structure disposed on the second substrate.

In the present invention, since the distribution density of the support structure in the first region is greater than the distribution density of the support structure in the second region, the pressing load of the second region can be effectively reduced; in addition, since the sensing structure is only It is arranged in the central part of each sensing area to avoid malfunction caused by pressing two sensing areas at the same time.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 shows a partial sectional view of a known touch panel;

Figure 2a shows a top view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the touch panel includes a plurality of sensing regions;

Figure 2b shows a partially enlarged view of a sensing region of Figure 2a;

Figure 2c shows a sectional view along line 2c-2c' in Figure 2b;

Figure 3a shows a schematic diagram of the distribution of the support structure of the first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3b shows a schematic diagram of the distribution of the support structure of the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3c shows a schematic distribution diagram of the sensing structure of the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3d shows a schematic diagram of the distribution of the supporting structure and the sensing structure of the fourth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 shows a top view of a touch panel according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the sensing area is only distributed in the key area of the touch panel.

[Description of main component symbols]

1. 1’ Touch Panel 10 Sensing Area

11 The first substrate 12 The second substrate

13 Data line 14 Gate line

15 horizontal axis reading line 16 vertical axis reading line

17 Supporting structure 171 Upper supporting structure

1711 Color filter 1712 Support spacer

1713 Transparent Electrode 172 Lower Supporting Structure

1721 first metal layer 1722 insulation layer

1723 doped layer 1724 protective layer

18, 18' sensing structure 181 upper sensing structure

1811 Sensing spacer 1812 Transparent electrode

182 Lower sensing structure 1821 Metal layer

1822 Insulation layer 1823 Transparent electrode

19 black matrix 100～100”’ pixel area

101, 101' first area 102, 102' second area

103 The third area 104 The fourth area

DA Display Area BA Key Area

90 Embedded touch panel 91 First substrate

911 Support Structure 912 Sensing Structure

9121 Conductive film S The outer surface of the first substrate

92 Second Substrate 921 First Stacking Structure

922 Second stack structure 9221 Conductive film

Detailed ways

In order to make the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more apparent, a detailed description will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the present invention, the same components are denoted by the same symbols, and will be described here first.

In addition, in each drawing of the present invention, only some members are shown, and members not directly related to the description of the present invention are omitted.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which shows a top view of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention. The touch panel 1 is an in-cell touch panel, that is, the touch panel 1 has both a touch function and a display function. The touch panel 1 includes a first substrate 11 and a second substrate 12 facing the first substrate 11 , wherein a liquid crystal layer (not shown) is interposed between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 12 . The first substrate 11 and the second substrate 12 can be formed of transparent materials such as glass or quartz, for example; the first substrate 11 is, for example, a color filter substrate or a glass. The touch panel 1 includes a plurality of sensing regions 10 formed in an array between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 12, for example, 32×30 sensing regions 10 are included in FIG. 2a, wherein the sensing regions 10 The number can be determined according to the size of the touch panel 1 and the required resolution, and is not limited to that disclosed in FIG. 2a.

Please refer to FIG. 2b, which shows a partially enlarged view of a sensing region 10 in FIG. 2a. A sensing area 10 includes a plurality of pixel areas 100-100"', such as, but not limited to, 32×20 pixel areas. Each pixel area includes a plurality of data lines 13, a gate line 14, a horizontal axis The reading line 15, a vertical axis reading line 16 and a plurality of color sub-pixels are used for color mixing during display, such as red sub-pixels, green sub-pixels and blue sub-pixels, but not limited thereto. The data line 13 It is used to transmit the grayscale value to be displayed in a pixel area to the pixel area through a switch element. The gate line 14 is used as the scanning line of the touch panel 1 to drive a column of pixels. The horizontal axis readout line 15 And the vertical axis reading line 16 captures the signal when an external force touches the pixel area, and uses it to determine the coordinates of the touch point of the external force.

A pixel area may include at least one support structure or may not include a support structure and/or may include at least one sensing structure or may not include a sensing structure. For example, in a first pixel region 100 (including a red sub-pixel, a green sub-pixel and a blue sub-pixel), the green sub-pixel includes a support structure 17 and the blue sub-pixel includes a horizontal axis sensing structure 18 and/or Or a longitudinal axis sensing structure 18'. In a second pixel region 100', no support structure is included and the blue sub-pixel includes a horizontal-axis sensing structure 18 and/or a vertical-axis sensing structure 18'. In a third pixel area 100", no sensing structure is included and the green sub-pixel includes a supporting structure 17. A fourth pixel area 100"' does not include any supporting structure and sensing structure. It can be understood that the supporting structure 17 and the sensing structure 18 can be formed in sub-pixels of other colors, and are not limited to those disclosed in FIG. 2b. In the present invention, the support structure 17 and the sensing structure 18 are distributed in a sensing area 10 in a preset manner to achieve the effects of reducing the pressing load and avoiding malfunctions.

Please refer to FIG. 2c. FIG. 2c shows a partial cross-sectional view along line 2c-2c' in FIG. The sensing region 10 includes a first substrate 11 , a second substrate 12 , a plurality of supporting structures 17 and a plurality of sensing structures 18 . The support structure 17 includes an upper support structure 171 and a lower support structure 172 abutting against each other to maintain a distance between the first substrate 11 and the second substrate 12 .

In one embodiment, the upper supporting structure 171 is formed by stacking a color filter 1711, a supporting spacer (spacer) 1712 and a transparent electrode 1713, wherein the color filter 1711 is formed on the first substrate 11 and the support spacer 1712 is formed on the color filter 1711; the transparent electrode 1713 is formed on the surface of the color filter 1711 and the support spacer 1712, wherein the upper support structure 171 The formation method of each layer can be realized by a known method. The transparent electrode 1713 can be a part of the common electrode (common) of the touch panel 1 . The lower support structure 172 is a stacked structure formed by stacking several layers of materials, such as a first metal layer 1721, an insulating layer 1722, a doped layer or a second metal layer 1723 and a protective layer 1724. form. It should be understood that the support structure 17 can also be formed by other stacking sequences or materials, and is not limited to that disclosed in FIG. 2c.

In one embodiment, the sensing structure 18 includes an upper sensing structure 181 and a lower sensing structure 182 aligned and separated from the upper sensing structure 181 by a sensing distance, wherein the sensing distance can be determined according to the touch The desired touch sensitivity of panel 1 is determined. The upper sensing structure 181 includes a sensing spacer 1811 formed on the first substrate 11 and a transparent electrode 1812 formed on the surface of the sensing spacer 1811, wherein the transparent electrode 1812 can be the touch panel 1 A part of the common electrode is formed on the first substrate 11 simultaneously with the transparent electrode 1713 . The lower sensing structure 182 is a stacked structure formed by stacking multiple layers of materials, such as a metal layer 1821, an insulating layer 1822 and a transparent electrode 1823, wherein the insulating layer 1822 can be formed simultaneously with the insulating layer 1722. Formed on the second substrate 12 , the transparent electrode 1823 is in electrical contact with the metal layer 1821 . Thereby, when an external force touches the outer surface of the first substrate 11, the transparent electrode 1812 can be in electrical contact with the transparent electrode 1823, so as to transmit the sensing signal to the horizontal axis reading line 15 and/or the vertical axis The axis reads line 16. It must be understood that the sensing structure 18 may also be formed by other stacking sequences or materials, and is not limited to that disclosed in FIG. 2c. In addition, the sensing region 10 of the present invention can additionally form a black matrix 19 on the inner surface of the first substrate 11, as shown in FIG. 2c.

Please refer to FIG. 3a, which shows a schematic diagram of a sensing area 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the sensing area 10 includes, for example, 32×20 pixel areas 100-100"'. In FIG. 3a, Areas with oblique lines represent pixel areas provided with support structures 17, such as pixel area 100 or 100" (as shown in FIG. Pixel area 100' or 100"' (as shown in FIG. 2b). In this embodiment, each sensing area 10 includes a first area 101 and a second area 102, wherein the support structure 17 in the first area 101 The distribution density of the support structure 17 in the second area 102 is relatively high and the distribution density of the support structure 17 is low, and the first area 101 surrounds the periphery of the second area 102. Thus, when a user touches the second area 102 When the region 102, less external force can be applied, so the second region 102 has a lower pressing load. The so-called distribution density here refers to the total cross-sectional area (μm ² /mm ² ) of the support structure or the support structure in every square millimeter. The ratio of the number of 17 to the number of pixel regions. In one embodiment, the distribution density of support structures 17 in the first region 101 is, for example, greater than or equal to 300 μm ² /mm ² , and the distribution density of support structures 17 in the second region 102 is, for example, less than 300μm ² /mm ² . It can be understood that the distribution density of the support structures 17 in the first region 101 and the second region 102 can be designed according to the actual pressing load. Preferably, the first region 101 and the The average distribution density of the supporting structures 17 in the second region 102 is greater than 200 μm ² /mm ² to effectively support the first substrate 11 and avoid the Mura effect.

Please refer to FIG. 3 b , which shows a schematic diagram of a sensing region 10 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in order to increase the area of the low pressing load area in the sensing area 10 , the first area 101 ′ with the supporting structures 17 having a higher distribution density is arranged at four corners of the sensing area 10 . In the first region 101 ′, the distribution density of the support structures 17 is, for example, greater than or equal to 300 μm ² /mm ² ; in the second region 102 ′, the distribution density of the support structures 17 is, for example, less than 300 μm ² /mm ² . It must be understood that the first area 101 ′ does not necessarily form a rectangular area, and may also form other specific or non-specific shapes.

Please refer to FIG. 3 c , which shows a schematic diagram of a sensing region 10 according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3c, the area drawn with mesh oblique lines represents the pixel area provided with sensing structures 18 and/or 18', such as pixel area 100 or 100' (as shown in FIG. The area of the line represents the pixel area not provided with the sensing structure 18 and/or 18', such as the pixel area 100" or 100"' (as shown in FIG. 2b). In this embodiment, in order to prevent a user from erroneously pressing two adjacent sensing areas 10 at the same time when touching, each sensing area 10 is divided into a third area 103 and a fourth area 104, wherein sensing structures 18 and/or 18' are distributed in the fourth region 104, and the distribution density of the sensing structures 18 and/or 18' is, for example, greater than or equal to 635 μm ² /mm ² ; and the third region 103 The sensing structures 18 and/or 18' are not provided at all. In one embodiment, the fourth area 104 may form a rectangular area, but it is not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIG. 3 d , which shows a schematic diagram of a sensing region 10 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the third embodiment is combined with the first or second embodiment, that is, the third area 103 can overlap with the first area 101 or 101'; and the fourth area 104 can overlap with the second area 102 or 102 ′ coincide, for example, the third area 103 is equal to the first area 101 and the fourth area 104 is equal to the second area 102 in FIG. 3 d . Thereby, this embodiment can simultaneously reduce the pressing load of the actual touch area and avoid pressing two sensing areas at the same time.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which shows another schematic diagram of an in-cell touch panel. The touch panel 1' includes a display area DA and a plurality of key areas BA, wherein the sensing area 10 is only distributed in the key areas BA but not all areas of the touch panel 1'. Therefore, the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention are only implemented in this kind of key area BA, so as to reduce the pressing load of the key area BA and/or avoid pressing two sensing areas at the same time to cause malfunction. In one embodiment, a keypad BA may only include one sensing area 10 .

It must be understood that the distribution of the supporting structure 17 and the sensing structures 18 and/or 18' of the present invention can also be applied to in-cell touch panels with other structures, and FIG. 2b is only illustrative and not intended to limit the invention.

As mentioned above, compared with the external touch panel, the known in-cell touch panel requires a larger pressing load and has lower touch sensitivity. The present invention provides a support structure with uneven distribution density (Figure 3a and 3b) to reduce the pressing load of the actual touch area, and the sensing structure is only placed in the central area of each sensing area (Figure 3c) In order to avoid the situation of pressing two sensing areas at the same time and causing false action.

Although the present invention has been disclosed with the foregoing embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs can perform various modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. modifications and changes. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be based on the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. An embedded touch panel, comprising: a first substrate; A second substrate facing the first substrate, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are formed of transparent materials such as glass or quartz; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and A plurality of sensing regions are formed between the first substrate and the second substrate, each sensing region includes a first region, a second region and a plurality of support structures with non-uniform distribution density distributed in the In the first region and the second region, each support structure includes an upper support structure and a lower support structure abutting against each other to maintain the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate; wherein in the first region The distribution density of the support structures is greater than the distribution density of the support structures in the second region. 2. The in-cell touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first area surrounds the second area. 3. The in-cell touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first area is located at four corners of the sensing area. 4. The in-cell touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein each sensing area further comprises a plurality of sensing structures, wherein the plurality of sensing structures are only disposed in the first area and not formed in the second area. 5. The in-cell touch panel as claimed in claim 4, wherein the plurality of sensing structures are only disposed in a central portion of the sensing area and form a rectangular area. 6. The in-cell touch panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensing regions are only formed in a partial area of the in-cell touch panel. 7. An embedded touch panel, comprising: a first substrate; A second substrate facing the first substrate, wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are formed of transparent materials such as glass or quartz; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and A plurality of sensing regions are formed in an array between the first substrate and the second substrate, and each sensing region includes a third region, a fourth region and a plurality of sensing structures for sensing an external force. pressure, wherein the plurality of sensing structures are formed only in the third region but not in the fourth region, and each sensing region further includes a plurality of supporting structures respectively distributed in the fourth region with different distribution densities. In the third region and the fourth region, each support structure includes an upper support structure and a lower support structure abutting against each other to maintain the distance between the first substrate and the second substrate. 8. The in-cell touch panel as claimed in claim 7, wherein the third area is located at a central portion of the sensing area.

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