JPH06149476A - LCD touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] In a conventional liquid crystal touch panel in which a touch is made on the display surface of a liquid crystal display element, the surface of the liquid crystal display element is covered with a separate touch panel. At the same time, it takes time and labor to align the position, which complicates production and impairs display quality. According to the present invention, an element mounting portion 21a is provided by extending a peripheral edge of a liquid crystal substrate 21 for forming a liquid crystal display element 2, and a plurality of switch functions 2b performed on a display surface 2a are provided on the element mounting portion 21a. With the liquid crystal touch panel 1 having the photocoupler function configured by the light receiving element 3, the light emitting element 4, and the reflecting mirror 5 in a matrix corresponding to the position,
The mount electrode 21b for mounting the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 can be formed at the same time as the display pattern 2a to improve accuracy, and the front surface of the liquid crystal display element 2 is not covered to improve display quality. Solve the problem.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display element, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display element provided with a switch function so that a response corresponding to a display is made by touching a display surface. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 4 and 5 show an example of the configuration of a conventional liquid crystal touch panel 90 of this type. For example, a transparent resin substrate 92 is provided on the surface side of the display surface of a liquid crystal display element 91.
A transparent touch switch 92 is provided on a by providing an electrode 92b made of ITO. At this time, the electrode 92b is connected to the liquid crystal display element 91.
Since it is provided at a position corresponding to the display of, for example, if you touch your finger on the place labeled "A" in the figure,
The operation corresponding to "A" is performed. Reference numeral 93 in the drawing is a light source for illuminating the liquid crystal display element 91, and reference numeral 94 is a reflector.

[0003]

However, since the above-mentioned conventional liquid crystal touch panel 90 has a two-layer structure of the liquid crystal display element 91 and the touch switch 92, for example, a positioning process is required and the manufacturing process is complicated. Since the display surface of the liquid crystal display element 91 is covered with the touch switch 92, it is inevitable that the display quality will be impaired even though it is transparent. It was supposed to be done.

[0004]

As a concrete means for solving the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention is a liquid crystal touch panel in which a response is made by touching a display surface of the liquid crystal display element. On one side of the liquid crystal substrate of the
A mount electrode is laid by the device to provide an element mounting portion, and a pair of the element mounting portions face each other across the display surface and face each other, and the respective pairs of light are received in a vertical and horizontal matrix form on the display surface. An element and a light emitting element are chip-mounted on the mount electrode with the light receiving and emitting direction facing the display direction, and the light emitted from the light emitting element is reflected at the outer end of the element mounting portion so as to be along the display surface. By providing a liquid crystal touch panel, each of which is provided with a reflecting mirror for forming a photocoupler by allowing light to enter the light receiving element of a pair facing each other after passing through the surface, simplification of the configuration is possible. At the same time, the problem is solved while maintaining the display quality.

[0005]

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be described in detail based on the examples shown in the drawings. Reference numeral 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 denotes a liquid crystal touch panel according to the present invention. The liquid crystal touch panel 1 is provided with a liquid crystal display element 2 and, as shown in FIG. 1, a display surface 2 a of the liquid crystal display element 2. Is similar to the conventional example in that the corresponding operation can be obtained by touching the switch function 2b displayed on the screen, for example, "A" shown in the figure, and the liquid crystal touch panel 1 includes the light source 7 and the reflector. 8 and the like are similarly provided.

However, in the present invention, no touch switch is provided on the surface of the liquid crystal display element 2, and instead, a plurality of light receiving elements 3, light emitting elements 4 and reflecting mirrors are provided on the surface of the display surface 2a. A photocoupler function is constituted by 5, and the photocoupler function detects the contact or proximity of a finger or the like to act as a touch switch.

[0007] Next, to explain the above structure in more detail, first, one liquid crystal substrate 21 made of glass or the like of the liquid crystal display element 2 has an edge portion extended further outward from the display surface 2a. A mounting electrode 21b having a shape suitable for mounting the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 by ITO forming a display pattern on the extended portion is formed at a predetermined position to be described later to provide an element mounting portion 21a. It is supposed to be.

At this time, since the mount electrode 21b is provided so that the main light receiving and emitting directions of the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 are on the viewing direction side, it is formed at the same time as the display pattern. Liquid crystal substrate 2 to do
It is convenient to select the liquid crystal substrate 21 on the back side so that the liquid crystal substrate 21 is on the same side.

The light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 are mounted in a chip state on the mount electrode 21b of the element mounting portion 21a having the above-described structure. This mount is used for the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4. And the pair are formed so as to face each other across the display surface 2a, and the number of pairs of the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 is the switch function displayed on the display surface 2a. It is supposed to be determined according to the number and position of 2b.

The above will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
On the display surface 2a, for example, "A"-
When the eight switch functions 2b of "H" are displayed, the pairs of the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 are arranged in a matrix of two columns of two rows so that they intersect at the position of the switch function 2b. It is supposed to be provided.

Next, the reflecting mirror 5 will be described. When the reflecting mirror 5 is mounted on the element mounting portion 21a which is a plate-like plane as described above, the main light emitting direction of the light receiving element 3 is the same as that of the light emitting element 4. The main light receiving directions are both vertical to the plate surface of the element mounting portion 21a and parallel to the viewing direction, and the two are not optically coupled.

The light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 which are in the above states
It is the reflecting mirror 5 that is used to combine the light emitting element 4 and the light emitting element 4 on the display surface 2a at the end of the element mounting portion 21a on the light emitting element 4 side. A reflecting mirror 5 for refracting at a substantially right angle is provided along the surface, and an element mounting portion 2 on the side of the light receiving element 3 is provided.
A reflecting mirror 5 for refracting and entering the light beam from the light emitting element 4 after passing through the display surface 2a at a substantially right angle is also provided at the end of 1a.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, if a condenser lens 6 is provided on both the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4 or on either one of them, mounting is performed in a chip shape, and relatively. The directivity is given to the respective elements 3 and 4 which have a wide directivity, and for example, the occurrence of crosstalk can be prevented, the detection accuracy is further improved, and the switch function 2b is provided.
It becomes possible to increase the density.

Next, the operation and effect of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure will be explained. According to the present invention, the display surface 2a will be described.
Since the photocoupler function is configured by the light receiving element 3, the light emitting element 4 and the reflecting mirror 5 in a matrix shape so as to intersect at each position of the switch function 2b displayed in FIG. At times, the corresponding columns and columns are shielded from light, which makes it possible to detect which switch function 2b is touched.

At this time, the light receiving element 3 and the light emitting element 4
Is mounted on the mount electrode 21b of the element mounting portion 21a provided on the liquid crystal substrate 21, so that the display surface 2a can be precisely aligned beforehand with the position where the switch function 2b is provided. There is no need for adjustment after assembly.

As the light emitting element 4, an infrared emitting light emitting diode can be used. Therefore, even when the light emitting element 4 emits light and the photocoupler function is operating, the light is detected. Therefore, it becomes possible to eliminate the problem of impairing the display quality of the liquid crystal display element 2 at all.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, an element mounting portion is provided by extending the peripheral edge of a liquid crystal substrate for forming a liquid crystal display element, and a plurality of switches formed on the display surface are provided on the element mounting portion. The liquid crystal touch panel has a photocoupler function composed of a light receiving element, a light emitting element and a reflecting mirror in a matrix corresponding to the display position of the function. First, a mount electrode for mounting the light receiving element and the light emitting element. It is possible to form simultaneously with the display pattern, strict alignment is possible in advance, no alignment process after assembly is required, and it is extremely effective in simplifying the process and improving accuracy. Is played.

Secondly, with the above construction, the display surface is not covered with any material such as a touch switch, so that the display quality of the liquid crystal display element is prevented from deteriorating, This type of liquid crystal touch panel will also have an excellent effect in improving the marketability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a liquid crystal touch panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the main part of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a conventional example.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Liquid crystal touch panel 2 ... Liquid crystal display element 2a ... Display surface, 2b ... Switch function 21 ... Liquid crystal substrate 21a ... Element mounting portion, 21b ... Mount electrode 3 ... Light receiving element 4 ... Light emitting element 5 ...... Reflector 6 …… Condenser lens 7 …… Light source 8 …… Reflector

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A liquid crystal touch panel, which is responsive to touching a display surface of a liquid crystal display element, wherein one edge of the liquid crystal substrate of the liquid crystal display element extends outward from the display surface and is mounted by ITO. Electrodes are laid and an element mounting portion is provided, and a pair of the element mounting portions face each other across the display surface and face each other, and each pair of light receiving elements is arranged in a matrix shape in the vertical and horizontal directions on the display surface. A light emitting element is chip-mounted on the mount electrode with the light receiving and emitting direction facing the display direction, and the light emitted from the light emitting element is reflected at the outer end of the element mounting portion so as to be along the display surface and the display surface is The liquid crystal touch panel is characterized in that each of the liquid crystal touch panels is provided with a reflecting mirror which, after passing through, is incident on the light receiving element of the facing pair to constitute a photocoupler. 2. The liquid crystal touch panel according to claim 1, wherein a condensing lens is provided on at least one of the light receiving element and the light emitting element on which the chip mounting is performed.