TWI836488B - Touchpad assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A touchpad assembly includes a cover plate, a touch printed circuit board, and a piezoelectric force feedback sensing assembly. The touch printed circuit board is disposed under the cover plate and includes a two-dimensional sensing element and a circuit integrating layer. The circuit integrating layer is located under the two-dimensional sensing element and includes a force sensing circuit group and a haptic feedback circuit group. The piezoelectric force feedback sensing assembly is disposed on a surface of the touch printed circuit board away from the cover plate. The piezoelectric force feedback sensing assembly is configured to generate and provide a force sensing signal to the force sensing circuit group, and is configured to receive a haptic feedback signal via the haptic feedback circuit group.

Description

Touchpad components

The present disclosure relates to a touch panel assembly.

The current development trend of touch panel components is from simple touch function to the integration of touch, force sensing and tactile feedback. One known tactile feedback method is to use a linear resonant actuator (LRA), such as China Patent Application Publication No. 109669581. Another known tactile feedback method is to use a piezoelectric sheet, such as U.S. Patent No. 10976824. However, the aforementioned known technologies all have the problem of thick thickness, and the mechanism assembly is difficult to meet the flatness requirements and has the problem of poor overall signal uniformity.

Therefore, how to propose a touch panel assembly that can solve the above problems is one of the problems that the industry is eager to invest research and development resources to solve.

In view of this, one purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a touch panel assembly that can solve the above problems.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a touch panel assembly includes a cover plate, a touch printed circuit board and a piezoelectric force feedback sensing assembly. The touch printed circuit board is disposed under the cover plate and includes a two-dimensional sensing assembly and a circuit assembly layer. The circuit assembly layer is located under the two-dimensional sensing assembly and includes a force sensing circuit group and a tactile feedback circuit group. The piezoelectric force feedback sensing assembly is disposed on a surface of the touch printed circuit board away from the cover plate. The piezoelectric force feedback sensing assembly is configured to generate and provide a force sensing signal to the force sensing circuit group, and is configured to receive the tactile feedback signal via the tactile feedback circuit group.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the piezoelectric force feedback sensing component includes a plurality of force sensing electrode components and a plurality of tactile feedback components. The force sensing electrode assembly is disposed on the surface of the touch printed circuit board, connected to the force sensing circuit group, and configured to generate a force sensing signal. The tactile feedback component is disposed on the surface of the touch printed circuit board, connected to the tactile feedback circuit group, and configured to receive tactile feedback signals.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the force-sensing electrode components and the tactile feedback components are arranged in a staggered manner.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing electrode assembly is a strain gauge sensor.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the force-sensing electrode assembly is composed of pressure-sensitive carbon material.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the force sensing electrode assemblies are arranged in two directions parallel to the surface of the touch printed circuit board.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the two directions are perpendicular to each other.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, each tactile feedback assembly includes a conductive rubber layer and a piezoelectric inductor. The conductive rubber layer is connected to the tactile feedback circuit set. The piezoelectric inductor is disposed on the conductive rubber layer and configured to receive a tactile feedback signal.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the thickness of the tactile feedback assembly is greater than the thickness of the force sensing electrode assembly.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the touch printed circuit board further includes a shielding layer. The shielding layer is disposed between the two-dimensional sensing component and the circuit assembly layer.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the circuit assembly layer further includes another circuit layer. This other circuit layer is electrically independent from the force sensing circuit group and the tactile feedback circuit group.

In one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the cover is opaque.

In summary, in the touch panel assembly of the present disclosure, the force sensing circuit group and the tactile feedback circuit group are integrated in the circuit assembly layer of the touch printed circuit board, and the force sensing circuit group and the tactile feedback circuit are The force sensing circuit group and the tactile feedback circuit group are respectively connected to one side of the touch printed circuit board, which can reduce the overall thickness of the touch panel assembly while saving material costs and reducing the production process.

The above description is only used to explain the problem to be solved by the present disclosure, the technical means for solving the problem, and the effects produced, etc. The specific details of the present disclosure will be introduced in detail in the following implementation methods and related drawings.

The following will disclose multiple embodiments of the present disclosure with drawings. For the purpose of clarity, many practical details will be described together in the following description. However, it should be understood that these practical details should not be used to limit the present disclosure. In other words, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, these practical details are not necessary. In addition, in order to simplify the drawings, some commonly used structures and components will be depicted in the drawings in a simple schematic manner.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a three-dimensional diagram of an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the electronic device 100 includes a host 110, a display 120, and a touch panel assembly 200. The touch panel assembly 200 is disposed in the host 110 and is exposed from an opening of the housing of the host 110. The touch panel assembly 200 is an input device disposed in the host 110, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the touch panel assembly 200 is a rectangular area composed of a length and a width, and the left and right widths can be extended according to different models (i.e., a longer touch panel assembly 200), and the size is not limited to the length shown in FIG. 1. In practical applications, the touch panel assembly 200 can also be an electronic product that uses a touch panel as an input or operating interface (e.g., a personal digital assistant, a keyboard including a touch panel, etc.). In other words, the concept of the touch panel assembly 200 of the present invention can be applied to any electronic product that uses a touch panel as an input or operating interface. The following will describe in detail the structure and function of some components included in the touch panel assembly 200, as well as the connection and actuation relationship between these components.

Please refer to Picture 2 and Picture 3. Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a touch panel assembly 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a partial bottom view of a touch printed circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , in this embodiment, the touch panel assembly 200 includes a cover 210 , a touch printed circuit board 220 , a connection layer 230 and a piezoelectric force feedback sensing component 240 . The touch printed circuit board 220 is disposed under the cover 210 and is connected to the cover 210 via the connection layer 230 . The touch printed circuit board 220 includes a two-dimensional sensing component 221 and a circuit assembly layer 222 . The touch printed circuit board 220 is disposed under the cover 210 .

In some embodiments, the material of the cover 210 includes glass or plastic. In some embodiments, the plastic includes polyester film (Mylar), but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, cover 210 is opaque. For example, the cover 210 is made of dark polyester film or dark painted glass.

In some embodiments, the connection layer 230 is pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA), but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the two-dimensional sensing component 221 includes a first touch sensing electrode layer 221a and a second touch sensing electrode layer 221b. The first touch sensing electrode layer 221a includes a plurality of first axial electrodes spaced apart from each other. The second touch sensing electrode layer 221b includes a plurality of second axial electrodes spaced apart from each other. The first touch sensing electrode layer 221a and the second touch sensing electrode layer 221b are electrically insulated by, for example, the insulating material of the touch printed circuit board 220 itself. The aforementioned "first axis" and "second axis" extend along the X direction and the Y direction, for example. In other words, the first axial electrodes are conductive lines extending along the X direction and are arranged at intervals. The second axial electrodes are conductive lines extending along the Y direction and are arranged at intervals.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, in this embodiment, the circuit assembly layer 222 includes a force sensing circuit group 222a and a tactile feedback circuit group 222b, where the force sensing circuit group 222a and the tactile feedback circuit group 222b are located on the touch printed circuit board. The portions inside the circuit board 220 are represented by dotted lines, while the portions exposed to the outside of the touch printed circuit board 220 are represented by solid lines. The piezoelectric force feedback sensing component 240 is disposed on the surface 220a of the touch printed circuit board 220 away from the cover 210 . The piezoelectric force feedback sensing component 240 is configured to generate and provide force sensing signals to the force sensing circuit set 222a, and is configured to receive tactile feedback signals via the tactile feedback circuit set 222b.

Specifically, the piezoelectric force feedback sensing component 240 includes a plurality of force sensing electrode components 241 and a plurality of tactile feedback components 242 . The force sensing electrode assembly 241 is disposed on the surface 220a of the touch printed circuit board 220 away from the cover 210, is connected to the force sensing circuit group 222a, and is configured to generate a force sensing signal. The tactile feedback component 242 is disposed on the surface 220a of the touch printed circuit board 220 away from the cover 210, is connected to the tactile feedback circuit group 222b, and is configured to receive tactile feedback signals.

As can be seen from the foregoing structural configuration, the touch panel assembly 200 of this embodiment integrates the force sensing circuit group 222a and the tactile feedback circuit group 222b in the circuit assembly layer 222 of the touch printed circuit board 220, and makes the force sensing circuit The group 222a and the tactile feedback circuit group 222b are respectively connected to the force sensing circuit group 222a and the tactile feedback circuit group 222b on one side of the touch printed circuit board 220, so that the overall thickness of the touch panel assembly 200 can be reduced while saving materials. costs and reduce production processes.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , in this embodiment, the force sensing electrode components 241 and the tactile feedback components 242 are arranged in a staggered manner. Thereby, the vibration uniformity of the tactile feedback component 242 can be improved.

In some implementations, the force sensing electrode assembly 241 is a strain gauge sensor, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2 and with reference to FIG. 3 , the force sensing electrode assembly 241 is disposed on a portion of the force sensing circuit assembly 222a that is exposed on the touch printed circuit board 220 and away from the surface 220a of the cover 210. Therefore, the force sensing electrode assembly 241 is arranged in two directions A1 and A2 that are parallel to the surface 220a of the touch printed circuit board 220. In some embodiments, the two directions A1 and A2 are perpendicular to each other. Thus, the force sensing electrode assembly 241 can sense different strains in the two directions A1 and A2, thereby realizing force sensing.

As shown in FIG. 2 , in this embodiment, each tactile feedback component 242 includes a conductive rubber layer 242a and a piezoelectric inductor 242b. The conductive rubber layer 242a is connected to the tactile feedback circuit set 222b. The piezoelectric inductor 242b is disposed on the conductive rubber layer 242a and configured to receive a tactile feedback signal. The piezoelectric inductor 242b generates vibration after receiving the tactile feedback signal to provide tactile feedback.

In some embodiments, the material of the conductive adhesive layer 242a includes pressure-sensitive adhesive, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 2 , in this embodiment, the thickness of the tactile feedback component 242 is greater than the thickness of the force sensing electrode component 241 . Thus, the thickness of the tactile feedback component 242 can generate a gap to create a pressing deformation condition for the touch printed circuit board 220 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , in this embodiment, the touch printed circuit board 220 further includes a shielding layer 250 . The shielding layer 250 is disposed between the two-dimensional sensing component 221 and the circuit assembly layer 222 . Thereby, the shielding layer 250 can effectively improve the electrical interference of the touch printed circuit board 220 integrating the two-dimensional sensing component 221 and the circuit assembly layer 222. In some embodiments, the material of the shielding layer 250 includes metal, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 3 , in this embodiment, the circuit assembly layer 222 further includes another circuit layer 222c. This other circuit layer 222c is electrically independent from the force sensing circuit group 222a and the tactile feedback circuit group 222b, and is configured to transmit other signals in the circuit assembly layer 222.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a partially enlarged bottom view of the touch printed circuit board 220 and the force sensing electrode assembly 341 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4 , in this embodiment, the force sensing electrode assembly 341 is composed of pressure-sensitive carbon material and can be produced through a printing process. Each force-sensing electrode assembly 341 includes four separate pieces of pressure-sensing carbon material; however, the pressure-sensing signal acquisition may use a Wheatstone bridge method to process the signal, but is not limited to this. The pressure-sensitive carbon materials are arranged in a ring along directions A1 and A2. Specifically, as shown in Figure 4, the upper and lower pieces of pressure-sensitive carbon material extend along the direction A1 and are arranged in the direction A2. The two left and right pieces of pressure-sensitive carbon materials extend along the direction A2 and are arranged in the direction A1. Thereby, the force sensing electrode assembly 341 can sense different strains in the two directions A1 and A2, thereby realizing force sensing.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a partially enlarged bottom view of a touch printed circuit board 220 and a force sensing electrode assembly 441 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the force sensing electrode assembly 441 is composed of a pressure-sensitive carbon material and can be manufactured by a printing process. Each force sensing electrode assembly 441 includes four separate pieces of pressure-sensitive carbon material; however, in the pressure sensing signal capture, a Wheatstone bridge method, for example, can be adopted to process the signal, but it is not limited to this. The pressure-sensitive carbon material is arranged in a ring along directions A3 and A4. Directions A3 and A4 are inclined relative to directions A1 and A2. In detail, as shown in FIG. 5 , the two pieces of pressure-sensitive carbon material on the upper right and lower left extend along direction A3 and are arranged in direction A4. The two pieces of pressure-sensitive carbon material on the upper left and lower right extend along direction A4 and are arranged in direction A3. Thus, the force sensing electrode assembly 441 can sense different strains in the two directions A3 and A4, thereby realizing force sensing.

From the above detailed description of the specific implementation method of the present disclosure, it can be clearly seen that in the touch panel assembly of the present disclosure, by integrating the force sensing circuit group and the tactile feedback circuit group in the circuit assembly layer of the touch printed circuit board, and connecting the force sensing circuit group and the tactile feedback circuit group on one side of the touch printed circuit board, the overall thickness of the touch panel assembly can be reduced while saving material costs and reducing the manufacturing process.

Although the disclosure has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the disclosure. Anyone skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the protection of the disclosure is The scope shall be determined by the appended patent application scope.

100: Electronic devices 110:Host 120:Display 200:Touchpad assembly 210:Cover 220:Touch printed circuit board 220a: Surface 221: Two-dimensional sensing components 221a: first touch sensing electrode layer 221b: Second touch sensing electrode layer 222:Circuit collection layer 222a: Force sensing circuit set 222b: Tactile feedback circuit set 222c: Circuit layer 230: Connection layer 240: Piezoelectric force feedback sensing component 241,341,441: Force sensing electrode assembly 242: Tactile feedback component 242a: Conductive adhesive layer 242b: Piezoelectric sensor 250: masking layer A1,A2,A3,A4: direction

In order to make the above and other purposes, features, advantages and embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly understandable, the attached drawings are described as follows: FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a touch panel assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a partial bottom view of a touch printed circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged bottom view of a touch printed circuit and a force sensing electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 is a partial enlarged bottom view of a touch printed circuit and a force sensing electrode assembly according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Domestic storage information (please note in order of storage institution, date and number) without Overseas storage information (please note in order of storage country, institution, date, and number) without

110:Host 200:Touchpad assembly 210:Cover 220:Touch printed circuit board 220a: Surface 221: Two-dimensional sensing components 221a: first touch sensing electrode layer 221b: Second touch sensing electrode layer 222:Circuit collection layer 230: Connection layer 240: Piezoelectric force feedback sensing component 241: Force sensing electrode assembly 242: Tactile feedback component 242a: Conductive adhesive layer 242b: Piezoelectric sensor 250: masking layer

Claims (11)

A touch panel assembly, including: a cover plate; a touch printed circuit board, disposed under the cover plate, and including: a two-dimensional sensing component; and a circuit assembly layer located on the two-dimensional sensing component below, and includes a force sensing circuit group and a tactile feedback circuit group; and a piezoelectric force feedback sensing component, which is disposed on a surface of the touch printed circuit board away from the cover, wherein the piezoelectric force feedback sensing component The feedback sensing component is configured to generate and provide a force sensing signal to the force sensing circuit group, and is configured to receive a tactile feedback signal via the tactile feedback circuit group, wherein the piezoelectric force feedback sensing component includes: a plurality of force sensing electrodes A component disposed on the surface of the touch printed circuit board, connected to the force sensing circuit group, and configured to generate the force sensing signal; and a plurality of tactile feedback components disposed on the surface of the touch printed circuit board , connected to the tactile feedback circuit set and configured to receive the tactile feedback signal. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the force sensing electrode assemblies and the tactile feedback assemblies are arranged alternately. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the force sensing electrode assemblies are strain gauge sensors. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the force sensing electrode assemblies are composed of a pressure-sensitive carbon material. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the force sensing electrode assemblies are arranged in two directions parallel to the surface of the touch printed circuit board. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 5, wherein the two directions are perpendicular to each other. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 1, wherein each of the tactile feedback components comprises: a conductive rubber layer connected to the tactile feedback circuit set; and a piezoelectric inductor disposed on the conductive rubber layer and configured to receive the tactile feedback signal. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the thickness of the tactile feedback assemblies is greater than the thickness of the force sensing electrode assemblies. The touch panel assembly of claim 1, wherein the touch printed circuit board further includes a shielding layer disposed between the two-dimensional sensing component and the circuit assembly layer. A touch panel assembly as described in claim 1, wherein the circuit assembly layer further includes another circuit layer that is electrically independent from the force sensing circuit group and the tactile feedback circuit group. The touch panel assembly of claim 1, wherein the cover is opaque.

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