This relates generally to the fabrication of an electronic device, and more particularly, to bending one or more edges of a touch sensor panel and/or a display panel of an electronic device to reduce the non-interactive border area of the device.
In recent years, mobile electronic devices have become hugely popular due to their portability, versatility, and ease-of-use. Although there are many different types of mobile electronic devices, such as smart phones, portable music/video players, and tablet personal computers (PCs) currently available on the market, most of them share some basic components. In particular, touch sensor panels, touch screens, and the like have become available as input devices for various mobile electronic devices. Touch screens, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular because of their ease and versatility of operation as well as their declining price. Touch screens can include a touch sensor panel, which can be a clear panel with a touch-sensitive surface, and a display device, such as an LCD panel or an OLED panel, that can be positioned partially or fully behind the touch sensor panel so that the touch-sensitive surface can cover at least a portion of the viewable area of the display device.
Given that the size of a typical mobile electronic device is relatively small compared to a laptop or desktop computer, it is often desirable to maximize the display area of mobile electronic devices to increase their user-friendliness. For devices with a touch screen, an increased display area can also provide a larger touch-active area. Typically, the display/touch-active area of a mobile electronic device is enclosed partially or fully by a border area. This border area is often reserved for routing signals from the display and/or touch sensor panel to the circuitry of the device. Although the border area in some touch-based devices may already be relatively small compared to the display/touch-active area, further reducing the border area would nevertheless help maximizing the space available for the display/touch-active area of the device without increasing the overall size of the device.
This relates to methods and systems for reducing the border areas of an electronic device so as to maximize the display/interactive touch areas of the device. In particular, a flexible substrate can be used to fabricate the display panel and/or the touch sensor panel (referred to collectively herein as a “circuit panel”) of a mobile electronic device so that the edges of the display panel and/or the touch sensor panel can be bent. Bending the edges can reduce the width (or length) of the panel, which in turn can allow the overall device to be narrower without reducing the display/touch-active area of the device. Alternatively, the display/touch-active area of the device can be widened without increasing the overall size of the device. In some embodiments, as will be discussed in detail below, the flexible substrate can be patterned with perforations or made thinner at certain areas during the manufacturing process to reduce the residual stress when the flexible substrate is bent.
In the following description of preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which it is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure can be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments can be used and structural changes can be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments of this disclosure.
This relates to methods and systems for reducing the border areas of an electronic device so as to maximize the display/interactive touch areas of the device. In particular, a flexible substrate can be used to fabricate the display panel and/or the touch sensor panel (referred to collectively herein as a “circuit panel”) of a mobile electronic device so that the edges of the display panel and/or the touch sensor panel can be bent. Bending the edges can reduce the width (or length) of the panel, which in turn can allow the overall device to be narrower without reducing the display/touch-active area of the device. Alternatively, the display/touch-active area of the device can be widened without increasing the overall size of the device. In some embodiments, as will be discussed in detail below, the flexible substrate can be patterned with perforations or made thinner at certain areas during the manufacturing process to reduce the residual stress when the flexible substrate is bent.
An overview of the underlying structure of a conventional mobile electronic device is provided first in the following paragraphs before embodiments of the present disclosure are discussed in detail.
As shown in
In some embodiments, thin film layers 210, 212 can be coated on the bottom surface of the cover glass 202 and/or the bottom surface of the touch substrate 204 separated by the touch substrate 204 and the adhesive layer 206. The two thin film layers may be patterned ITO layers that form drive and sense lines of a capacitive touch sensor. The sense lines may be formed in the thin film layer 210 coated on the bottom surface of the top cover 202 and the drive lines may be formed in the thin film layer 212 coated on the bottom surface of the touch substrate 204, or vice versa. In some embodiments, by putting the drive and sense lines on different surfaces of the touch substrate 204, the touch substrate 204 can become a capacitive touch sensor panel that is capable of sensing touches on the top surface of the cover glass 202. Changes in capacitance between each crossing of a drive line and a sense line in those thin film layers 210, 212 can be measured to determine whether a touch has occurred at certain locations on the top surface of the cover glass 202.
Referring back to
In some embodiments, an additional layer of AR film, shield film, or LCM 218 may be formed on the bottom of the touch sensor panel 200, formed over the thin film layer 212 on the bottom surface of the touch substrate 204. A shield film 218 may be used to block interfering electrical fields in the vicinity of the touch substrate 204 so that the measured capacitance data can accurately represent the characteristics of one or more touches detected on the top surface of the top cover 202. A LCM 218 can be used as the display of the touch screen. Because the cover glass 202, the thin film layers 210, 212, the adhesive 206, and the touch substrate 204 can all be formed from substantially transparent material, the middle part of the touch sensor panel 200 where the black mask 226 does not reach may be substantially see-through. This can allow the LCM display 218 underneath the touch sensor panel 200 to be visible from above the top cover 202. The thin film layer (conductive rows and columns) 210 can extend beyond the visible area at both ends so that the end portions of the thin film layer 210 can be hidden under the black mask 216. This is illustrated in more detail in
Embodiments of the present disclosure can significantly reduce the non-interactive border areas of a mobile electronic device so that a larger area of the device surface can be used as the active area for display and/or receiving touch-based input. In various embodiments, this can be achieved by using a flexible substrate to serve as the base substrate for the touch sensor panel and/or the display panel. During the manufacturing process, the flexible substrate can be bent near its edge so that the border area in which the metal traces connecting the conductive rows and/or columns to the touch circuitry are routed takes little, if any, space in the x-dimension (width) of the device. This in turn creates more space that can be used as the active area (e.g., display and/or touch-active area) on the device surface. In other embodiments, the substrate may not be flexible, but instead may be initially formed in a bent configuration. Although the exemplary embodiments below describe bending one or both side edges of a touch sensor panel, it should be understood that the other edges (e.g., the top and bottom edges) of the panel can be similarly bent to increase the other dimensions of the active area. Although the embodiments describe bending the border areas of a touch sensor panel in a touch screen device, it should be understood that the same process can be applied to display panels built on a flexible substrate. Details of some of these embodiments are provided in the following paragraphs in view of
Accordingly, most of the metal traces can be routed along the vertical border area 502 of the panel 500 rather than the horizontal surface of the touch sensor panel 500. This can significantly reduce the space between the edge of the active touch sensing area and the edge of the device. As shown in
As mentioned above, the same process can be applied to display panels built on a flexible substrate. That is, the edge of a display panel can be bent to allow for a reduced border between the edge of the visible area of the display and the produce enclosure border. Traces connecting the display to other components of the device can be routed along bent edges of the panel which no longer drives the width-dimension of the device.
In one embodiment, one or more perforations can be patterned along the bent edge 610 of the flexible substrate touch sensor panel to decrease the residual stress on the panel when it is bent. In one embodiment, as illustrated in
In another embodiment, instead of patterning perforations along the bent edge of the panel, thinning the substrate at selected areas along the bent edge can also achieve the same effect of reducing residual stress on the panel. For example, the perforated areas of
An exemplary process for manufacturing the touch sensor panel 500 of
In the next step, perforations can be created in a predetermined pattern in an area where the touch substrate is to be bent in the subsequent operation (see reference character 702). The perforations can be created using a laser, mechanical die-cut, photo-resist etch process, or any other suitable method. In one embodiment, the perforations can be created in the space between each pair of adjacent metal traces.
In another embodiment, this perforating operation can be performed prior to the conductive traces and/or metal traces being patterned. In the embodiments where the bent area is thinned rather than perforated, operation 702 can be replaced by a thinning operation performed in the same areas of the panel.
After the perforations are created in a pattern (or the thinning operation is performed), the non-active border area of the touch substrate can be bent at a predetermined angle (e.g., 90 degrees) (see reference character 703). The perforations or the thinned areas can reduce the residual stress from the bending of the panel, thus preventing the border area from breaking off. By bending the border area and routing the metal traces in the bent area that no longer drives the width dimension of the device, the border surrounding the active area of the touch sensor panel can be drastically reduced.
The touch substrate can then be affixed to the other layers, such as the one shown in
In
Touch sensor panel 1024 can include a capacitive sensing medium having a plurality of drive lines and a plurality of sense lines, although other sensing media can also be used. Either or both of the drive and sense lines can be coupled to a thin glass sheet according to embodiments of the disclosure. Each intersection of drive and sense lines can represent a capacitive sensing node and can be viewed as picture element (pixel) 1026, which can be particularly useful when touch sensor panel 1024 is viewed as capturing an “image” of touch. (In other words, after panel subsystem 1006 has determined whether a touch event has been detected at each touch sensor in the touch sensor panel, the pattern of touch sensors in the multi-touch panel at which a touch event occurred can be viewed as an “image” of touch (e.g. a pattern of fingers touching the panel).) Each sense line of touch sensor panel 1024 can drive sense channel 1008 (also referred to herein as an event detection and demodulation circuit) in panel subsystem 1006.
Computing system 1000 can also include host processor 1028 for receiving outputs from panel processor 1002 and performing actions based on the outputs that can include, but are not limited to, moving an object such as a cursor or pointer, scrolling or panning, adjusting control settings, opening a file or document, viewing a menu, making a selection, executing instructions, operating a peripheral device coupled to the host device, answering a telephone call, placing a telephone call, terminating a telephone call, changing the volume or audio settings, storing information related to telephone communications such as addresses, frequently dialed numbers, received calls, missed calls, logging onto a computer or a computer network, permitting authorized individuals access to restricted areas of the computer or computer network, loading a user profile associated with a user's preferred arrangement of the computer desktop, permitting access to web content, launching a particular program, encrypting or decoding a message, and/or the like. Host processor 1028 can also perform additional functions that may not be related to panel processing, and can be coupled to program storage 1032 and display device 1030 such as an LCD panel for providing a UI to a user of the device. Display device 1030 together with touch sensor panel 1024, when located partially or entirely under the touch sensor panel, can form touch screen 1018.
Note that one or more of the functions described above can be performed by firmware stored in memory (e.g. one of the peripherals 1004 in
The firmware can also be propagated within any transport medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a “transport medium” can be any medium that can communicate, propagate or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The transport readable medium can include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic or infrared wired or wireless propagation medium.
Although embodiments of this disclosure have been fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included within the scope of embodiments of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/940,580, filed Mar. 29, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/591,987, filed May 10, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,933,875, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/445,849, filed Jul. 29, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,652,096, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/229,120, filed Sep. 9, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,804,347, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4066855 | Zenk | Jan 1978 | A |
4085302 | Zenk et al. | Apr 1978 | A |
5235451 | Bryan | Aug 1993 | A |
5483261 | Yasutake | Jan 1996 | A |
5488204 | Mead et al. | Jan 1996 | A |
5825352 | Bisset et al. | Oct 1998 | A |
5835079 | Shieh | Nov 1998 | A |
5880411 | Gillespie et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
6188391 | Seely et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6310610 | Beaton et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6323846 | Westerman et al. | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6690387 | Zimmerman et al. | Feb 2004 | B2 |
6956633 | Okada et al. | Oct 2005 | B2 |
7015894 | Morohoshi | Mar 2006 | B2 |
7034913 | Ishida | Apr 2006 | B2 |
7184064 | Zimmerman et al. | Feb 2007 | B2 |
7453542 | Muramatsu et al. | Nov 2008 | B2 |
7541671 | Foust et al. | Jun 2009 | B2 |
7593086 | Jeong et al. | Sep 2009 | B2 |
7593087 | Jang | Sep 2009 | B2 |
7663607 | Hotelling et al. | Feb 2010 | B2 |
7767048 | Kanbayashi | Aug 2010 | B2 |
7787917 | Aoki et al. | Aug 2010 | B2 |
7834451 | Lee et al. | Nov 2010 | B2 |
7936405 | Kitagawa | May 2011 | B2 |
8134675 | Kawaguchi et al. | Mar 2012 | B2 |
8194048 | Oowaki | Jun 2012 | B2 |
8723824 | Myers et al. | May 2014 | B2 |
8724304 | Raff et al. | May 2014 | B2 |
8787016 | Rothkopf et al. | Jul 2014 | B2 |
8816977 | Rothkopf et al. | Aug 2014 | B2 |
8929085 | Franklin et al. | Jan 2015 | B2 |
8934228 | Franklin et al. | Jan 2015 | B2 |
8947627 | Rappoport et al. | Feb 2015 | B2 |
9098242 | Rappoport et al. | Aug 2015 | B2 |
9110320 | Chen et al. | Aug 2015 | B2 |
9178970 | Lynch | Nov 2015 | B2 |
9195108 | Park et al. | Nov 2015 | B2 |
9400576 | Chen et al. | Jul 2016 | B2 |
20050285990 | Havetka et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20060026521 | Hotelling et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060170634 | Kwak et al. | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060197753 | Hotelling | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20070148831 | Nagata et al. | Jun 2007 | A1 |
20080023217 | Hagiwara | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080117376 | Takenaka | May 2008 | A1 |
20090027896 | Nishimura et al. | Jan 2009 | A1 |
20090167171 | Jung et al. | Jul 2009 | A1 |
20090256471 | Kim et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
20090284688 | Shiraishi et al. | Nov 2009 | A1 |
20100007817 | Kim | Jan 2010 | A1 |
20100026952 | Miura et al. | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20100066724 | Huh et al. | Mar 2010 | A1 |
20100200539 | Yun et al. | Aug 2010 | A1 |
20100208190 | Yoshida | Aug 2010 | A1 |
20100225624 | Fu et al. | Sep 2010 | A1 |
20100315399 | Jacobson et al. | Dec 2010 | A1 |
20100328268 | Teranishi et al. | Dec 2010 | A1 |
20110007042 | Miyaguchi | Jan 2011 | A1 |
20110012845 | Rothkopf | Jan 2011 | A1 |
20110068776 | Yokota et al. | Mar 2011 | A1 |
20110086680 | Kim et al. | Apr 2011 | A1 |
20110227846 | Imazeki | Sep 2011 | A1 |
20120062447 | Tseng et al. | Mar 2012 | A1 |
20120092273 | Lyon et al. | Apr 2012 | A1 |
20120127075 | Kholaif | May 2012 | A1 |
20120127087 | Ma | May 2012 | A1 |
20120146886 | Minami et al. | Jun 2012 | A1 |
20120193204 | Jiang et al. | Aug 2012 | A1 |
20120218219 | Rappoport | Aug 2012 | A1 |
20120242588 | Myers et al. | Sep 2012 | A1 |
20120313238 | Sato et al. | Dec 2012 | A1 |
20120313859 | Apgar et al. | Dec 2012 | A1 |
20130043582 | Haba et al. | Feb 2013 | A1 |
20130081756 | Franklin et al. | Apr 2013 | A1 |
20130082984 | Drzaic et al. | Apr 2013 | A1 |
20130140965 | Franklin et al. | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20140092338 | Miyazaki et al. | Apr 2014 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
101145793 | Mar 2008 | CN |
2187443 | May 2010 | EP |
2523067 | Nov 2012 | EP |
H07-092480 | Apr 1995 | JP |
H09-064488 | Mar 1997 | JP |
H09-080406 | Mar 1997 | JP |
9321083 | Dec 1997 | JP |
2000-163031 | Jun 2000 | JP |
2002-342033 | Nov 2002 | JP |
2007-047961 | Feb 2007 | JP |
2009-216810 | Sep 2009 | JP |
2009-251785 | Oct 2009 | JP |
2010060866 | Mar 2010 | JP |
2010060866 | Mar 2010 | JP |
2011-065614 | Mar 2011 | JP |
2011-085982 | Apr 2011 | JP |
10-2010-0137483 | Dec 2010 | KR |
9604682 | Feb 1996 | WO |
0169577 | Sep 2001 | WO |
2009075574 | Jun 2009 | WO |
Entry |
---|
Lee, S. K. et al. (Apr. 1985). “A Multi-Touch Three Dimensional Touch-Sensitive Tablet,” Proceedings of CHI: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 21-25. |
Rubine, D.H. (Dec. 1991). “The Automatic Recognition of Gestures,” CMU-CS-91-202, Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, 285 pages. |
Rubine D.H. (May 1992). “Combing Gestures and Direct Manipulation,” CHI '92, pp. 659-660. |
Westerman, W. (Spring 1999). “Hand Tracking, Finger Identification, and Chordic Manipulation on a Multi-Touch Surface” A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering, 364 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20200073501 A1 | Mar 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 15940580 | Mar 2018 | US |
Child | 16676207 | US | |
Parent | 15591987 | May 2017 | US |
Child | 15940580 | US | |
Parent | 14445849 | Jul 2014 | US |
Child | 15591987 | US | |
Parent | 13229120 | Sep 2011 | US |
Child | 14445849 | US |