Patent Application
20140092023
1. Field of the Invention
The application relates to a handheld electronic apparatus and particularly relates to a handheld electronic apparatus with a touch display module.
2. Description of Related Art
In the era of information, people are becoming more and more dependent on consumer electronic devices. For example, mobile phones, PDAs, and tablet PCs are used everywhere in our life, and therefore, the consumer electronic devices have become an indispensable part of our life. In order to be more convenient for use, more light-weighted, and more user-friendly, the input devices of many products, such as the conventional keyboards and mice, have been replaced with touch panels.
Based on different sensing types, touch panels can be generally categorized into a resistive touch panel, a capacitive touch panel, an optical touch panel, an acoustic-wave touch panel, and an electromagnetic touch panel. Compared with other types of touch panels, the capacitive touch panel has the advantages of short response time, favorable reliability, high definition, etc. and is therefore widely used in various types of handheld electronic apparatus.
The capacitive touch panel uses multiple sensing series that intersect each other to form a sensing array so as to achieve surface sensing. When a user touches the touch panel with a finger, the touch panel determines the position touched by the finger according to the capacitance variation on the sensing array. Nevertheless, there are many wirings disposed outside the sensing array of the touch panel. To prevent the wirings from being exposed and affecting the appearance of the electronic device, a shielding area usually needs to be formed on the transparent cover of the electronic device to cover the wirings, but it will increase the production costs. Also, when the user operates the touch panel, a capacitance coupling effect may easily occur between the finger and the wirings and affect the sensing accuracy of the touch panel. In addition, when the electronic device is in operation, the electronic components in the electronic device may generate an electromagnetic field easily, which affects the performance of the touch panel with interaction between voltage and current.
The application provides a touch display module which includes a display panel and a touch panel. The touch panel is disposed on the display panel and includes a sensing section and a bonding section outside the sensing section. The touch panel includes a first substrate, a plurality of driving lines, a plurality of sensing lines, a plurality of routing traces, and a shielding pattern. The first substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, wherein the second surface faces toward the display panel. The driving lines are arranged in parallel on the first surface and respectively extend in a first direction. The sensing lines are arranged in parallel on the second surface and respectively extend in a second direction, wherein the first direction intersects the second direction. The driving lines and the sensing lines form a sensing array in the sensing section. The routing traces are disposed on the second surface outside the sensing section. The routing traces are respectively electrically connected with the sensing lines and extend to the bonding section. The shielding pattern is disposed on the first surface, and a vertical projection of the shielding pattern on the second surface covers the routing traces.
The application further provides a handheld electronic apparatus which includes a body and the touch display module. The body has a display opening, and the touch display module is disposed in the display opening.
Based on the above, in the touch display module of the application, the shielding pattern is used to cover the routing traces below to prevent exposing the routing traces. When the touch display module is touched by a user, the shielding pattern insulates and protects the routing traces and prevents the normal operation of the handheld electronic apparatus from a capacitance coupling effect that is generated when an object contacts the routing traces. In addition, when the shielding pattern is grounded, electrostatic charges accumulated during fabrication or assembly are released to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) or electromagnetic interference (EMI), which occurs when the electronic apparatus is operative, from damaging the sensing wirings.
To make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the application more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the application, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.
Configuration of the lines in the embodiment of
The shielding pattern 128 includes a first sub-pattern 128a and a second sub-pattern 128b. The first sub-pattern 128a and the second sub-pattern 128b are disposed on two opposite sides of the sensing array and corresponding located above the routing traces 126. The shielding pattern 128 not only protects and prevents the routing traces 126 from sensing and generating capacitance but can be grounded to prevent the touch display module 100 from being affected by electromagnetic interference (EMI) or electrostatic discharge (ESD), and such grounding method may be, for example, co-constructed with the ground wiring of the touch display module 100. The shielding pattern 128 may be formed of a metallic wiring or a conductive material, such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). In this embodiment, the shielding pattern 128 is formed of a metallic material. In a fabrication of the touch display module 100, the shielding pattern 128 and the driving lines 122 may be fabricated in different processes. Otherwise, the shielding pattern 128 and the driving lines 122 may be formed of a transparent conductive material, such as ITO. However, it is noted that the application is not limited to the above. In addition, a printed layer (for example, printing a black coating, a white coating, or a coating of other color) may be further disposed above the shielding pattern 128 for marking the sensing section 120a and the bonding section 120b and preventing the user from seeing the bonding section 120b.
In this embodiment, the touch panel 120 further includes a second substrate 129 disposed on the second surface 121b, and the sensing lines 124 are located between the first substrate 121 and the second substrate 129. The first substrate 121 and the second substrate 129 are transparent substrates formed of glass or Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), for example. Furthermore, an optical adhesive may be applied between the first substrate 121 and the second substrate 129 to bond the first substrate 121 with the second substrate 129. The optical adhesive has a high light transmittance coefficient and thus does not affect the quality of the displayed image. However, it is noted that the application is not limited to the above.
In this embodiment, the driving lines 122 and the sensing lines 124 are strip-shaped electrodes. Nevertheless, the driving lines 122 and the sensing lines 124 may have a diamond shape or other shapes.
When the touch display module 100 disclosed in the above embodiment is applied to the handheld electronic apparatus 10, the first direction D1 along which the driving lines 122 extend extends from a top 10a to a bottom 10b of the handheld electronic apparatus 10. The second direction D2 along which the sensing lines 124 extend extends from a right side to a left side of the handheld electronic apparatus 10. The reason for defining the second direction D2 to extend from the right side to the left side of the handheld electronic apparatus 10 is that the routing traces 126 are disposed on two sides of the sensing lines 124 and the widths of the routing traces 126 affect the widths of two margins outside the sensing section 120a in the touch display module 100. If the routing traces 126 have smaller line widths and intervals, the widths of the two margins outside the sensing section 120a are effectively reduced to narrow a frame of the handheld electronic apparatus 10.
In conclusion of the above, in the touch display module of the application, the shielding pattern is disposed on the first surface, and the vertical projection thereof on the second surface covers the routing traces. When the touch display module is touched, the shielding pattern insulates and protects the operation of the handheld electronic apparatus from the capacitance that is generated when an object contacts the routing traces. The shielding pattern not only protects the routing traces but can be grounded to prevent EMI or ESD. Moreover, when the touch display module of the application is applied to the handheld electronic apparatus, on the second substrate having the routing traces and the sensing lines thereon, the etching process can be used to form wirings with smaller line width and interval to reduce the widths of the two margins outside the sensing section, such that the handheld electronic apparatus has a narrow frame.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the application. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the application covers modifications and variations of this disclosure provided that they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
