This application claims the benefit of Taiwan application Serial No. 0 97123912, filed Jun. 26, 2008, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a touch panel, and more specifically to the touch panel with touch pads.
2. Description of the Related Art
Touch panel is primarily adopted resistance type touch panel and capacitance type touch panel in electronic apparatus. These two types are primarily based on two pieces of conductive transparent substrate.
The resistance type touch panel can derive the characteristic of x-y coordination in accordance with the bottom conductive transparent substrate. When the user touches a specific location of the touch panel, a specific resistance value is caused to generate a specific analog voltage signal. The analog voltage signal is then converted into a digital signal and further transmitted to a control unit. The control unit receives and processes the signal to generate x-y coordination value. The capacitance type touch panel is generated a uniform electric field on the surface of touch panel. Therefore, when the touch panel is pressurized, a capacitance value is changed at the pressurized point. Then, a specific analog current or voltage signal is generated corresponding to the capacitance value. The analog current or voltage signal is then converted into a digital signal and further transmitted to a control unit. The control unit receives and processes the signal to generate x-y coordination value.
These two type touch panels, mentioned above, accurately detect the position where a user touched for generating a detected signal. The control unit processes a complicate calculation for generating x-y coordination value. In addition, the structure of these two type touch panels is also complicate.
The present invention is related to a touch panel with touch pads, which directly covers a single layer transparent electrode on a transparent substrate. The present invention provides the advantage of simple structure, and may provide high reliability at a relatively low cost.
The present invention provides the touch panel with touch pads. The touch panel comprises a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode and conductive lines. The transparent substrate comprises a display region. The transparent electrode is disposed on the transparent substrate and has a plurality of first touch blocks and a second touch block, wherein the first touch blocks are disposed along the edges of the display region, and the second touch block is disposed within a region surrounded by the first touch blocks and has an extending block passing through a gap between the first touch blocks and extending to the edge of the display region. The conductive lines are disposed outside the display region, and connected to the first touch blocks and the first extending block adjoining the edges of the display region.
The present invention further provides the touch panel with touch pads. The touch panel comprises a transparent substrate, a plurality of first transparent electrode touch blocks, a second transparent electrode touch block and conductive lines. The transparent substrate comprises a display region. The first transparent electrode touch blocks are disposed along at least one the edge of the display region, and the second transparent electrode touch block having a main touch block and a first extending block, wherein the main touch block is disposed at a region far away from the the edge of the display region, and the first extending block extends to the edge of the display region and is connected to the main touch block. The conductive lines are disposed outside the display region, and connected to the first touch blocks and the first extending block adjoining the edges of the display region.
The invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Contrary to the conventional touch panel utiliting two pieces of conductive transparent substrate, the present invention directly covers a single layer transparent electrode, such as indium tin oxide (ITO), on a transparent substrate. According to isolating predetermined position on the transparent electrode, independent touch blocks are capable of outputting a signal to a control unit when touched (triggered). Therefore, the touched block will be detected. There are several embodiments to describe the present invention below.
Referring to
For purpose of producing the first touch blocks 122 and the second touch block 124, the transparent electrode 120 is formed on the transparent substrate 110, and then it may etch the transparent electrode 120 in accordance with predetermined edges of the touch blocks (122 & 124), which is configured to be touch pads. In a preferred embodiment, the etching width should be smaller than the width of identification by viewer. In addiction, the conductive lines 130 and 132 are easy to identify by viewer. Therefore, the conductive lines 130 and 132 are disposed outside the display region 110A in which avoiding appearance of the conductive lines 130 and 132, wherein the conductive lines 130 is connected to the first touch blocks 122 respectively, and the conductive line 132 is connected to the second touch block 124.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
It should be appreciated that when reducing the width of the extending block 124A, the resistance between the extending block 124A and the conductive line 132 will increase. Therefore, the detecting sensitivity of the controlling unit 150 will decline when a user touches the touch blocks. In order to solve the problem mentioned above, the conductive line 132 connected to the second touch block 124 can be increased to decreasing the resistance mentioned above.
Although described above in regards to the first touch blocks 122 and at least one the second touch block 124 (or 124′) substantially covered all the display region 110A, it should be appreciated that the amount, the area and the configuration of the touch blocks (122 and 124) practically may be determined in accordance with design of product.
Referring to
However, the first touch blocks 122/222 and the second touch block 124/124′/224 are rectangular shape, as an example, but are not limited to. It should be appreciated that the touch block may be circular shape, ellipse, polygon or any irregular shape. Additionally, the touch block also may be designed in accordance with the size of the display region and the position of touch pad.
Referring to
It is possible to diversify the touch pad by designing the touch block, which applies to the electronic apparatus of touch panel, such as a digital photo frame. Moreover, it is also possible to diversify operation UI (user interface) by displaying configuration on the display region.
The touch panel with touch pads disclosed in the present invention is that the single layer transparent electrode is directly defined the position of touch pads. Accordingly, the touch panel is entirely or partially formed the effective contact area. Touch pads, located in the edge and the interior of the display region, are cooperated with configuration displaying on the display region to generate operation UI (user interface). Contrary to the conventional touch panel utiliting two-layer transparent electrode, the present invention is simple in the structure and the production. Moreover, the present invention doesn't cooperate with complicated driving circuit and/or algorithm to detect the position of the triggered touch pad, which will save more cost.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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97123912 | Jun 2008 | TW | national |