This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-098232 filed on Apr. 23, 2012, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a touch panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch panel is an input device that allows direct input to be performed on a display. The touch panel, which is often positioned at the front of a display, allows direct input based on data that can be visually recognized through the display. Therefore, touch panels are used for various purposes.
Among the touch panels, the electrostatic capacity type touch panel and the resistant film type touch panel are widely known. The resistant film type touch panel includes upper and lower electrode substrates each having a transparent conductive film formed thereon. The upper and lower electrode substrates are positioned in a manner such that their transparent conductive films face each other. By applying pressure to a single point on the upper electrode surface, the transparent conductive films are forced to contact each other. By detecting the point of the contact, the position of the point with pressure applied can be detected.
The resistant film type touch panel can be broadly categorized into a four-wire type, a five-wire type, and a diode type. The four-wire type touch panel has an x-axis electrode provided in one of the upper and lower electrode substrates and a y-axis electrode provided in the other of the upper and lower electrode substrates (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-272722). The five-wire type touch panel has both x and y axis electrodes provided on a lower electrode substrate, and an upper electrode substrate functioning as a probe for detecting voltage (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-293129). The diode type touch panel has a structure including a diode(s) provided to a lower electrode substrate. The diode type touch panel is also referred to as a seven-wire type touch panel because the diode type touch panel has two electrodes for applying voltage, four electrodes for monitoring electric potential, and an electrode provided to an upper electrode substrate serving as a probe for detecting voltage (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-196280).
With the electrostatic capacity type touch panel, an electric current flowing in, for example, a transparent electrode of the touch panel is detected by positioning a finger or the like close to the touch panel. By detecting the current, position can be detected. In view of the different characteristics of the electrostatic capacity type touch panel and the resistant film type touch panel, there is a touch panel having a layered structure that includes the electrostatic capacity type touch panel and the resistant film type touch panel (see, for example, Japanese Registered Utility Model Nos. 3132106 and 3139196).
Because the electrostatic capacity type touch panel uses a detection method using capacitive coupling, the electrostatic capacity type touch panel has a characteristic of being able to detect position by simply being touched without being depressed. However, the electrostatic capacity type touch panel is unable to detect position by being touched by an insulator. Further, although the resistant film type touch panel is capable of detection regardless of the material or the like used for contacting the touch panel, a predetermined amount of force is required to be applied to the touch panel because the resistant film type touch panel detects position by the contact between a transparent conductive film serving as an upper resistance film and a transparent conductive film serving as a lower resistance film.
On the other hand, the touch panel disclosed in Japanese Registered Utility Model Nos. 3132106 and 3139196, which has a layered structure including the electrostatic capacity type touch panel and the resistant film type touch panel, has the favorable characteristics of both the electrostatic capacity type touch panel and the resistant film type touch panel. However, the touch panel having the layered structure has problems of becoming too thick and high cost because the touch panel has two types of touch panels layered one on top of the other.
An embodiment of the present invention provides a touch panel including a first conductive film including conductive patterns each extending in one direction, and a second conductive film facing the first conductive film, wherein each of the conductive patterns includes plural diamond-shaped parts aligned in the one direction, and a connection part connecting adjacent diamond-shaped parts each other, and each conductive pattern has a uniform resistance value per unit length.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In the following, embodiments of a touch panel of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted that like components are denoted with like reference numerals throughout the following description and drawings.
In the touch panel 100 capable of performing both the electrostatic capacity type position detection and the resistant film type position detection, the first transparent conductive film 10 includes one or more diamond patterns 12 as illustrated in
In order to perform resistant film type position detection with high accuracy by using the first and second transparent conductive films 10, 20, the space between the diamond patterns 12 is be as narrow as possible.
In a case of using the first transparent conductive film 10 including the diamond pattern 12 for resistant film type position detection, the voltage of the first transparent conductive film 10 and the position of the first transparent conductive film 10 do not exhibit a linear relationship. As illustrated in
On the other hand, as illustrated in
The difficulty of performing accurate position detection with the first transparent conductive film 10 including the diamond pattern 12 is described in detail with reference to a diamond-shaped pattern 120 (corresponding to diamond-shaped part 12a) as illustrated in
As illustrated with the solid line 4A of
In order to generate equally spaced electrical potential distribution in the diamond-shaped parts 12a and the diamond connection parts 12b, the touch panel 100 of the first embodiment is configured to have one or more areas 13 from which a transparent conductive film is removed (hereinafter referred to as “conductive film removal areas”) provided in the diamond-shaped parts 12a as illustrated in
In the touch panel 100 as illustrated in
Alternatively, in order to generate equally spaced potential distribution in the diamond-shaped parts 12a and the diamond connection parts 12h, the touch panel 100 of the first embodiment may be configured to have one or more areas 14 having a conductivity higher than the conductivity of the center part of the diamond-shaped part 12a (hereinafter referred to as “high conductivity areas”) provided in the diamond connection parts 12b and/or a part of the diamond-shaped parts 12a in the vicinity of the diamond connection parts 12b as illustrated in
Because the high conductive area 14 has conductivity higher than the conductivity of the center part of the diamond-shaped part 12a, equally spaced potential distribution can be generated in the first transparent conductive film 10 even in a case where the first transparent conductive film 10 having the diamond pattern 12 is formed.
Thus, with this example, accurate position detection can also be performed by referring to a potential detected from a contact position of the transparent conductive film 10 because the potential of the first transparent conductive film 10 and the contact position of the first transparent conductive film 10 can establish a linear relationship.
The high conductive area 14 can be formed with fine particles having high conductivity. For example, the high conductive area 14 may be formed by applying or printing fine particles of metal or a transparent conductive material.
A touch panel 200 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is described. The second embodiment pertains to a wiring that is connected to the first transparent conductive film 10 having the diamond pattern 12 illustrated in
For example, in a case where a touch panel includes a first transparent conductive film having multiple rows of diamond patterns, the length of a wiring connected to one row of the diamond patterns formed in the vicinity of one end of the touch panel and the length of a wiring connected another row of the diamond patterns formed in the vicinity of the other end of the touch panel are different due to the rows of diamond patterns formed in different positions. In such case where the lengths of the wirings are different, the resistance values of the wirings are, in general, different. Therefore, the voltage drops of each wiring are different even in a case where a same amount of voltage is applied to each of the wirings. Therefore, in this case where the touch panel includes a first transparent conductive film having multiple rows of diamond patterns, the voltage applied to each row of the diamond patterns become different. As a result, the accuracy of detecting a contact position of the touch panel is degraded.
The touch panel 200 according to the second embodiment has a structure in which the resistance values of the wirings connected to multiple rows of diamond patterns 121-12n of the first transparent conductive film 10 are substantially uniform.
As illustrated in
One end of each of the wirings 511-51n is connected to a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 40 provided in the vicinity of one end of the touch panel 200 and other end of each of the wirings 511-5n is connected to corresponding diamond patterns 121-12n to connect the electrode terminals of the flexible printed circuit 40 to the corresponding diamond patterns 121-12n and to apply voltage to the corresponding diamond pattern 121-12n.
The multiple diamond patterns are formed from the vicinity of one end of the touch panel 200 to the vicinity of the other end of the touch panel 200. For example, a diamond pattern 121 is formed in the vicinity of the one end of the touch panel 200, and a diamond pattern 12n is formed in the vicinity of the other end of the touch panel 200.
The wirings 511-51n are formed in correspondence with one of the diamond patterns 121-12n. An electrode terminal of the flexible printed circuit 40 is electrically connected to one end of the diamond pattern 121 by way of the wiring 511, and another electrode terminal of the flexible printed circuit 40 is electrically connected to one end of the diamond pattern 12, by way of the wiring 51n.
In the touch panel 200 of
However, according to the touch panel 200 of the second embodiment, the resistance values of the wirings 511-51n are substantially the same even where the lengths of the wirings 511-51n are different, because the widths of the wirings 511-51n positioned relatively further from the flexible printed circuit 40 is increased relative to the wiring positioned closer to the flexible printed circuit 40. Therefore, the voltages applied to the diamond patterns 121-12n can be substantially uniform, and high accuracy position detection can be performed by the touch panel 200 having the functions of both the electrostatic capacity type touch panel and the resistant film type touch panel.
Further, according to the touch panel 200 of the second embodiment, the resistance values of the wirings 511-51n can be made substantially same by gradually increasing the width of the wirings 511-51n from the shortest wiring 511 to the longest wiring 51n. The voltages applied to the diamond patterns 121-1211 can be substantially uniform. Accordingly, the potential distribution of the diamond patterns 121-12n of the first transparent conductive film 10 can become uniform, and position detection can be performed with high accuracy. It is to be noted that the wirings 511-51n can be formed by, for example, screen printing a silver paste or the like.
In an alternative example, the touch panel 200 of the second embodiment may include wirings 521-52n having substantially equal lengths and widths as illustrated in
In another alternative example, the touch panel 200 of the second embodiment may include wirings 531-53n having substantially equal widths but having a thickness greater than the thickness of others as illustrated in
As described above, the touch panels 200 illustrated in
As illustrated in
In another alternative example, the touch panel 200 of the second embodiment may include diamond patterns 121-12n in which the contact points 561-56n connected to corresponding wirings 551-55n are provided at different positions of the diamond patterns 121-12n. That is, because the transparent conductive films constituting the diamond patterns 121-12n have a relatively high resistance, the potential distributions of the diamond patterns 12a-12n can be made substantially uniform by changing the positions of the contact points 561-56n.
By arranging the contact point 56n connected to the wiring 55n at a position more inward (further away from the one end of the diamond pattern) compared to the contact point 561 connected to the wiring 551, the potential distributions in the diamond pattern 121 and the diamond pattern 12n can be substantially uniform. Accordingly, by forming the touch panel 200 so that the positions of the contact points 561-56n connected to the wirings 551-55n are arranged more inward of the diamond patterns 121-12n in this order, the potential distributions of the diamond patterns 121-12n can be substantially uniform.
Next, a case of generalizing the touch panel 200 having the configuration illustrated in
That is, as illustrated in
According to the embodiment illustrated in
Next, a touch panel 300 according to the third embodiment of the present invention is described. The third embodiment pertains to a shape of a contact part between a single row of a diamond pattern 12 of the first transparent conductive film 10 and a wiring 57. According to a comparative example illustrated in
According to the touch panel 300 of the third embodiment, in addition to a contact part 58k contacting an end part of the diamond pattern 12k, an end part 59k bent toward the diamond pattern 12k is formed on both sides of the contact part 58k. Likewise, in
By forming the contact part 58k including the end part 59k and the contact part 58k+1 including the end part 59k+1 the distortion of the potential distribution can be reduced in an area 60k of the diamond pattern 12k and an area 60k+1 of the diamond pattern 12k+1 comparing to the contact part illustrated in
Other than the details described above in the second embodiment, the configuration of the touch panel 300 of the third embodiment is substantially the same as the configuration of the touch panel 200 of the second embodiment.
With the above-described embodiments of the present invention, a thin touch panel including the features of both an electrostatic capacity type touch panel and a resistant film type touch panel and having high accurate position detection accuracy can be provided.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2012-098232 | Apr 2012 | JP | national |