JP2012221006A - Resistance film type touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a resistance film type touch panel capable of reducing the number of components, suppressing increase in necessary operating force and securing and keeping operability.SOLUTION: Lower and upper electrode substrates 11a, 11b are made to face each other via a gap, and an outer frame part is fixed. A printed wiring part 15 on which design print is performed is provided on the side of an electrode plane of the lower and upper electrode substrates 11a, 11b. The printed wiring part 15 in the upper transparent electrode substrate 11b includes: thin transparent electrodes 16a, 16b formed in the shape of a band pattern by printing, along two sides perpendicular to two sides including thin transparent electrodes 12a, 12b, of the facing lower transparent electrode substrate 11a; and a design print part 17 on which the design print is performed so as to surround the thin transparent electrodes 16a, 16b from four directions.

Description

  The present invention relates to a resistive film type touch panel that has a design property taken into account by design printing and also has a function as a front plate of a display body.

In recent years, touch panels have been widely used as input devices for various electronic devices and information terminal devices such as personal computers and mobile phones.
The touch panel is an instruction to input the two-dimensional coordinate data required for the display device when the operator touches a desired position on the panel surface with a pen or a finger. Widely used.
Such touch panels are known to have an optical type, ultrasonic type, electrostatic capacitance type, resistive film type, etc., if classified according to the touch position detection method. Of these, the resistive touch panel is configured by vertically facing a transparent electrode substrate having a transparent conductive film such as ITO (alloy of indium and tin oxide) and fixing the outer frame portion through a gap. Is.
A potential distribution is applied to one of the upper and lower transparent electrode substrates, and the other transparent electrode substrate serves to detect the potential.
By depressing the upper transparent electrode substrate among such upper and lower transparent electrode substrates, the depressing position is derived by detecting the potential at the location where the upper and lower transparent electrode substrates are in contact. Printed wiring with conductive ink is applied to the outer frame portions of the electrode surfaces of the upper and lower transparent electrode substrates, and potential distribution is applied to the transparent electrode substrate through these wirings, or the potential is detected.

In the resistive touch panel, two parallel wires are arranged on the upper and lower substrates, respectively, and the X direction potential distribution is alternately formed on one side and the Y direction potential distribution is alternately formed on the other side. There are a method of performing position detection by alternately performing the role of detection, and a method of alternately forming potential distributions in the X and Y directions only on the lower substrate and always causing the upper substrate to perform the role of detection.
In general, the former is referred to as “4-wire type”, and the latter is referred to as “5-wire type”.

By the way, in an electronic device using a touch panel, in recent years, design is also regarded as important, and various attempts have been made.
For example, in Patent Document 1, when the touch panel is exposed on the surface of the casing, a step between the casing and the touch panel appears and the design is impaired, so that the film member is formed between the main surface of the input panel and the cover member. By bonding so as to follow the step of the boundary portion, the step is relaxed, and the deterioration of the design property due to the step is prevented.

  Further, in the resistive touch panel 1 shown in FIG. 4, a pair of printed wirings 3a, 3b and 4a, 4b are disposed in the X and Y directions on the first and second electrode substrates 2a and 2b, respectively. A product in which a cover film 5 on which design printing has been applied is pasted on the upper transparent electrode substrate 11b so as to have a function as a front plate of a display body has been commercialized.

JP 2008-257494 A

However, in the method according to Patent Document 1, the step is not completely eliminated, and the film member is adhered on the main surface of the input panel that is the operation surface. An increase in the resistance to pressing operation and the load is inevitable, and there is a concern that the operability will be reduced.
Moreover, in the latter resistive film type touch panel 1, since the cover film 5 on which the design printing is performed is added, the number of members increases. In addition, since the cover film 5 is bonded to the upper transparent electrode substrate 11b side to be bent at the time of pressing, the cover film 5 has a problem that the rigidity is increased and the necessary operation force is increased, resulting in a decrease in operability. .
The present invention has been proposed in order to improve the above-described problems. In the touch panel having a function as a display panel in consideration of design, the number of members can be reduced and the necessary operation force is increased. An object of the present invention is to provide a resistive film type touch panel capable of suppressing the above and maintaining operability.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the invention according to claim 1, the first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate each having a conductive film laminated on one surface thereof are opposed to each other on the conductive film formation surface, and the first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate are opposed to each other. And a resistive film type touch panel in which the second electrode substrate is bonded to each other through an outer frame portion with a gap between the conductive electrode and the conductive electrode on the conductive film forming surface side of the first electrode substrate or the second electrode substrate. And a printed wiring portion including a design print portion formed in combination with the print electrode portion.

Thereby, the printed wiring part can bring design properties to the electrode substrate itself in addition to the contact point detection function. For this reason, a cover film subjected to design printing is unnecessary, the number of members is reduced, and the rigidity on the operation surface of the electrode substrate does not increase, so that the required operation force does not increase.
The combination of the printed electrode portion and the design print portion means that the print electrode portion and the design print portion constitute a unified design that is inseparable on the first electrode substrate or the second electrode substrate. It means a combination that can bring about a good design.

  In the invention according to claim 2, the printed electrode portions are paired electrode portions that are formed on the conductive film forming surface side of the first and second electrode substrates so as to be oriented in directions orthogonal to each other. It is characterized by.

  Thereby, since design printing was added with respect to the printing electrode part in an electrode substrate, a favorable design property is brought about.

  Moreover, in the invention concerning Claim 3, a printed electrode part is an electrode part for electric potential application formed in the 1st or 2nd electrode substrate, and the other electrode substrate side in which the electrode part is not formed is A potential detecting means for detecting a potential is connected.

  Thereby, if design printing is combined with the electrode part for potential application, the preferable design property unified to the electrode substrate which has arrange | positioned these electrode parts is brought about. Such wiring to the 5-wire electrode substrate side may be a single point for functioning as a feeding point, and can be substituted for logo characters in design printing.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the design print portion includes a pseudo electrode portion provided in parallel with the print electrode portion of the first electrode substrate or the second electrode substrate.

  Thereby, if the pseudo electrode part as design printing is combined with the printed electrode part of the first or second electrode substrate, the unified design can be brought about.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the conductive ink in the printed wiring portion is a silver-containing conductive ink.

  Thereby, the silver color of silver material can be comprised as a part of design design.

  Further, the invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the conductive ink of the printed wiring portion is a carbon-containing conductive ink.

  Thereby, the black color of the carbon material can be configured as a part of the design design.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a resistive film type touch panel capable of reducing the number of members as well as ensuring designability and preventing maintenance of necessary operability and maintaining operability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a resistive film type touch panel according to the present invention. It is typical plane explanatory drawing of the resistive film type touch panel shown in FIG. It is a cross-sectional explanatory drawing of the resistive film type touch panel shown in FIG. It is a typical exploded perspective view showing an example of a conventional resistive touch panel.

Hereinafter, a resistive film type touch panel according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings with an embodiment.
1 and 2 show a resistive film type touch panel 10.
The resistive film type touch panel 10 is configured such that the first and second electrode substrates 11a and 11b are opposed to each other through a gap and the outer frame portions of the first and second electrode substrates 11a and 11b are fixed. Yes.
In the present embodiment, the first and second electrode substrates 11a and 11b are constituted by lower and upper transparent electrode substrates 11a and 11b, respectively. Hereinafter, the lower and upper transparent electrode substrates 11a and 11b will be described.

  The lower transparent electrode substrate 11a is provided with thin film transparent electrodes 12a and 12b formed in a band pattern by printing along two sides facing in the X direction in the figure, for example, on a rectangular glass substrate. In addition to the glass substrate, the lower transparent electrode substrate 11a is preferably made of a resin material that has high light transmittance, excellent molding accuracy, and is hard. Examples of the resin material include polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethersulfone (PES), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), and polyamide (PA).

The upper transparent electrode substrate 11b is formed by applying a transparent conductive film 14 such as ITO (alloy of indium and tin) to a cover film 13 (for example, polyethylene terephthalate PET) having the same area as the lower transparent electrode substrate 11a. The film is formed by sputtering, CVD, printing, or the like (see FIG. 3).
The upper transparent electrode substrate 11b is subjected to design printing together with electrodes described later on the lower surface side facing the upper surface where the thin film transparent electrodes 12a and 12b are formed on the lower transparent electrode substrate 11a by a printing method. The printed wiring portion 15 is formed.
The thin film transparent electrodes 12a and 12b can be formed using a silver-containing conductive ink material or a carbon-containing conductive ink material.

The printed wiring portion 15 in the upper transparent electrode substrate 11b is printed along two sides (in the Y direction in the figure) perpendicular to the two sides on which the thin film transparent electrodes 12a and 12b of the opposed lower transparent electrode substrate 11a are formed. Design printing was performed along the four sides of the upper transparent electrode substrate 11b so as to surround the thin-film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b (see FIG. 2) and the thin-film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b formed in a strip pattern by four sides. And a designable printing unit 17. Further, a conductive pattern 18 for taking out a detection signal is formed at a predetermined position of the thin film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b.
In addition, the design printing part 17 includes a pseudo electrode part 19 that is not an electrode but is formed on the upper transparent electrode substrate 11b by printing so as to be orthogonal to the thin film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b.
The thin film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b can be formed using a silver-containing conductive ink material or a carbon-containing conductive ink material, similarly to the thin film transparent electrodes 12a and 12b.
Moreover, the pseudo electrode part 19 is printed according to the forming material of the thin film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b. For example, when a silver-containing conductive ink material is used for the thin film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b, the pseudo electrode portion 19 is formed by printing in silver, while the carbon-containing conductive ink is formed on the thin film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b. When the material is used, the pseudo electrode portion 19 is formed by printing in black to unify the design.

The design printing portion 17 can of course be configured with an arbitrary color, pattern, or a combination thereof.
Further, for example, a logo indicating a product name or a manufacturer name can be attached at an appropriate place (see FIG. 2).

As described above, according to the resistive film type touch panel 10 of the present embodiment, in addition to the resistive film type touch panel 10, a cover member subjected to design printing is not necessary, and the number of members can be reduced. In addition, since the cover member is unnecessary, there is no problem that the rigidity is increased by attaching the cover member to the upper substrate side to be bent at the time of pressing down, the required operation force is increased, and the operability is not lowered.
Moreover, in the printed wiring part 15 in the upper transparent electrode substrate 11b, the pseudo electrode part 19 is formed by printing according to the conductive ink material used for the thin film transparent electrodes 12a and 12b and the thin film transparent electrodes 16a and 16b, Since design printing is added, uniform and desirable design properties are brought about.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Resistance film type touch panel 11a Lower transparent electrode substrate 11b Upper transparent electrode substrate 12a, 12b Thin film transparent electrode 13 Cover film 14 Transparent conductive film 15 Print wiring part 16a, 16b Thin film transparent electrode 17 Design printing part 18 Conductive pattern 19 Pseudo electrode part

Claims (6)

The first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate, each of which has a conductive film laminated on one surface, are opposed to each other with the conductive film formation surface therebetween, and the first and second electrode substrates are separated from each other with an outer frame portion therebetween. A resistive film type touch panel bonded via
On the conductive film forming surface side of the first electrode substrate or the second electrode substrate, a printed wiring portion including a printed electrode portion made of conductive ink and a design printing portion formed in combination with the printed electrode portion, A resistive film type touch panel comprising:   The printed electrode portion is a pair of electrode portions formed in a direction orthogonal to each other on the conductive film forming surface side of the first and second electrode substrates. The resistive film type touch panel as described. The printed electrode part is an electrode part for potential application formed on the first or second electrode substrate,
2. The resistive film type touch panel according to claim 1, wherein a potential detecting means for detecting a potential is connected to the other electrode substrate side on which the electrode portion is not formed.   2. The resistive film type touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the design print portion includes a pseudo electrode portion provided adjacent to the print electrode portion of the first electrode substrate or the second electrode substrate.   The resistive film type touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the conductive ink of the printed wiring portion is a silver-containing conductive ink.   The resistive film type touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the conductive ink of the printed wiring portion is a carbon-containing conductive ink.

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