JP6213902B2 - Touch panel holder - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a touch panel used for an input device or the like, and more particularly to a touch panel holding body that is integrally attached to a display panel used for a display or an operation unit of various electronic devices and has a force feedback function.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, devices having a touch panel function have been widely adopted as input operation means on the display surface and operation screen of electronic devices.
Here, the touch panel detects the position touched with a fingertip, a pen tip or the like, and uses it as an input / output signal.
As a detection operation principle of the touch panel, various systems such as a resistive film system, an infrared system, and an electromagnetic induction system have been developed.
As this type of touch panel, a touch panel having a force feedback function for detecting a touch operation and vibrating the touch panel to give the operator a feeling of operation is known.
Moreover, as a display panel, a thin liquid crystal display (LCD) on a plane using a liquid crystal composition is widely used.
As a structure to hold the touch panel so as to be superimposed on the display panel, the display panel is fitted into the housing, and a touch panel that can be vibrated by a piezoelectric element is superimposed on the display panel with a predetermined gap. In this type, there is a step between the surface of the touch panel and the surface of the bezel. Therefore, as a full flattening method, a protective sheet bonded to the surface of the touch panel or The thing fixed to the housing | casing with the decorative film is proposed (patent documents 1, 2).
However, in such a touch panel holding structure, there is a problem that the touch panel cannot be incorporated into the casing unless the touch panel is bonded to a protective sheet or the like.

JP 2011-113461 A JP 2008-210199 A

  An object of this invention is to provide the touch panel holding body which hold | maintained the touch panel which has a force feedback function to a display panel.

The touch panel holding body according to the present invention includes a display panel and a touch panel supported by a support portion made of an elastic material with a predetermined gap between the display panel and the touch panel on the back side. A piezoelectric element for imparting vibration is provided, and the support portion is positioned in the vicinity of the piezoelectric element, and the back surface side of the display panel and the front surface side of the touch panel are sandwiched through the support portion. fixed at the position of the support portion, have a stay member unitizing and said and said display panel a touch panel, the stay member includes an upper surface pressing portion and the lower surface pressing portion in a substantially U-shaped in the side wall portion It is characterized by a connected structure .
Here, the piezoelectric element is used to apply vibration to the touch panel by an input voltage.
Therefore, the touch panel is supported by a support portion made of an elastic material while forming a predetermined gap with the display panel so that the vibration of the touch panel is not hindered.
As such a form, various structures can be adopted. For example, the piezoelectric element has a band shape on each of a pair of opposing side edges of the touch panel, and the support portion has a longitudinal end portion of each of the piezoelectric elements. As an example, there may be an embodiment in which it is provided in a total of four locations.
The piezoelectric element is bonded to the back surface of the touch panel with an elastic adhesive or the like, and gives a force feedback function to the touch panel by repeatedly expanding and contracting due to a change in input voltage.
Therefore, the length of the band-shaped piezoelectric element is determined in consideration of the frequency applied to the touch panel, but is fixed using a stay member at a node located near the piezoelectric element that does not move up and down during vibration. Is preferred.

As an example of a structure for forming the support portion in the present invention, the support portion may be formed in a rubber frame that frames the outer peripheral portion of the display panel and the touch panel.
In this way, the touch panel can be integrated in advance with the rubber frame on the display panel side, and then it is easy to assemble into the housing, and after the touch panel holder is incorporated into the housing, etc. A protective sheet, a design sheet, and the like can be bonded to the opening of the plate to flatten it.

  The present invention is characterized in that the touch panel is fixed using a stay member. In this case, if the stay member is provided with a buffer member between the surface portion of the touch panel, the touch panel is prevented from being scratched. In addition, the touch panel vibration is prevented from being hindered.

Since the touch panel holding body according to the present invention attaches the touch panel to the display panel using the stay member, the touch panel holding body is excellent in attachment rigidity as compared with a conventional touch panel fixing method using a protective sheet or the like.
Also, if the positioning and framework of the touch panel and display panel are preliminarily positioned and framed in a rubber frame consisting of a frame with a support part formed on the inner periphery side, these can be unitized and assembled to the subsequent housing or frame body. It becomes easy.

(A) shows the external view of the touch-panel holding body based on this invention, (b) shows the AA sectional view. The principal part figure expressed by seeing through the part of a touch panel is shown. (A) shows an example of a built-in structure of a touch panel holder according to the present invention, and (b) shows an example of attachment of a stay member. (A), (b) shows the vibration of a touch panel typically. (A) shows the fragmentary sectional view of the touchscreen holder which concerns on this invention, (b) shows the principal part sectional drawing of the part fixed with a stay member. The example which provided the small projection part in the rubber frame is shown, (a) is a partial top view, (b) shows the state seen from the stay member inner side. (A), (b) shows the example of attachment using a stay member.

An example of the structure of the touch panel holder 10 according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to this.
FIG. 1 shows a unit state in which the display panel 11 and the touch panel 12 are aligned with a rubber frame 13 made of a frame and fixed with a stay member 15.
The touch panel 12 can employ a known structure.
For example, in the case of a resistive film method, a dot pacer is provided between two substrates on which a transparent ITO film is formed in a predetermined pattern, and the top and bottom ITO films come into contact when the surface of the substrate is pressed. The pressing position is detected by the resistance value.
The electrode provided at the end of the ITO film is electrically connected to the outside through a connector tail 12a and the like.
Band-shaped piezoelectric elements 14 are attached to a pair of opposing side edge portions on the back surface of the touch panel 12.
The piezoelectric element 14 is for feeding back a tactile sensation when an operator touches the touch panel as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and in this embodiment, the length is 1/3 of the side length of the touch panel. A band-shaped piezoelectric element 14 of ½ is pasted on the central portion of the side portion.

  The display panel 11 can employ a known structure, such as various displays using liquid crystals and various displays using EL elements.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a unit is formed by using a rubber frame 13 using a frame-like elastic material.
The substantially rectangular rubber frame 13 is formed with a frame-like lower side portion 13d below the step-shaped partition piece portion 13b provided along the inner periphery, so that the display panel 11 is formed in the lower recess of the rubber frame 13. Is inserted.
On the other hand, a frame-shaped upper piece 13c is formed along the upper side of the partition piece 13b, and the touch panel 12 is fitted into the upper recess.
At this time, the rubber frame 13 has support portions 13a projecting upward from the partition piece portion 13b at four locations on the inner peripheral portion.
Thereby, as shown in FIG.1 (b), the predetermined clearance gap d is formed between the display panel 11 and the touchscreen 12, and the back surface of the touchscreen 12 is elastically supported by the four support parts 13a. Become.
Further, the piezoelectric element 14 is located between the pair of support portions 13a and 13a.
That is, the support portion 13 a is located in the vicinity of the longitudinal end portion of the piezoelectric element 14.
In addition, the vibration of the touch panel 12 is not inhibited by the predetermined gap d.
In this state, as shown in FIG. 3B, the stay member 15 having a substantially U-shaped cross section sandwiches the front surface side of the touch panel 12 and the rear surface side of the display panel 11 so that the other side is at the position of the support portion 13a. And fix.
As shown in FIGS. 1 (b) and 4, the position of the support portion 13 a becomes the node portion 0 of the amplitude when the vibration of the frequency f is generated by the expansion and contraction of the piezoelectric element 14. The vibration of the touch panel 12 is prevented from being suppressed even if it is fixed by.
The stay member 15 has a structure in which the upper surface pressing portion 15a and the lower surface pressing portion 15c are connected in a substantially U shape by the side wall portion 15b, and when the pressing width along the side portion of the touch panel 12 becomes longer, the touch panel 12 Therefore, a narrow width dimension of about 5 to 20 mm is preferable.
Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the buffer member 16 is attached inside the upper surface pressing portion 15 a of the stay member 15, the surface of the touch panel 12 is prevented from being scratched and the vibration of the touch panel 12 is absorbed.

As described above, when the touch panel 12 and the display panel 11 are fixed by the stay member 15 to be unitized, it is easy to be assembled in a housing or the like thereafter.
For example, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1B, when the touch panel holder 10 according to the present invention is incorporated in the housing 20 and the upper surface opening is covered with a protective sheet 21 or the like, a fully flattened design is obtained. .
At this time, the vibration of the touch panel 12 can be transmitted to the operator by bonding between the touch panel 12 and the protective sheet 21 or sufficiently approaching.
In this case, since the touch panel 12 is integrated with the display panel 11 by the rubber frame 13, the touch panel may be displaced even when the apparatus is used in an upright manner or when the apparatus is operated so as to swing up, down, left and right. , Do not float up.

FIG. 6 shows an example in which a small protrusion 113c is provided on the inner side of the upper side 13c in order to reduce the influence on the vibration of the touch panel 12 with the touch panel 12 fitted in the upper recess of the rubber frame 13.
FIG. 7 shows a modification of the stay member 15.
The stay member 15 is not limited to the structure in which the stay member 15 is simply fitted as in (a), but the stay member in which the attachment portion 115a having the attachment hole is fixed to the various frame bodies incorporating the display panel 11 by the fixing member 115b such as a screw. 115 may be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Touch panel holding body 11 Display panel 12 Touch panel 13 Rubber frame 13a Support part 14 Piezoelectric element 15 Stay member 16 Buffer member

Claims (5)

A display panel, and a touch panel supported by a support portion made of an elastic material with a predetermined gap between the display panel,
The touch panel has a piezoelectric element for applying vibration to the touch panel on the back side,
The support portion is located in the vicinity of the piezoelectric element, and is fixed at the position of the support portion so as to sandwich the back surface side of the display panel and the front surface side of the touch panel via the support portion , have a stay member unitizing and said display panel a touch panel,
The stay member has a structure in which an upper surface pressing portion and a lower surface pressing portion are connected in a substantially U shape at a side wall portion . The piezoelectric element has a strip shape on each of a pair of side edges facing the touch panel,
The touch panel holder according to claim 1, wherein the support portion is provided in the vicinity of each longitudinal end portion of the piezoelectric element, and is provided at a total of four locations.   The touch panel holder according to claim 1, wherein the position of the support portion corresponds to a node portion when the touch panel vibrates.   The touch panel holder according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the support part is formed in a rubber frame that frames an outer peripheral part of the display panel and the touch panel.   The touch panel holding body according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the stay member is provided with a buffer member between a surface portion of the touch panel.

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