JPH07146755A - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the reflection light of a conductive layer and to improve a touch panel so that it may easily be seen by providing a liquid layer of a specified refractive index between plastic films. CONSTITUTION:Conductive layer 3 and 3' are molded so that they may face with each other via a spacer 5 by using transparent conductive substrates 4 and 4' where the conductive layers 3 and 3' are formed on plastic films 2 and 2' having transparency. Therefore, the conductive layers 3 and 3' are brought into contact with each other by a touch and a conductive state is resulted. Liquid 8 to reduce the reflection of the surfaces of the conductive layers 3 and 3' is provided and the refractive index of the liquid 8 is defined as 1.6 or below. The liquid 8 is not capable of reducing the reflection of the conductive layers 3 and 3' when the refractive index is 1.6 or more, although a limitation for the index is not provided, in particular. It is desirable that the refractive index is 1.5 or below in the liquid 8. A seal member 9 is a seal part to fix the liquid 8 and an epoxy thermosetting adhesive is desirable as the member. The conductive layers 3 and 3' are considerably effective when the refractive index is 1.9 or more.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel using a plastic film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A touch panel has attracted attention as a new input device replacing a keyboard and has already been applied in many cases. For example, when a transparent touch panel is used in close contact with a CRT or the like, it is possible to directly input the necessary characters, figures, etc. on the touch panel while looking at the image of the CRT, and the number of application examples continues to increase. ing.
However, when an image of a CRT or the like is seen through the touch panel, there is a problem that it is very difficult to see the brightness and color of the conductive portion of the touch panel and the non-conductive portion of the touch panel. This is because a thin film such as ITO having a very high refractive index is formed on the conductive portion.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and as a result of trying to make the refractive index of the conductive portion equal to that of the conductive portion, the refractive index of the conductive portion is 1. With a refractive index of 9 or more, it is 1.4-like plastic.
The most effective way is to reduce it to 1.6, which is to provide a touch panel which does not have such a problem in the prior art.

[0004]

The above objects can be achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention relates to a touch panel comprising two plastic film or plate substrates having a transparent conductive film on the inner surface thereof and a spacer sandwiched between the plastic substrates and fixed to the surface of at least one of the plastic substrates. A touch panel having a liquid layer having a refractive index of 1.6 or less between films.

The touch panel according to the present invention is, for example,
As shown in FIG. 1, two transparent conductive substrates 4 and 4'in which conductive layers 3 and 3'are molded on transparent plastic films 2 and 2 ', are used. This is a well-known transparent touch panel that is formed through the spacer 5 so that 3 ′ face each other, and the conductive layers 3 come into contact with each other by touching to be in a conductive state. Such a touch panel is a resistive film type voltage division type (FIG. 1) in which the touch coordinates in the conductive layers 3 and 3 (having uniform resistance) are detected by the potential gradient, and the conductive layers 3 and 3'are etched. Accordingly, the conductive layer in the unnecessary portion is removed, the strip is formed into a strip shape, and the strips facing each other are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other via the spacer 5 to directly detect the touch coordinates.
The matrix type (FIG. 2) may be used without any particular limitation. In this case, 6 and 6'denotes conductive lines arranged at opposite edges of the conductive layers 3 and 3 ', and 7 and 7'.
Is lead wiring. No. 8 is a liquid for reducing the reflection on the surface of the conductive layer and is not particularly limited as long as it has a refractive index of 1.6 or less. Even if the liquid having a refractive index of 1.6 or more is changed to the liquid of 8, the reflection of the conductive layer cannot be reduced, and a liquid having a refractive index of 1.5 or less is preferable. Reference numeral 9 denotes a seal portion for fixing the liquid, and as the material of the seal portion, there is no problem as long as the liquid 8 can be fixed, but an example thereof is an epoxy thermosetting adhesive. The spacer is not particularly limited as long as it is insulative. The transparent substrate is not particularly limited as long as it is a plastic film or sheet. The conductive layer is not particularly limited as long as it is transparent and has conductivity, but the effect of the present invention is remarkable when ITO, which has a high refractive index of 1.9 or more, is used as the conductive layer. The touch panel exemplified above can be applied to all touch panels having transparency as described above.

[0006]

EXAMPLE An XY matrix type transparent touch panel as shown in FIG. 2, in which water was injected between the substrates by the height of the spacer. In this way, the obtained touch panel had a clearly-decreased strip-shaped conductive layer reflected light as compared with that before water was injected, and it was hardly discernible and had a good appearance.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the appearance of the touch panel can be improved by reducing the reflected light of the conductive layer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a touch panel of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a resistive film type voltage division type touch panel of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing an example of an XY matrix type touch panel of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A touch panel comprising two plastic film or plate substrates having a transparent conductive film on the inner surface and a spacer sandwiched between the plastic substrates and fixed to the surface of at least one of the plastic substrates, wherein the plastic film is used. With a refractive index of 1.6
A touch panel comprising the following liquid layer.