JPH0785748A - Illuminated touch switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance visual confirmation, and reduce the number of manufacturing processes by providing a mask, a light emitting element, a dielectric, and a back plate on a transparent electrode for EL display provided on a base material, and a transparent electrode for touch detection on the other side of the base material. CONSTITUTION:A transparent electrode 3 for tough detection and a transparent electrode 7 for EL display element are formed on both surfaces of a base material 6. A mask 8 is formed on the transparent electrode 7 for EL display element, and a light emitting body 9, a dielectric 10, and a back plate 11 are successively formed thereon in order. Thereafter, the whole EL display element is sealed with a back protecting film 13 having a resin 12 laminated thereon. On the other hand, the end part of the transparent electrode 3 for touch detection is removed to arrange spacers 4, 5, and another touch switch base material 1 having a transparent electrode 2 for touch detection is arranged thereon. Since one base material forming the transparent electrode is reduced, transmittance is improved, and an illuminated touch switch having high visual confirmation property can be provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an illuminated touch switch having a touch switch function and a display or light emitting function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Illuminated touch switches having a conventional touch switch function and a display or light emitting function are roughly classified into two types.

That is, the first type is, as shown in FIG. 2, facing the surface of a display element 27 having a display function such as liquid crystal (LC), electroluminescence (EL) and electrochromic (EC). Transparent electrode 21
And 22 are formed, and the opposing transparent electrode 2 is formed.
This is an illuminated touch switch having a touch switch function of Nos. 1 and 22 and a display function of liquid crystal or the like.

With respect to the above structure, the opposing transparent electrode 2
When a finger directly touches portions 1 and 22, a minute electric current flows through the human body, and a change in resistance value between the opposing transparent electrodes 21 and 22 is detected using a detection circuit (not shown) to display the display element 27. It controls the illumination of.

On the other hand, the second type is, as shown in FIG. 3, liquid crystal (LC), electroluminescence (E).
L), display element 2 such as electrochromic (EC)
7 is a laminated type illuminated touch switch having a touch switch function and a display function, which is formed by combining a transparent touch switch manufactured by a manufacturing process different from the manufacturing process of the display element 27. Is.

With respect to the above structure, the touch switch portion is composed of the two films 23 constituting the touch switch.
And, transparent electrodes 25 and 26 are formed on both surfaces facing each other so as to form a matrix. Moreover, the transparent electrodes 25 and 26 are formed so that the intersecting portions of the matrix come to correspond to the positions where the individual display elements 27 are provided.

The transparent electrodes 25 and 26 thus formed are not actually electrically intersecting with each other, but are separated from each other by providing a spacer (not shown) or the like, and are seen in a plan view. , And they are arranged as if they have intersections.

Therefore, when the finger touches the intersection of the transparent electrodes 25 and 26, the transparent electrodes 25 and 26 separated by the spacer come into contact with each other, and both the transparent electrodes 25 intersect. , 26, a current flows.

Then, the conductive state of both of the transparent electrodes is detected by using a detection circuit (not shown), and the illumination of the stacked display elements 27 is controlled.

[0010]

However, with such a structure, in the illuminated touch switch in which the counter electrodes 21 and 22 shown in the above-mentioned first type are formed on the surface of the display element 27, When the number of switches on the touched part increases, in addition to the problem that it is difficult to lay out the electrodes due to the opposed electrodes as described above, direct contact of fingers is unavoidable due to the operating principle, so the transparent electrodes are worn out. There was a drawback that it was easy to occur.

Further, since it is not possible to feel with a finger the feeling (click feeling) of pressing the switch at the touched portion, there is a problem that anxiety about whether or not the user is operating is likely to occur.

The laminated type illuminated touch switch of the touch switch and the display element shown in the above-mentioned second type is a transparent touch switch manufactured by a manufacturing process different from the manufacturing process of the display element 27. Further, since it is necessary to combine the display element 27 with the display element 27, there is a drawback that the number of manufacturing steps is increased and the cost is increased.

In addition to the transparent electrodes (not shown) of the display element 27, two films with transparent electrodes are required for the touch switch, and the light transmittance is deteriorated. There was also a request.

In consideration of such problems of the conventional illuminated touch switch, the present invention can improve visibility, reduce man-hours in manufacturing and cost, and further,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an illuminated touch switch that can guarantee long life and high reliability.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a back electrode of a display or light-emitting element and a transparent electrode of the display or light-emitting element, which is provided so as to be substantially opposed to the back electrode, are in substantially opposite contact with each other. A plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection for detecting the conduction state by this, and one of the transparent electrodes of the display or light emitting element and the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection are formed on both surfaces. The illuminated touch switch includes a base material and a second base material on which the other transparent electrode of the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection is formed.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the transparent electrode of the display or light-emitting element and one of the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection are formed on both surfaces of the first substrate, and the transparent electrode on both sides of the first substrate is formed. The display or the light emitting element is formed on the side where the transparent electrode of the display or the light emitting element is formed, and one of the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection is disposed on both sides of the first base material. A second base material on which the other transparent electrode of the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection is formed is formed on the formed side.

When the second base material is pressed with a finger or the like, the plurality of transparent electrodes come into contact with each other and become conductive, and the display or light emitting element illuminates.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an illuminated touch switch according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
Reference numeral 1 is a base material for a touch switch made of a glass substrate as a second base material in the present invention, 2 and 3 are transparent electrodes for touch detection, 4 and 5 are spacers, and 6 Is a base material for an EL display element, which is a glass substrate as the first base material in the present invention, 7 is a transparent electrode for the EL display element, 8 is a mask, 9 is a light emitting body, 10 Is a dielectric, 11
Is a back electrode, 12 is a resin, and 13 is a back protective film.

The transparent electrode 2 formed on the surface of the base material 1 for the touch switch and the transparent electrode 3 formed on the surface of the base material 6 for the EL display element are electrodes for touch detection. It is connected to a detection circuit (not shown) for detecting the conduction states of 2 and 3. Therefore, when the touch switch base material 1 is pressed with a finger or the like, the transparent electrode 2 formed on the surface of the touch switch base material 1 and the transparent electrode formed on the surface of the EL display element base material 6 are transparent. The electrodes 3 contact each other, and a short circuit between the electrodes is detected by the detection circuit. Here, the spacers 4 and 5 are the transparent electrodes 2
And 3 are usually for preventing direct contact.

A transparent electrode 7 for a display element is formed on the other surface of the base material 6 for the EL display element, and a voltage is applied between the transparent electrode 7 and the back electrode 11 through a control circuit (not shown). It is supposed to be done. The mask 8 is a member for expressing characters and symbols. The dielectric 10 mainly serves to apply a high voltage to the light emitting body 9 and to prevent dielectric breakdown of the light emitting body 9. In particular, since the luminous body 9 is weak against moisture, the resin 12 and the back protective film 13 are
It is fully sealed with.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the base material 1 for the touch switch is pressed with a finger, a plurality of transparent electrodes 2, 3 formed on the base material 1 are pressed.
Contact each other and become conductive, the detection circuit detects it, and the control circuit illuminates the light-emitting body 9. Further, at that time, the mask 8 expresses characters and symbols.

A manufacturing method of the illuminated touch sensor switch configured as described above and illuminated by the self-luminous distributed EL display element will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, the substrate 6 for an EL display element, which is made of a glass substrate, is dipped in a liquid using a thermally decomposable salt of indium and tin and a solvent, pulled up and thermally decomposed at 500 ° C. The transparent electrode 3 for touch detection and the transparent electrode 7 for EL display element are formed on both surfaces of the base material 6 for display element. Further, the luminous body 9 is manufactured by mixing the luminous powder into the binder.

Further, a mask 8 is formed on the transparent electrode 7 for the EL display element by the printing method, and then the light emitting body 9, the dielectric 10 and the back electrode 11 are formed in this order by the printing method. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the entire surface of the EL display element described above is sealed with the back surface protective film 13 having the resin 12 laminated thereon.

On the other hand, for the touch switch, the end portion of the transparent electrode 3 for touch detection is removed, the spacers 4 and 5 are arranged in the removed portion, and the transparent electrode 2 for touch detection is provided on the other end. The base material 1 is placed. In this way, an illuminated touch switch having a touch switch function and a display function is completed.

As described above, since one base material forming the transparent electrode is reduced as compared with the conventional case, the light transmittance is improved, and thus high visibility can be obtained. Also,
The transparent electrodes contact each other when pressed with a finger, etc., and detect a short circuit between these electrodes, so you can feel the feeling of pressing with a finger etc., and a highly reliable touch switch that can confirm the switch operation. Is. In addition, as compared with the conventional manufacturing process of the display element, compared with the manufacturing man-hour of the illuminated touch switch formed by combining the transparent touch switches made of two films, which are manufactured by a manufacturing process different from that of the display device. As described above, the number of steps can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

Here, the base material 1 for the touch switch is used.
When mechanical life is required, plastic such as PET is preferable, and when weather resistance is required, glass is preferable. Further, the base material 6 for the EL display element is preferably a glass substrate from the viewpoint of the life of the EL display element. However, the base material 1 for the touch switch and the base material 6 for the EL display element are not limited to this, and may be made of any material as long as they have insulation and translucency.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to express characters and symbols by patterning the transparent electrode 7, the light-emitting body 9 and the back electrode 11 without using the mask 8 as in the above embodiment. Is.

Further, in the above embodiment, the spacer 4
Although an example in which the transparent electrodes 2 and 3 are used has been described above, the shape of the spacers and the presence or absence of the spacers do not matter as long as the transparent electrodes 2 and 3 are normally prevented from directly contacting each other.

Further, the display or light emitting element of the present invention is
In the above embodiment, the self-emission dispersed EL display element is described, but the display element is not limited to this, and may be any display element such as liquid crystal, electroluminescence, electrochromic, or liquid crystal, electroluminescence, electroluminescence. Any light emitting element such as chromic may be used.

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description,
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention has advantages that visibility can be improved, manufacturing man-hours and costs can be reduced, and long life and high reliability can be guaranteed as compared with the conventional illuminated touch switch.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an illuminated touch switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a conventional first type resistance detection type illuminated touch switch.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laminated illumination touch switch of a second type of conventional touch switch and a display element.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Base Material for Touch Switch 2, 3 Transparent Electrode for Touch Detection 4, 5 Spacer 6 Base Material for EL Display Element 7 Transparent Electrode for EL Display Element 8 Mask 9 Light Emitting Body 10 Dielectric 11 Backside Electrode 12 Resin 13 Back protective film 21,22 Opposing transparent electrode 23,24 Film 25,26 Transparent electrode 27 Display element

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A touch for detecting a conductive state by substantially contacting a back electrode of a display or light emitting element and a transparent electrode of the display or light emitting element provided substantially opposite to the back electrode so as to contact each other. A plurality of transparent electrodes for detection, a transparent electrode of the display or light-emitting element and one transparent electrode of the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection, a first base material formed on both surfaces, and the touch An illuminated touch switch, comprising: a second base material on which the other transparent electrode of the plurality of transparent electrodes for detection is formed. 2. The illuminated touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the first base material is a glass substrate. 3. The illuminated touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the second base material is a PET film or a glass substrate. 4. A transparent electrode of a display or light-emitting element and one of a plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection,
The display or light emitting element is formed on both surfaces of the first base material, and the display or light emitting element is formed on both sides of the first base material on the side where the transparent electrode of the display or light emitting element is formed. The transparent electrode of the other of the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection is formed on the side on which one transparent electrode of the plurality of transparent electrodes for touch detection is formed on both sides of one base material. A method for manufacturing an illuminated touch switch, characterized in that a second base material is formed.