KR100472362B1 - Method of formating signal line of touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a signal line forming method of a touch panel in which signal lines connected to electrodes of a touch panel mounted on an image display device are distributed out to different sides of the touch panel.

Method of forming a signal line of the touch panel according to the present invention comprises the steps of forming the upper and lower substrates formed of a film, forming a conductive film of a transparent conductive material on the upper and lower substrates, and on the upper substrate on which the conductive film is formed Forming an X-axis electrode, forming a Y-axis electrode on the lower substrate on which the conductive film is formed, and forming a first signal line connected to the X-axis electrode and drawn out in the same direction as the X-axis electrode on the upper substrate; And forming a second signal line connected to the Y-axis electrode and drawn out in the same direction as the X-axis electrode on the lower substrate.

According to the present invention, since the signal line connected to the electrode of the touch panel is not derived by using the edges, that is, the side ends, of the electrode, it is not necessary to create a separate space for the signal line, thereby making the display area larger and the appearance compact. have.

Description

Signal line formation method of touch panel {METHOD OF FORMATING SIGNAL LINE OF TOUCH PANEL}

The present invention relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a signal line forming method of a touch panel in which signal lines connected to electrodes of a touch panel mounted on an image display device are distributed out to different sides of the touch panel.

The touch panel includes a cathode ray tube (hereinafter referred to as "CRT"), a liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as "LCD"), and a field emission display (hereinafter referred to as "FED"). , Plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as "PDP") and electroluminescent device ("Electro Luminescence Device" as "ELD"), etc. A computer peripheral device that presses a touch panel to input predetermined information into a computer.

Herein, the touch panel integrated with the liquid crystal panel in the liquid crystal display will mainly be described.

In general, as shown in FIG. 1, in the liquid crystal display on which the touch panel is mounted, the touch panel 2, the liquid crystal panel 1, and the backlight 3 are all independently present. (2) should be connected to the touch controller 4 by a signal line 7 (FPC), which in turn should be electrically connected to the computer body 5.

When the operation thereof is described, when the upper part of the touch panel 2 is touched with a predetermined pressure or more, the voltage value at the position is calculated by the touch controller 4 to recognize the coordinates.

FIG. 2 illustrates a liquid crystal panel in which the resistive touch panel of FIG. 1 is mounted.

Referring to FIG. 2, the liquid crystal panel 1 is positioned between the upper polarizing sheet 4a and the lower polarizing sheet 4b, and the touch panel 2 is placed on the upper polarizing sheet 4a. The liquid crystal panel 1 has a liquid crystal material 14 and a ball spacer 5 injected between the lower glass substrate 3a and the upper glass substrate 3b. The gate line 6, the insulating film 8, the pixel electrode 10a, and the first alignment layer 12a are sequentially formed on the lower glass substrate 3a. The upper glass substrate 3b has a black matrix 16, a color filter 18, a common electrode 10b, and a second alignment layer 12b sequentially formed on its lower surface. The ball spacer 5 is sprayed onto the first alignment layer 12a before the upper and lower glass substrates 3b and 3a of the above structure are bonded. The upper and lower glass substrates 3b and 3a are spaced apart from each other by the ball spacers 5 to maintain them at regular intervals. In other words, the ball spacer 5 allows the liquid crystal material 14 to have a uniform thickness by keeping the gap between the upper and lower glass substrates 3a and 3b uniform.

The touch panel 2 has a spacer 28 spread between the lower substrate 20 and the upper substrate 24 made of polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as "PET") film. The first electrode layer 26 is formed on the surface of the lower substrate 20, and the second electrode layer 27 is formed on the bottom surface of the upper substrate 24. The second electrode layer 27 is shorted with the first electrode layer 26 when the upper substrate 24 is pressed by a stylus pen or finger to generate a signal having a current amount or a voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position. At this time, the first and second electrode layers 26 and 27 are indium-tin-oxide (hereinafter referred to as "ITO") and indium zinc oxide (Indium-Zinc-Oxide); It is formed by printing silver (Ag) on one of " IZO ") and indium-tin-zinc-oxide (hereinafter referred to as " ITZO ").

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a shape in which electrodes and signal lines according to the related art are formed on the touch panel in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate two substrates of the touch panel in which the electrodes and signal lines of FIG. 3 are formed. One drawing.

3, 4A, and 4B, the upper plate 2a of the touch panel 2 includes the X-axis electrodes 27a and 27b and the X-axis electrodes 27a and 27b formed at edges in the vertical direction. Signal lines 28c and 28d which are derived from the center and supply a signal having a current amount or a voltage level to the touch controller 4 are provided.

The lower plate 2b of the touch panel 2 is drawn from the centers of the Y-axis electrodes 26a and 26b formed at the horizontal edges and the Y-axis electrodes 26a and 26b to provide a current amount or voltage level to the touch controller 4. And signal lines 28a and 28b for supplying a signal having? These signal lines 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d are composed of an electrode extension line and a tail portion connected to the electrodes 26a, 26b, 27a, and 27b.

When the two substrates are bonded together, the electrodes 26a, 26b, 27a and 27b and the signal lines 28a, 28b, 28c and 28d are disposed as shown in FIG. 3.

The touch panel 2 arranged as described above is connected to the touch controller 4 with signal lines 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d derived from the centers of the electrodes 26a, 26b, 27a, and 27b. As shown, one side of the touch panel 2 should be pulled out.

However, when the signal lines 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d are drawn out to one side of the touch panel 2 as described above, one or more signal lines are drawn from each of the four sides of the touch panel 2 as shown in FIG. . In this case, the external shape of the touch panel 2 may require a space to which signal lines travel in addition to the display area surrounded by the electrodes 26a, 26b, 27a, and 27b. For this reason, the touch panel of the prior art has a relatively small effective area of the substrate, and as a result, the cost increases and the volume of the system becomes large.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a signal line forming method of a touch panel which draws signal lines connected to electrodes of a touch panel to two sides of the touch panel to increase an effective area and reduce volume.

In order to achieve the above object, the signal line forming method of the touch panel according to the present invention comprises the steps of forming an upper and lower substrate formed of a film, forming a conductive film of a transparent conductive material on the upper and lower substrates, Forming an X-axis electrode on the upper substrate on which the conductive film is formed, forming a Y-axis electrode on the lower substrate on which the conductive film is formed, and connecting the X-axis electrode and being drawn out in the same direction as the X-axis electrode; Forming a first signal line on the upper substrate, and forming a second signal line on the lower substrate connected to the Y-axis electrode and drawn out in the same direction as the X-axis electrode. In a state where the upper substrate and the lower substrate are bonded together, the first signal line and the second signal line are drawn in different directions. The signal lines are connected to a plurality of connectors and then to a plurality of touch controllers for recognizing coordinates of the touch position. The signal lines are connected to a plurality of connectors and then to one touch controller for recognizing the coordinates of the touch position. The signal lines overlap at least one of the X-axis electrode and the Y-axis electrode. An insulating film is formed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate to prevent a short circuit between the first signal line and the second signal line. The upper substrate and the lower substrate include at least one of indium tin oxide and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

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Other objects and features of the present invention in addition to the above objects will become apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

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When the operation thereof is described, when the upper part of the touch panel 2 is touched with a predetermined pressure or more, the voltage value at the position is calculated by the touch controller 4 to recognize the coordinates.

5 is a view illustrating a method of forming a signal line of a touch panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a touch panel in which signal lines of FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the touch panel 2 is sprayed between the upper substrate 2a and the lower substrate 2b formed of ITO and PET films, and the upper substrate 2a and the lower substrate 2b. It has a spacer (not shown). In addition, upper and lower substrates 2a and 2b are formed with conductive layers (not shown) coated with one of ITO, IZO, and ITZO, which are transparent conductive materials. The conductive layer formed on the lower substrate 2b serves as the first electrode layer in FIG. 1. The conductive layer formed on the upper substrate 2a serves as a second electrode layer in FIG. 1.

On the upper substrate 2a to which the conductive layer is applied, X-axis electrodes 37a and 37b are formed at the edges in the vertical direction, and the Y-axis electrodes 36a and 36b are formed at the horizontal edges on the lower substrate 2b. Is formed. A predetermined voltage is applied between the electrodes 36a, 36b, 37a, 37b, and the electrodes 36a, 36b, 37a, 37b are formed as silver (Ag).

The first electrode layer is shorted with the second electrode layer when the upper substrate 2a is pressed by a stylus pen or finger, thereby causing a signal having a current amount or voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position.

In addition, the touch panel of the present invention is connected to the X and Y axis electrodes 36a, 36b, 37a, and 37b to supply a signal having a current amount or voltage level from the first and second electrode layers to the touch controller 4. Four signal lines 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d are provided to recognize the coordinates of the position pressed by the user.

In the present invention, the signal lines 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d from the X and Y-axis electrodes 36a, 36b, 37a, and 37b are connected to one end of the electrode rather than the center of the electrode in the prior art. The ends of (38a, 38b, 38c, 38d) are directed in the same direction as the derived electrodes.

Referring to the signal lines 38c and 38d of the X-axis electrodes 37a and 37b formed on the upper substrate 2a, the signal line 38c connected to the left X-axis electrode 37a is connected to the left X-axis electrode 37a. The signal line 38d, which is connected to the bottom of and connected to the right X-axis electrode 37b, is also connected to the bottom of the right X-axis electrode 37b. These signal lines 38c and 38d extend toward the predetermined area of the lower side of the upper substrate 2a and are then drawn in the same longitudinal direction as the directions of the X-axis electrodes 37a and 37b.

Referring to the signal lines 38a and 38b of the Y-axis electrodes 36a and 36b formed on the lower substrate 2b, the signal line 38b connected to the upper Y-axis electrode 36a is connected to the upper Y-axis electrode 37a. The signal line 38b, which is connected to the left end of the and connected to the right Y-axis electrode 37b, is also connected to the left end of the right Y-axis electrode 37b. These signal lines 38a and 38b extend in a predetermined area among the bottom sides of the lower substrate 2a and are then drawn in the same horizontal direction as the directions of the Y-axis electrodes 36a and 36b. As a result, signal lines derived from the upper substrate 2a and the lower substrate 2b are led through the other surface of the touch panel 2.

When the upper and lower substrates 2a and 2b formed as described above are bonded to each other at a predetermined interval by spacers, the left X-axis electrode 37a and the Y-axis electrodes 36a and 36b are formed at portions where signal lines are drawn from the touch panel 2. The signal lines 38a and 38b from the overlap (OVERLAP), and the signal lines 38c and 38d from the lower Y-axis electrode 36a and the X-axis electrodes 37a and 37b overlap.

Here, since the upper and lower substrates 2a and 2b are joined with an insulator interposed therebetween, the signal lines 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d do not have a problem even if they overlap.

In addition, the directions of the electrodes formed on the upper and lower substrates 2a and 2b may be interchanged, and the direction in which the signal lines 38a, 38b, 38c and 38d are derived may also be changed.

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a state in which a connector and a touch controller are connected to the signal line shown in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 7, since the signal lines are drawn through two adjacent sides of the touch panel 2 as shown in FIG. 5, the signal lines 38a, 38b, and 38c drawn through the two sides are illustrated in FIG. 5. And touch controllers 40a and 40b, respectively, to recognize the coordinates from the first and second electrode layers.

The signal lines 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d are connected by the touch controllers 40a and 40b via a connection mechanism such as a connector.

When the upper substrate 2a of the touch panel 2 is pressed at a predetermined pressure, the first electrode layer is shorted with the second electrode layer by a predetermined pressure to generate a signal having a current amount or a voltage level that varies depending on the pressed position. .

The signals generated by the touch panel 2 are input to the touch controllers 40a and 40b to recognize the coordinates of the position pressed by the user. That is, the signals generated by the Y-axis electrodes 36a and 36b are input to the first touch controller 40a through the signal lines 38a and 38b to recognize the X-axis coordinates, and the X-axis electrodes 37a and 37b The signals generated by the input signals are input to the second touch controller 40b through the signal lines 38c and 38d to recognize the X-axis coordinates.

The signal line divided into two parts in the connection relationship between the signal line and the touch controller according to the present invention may be connected to a different connector and then connected to one touch controller to recognize coordinates of a position pressed by the user.

Here, the display panel to which the touch panel 2 is attached may be applied to the display panel constituting PDP, FED, and ELD in addition to the liquid crystal panel of the liquid crystal display device described above.

As described above, the signal line forming method of the touch panel according to the present invention can spread out the electrodes formed on the upper and lower substrates and the signal lines connected thereto to the two sides of the substrate to increase the effective area and reduce the volume.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

1 is a view showing a liquid crystal panel on which a resistive touch panel is mounted.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a liquid crystal panel in which the resistive touch panel of FIG. 1 is mounted.

3 is a view for explaining the shape of the electrode and signal lines according to the prior art on the touch panel in FIG.

4A and 4B illustrate two substrates of the touch panel in which the electrode and the signal line of FIG. 3 are formed.

5 is a view for explaining a method of forming a signal line of a touch panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating separate touch panels to which signal lines of FIG. 5 are connected;

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a state in which a connector and a touch controller are connected to the signal line shown in FIG. 5; FIG.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

1 liquid crystal panel 2 touch panel

2a: upper substrate 2b: lower substrate

3: backlight 4, 40a, 40b: touch controller

5: computer body 26a, 26b, 27a, 27b, 36a, 36b, 37a, 37b: electrode

7,28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, 38a, 38b, 38c, 38d: signal line

Claims (6)

Forming upper and lower substrates formed of a film; Forming a conductive film of a transparent conductive material on the upper and lower substrates; Forming an X-axis electrode on the upper substrate on which the conductive film is formed; Forming a Y-axis electrode on the lower substrate on which the conductive film is formed; Forming a first signal line connected to the X-axis electrode and drawn in the same direction as the X-axis electrode on the upper substrate; Forming a second signal line connected to the Y-axis electrode and drawn in the same direction as the X-axis electrode on the lower substrate, And the first signal line and the second signal line are drawn in different directions in a state in which the upper substrate and the lower substrate are bonded to each other. The method of claim 1, And the signal lines are connected to a plurality of touch controllers for recognizing the coordinates of the touch position after being connected to the plurality of connectors. The method of claim 1, And the signal lines are connected to one touch controller for recognizing the coordinates of the touch position after being connected to the plurality of connectors. The method of claim 1, And the signal lines overlap at least one of the X-axis electrode and the Y-axis electrode. The method of claim 1, And an insulating film for preventing a short circuit between the first signal line and the second signal line between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. The method of claim 1, And the upper substrate and the lower substrate comprise at least one of indium tin oxide and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).