KR20030049489A - Method of formating signal line of touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A signal line forming method in a touch panel is provided to form the signal lines, to be connected to electrodes of the touch panel, at a corner of the touch panel so that it can enlarge a display area and make the touch panel compact. CONSTITUTION: The method comprises several steps. A base film plate, including an upper plate and a lower plate, is formed. A transparent conductive film is laid on the base film plate. The X axis electrodes(37a, 37b) are formed on the horizontal edges of the base film plate, and the Y axis electrodes(36a, 36b) are formed on the vertical edges of the base film plate. Plural signal lines(38a-38d) are formed at a corner where the X axis electrode meets the Y axis electrode. The signal lines(38a-38d) are extracted from the corner with the same direction as the X axis or Y axis electrodes, and connected to corresponding touch controllers(40a, 40b).

Description

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

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a method of forming a signal line of a touch panel in which a signal line connected to four electrodes is led in the same direction as an electrode direction from an electrode side end of the touch panel in a touch panel mounted on an image display device. .

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 ").

3 is a view illustrating a shape in which electrodes and signal lines according to the prior 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 separated. 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 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, so that the current amount or voltage level is applied 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 to each other, the electrodes 26a, 26b, 27a and 27b and the signal lines 28a, 28b, 28c and 28d are disposed as shown in FIG. 2.

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 pulled out to one side of the touch panel 2 as described above, as shown in A, B, C, and D of FIG. In all, one or more signal lines are formed. 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. As a result, the signal line formation pattern has a low use efficiency of the substrate, resulting in a problem of increasing the cost and increasing the volume of the application system.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a signal line forming method of a touch panel in which signal lines connected to electrodes of a touch panel are derived in the same way as electrode directions from side ends of the electrodes.

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

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 first electrodes on a first direction edge on the upper substrate on which the conductive film is formed, forming second electrodes on a second direction edge on the lower substrate on which the conductive film is formed, and one side of the first and second electrodes And forming signal lines adjacent to each other by a predetermined region in a direction different from a direction in which the electrodes are formed, and deriving signal lines formed adjacent to the predetermined region in the same direction as the electrode direction. do.

In the present invention, the signal lines are connected to a plurality of connectors and connected to a plurality of touch controllers controlled to recognize respective coordinates from the electrodes.

The signal lines in the same direction as the electrode direction in the present invention are connected to a plurality of connectors, characterized in that connected to one touch controller controlled to recognize each coordinate from the electrode.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, signal lines derived from one end of the electrodes to one side of the touch panel may overlap one of the first and second electrodes.

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 and 6.

In the present invention, the liquid crystal display device in which the touch panel is mounted includes the touch panel 2, the liquid crystal panel 1, and the backlight 3 independently as described with reference to FIG. 1. ) Must be connected to the touch controller 4 by a signal line 7 (FPC), which in turn must be electrically connected to the computer body 5. When the signal line 7 is connected to the touch controller 4, the signal line 7 is inserted into and connected to the connector.

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.

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). At this time, the first electrode layer is formed by the flow of a predetermined voltage on the X-axis electrodes, and the second electrode layer is formed by the flow of the predetermined voltage on the Y-axis electrodes.

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

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

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 signal line 38a from the Y-axis electrode are located at the portion where the signal lines are derived from the touch panel 2. Are overlapped with each other, and signal lines 38d from the lower Y-axis electrode 36a and the right Y-axis electrode overlap with each other.

In this case, since the upper and lower substrates 2a and 2b are joined with the insulator interposed therebetween, there is no 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 derived through two adjacent surfaces of the touch panel 2, as shown in FIG. 5, the signal lines 38a, 38b, and 38c derived through the two surfaces are illustrated in FIG. 5. And touch controllers 40a and 40b, respectively, to recognize the coordinates from the first and second electrode layers.

At this time, before connecting to each of the touch controllers 40a and 40b, the signal lines are connected by a connector called a connector.

As a result, when the upper substrate 2a of the touch panel 2 is pressed at a predetermined pressure, the current amount or voltage level varies depending on the position at which the first electrode layer is short-circuited with the second electrode layer by a predetermined pressure and thus is pressed. Generate a signal with

The signals generated thereby 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 minimizes the loss of the display area by forming overlapping electrodes and signal lines formed on the upper and lower substrates, and forming the signal lines in the same direction as the electrode direction. In addition, the use efficiency of the substrate can be improved.

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.

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 first electrodes at edges in a first direction on the upper substrate on which the conductive film is formed; Forming second electrodes on edges in a second direction on the lower substrate on which the conductive film is formed; Forming signal lines from one side end of the first and second electrodes to be adjacent by a predetermined area in a direction different from the direction in which the electrodes are formed; And deriving signal lines formed to be adjacent to each other by the predetermined region in the same direction as the electrode direction. The method of claim 1, And the signal lines in the same direction as the electrode direction are connected to a plurality of touch controllers which are controlled to recognize each coordinate from the electrode after being connected to a plurality of connectors. The method of claim 1, And the signal lines in the same direction as the electrode direction are connected to one touch controller which is controlled to recognize each coordinate from the electrode after being connected to a plurality of connectors. The method of claim 1, And a signal line drawn from one end of the electrodes to one side of the touch panel overlaps one of the first and second electrodes. The method of claim 1, And an insulating film is inserted between the upper and lower substrates on which the first and second electrodes are formed to prevent a short circuit of the signal line. The film forming the upper and lower substrates are any one of indium tin oxide and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).