KR20170025109A - Touch detecting apparatus comprising flexible touch screen - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment, there is provided a touch detection apparatus that performs touch detection and includes a flexible touch screen and a method of driving the same.
The present invention provides a semiconductor device comprising: a plurality of signal lines; A plurality of sub-pads arranged in a polygonal shape maintaining the linearity of coordinate calculation and connected to the signal lines, respectively; A plurality of main pads each including at least two of the sub pads and using the signal lines connected to the included sub pads as one channel; And a touch detection unit for detecting at least one of the main pads generated by applying a driving signal in units of channels and detecting only the sub pads belonging to the detected main pad, And a touch detection device.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a touch sensing device including a flexible touch screen,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a touch and including a flexible touch screen, and more particularly, to a touch detection apparatus including a main pad composed of a pair of sub-pads.

The touch screen panel is a device for inputting a command of a user by touching a character or a figure displayed on the screen of the image display device with a finger or other contact means of a person, and is attached and used on the image display device. The touch screen panel converts a contact position that is touched by a human finger or the like into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is used as an input signal.

1 is an exploded top view of an example of a conventional capacitive touch screen panel.

1, a touch screen panel 10 includes a transparent substrate 12 and a first sensor pattern layer 13, a first insulating layer 14, and a second sensor pattern layer (not shown) sequentially formed on a transparent substrate 12 15, a second insulating film layer 16, and a metal wiring 17.

The first sensor pattern layer 13 may be connected on the transparent substrate 12 along the lateral direction and connected to the metal wiring 17 on a row-by-row basis.

The second sensor pattern layer 15 may be connected to the first insulating layer 14 along the column direction and alternately arranged with the first sensor pattern layer 13 so as not to overlap the first sensor pattern layer 13 . In addition, the second sensor pattern layer 15 is connected to the metal wiring 17 on a row basis.

When a human finger or a contact means is brought into contact with the touch screen panel 10, a change in capacitance according to the contact position is transmitted to the drive circuit side through the first and second sensor pattern layers 13 and 15 and the metal wiring 17 do. Then, the contact position is determined as the change in capacitance transferred is converted into an electrical signal.

However, the touch screen panel 10 must have a separate pattern of transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) on each of the sensor pattern layers 13 and 15, The insulating layer 14 must be provided to increase the thickness.

In addition, since the touch detection can be performed by accumulating the changes of capacitance slightly generated by the touch several times, it is necessary to detect the capacitance change at a high frequency. In order to sufficiently accumulate the capacitance change within a predetermined time, a metal wiring is required to maintain a low resistance, which thickens the bezel at the edge of the touch screen and generates an additional mask process.

To solve this problem, a touch detection apparatus as shown in Fig. 2 has been proposed.

2 includes a touch panel 20, a driving device 30, and a circuit board 40 connecting the two.

The touch panel 20 includes a plurality of sensor pads 22 formed on a substrate 21 and arranged in the form of a polygonal matrix and a plurality of signal wirings 23 connected to the respective sensor pads 22.

Each signal wiring 23 has one end connected to the sensor pad 22 and the other end extending to the lower edge of the substrate 21. The sensor pad 22 and the signal wiring 23 can be patterned on the cover glass 50. [

The driving device 30 sequentially selects a plurality of sensor pads 22 one by one to measure the electrostatic capacitance of the corresponding sensor pad 22, thereby detecting whether or not a touch is generated.

The signal wiring 23 connects the sensor pad 22 and the driving device 30, and this signal wiring 23 can be patterned with ITO, as described above. As a result, restrictions on the formation of the ITO pattern may occur in the touch detection apparatus. For example, suppose that the formation of an ITO pattern considering the yield has a tolerance of 30 um tolerance. The connection channel formed by ITO requires a minimum width of 30 um and a minimum inter-channel space of 30 um. Therefore, if the connection channel is formed in the Y direction of the panel and a total of 20 electrodes are placed in the Y direction, the width of the connection channel between the electrodes is 30 * 21 + 30 * 20 = 1230 μm.

For example, when the signal wiring 23 is formed extending in the Y-axis direction, the signal wirings 23 extending in each of the sensor pads 22 arranged in the Y-axis direction are all formed in the Y-axis direction .

The number of the signal wirings 23 connected to the respective sensor pads 22 increases in proportion to the number of the sensor pads 22 arranged in the Y-axis direction. In order to pattern the signal wirings without overlapping, The width of the region in which the signal wiring extended from the sensor pads 22 are formed is inevitably increased.

The signal wirings 23 are formed at intervals in the X-axis direction of the sensor pads 22. The sensor wirings 23 are arranged in the Y-axis direction in proportion to the number of the sensor pads 22, ) Of the sensor pads 22 are increased, so that each of the sensor pads 22 can be arranged close to the Y direction but not close to the X axis direction.

That is, a region where the touch can not be detected in the X-axis direction (region where the signal line is patterned) is largely present in the touch detection device. This is because the minimum size of the conductor capable of detecting the touch There is a problem that the accuracy of the touch detection is deteriorated.

In recent years, a flexible image display device has been developed. In this case, the touch screen panel applied to the flexible image display device is also required to have a flexible characteristic.

Therefore, there is a need to develop a technique capable of reducing the width of signal wirings formed in the touch detection apparatus, thereby improving the accuracy of touch detection and simultaneously imparting flexible characteristics.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a touch detection apparatus capable of improving the accuracy of touch detection while reducing a connection channel width.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising: a plurality of signal lines; A plurality of sub-pads arranged in a polygonal shape maintaining the linearity of coordinate calculation and connected to the signal lines, respectively; A plurality of main pads each including at least two of the sub pads and using the signal lines connected to the included sub pads as one channel; And a touch detection unit for detecting at least one of the main pads generated by applying a driving signal in units of channels and detecting only the sub pads belonging to the detected main pad, And a touch detection device.

At least one of signal lines connected to the sub pad extends through a region between sub pads constituting a main pad adjacent in a column direction and the main pad includes a first sub pad and a second sub pad , The area of the first sub pad may become narrower toward the first direction, the area of the second sub pad may be wider as it goes toward the first direction, and the first sub pad and the second sub pad may have a right angle A triangular shape, and may be arranged such that the hypotenuse of the first subpad and the hypotenuse of the second subpad face each other.

Also, the signal wirings may be arranged in the arrangement in the first direction and the second direction of each of the sub-pads so that intervals of the sub-pads are uniform.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of driving a touch sensing device, comprising: sensing a touch of a plurality of main pads included in a touch detection device by applying a drive signal in units of channels; Determining whether a main pad having an output value equal to or greater than a threshold value among the main pads exists; And selecting at least one subpad included in a main pad having an output value equal to or greater than the threshold value as a result of the determination, Wherein the sub-pads are arranged in a polygonal shape maintaining linearity of touch coordinate calculation.

As described above, according to the touch detection apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention, the accuracy of touch detection in each of the x-axis and the y-axis can be uniformly distributed while securing a space for patterning signal lines.

Further, the touch detection accuracy in a specific direction in the touch detection apparatus can be superior, and the restriction on the symmetry in the pattern arrangement can be reduced. As a result, the accuracy of touch detection can be improved as a whole.

1 is an exploded top view of a conventional touch screen panel.
2 is an exploded top view of a conventional touch detection device.
3A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3B is a view illustrating a case where a conductor is touched to the touch detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating a method of sensing a main pad for sensing a touch according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an exemplary view illustrating a connection relationship between a main pad and a signal line included in a touch detection apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating a difference in sensing area between a conventional main pad and a main pad according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
6B is a graph showing the linearity and error of coordinate calculation of the touch position in the main pad shown in FIG. 6A.
7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a multiplexer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The terms used in this specification will be briefly described and the present invention will be described in detail.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Also, in certain cases, there may be a term selected arbitrarily by the applicant, in which case the meaning thereof will be described in detail in the description of the corresponding invention. Therefore, the term used in the present invention should be defined based on the meaning of the term, not on the name of a simple term, but on the entire contents of the present invention.

When an element is referred to as "including" an element throughout the specification, it is to be understood that the element may include other elements as well, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Also, the terms "part," " module, "and the like described in the specification mean units for processing at least one function or operation, which may be implemented in hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software . When a part is "connected" to another part, it includes not only a direct connection but also a connection with another system in the middle.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are denoted by like reference characters throughout the specification.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a touch panel 100 and a driving unit 200.

The touch panel 100 includes a plurality of main pads 110 formed on a substrate and a plurality of signal wirings 120 connected to the main pads 110. The substrate may be made of glass or plastic film of transparent material or the like.

According to one embodiment, the main pad 110 may include a first subpad 110-1 and a second subpad 110-2.

The first sub pad 110-1 and the second sub pad 110-2 may be formed in the same shape to form one main pad 110 in pairs.

According to one embodiment, the first subpad 110-1 and the second subpad 110-2 may be in the shape of a right triangle as shown in FIG. 3, 110-1 and the second subpad 110-2 may be disposed facing each other with a hypotenuse.

According to an embodiment, the area of the first subpad 110-1 may become narrower in the first direction (X-axis direction in the figure), and the area of the first subpad 110-1 2, the area of the subpad 110-2 can be widened toward the first direction.

3, the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be formed in a shape of a right triangle or in a triangle shape to prevent static electricity (ESD) and the like from concentrating near the vertex Or may be a rectangular shape in which a vertex is partially cut out or a shape in which a vertex is rounded.

The sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be arranged in the form of a polygon that maintains the linearity of the touch coordinate calculation. At this time, in the first direction (e.g., X-axis) and the second direction (e.g., Y-axis) arrangement of the sub-pads 110-1. 110-2, , 110-2 may be uniform.

The plurality of main pads 110 may be arranged in a matrix form composed of a plurality of rows and columns and the plurality of signal wirings 120 may be arranged in the sub pads 110-1 and 110-2, And extends to the lower edge of the substrate, and can be connected to the touch detection unit 210, which will be described later.

The line width of the signal line 120 may be formed to be extremely narrow, such as several micrometers to several tens of micrometers. According to one embodiment of the present invention, in order to prevent unnecessary increase in the area where the signal line 120 is patterned, any one of the pair of sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 (110-1) The signal line 120 connected to the sub pad 110-1 is divided into the right side of the sub pad 110-1 and the signal line 120 connected to the other signal line 110-2 is divided to the left side of the sub pad 110-2, Any one of the signal wirings 120 connected to the respective sub pads 110-1 and 110-2 as shown in FIG. 3 may extend to the lower edge of the main pad 110, May extend through the area between sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2, which will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

According to one embodiment, the main pad 110 may use the signal line 120 connected to the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 included in the main pad as one channel. That is, the main pad 110 uses the signal lines 120 connected to the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 included in the main pad 110 as a single channel

The main pad 110 and the signal line 120 are formed of ITO (indium tin-o x ide), ATO (antimony tin O x ide), IZO (indium-zinc-o x ide), CNT And may be made of a transparent conductive material such as a graphene.

The main pad 110 and the signal line 120 can be formed simultaneously by, for example, laminating an ITO film on a substrate by a method such as sputtering, and then patterning using an etching method such as photolithography . The substrate may be a transparent film.

Meanwhile, the main pad 110 and the signal wiring 120 may be directly patterned on the cover glass. In this case, since the cover glass, the main pad 110, and the signal wiring 120 are integrated, the substrate can be omitted.

The driving unit 200 for driving the touch panel 100 may be formed on a circuit board such as a printed circuit board or a flexible circuit film, but is not limited thereto and may be mounted directly on a part of the substrate or the cover glass.

The driving unit 200 may include a touch detection unit 210, a touch information processing unit 220, a memory 230 and a control unit 240. The driving unit 200 may be implemented by one or more IC chips, The touch information processing unit 220, the memory 230, and the control unit 240 may be separated, or two or more components may be integrated.

The touch detection unit 210 may include a plurality of switches connected to the signal line 120, a plurality of capacitors, and a plurality of impedance elements. The touch detection unit 210 may include a multiplexer (MUX) Time). The touch detection unit 210 receives signals from the control unit 240, drives circuits for touch detection, and outputs a voltage corresponding to the touch detection result.

The multiplexer sequentially selects a plurality of main pads 110, and the touch detection unit 210 can detect whether the selected main pad 110 is touched. According to one embodiment, the touch detection unit 210 outputs a different signal according to the touch capacitance formed by the main pad 110 in relation to the touch input tool, thereby enabling detection of touch .

According to one embodiment, the multiplexer sequentially selects a plurality of main pads 110, and applies a driving signal in units of channels, so that the touch detection unit 210 can detect the main pad 110 in which the touch occurs.

The multiplexer sequentially selects a plurality of main pads 110 or selects the main pads 110 in an arbitrary order and can detect whether the main pads 110 are touched through the output signal value of the main pad 110 selected by the touch detection unit 210.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the multiplexer does not sequentially select and detect each of the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 included in the main pad 110, The main pad 110 is selected as a unit and the touch detection unit 210 can detect whether the main pad 110 is touched.

The multiplexer according to an embodiment selects a main pad 110 including a pair of sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 and outputs the main pad 110 having a sensed signal equal to or greater than a preset reference, The sub-pad 110-1 and the sub-pad 110-2 included in the main pad 110 are detected by the touch detection unit 210 and the sub-pad 110- 1, and 110-2 may be detected.

 The touch detection unit 210 according to an embodiment of the present invention senses whether or not a touch is generated in units of a main pad 110, The touch information processor 220 to be described later can accurately calculate the coordinate of the position where the touch is detected by detecting whether or not a touch is generated with respect to the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2.

As described above, in the present invention, even if the total number of sensor pads is increased due to the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 included in the touch detection device, The sub pad 110-1 and the sub pad 110-2 included in the main pad 110 are sensed only for the main pad 110 where a signal exceeding a reference value is sensed. As a result, since the touch detection unit 210 does not sequentially select all of the sub-pads and detect whether or not a touch is generated, the present invention can reduce the time required for touch detection while increasing the accuracy of touch detection .

According to one embodiment, the touch detection unit 210 may include an amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter, and may convert, amplify, or digitize a difference in voltage change of the main pad 110 and store the converted difference in the memory 230 .

The touch information processing unit 220 processes the digital voltage stored in the memory 230 to generate necessary information such as touch state, touch area, and touch coordinates.

According to an embodiment, the touch information processing unit 220 can accurately calculate coordinates of a position where a touch is sensed. A method of calculating coordinates of the touch sensing position will be described later with reference to FIG. 3B.

The control unit 240 controls the touch detection unit 210 and the touch information processing unit 220 and may include a micro control unit (MCU), and may perform predetermined signal processing through the firmware.

The memory 230 stores the digital voltage based on the difference in the voltage change detected from the touch detection unit 210, predetermined data used for touch detection, area calculation, touch coordinate calculation, or data received in real time.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 3B, a method of calculating coordinates of a touch sensing position according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the plurality of sub-pads included in the touch detection apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention are reduced to half in the X-axis direction than the sensor pads included in the existing touch detection apparatus, In the direction of the arrow.

Through the formation of such sub-pads, the number of signal wirings to be formed at intervals between sub-pads can be reduced, the width of the interval between sub-pads can be reduced to half, The accuracy of the touch sensing in the X-axis direction can be increased.

The coordinate calculation in the X-axis direction can be performed around the column in which the sub-pad for obtaining the highest physical quantity is disposed. That is, the physical quantities obtained in the sub-pads arranged in the columns adjacent to the column are compared with each other about the column in which the highest physical quantity is obtained.

It is assumed that a conductor in the hatched region is brought into contact with the subpad shown in FIG. 3B to detect the touch. In this case, the illustrated sub pad C is the sub pad having the highest physical quantity, that is, the largest contact area. Comparing L1 and L2, R1 and R2, which are sub-pads adjacent to the sub pad C, The Y-coordinate of the touch position by the conductor on the Y-axis, that is, the conductor can be calculated by the following equation (1) or (2).

According to one embodiment, in consideration of noise, a Y (C) calculated value having a larger value among the values calculated through Equations 1 and 2 may be used as the Y axis coordinate. Also, all the Y (C) calculated values calculated by the two equations (1) and (2) can be utilized. In this case, the average value of the two values is calculated or a weighted average value in which the calculated value is weighted is calculated , And Y-axis coordinates.

Hereinafter, a touch detection method of a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4C. 4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating a method of sensing a main pad for sensing a touch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A to 4C, a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of main pads 110 each including a first sub pad 110-1 and a second sub pad 110-2, . ≪ / RTI >

The first sub pad 110-1 and the second sub pad 110-2 forming the plurality of main pads 110 are connected to the touch detection unit 210 through the signal line 120 .

4A to 4C, the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 included in the main pad 110 have a shape of a right triangle, and a hypotenuse of a right triangle shape Can be arranged to face each other.

The multiplexer included in the touch detection unit 210 sequentially selects the main pads 110 arranged in a plurality of rows and columns and the touch detection unit 210 detects the touch of the main pad 110 selected by the multiplexer Can be detected. Since the main pad 110 outputs a different signal according to the touch capacitance formed in relation to the touch input tool, the touch detection unit 210 can detect whether or not the touch is detected through the output signal value.

According to one embodiment, the multiplexer (1 row 1 column), (1 row 2 column), (1 row 3 column) ... The touch detection unit 210 can sense whether or not the selected main pad 110 is touched and can detect whether or not the main pad 110 has been touched by touching the main pads 110 of one row When the detection is complete, the multiplexer (2 rows, 1 column), (2 rows, 2 columns), (2 rows, 3 columns) ... The touch detection unit 210 can sequentially detect whether or not the main pad 110 is touched through the method of selectively connecting the main pads 110 of two rows in order.

4A, the multiplexer includes a main pad of 1 row x 1 column, a main pad of 1 row x 2 columns, a main pad of 1 row x 3 columns, a main pad of 1 row x 4 columns, a main pad of 1 row x 5 columns The touch detection unit 210 can detect whether or not a touch has occurred on the selected main pad. Next, the multiplexer sequentially selects main pads of 2 x 1 columns, main pads of 2 rows x 2 columns, main pads of 2 rows x 3 columns, main pads of 2 rows x 4 columns, It is possible to detect whether or not the main pads of the second row are touched.

The multiplexer included in the touch detection unit 210 according to the embodiment of the present invention does not detect whether the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 are touched by selecting each of the sub- 1, and 110-2 may be used as one unit to detect whether or not the main pad 110 selected in a sequential manner is touched. In this manner, the main pad including a pair of sub-pads is selected by the multiplexer, rather than one pad, so that the touch detection unit 210 according to the embodiment can precede the correction operation to detect whether or not the optimized touch is generated have.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, as the multiplexer firstly selects the main pad 110, i.e., the pair of sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2, the touch detection unit 210 detects the main pad 110 Based on the output value, the main pad 110, which is expected to have generated a touch, can be selected. Then, the coordinates of the position where the touch is generated can be roughly calculated based on the output value. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the multiplexer includes sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 forming the main pad 110 including the coordinates of a position where a touch is expected to occur, ) Can be selected, and it is possible to detect whether or not a touch is generated to each of the individual sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 by a second order. As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, after the coordinate of the position where the touch is sensed is calculated according to the touch detection result of the main pad 110, The time required for the final touch detection may be increased by the time required for calculating the touch sensing coordinates before the touch sensing of the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the multiplexer selects the main pad 110, that is, the pair of sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2, and the touch detection unit 210 selects the main pad 110 And the main pad 110 having the measured output value equal to or greater than a preset threshold value is selected. Subsequently, the multiplexer selects each of the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 constituting the main pad 110 whose output value is equal to or greater than the threshold value, -2), it is possible to detect whether or not a touch is generated. When detecting a touch as in the other embodiments of the present invention, it is important to set a threshold value as a reference for selecting the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 to be subjected to the secondary touch detection. This is because the number of selected sub-pads can be changed according to the magnitude of the threshold value.

As shown in FIG. 4A, when the touch detection unit 210 sequentially detects a plurality of main pads shown by a dotted line and detects whether or not the touch is detected, When the output value of the main pad 110 in the x2 row is larger than the reference value, as shown in Figs. 4B and 4C, the touch detection unit 210 detects the output values of the main pad 110 in the 1 row x 2 columns, The sub-pad 110-1 and the sub-pad 110-2 of the sub-pad 110-2 can be detected in order. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately detect a sub pad 110-1 or 110-2 in which a touch is sensed.

In this manner, according to another embodiment of the present invention, when the touch detection unit 210 detects that the main pad 110 has an output value equal to or greater than a reference value, -1, and 110-2, respectively, so that the driving unit 200 can accurately calculate the coordinate of the position where the touch is sensed.

As in the above-described example, there may be one main pad showing the output value of the reference value or more among the main pads 110 included in the touch detection apparatus, but the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, one or more main pads having output values equal to or greater than the reference value may be detected, and the touch detection unit 210 may select all the sub-pads included in the main pads having output values higher than the reference value.

At this time, the output value serving as a reference for selecting the main pad to be sensed by each of the sub-pads by the touch detection unit 210 may be a value preset in the touch sensing apparatus.

Hereinafter, a connection mode of signal lines included in the touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

5, the touch panel 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention may include fifteen main pads 511, 521, and 531 arranged in a matrix of three rows and five columns.

One of the signal lines 552 extending from the sub-pads 511-1 and 511-2 included in the main pad 511 may form the main pad 521 adjacent in the column direction May be formed to extend through the interval between the sub-pads 521-1 and 521-2.

As described above, signal wirings extending from any one of the sub-pads included in each main pad can be formed extending between sub-pads included in the main pad adjacent in the column direction. By this method, As described above, signal wirings connected to each sub pad can be formed.

5, since any one of the signal wirings extending from the sub pad is formed to extend through the gap between the sub pads included in the adjacent main pad in the column direction, The number of signal wirings passing between the subpads of the main pads 531 in the third row and the first column and the number of signal wirings passing the row direction gap 570 between the main pads is also two at the maximum.

5, if signal wirings extending from all the sub-pads arranged in one row are formed extending in the row direction interval 170 between the main pads, the number of signal wirings passing between the sub-pads is the maximum Can be five.

As described above, when the signal wiring is formed according to the embodiment of the present invention, the intervals between the sub-pads and the interval between the main pads required for signal wiring formation can be narrowed, so that the respective sub-pads can be arranged close to each other.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to reduce an area (interval between sub-pads and interval between main pads) in which a touch can not be detected due to formation of a signal wiring, The minimum size constraint is also reduced, and the accuracy of the touch detection can be improved.

Hereinafter, a method of calculating coordinates in a touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 6A. FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating a difference in sensing area between a conventional main pad and a main pad according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 6A, it is assumed that a conductive object, i.e., a touch input tool, is touched at a hatched portion.

In the case of the conventional rectangular main pad 610 shown on the left side of FIG. 6A, the areas touched are the same irrespective of whether the conductive object is touched (a) or (b).

In the case of the main pad 620 according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in the right side of FIG. 6A, the main pad 620 has a larger area than that of the conventional main pad 610 and has a pair of right- 621 and 622, respectively. Areas recognized as touched by the conductive areas in the first area c and touched in the second area d are different from each other in the sub-pads 621 and 622, respectively. Specifically, the area perceived by the touch on the left sub pad 621 becomes narrower as it goes up in the Y axis direction (the vertical direction in the drawing), but the area perceived by the touch on the right sub pad 622 increases .

As compared with the conventional touch detection apparatus in which the touch position is calculated by only one main pad 610, the touch detection apparatus according to the present invention includes a pair of sub-pads 621 and 622 are used to calculate the coordinates in the Y-axis direction, the center of gravity based on the touched point can be calculated more accurately, and the accuracy of the coordinate calculation can be improved.

6A, when a conductive material is touched to the main pad 620 including the pair of sub pads 621 and 622, the left sub pad 621 and the right sub pad 621 622) can be measured by A (L) and A (R), respectively.

When the length of each of the sub-pads 621 and 622 in the Y-axis direction (vertical direction in the drawing) is L, the touch position y on the Y-axis can be calculated according to the following equation (1).

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, by including a pair of sub-pads in one main pad, the ratio of the touch area to each of the sub-pads can be different according to the touched position change. Accordingly, since the coordinate of the touch point can be calculated using the above-described formula, the accuracy of the touch detection can be improved.

6A, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since one main pad 620 is disposed in a region where two conventional main pads 610 are to be arranged, It is possible to reduce the number of main pads and the number of signal wirings disposed in the main body. That is, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the area of the signal wiring formation where the touch is not detected can be reduced, and the accuracy of the touch detection can be improved.

The predicted value of the coordinate calculation using Equation (3) may appear as shown in FIG. 6B. As shown in FIG. 6B, the touch position calculated using Equation (3) can maintain linearity. At this time, the portion where the error occurs is an error caused by the size of the conductor, and when a pair of sub-pads alone is placed, the larger the size of the conductor, the greater the error. However, in reality, the greater the size of the conductor, the more the main pad adjacent to the main pad, i.e., a pair of sub-pads, which is touched, is also considered in the coordinate calculation, so that the error shown in FIG. 6B can be eliminated. In addition, when the size of the conductor can be known, the position at which the linearity can not be maintained can be known, and the positional correction becomes possible.

As described above, the subpad according to the embodiment of the present invention can be a shape in which the linearity of the coordinate calculation can be maintained.

According to one embodiment, in order to maintain the linearity of the coordinate calculation, the area of the subpad may increase and decrease with reference to a certain direction, the area increases with reference to a certain direction, You can make a pair.

Hereinafter, the operation of the multiplexer included in the touch detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a multiplexer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The multiplexer according to an embodiment of the present invention may be included in the touch detection unit 210 and may be connected to the signal line 120 extending from the main pad 110. The multiplexer selectively connects the main pad 110 and / or the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 to the touch detection unit 210 and the touch detection unit 210 is connected to the main pad 110 and / It is possible to detect whether or not the touch of the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 is generated.

The multiplexer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention can select the main pad 110 included in the touch panel as one unit (S710). At this time, the multiplexer selects the main pads 110 included in one row in a certain direction, and then selects the main pads 110 in the following two rows and three rows, or selects the main pads 110 included in one row in the predetermined direction The main pad 110 may be selected one by one in a sequential manner such that the main pad 110 is selected in the order of the next two rows and three columns or the main pad 110 may be selected in any order.

The touch detection unit 210 may detect whether a touch is generated with respect to the main pad 110 selected by the multiplexer.

After the selection of the main pad 110 and the detection of the occurrence of the touch are completed, the multiplexer has a value of the output value of each main pad 110, that is, the main pad 110 whose touch is sensed (S720).

As a result of the determination, when the main pad 110 having the output value equal to or greater than the threshold value, that is, the touch sensed, is included, the multiplexer outputs the sub-pads 110-1 and 110- 2) (S730).

Then, the touch detection unit 210 detects whether or not a touch is generated with respect to the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 selected by the multiplexer, and the touch detection on the touch panel can be completed.

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the number of the sub-pads 110-1 and 110-2 included in the touch detection apparatus is increased, it is possible to sequentially select all of the sub- (110-1, 110-2) included in the main pad (110) only for the main pad (110) where a signal exceeding a reference value is sensed, The accuracy of touch detection is increased, and the time required for touch detection can be saved.

It is to be understood that the foregoing description of the disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that those skilled in the art will readily understand that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure will be. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single entity may be distributed and implemented, and components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

It is to be understood that the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and that all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and equivalents thereof are included in the scope of the present invention .

100: touch detection device,
110: Main pad
120: Signal wiring
200:
210:
220: Touch information processor
230: Memory
240:

Claims (6)

A plurality of signal lines;
A plurality of sub-pads arranged in a polygonal shape for maintaining the linearity of coordinate calculation and connected to the signal lines, respectively;
A plurality of main pads each including at least two of the sub pads and using the signal lines connected to the included sub pads as one channel; And
And a touch detection unit for detecting at least one of the main pads generated by applying the driving signal in units of channels and detecting only the sub pads belonging to the detected main pad and detecting whether a touch is generated for each of the sub pads Touch detection device.
The method according to claim 1,
And at least one of signal lines connected to the sub pad extends through a region between sub pads constituting a main pad adjacent in the column direction.
The method according to claim 1,
If the main pad includes a first subpad and a second subpad,
Wherein the area of the first sub pad becomes narrower toward the first direction and the area of the second sub pad becomes wider toward the first direction.
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the first subpad and the second subpad are in the shape of a right triangle and are arranged so that the hypotenuse of the first subpad and the hypotenuse of the second subpad face each other.
The method according to claim 1,
The signal lines
And in the arrangement in the first direction and the second direction of each of the sub-pads, the intervals of the sub-pads are arranged to be equal to each other.
Sensing a touch occurrence of a plurality of main pads included in the touch detection device by applying a drive signal in units of channels;
Determining whether a main pad having an output value equal to or greater than a threshold value among the main pads exists; And
Selecting at least one subpad included in a main pad having an output value equal to or greater than the threshold value as a result of the selection, Lt; / RTI >
Wherein the sub-pads are arranged in a polygonal shape maintaining linearity of touch coordinate calculation.

Images