KR20180069357A - Touch signal detection device using a multiplexor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a touch signal detecting device using a multiplexor. The present invention is to provide the touch signal detecting device using the multiplexor to effectively reduce the number of pins of a touch display drive IC (TDDI) or a touch drive IC (TDI) interworking with touch sensors installed in a dot matrix method. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the touch signal detecting device installed in a display device includes: the touch sensors generating a touch signal; sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors; first multiplexors connected to the sensor signal lines; and a touch detecting unit detecting at least one among a touch coordinate and a touch by receiving the touch signal by the first multiplexors. The first multiplexors are manufactured by the same mask in a process of manufacturing second multiplexors connected to a source signal line of the display device. Also, the present invention includes the above-stated embodiment and other embodiments.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a touch signal detection device using a multiplexer,

The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a touch signal generated by approaching or contacting a touch input means such as, for example, a human finger or an electronic pen.

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a touch screen is an input device (input device) provided on a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), and an active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) device is a device for recognizing a touch input means such as a finger or a touch pen as an input signal when approaching or contacting the touch screen.

The touch input device is mounted on a mobile device such as a smart phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), and a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player). In addition, the touch input device includes navigation, netbook, notebook, DID It is widely used in many industries such as desktop computers using operating systems, Internet Protocol TV (IP TV), and military equipment.

For example, a plurality of touch sensors may be arranged in a dot matrix manner on the touch screen used in various display devices as described above, and a touch signal generated in the touch sensor may be detected And a touch drive IC (TDI: Touch Drive IC). The touch drive IC may include a plurality of pins for interlocking with the touch sensors.

However, if the touch driver IC (TDI) is provided with a plurality of pins, the size of the touch driver IC is increased. Further, the touch driver IC (TDI) and the display driver IC DDI: Display Drive IC) can be a barrier to manufacturing integrated touch display drive IC (TDDI: Touch Display Drive IC).

In order to efficiently reduce the number of pins of a touch drive IC (TDI) or a touch display drive IC (TDDI) interlocked with touch sensors arranged in a dot matrix manner, for example, The present invention has been made to provide a device.

A touch signal detecting apparatus using a multiplexer according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: touch sensors for generating a touch signal; Sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors; First multiplexers coupled to the sensor signal lines; And a touch detection unit receiving the touch signal through the first multiplexers and detecting at least one of touch and touch coordinates, wherein the first multiplexers are connected to a source signal line of the display device, May be manufactured by the same mask in the process of manufacturing the multiplexers.

One of the first multiplexers may select one of the sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors belonging to one column among the touch sensors of the dot matrix having a plurality of rows and columns.

One of the first multiplexers selects any one of sensor signal lines connected to touch sensors belonging to at least two or more columns among the touch sensors of a dot matrix having a plurality of rows and columns, Can be connected. The first multiplexers may be disposed in a non-display area of the display device.

Wherein the display device is an LCD display device, the touch sensors and the sensor signal lines are formed by separating a common electrode of the LCD display device, the common electrode being separated based on a boundary region between pixels and pixels, The sensor signal lines may be located above or below the boundary region, or may be located above or below the pixel.

Wherein the display device is an AMOLED display device, and the touch sensors and the sensor signal lines are formed by separating a cathode which is a common electrode of the AMOLED display device, wherein the common electrode is divided And the sensor signal lines may be located on the upper side or the lower side of the boundary region or on the upper side or the lower side of the pixel.

The touch sensors and the sensor signal lines may be formed on the insulating layer on the upper surface of the cathode in the form of a metal mesh or on the upper surface of the boundary region between the source signal line and the gate signal line of the AMOLED display device.

The cathode may be removed between the boundary region between the source signal line and the gate signal line and the metal mesh, and the source signal line and the gate signal line may be in a floating state.

The touch sensors and the sensor signal lines may be opposed to at least one pixel.

The first multiplexers may be electrically connected to the sensor signal lines through the contact holes. The first multiplexers may receive at least one of a selection signal, a control signal, and a required voltage output from the touch detection unit.

The touch sensors are divided into touch sensing pads and non-touch sensing non-sensing pads, and the first multiplexers can select the sensor signal lines connected to the sensing pads.

A common voltage or an alternating voltage may be applied to the first sensing pads connected to the first multiplexers, and the touch detecting unit may detect a touch signal of the sensing pads based on the common voltage or the alternating voltage.

A touch signal detecting apparatus using a multiplexer according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: touch sensors for generating a touch signal; Sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors; First multiplexers coupled to the sensor signal lines; And a touch detection unit that receives the touch signal through the first multiplexers and detects at least one of touch and touch coordinates, and the touch sensors may be formed of a metal mesh.

The display device is a TN LCD display device, and the touch sensors may be formed of a metal mesh before the gate metal application process of the TN LCD display device.

The display device may be an IPS LCD display device and the touch sensors may be formed of a metal mesh on at least one of the upper surface of the source metal and the upper surface of the gate metal after completion of the TFT array of the IPS LCD display device .

The display device may be an IPS LCD display device, and the touch sensors may be formed of a metal mesh before the gate metal application process of the IPS LCD display device.

The touch sensors may be arranged in a shape of at least one of a rectangle or a rhombus. The touch detection unit may be any one of a touch drive IC, a display drive IC, or a touch display drive IC in which the touch drive IC and the display drive IC are integrated.

An electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a touch signal detecting device installed in a display device; And a processor interlocked with the display device, wherein the touch signal detecting device installed in the display device comprises: touch sensors for generating a touch signal; Sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors; First multiplexers coupled to the sensor signal lines; And a touch detection unit receiving the touch signal through the first multiplexers and detecting at least one of touch and touch coordinates, wherein the first multiplexers are connected to a source signal line of the display device, May be manufactured by the same mask in the process of manufacturing the multiplexers.

The electronic device may be at least one of a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), a navigation device, a netbook, a notebook, a digital information device (DID), a desktop computer, .

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the number of pins of the touch drive IC (TDI) or the touch display drive IC (TDDI) can be efficiently reduced by providing the touch signal detecting device using the multiplexer.

Furthermore, a touch driver IC (TDI) or a touch display drive IC (TDDI) is manufactured by manufacturing the multiplexer for touch detection in the same mask in the process of manufacturing the multiplexer used for image display in connection with the source signal line of the display device. The manufacturing process, the manufacturing cost, and the like can be efficiently reduced.

1 is a diagram illustrating a touch screen structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram illustrating a touch sensor connected to a driving unit including a mux according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a driving unit of a touch signal operating unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 to 6 are diagrams illustrating touch signal detection methods according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an LCD to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;
8 to 10 are cross-sectional views of a display device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
11 is a view illustrating an example in which a touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention is connected to a touch drive IC through a sensor signal line.
12 is a circuit diagram of an LCD pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention;
13 is a diagram illustrating a touch sensor of an LCD display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 14 illustrates an organic light emitting diode (OLED) to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
15 is a circuit diagram of an OLED pixel to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;
16 is a perspective view of an OLED pixel to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;
17 is a perspective view of a display device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;
FIG. 18 is a view illustrating a cathode, which is a common electrode of an AMOLED according to an embodiment of the present invention, is partitioned by a dot matrix method. FIG.
19 is an exemplary view illustrating a cathode, which is a common electrode of the AMOLED according to the embodiment of the present invention, is partitioned by a mesh method.
20 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;

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

The present invention relates to a touch signal detecting apparatus using a multiplexer. For example, a touch driver IC (TDI) or a touch display drive IC (" TDI ") is provided by installing a multiplexer in various types of display devices such as LCDs or OLEDs and performing a multiplexing operation of selecting one of the plurality of touch sensors The number of input pins of the TDDI can be minimized.

The display device referred to in the embodiment of the present invention includes a VA (Vertical Alignment) series LCD, a TN (Twisted Nematic) series LCD, an IPS (In Plane Switching) or a FFS (Fringe Field Switching) And may include all LCDs using the same liquid crystal.

In addition, it may include all OLED (Organic Light Emitted Diode) type display devices such as PMOLED (Passive Matrix OLED) and AMOLED (Active Matrix OLED). It may also include any display device capable of displaying and providing a still image (e.g., JPG, TIF, etc.) of arbitrary type or a moving picture (MPEG2, MPEG-4, etc.) to the user.

The touch detection sensor and the touch sensor referred to in the embodiment of the present invention are used in the same sense and the driving signal line of the touch detection sensor originating from the touch detection sensor and connected to the TDI has the same meaning as the touch sensor signal line and the sensor signal line Can be used.

The TDI, DDI, or TDDI referred to in the embodiment of the present invention may be separated from the display device, and they may be combined with the display device to display a screen or detect a touch. The DDI or TDI may be connected to a display device in the form of COG (Chip On the Glass).

In addition, a DDI or a TDI is mounted on a flexible circuit board such as a COF (Chip On Thin Film) or an FPC, an ACF is attached to a bonding pad of a display device and a bonding pad of a COF or FPC, For a predetermined period of time to bond the display device and the flexible circuit board by metal bonding according to breakage of the conductive balls, so that the display device and the TDI, LDI, or TDDI can be connected to each other.

The touch drive IC mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention can be abbreviated as TDI (Touch Drive IC), TDI can be included in the TDDI (Touch Display Drive IC), TDDI can be used as TDI and DDI (Display Drive IC) Including one IC.

The term " collinear " referred to in the embodiment of the present invention may be used to mean that it is overlapped at the same upper and lower positions, and a metal material, an insulator, etc. forming a signal line or the like may exist therebetween. For example, assuming that A and B are on the same line, A means that they are on the top surface of B, or that B is on the top surface of A, and other materials such as insulators or metals may exist between A and B.

When A and B are on the same line, the width of A and the width of B are not limited unless there is a separate division, and the ratio of the widths of A and B is not specified unless otherwise specified It is not specified. However, as an embodiment of the present invention, the width of A and the width of B can be regarded as being the same.

The components such as " part " referred to in the embodiments of the present invention are a collection of unit functional elements that perform a specific function. For example, an amplifier of a signal is a unit functional element, Can be called signal converters.

Also, " part " may be included in a larger element or " part, " or may include smaller elements and " parts. &Quot; The " part " may include a unique CPU (Central Processing Unit) capable of processing an operation function, a command stored in a memory, and the like.

In the drawings of the embodiments of the present invention, the thickness and the area are enlarged to clearly illustrate various layers and regions. Like numbers refer to like parts throughout the various embodiments of the present invention. It will be understood that when a layer, region, substrate, or other portion is referred to as being "on" or "over" another portion, , An intermediate layer, or an insulting layer).

The " signal " referred to in the embodiment of the present invention may be collectively referred to as a voltage or a current, unless otherwise specified. Also, " capacitance " refers to a physical size and can be used in the same sense as " capacitance ", and " capacitor " can refer to an element having a capacitance of a physical size .

In the embodiment of the present invention, C, which is a symbol used as a symbol of a capacitor, is used as a code to designate a capacitor, and it can represent a capacitance that is a size of a capacitor. For example, C1 is also a code indicating a capacitor, which means that the capacitance of the capacitor is C1.

The term " forcing a signal " referred to in the embodiment of the present invention may mean that the level of a signal which is maintained in some state is changed. For example, / Off control terminal means that a conventional low level voltage (e.g., a zero voltage or a DC voltage of a certain magnitude, AC voltage) is at a Hi level (e.g., a low level DC voltage or AC voltage having an amplitude value greater than the voltage).

In the embodiment of the present invention, a touch sensor participating in touch signal detection is referred to as a sensing pad, a touch sensor not participating in touch signal detection is referred to as a non-sensing pad, The sensing pad and the non-sensing pad may both be included.

The sensing pad is a touch detection sensor connected to the touch detection unit to detect a touch among a plurality of touch detection sensors. The non-touch sensing pad is a touch detection sensor that does not perform touch detection and is not connected to the touch detection unit. After the touch detection is completed, the sensing pad becomes a non-sensing pad, and any non-sensing pad is switched to a sensing pad according to a predetermined sequence.

Therefore, the sensing pads and the non-sensing pads are not fixed and can be converted over time, and the order of conversion of the sensing pads and the non-sensing pads can be sequentially determined in a predetermined order. For example, a Time Sharing Technique may be applied to one embodiment that sets the order.

&Quot; Detecting a touch " or " detecting a touch signal " referred to in the embodiment of the present invention has the same meaning. A representative example of the touch signal detection is one in which a voltage detected by the touch detection unit when a touch capacitance is not formed due to a conductor such as a finger touching or approaching the touch detection sensor and a voltage detected by a conductor such as a finger, The difference between the voltages detected by the touch detection unit is recognized by the touch capacitance Ct formed at the time when the touch capacitance Ct is generated.

Pre-charge, charge, pre-charge voltage and charge voltage mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention are used in the same meaning. Unless otherwise specified, the sensing pad may include a sensor signal line connecting the sensing pad, and the non-sensing pad may include a non-sensing pad signal line connecting the non-sensing pad.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the source line and the gate line are collectively referred to as a signal line or a signal line, and the signal line may refer to only the source signal line or only the gate signal line. Also, in the embodiment of the present invention, a pixel can be used independently of a unit pixel (sub pixel).

1 is a diagram illustrating a touch screen structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a dot matrix type touch screen structure connected to a multiplexer installed in a display device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied is illustrated.

The touch screen may include a plurality of touch sensors 10 and a sensor signal line 22 connected to the touch sensor. The touch screen may be embedded in a display device. Here, the meaning that the touch screen can be embedded in the display device means that the touch screen can be manufactured in the process of manufacturing the display device.

The touch signal detected by the touch screen is extracted in the form of touch coordinates in the touch signal operating unit 30 of FIG. 1 and is transmitted to a host requiring the touch signal. The touch signal is transmitted through the communication unit 46 of FIG. 1 . The touch signal operating unit 30 may be located inside the touch drive IC (TDI) or the touch display drive IC (TDDI).

The touch signal operation unit 30 may be embedded in a display device. The touch signal operating unit 30 referred to in the embodiment of the present invention is regarded as being in the TDI or TDDI instead of the display device. However, the circuit or signals necessary for the mux and muxing operations in the driving unit 31 including the mux of the touch signal operating unit 30 may be installed in the display device.

The touch signal operation unit 30 includes a touch detection unit 14, a signal processing unit 35, a memory unit 28, a power supply unit 47, a CPU 40, a driving unit 31 including a mux, A timing control unit 33, an alternating voltage generating unit 42, and a communication unit 46, for example.

The driving unit 31 including the mux performs a mux function for selecting one of the plurality of touch sensors 10. [ The driving unit may also be configured to isolate the touch sensor 10 to a high impedance state, to apply a pre-charge voltage, or to wait for a certain period of time after the alternating voltage generated by the alternating voltage generating unit 42 is applied And then outputs the change of the voltage.

The signal processing unit 35 receives the signal output from the driving unit 31 and amplifies or processes the signal. The signal processing unit includes an analog to digital converter (ADC), a digital to analog converter ), A comparator, and the like.

The memory unit 28 may temporarily store the results calculated by the signal processing unit or may store firmware necessary for the operation of the CPU 40 and the like. The power supply unit generates and supplies power required by the touch screen or the touch signal operation unit 30.

The CPU 40 calculates touch coordinates on the basis of the signal processed by the signal processing unit 35 or controls each unit element included in the touch signal operation unit 30 and controls the timing controller 33 Is used to generate a clock required by the touch signal operating unit 30.

The alternating voltage generation unit 42 generates an alternating voltage required for detecting a touch signal and may be included in the power unit 47.

Referring to FIG. 1, there are six rows in the transverse direction and five columns in the longitudinal direction, which are represented by 6 x 5. 6 x 5 is only one embodiment, and in practice it can be used variously such as 20 x 20 or 24 x 30.

In the dot matrix type touch screen, in order to detect a touch signal, only one touch sensor 10 should be selected in one column. Here, one column refers to a touch sensor group to which sensor signal lines 22 are connected in a harness. Referring to FIG. 1, since col 1 to col 5 form a column by one, A column exists.

If two touch sensors 10 are selected in one column and serve as sensing pads, interference of touch signals occurs due to parasitic capacitors formed between the sensor signal lines 22, A signal detection error may occur.

Accordingly, when only one touch sensor 10 is selected in one column when detecting a touch signal, it is preferable to detect the touch signal in the row sensor 10 as much as possible. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a touch signal is detected in Row 1, a touch signal is detected in Row 2, and a touch signal is detected in Row 3. It is obvious that after the touch signal is detected in the last row, it starts again from the first row.

The touch sensor 10 and the sensor signal line 22 shown in FIG. 1 may be ITO or IZO, which are transparent conductive materials, and the occupancy rate of the transparent conductive material in the touch sensor or sensor signal line is 100% (that is, 50% (that is, a mesh structure occupying only 50% of the total area), and the like. Also, it may be formed of a non-transparent metal, for example, copper (Cu) or silver (Ag) may be used in the form of a mesh.

2 is a diagram illustrating a touch sensor connected to a driving unit including a mux according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a mux is provided for each column, and all the touch sensors of the column are connected to the mux. The touch sensor 10 selected by the MUX is connected to a switch and a device having high impedance input characteristics as a sensing pad to detect the touch signal.

The mux of Fig. 2 can be installed in the display device. The sensing pad output from the Mux is connected to TDI or TDDI, which is a circuit element having a left switch connected to the output terminal of the mux and a high impedance input characteristic on the right. In other words, the mux is installed in the display device, and the switch and the circuit device are located inside the TDI or TDDI.

The sensing pad selected by the MUX and the TDI or TDDI are formed by bonding the bonding pad using the COG or the flexible circuit board described above. If the above-mentioned mux is located inside the TDI or TDDI, 30 sensor signal lines 22 should be connected to the TDI or TDDI. In the case where the number of the touch sensors is several hundreds, there are several hundreds of the sensor signal lines 22 in the TDI or TDDI, The size of TDI or TDDI will increase.

Therefore, if the mux of FIG. 2 is provided inside the display device, the number of sensor signal lines connected to the TDI or TDDI is reduced, thereby reducing the size of the TDI or TDDI. For example, if the touch sensor has a structure of 25 x 25, only 25 sensor signal lines are input to the TDI.

3 is a diagram illustrating a driving unit of a touch signal operating unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 illustrates a selection signal sel and a control signal for selecting and controlling muxes and muxes included in one column of FIG. 2, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mux is installed in the column and selects one of the plurality of touch sensors 10 located in the plurality of columns to connect the touch sensor to the touch panel including the high impedance element and the switching element.

The touch detection unit may be included in the driving unit. One touch sensor 10 selected through the mux may be a sensing pad for detecting a touch signal and the other may serve as a non-sensing pad for not detecting a touch signal.

In recent years, due to the stabilization of the LTPS process, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a liquid crystal display (AMOLED), or the like has been widely used as a source line for driving a plurality of pixels in a time sharing manner. Since such a mux has proven its utility, it is not a problem to introduce it into touch signal detection.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the advantage of using the mux as above is that when designing and manufacturing the mux necessary for driving the display device, the mux for the touch can be simultaneously designed and manufactured using the same mask in the same process Therefore, the cost is reduced.

The thus produced touch mux will typically be connected to the source signal line of the display device and installed at a location similar to the mux for screen display. Since a plurality of touch sensors are connected to one mux and only one of them is selected, a selection signal (select) for selecting one of the plurality of touch sensors is required for the mux, quot; sel ".

Since a common voltage, a cathode voltage, a ground voltage, or a DC voltage having an arbitrary size required for the LCD, the AMOLED, or the like must be applied to the sensing pad selected by the MUX or the NAN sensing pad not selected by the MUX, A control signal for applying such a voltage to the sensing pad and a voltage necessary therefor are required.

In Fig. 3, a control signal for applying a necessary voltage to the sensing pad or the non-sensing pad is specified as " control ", and a required voltage such as a common voltage is specified as "required voltage ".

The selection signal sel, the control signal control and the " required voltage " can be designed and manufactured by using a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) process of a display device, but preferably supplied from a touch IC such as TDDI or TDI . This is because, when a TFT is used and a display device is used to generate the TFT, the space is narrow, the installation place is short, and the operation speed of the TFT is slow, so that it may be difficult to drive the TFT to a desired frequency band.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, one touch sensor 10 is connected to the TDI or TDDI from the mux provided in the display device, and the mux is the same in the process of manufacturing the mux for screen display connected with the source signal line of the display device Can be produced by a mask.

The mux may include, for example, all of the N-type or P-type or PN-type CMOS types, and a selection signal, a control signal, and a necessary voltage originating from TDI or TDDI are supplied.

The selection signal, the control signal, and the required voltage originating from the TDI or the TDDI can be individually supplied to all the muxes. For example, in FIG. 2, five groups of selection signals and five groups of control signals are individually applied to five muxes.

This, however, is inefficient because a large number of output pins are required for the touch driver IC. Therefore, it is preferable that only one group originates from the touch-drive IC and the other is branched in the display device.

Referring again to FIGS. 2 and 3, the touch sensor selected in the mux by the selection signal applied to each mux is located in the same row. This makes it possible to select row 1 first and then row 2.

4 to 6 are diagrams illustrating touch signal detection methods according to an embodiment of the present invention. For example, various touch signal detection methods using a touch sensor of a dot matrix structure are illustrated.

The touch sensor 10 of the dot matrix structure is connected to the driving unit 31 of the touch sensor operation unit 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, the driving unit may include a touch detection unit or may be interlocked with each other in a separate configuration.

4 to 6 illustrate a touch detection unit included in the driving unit 31. The touch sensor is connected to a touch detection unit. The touch detection unit includes a switch unit for applying a precharge voltage Vpre, a buffer, And an ADC or DAC.

One side of the parasitic capacitance Cp is connected to one side of the touch sensor 10 and the parasitic capacitance is parasitic capacitance between the sensor signal lines or parasitic capacitance generated in the layout process of the corresponding wiring in the TDI or TDDI Capacitance or parasitic capacitance formed between the display device and the touch sensor, which is referred to as Cp.

The pre-charge voltage is applied to the touch sensor, and the switch turned on when applying the pre-charge voltage is turned off after the pre-charge voltage is applied to maintain the touch sensor in the high impedance state .

1. First, regarding touch signal detection Example

4 is a circuit diagram of a first embodiment relating to touch signal detection. A method of applying an alternating driving voltage to one side of a touch sensor and a driving capacitor Cdrv connected to one side of the touch sensor may be applied. The driving capacitor Cdrv may be formed inside the TDI or TDDI.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, when the switch is turned on and the pre-charge voltage is applied and the switch is turned off, the touch sensor 10 is in a high impedance state. At this time, A voltage is detected in the buffer. The voltage detected at this time has a correlation with the magnitude of the touch capacitor or the touch capacitance Ct.

The touch capacitance Ct is determined by the touch input means such as a finger or the like and the distance d and the opposing area S between the touch sensor 10 and the complex electrostatic charge of the materials filled between the touch input means and the touch sensor It is determined by capacity. That is, it is determined by the formula Ct = e (S / d), where e is the permittivity.

In the touch detection unit 14, it is possible to determine the magnitude of Ct using this voltage difference, and calculate touch coordinates. The CPU 40 can take charge of calculating the touch coordinates.

2. The second Example

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a second embodiment relating to touch signal detection. In FIG. 5, a method of applying an alternating driving voltage to one side of one or a plurality of nonsensifying pads 10a and 10c adjacent to the sensing pad 10b Can be applied.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the touch signal can be detected based on the parasitic capacitor between lines formed between the signal lines 22a and 22c of the non-sensing pad and the signal line 22b of the sensing pad.

A voltage having a correlation with the magnitude of the touch capacitance Ct is output to the buffer of FIG. 5, and the CPU 40 can calculate coordinates using the magnitude of the output voltage.

3. Touch signal  The third Example

6 is a circuit diagram of a third embodiment relating to touch signal detection. In the touch detecting section 14 including a switch to which a pre-charge voltage is applied, a buffer or an invisible amplifier, an ADC or a DAC, A voltage having a correlation with the magnitude of the touch capacitance Ct can be detected in the buffer.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the DGND is an alternating ground, and the potential difference between DGND and Vci is 3V or 5V when the DGND and Vci have a potential difference of 3V or 5V, and the DGND is 10V In the alternative, the potential difference between DGND and Vci becomes a form of alternating voltage of 10V.

On the other hand, in the first to third embodiments, the pre-charge voltage is applied to the touch sensor 10. In the first to third embodiments, the voltage applied to the sensing pad is a voltage required for detecting a touch signal, and the ground potential (0 V) or an arbitrary DC voltage may be applied to the non-sensing pad.

In addition, since any one of the touch sensors incorporated in various types of display devices such as LCDs or OLEDs serves as a common electrode of the display device, a common voltage for serving as a common electrode is applied to the non- .

In addition, when the touch sensor serves as a common electrode, a common voltage may be precharged to the sensing pad to detect a touch signal and apply a common voltage to the sensing pad. Accordingly, it is possible to simultaneously perform an operation of displaying a screen on a display device while detecting a touch.

Meanwhile, in the first to third embodiments, when the sensing pad and the non-sensing pad serve as common electrodes of the display device, the touch signal detection operation and the screen display operation are normally performed using a time sharing method It is possible.

When the touch sensor is used as a common electrode of a display device, one touch sensor may include a plurality of opposing gate signal lines. For example, one touch sensor may include 10 or 20 or more gate signal lines. The time for detecting the touch using the touch sensor 10 is only several tens to several tens of us.

Accordingly, it is possible to display a screen by sequentially using the gate signal lines included in the touch sensor 10 after detecting the touch signal by the one touch sensor 10. That is, after detecting a touch signal, a method of displaying a screen on a display device facing the touch sensor is possible.

The method can be achieved by use of a frame memory for storing image information or a line memory for storing image information on a plurality of lines.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of dot matrix type touch sensors built in a display device are configured in a row and a column, and then connected to a mux embedded in the display device. In one of the muxes, And one touch sensor is selected.

Since the touch sensor 10 and the sensor signal line 22 according to the embodiment of the present invention are disposed inside the display device, a detailed consideration of the structure of the display device is required. In the embodiment of the present invention, the display device is explained based on LCD. However, in the case of AMOLED, since the TFT substrate is similar to the LCD, the technical idea described in the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to the AMOLED. In addition, since all the display devices such as PMOLED and PDP include the concept of a signal line and a pixel, the embodiment of the present invention is a concept of disposing an embedded touch based on a signal line and a pixel, And can be applied to a display device.

7 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an LCD to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. Referring to FIG. 7, the LCD is formed by attaching a color filter substrate 100 and a TFT substrate 200 by a sealant (not shown). In the LCD substrate, three sub pixels of Red / Green / Blue form one pixel and act as a basic unit of a pixel, which is also referred to as a dot.

In each sub-pixel, a pixel electrode formed of a transparent electrode such as ITO is connected to a drain of a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) 220, and a source of TFT is formed of a source metal And a source signal line (source line) 250 is connected. A gate signal line (gate line) 240 formed of a gate metal is connected to the gate of the TFT.

Red (R), green (G) and blue (B) are formed on the same line as the subpixel of the TFT substrate 210 and the gate signal line 240 of the TFT is formed between R / A BM (Black Matrix) 130 for shielding the source signal line 250 is formed.

8 to 10 are views illustrating cross sections of a display device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a detailed structural view of the TFT shown in FIG. 7, in which a gate metal layer made of copper, aluminum, molybdenum or chromium, or the like is formed on the upper surface of a TFT substrate 210, a gate metal layer forms a gate signal line 240.

A source electrode 270 and a drain of the TFT are formed on the upper side of the gate signal line by a source metal layer made of copper, aluminum, molybdenum or chromium, An electrode 260 is formed.

A source line 250 is formed on the same layer of the same source metal layer on the source electrode 270 of the TFT and the source signal line 240 is connected to the pixel electrode 230 . The drain of the TFT 220 is connected to the pixel electrode to form Clc and Cst and the liquid crystal (not shown) reacts by the potential difference between the pixel electrode 230 and the common electrode 120 to form an image quality .

The principles of operation and detailed structure of the TFT 220 are well known to those skilled in the art and thus are not directly related to the present invention. However, the technical matters obvious to those skilled in the art are not limited to the description of all the embodiments of the present invention . ≪ / RTI >

In the case of an LCD using a transverse electric field mode such as IPS or FFS, the common electrode 120 of FIG. 7 is on the same layer as the TFT substrate 210 The operation principle of the LCD described above is applied equally.

The touch screen of the embodiment of the present invention can operate asynchronously with the driving mechanism of the LCD. For example, when the signals of the touch screen and the display device are correlated, since the driving frequency of the display device is about 60 Hz, it is not easy to match the touch driving frequency that requires driving conditions of 100 Hz or more.

If the touch driving frequency and the LCD driving frequency are synchronized by using a technique of repeatedly sensing the touch by detecting static electricity or noise, etc., and sensing noise by using various filters, As a result, it may not be possible to repeatedly sense a plurality of times within a limited time dependent on the LCD driving frequency.

In order to solve the above problems, the touch screen of the present invention is incorporated in a display device, but can operate independently of a driving mechanism of the display device. In some cases, however, it is advantageous to detect the touch signal in synchronization with the drive signal mechanism of the display device. For example, to synchronize the ground or to modify the specific signal of the LCD to improve the touch detection sensitivity. Therefore, the touch screen of the present invention is designed to support both the mode synchronized with the display device signal (for example, DE (Data Enable) or horizontal synchronization (Hsync) or vertical synchronization (Vsync) .

9, a display device in which a first substrate on which a color filter and a common electrode are formed, and a second substrate on which a pixel electrode 230 and a driving signal line are formed are arranged to face each other, A sensor layer including a touch sensor 10 and a sensor signal line 22 may be formed.

That is, when the sensor layer is provided between the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 constituting the TFT substrate 210 and the TFT 220 of FIG. 9 and the source signal line 250, A metal component such as chromium / copper / aluminum / molybdenum, or a transparent conductive material such as ITO / CNT / metal mesh.

In addition, the touch sensor 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is arranged to be wider than the widths of the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250, and as described above with reference to FIG. 1, And the sensor signal line 22 connecting the touch sensor 10 and the TDI 30 may be arranged in the matrix structure.

For example, in FIG. 1, the touch sensor 10 has five columns Col in the longitudinal direction and six rows in the transverse direction, but this is only an example, Tens or hundreds of touch sensors 10 may be installed in the lateral direction.

In addition, it is preferable that a passivation is deposited on the upper surface of the touch sensor 10. The touch sensor 10 of the present invention may be disposed at a position which is located below the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 which are the signal lines of the LCD and are not overlapped with the pixel electrodes 230.

This causes the voltage applied to the liquid crystal to be distorted by the capacitor due to the coupling between the pixel electrode 230 and the touch sensor 10 So as to prevent the deterioration of the image quality.

The touch sensor 10 is positioned between the TFT substrate 210 and the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 while the width of the touch sensor 10 is greater than the width of the gate signal line 240 And the width of the source signal line 250 is preferably larger than the width of the source signal line 250. It is preferable to arrange the touch sensor 10 as wide as possible within a range that does not affect the liquid crystal. The touch sensitivity can be improved by forming the sensing area of the touch sensor 10 wide.

The touch sensor 10 may be disposed at the edge of the pixel electrode 230 within a range that does not intersect with the pixel electrode 230 vertically. Also, the touch sensor 10 may be disposed on the lower side of the metal forming the storage capacitor Cst. The metal forming the storage capacitor Cst is usually formed of a gate signal line 240. Since the gate signal line 240 is always applied with DC, the metal of the storage capacitor Cst is not affected by the driving signal of the sensor signal line 22 thereunder Do not.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the position of the touch sensor 10 may be arranged with a sub pixel as a unit. In other words, the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 constituting the subpixel may be located anywhere on the lower side of the subpixel and the touch sensor 10 or the sensor signal line 22 may not be installed.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the sensor signal line 22 is formed of a transparent conductive material such as indium tin oxide (ITO), carbon nanotube (CNT), indium zinc oxide (IZO), zinc tin oxide (ZTO) , Silver nanowires and the like can be used. If a non-transparent metal material is used, it may cause a flashing phenomenon due to light or a side effect that reduces the aperture ratio of the LCD.

The lower side when the touch sensor 10 is located on the lower side of the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 which are the driving signal lines of the LCD is the same as the lower side (210) is placed on the lower side. If the TFT substrate of FIG. 9 is turned upside down by 180 degrees and the TFT 220 and the touch sensor layer are positioned below the TFT substrate 210, the touch sensor 10 is connected to the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 on the upper side.

In the embodiment of the present invention, upper and lower are defined based on when the TFT substrate 210 is on the lower side. Therefore, even when the TFT substrate 210 is inverted and the TFT substrate 210 moves up and down, the absolute up and down direction is determined based on the time when the TFT substrate is on the lower side.

10, when the touch sensor 10 is disposed on an arbitrary area of the active area (or the display area) of the display device or on the upper surfaces of the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250, A guard layer (G / L) 295 may be provided between the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250.

The touch sensor 10 is provided on the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 of the display device, The driving signal line of the display device can be located anywhere other than the top surface of the driving signal line. Here, the display device includes not only an LCD but also AMOLED or PMOLED.

10, the touch sensor 10 is on the upper surface of the TFT constituting the display device, a first insulator 285 is provided below the touch sensor 10, a guard layer (G / L) is formed below the first insulator, (295). The first insulator 285 is preferably formed by coating the entire display area A / A of the display device.

The guard layer 295 or the touch sensor 10 is located in an arbitrary region of the display region A / A on the upper surface of the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 or in the display device A / And a DC or an alternating driving voltage may be applied to the guard layer 295.

The above-described various features of the present invention are equally applied to the case where the touch sensor 10 is present on the gate signal line 240 and the source signal line 250 in the same manner as when the touch sensor 10 is present on the lower side of the signal line.

On the other hand, the second insulator is not applied after the touch sensor 10 is formed on the top surface of Fig. 10, but this has a cost saving effect. However, if necessary, a second insulator may be provided on the upper surface of the touch sensor 10.

In addition, it is preferable to further include a buffer or an operational amplifier for amplifying the driving signal of the TDI transmitted to the guard layer 295, as in the embodiment of the present invention.

Here, the display device to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied may be a TN LCD display device, and the touch sensors may be formed of a metal mesh before the gate metal application process of the TN LCD display device. Alternatively, the display device may be an IPS LCD display device, and the touch sensors may be formed as a metal mesh on at least one of the upper surface of the source metal and the upper surface of the gate metal after completion of the TFT array of the IPS LCD display device. .

In addition, the display device may be an IPS LCD display device, and the touch sensors may be formed of a metal mesh before the gate metal application process of the IPS LCD display device. The touch sensors may be rectangular or rhombic As shown in Fig.

11 is a view illustrating an example in which a touch sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention is connected to a touch drive IC through a sensor signal line.

Referring to FIG. 11, for example, the touch sensor 10 may be grouped by grouping mesh patterns corresponding to a plurality of pixels, and one sensor signal line is connected to the touch sensor 10 , And a touch detection IC (TDI). Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 11, a plurality of (for example, two) sensor signal lines 22 may be connected to at least one of the touch sensors to be connected to the touch driver IC.

The touch driver IC drives the touch sensor, receives a touch signal through the sensor signal line, and can detect the position or the area of the touch input.

The touch drive IC is provided separately from a display drive IC (DDI) for driving an LCD display device or an OLED display device, for example, and can be interlocked with the display drive IC, Display drive IC (TDDI).

Here, the area of the touch sensor 10 may be set differently according to a distance from the touch-sensitive IC. For example, the area of the touch sensor remote from the touch drive IC may be set larger than the area of the touch sensor near the touch drive IC.

Furthermore, the width of the sensor signal line 22 can be set differently according to the connection length with the touch-driving IC. For example, the width of the sensor signal line having a long connection length with the touch drive IC may be set to be larger than the width of the sensor signal line having a short connection length with the touch driver IC.

12 is a diagram illustrating a circuit diagram of an LCD pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

12, in the configuration of a unit pixel of an IPS (In Plane Switching) LCD, a common electrode of the transverse electric field mode LCD has a common mode in which a common electrode is located in a color filter of a TN mode LCD Is formed on the TFT substrate.

A gate signal line 242 and a source signal line 244 are vertically and horizontally arranged on the upper surface of the TFT substrate and regions partitioned by the gate signal line 242 and the source signal line 244 form pixels.

A gate electrode 251 of the TFT 250 is connected to the gate signal line 242 and receives a scan signal and has a source electrode 253 and a source electrode 253, And the drain electrode 255 are connected to the source signal line 244 and the pixel electrode line 248, respectively.

The semiconductor layer 257 of the TFT 250 forms a channel between the source electrode 253 and the drain electrode 255 to apply an image signal to the liquid crystal layer. 12, a common electrode line 246 is formed in parallel with the pixel electrode line 248 in the pixel.

When an image signal is applied to the pixel electrode line 248 by the operation of the TFT 250 as described above, a substantially parallel horizontal electric field between the common electrode line 246 and the pixel electrode line 248 Which causes the liquid crystal molecules to move in a plane.

Although the common electrode line 246 is shown below the pixel electrode line 248 in FIG. 12, the common electrode line 246 is connected to the pixel electrode line 248 via an insulator. It may be located on the upper surface.

13 is a view illustrating a touch sensor of an LCD display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 13, the touch sensor may be implemented using a common electrode of a transverse electric field mode LCD. 13, the common electrode lines 246 of four pixels among the eight pixels partitioned by the gate signal line 242 and the source signal line 244 are gathered to form one common electrode Can be formed.

The dotted line in Fig. 13 is a virtual section indicating that the common electrode lines are gathered as one common electrode, and actually only the hatched common electrode may exist. For example, four common electrodes included in a virtual dotted line may be connected to one sensor signal line 22 electrically connected to each other and connected to the TDI.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the four common electrodes operate as the common electrode as well as the touch sensor 10. Here, it is an example of the present invention that the four common electrodes included in the four pixels operate as one divided touch sensor. In practice, the common electrode included in one, several hundred, or several thousand pixels, May be electrically connected to each other, connected to the sensor signal line 22, connected to the multiplexer in the display device, or connected to the TDI.

The sensor signal line 22 connected to the common electrode functions as a signal line for applying a pre-charge voltage necessary for touch detection and detecting a touch signal. In a time region in which the common electrode displays an image, . The role of applying the common voltage, applying the pre-charge voltage, or sensing the touch signal may be performed in a TDI or a touch display driver IC (TDDI) combined with the TDI and a DDI (Display Drive IC) .

13, the sensor signal line 22 is provided on the side surface of the source signal line 244, but actually, the sensor signal line 22 is provided on the upper surface or the lower surface of the source signal line so as to be invisible from the source signal line Can be avoided. Alternatively, the sensor signal line 22 serves as a common electrode of the pixel to be opposed to the pixel, and may be connected to the TDI.

The common electrode may be a transparent electrode such as ITO or the like, and the sensor signal line connected to the common electrode may be disposed above or below the source signal line or the gate signal line. There is no reason to be a transparent electrode.

For example, if the sensor signal line connected to the common electrode is formed of metal such as copper or aluminum, the resistance of the sensor signal line is lower than that of the transparent electrode. The sensor signal line may be formed by patterning with a separate dedicated mask. For example, when a source metal, a gate metal, or a metal mask is commonly used in the process of manufacturing a TFT, the number of masks may be reduced It is possible to reduce manufacturing cost.

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating an organic light emitting diode (OLED) to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIG. 14, the display device of the organic light emitting diode may have a plurality of organic light emitting diodes. The organic light emitting diode may include an organic compound layer formed between an anode electrode and a cathode electrode.

The organic compound layer may include a hole injection layer (HIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), an emission layer (EML), an electron transport layer (ETL) Injection layer (EIL).

When a drive voltage is applied to the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, holes passing through the HTL and electrons passing through the ETL are transferred to the EML to form an exciton, As a result, the light emitting layer (EML) generates visible light.

The display device of the organic light emitting diode arranges the pixels including the organic light emitting diode in a matrix form and controls the brightness of the pixels selected by the scan pulse according to the gradation of the digital video data.

The display device of the organic light emitting diode may be classified into a passive matrix (PMOLED) method and an active matrix (AMOLED) method using a TFT as a switching element. In the active matrix method, a pixel is selected by selectively turning on a TFT as an active element, and light emission of a pixel can be maintained at a voltage held in a storage capacitor (Cst).

15 is a diagram illustrating a circuit diagram of an OLED pixel to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

15, for example, in a display device of an active matrix type organic light emitting diode, a pixel includes an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a data line D and a gate line G intersecting with each other, And a storage capacitor Cst for storing data and holding data for a predetermined period of time, and the like.

The scan switch SW and the drive switch DR may be either N-type or P-type MOS-FETs. The structure consisting of the two transistors SW and DR and one capacitor Cst can be referred to as a 2T-1C structure.

The scan switch SW is turned on in response to the scan pulse SP of the gate line G to thereby conduct a current path between the source electrode and the drain electrode of the scan switch SW. During the on time period of the scan switch SW, the data voltage of the data line D is applied to the gate electrode of the drive switch DR through the source electrode and the drain electrode of the scan switch SW, And is applied to the storage capacitor Cst.

The driving switch DR controls a current flowing in the organic light emitting diode OLED in response to a difference voltage Vgs between its gate electrode and a source electrode. The storage capacitor Cst stores a data voltage applied to one electrode of the storage capacitor Cst so that the voltage supplied to the gate electrode of the drive switch DR is maintained constant for one frame period.

The organic light emitting diode OLED of FIG. 15 is connected between a source electrode of the drive switch DR and a drive voltage source ELVSS of low voltage. The current flowing through the organic light emitting diode OLED is proportional to the brightness of the pixel and is determined by the voltage between the gate and the source of the driving switch DR. Here, the three subpixels shown in FIG. 15 share one ELVSS, and correspond to the cathodes of FIG.

16 is a perspective view of an OLED pixel to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

16, a drive switch DR, gate signal lines G1 to G3 of the drive switch DR, and ELVDD of the drive switch DR are shown on an upper surface of a substrate (not shown) . Also shown is an organic emitter. Here, the organic light emitting element corresponds to the organic compound layer in Fig. 14, and the scan switch SW is omitted in Fig.

Data voltages applied from the data lines D1 to D3 are applied to the gates G1 to G3 of the driving switch DR by the turn-on of the scan switch SW. The gates (G1 to G3) of the drive switch DR are separated from each other and connected to a scan switch (not shown), respectively.

Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, a cathode layer is connected to all pixels, which is shared by all the pixels, and is called a common electrode. The common electrode of the AMOED is structurally similar and functionally similar to the common voltage of the TN series LCD or the IPS series LCD.

The structural similarity is that the common electrode of the AMOLED and the common electrode of the LCD are vertically or horizontally opposed to all pixels in common. In the TN series LCD, the common electrode is opposed to the top and bottom of the pixel, and in the IPS series, the common electrode is opposed to the left or right or up and down.

The functional similarity is that the same voltage is applied to the common electrode of the AMOLED and the LCD. For example, a common voltage of some LCD is -2V applied to all the common electrodes, and -5.4V is commonly applied to the cathode common electrode of some AMOLEDs.

Therefore, although the common electrode of the cathode of the AMOLED is described as an example in the present invention, the technical idea of the present invention can be similarly applied to an LCD. In other words, in the embodiment of the present invention, an example of an apparatus and method for detecting a touch signal using a common electrode of an AMOLED is described as an example, but the technical idea of the present invention is also applicable to an LCD have.

17 is a perspective view of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

17, the display device may include a display area DA, a non-display area (NDA), and a pixel area (PA) The pixel region PA of the display region DA can form the screen display region DA.

On the top surface of Fig. 17, the cathode may be provided so as to form a common electrode and face all the pixels. That is, a cathode of one layer is commonly connected to all the pixels or subpixels to supply the ELVSS of FIG. 15, and the cathode of FIG. 17 includes ELVSSs supplied by the DDI for AMOLED at an arbitrary point Can be connected.

FIG. 18 is a view illustrating a cathode, which is a common electrode of an AMOLED according to an embodiment of the present invention, by a dot matrix method.

Referring to FIG. 18, a pixel area PA is included in the screen display area DA of the display device, and one cathode partitioned to face a plurality of pixels serves as the touch sensor 10. [

The sensor signal line 22 connected to the touch sensor 10 is connected to the touch signal processor 30 and the sensor signal line 22 connected to the driver 31 of the touch signal processor 30 A cathode voltage ELVSS which is a voltage may be applied, or a pre-charge voltage for touch detection, or an alternating AC voltage may be applied.

The cathode, which is the common electrode, is divided into a plurality of parts, and one separated cathode serves as the touch sensor 10, serves as a common electrode of the display device, and performs two functions at the same time. When the two functions are simultaneously performed, a common voltage of the display device is applied to the sensing pad and the non-sensing pad of the touch sensor.

When the separated cathode serves as the touch sensor 10, the cathode may not function as a common electrode. In this case, the pre-charge voltage required for touch detection is applied to the touch sensor 10 instead of the cathode voltage ELVSS, and the pre-charge voltage may be different from the cathode voltage.

The sensor signal line 22 connected to the touch sensor 10 may be formed at the same time as a transparent conductive material such as ITO or IZO constituting the touch sensor 10 by a mask forming the touch sensor.

The sensor signal line 22 may be formed of a non-permeable metal material such as silver (Ag) or copper or aluminum and may be formed separately from the mask forming the touch sensor 10, And may be located at an upper layer or a lower layer of the touch sensor 10. [

The one touch sensor 10 may include one or a plurality of pixels. A plurality of pixels included in the pixel area PA of FIG. 18 may be included in the touch sensor by one common electrode, and all the touch sensors 10 may include a plurality of pixels.

Since the touch sensor 10 serves as a cathode which is a common electrode of the AMOLED, a cathode voltage ELVSS, which is a common voltage, is used to detect a touch signal or to act as a display device when the touch signal is not detected Is preferably applied. Here, the potential of the cathode voltage is preferably the same. For example, the same -5.4 V can be applied to all touch sensors serving as cathodes.

If a voltage applied to the touch sensor 10, which is a sensing pad when detecting a touch signal, is different from a common voltage, a non-sensing pad that does not detect a touch signal includes a cathode voltage (ELVSS) must be applied. Therefore, in the area where the touch is not detected, the screen of the display device is normally displayed.

FIG. 19 is an exemplary view illustrating a cathode, which is a common electrode of the AMOLED according to an embodiment of the present invention, in a mesh manner.

Referring to Fig. 19, in the screen display area DA, there are displayed a plurality of pixels, one pixel is displayed as PA, and touch sensors 10a to 10d serving as common electrodes are displayed.

In one embodiment, the touch sensor may be partitioned into various combinations, such as a matrix of 10 x 10 matrix or a matrix of 20 x 20 matrix. The above structure can be applied to a common electrode of an LCD having a transverse electric field mode (IPS system) or a TN mode in addition to a common electrode of an AMOLED.

On one side of the display region, there is a data signal line (Data Line) or a source signal line, and there is a gate signal line (Gate Line) crossing the data signal line. The data signal line or the gate signal line may correspond to a BM (Black Matrix) area in which a screen is not displayed. Here, the BM region may be a region corresponding to or included in a boundary region between a pixel and a pixel, and may be referred to as any other name.

As described above, one cathode is divided into a plurality of cathodes and operated as a common electrode and a touch sensor have already been described above. The divided touch sensor 10 includes a plurality of pixels and also operates as a common electrode, so that the common voltage ELVSS may be applied.

Since the partitioned touch sensor 10 simultaneously serves as a common electrode, the partitioned touch sensor must be opposed to or vertically opposed to the pixel in the partition portion, so that there is no pixel not included in the touch sensor do.

For this purpose, when dividing a common electrode, a boundary portion between a pixel and a pixel, that is, a BM region such as a data line or a gate line, is defined as a boundary. 19, there are data signal lines at boundary portions between the touch sensors 10a and 10b, and all pixels are included in the touch sensors 10a and 10b when they are adjacent to the data signal lines. And may be partitioned from 0.1um to 20um based on the center of the data signal line.

In addition, all the pixels are included in the touch sensors 10a and 10c when the touch sensors 10a and 10c are provided with gate lines and the touch sensor is divided as close as possible to the gate line. Preferably, the distance from the center of the gate signal line is 0.1 mu m to 20 mu m. As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the common electrode is partitioned, it can be partitioned around the data line or the gate line.

On the other hand, the sensor signal line 22 shown in Fig. 19 can be positioned on the upper side or the lower side in opposition to the BM region, and can function as a common electrode by being disposed opposite to the pixel. Although the sensor signal lines 22a to 22d in FIG. 19 are provided on the upper side of the pixel, they may be provided on the lower side and perform signal transmission for detecting a touch signal and serve as a common electrode, It is also possible to serve as a cathode.

Although the sensor signal line 22 of FIG. 19 has been described as being opposed to one pixel, it is also possible to face the plurality of pixels, and the sensor signal line 22 is also divided into a plurality of The partitioning method of the touch sensor according to the embodiment can be applied equally.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the touch sensors and the sensor signal lines may be formed on the insulating layer on the upper surface of the cathode in the form of a metal mesh, or may be formed in a boundary region between the source signal line and the gate signal line of the AMOLED display device. Can be formed on the upper surface.

Meanwhile, the cathode may be removed between the boundary region between the source signal line and the gate signal line and the metal mesh, and the source signal line and the gate signal line may be in a floating state. Here, the reason for removing the cathode is to minimize the load.

20 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an electronic apparatus to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. The electronic device to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied may be various types of electronic devices such as a smart phone, a PDA, a PMP, a navigation, a netbook, a notebook, a DID, a desktop computer, and an IP TV.

Referring to FIG. 20, an electronic device 1200 such as a smart phone includes a control unit 1210, a touch screen 1220, an audio processing unit 1230, an interface unit 1240, a communication unit 1250, A storage unit 1260, and the like. Here, the touch screen may refer to a touch screen to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied.

The controller 1210 may be a processor or a controller that performs an overall operation or control of the electronic device in cooperation with the touch screen 1220.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the controller 1210 can perform an operation corresponding to the touch detected by the touch screen 1220 in conjunction with the touch screen 1220, as described above.

For example, the controller 1210 may perform an operation corresponding to the position of the touch when the touch of the touch input means is accessed or touched, for example, on the touch screen.

For example, the operation may be various control operations, such as volume control, power control, and reset control, which are set in advance in order to control at least one of the functions of the electronic device.

The embodiments of the present invention described in detail above may be implemented individually or in combination with each other. The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiment and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications and variations are possible without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Which will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.

10: touch sensor 14: touch detection unit
22: sensor signal line 28:
30: Touch signal computing unit 31:
33: timing control section 35: signal processing section
40: CPU 42: Alternating voltage generating section
46: communication unit 47:

Claims (21)

1. A touch signal detecting apparatus provided in a display apparatus,
Touch sensors for generating a touch signal;
Sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors;
First multiplexers coupled to the sensor signal lines; And
And a touch detection unit receiving the touch signal through the first multiplexers and detecting at least one of touch and touch coordinates,
Wherein the first multiplexers are fabricated by the same mask in the process of manufacturing the second multiplexers connected to the source signal lines of the display device.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein one of the first multiplexers selects one of the sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors belonging to one column among the touch sensors of the dot matrix composed of a plurality of rows and columns A touch signal detection device.
The method according to claim 1,
One of the first multiplexers selects any one of sensor signal lines connected to touch sensors belonging to at least two or more columns among the touch sensors of a dot matrix having a plurality of rows and columns, Wherein the touch signal detecting unit detects the touch signal by using the multiplexer.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first multiplexers are arranged in a non-display area of the display device.
The method according to claim 1,
The display device is an LCD display device,
The touch sensors and the sensor signal lines are formed by separating a common electrode of the LCD display device,
Wherein the common electrode is divided based on a boundary region between the pixel and the pixel,
Wherein the sensor signal lines are located on the upper side or the lower side of the boundary region or on the upper side or the lower side of the pixel.
The method according to claim 1,
The display device is an AMOLED display device,
The touch sensors and the sensor signal lines are formed by separating a cathode which is a common electrode of the AMOLED display device,
Wherein the common electrode is divided based on a boundary region between the pixel and the pixel,
Wherein the sensor signal lines are located on the upper side or the lower side of the boundary region or on the upper side or the lower side of the pixel.
The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the touch sensors and the sensor signal lines are formed on the insulation layer on the upper surface of the cathode in the form of a metal mesh or on the upper surface of the boundary region between the source signal line and the gate signal line of the AMOLED display device. Wherein the touch signal detecting device is used.
8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the cathode is removed between the boundary region between the source signal line and the gate signal line and the metal mesh, and the source signal line and the gate signal line are in a floating state.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the touch sensors and the sensor signal lines are opposed to at least one pixel.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first multiplexers are electrically connected to the sensor signal lines through a contact hole.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first multiplexers receive at least one of a selection signal, a control signal, and a required voltage output from the touch detection unit.
The method according to claim 1,
The touch sensors are divided into sensing pads during touch sensing and non-sensing pads during non-touch sensing,
Wherein the first multiplexers select the sensor signal lines connected to the sensing pads.
13. The method of claim 12,
A common voltage or an alternating voltage is applied to the non-sensing pads connected to the first multiplexers,
Wherein the touch detection unit detects a touch signal of the sensing pads based on the common voltage or the alternate voltage.
1. A touch signal detecting apparatus provided in a display apparatus,
Touch sensors for generating a touch signal;
Sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors;
First multiplexers coupled to the sensor signal lines; And
And a touch detection unit receiving the touch signal through the first multiplexers and detecting at least one of touch and touch coordinates,
Wherein the touch sensors are formed of a metal mesh.
15. The method of claim 14,
The display device is a TN LCD display device,
Wherein the touch sensors are formed of a metal mesh before the gate metal application process of the TN LCD display device.
15. The method of claim 14,
The display device is an IPS LCD display device,
Wherein the touch sensors are formed of a metal mesh on at least one of the upper surface of the source metal and the upper surface of the gate metal after the completion of the TFT array of the IPS LCD display device.
15. The method of claim 14,
The display device is an IPS LCD display device,
Wherein the touch sensors are formed of a metal mesh before the gate metal application process of the IPS LCD display device.
15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the touch sensors are arranged in a shape of at least one of a rectangle or a rhombus.
15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the touch detection unit is any one of a touch drive IC, a display drive IC, or a touch display drive IC in which the touch drive IC and the display drive IC are integrated.
In the electronic device,
A touch signal detecting device installed in the display device; And
And a processor interlocked with the display device,
The touch-signal detecting device installed in the display device comprises:
Touch sensors for generating a touch signal;
Sensor signal lines connected to the touch sensors;
First multiplexers coupled to the sensor signal lines; And
And a touch detection unit receiving the touch signal through the first multiplexers and detecting at least one of touch and touch coordinates,
Wherein the first multiplexers are manufactured by the same mask in a process of manufacturing second multiplexers connected to the source signal lines of the display device.
21. The method of claim 20,
The electronic device may be at least one of a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), a navigation device, a netbook, a notebook, a digital information device (DID), a desktop computer, .

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