TW201342177A - Input device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an input device in which it is easy to prevent the phenomenon of flickering when colour display is performed by an insulating layer of a touch panel arranged at the front face of a colour display panel. A bridge wiring layer (15) is provided that provides conduction of transparent electrode layers (13a, 13a) that are arranged in the X direction and a transparent insulating layer (14) is formed that provides insulation between successive electrode layers (12a, 12a) in the Y direction and the bridge wiring layer (15). Respective edge sections (14a, 14b) of the insulating layer (14) are formed inclined with respect to the sides of sub-pixels (35R, 35G and 35B) that are provided in colour filters of a colour display panel. In this way, the phenomenon of flickering of the edge sections (14a, 14b) of the insulating layer (14) produced by passage of light through the sub-pixels can easily be prevented.

Description

Input device

The present invention relates to an input device in which a translucent first electrode layer and a translucent second electrode layer connected by a bridge wiring layer are provided on a surface of a translucent substrate; in particular, a color is given from the back When the light is displayed, the insulating layer that insulates the first electrode layer from the bridge wiring layer is inconspicuous.

Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a capacitive touch panel that detects the proximity of a finger to detect its operation position.

The touch panel has an electrode pattern in the X direction and an electrode pattern extending in the Y direction on the same surface of the substrate. The electrode pattern extending in the Y direction has a diamond-shaped electrode unit arranged in the Y direction, and a connection wiring connecting adjacent ones of the same electrode unit. The electrode pattern extending in the X direction has an electrode unit which is separated by the connection wiring and arranged in the X direction. An insulating layer is formed on the connection wiring, and a bridge wiring that electrically connects the electrode units arranged in the X direction is formed on the surface of the insulating layer.

In the touch panel, driving power is applied to a plurality of electrode patterns extending in the X direction and a plurality of electrode patterns extending in the Y direction. Once the finger that is a conductor and is close to the ground potential is close to any of the electrode units, in addition to the electrostatic capacitance between the electrode units, an electrostatic capacitance is also formed between the finger and the electrode unit, and a current flowing in the electrode pattern is generated. Variety.

By detecting the change, it is possible to detect which position the finger is close to on the X-Y coordinate surface on which the electrode pattern is arranged.

[Previous Technical Literature] [Patent Document]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-271796

[Patent Document 2] International Publication WO2010/029979

The portable device or the like forms the substrate and the electrode pattern and the insulating layer of the touch panel with a light transmissive material, and the touch panel is disposed on the surface of the color liquid crystal panel.

The color liquid crystal panel has color filters on its inner or outer surface. The color filter is such that the R (red), G (green), and B (blue) three-color sub-pixels are grouped into one group to represent the color of the image. A common color filter is a rectangular sub-pixel of each color, and is regularly arranged in the X direction and the Y direction. The X direction and the Y direction are consistent with the extending direction of the electrode pattern of the touch panel.

In the touch panel described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, the insulating layer in which the bridge wiring is insulated is formed in a square shape, and each of the insulating layers has a side portion parallel to the X direction and a side portion parallel to the Y direction. If the edge portion of the insulating layer has such a shape, the edge portion of the insulating layer and the sub-pixels of the color filter are arranged in the same direction, and when color display light is given, light may be generated due to the edge portion of the insulating layer. flicker. In particular, if any one of the three primary colors is given from the color liquid crystal panel, the color of the insulating layer is likely to cause flicker.

The bridge wiring between the electrode units of the touch panel-based conductive electrode pattern described in FIG. 14 of the above-mentioned Patent Document 2 and the insulating layer insulated therebetween are inclined obliquely with respect to the X direction and the Y direction. In this touch panel, the electrode units that are electrically connected to each other and are adjacent to each other are not arranged in the X direction and the Y direction, and the respective electrode units are obliquely arranged differently from each other. Therefore, the insulating layer is formed in a pattern facing the oblique direction in cooperation with the obliquely extending bridge wiring.

In the touch panel described in FIG. 14 of Patent Document 2, the electrode unit which is originally arranged on the straight line in the Y direction at the same position on the X coordinate is not located on the straight line, but is disposed in the X direction. In different locations. Similarly, the electrode units which are originally arranged on the straight line in the X direction at the same position on the Y coordinate are not located on a straight line, but are disposed at positions different in the Y direction. Therefore, the conventional touch panel in which the electrode layers are arranged in the two directions of the X direction and the Y direction differs in the driving method and the detection method, and lacks versatility.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an input device in which a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer are arranged in a mutually orthogonal X-direction and Y-direction. In the case of giving color display light, the presence of an insulating layer that insulates the bridge wiring layer is inconspicuous.

The present invention is an input device which is provided on the same surface of a light-transmitting substrate, and is provided with a light-transmitting first electrode layer and a light-transmitting second electrode layer, wherein the first electrode layer has an orientation a plurality of first main electrode portions arranged in the first direction and a plurality of connecting portions connecting the first main electrode portions, and the second electrode layer has a direction orthogonal to the first direction via the connecting portion a plurality of second main electrode portions arranged in two directions; and a translucent insulating layer that insulates the bridge wiring layer between the adjacent second main electrode portions from the connection portion, and the bridge wiring layer The insulating layer has a side portion that is non-parallel with respect to both of the first direction and the second direction.

The input device of the present invention is provided with a display panel for giving display light to the back side of the substrate, and a color filter is disposed on the inner or outer surface of the display panel, and each sub-pixel of the color filter is first The direction is aligned with the second direction.

The sub-pixel is a rectangle whose long side is oriented in parallel with the first direction or the second direction.

In the input device of the present invention, it is preferable that the insulating layer has a polygonal shape, and all of the sides extend in a direction that is non-parallel to both of the first direction and the second direction. The above insulating layer in this case is preferably a polygonal shape of a square or more.

Alternatively, in the input device of the present invention, it is preferable that a side portion of at least a part of the insulating layer has a curved shape. For example, the above insulating layer is circular or elliptical.

In the input device of the present invention, the side portion of the insulating layer in which the first electrode layer and the bridge wiring layer are insulated is oriented in a direction inclined with respect to both the X direction and the Y direction. When the display panel is provided with the color display light of the back, the side of the sub-pixel of the color filter and the side of the insulating layer become non-parallel, and the existence of the insulating layer becomes inconspicuous due to the color display light, and is easily prevented from being insulated. Part of the layer produces a phenomenon of light flicker.

1‧‧‧Input device

2‧‧‧ Coverage

3‧‧‧Back film

4‧‧‧ITO layer

10‧‧‧Touch panel

11‧‧‧Transmissive substrate

11a‧‧‧ surface

12‧‧‧1st electrode layer

12a‧‧‧1st main electrode section

12b‧‧‧Connecting Department

13‧‧‧2nd electrode layer

13a‧‧‧2nd main electrode section

14‧‧‧Insulation

14A‧‧‧Insulation

14B‧‧‧Insulation

14C‧‧‧Insulation

14D‧‧‧Insulation

14E‧‧‧Insulation

14F‧‧‧Insulation

14G‧‧‧Insulation

14a‧‧‧Edge

14b‧‧‧Edge

15‧‧‧Bridge wiring layer

17‧‧‧ solder pad

16‧‧‧electrode layer

18‧‧‧Electrical layer

19‧‧‧ solder pad

20‧‧‧ display panel

21‧‧‧Light guide layer

22‧‧‧Polarizing filter

23‧‧‧Lower glass substrate

24‧‧‧lower transparent electrode

25‧‧‧Alignment layer

26‧‧‧Liquid layer

27‧‧‧Alignment layer

28‧‧‧Upper transparent electrode

29‧‧‧Color filters

31‧‧‧Upper glass substrate

32‧‧‧ polarizing filter

35B‧‧‧Subpixel

35G‧‧‧ subpixel

35R‧‧‧ subpixel

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the construction of the input device of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory view showing an arrangement pattern of electrode layers.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view showing a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the relative positional relationship between the arrangement of the sub-pixels of the color filter and the insulating layer in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a plan view showing the relative positional relationship between the arrangement of the sub-pixels of the color filter and the insulating layer in the comparative example.

Fig. 7 is a plan view showing the relationship between the pattern of the electrode layer and the insulating layer in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 (A) and (B) are plan views showing the relationship between the pattern of the electrode layer and the insulating layer of the modification.

Fig. 9 is a plan view showing the relationship between the pattern of the electrode layer and the insulating layer of the modification.

Figure 10 (A) (B) shows the plane of the relationship between the pattern of the electrode layer and the insulating layer of the modified example. Figure.

Fig. 11 (A) and (B) are plan views showing the relationship between the pattern of the electrode layer and the insulating layer of the modification.

The input device 1 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is an integrated touch panel 10 and a display panel 20. However, the input device 1 of the present invention, which is circulated, includes only the touch panel 10 for the purpose of being combined with the display panel 20. 1 and 2, the X direction is the lateral direction of the input device 1, and the Y direction is the longitudinal direction of the input device 1. The Y direction is the first direction, and the X direction is the second direction.

The touch panel 10 constituting the input device 1 is formed on the surface 11a of the one translucent substrate 11 facing the input side, and the first electrode layer 12 and the second electrode layer 13 are formed. The light transmittance in the present specification is not limited to being purely transparent, and preferably includes, for example, a total light transmittance of 80% or more.

The substrate 11 is made of a flexible film material, for example, a PET film. The first electrode layer 12 and the second electrode layer 13 are made of a light-transmitting conductive material such as ITO, SnQ ₂ or ZnO.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first electrode layer 12 has a plurality of first main electrode portions 12a having a quadrangular shape or a rhombic shape. The plurality of first main electrode portions 12a are linearly arranged in the Y direction, and the first main electrode portions 12a adjacent in the Y direction are connected by the connecting portion 12b. The first main electrode portion 12a and the connecting portion 12b are integrally formed of the same conductive material.

The second electrode layer 13 has a plurality of second main electrode portions 13a. The second main electrode portion 13a has the same shape and the same area as the first main electrode portion 12a. The second main electrode portion 13a is formed independently of each other via the connection portion 12b of the first electrode layer 12, and is linearly arranged in the X direction.

By using a sputtering method or a vapor deposition method on the surface 11a of the light-transmitting substrate 11 such as PET, a film of a transparent conductive material film such as ITO having a thickness of 0.01 to 0.05 μm is used as a material, and The transparent conductive material layer is etched, whereby the first electrode layer 12 and the second electrode layer 13 are simultaneously patterned. FIG. 7 shows a portion of the pattern shape of the first main electrode portion 12a of the first electrode layer 12 and one of the specific pattern shapes of the connection portion 12b and the second main electrode portion 13a of the second electrode layer 13.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an insulating layer 14 is formed on each of the connection portions 12b of the first electrode layer 12. The insulating layer 14 is formed of a light transmissive organic insulating material such as a novolak resin. After the first electrode layer 12 and the second electrode layer 13 are formed on the surface 11a of the substrate 11, the insulating layer 14 is formed in a specific shape on the surface of the connecting portion 12a by photolithography or the like.

A bridge wiring layer 15 is formed on the surface of the insulating layer 14, and the second main electrode portions 13a adjacent to each other in the X direction via the connecting portion 12b are electrically connected to each other. The bridge wiring layer 15 is a laminated conductive layer of ITO/CuNi or ITO/Ni, a conductive layer of ITO/Au or an ITO/Au alloy, ITO/CuNi/ITO, ITO/Au/ITO, ITO/Au alloy/ITO An equal buildup of conductive layers is formed. In order to make the bridge wiring layer 15 difficult to visualize, it is formed to be thin and thin. A conductive layer having a thin film thickness is formed on the insulating layer 14, and the bridge wiring layer 15 is formed by selective etching.

As shown in FIG. 3, one of the first electrode layers 12 connected in the Y direction by the connecting portion 12b is drawn to the Y extraction electrode layer 16 for each straight line and is extracted to the outside of the detection region. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of first pad portions 17 are formed on the side portions of the substrate 11, and the respective Y extraction electrode layers 16 are individually connected to the first pad portion 17. One of the second electrode layers 13 connected in the X direction by the bridge wiring layer 15 is extracted into the X extraction electrode layer 18 for each row, and is extracted to the outside of the detection region, and each of them is individually connected to FIG. The second pad portion 19 is shown.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the surface 11a of the substrate 11 of the touch panel 10 is covered with a cover layer 2. The cover layer 2 is formed of a light-transmitting resin such as polycarbonate or a glass plate. The cover layer 2 and the touch panel 10 are followed by a translucent optical adhesive layer (OCA).

The touch panel 10 is formed with an electrostatic electricity between the first electrode layer 12 and the second electrode layer 13 When the finger is brought into contact with the surface of the cover layer 2 by an input operation, an electrostatic capacitance is increased between the first main electrode portion 12a or the second main electrode portion 13a and the finger, and the total value of the electrostatic capacitance changes.

By sequentially applying driving power to each row of the first electrode layer 12 and measuring all the current values detected from the second electrode layer 13, it is possible to calculate which of the plurality of first main electrode portions 12a the finger is closest to. Further, by sequentially applying driving power to each row of the second electrode layer 13, and measuring all the current values detected from the first electrode layer 12, it is possible to calculate which of the plurality of second main electrode portions 13a the finger is closest to. One. By this detection operation, the position on the X-Y coordinate of the operation portion to which the finger is in contact can be specified on the surface of the cover layer 2.

In the touch panel 10 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the first main electrode portions 12a constituting the first electrode layer 12 are arranged in a line in the Y direction, and constitute the second main electrode of the second electrode layer 13. The electrode portions 12b are arranged in a straight line in the X direction. Therefore, by sequentially applying driving power to the first electrode layer 12 and monitoring the current of the second electrode layer 13, the driving power is sequentially applied to the second electrode layer 13, and the current of the first electrode layer 12 is monitored. The position on the XY coordinates of the position touched by the finger on the cover layer 2 can be easily calculated by the general method.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a back film 3 such as PET is adhered to the back of the touch panel 10 via a translucent optical adhesive layer (OCA). On either surface of the back film 3, the ITO layer 4 is entirely provided, and the ITO layer is set at the ground potential. The ITO layer 4 can reduce the influence of the driving signal of the back display panel 20, and stabilize the detection operation of the touch panel 10.

The display panel 20 shown in the cross-sectional view of Fig. 2 is a color liquid crystal panel. The display panel 20 has a light guiding layer 21 for backlighting. Light emitted from a light source such as an LED is given to the layer above it from the light guiding layer 21. On the upper surface of the light guiding layer 21, a polarizing filter 22, a lower glass substrate 23, a lower transparent electrode 24, and an alignment layer 25 are sequentially laminated. On the upper surface of the liquid crystal layer 26, an alignment layer 27, an upper transparent electrode 28, a color filter 29, an upper glass substrate 31, and a polarizing filter 32 are disposed in this order.

Fig. 5 shows sub-pixels 35R, 35G, 35B constituting the color filter 29. The sub-pixel 35R is a red layer, the sub-pixel 35G is a green layer, and the sub-pixel 35B is a blue layer. The three color sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B all have the same shape and the same area, and are short sides in which the short side is parallel to the X direction, and the long side is parallel to the Y direction. As shown in FIG. 5, the three color sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B are one set, and each set is arranged in a straight line with respect to the X direction and the Y direction.

The lower transparent electrode 24 and the upper transparent electrode 28 of the display panel 20 are driven to drive electric power, and the light transmittance of the liquid crystal pixels corresponding to the respective sub-pixels is controlled, and color display is performed by superimposing and mixing.

Further, the color filter 29 may be provided on the outer surface of the glass substrate 31 above the upper side of the display panel 20.

The color display light emitted from the display panel 20 is transmitted through the back film 3 and the touch panel 10 and the cover layer 2 to the front to give the operator a color image. The insulating layer 14 and the bridging wiring layer 15 are provided in a plurality of portions of the touch panel 10, and the bridging wiring layer 15 is formed as thin and thin as possible, and the bridging wiring layer 15 is designed to be inconspicuous to the operator when visually observed.

In order to ensure the insulation between the connection portion 12b of the first electrode layer 12 and the bridge wiring layer 15, it is necessary to form the insulating layer 14 in a wide area to some extent. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the input device 1 of the first embodiment has the insulating layer 14 having a polygonal shape of four sides, that is, a square shape, and the side portions 14a and sides which form mutually orthogonal sides are formed. The portion 14b is formed to be inclined with respect to the arrangement direction of the sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B, that is, the XY axis.

Fig. 6 shows a comparative example. In the comparative example, the same size as the embodiment of Fig. 5 is used to form the insulating layer 14 which is also square, and the side portions 14a and the side portions 14b which form the two sides of the insulating layer 14 are formed to face and X-axis, respectively. The direction in which the Y axis is parallel.

In the comparative example shown in FIG. 6, if color display light is applied from the display panel 20 to the touch panel 10, a light-emitting reaction occurs at the side of the insulating layer 14, resulting in a color image sometimes given to the operator. Most of the flashing was visually observed. Especially in the display of any of the three primary colors In the area of the image, it is easy to visually recognize the above flicker.

It is estimated that the main reason is that since the long sides of the rectangular sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B are parallel to the side portion 14b of the insulating layer 14, the same hue emitted by the sub-pixels in the long region from the Y direction tends to concentrate on the same side. The portion 14b; and, as shown in Fig. 4, the color of the same hue emitted from the sub-pixels of the three primary colors is easily emphasized because of the lens effect of the slightly curved side portion 14b.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, if the side portions 14a and 14b of the insulating layer 14 are formed to be inclined so as to traverse the long sides of the sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B, the colors of the same hue are difficult to concentrate on the side portions. 14b; As a result, it is difficult to generate flicker in the area where the color image is displayed, particularly in the area where the monochrome of the three primary colors is displayed.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, in the case where the insulating layer 14 has a square pattern, the angle at which the side portion 14a is inclined to the X-axis and the angle at which the side portion 14b is inclined to the Y-axis are preferably between 15 and 30 degrees. This tendency is the same even if the insulating layer 14 is rectangular.

Fig. 8 is a view showing an example of a variation of the insulating layer pattern effective in the present invention.

The insulating layer 14A shown in Fig. 8(A) is a square insulating layer 14 as shown in Figs. 5 and 7, with the two sides 14a, 14b being 45 with respect to the X-axis and the Y-axis. Formed by the way the angle is tilted. The insulating layer 14B shown in Fig. 8(B) is a diamond or diamond shape in which the width of the X-axis of the insulating layer 14A shown in Fig. 8(A) is shorter than the width of the Y-axis. Since all the edges of the insulating layers 14A, 14B shown in FIG. 8(A)(B) are not parallel to the sides of the sub-pixels 35R, 35G, 35B, especially the long sides, and FIG. 5 and FIG. The embodiment shown in the above is the same, and it is easy to prevent the occurrence of flicker in the color display light passing through the insulating layer 14.

The variation shown in Fig. 9 is that the insulating layer 14C has a polygonal shape, that is, a hexagonal shape; and the four side portions are inclined with respect to the sides of the sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B. The insulating layer 14D shown in Fig. 10(A) and the insulating layer 14E shown in Fig. 10(B) have a polygonal shape, that is, an octagon shape. All of the insulating layers 14D and 14E are formed to be inclined with respect to the sides of the sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B. Therefore, the insulating layers 14C, 14D, and 14E also easily prevent the flicker of the color display light.

The insulating layer 14F shown in Fig. 11(A) is a true circle, and the insulating layer 14G shown in Fig. 11(B) is elliptical or oblong. Since the insulating layers 14F and 14G are not parallel to the sides of the sub-pixels 35R, 35G, and 35B, it is easy to prevent flicker of the color display light.

Further, the pattern shape of the insulating layer may be a shape in which a side portion on a straight line extending obliquely with respect to both the X direction and the Y direction is combined with a curved side portion.

12a‧‧‧1st main electrode section

13a‧‧‧2nd main electrode section

14‧‧‧Insulation

14a‧‧‧Edge

14b‧‧‧Edge

15‧‧‧Bridge wiring layer

29‧‧‧Color filters

35B‧‧‧Subpixel

35G‧‧‧ subpixel

35R‧‧‧ subpixel

Claims (7)

An input device in which a translucent first electrode layer and a translucent second electrode layer are provided on the same surface of a light-transmitting substrate, wherein the first electrode layer is arranged to be aligned in the first direction a plurality of first main electrode portions and a plurality of connecting portions that connect the first main electrode portions, and the second electrode layer includes the connecting portions and is arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction a plurality of second main electrode portions; and a translucent insulating layer that insulates the bridge wiring layer between the adjacent second main electrode portions from the connection portion, and the bridge wiring layer faces in the second direction The insulating layer has a side portion that is non-parallel with respect to both of the first direction and the second direction. The input device of claim 1, wherein a display panel for giving display light to the back side of the substrate is provided, and a color filter is disposed on an inner or outer surface of the display panel, and each sub-pixel of the color filter is provided. The first direction and the second direction are arranged. The input device of claim 2, wherein the sub-pixel is rectangular and has a long side that is oriented in a direction parallel to the first direction or the second direction. The input device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the insulating layer has a polygonal shape, and all of the sides extend in a direction non-parallel to both of the first direction and the second direction. The input device of claim 4, wherein the insulating layer is a polygonal shape of a quadrangle or more. The input device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a side portion of at least a portion of the insulating layer is curved. The input device of claim 6, wherein the insulating layer is circular or elliptical.