TWI747617B - Touch front light module and touch display - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch front light module comprises a touch light guide unit, a light-emitting unit, and a protective layer. The touch light guide unit includes a glass plate, which has a top surface, a bottom surface opposite to the top surface, and a side surface connecting the top surface and the bottom surface, a touch layer formed on the top surface, and a microstructure layer, which is formed on the bottom surface and has a plurality of microstructures used for scattering light. The light-emitting unit is located beside the touch light guide unit so as to emit light toward the side surface of the glass plate. The protective layer covers the touch layer. The touch front light module is integrated with light guide, touch and protection functions, such that the touch front light module is thinner and lighter and the manufacturing costs can be decreased.

Description

Touch front light module and touch display

The present invention relates to a touch front light module, in particular to a touch front light module and a touch display.

Generally, light-reflective displays can use ambient light to provide light to achieve a display effect, thereby saving power, and are suitable for portable display devices such as e-book readers. Although the light-reflective display can use the light in the environment to display, it is necessary to use the front light module to provide a light source in a dim and low-light environment to maintain the display function.

At present, portable display devices usually have a touch function to facilitate operation and use. Referring to FIG. 1, the existing light reflection type display 9 with touch function mainly consists of a display module 91, a plastic light guide plate 92, and an LED light source. 93. A touch module 94 and a protective glass 95 are formed. The display module 91, the light guide plate 92, the touch module 94 and the protective glass 95 are bonded together with an optical adhesive layer 96. The LED light source 93 is provided On the side of the light guide plate 92, light is incident from the side of the light guide plate 92. Since the display module 91 and the light guide plate 92, between the light guide plate 92 and the touch module 94, and between the touch module 94 and the protective glass 95 need to be bonded with an optical adhesive layer 96, a multilayer bonding structure Not only increases the cost but also increases the difficulty of the operation. In addition, the existing light guide plate 92 is mostly made of plastic material and is made by injection molding. The thickness is relatively thick. With the touch module 94 and protective glass 95, the overall structure is relatively thick and heavy, which cannot satisfy the lightness and thinness of portable display devices. Demand.

Therefore, one of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a thinner and lighter touch front light module.

Therefore, in some implementations of the touch front light module of the present invention, a touch light guide unit, a light emitting unit, and a protective layer are included. The touch light guide unit includes a glass plate, a touch layer and a microstructure layer. The glass plate has a top surface and a bottom surface on opposite sides, and a side surface connecting the top surface and the bottom surface. The touch layer is formed on the top surface. The microstructure layer is formed on the bottom surface and has a plurality of microstructures for scattering light. The light-emitting unit is arranged on the side of the touch light guide unit so that light is incident from the side of the glass plate. The protective layer covers the touch control layer.

In some embodiments, the protective layer is a hard coating and directly contacts the touch layer.

In some embodiments, the thickness of the protective layer is between 0.05 mm and 1 mm.

In some embodiments, the touch light guide unit has a thickness ranging from 0.3 mm to 3 mm.

In some embodiments, the microstructures are optical dots.

In some embodiments, the projected area of the microstructure located close to the side surface on the bottom surface is relatively smaller than the projected area of the microstructure located far away from the side surface on the bottom surface.

In some embodiments, in a unit area, the total projected area occupied by the microstructures disposed close to the side surface is relatively smaller than the total projected area occupied by the microstructures disposed far away from the side surface.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a thinner and lighter touch display.

Therefore, in some embodiments, the touch display of the present invention includes a display module and the aforementioned touch front light module disposed on the display module.

In some embodiments, the touch front light module is bonded to the display module through an optical adhesive layer.

In some embodiments, the touch display further includes an outer frame, the outer frame has an accommodating space, and the touch front light module and the display module are accommodated in the accommodating space.

The present invention has at least the following effects: by having the light guiding, touch and protection functions of the touch front light module, the touch front light module can be made thinner and lighter, and the manufacturing cost can be saved.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, an embodiment of the touch display 100 of the present invention includes a display module 10 and a touch front light module 20 disposed on the display module 10. In this embodiment, the display module 10 is an electrophoretic display module. In a modified embodiment, the display module 10 may be a liquid crystal display module, which is not limited.

The front light module 20 includes a touch light guide unit 1, a light emitting unit 2 and a protective layer 3. In this embodiment, the touch front light module 20 not only has light guide and touch functions, but also provides a protection function for the display module 10, which serves as the component on the side closest to the user of the touch display 100 and is available for use. The person performs a touch operation.

The touch light guide unit 1 includes a glass plate 11, a touch layer 12, and a microstructure layer 13, and the overall thickness is between 0.3 mm and 3 mm. The glass plate 11 has a top surface 111 and a bottom surface 112 on opposite sides, and a side surface 113 connecting the top surface 111 and the bottom surface 112, wherein the top surface 111 is a surface relatively close to the user. The glass plate 11 serves as a protective cover, and the applicable material can be aluminosilicate glass and soda glass. In some embodiments, in order to enhance the strength of the glass plate 11, so that it has the advantages of not being easily deformed, harder, and more scratch-resistant, the glass plate 11 may undergo a chemical strengthening process, that is, the glass plate 11 may be immersed in high-temperature potassium nitrate. The sodium ions of the glass plate 11 are replaced with potassium ions of potassium nitrate to achieve a glass strengthening effect.

The touch layer 12 is formed on the top surface 111 of the glass plate 11. In some embodiments, the touch layer 12 adopts projected capacitive touch technology. More specifically, the touch layer 12 may be formed to include a plurality of conductive electrodes 121 through a patterning process such as exposure, development, and etching. In addition, the touch layer 12 can be designed as a single-layer electrode structure, a bridge-type single-layer electrode structure, a double-layer electrode structure, etc., which are provided on the same side (top surface 111) of the glass plate 11, for example. For the convenience of description, FIG. 3 only schematically illustrates the two-axis (such as X-axis and Y-axis) conductive electrodes 121 that are insulated from each other and arranged vertically. Furthermore, the material of the touch layer 12 may include a transparent conductive material, such as, but not limited to, nano metal, indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), and antimony oxide. Tin (antimony tin oxide, ATO), antimony zinc oxide (AZO), carbon nanotubes, graphene (graphene) or other suitable transparent conductive materials.

The microstructure layer 13 is formed on the bottom surface 112 and has a plurality of microstructures 131 for scattering light. In some embodiments, the microstructures 131 are optical dots (diffusion dots) formed by printing ink. In other embodiments, the formation of the microstructures 131 can also be laser processing or coating. The shape of the optical dots is also different. Limited to a circle. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the light-emitting unit 2 is, for example, disposed on the side surface 113 of the glass plate 11. In the arrangement of optical dots, the projected area of each optical dot on the bottom surface 112 is the closer to the light-emitting unit 2. Designed to have a smaller area, that is, the projected area of the microstructure 131 formed on the bottom surface 112 of the glass plate 11 near the side surface 113 is relatively smaller than the projected area far away from the side surface 113, so that in a unit area, it is formed near the side surface 113. The total projected area occupied by the optical dots on the side surface 113 (light source) is relatively smaller than the total projected area occupied by the optical dots formed away from the side surface 113, thereby generating a uniform surface light source.

It is supplemented that, in terms of actual design, in this embodiment, the touch layer 12 is first formed on the top surface 111 of the glass plate 11 to form a one glass solution (OGS) and a single-sided type. (One side solution) touch panel, and because of the design of the above-mentioned touch panel type, the microstructure layer 13 can be further arranged on the bottom surface 112 of the glass plate 11, so that the touch panel can increase the guide Function of light effect.

The light-emitting unit 2 is arranged on the side of the touch light guide unit 1, for example, on the side surface 113 of the glass plate 11, so that light is incident from the side surface 113 of the glass plate 11. In some embodiments, the light-emitting unit 2 adopts an LED lamp, but other known light sources that can be used in displays can also be implemented without limitation.

The protective layer 3 covers the touch layer 12 to provide a higher surface strength and provide a flattening effect. In some embodiments, the protective layer 3 is a hard coating (Hard Coat) formed on the touch layer 12 and directly contacts the touch layer 12, and the thickness may be between 0.05 mm and 1 mm. Among them, the material of the hard coat layer includes but is not limited to: polyacrylate, epoxy resin, polyurethane, polysiloxane, polysiloxane, poly(silicon-acrylic), etc. Furthermore, the protective layer 3 can be further added with crosslinking agents, polymerization inhibitors, stabilizers (such as but not limited to antioxidants, UV stabilizers), surfactants or the above-mentioned analogs or mixtures to improve Optical effect and better protection.

In view of the structure of the touch display 100, the front light module 20 is bonded to the display module 10 through an optical adhesive layer 4. More specifically, the light module 20 before touch is attached to the display module 10 on one side of the microstructure layer 13 in the light guide unit 1. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, the touch display 100 may further include an outer frame 30, and the outer frame 30 has an accommodating space 301, and the aforementioned touch front light module 20 and the display module 10 are stacked The structure is that the entire accommodating space 301 is accommodated, and the front-touch light module 20 provides a surface for the user to watch the image of the display module 10 and touch the operation surface.

In summary, the light guide function is added through the design of the touch panel, so that the overall touch front light module 20 has both light guide, touch and protection functions, compared with the existing protective glass, light guide plate and The lamination structure of the touch module can reduce the structure of the light guide plate and the optical adhesive layer, which can not only reduce the thickness and weight of the structure itself, achieve the effect of lightness and thinness, but also reduce the lamination process and materials, and save manufacturing costs.

However, the above are only examples of the present invention, and should not be used to limit the scope of implementation of the present invention, all simple equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of the patent application of the present invention and the content of the patent specification still belong to This invention patent covers the scope.

100: Touch display 10: Display module 20: Touch front light module 1: Touch light guide unit 11: glass plate 111: top surface 112: Bottom 113: side 12: Touch layer 121: conductive electrode 13: Microstructure layer 131: Microstructure 2: Light-emitting unit 3: protective layer 4: Optical adhesive layer 30: Outer frame 301: accommodating space 9: display 91: display module 92: light guide plate 93: LED light source 94: Touch module 95: protective glass 96: Optical Adhesive Layer

Other features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the embodiments with reference to the drawings, in which: 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of a conventional light reflective display with touch function; 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of an embodiment of the touch display of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the touch light guide unit of the embodiment with the touch layer facing upward; and FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the touch light guide unit of the embodiment with the microstructure layer facing upward.

100: Touch display

10: Display module

20: Touch front light module

1: Touch light guide unit

2: Light-emitting unit

3: protective layer

4: Optical adhesive layer

30: Outer frame

301: accommodating space

Claims (9)

A touch front light module includes: a touch light guide unit, including a glass plate, a touch layer, and a microstructure layer. The glass plate has a top surface and a bottom surface on opposite sides, and connections A side surface of the top surface and the bottom surface, the touch control layer is formed on the top surface, the microstructure layer is formed on the bottom surface and has a plurality of microstructures for scattering light; a light emitting unit is disposed on the touch guide Light is incident on the side of the light unit from the side of the glass plate; and a protective layer, which is a hard coating, directly contacts and covers the touch control layer. The touch front light module according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the protective layer is between 0.05 mm and 1 mm. The touch front light module according to claim 1, wherein the touch light guide unit has a thickness ranging from 0.3 mm to 3 mm. The touch front light module according to claim 1, wherein the microstructures are optical dots. The touch front light module according to claim 1, wherein the projection area of the microstructure located close to the side surface on the bottom surface is relatively smaller than the projection area of the micro structure located far away from the side surface on the bottom surface. The touch front light module according to claim 5, wherein, in a unit area, the total projected area of the microstructure disposed close to the side surface is relatively smaller than that of the microstructure disposed far away from the side surface The total projected area occupied. A touch display includes: a display module; and a touch front light module according to claim 1, which is arranged on the display module. The touch display according to claim 7, wherein the touch front light module is bonded to the display module through an optical adhesive layer. The touch display according to claim 7, further comprising an outer frame, the outer frame has an accommodating space, and the touch front light module and the display module are accommodated in the accommodating space.

Images