Force sensor and method of manufacturing the same, touch panel and touch display panel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10656748-B2
Application number	US-201815936639-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2018
Priority date	Oct 16, 2017
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

The disclosure provides a force sensor and a method of manufacturing the same, a touch panel and a touch display panel. The force sensor includes opposite first and second substrates, and a sensing electrode and a directional electrode arranged on the first and second substrates respectively, the first substrate is movable relative to the second substrate when being applied by a touch action with a force tending to incur a horizontal movement, to enable a relative movement between the sensing electrode and the directional electrode corresponding to at least one of a direction and a magnitude of the force and changing a relative position of the sensing electrode relative to the directional electrode, and the sensing electrode is configured to generate a sensing signal associated with the relative position and for determining a touch position and at least one of the direction and the magnitude of the force applied at the touch position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A force sensor, comprising a first substrate and a second substrate opposite to each other, a sensing electrode on one of the first substrate and the second substrate, and a directional electrode on the other one of the first substrate and the second substrate,
wherein, the first substrate is movable relative to the second substrate in response to being applied with a force by a touch action from a touch object and tending to incur a horizontal movement, so as to enable a relative movement between the sensing electrode and the directional electrode corresponding to at least one of a direction and a magnitude of the force and changing a relative position of the sensing electrode with respect to the directional electrode, and
the sensing electrode is configured to generate, under induction of a voltage signal applied to the directional electrode, a sensing signal associated with the relative position and used for determining a touch position of the touch action and at least one of the direction and the magnitude of the force applied by the touch action at the touch position, and wherein
the force sensor further comprises a lubrication layer on the first substrate or the second substrate and for reducing a friction for the relative movement between the first substrate and the second substrate, the lubrication layer being in contact with the sensing electrode or the directional electrode on one of the first substrate and the second substrate opposite to the lubrication layer.

2. The force sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
one said sensing electrode is on a surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate while a plurality of said directional electrodes are on a surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate; or, a plurality of said directional electrodes are on the surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate while one said sensing electrode is on the surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate;
the plurality of sensing electrodes are arranged to be center symmetrical with the directional electrode as a center of symmetry; and
the sensing electrode is configured to, under induction of the voltage signal applied to the directional electrode and in response to a movement of the first substrate relative to the second substrate under the force, generate, by sensing a distance between the sensing electrode and the directional electrode, the sensing signal for determining the touch position of the touch action and at least one of the direction and the magnitude of the force applied at the touch position.

3. The force sensor according to claim 2 , further comprising a plurality of scan leading-out lines for applying different voltage signals to the plurality of directional electrodes respectively and a sense leading-out line for acquiring the sensing signal from the sensing electrode, the sense leading-out line being electrically connected with the sensing electrode, each of the plurality of scan leading-out lines being electrically connected with one of the plurality of directional electrodes.

4. The force sensor according to claim 3 , wherein
the plurality of scan leading-out lines and the sense leading-out line are on the first substrate or the second substrate; and
the sense leading-out line is electrically connected with the sensing electrode by a sensing connection electrode, and each of the plurality of scan leading-out lines is electrically connected with one of the plurality of directional electrodes by a scan connection electrode.

5. The force sensor according to claim 2 , wherein the number of the plurality of directional electrodes is in a range from two to eight.

6. The force sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
one said directional electrode is on a surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate while a plurality of said sensing electrodes are on a surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate; or, a plurality of said sensing electrodes are on the surface of the first substrate facing the second substrate while one said directional electrode is on the surface of the second substrate facing the first substrate;
the plurality of sensing electrodes are arranged to be center symmetrical with the directional electrode as a center of symmetry; and
the sensing electrode is configured to, under induction of the voltage signal applied to the directional electrode and in response to movement of the first substrate relative to the second substrate under the force, generate, by sensing a distance between the sensing electrode and the directional electrode, the sensing signal for determining the touch position of the touch action and at least one of the direction and the magnitude of the force applied at the touch position.

7. The force sensor according to claim 6 , further comprising a scan leading-out line for applying the voltage signal to the directional electrode and a plurality of sense leading-out lines for acquiring sensing signals from the plurality of sensing electrodes respectively, each of the plurality of sense leading-out lines being electrically connected with one of the plurality of sensing electrodes, the scan leading-out line being electrically connected with the directional electrode.

8. The force sensor according to claim 7 , wherein
the scan leading-out line and the plurality of sense leading-out lines are on the first substrate or the second substrate; and
each of the plurality of the sense leading-out lines is electrically connected with one of the plurality of the sensing electrodes by a sensing connection electrode, and the scan leading-out line is electrically connected with the directional electrode by a scan connection electrode.

9. The force sensor according to claim 6 , wherein the number of the plurality of sensing electrodes is in a range from two to eight.

10. The force sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising a dielectric layer, the dielectric layer being on the first substrate or the second substrate and comprising a plurality of dielectric blocks, each of the plurality of dielectric blocks being between the sensing electrode and the directional electrode.

11. The force sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising an insulation layer on the first substrate or the second substrate, the insulation layer being at an outer side of the sensing electrode or the directional electrode.

12. The force sensor according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the sensing electrode and the directional electrode is a columnar electrode extending between the first substrate and the second substrate.

13. A touch panel, comprising a plurality of said force sensors of claim 1 arranged in an array, wherein the touch panel further comprises:
a scanning circuit configured to input a voltage signal to each of the plurality of said force sensors in a scanning mode; and
a sensing circuit configured to acquire a sensing signal from each of the plurality of said force sensors, and to determine, according to the sensing signal, a touch position of a touch object on the touch panel and at least one of a direction and a magnitude of a force applied by the touch object at the touch position and tending to incur a horizontal movement.

14. A touch display panel, comprising a display panel and the touch panel of claim 13 .

15. A method of manufacturing a force sensor, comprising:
providing a first substrate and a second substrate, and forming a sensing electrode on one of the first substrate and the second substrate and a directional electrode on the other one of the first substrate and the second substrate

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Beijing Boe Display Tech Co

Inventors

• Yao Zhixiao
• Yu Haifeng

Classifications

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title

• G06F2203/04103

  Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices · CPC title

• G06F3/0414 Primary

  using force sensing means to determine a position · CPC title

• G06F3/04144

  using an array of force sensing means (position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells G06F3/0447) · CPC title

• G06F3/04164

  Connections between sensors and controllers, e.g. routing lines between electrodes and connection pads · CPC title