Merged floating pixels in a touch screen

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11893183-B2
Application number	US-201916510410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2019
Priority date	Apr 24, 2015
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

Abstract

Touch sensor panel configurations for reducing wobble error for a stylus translating on a surface over and between electrodes of the touch sensor panel are disclosed. In some examples, electrodes with more linear signal profiles are correlated with lower wobble error. In some examples, diffusing elements formed of floating segments of conductive materials can diffuse signal from a stylus to a plurality of electrodes, thus, making the signal profiles associated with the electrodes more linear. In addition, diffusing elements can be configured to improve the optical uniformity of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the diffusing elements can be formed on the same layer as floating dummy pixels and resemble a plurality of merged floating dummy pixels.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A touch sensor panel comprising:
a first layer of a first conductive material including a plurality of electrically isolated electrodes including a first electrode having a first width and a first length longer than the first width, a second electrode having a second width and a second length longer than the second width, and a gap free of the first conductive material separating the first electrode and the second electrode, each of the first electrode and the second electrode configured to be driven with a stimulation signal; and
a second layer of a second conductive material including a third electrode, a fourth electrode, and a first floating conductor, the third and fourth electrodes configured to be capacitively coupled with the first and second electrodes, respectively, to generate touch signals for mutual capacitance touch sensing, wherein the first floating conductor includes
a first portion of the first floating conductor formed over less than a full first width of the first electrode, and
a second portion of the first floating conductor formed over less than a full second width of the second electrode.

2. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein a third portion of the first floating conductor is formed over the gap between the first electrode and the second electrode; and
wherein the first portion, the third portion, and the second portion of the first floating conductor are arranged along a first axis.

3. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the first electrode is configured to be capacitively coupled to the first floating conductor; and
the second electrode is configured to be capacitively coupled to the first floating conductor.

4. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the first conductive material comprises a transparent or semi-transparent conductive material;
the second conductive material comprises a transparent or semi-transparent conductive material; and
an index of refraction of the second conductive material is the same as an index of refraction of the first conductive material.

5. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein the second layer of second conductive material is disposed on a substrate of the touch sensor panel.

6. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein the second conductive material and the first conductive material are a same material.

7. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein the first floating conductor comprises a mesh pattern of the second conductive material.

8. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the first electrode and the second electrode have a pitch;
the first floating conductor has a length; and
a ratio between the pitch of the first and second electrodes and the length of the first floating conductor is greater than three.

9. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , wherein:
the second layer of the second conductive material further includes a plurality of floating conductors, the plurality of floating conductors including the first floating conductor; and
the plurality of floating conductors further includes a set of floating dummy pixels disposed in a same layer as the second layer of the second conductive material in one or more repeating patterns.

10. The touch sensor panel of claim 9 , wherein:
the second layer of second conductive material further includes a second plurality of electrically isolated electrodes; and
each of the plurality of floating conductors has substantially a same width.

11. The touch sensor panel of claim 9 , wherein the first floating conductor has a length substantially equal to a combined length of a number of floating dummy pixels and a plurality of spaces between the number of floating dummy pixels.

12. A method for detecting an object proximate to a touch sensor panel, comprising:
driving a first stimulation signal on a first electrode having a first width and a first length longer than the first width on a first layer of the touch sensor panel, and driving a second stimulation signal on a second electrode having a second width and a second length longer than the second width on the first layer of the touch sensor panel and separated from the first electrode by a gap;
capacitively coupling the object to the first electrode and the second electrode on the first layer of the touch sensor panel at least partially through a first segment of floating conductive material on a second layer of the touch sensor panel;
capacitively coupling the first electrode with a third electrode on the second layer to enable mutual capacitance touch sensing at the third electrode, and capacitively coupling the second electrode with a fourth electrode on the second layer to enable mutual capacitance touch sensing at the fourth electrode, and generating touch signals on the third electrode and the fourth electrode; and
overlapping a first portion of the first segment of floating conductive material with less than a full first width of the first electrode and overlapping a second portion of the first segment of floating conductive material with less than a full second width of the second electrode.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
locating a third portion of the first segment of floating conductive material over the gap between the first electrode and the second electrode; and
arranging the first portion, the third portion, and the second portion of the first segment of floating conductive material along a first axis.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising forming a set of floating dummy pixels on the second layer of the touch sensor panel in one or more repeating patterns.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising forming a plurality of electrically isolated electrodes on the second layer of the touch sensor panel.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Chan Isaac
• Bugnait Prathit
• Lin Albert
• Tung Chun-Hao
• Kang Sunggu
• Zhong John Z

Classifications

• G06F3/0418 Primary

  for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment · CPC title

• G06F3/03545

  Pens or stylus · CPC title

• G06F3/044 Primary

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G09G3/3659

  the addressing of the pixel involving the control of two or more scan electrodes or two or more data electrodes, e.g. pixel voltage dependant on signal of two data electrodes · CPC title

• G06F2203/04804

  Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows · CPC title