Touch electrode architecture for high-transmittance touch screen

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12314520-B2
Application number	US-202318174425-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2023
Priority date	Mar 1, 2022
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

Touch electrode architecture techniques can be used to reduce or eliminate metal mesh within the one or more high-transmittance regions of a touch screen including one or more high-transmittance regions. In some examples, one or more optical devices can be integrated with a touch screen such that light associated with the one or more optical devices passes through one or more layers of the touch screen. In some such examples, to avoid degrading performance of the optical devices, one or more high-transmittance regions can be used. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the high-transmittance can be achieved using touch electrode architecture techniques that use transparent or semi-transparent materials instead of opaque metal mesh within the high-transmittance regions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A touch screen comprising:
a display having an active area, the display including a plurality of light emitters configurable to display one or more images;
an optical device, different from the plurality of light emitters, in the active area at a position corresponding to a first region; and
a plurality of touch electrodes disposed in a first layer disposed over the active area of the display, wherein the plurality of touch electrodes includes:
a plurality of column touch electrodes including a first column touch electrode and a second column touch electrode, wherein the first column touch electrode and the second column touch electrode is formed at least partially of metal mesh; and
a plurality of row touch electrodes formed at least partially of metal mesh, wherein a first row touch electrode of the plurality of row touch electrodes is formed from a plurality of touch electrode segments interconnected by a first plurality of bridges formed at least partially in a second layer different from the first layer;

wherein a distance between two segments of the plurality of touch electrode segments is greater than a distance between two non-consecutive segments of a second plurality of touch electrode segments of a second row touch electrode of the plurality of row touch electrodes, wherein the two segments of the plurality of touch electrode segments are separated by one or fewer intervening segments.

2. The touch screen of claim 1 , wherein a first portion of the first column touch electrode, a first portion of the second column touch electrode, or a first portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments within the first region is formed from a transparent material and is patterned with a first pattern.

3. The touch screen of claim 2 , wherein a second portion of the first column touch electrode, a second portion of the second column touch electrode, or a second portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments outside the first region is formed from the metal mesh patterned with the first pattern.

4. The touch screen of claim 1 , wherein a first portion of the first column touch electrode, a first portion of the second column touch electrode, or a first portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments within the first region is formed from a transparent material and is solid.

5. The touch screen of claim 1 , wherein a first portion of the first column touch electrode, a first portion of the second column touch electrode, or a first portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments within the first region is disposed in the second layer or a third layer different from the first layer and the second layer.

6. The touch screen of claim 5 , wherein the first portion of the first column touch electrode disposed in the second layer or the third layer is coupled to a second portion of the first column touch electrode outside the first region using a first via, the first portion of the second column touch electrode disposed in the second layer or the third layer is coupled to a second portion of the second column touch electrode outside the first region using a second via, or the first portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments disposed in the second layer or the third layer is coupled to a second portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments outside the first region using a third via.

7. The touch screen of claim 5 , wherein the first portion of the first column touch electrode disposed in the second layer or the third layer is capacitively coupled to a second portion of the first column touch electrode outside the first region, the first portion of the second column touch electrode disposed in the second layer or the third layer is capacitively coupled to a second portion of the second column touch electrode outside the first region, or the first portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments disposed in the second layer or the third layer is capacitively coupled to a second portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments outside the first region.

8. A touch screen comprising:
a display having an active area, the display including a plurality of light emitters configurable to display one or more images;
an optical device, different from the plurality of light emitters, in the active area at a position corresponding to a first region; and
a plurality of touch electrodes disposed in a first layer disposed over the active area of the display, wherein the plurality of touch electrodes includes:
a plurality of column touch electrodes including a first column touch electrode and a second column touch electrode, wherein the first column touch electrode and the second column touch electrode is formed at least partially of metal mesh; and
a plurality of row touch electrodes formed at least partially of metal mesh, wherein a first row touch electrode of the plurality of row touch electrodes is formed from a plurality of touch electrode segments interconnected by a first plurality of bridges formed at least partially in a second layer different from the first layer;

wherein a first portion of the first column touch electrode, a first portion of the second column touch electrode, or a first portion of the at least one of the plurality of touch electrode segments within the first region is formed from a transparent material;
wherein the plurality of row touch electrodes includes a second row touch electrode formed from a second plurality of touch electrode segments interconnected by a second plurality of bridges;
wherein the plurality of touch electrode segments includes a first touch electrode segment and a second touch electrode segment, wherein the first region is between the first touch electrode segment and the second touch electrode segment;
wherein the second plurality of touch electrode segments includes a fourth touch electrode segment, a fifth touch electrode segment, and a sixth touch electrode segment, wherein the fourth touch electrode segment, the fifth touch electrode segment, and the sixth touch electrode segment are consecutive within the second row touch electrode; and
wherein a distance between the first touch electrode segment and the second touch electrode segment is greater than a distance between the fourth touch electrode segment and the sixth touch electrode segment.

9. The touch screen of claim 8 , wherein the first touch electrode segment corresponds to the first column touch electrode, the second touch electrode segment corresponds to the second column touch electrode, the fourth touch electrode segment corresponds to the first column touch electrode, the fifth touch electrode segment corresponds to the first column touch electrode and the second column touch electrode, and the sixth touch electrode segment corresponds to the second column touch electrode.

10. The touch screen of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of touch electrode segments includes a third touch electrode segment, and wherein a distance across the third touch electrode segment along a horizontal axis is greater than a distance across the fifth touch electrode segment along the horizontal axis.

11. The touch screen of claim 10 , wherein the third touch electrode segment corresponds to the first column touch electrode and the second column touch electrode.

12. The touch screen of claim 10 , wherein the first plurality of bridges includes a first bridge between the first touch electrode segment and the third touch electrode segment and a second bridge between the second touch el

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Blondin Christophe
• Gogte Ashray Vinayak
• Peterson Ricardo A
• Rieutort-Louis Warren S
• Che Yuchi

Classifications

• G06F2203/04112

  Electrode mesh in capacitive digitiser: electrode for touch sensing is formed of a mesh of very fine, normally metallic, interconnected lines that are almost invisible to see. This provides a quite large but transparent electrode surface, without need for ITO or similar transparent conductive material · CPC title

• G06F2203/04111

  Cross over in capacitive digitiser, i.e. details of structures for connecting electrodes of the sensing pattern where the connections cross each other, e.g. bridge structures comprising an insulating layer, or vias through substrate · CPC title

• G06F3/0416

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title

• G06F3/0445

  using two or more layers of sensing electrodes, e.g. using two layers of electrodes separated by a dielectric layer · CPC title

• G06F3/0448

  Details of the electrode shape, e.g. for enhancing the detection of touches, for generating specific electric field shapes, for enhancing display quality · CPC title