PET-based touch pad

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354753-B2
Application number	US-201113080472-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2011
Priority date	Dec 15, 2006
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

A space-efficient substantially transparent mutual capacitance touch sensor panel can be created by forming columns made of a substantially transparent conductive material on one side of a first substantially transparent substrate, forming rows made of the substantially transparent conductive material on one side of a second substantially transparent substrate, adhering the two substrates together with a substantially transparent adhesive, bringing column connections down to the second substrate using vias, and routing both the column and row connections to a single connection area on the second substrate. In addition, in some embodiments some of the row connections can be routed to a second connection area on the second substrate to minimize the size of the sensor panel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substantially transparent mutual capacitance touch sensor panel, comprising:
a first substantially transparent substrate;
a second substantially transparent substrate;
a first plurality of electrodes of a first substantially transparent conductive material formed on the first substantially transparent substrate;
a second plurality of electrodes of the first substantially transparent conductive material formed on the second substantially transparent substrate;
a first group of traces of a second conductive material formed on the second substantially transparent substrate and routed along a first border of the second substantially transparent substrate for connecting to a first group of the second plurality of electrodes and routing the first group of the second plurality of the electrodes for providing off-panel connections at a first edge of the second substrate;
a second group of traces of the second conductive material formed on the second substantially transparent substrate and routed along the first border of the second substantially transparent substrate for connecting to a second group of the second plurality of electrodes and routing the second group of the second plurality of the electrodes for providing off-panel connections at a second edge of the second substrate, different from the first edge; and
wherein one or more mutual capacitance sensors are formed between the first and second plurality of electrodes at locations at which the first and second plurality of electrodes cross over each other, a mutual capacitance of each mutual capacitance sensor capable of being modified by an object in close proximity to the sensor.

2. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 further comprising means for connecting the first plurality of electrodes on the first substantially transparent substrate to the second substantially transparent substrate.

3. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 further comprising:
a second group of traces of the second conductive material formed on the second substantially transparent substrate and routed along a second border of the second substantially transparent substrate, opposite the first border, for connecting to a third group of the second plurality of electrodes and routing the third group of the second plurality of the electrodes to the first edge of the second substrate for providing off-panel connections;
a fourth group of traces of the second conductive material formed on the second substantially transparent substrate and routed along the second border of the second substantially transparent substrate for connecting to a fourth group of the second plurality of electrodes and routing the fourth group of the second plurality of the electrodes to the second edge of the second substrate for providing off-panel connections.

4. The touch sensor panel of claim 3 , further comprising means for connecting the first plurality of electrodes on the first substantially transparent substrate to the second substantially transparent substrate.

5. The touch sensor panel of claim 1 , further comprising a third substantially transparent substrate disposed between the first substantially transparent substrate and the second substantially transparent substrate.

6. A substantially transparent mutual capacitance touch sensor panel, comprising:
a first substantially transparent substrate having a first plurality of electrodes of a first substantially transparent conductive material formed thereon forming columns that terminate near first and second opposing edges of the first substrate and configured for carrying sensing signals; and
a second substantially transparent substrate having a second plurality of electrodes the first substantially transparent conductive material formed thereon and configured for carrying driving signals, and the second substrate further having a plurality of traces of a second conductive material for providing off-panel connections at a first edge of the second substrate, wherein the first edge of the first substrate and the first edge of the second substrate are aligned;
a plurality of vias filed or coated with a conductive material for connecting the first plurality of electrodes of the first substantially transparent substrate from the first edge of the first substrate to the plurality of traces on the second substantially transparent substrate providing off-panel connections at the first edge of the second substrate;
the first substantially transparent substrate having a border region of the first substantially transparent conductive material formed adjacent edges thereof around the periphery of the first substantially transparent substrate to form a ground border region, the first plurality of electrodes insulated from the ground region;
wherein one or more mutual capacitance sensors are formed between the first and second plurality of electrodes at locations at which the first and second plurality of electrodes cross over each other, a mutual capacitance of each mutual capacitance sensor capable of being modified by an object in close proximity to the sensor.

Assignees

• Hotelling Steve Porter
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Hotelling Steve Porter

Classifications

• G06F2203/04107

  Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds · CPC title

• G06F3/044 Primary

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• G06F3/0416

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title

• Y10T29/49165

  by forming conductive walled aperture in base · CPC title

• G06F3/04166 Primary

  Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving (Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184) · CPC title