Flexible Display Circuit Sensor Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing touch input systems, such as resistive touchscreens, require separate sensors and conductors, leading to increased space and component requirements, which can complicate assembly and increase costs.
Innovation Solution
Integrating a resistive touch sensor into a flexible display circuit by using a flexible printed circuit that wraps around the display, where two conductive layers spaced apart can contact each other upon pressure, forming a sensor that is compact and efficient in space usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate sensors and conductors are used in touch input systems, then touch detection functionality is achieved, but space requirements and component quantity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the sensor and conductor functions into a single integrated flexible printed circuit board. The FPCB includes conductive traces that serve dual purposes: electrical connection and touch sensing. This merging eliminates the need for separate sensor components and conductors, thereby reducing space requirements while maintaining touch detection functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible printed circuit board is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it provides electrical connectivity between display components and enables touch input detection. The conductive traces on the FPCB serve both as signal conductors and as sensing elements for detecting touch pressure and location, making the component universal and multi-functional.
2Reliability
If separate sensors and conductors are used, then touch detection is achieved, but assembly complexity and component quantity increase
Solution Approach 1:
By integrating sensor and conductor functions into a single FPCB component, the patent reduces the total number of parts that need to be assembled. The conductive traces are pre-formed on the flexible circuit board, eliminating the need for separate sensor assembly and conductor installation steps, thereby simplifying the overall assembly process.
3Area of stationary object
If integrated sensor is used in flexible display circuit, then space is reduced and assembly is simplified, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the flexibility and conformability of the FPCB material to achieve precise conductor spacing and positioning. By changing the physical state and properties of the circuit substrate to be flexible rather than rigid, the manufacturing process can achieve precise trace placement through flexible lamination and etching techniques, meeting the required manufacturing precision for integrated sensor-conductor structures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This integration provides an additional user input mechanism while reducing space and component needs, enhancing assembly efficiency and reliability, and allowing for precise touch location and pressure detection.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor that is a resistive touch sensor formed by two layers of conductive traces formed within the display flex spaced apart from each other. Pressure applied to a front surface of the transparent lens that covers the display can cause the layers of conductive traces to contact each other, thereby activating the sensor.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques, methods, systems, and other mechanisms are described for integrating a sensor into a flexible display circuit. In some implementations, a computing device includes a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit includes a first set of conductors that extend from a first end of the flexible printed circuit to a second end of the flexible printed circuit to connect a display layer of a display device to a processing device. The flexible printed circuit also includes a second set of conductors that at least partially define a sensor at a sensor portion of the flexible printed circuit that is between the first end of the flexible printed circuit and the second end of the flexible printed circuit.