Segmented Touch Panel Sensors for Flexible Displays
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing touch panels face challenges in accurately determining contact position and intensity with multiple touches, while also having high manufacturing costs and significant edge regions, which limits their application to flexible display devices.
Innovation Solution
A touch panel design featuring a plurality of transmitting members with sensors at each terminal, generating sensing signals based on contact pressure, allowing for the calculation of contact position and intensity through temporal and magnitude analysis, and incorporating a flexible structure for increased transmittance and reduced edge regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a conventional touch panel structure is used to determine contact position and intensity, then contact information can be obtained, but the edge region is significant and manufacturing cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The touch panel is segmented into multiple transmitting members arranged in an array, with sensors positioned at terminals of specific transmitting members. This segmentation allows the system to determine contact position by identifying which transmitting members are activated, eliminating the need for continuous sensing layers and reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining position determination accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential sensing function from conventional continuous sensing layers and concentrates it into discrete sensors positioned at specific terminals. This extraction removes unnecessary components that contribute to edge regions and manufacturing complexity, while the core function of detecting contact position and intensity is preserved through the selective activation of transmitting members.
2Measurement precision
If a conventional touch panel structure is used, then contact information can be obtained, but the edge region is significant
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the touch panel into discrete transmitting members with defined terminals, the patent eliminates the continuous sensing layers that create edge regions. The segmentation allows precise contact position determination through binary activation states of individual transmitting members, while the edge region is minimized because the sensing function is concentrated at terminal points rather than distributed across the entire panel surface.
3Ease of manufacture
If a rigid touch panel structure is used, then manufacturing is established, but it cannot be applied to flexible display devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs transmitting members that can dynamically change their electrical characteristics in response to mechanical deformation. When the flexible display device bends or flexes, the transmitting members adjust their conductivity and signal transmission properties, allowing the touch panel to maintain functionality in both flexed and flat states. This dynamic adaptation enables the same structure to serve rigid manufacturing processes while accommodating flexible display applications.
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
Enables accurate determination of contact information regardless of the number of touches, reduces manufacturing costs, and enhances transmittance, making it suitable for flexible display devices.
Implementation Method 1
The transmitting member may be flexible, and the transmission signal may comprise a material wave
Implementation Method 2
the pressure sensing type touch panel, which senses a pressure applied thereto by an external contact, may use a piezoelectric effect. The method using the piezoelectric effect uses a phenomenon in which an electrical resistance of a material is changed in response to a pressure applied thereto
Data Source
AI summary
A touch panel and a contact information determining method of the touch panel. A touch panel includes a plurality of transmitting members arranged with a predetermined interval therebetween, and a first sensor and a second sensor positioned respectively at a first terminal and a second terminal of a transmitting member, wherein a transmission signal is transmitted to the first sensor and the second sensor, in response to a contact on the transmitting member.