Touch Panel Border Circuit Hiding via Layer Merging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional touch panels expose internal circuits and flexible printed circuit patterns, making them aesthetically unpleasing and requiring additional space for border coverage, which increases manufacturing complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
A touch panel design featuring a substrate with a transparent conductive layer, a shielding decoration layer, and an opaque conductive layer, where the transparent conductive connecting layer extends beyond the edge of the transparent conductive layer, and the opaque conductive layer is only on the shielding decoration layer, preventing the border circuit from being visible and eliminating the need for additional substrates or adhesives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a border is added around the housing to cover the insulating layer and flexible printed circuit pattern, then the aesthetic appearance is improved, but the housing must provide extra spaces for assembling the border, increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the border function with the substrate by extending the substrate to the periphery of the housing, eliminating the need for a separate border component. This integration achieves the aesthetic coverage of internal circuits while reducing device complexity by removing the additional assembly space requirement.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate is designed to serve multiple functions: it provides structural support, acts as a mounting surface for circuit components, and simultaneously functions as a border to cover and protect the insulating layer and flexible printed circuit pattern at the periphery, eliminating the need for separate protective components.
2Ease of manufacture
If transparent adhesive is used at the periphery of the substrate, then the substrate can be assembled, but the insulating layer and flexible printed circuit pattern remain visible from the view side, creating an inaesthetic appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is extended to the periphery of the housing, merging the substrate boundary with the housing boundary. This eliminates the gap where transparent adhesive would be applied and internal circuits would be visible, achieving aesthetic appearance while maintaining assembly simplicity.
3Shape
If the substrate is made transparent to allow viewing, then the aesthetic appearance is improved, but the internal circuits and flexible printed circuit pattern become visible from the view side
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is extended to the periphery of the housing, merging the substrate boundary with the housing boundary. This eliminates the peripheral gap where internal circuits would be visible through the transparent substrate, allowing the substrate to remain transparent while preventing circuit exposure.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A touch panel includes a substrate, a transparent conductive layer, a shielding decoration layer, a transparent conductive connecting layer and an opaque conductive layer. The transparent conductive layer is disposed on the substrate. The shielding decoration layer is disposed on the substrate and the transparent conductive layer. The transparent conductive connecting layer is disposed on the transparent conductive layer and the shielding decoration layer, extends from the transparent conductive layer to the shielding decoration layer, and exceeds an edge of the transparent conductive layer. The opaque conductive layer is disposed on the shielding decoration layer and the transparent conductive connecting layer, and is not disposed on the transparent conductive layer.