Patent Publication Number: US-2016246423-A1

Title: Touch screen and touch panel thereof

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to touch technical field, and in particular, relates to the touch screen and the touch panel thereof. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     With the development of technology, every kind of digital product comes into people&#39;s daily lives. It brings a lot of convenience to people and they have more and higher requirement of digital product. For example, the intelligent wearable devices have been more and more popular and become the research focus the electronic manufacturers compete to each other, especially the intelligent watch. In order to keep up with traditional aesthetic requirements, the display panel and the corresponding touch panel of the intelligent watch should be made into circular. 
     In the prior art, the rectangular touch sensor units are generally used to arrange in the effective touch area. Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram shows the arrangement of the touch sensor units of the circular effective touch area of the touch panel of the prior art. The interior of the small circular area  10  is the effective touch area  10  and the touch sensor units  11  are arranged in the effective touch area  10  as shown in  FIG. 1 . The effective touch area  10  is not totally covered by the rectangular touch sensor units  11  without using the perfect array of the touch sensor unit  11 , so that the touch performance of the edge of the effective touch area  10  is not very sensitive and even the touch function is not working. 
     Therefore, it is necessary to provide a touch screen and a touch panel of the present invention to solve the above mentioned problem. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The main technical problem solved by the present invention which provides a touch screen and a touch panel thereof is that the rectangular touch sensor cannot cover the whole effective touch area without choosing the right touch sensor array to identify the touch position in the prior art. 
     In order to solve the technical problem, the solution provided by the present invention is to provide a touch panel, and the touch panel has an effective touch area which is non-rectangular. The touch panel comprises a touch sensor array system covering the effective touch area, and the touch sensor array system comprises a plurality of touch sensor units, and the shape of the touch sensor unit is hexagon, and they are arranged in a honeycomb. 
     Where, each of the touch sensor units comprises a sensor electrode, and the shape of the sensor electrode is hexagon, and the sensor electrodes are arranged in a honeycomb. 
     Where, the touch sensor array system further comprises a plurality of electrode leads, and the electrode lead connects with the sensor electrodes in the same row or column. 
     Where, the electrode lead bends and extends between the neighboring rows or the neighboring columns of the sensor electrodes and the width of the electrode lead gradually changes in the direction of the row and column. 
     Where, the touch sensor unit comprises a sensor electrode and a driving electrode, and the sensor electrode surrounds the driving electrode by insulation, and the shape of the sensor electrode is hexagon, and the sensor electrodes are arranged in a honeycomb. 
     Where, the touch senor array system further comprises a plurality of electrode leads, and the electrode lead connects with the driving electrodes in the same row or the same column, and the sensor electrodes connect with each other in a row or column. 
     Where, the electrode lead bends and extends between the neighboring rows or the neighboring columns of the driving electrodes and the width of the electrode lead gradually changes in the direction of the row and column. 
     Where, the shape of the touch sensor unit is regular hexagon. 
     The effective touch area is circular. 
     In order to solve the technical problem, the present invention adopts the other solution is a touch screen, wherein the touch screen comprises a display panel and a touch panel located on the display panel, and an effective touch area of the touch panel is non-rectangular, wherein the touch panel comprises a touch sensor array system covering the effective touch area, and the touch sensor array system comprises a plurality of touch sensor units, and the shape of the touch sensor unit is hexagon and the touch sensor units are arranged in a honeycomb, and an effective display area of the display panel is non-rectangular and installed correspond with the effective touch area of the touch panel. 
     Where, the touch sensor unit comprises a sensor electrode, and the shape of the sensor electrode is hexagon, and the sensor electrodes are arranged in a honeycomb. 
     Where, the touch sensor array system comprises a plurality of electrode leads and the electrode lead connects with the sensor electrodes in the same row or column. 
     Where, the electrode lead bends and extends between the neighboring rows or the neighboring columns of the sensor electrodes, and the width of the electrode lead gradually changes in the row or column direction. 
     Where, the touch sensor unit comprises a sensor electrode and a driving electrode, and the sensor electrode surrounds the driving electrode by insulation, and the shape of the sensor electrode is hexogen, and the sensor electrodes are arranged in a honeycomb. 
     Where, the touch sensor array system further comprises a plurality of electrode leads, and the electrode lead connects with the driving electrodes in the same row or column, and the sensor electrodes connect with each other in a row or column. 
     Where, the electrode lead bends and extends between the neighboring rows or the neighboring columns of the driving electrodes and the width of the electrode lead gradually changes in the direction of the row or column. 
     Where, the shape of the touch sensor unit is regular hexagon. 
     Where, the effective touch area is circular. 
     The advantages of the present invention is that comparing with the prior art, the present invention installs the touch sensor units which are hexagon and arranged in a honeycomb in the effective touch area so as to cover the whole non-rectangular effective touch area by the touch sensor units. Hence, the capacitance change of the touch sensor array system of the three hexagonal touch sensor units which share the same vertex can be allocated to the three hexagonal touch sensor units, further to ensure the consistency of the touch weight. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is the schematic diagram of arrangement of touch sensor units of the circular effective touch area of the touch panel of the prior art; 
         FIG. 2  is the schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the touch panel of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is the schematic diagram of the second embodiment of the touch panel of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is the schematic diagram of the preferable embodiment of the touch screen of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The detailed explanation of the present invention is the following embodiment and figures. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which is the schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the touch panel of the present invention. In the first embodiment, the effective touch area  20  of the touch panel is non-rectangular. Preferably, the effective touch area is circular. In other embodiment, the shape of the effective touch area  20  can also be ellipse or other non-rectangular shape. 
     The touch panel comprises a touch sensor array system  21  covering the effective touch area  20 . The touch sensor array system  21  comprises a plurality of touch sensor units  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,    21   d,    21   e  and a plurality of electrode leads  22   a,    22   b,    22   c.  The shape of the touch sensor units  21   a,    21   b,    21   c  is hexagon and they are arranged in a honeycomb. Preferably, the shape the touch sensor units  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,    21   d,    21   e  is regular hexagon. It is worth noting is that only five of the touch sensor units and only three of the electrode leads are marked in  FIG. 2 , but they are not limited in their amount of 5 or 3. The labels of the touch sensor units and the electrode leads are selected partially for being shown schematically. 
     Preferably, in the first embodiment, touch sensor units  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,    21   d,    21   e  respectively comprises a sensor electrode  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,    21   d,    21   e.  The shape of the sensor electrodes  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,    21   d,    21   e  is hexagon and they are arranged in a honeycomb. In the first embodiment, the touch sensor units  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,    21   d,    21   e  are sensor electrodes  21   a,    21   b,    21   c,    21   d,    21   e.    
     Preferably, the sensor electrodes  21   d,    21   b,    21   e  in the same row or column electrically connect with the same electrode lead  22   c.  More preferably, as shown in  FIG. 2 , according to the first embodiment, along the column direction, the sensor electrodes  21   d,    21   b,    21  e in the same column connects with the same electrode lead  22   c.    
     The electrode lead bends and extends between the neighboring rows or the neighboring columns of the sensor electrodes, and the width of the electrode leads  22   a,    22   b,    22   c  gradually changes in the row direction or the column direction. Preferably, as shown in  FIG. 2 , according to the first embodiment, the electrode lead  22   a  bends and extends between the neighboring columns L 1  and L 2  and the width of the electrode line  22   a,    22   b,    22   c  gradually reduces from top to bottom in the column direction. 
     Preferably, the three neighboring sensor electrodes  21   a,    21   b,    21   c  constitute a touch triangular array which the touch triangular array is used to detect the user touch position. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is the schematic diagram of the second embodiment of the touch panel of the present invention. In the second embodiment, the effective touch area  20  of the touch panel is non-rectangular. Preferably, the effective touch area is circular. 
     The touch panel comprises a touch sensor array system  31  of the effective touch panel  30 . The touch sensor array system  31  comprises a plurality of touch sensor units  32  and a plurality of electrode leads  33 . The shape of the touch sensor units  32  is hexagon and they are arranged in a honeycomb. Preferably, the shape of the touch sensor units  32  is regular hexagon. 
     Preferably, in the second embodiment, the touch sensor unit  32  comprises a sensor electrode  321  and a driving electrode  322 . The sensor electrode  321  surrounds the driving electrode  322  by insulation. The shape of sensor electrode  321  is hexagon and they are arranged in a honeycomb. 
     Preferably, the driving electrode  322  in the same row or column connects electrically with the electrode lead  33 . The sensor electrode  322  in the same row or column connects to each other. More preferably, according to the second embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the driving electrodes  322  in the same column electrically connects with the same electrode lead  33 , and the sensor electrodes  322  in the same column connects to each other. 
     Preferably, the electrode lead  33  bends and extends between the neighbor rows or columns of the driving electrodes  322 , and the width of the electrode lead  33  gradually changes in the row or column direction. More preferably, as shown in  FIG. 3 , according to the second embodiment, the electrode lead  33  bends and extends between the neighboring columns of the driving electrodes  322 , and the width of the electrode lead  33  gradually reduces from top to bottom in the column direction. 
     Preferably, the three neighboring touch sensor units  32  constitute a touch triangular array. The touch triangular array is used to detect the user touch position. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4  which is the schematic diagram of the preferable embodiment of the touch screen of the present invention. In the embodiment, touch screen comprises a display panel  41  and a touch panel  42  installed on the display panel  41 . The touch panel  42  is the one described in the above mentioned embodiments. The effective display area BB of the display panel  41  is non-rectangular, and is installed correspondingly with the effective touch area AA of the touch panel  42 . Preferably, the effective display area BB of the display panel  41  is circular and the effective touch area AA of the touch panel is also circular. 
     In comparison with the prior art, the present invention installs the touch sensor units which are hexagon and arranged in a honeycomb in the effective touch area so as to cover the non-rectangular effective touch area by the touch sensor units. Hence, the capacitance change of the touch sensor array system of the three hexagonal touch sensor units which share the same vertex can be allocated to the three hexagonal touch sensor units, further to ensure the consistency of the touch weight. 
     The foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrative, rather than limiting, of the present invention. It is intended that they cover various modifications, and similar arrangements be included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.