Patent ID: 8077162

Claim:
A touch panel comprising: a transparent substrate on which surface acoustic waves are propagated; transmission/reception units formed on peripheral regions of the transparent substrate, and facing each other, to transmit and receive the surface acoustic waves; a bendable sheet member that faces the transparent substrate, with a space layer being interposed in between, and has a plurality of first protrusions formed on a substrate-facing surface of the sheet member extending towards but spaced from the substrate, and a predetermined operative area on a surface of the sheet member, opposite to the substrate-facing surface; and a detecting unit that detects the location of an object touching the operative area, the space layer being provided further out than the transmission/reception units, the operative area, and a surface area of the transparent substrate on which the surface acoustic waves are propagated, each of the first protrusions being not brought into contact with the transparent substrate so that all of the first protrusions remain spaced from the transparent substrate to prevent the surface acoustic waves from being attenuated by the first protrusions, when an object does not touch the operative area, and at least one of the first protrusions is brought into contact with the transparent substrate to prevent the surface acoustic waves from being attenuated by the first protrusions, when the object touches the operative area, wherein the sheet member does not contact the substrate when the object touches or does not touch the operative area; and the transparent substrate not having protrusions on the surface area.