Patent ID: 8581860

Claim:
A touch panel connecting to a driving circuit, comprising: a first conductive layer; a second conductive layer; and an insulating layer between the first and second conductive layers; wherein the insulating layer comprises a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film and a relative permittivity of the PDLC film increases when a thickness of the PDLC film is reduced, wherein a plurality of overlapping capacitors are cooperatively defined by the first and second conductive layers and the insulating layer therebetween; and wherein the driving circuit detects an X-axis coordinate and a Y-axis coordinate of a contact point on the touch panel by detecting one or more capacitance variations of one or more of the overlapping capacitors that correspond to the contact point, and detects a Z-axis coordinate of the contact point by calculating one or more capacitance increments of said one or more of the overlapping capacitors; wherein the PDLC film comprises a plurality of liquid crystal drops dispersed in the polymer material, and the polymer material is characterized in that it operates to vertically align liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal drops; wherein a shape of each of the liquid crystal drops is substantially spherical when no external force is applied to the PDLC film, and when external force is applied to the PDLC film, at least one of the liquid crystal drops reforms from substantially spherical to a generally ellipsoidal shape; and wherein when the external force is applied to the PDLC film, the liquid crystal molecules in each of said at least one of the liquid crystal drops realign from radiating outwards from a spherical center to a more parallel distribution relative to each other.