Detailed Description
The invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings, which are provided for illustration purposes and the like:
referring to fig. 1 and 2, the present invention provides a touch display device with fingerprint sensing function, which includes adisplay portion 10, a firstconductive layer 20 and a secondconductive layer 30. The firstconductive layer 20 includes atouch sensor 21 formed in a mesh pattern, and a plurality of receiving electrodes RX for a fingerprint sensor. The firstconductive layer 20 further includes arouting area 24 for forming a plurality of traces. The plurality of traces are used to connect thetouch sensor 21 and the plurality of receiving electrodes RX for transmitting or receiving signals. In one embodiment, aninsulating substrate 23 is disposed under the firstconductive layer 20, and theinsulating substrate 23 is used to support the firstconductive layer 20. The secondconductive layer 30 is located below the firstconductive layer 20. The secondconductive layer 30 includes ashielding region 31 and a plurality of driving electrodes TX for the fingerprint sensor. The driving electrodes TX are located below the receiving electrodes RX. The directions of the plurality of driving electrodes TX and the directions of the plurality of receiving electrodes RX are different. In one embodiment, the driving electrodes TX and the receiving electrodes RX are perpendicular to each other. The secondconductive layer 30 further includes arouting area 32 for forming a plurality of traces. The traces are used to connect the driving electrodes TX to receive driving signals from the touch ic or the fingerprint sensing ic. Thedisplay portion 10 is located below the secondconductive layer 30, and thedisplay portion 10 includes a visible region 11 and anon-visible region 12. Theshielding area 31, thetouch sensor 21 and the visible area 11 are all or partially overlapped in the Z direction. Theshielding region 31 is a sheet of conductive material for shielding thetouch sensor 21 and preventing signals or noise from thedisplay unit 10 from affecting thetouch sensor 21. Thetouch sensor 21 is a capacitive touch sensor for sensing an operation of a conductive object (e.g., a finger). The plurality of driving electrodes TX and the plurality of receiving electrodes RX form a fingerprint sensor for sensing a fingerprint. In one embodiment, the firstconductive layer 20, theinsulating substrate 23 and the secondconductive layer 30 can form a touch sensing device with fingerprint sensing function.
Aninsulating layer 40 may be further disposed between the secondconductive layer 30 and thedisplay portion 10 to prevent thedisplay portion 10 from electrically contacting the secondconductive layer 30.
A protective cover plate may be further disposed above the firstconductive layer 20, and in one embodiment, the thickness of the protective cover plate is not greater than 300 μm.
In one embodiment, the secondconductive layer 30 is a metal film, such as silver, with a thickness of no greater than 10nm and a light transmittance greater than 90%. Theshielding region 31 and the plurality of driving electrodes TX are formed of the metal film.
In one embodiment, thedisplay portion 10 is an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display having a visible region 11 and anon-visible region 12. The visible area 11 is used for displaying images, and thenon-visible area 12 is used for arranging electronic components. The visible area 11 is provided with a plurality of regularly arrangedpixel electrodes 111 as shown in fig. 3, in an embodiment, the plurality ofpixel electrodes 111 includes a red pixel electrode (R), a green pixel electrode (G), and a blue pixel electrode (B), and the arrangement of thepixel electrodes 111 may be other forms and is not limited in the drawings. Thedisplay unit 10 further includes alight shielding unit 112. Thelight shielding portion 112 is a so-called Black Matrix (BM). In the Z direction, thelight shielding portion 112 does not overlap thepixel electrode 111. In one embodiment, the firstconductive layer 20, the secondconductive layer 30 and thedisplay portion 10 have substantially the same size.
Thetouch sensor 21 includes a firstaxial touch electrode 211 and a plurality of secondaxial touch electrodes 212 shown in fig. 4A, and each of the firstaxial touch electrode 211 and the plurality of secondaxial touch electrodes 212 is insulated from each other. In this embodiment, the firstaxial touch electrode 211 extends along the X direction, and the secondaxial touch electrode 212 extends along the Y direction. Each of the firstaxial touch electrodes 211 and each of the secondaxial touch electrodes 212 are electrically connected to a touch integrated circuit (not shown) viatraces 213. In the present embodiment, the receiving electrodes RX are disposed at the center of the bottom of thetouch sensor 21, i.e. the center of the edge area of thetouch sensor 21, so that the last firstaxial touch electrode 211A is divided into two segments. Two ends of the firstaxial touch electrode 211A are electrically connected to the touch integrated circuit through thetraces 213. In other embodiments, there may be more than one firstaxial touch electrode 211A divided into two segments in response to the area occupied by the plurality of receiving electrodes RX. The two ends of the firstaxial touch electrodes 211A divided into two segments are also electrically connected to the touch integrated circuit via thetraces 213.
The receiving electrode RX and the first and secondaxial touch electrodes 211 and 212 are formed on the upper surface of the insulatingsubstrate 23, and in one embodiment, the thicknesses of the first and secondaxial touch electrodes 211 and 212 and the receiving electrode RX are the same. That is, the receiving electrodes RX and thetouch sensor 21 are disposed on the same plane and are coplanar.
Fig. 4B provides an embodiment of the firstaxial touch electrode 211 and the secondaxial touch electrode 212. The intersection of one firstaxial touch electrode 211 and one secondaxial touch electrode 212 forms asensing unit 214. Each of the firstaxial touch electrodes 211 and each of the secondaxial touch electrodes 212 is made of a metal mesh (metal mesh), which includes a mesh pattern formed by a plurality ofmetal wires 215 arranged in a staggered manner. In the Z direction, the plurality ofmetal wires 215 do not overlap thepixel electrode 111. Themetal wires 215 are staggered to form a plurality of meshes, so that thepixel electrode 111 of thedisplay portion 10 is not shielded by thetouch sensor 21, in other words, themetal wires 215 at least partially overlap with thelight shielding portion 112 of thedisplay portion 10 in the Z direction.
Regarding the structure of the receiving electrodes RX and the driving electrodes TX of the fingerprint sensor, please refer to the schematic diagram of fig. 5, a plurality of receiving electrodes RX 1-RX 3 extend along the X direction. The driving electrodes TX 1-TX 3 are located below the receiving electrodes RX 1-RX 3, and each driving electrode TX is represented by a stripe-shaped block coated with thin dots and extends along the Y direction. Adjacent driving electrodes TX are spaced apart and not connected. Similar to the design of the firstaxial touch electrode 211 and each of the secondaxial touch electrodes 212, the receiving electrodes RX 1-RX 3 are also formed by a grid pattern of metal wires. Each receiving electrode RX is formed by connecting a plurality of diamond-shaped grid cells transversely, but the shape of the grid cells is not limited to this. The different receiving electrodes RX are separated from each other without being electrically connected. The firstconductive layer 20 further includes awiring region 24, and thewiring region 24 hasmetal wires 215A to 215C for connecting to the receiving electrodes RX1 to RX3, respectively, to transmit signals.
The touch display device can execute a touch sensing mode or a fingerprint sensing mode, and in the touch sensing mode, information sensed by the fingerprint sensor is provided for a touch integrated circuit to calculate the touch coordinate of an object; in the fingerprint sensing mode, information sensed by the fingerprint sensor is provided to a fingerprint sensing integrated circuit to generate a fingerprint image. The following description is made separately for the two modes.
Firstly, a touch sensing mode:
in the touch sensing mode, the touch integrated circuit 25 shown in fig. 6 performs mutual capacitance scanning on the touch sensor 21 (see fig. 4A or fig. 4B) to obtain first sensing information. In the mutual capacitance scanning process, the touch ic applies a driving signal to the secondaxial touch electrode 212 and senses the firstaxial touch electrodes 211. According to the mutual capacitance scanning result, the touch integrated circuit obtains first sensing information of thetouch sensor 21, where the first sensing information includes the sensing amount of eachsensing unit 214.
In the touch sensing mode, the driving electrodes TX and the receiving electrodes RX of the fingerprint sensor are electrically connected to the touch integrated circuit 25 for touch detection. Fig. 6 provides a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration and operation of a fingerprint sensor in a touch sensing mode. As shown in FIG. 6, TX 1-TX 9 are driving electrodes TX, and RX 1-RX 5 are receiving electrodes RX. A plurality ofswitches 121, 122, 124 and 125 and a plurality ofwires 123 and 126 connected to the touch integrated circuit 25 are disposed in thenon-visible area 12. Theswitch 121 is used to select the driving electrode TX, and theswitch 122 is used to connect the driving electrode TX to the touch ic 25 or thefingerprint sensing ic 50. Theswitch 124 is used to select the receiving electrode RX, and theconductive wire 126 is used to connect the receiving electrode RX to the touch ic 25 or thefingerprint sensing ic 50. Theswitches 121, 122, 124, and 125 may be implemented by Thin-Film transistors (TFTs). In one embodiment, theswitches 121, 122, 124 and 125 are controlled by the touch integrated circuit 25 in the touch sensing mode. The receiving electrodes RX1, RX2, RX4 and RX5 are all electrically connected together and connected to the touch integrated circuit 25 via thewires 126. In other embodiments, it is also possible to add a switch to connect the receiving electrode RX3 to theconductive line 126, such that all of the receiving electrodes RX1 RX5 of the fingerprint sensor are electrically connected together.
The second sensing information obtained by scanning the fingerprint sensor comprises at least one sensing quantity. Taking the mutual capacitance type scanning as an example, when the fingerprint sensor is used for touch detection, the plurality of driving electrodes TX are divided into two groups with the same number, and the areas of the two groups of driving electrodes TX are not overlapped. Taking fig. 6 as an example, the driving electrodes TX 1-TX 4 are electrically connected to form a first group of driving electrodes, and the driving electrodes TX 6-TX 9 are electrically connected to form a second group of driving electrodes by controlling theswitches 121 and 122. The touch integrated circuit 25 first sends a driving signal to the first group of driving electrodes and receives a first signal from theconducting wire 126. Next, the touch integrated circuit 25 sends a driving signal to the driving electrodes of the second group and receives a second signal from theconducting wire 126. According to the first signal and the second signal, the touch integrated circuit 25 can generate two sensing quantities. The two sensing quantities can be regarded as the sensing quantities of the two sensingunits 214 that are absent from thetouch sensor 21 due to the area occupied by the plurality of receiving electrodes RX in fig. 4A.
The first sensing information includes sensing quantities of all sensingunits 214 of thetouch sensor 21, and the second sensing information includes one or more sensing quantities generated by the fingerprint sensor. According to the first sensing information and the second sensing information, the touch integrated circuit 25 can calculate the contact coordinates of the object.
As can be understood from the embodiment of fig. 6, in the touch sensing mode, the switches in thevisible area 12 are controlled such that at least two receiving electrodes of the fingerprint sensor are electrically connected, and at least two driving electrodes are electrically connected, such that the fingerprint sensor forms at least one sensing unit.
Secondly, fingerprint sensing mode:
in the fingerprint sensing mode, the plurality of driving electrodes TX and receiving electrodes RX of the fingerprint sensor are electrically connected to the fingerprint sensing integratedcircuit 50. In one embodiment of the fingerprint sensing mode, thefingerprint sensing IC 50 performs mutual capacitance scanning on the fingerprint sensor to obtain a plurality of sensing values at the intersections of all the driving electrodes TX and the receiving electrodes RX. In the mutual capacitance type scanning, the fingerprint sensing integratedcircuit 50 sequentially applies driving signals to the driving electrodes TX and obtains a plurality of sensing quantities according to the outputs of the receiving electrodes RX. The fingerprint sensing integratedcircuit 50 identifies the fingerprint of the user according to the obtained sensing quantities.
In another embodiment of the fingerprint sensing mode, two adjacent driving electrodes TX may be connected in parallel to apply the driving signal, and two receiving electrodes RX may be connected in parallel to read the output thereof, which has the advantage that a larger sensing signal can be obtained. As shown in the schematic diagrams of fig. 7A and 7B, thenon-visible area 12 further includes a plurality ofconductive lines 127 and 128 connected to thefingerprint sensing ic 50. For simplicity, the touch integrated circuit 25 and the plurality ofwires 123 and 126 are omitted in fig. 7A and 7B. Thewires 123 and 126 may be made of the same layer of conductor, while thewires 127 and 128 are made of another layer of conductor. In the fingerprint sensing mode, thefingerprint sensing IC 50 controls theswitches 122 and 125 such that the driving electrodes TX 1-TX 9 and the receiving electrodes RX 1-RX 5 are electrically connected to theconductive lines 127 and 128, respectively.
The first phase of the fingerprint sensing mode is shown in fig. 7A. By controlling the plurality ofswitches 121 and 124, two adjacent driving electrodes (TX1, TX2), (TX3, TX4), (TX5, TX6), (TX7, TX8) are connected in parallel, and two adjacent receiving electrodes (RX1, RX2) are connected in parallel with (RX3, RX 4). The fingerprint sensing integratedcircuit 50 sequentially drives the four sets of drive electrodes and receives sensing signals from the two sets of receive electrodes. In the second phase of the fingerprint sensing mode, as shown in fig. 7B, by controlling the plurality ofswitches 121 and 124, two adjacent driving electrodes (TX2, TX3), (TX4, TX5), (TX6, TX7), (TX8, TX9) are connected in parallel, and two adjacent receiving electrodes (RX2, RX3) are connected in parallel with (RX4, RX 5). The fingerprint sensing integratedcircuit 50 sequentially drives the four sets of drive electrodes and receives sensing signals from the two sets of receive electrodes. Based on the sensing signals obtained in the first time phase and the second time phase, the fingerprint sensing integratedcircuit 50 can generate a fingerprint image for fingerprint identification or registration.
Compared to the method of driving one driving electrode TX and receiving signals from one receiving electrode RX at a time, the embodiments of fig. 7A and 7B have the advantage of obtaining larger sensing signals, which can improve the sensitivity of fingerprint sensing.
In one embodiment, the touch IC 25 of FIG. 7A and thefingerprint sensing IC 50 of FIG. 7B are two separate IC devices, which are mounted on a flexible circuit board connected to thenon-visual area 12. In other embodiments, the touch integrated circuit 25 and the fingerprint sensing integratedcircuit 50 may be integrated into one integrated circuit device.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.