Mobile electronic device having capacitive touch-sensitive display

Abstract

A capacitive touch sensor wherein the touch sensitive panel has drive electrodes arranged on the lower side of a substrate and sense electrodes arranged on the upper side. The drive electrodes are shaped and dimensioned to substantially entirely cover the touch sensitive area with individual drive electrodes being separated from each other by small gaps, the gaps being so small as to be practically invisible. The near blanket coverage by the drive electrodes also serves to screen out interference from noise sources below the drive electrode layer, such as drive signals for an underlying display, thereby suppressing noise pick-up by the sense electrodes that are positioned above the drive electrodes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile electronic device comprising:
 a housing;   a touch-sensitive display comprising a plurality of layers, the plurality of layers comprising:
 a two-dimensional array of pixels configured to produce an image; 
 a substantially transparent cover layer, 
 a first electrode layer comprising a plurality of first conductive electrodes, wherein the plurality of first conductive electrodes is made of a first conductive mesh and runs along a first direction; 
 a second electrode layer comprising a plurality of second conductive electrodes, wherein the plurality of second conductive electrodes is made of a second conductive mesh and runs along a second direction, the second direction perpendicular to the first direction; and 
 a substrate situated between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer; 
   one or more processors comprising a voltage driver and configured to apply drive signals to at least a subset of the plurality of first conductive electrodes and to measure sense signals received from the plurality of second conductive electrodes;
 the one or more processors further configured to determine information about a touch input to the touch-sensitive display from an analysis of the sense signals received from at least one of the plurality of second conductive electrodes obtained by applying drive signals to at least one of the plurality of first conductive electrodes,
 wherein the analysis comprises measuring the capacitance at one or more nodes, 
 wherein the one or more nodes are located at one or more intersections in plan view of the plurality of first conductive electrodes and the plurality of second conductive electrodes, and 
 wherein the plurality of first conductive electrodes and the plurality of second conductive electrodes are separated by an isolating material at the one or more intersections; 
 
 the one or more processors further configured to communicate information about the touch input to one or more components of the mobile electronic device; 
   a first plurality of tracks connecting the first conductive electrodes to the one or more processors and a second plurality of tracks connecting the second conductive electrodes to the one or more processors;
 wherein the first plurality of tracks and second plurality of tracks are routed to the one or more processors at the periphery of at least a portion of the plurality of first conductive electrodes and at least a portion of the plurality of second conductive electrodes. 
   
     
     
         2 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of second conductive electrodes is disposed on a first surface of the substrate. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the isolating material comprises the substrate. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 3 , wherein the information about the touch input comprises a location of the touch input. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 3 , wherein the information about the touch input comprises a magnitude of the touch input. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of first conductive electrodes is disposed on a second surface of the substrate. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of first conductive electrodes is disposed on a different substrate. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 4 , wherein the one or more processors is configured to sequentially apply drive signals to at least a subset of the plurality of first conductive electrodes. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 8 , the first and second conductive mesh comprising an opaque material. 
     
     
         10 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 9 , the first and second conductive mesh comprising one of a copper material. 
     
     
         11 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 10 , the first conductive mesh further comprising conductive lines within the perimeter of the first conductive mesh arranged diagonally at an angle between 30 and 60 degrees to the first direction. 
     
     
         12 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 11 , the second conductive mesh further comprising conductive lines within the perimeter of the second conductive mesh arranged diagonally at an angle between 30 and 60 degrees to the second direction; wherein the plurality of second conductive electrodes is substantially filling the entirety of the touch-sensitive display. 
     
     
         13 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of first conductive electrodes is substantially filling the entirety of the touch-sensitive display. 
     
     
         14 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein the two-dimensional array of pixels comprises organic light emitting diodes. 
     
     
         15 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein at least one of the outermost first conductive electrodes is about half the width of the other first conductive electrodes. 
     
     
         16 . A mobile electronic device comprising:
 a housing;   a touch-sensitive display comprising a plurality of layers, the plurality of layers comprising:
 a two-dimensional array of pixels configured to produce an image; 
 a substantially transparent cover layer, 
 a first electrode layer comprising a plurality of first conductive electrodes, wherein the plurality of first conductive electrodes is made of a first conductive mesh and runs along a first direction; 
 a second electrode layer comprising a plurality of second conductive electrodes, wherein the plurality of second conductive electrodes is made of a second conductive mesh and runs along a second direction, the second direction perpendicular to the first direction; and 
 a substrate situated between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer; 
   one or more processors comprising a voltage driver and configured to sequentially apply drive signals to at least a subset of the plurality of first conductive electrodes and to measure sense signals received from the plurality of second conductive electrodes;
 the one or more processors further configured to determine information about a touch input to the touch-sensitive display from an analysis of the sense signals received from at least one of the plurality of second conductive electrodes obtained by applying drive signals to at least one of the plurality of first conductive electrodes, wherein the analysis comprises measuring the capacitance at one or more nodes,
 wherein the analysis comprises measuring the capacitance at one or more nodes, 
 wherein the one or more nodes are located at one or more intersections in plan view of the plurality of first conductive electrodes and the plurality of second conductive electrodes, and 
 wherein the plurality of first conductive electrodes and the plurality of second conductive electrodes are separated by an isolating material at the one or more intersections, 
 wherein the information about the touch input comprises a location of the touch input; 
 
 the one or more processors further configured to communicate information about the touch input to one or more components of the mobile electronic device; 
   a first plurality of tracks connecting the first conductive electrodes to the one or more processors and a second plurality of tracks connecting the second conductive electrodes to the one or more processors;
 wherein the first plurality of tracks and second plurality of tracks are routed to the one or more processors at the periphery of at least a portion of the plurality of first conductive electrodes and at least a portion of the plurality of second conductive electrodes. 
   
     
     
         17 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 16  wherein the isolating material comprises the substrate. 
     
     
         18 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 17 , wherein the information about the touch input comprises a magnitude of the touch input. 
     
     
         19 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 18 , the second conductive mesh further comprising conductive lines within the perimeter of the second conductive mesh arranged diagonally at an angle between 30 and 60 degrees to the second direction; wherein the plurality of second conductive electrodes is substantially filling the entirety of the touch-sensitive display. 
     
     
         20 . The mobile electronic device of  claim 19 , wherein at least one of the outermost first conductive electrodes is about half the width of the other first conductive electrodes.