Capacitive coupling of a capacitive touchscreen to a printed circuit and controller

摘要

Disclosed herein are various embodiments of circuits and methods for capacitively coupling touchscreen electrode terminals to terminals of a flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board, without physically attaching the touchscreen electrode terminals to the flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals by means of conventional electrical connection bonding materials or agents such as anisotropic conductive film or solder. The flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals are spaced apart from, or placed in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, but are not soldered or otherwise physically attached to the touchscreen electrode terminals by conventional electrical connection bonding materials or agents such as anisotropic conductive film or solder. The flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals are positioned with respect to the touchscreen electrode terminals such that the flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals are spaced part from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm. The gaps are sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the flex circuit, printed circuit or printed circuit board terminals.

主权项

1. A capacitive touchscreen system, comprising:
a capacitive touchscreen comprising drive and sense touchscreen electrodes operably connected at one end to corresponding touchscreen electrode terminals, mutual capacitances existing between the drive and sense electrodes at locations where the drive and sense electrodes intersect, such mutual capacitances changing in the presence of one or more fingers or touch devices brought into proximity thereto; a touchscreen controller comprising controller terminals, the controller being configured to provide drive signals and to receive sense signals through the controller terminals, and a flex circuit comprising a plurality of flex circuit traces disposed between a first end and a second end thereof, the first end comprising first terminals corresponding to each of the flex circuit traces, the first terminals being operably connected to corresponding ones of the controller terminals, the second end comprising second terminals corresponding to each of the flex circuit traces; wherein the second terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, corresponding ones of the touchscreen electrode terminals, the second terminals of the flex circuit are coupled to the touchscreen electrode terminals without use of an electrically conductive bonding agent or material, the touchscreen electrode terminals and the second terminals are metal pads, the second terminals are spaced apart from, or in physical contact with, the touchscreen electrode terminals by gaps ranging between about 0.0 mm and about 1 mm, and the gaps are sufficiently small to permit capacitive coupling of drive and sense signals provided by the touchscreen electrode terminals to the second terminals.