A capacitive touch screen shield.

摘要

The invention discloses a shield (58) for shielding a capacitive touch screen (54) from external noise arising from stray capacitance. The shield (58) is located between the exterior housing (52) of a touch screen device and the touch screen (54) itself. The shield (58) comprises a thin piece of conductive material (76) such as aluminum foil laminated between two layers of insulating material (78,80) such as a poly-carbonite and is secured to the upper surface of the touch screen (54), as by an adhesive (82). The shield (58) has a central opening (60) which is smaller than an opening (56) in the housing (52) of the touch screen device that is provided to enable the touch screen (54) to be contacted for entry of data, and to enable a user to view a display (62) that is located beneath the touch screen (54), which is transparent. Portions of the shield (58) are thus visible, and the central opening (60) of the shield (58) thus defines the portion of the display (62) which can be viewed. Different sizes of displays (62) can therefore be used in the touch screen device by using shields (58) with different sizes of central openings (60), without the need for redesigning the exterior housing (52) of the touch screen device. <IMAGE>