Touchscreen having multiple parallel connections to each electrode in a series resistor chain on the periphery of the touch area

Abstract

A resistive or capacitive position touchscreen includes a glass substrate having a uniform resistive coating and series resistive chains of overlapping discrete electrodes adjacent to the peripheral edges of the substrate. Gaps in an otherwise insulating linear discontinuity running parallel to each chain form resistive current paths across the touch area. There are at least two gaps for each electrode so that multiple current paths connect to each electrode. Each gap produces a local ripple in the voltage field which decays away with distance from the gap. Since the ripple decay length is determined by the distance between current paths, the magnitude of the ripple near the electrodes is reduced exponentially by a factor corresponding to the number of gaps per electrode.