JP2018200534A - Tactile transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a tactile transmission device capable of allowing a user to effectively sense vibrations of tactile feedback due to vibrations of touch input.SOLUTION: A tactile transmission device 1 comprises: a touch input module 2 having a touch operation plane 2A on the surface thereof; a vibration actuator 10 which is fixed to the touch input module 2 and configured to be driven by a touch input made on the touch operation plane 2A to generate lateral vibrations along the touch operation plane 2A; and an elastic rubber material 3 which has an elastic thickness parallel to the touch operation plane 2A to support the side faces of the touch input module 2 to a housing 20 of an electronic apparatus.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a haptic transmission device.

  Among electronic devices, those equipped with a touch input unit such as a touch panel and a touch pad are widely used. The touch input unit is an interface that generates an input signal upon detecting that the operator touches the operation input surface. In the case of an operation input surface that is superimposed on the display screen, such as a touch panel, the generation of input signals can be visually recognized by the display change of the screen, but the touch input unit has a certain operational feeling like keyboard button operation. It is one of the difficulties that cannot be obtained.

  On the other hand, skin sensation feedback technology (haptic technology) that feeds back input confirmation of the interface to the operator by vibration or the like has been studied recently, and the operator who touches the operation input surface also in the touch input section. There has been proposed one that feeds back vibration to a finger or the like. For example, in the related art described in Patent Document 1 below, it is shown that a diaphragm (touch input unit) having a vibration actuator is elastically fixed to a frame of an electronic device via an elastic damper.

JP 2013-59756 A

  According to the above-described conventional technology, the elastic damper is provided to prevent the vibration of the diaphragm (touch input unit) from being suppressed. However, in this prior art, the direction in which the elastic damper is displaced by pushing the diaphragm with a finger or the like coincides with the direction in which the diaphragm vibrates, so the operator cannot effectively sense the vibration of the tactile feedback. is there.

  The present invention has been proposed to address such problems. That is, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to effectively detect vibration of tactile feedback in a tactile transmission device that performs tactile feedback by vibration in response to touch input.

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention has the following configuration.
A touch input module having a touch operation surface on the surface, a vibration actuator fixed to the touch input module, driven by touch input to the touch operation surface, and performing lateral vibration along the touch operation surface, and the touch operation A tactile transmission device comprising: an elastic rubber material having an elastic thickness along a surface and supporting a side surface side of the touch input module on a housing of an electronic device.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the electronic device provided with the haptic transmission apparatus of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the operation state of the tactile sense transmission apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which showed other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the structural example of the vibration actuator. It is explanatory drawing which showed the electronic device provided with the haptic transmission apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals in different drawings indicate parts having the same function, and repeated description in each drawing will be omitted as appropriate.

  In FIG. 1, a tactile transmission device 1 includes a touch input module 2, a vibration actuator 10 fixed to the touch input module 2, and an elastic rubber material 3. The tactile transmission device 1 is externally attached to a housing 20 of an electronic device. Yes.

  The touch input module 2 has a touch operation surface 2A on the surface. The vibration actuator 10 is driven by a touch input to the touch operation surface 2A, and performs lateral vibration along the touch operation surface. That is, in the illustrated example, the touch operation surface 2A is a plane in the XY direction, and the vibration direction of the vibration actuator 10 is set to reciprocate in the X direction or the Y direction (linear vibration). .

  The elastic rubber material 3 has an elastic thickness along the touch operation surface 2 </ b> A and supports the side surface side of the touch input module 2 on the housing 20. In the illustrated example, the elastic rubber material 3 has an elastic thickness along the X direction or the Y direction, and supports the side surface of the touch input module 2 with the side wall surface 21 </ b> A of the recess 21 provided in the housing 20. ing.

  In the illustrated example, the concave portion 21 of the housing 20 of the electronic device accommodates the touch input module 2 and is provided between the side wall surface 21A of the concave portion 21 and the side surface of the touch input module 2 as described above. 3 is a high repulsion rubber material, and a low repulsion rubber material 4 is provided between the back surface of the touch input module and the bottom surface 21 </ b> B of the recess 21. As the high resilience rubber material, high density natural rubber or the like can be used, and as the low resilience rubber material 4, a low density sponge material or the like can be used.

  According to such a tactile transmission device 1, as shown in FIG. 2, when the touch operation surface 2A is operated with a finger M or the like, the vibration actuator 10 is driven by the touch input to generate the lateral vibration f as illustrated. To do. At this time, since the finger M receives the repulsive force P of the elastic rubber material 3, the lateral vibration f is easily transmitted to the finger M pressed against the touch operation surface 2A. Further, since the direction of the lateral vibration f of the vibration actuator 10 and the elastic thickness direction of the elastic rubber material 3 coincide with each other, the lateral vibration f is amplified and transmitted by the elasticity of the elastic rubber material 3.

  At this time, by operating the touch operation surface 2A with the finger M, a repulsive force P is applied to the finger M, and at the same time, a lateral vibration f in a direction intersecting the repulsive force P is applied to the touch operation surface 2A. As a result, a tactile sensory receptor called a Meissner body that exists near the skin surface of the finger M receives a sensation similar to the displacement of the skin surface, and a tactile sensor called a pachini body that exists in the subcutaneous tissue of the finger M. Sensory receptors will experience a sensation similar to finger depression. When such a sensation is transmitted to the brain, the illusion that the heel also partially sinks only where the touch operation surface 2A is pressed can be obtained, and a comfortable operation feeling such as a click feeling can be obtained. In particular, since the direction of the repulsive force P and the direction of the lateral vibration f intersect, the aforementioned tactile sensation receptor of the finger M can sense the lateral vibration f with high sensitivity.

  In the example shown in FIG. 3, the elastic rubber material 3 in the above-described example has the touch input module 2 side as the high repulsion rubber 3A and the housing 20 side as the low repulsion rubber 3B. By doing so, the lateral vibration f of the vibration actuator 10 is absorbed by the damping function of the low resilience rubber 3B, so that the lateral vibration f of the vibration actuator 10 is transmitted to the housing 20 side through the elastic rubber material 3. Can be suppressed. Here, as the high resilience rubber 3A, a high density natural rubber or the like can be used, and as the low resilience rubber 3B, a low density sponge material or the like can be used.

  In the case of a portable electronic device that holds the housing 20 by hand, the lateral vibration f of the vibration actuator 10 is transmitted to the hand that holds the housing 20 in order to surely cause the above-described sense of tactile sensation receptor. It is necessary to avoid it. For this reason, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the low-rebound rubber 3 </ b> B is disposed on the case 20 side of the elastic rubber material 3. By disposing the low resilience rubber 3B on the housing side in this way, the tactile transmission device 1 can be applied to a portable electronic device.

  FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the vibration actuator. In this vibration actuator 10, a mover 50 is pivotally supported in a frame 40 serving as a stator so as to vibrate along one axial direction (the x direction in the drawing). The mover 50 includes a pair of weight portions 51 and a magnet portion 52 disposed therebetween, and a guide shaft 53 extending in the vibration direction is fixed to the weight portion 51. The magnet unit 52 includes magnet pieces 52A, 52B, and 52C that are magnetized along the vibration direction and are disposed so that the same poles face each other, and spacers 52D and 52E are provided between the magnet pieces 52A, 52B, and 52C. Has been placed. The weight portion 51 and the magnet portion 52 are integrally coupled by a connecting member 54 and a reinforcing member 55.

  A coil 41 is fixed to the frame 40 serving as a stator. The coil 41 is wound around the vibration direction (the x direction in the drawing), and the mover 50 is slidably disposed in the coil 41. In the illustrated example, a pair of coils 41 connected in series are arranged with their winding directions reversed, and each coil 41 is arranged around spacers 52D and 52E. In addition, a bearing 42 that pivotally supports the guide shaft 53 of the mover 50 is attached to the frame body 40, and a plurality of elastic members 43 are arranged between the mover 50 (weight part 51) and the frame body 40. ing.

  Such a vibration actuator 10 inputs a vibration generation signal (for example, an alternating current having a resonance frequency determined by the mass of the mover 50 and the elastic coefficient of the elastic member 43) from the input terminal 40A provided on the frame body 40 to the coil 41. Thus, Lorentz force (driving force) along the uniaxial direction (x direction in the drawing) acts on the magnet unit 52 to generate linear vibration (lateral vibration) along the uniaxial direction.

  FIG. 5 shows a portable information terminal (for example, a smart phone) 100 as an electronic device including the haptic transmission device 1. The portable information terminal 100 normally holds the casing 20 with one hand and operates the touch operation surface 2A of the touch input module 2 such as a touch panel with the finger M of the other hand. At this time, as in the example shown in FIG. 3, by suppressing the lateral vibration of the vibration actuator 10 transmitted to the housing 20, the lateral vibration of the tactile feedback is effectively transmitted to the finger M, and the vibration of the tactile feedback is reduced. The portable information terminal 100 that can be sensed effectively can be obtained.

  As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and the design can be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention. Is included in the present invention. In addition, the above-described embodiments can be combined by utilizing each other's technology as long as there is no particular contradiction or problem in the purpose and configuration. Note that the electronic device described above is not limited to a portable electronic device that holds the frame by hand, but may be a stationary electronic device.

1: tactile transmission device, 2: touch input module, 2A: touch operation surface,
3: Elastic rubber material, 3A: High resilience rubber, 3B: Low resilience rubber,
4: Rubber material (low-elasticity rubber material), 10: Vibration actuator, 20: Housing
21: recess, 100: portable information terminal

Claims (4)

A touch input module having a touch operation surface on the surface;
A vibration actuator fixed to the touch input module, driven by a touch input to the touch operation surface, and performing lateral vibration along the touch operation surface;
A tactile transmission device comprising: an elastic rubber material having an elastic thickness along the touch operation surface and supporting a side surface side of the touch input module on a housing of an electronic device. The elastic rubber material is
The haptic transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the touch input module side is made of a high repulsion rubber and the housing side is made of a low repulsion rubber.   The housing of the electronic device includes a concave portion that accommodates the touch input module, and the elastic rubber material having high resilience is provided between a side wall surface of the concave portion and a side surface of the touch input module, and the touch input module 2. A tactile transmission device according to claim 1, wherein a rubber material having low resilience is provided between the back surface of the first and the bottom surface of the recess.   The electronic device provided with the tactile-sense transmission apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3.

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