JPH06275169A - Keyboard switch - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A keyboard having a membrane switch closely fixed to a substrate and provided with a key button to be operated facing each switch of the membrane switch. It is an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard that can be made small and thin. [Structure] A printed wiring board 1 which constitutes a substrate, a plurality of switches 21 each having a click disk 22 are arranged in a single layer to be integrally configured, and a membrane switch 2 which is tightly fixed to the printed wiring board 1 and a click A pressing projection 31 is provided on the back side at a position facing the disk 22, an operation indication is made on a front side top surface 32, and a hard transparent plate 34 is provided on the top surface 32.
The key switch 33 is formed by adhering together, the key button 33 is made to travel from the base plate portion 35 of a predetermined thickness through the thin skirt portion 36, and all are integrally molded with a soft rubber material. A key top 3 that is placed on top of the other 2 and that holds the board 35 in close contact
And consist of.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a keyboard in which a membrane switch is tightly fixed to a substrate, and a key button is provided so as to face each switch of the membrane switch and operate.

Along with the high performance miniaturization of electronic parts, portable mobile electronic devices such as mobile phones, electronic notebooks, notebook personal computers, etc. are becoming smaller, higher performance and cheaper, and competition is promoted by strong demand. Is being done.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 shows an example of a conventional keyboard,
(a) is an exploded view of the configuration, and (b) is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the switch portion.

A conventional example keyboard of a mobile telephone is
As shown in Fig. 2 (a), the printed wiring board 1 to be the substrate
A double-sided adhesive sheet 5, a membrane switch 2 in which a plurality of switches 21 each having a click disk 22 are arranged in a predetermined manner and are integrally formed, and a rubber holder for elastically holding and fixing a button key 63 for pressing the switch 21. 6, a key button 63, and a surface cover 7 forming the surface.

The structure is as shown in FIG. 2 (b). The rubber holder 6 is made of soft silicone rubber, and the rectangular holding seat 64 is provided at the corresponding position of each switch 21, and the thin skirt portion 66 is interposed. It is projected from the substrate portion 65.

The key button 63 has a top hat shape and a top surface.
The operation indication is given to the film 62 by film transfer, a square hole into which the above-mentioned holding seat 64 is fitted is provided on the back side, and a rod-shaped projection 61 is provided at the center, which is a hard resin material molded product. .

For assembly, the double-sided adhesive sheet 5 is used to fix the click disk 22 upward and the membrane switch 2 is adhered and fixed to a predetermined position of the printed wiring board 1, and the rubber holder 6 is placed thereon, and each holding seat. The protrusions 61 of the key buttons 63 are inserted into 64, the key buttons 63 are individually capped and fixed, and the surface cover 7 is finally attached.

When the key button 63 is pressed, the holding seat 64 of the rubber holder 6 elastically held by the thin skirt portion 66 is pushed down and the tip of the protrusion 61 pushes the click disk of the switch 21.
22 is pressed, the click disk 22 is clicked to turn on the switch 21, and the key button 63 returns to its original position due to the elastic holding of the holding seat 64, and the click disk 22 is turned off. Also restore switch 21
Turn off.

The skirt portion 66 has a thin thickness so that the adjacent switches 21 other than the corresponding switch 21 are not operated when the key button 63 is pressed.

[0010]

However, since the key buttons 63 are worn one by one and the display for operation is provided individually, they must be arranged without fail, which takes time and is sufficient for cost reduction. I couldn't do it. The feel when the key button 63 was pressed, that is, the variation in clicks occurred, and the evaluation of quality and reliability was low. Further, there is a limit in the current structure to meet the demand for further miniaturization and thinning. There were problems such as.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard which can reduce the number of assembling steps and which is of high quality and can be made small and thin.

[0012]

As shown in FIG. 1, the above-mentioned object is to [1] equip a substrate with a membrane switch in close contact with each other, and to provide a key button to be operated facing each switch of the membrane switch. In the keyboard, the printed wiring board 1 constituting the substrate and a plurality of switches 21 each having a click disk 22 are arranged in a single layer to be integrally configured,
A protrusion for pressing is provided at a position where the membrane switch 2 tightly fixed to the printed wiring board 1 and the click disk 22 face each other.
A key button that has 31 on the back side, a display for operation is made on the front surface 32 on the front side, and a hard transparent plate 34 is adhered to the top surface 32.
33 are arranged, the key buttons 33 are made to travel from the base plate portion 35 of a predetermined thickness through the thin skirt portion 36, and all the keys are integrally molded with a soft rubber material, and the key board 33 is placed on the membrane switch 2 and placed on the base plate portion.
This is achieved by the keyboard switch of the present invention, which is composed of a key top 3 for tightly fixing 35. [2] Further, the light-emitting body 4 is arranged in a predetermined manner on the printed wiring board 1 or the membrane switch 2, and in the case of the printed wiring board 1, the escape hole 23 of the light-emitting body 4 is provided in the membrane switch 2, and the key is The top 3 is provided with a light absorbing concave portion 37 at a position corresponding to the light emitting body 4 inside the substrate portion 35, integrally molded with a light-transmitting soft rubber material, and a light shielding layer 38 is adhered and formed on an outer surface thereof. Then, the light of the light-emitting body 4 is transmitted through the substrate portion 35 of the key top 3, part of which is emitted into the space between the click disk 22 and the back side of the key button 33, and is again input from the back surface of the key button 33. The keyboard switch of the present invention is also suitable for illuminating the display of the key top surface 32 from the back side and illuminating all the key buttons 33. [3] Furthermore, click disk 22 of membrane switch 2
It is also achieved by the keyboard switch of the above invention, in which the light reflecting layer 24 is formed on the entire surface on the side.

[0013]

That is, all the key buttons 33 for operating the respective switches 21 of the membrane switch 2 are integrally molded and provided on the key top 3, so that the key buttons 33 are not individually inserted and capped. All that is required is to place the key top 3 on the membrane switch 2.

Further, the key button 33 is provided so as to project from the board portion 35, and an operation display is provided on the top surface 32.
Since a hard transparent plate 34 is bonded to the
Are reinforced to withstand direct manipulation and may require no surface cover.

Further, the key button 33 has an independent spring property through the thin skirt portion 36, so that the adjacent switches 21 do not malfunction at the same time. In addition, the protrusion on the back side
Dome-shaped click disk 22 of switch 21 by 31
Since only the top portion of the disk is pressed, the click disk 22 can be reliably operated, and the projection 31 is made of a soft rubber material, so that the click disk 22 is not deformed and damaged by the pressing impact.

If the key top 3 is made of a light-transmitting soft rubber material and the light shielding layer 38 is formed on the surface side, the light of the light emitting body 4 enters from the recess 37 of the key top 3 and is shielded. The layer 38 transmits the inside without emitting light to the surface, part of the light passes through the skirt portion 36, and part of the light is emitted into the space between the click disk 22 and the back side of the key button 33, and the back side of the key button 33 again. The top surface 32 of the display is illuminated from the back side.

If the light reflecting layer 24 is formed on the entire surface of the membrane switch 2 formed by laminating plastic films on the click disk 22 side, light leaks to the inside of the membrane switch 2 or further to the lower layer portion. The illumination efficiency of the key button 33 is enhanced without being absorbed.

Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a keyboard which can reduce the number of assembling steps, and which is of high quality and can be made small and thin.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same objects. 1A and 1B show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is an exploded configuration diagram and FIG. 1B is an enlarged sectional view of a switch portion.

As an embodiment of the present invention, an illuminated keyboard integrally provided with a numeric keypad and function keys has a printed wiring board 1 serving as a substrate, a double-sided adhesive sheet 5, and a membrane as shown in FIG. 1 (a). It is composed of a switch 2 and a key top 3 integrally provided with a key button 33.

More specifically, as shown in the sectional view of FIG. 1 (b), the LED chips of the light emitters 4 are mounted on the printed wiring board 1 at predetermined intervals. The double-sided adhesive sheet 5 and the membrane switch 2 are provided with an escape hole 23 at this corresponding position to avoid the light-emitting body 4, and further, each switch of the membrane switch 2
On the click disk 22 side of 21, a light reflection layer 24 is formed by adhering the entire surface with a non-translucent milky white resin film.

The key top 3 is provided with a recess 37 for absorbing light at a position corresponding to the light emitter 4 on the substrate portion 35 having a thickness of 1.2 mm, and at a position corresponding to each switch 21, a flat thin wall having a thickness of 0.2 mm and a width of 0.8 mm. The key button 33 of 3.5 × 6 × 1 mm thickness is made to travel through the skirt part 36 of the, and a protrusion of 1.8φ × 0.7 mm is further projected on the back side, and an ethylene propylene-based transparent material that can be bonded to the resin is used. It is molded integrally with a milky white soft rubber material with lightness, a dark-colored paint is applied to the entire front surface to form a light-shielding layer 38, and the top surface 32 of the key button 33 has a blank character method. Are individually colored, and a hard transparent plate 34 of colorless 0.5 mm thick resin is adhered with an adhesive for reinforcement and protection.

Assembling is performed at a predetermined position of the printed wiring board 1,
The membrane switch 2 having the double-sided adhesive sheet 5 adhered to one side in advance is adhered and fixed via the double-sided adhesive sheet 5. Next, the key top 3 is placed on the membrane switch 2, and the substrate portion 35 is bonded and fixed with an adhesive to complete the process.

No particular surface cover is provided, and only the painted surface of the key top 3 and the key button 33 are exposed, so that operability, quality, and reliability can be sufficiently satisfied. The display is illuminated inside, making it elegant and clear in terms of design, and it is also durable.

The above embodiment is an example, and the shape, size, and material of each part are not limited to the above. In the above-mentioned embodiment, the light-emitting body 4 is attached to illuminate the display of the key button 33.
The light emitter 4 and the escape hole 23, and the light reflection layer 24 of the membrane switch 2 are unnecessary.

If the light-shielding layer 38 of the key top 3 has a thin light-reflecting layer as a base layer, absorption of transmitted light is reduced and illumination efficiency is improved. The hard transparent plate 34 adhered to the top surface 32 of the key button 33 may have a shape that surrounds the peripheral edge shallowly so as not to affect the pressing operation, thereby shortening the adhering work.

[0027]

As described above, according to the keyboard of the present invention, there is no need to insert key buttons having different displays, the number of assembling steps can be reduced, and high quality and high reliability can be obtained. % Can be miniaturized and key top 3
The thickness can be reduced by 25% or more with respect to the thickness of the conventional example and the thickness of the key button 63 and the rubber holder 6 of the conventional example, and the types of parts can be significantly reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an embodiment of the present invention (a) an exploded configuration diagram (b) an enlarged sectional view of a switch portion

[Fig. 2] Conventional example keyboard (a) Exploded configuration diagram (b) Switch section enlarged view

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Printed wiring board 2 Membrane switch 3
Key top 4 Light emitter 5 Double-sided adhesive sheet 6
Rubber holder 7 Front cover 21 Switch 22
Click disk 23 Escape hole 24 Light reflection layer 3
1,61 Protrusion 32,62 Top surface 33,63 Key button 34
Hard transparent plate 35,65 Skirt part 37 Concave part 38
Light-shielding layer 64 Holding seat

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard comprising a membrane switch which is closely fixed to a substrate and which is provided with a key button which is operated so as to face each switch of the membrane switch, the printed wiring board (1) constituting the substrate, , Multiple switches with individual click disks (22)
(21) are arranged in a single layer and integrally formed, and the printed wiring board
Attach the membrane switch (2) that is closely fixed to (1) and the protrusion (3
1) on the back side, and the operation display (3
2) is formed, and a key button (33) formed by bonding a hard transparent plate (34) to the top surface (32) is arranged, and a thin skirt portion (36) is formed from a substrate portion (35) having a predetermined thickness. The key top (3) is made to travel through the key button (33) and integrally molded with a soft rubber material so that it is placed on the membrane switch (2) and the substrate part (35) is closely fixed. ) And a keyboard switch. 2. A light emitting body (4) is arranged on a printed wiring board (1) or a membrane switch (2) in a predetermined manner, and in the case of the printed wiring board (1), a membrane switch is provided.
The (2) is provided with an escape hole (23) for the light emitting body (4), and the key top (3) is provided with a recess for absorbing light (at a position corresponding to the light emitting body (4) inside the substrate section (35). 37) is provided and integrally molded with a light-transmitting soft rubber material, and a light-shielding layer (38) is adhered and formed on the outer surface of the key top (3). Light is transmitted through the substrate part (35), and part of the light is emitted into the space between the click disk (22) and the back side of the key button (33), and the light is again input from the back surface of the key button (33) to the key top surface. The display of (32) is illuminated from the back side, and all the key buttons (33) are illuminated.
The listed keyboard switch. 3. The keyboard switch according to claim 2, wherein a light reflection layer (24) is formed on the entire surface of the membrane switch (2) on the click disk (22) side.