JPH086711A - pointing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide an electrostatic capacitance type pointing device that can be easily incorporated in a keyboard of a thin personal computer. A key base for installation on a keyboard comprising a resin key base 1, a flexible sheet electrode 2, and an aluminum sheet plate 3 stacked in this order from the top. At least one of the front surface and the back surface of 1 is formed into a deformable thin film portion 10, the operation shaft 11 is erected on the front surface side of the thin film portion 10, and the electrode portion D is formed on the back surface of the thin film portion 10. Between the key base 1 and the sheet electrode 2, the electrode portions Dx +, Dx
The cursor on the display is moved by interposing the thin substrate 4 having −, Dy +, Dy−, and changing the respective capacitances between the electrode portion D and the electrode portions Dx +, Dx−, Dy +, Dy−. So that it can be converted into an electric signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pointing device provided in a thin personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a thin personal computer), and particularly to a device using a capacitance type sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a capacitance type sensor, for example,
There is a format as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, this sensor has a strain-generating body 9a having a diaphragm portion 90 serving as a deformable portion at the center and a shaft-shaped force receiving portion 91 at the center of the diaphragm portion 90. , A lid 9b attached to the strain generating body 9a
The electrode portion D as shown in FIG. 15 is provided on one of the facing surfaces of the substrate 90a of the strain-generating body 9a and the substrate 90b of the base body 9b, and the electrode as shown in FIG. Part D
x +, Dx-, Dy +, Dy- are provided respectively.

Further, in this sensor, the substrates 90a, 9a
0b between the electrode portion D and the electrode portion Dx +, and between the electrode portion D and the electrode portion Dx−, in accordance with the change in the gap G.
Between the electrode part D and the electrode part Dy +, between the electrode part D and the electrode part D
An electronic device 92 is provided to convert changes in capacitance between y-to each other, for example, changes in voltage.

Therefore, in this sensor, the magnitude and direction of the external force acting on the force receiving portion 91 (X-Y direction).
Can be converted into a corresponding voltage value, and when this is adopted in an OA device such as a so-called personal computer or word processor, an input device for moving a cursor displayed on the display, that is, a pointing device can be configured.

However, the structure described above cannot be incorporated in a thin personal computer (so-called notebook personal computer) because it is bulky.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic capacitance type pointing device which can be easily incorporated in a keyboard of a thin personal computer.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a key base 1 made of resin, a flexible sheet electrode 2, and a sheet plate 3 made of aluminum are installed in this order from the top. Which is a pointing device for forming a deformable thin film portion 10 by denting at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the key base 1, the operation shaft 11 is provided upright on the front surface side of the thin film portion 10, and the thin film portion is formed. The electrode portion D is formed on the back surface of the portion 10, and the key base 1 and the sheet electrode 2 are formed.
A thin substrate 4 having electrode portions Dx +, Dx−, Dy +, Dy− is interposed between the electrode portions D and Dx.
The change in each capacitance between +, Dx-, Dy +, and Dy- can be converted into an electric signal for moving the cursor on the display.

The present invention also provides a resin key base 1
And a flexible sheet electrode (2) and an aluminum sheet plate (3) stacked in this order from the top, which is a pointing device, and at least one of a front surface and a back surface of the key base (1). To form a deformable thin film portion 10, an operation shaft 11 is erected on the front surface side of the thin film portion 10, and electrode portions Dx +, Dx−, Dy +, Dy− are formed on the back surface of the thin film portion 10. , A thin substrate 4 having an electrode portion D is interposed between the key base 1 and the sheet electrode 2, and the electrode portion D and the electrode portions Dx +, Dx are provided.
Each change in capacitance between −, Dy +, and Dy− can be converted into an electric signal for moving the cursor on the display. The board 4 is preferably housed in a recess formed on the back surface side of the resin key base 1.

[0010]

The present invention operates as follows.

When the structure of the present invention is adopted, the thin film portion 10 which is means for inclining the operation shaft 11 is formed by notching the key base 1 and is interposed between the key base 1 and the sheet electrode 2. Since the substrate 4 is set thin, the pointing device can be incorporated without changing the thickness of the keyboard. If the board 4 is housed in the recess formed on the back surface of the resin key base 1, the pointing device can be incorporated without changing the thickness of the keyboard.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings shown as embodiments.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a capacitance type pointing device is incorporated in a keyboard KB of a thin personal computer, and an operating shaft 11 of the pointing device is projected from between keys K and K. ing. In this keyboard KB, as shown in A part of the same figure, in order to improve the operability of the pointing device, four keys K around the operation shaft 11 are cut out in a circular shape in plan view.

The structure of the pointing device will be described in detail below. [Construction of Keyboard ] Basically, as shown in FIG. 2, the keyboard has a key base 1 on which a key K can be pushed, a pair of flexible sheet electrodes 2 and 2, and a sheet electrode. A spacer 2a (see FIG. 12) for providing a gap so that the electrode portions 20, 20 of the second and second electrodes 20 are not always in contact with each other, and a sheet plate 3 made of aluminum for shielding and reinforcing are laminated. When the button is pressed, the parts of the sheet electrodes 2 and 2 that correspond to the characters drawn on the key top are in contact with each other (ON in terms of a switch)
It is designed to be [Regarding Overall Configuration of Pointing Device ] As shown in FIG. 3, the pointing device includes a deformable thin film portion 10 provided on the key base 1, an operation shaft 11 erected on the surface of the thin film portion 10, The electrode portion Dx formed on the back surface of the thin film portion 10 and the electrode portion Dx housed in the recess portion 12 provided on the back surface of the key base 1.
And a thin substrate 4 having +, Dx−, Dy +, Dy−. Then, a change in each capacitance between the electrode portion D and the electrode portions Dx +, Dx−, Dy +, Dy− due to the tilting operation of the operation shaft 11 is performed by the electronic component 5 shown in FIG. I am trying to convert to. The electrode portion D and the electrode portions Dx +, Dx−, Dy +, D
The variable capacitors, which are respectively formed by y- and Cx +, C
x−, Cy +, Cy−. [Structure of Key Base 1 ] The key base 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the recessed portion 12 formed on the back surface side,
A recess 13 formed at a position slightly apart from the recess 12 and a shallow recess 14 formed in a range including the recess 12 and the recess 13 are provided on the wall surface of the recess 12. The electrode portion D is formed, and the ground electrode portion ED1 electrically connected to the electrode portion D is formed on the wall surface of the recess portion 13 around the recess portion 12.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the substrate 4 is accommodated in the recess 14 and the recess 13 is formed.
The electronic component 5 attached to the substrate 4 is accommodated in the substrate 4, and the electrode portion D and the electrode portions Dx +, Dx−, Dy +, D are formed in the recess portion 12.
The y- and the y- are arranged so as to face each other, and the thin portion of the key base 1 formed by forming the recess 12 is used as the thin film portion 10. [Structure of Substrate 4 ] The substrate 4 is composed of a resin sheet plate or a printed circuit board, and the upper surface thereof has electrode portions Dx +, Dx−, Dy as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
+, Dy-, three ground electrode portions ED2, and an electronic component 5 that constitutes a capacitance detection circuit are arranged.
When the substrate 4 is incorporated in the recess 14 as shown in FIG. 3, the earth electrode portion ED2 and the earth electrode portion ED1 are in contact with each other in a state of overlapping in plan view as shown in FIG. Has become. The grounding electrode portion ED2 may be annular as shown in FIG. [Method of forming each electrode portion] Electrode portion D and grounding electrode portion E
Since the key base 1 is made of resin, D1 can be manufactured by metal plating or screen printing.

The electrode parts Dx +, Dx-, Dy +, D
The y- and ground electrode portions ED1 can be formed by metal plating or screen printing if the substrate 4 is made of resin, and can be formed by etching if it is a printed circuit board. [Regarding Capacitance Detection Circuit Configured by Electronic Component 5] (1) When the thin film portion 10 of the pointing device is deformed via the operation shaft 11, the variable capacitors Cx +, C
The electrostatic capacitances of x−, Cy +, and Cy− change, but when a force in the X-axis direction or the Y-axis direction of this electrostatic capacitance is applied, the variable capacitors Cx + and Cx−, and the variable capacitors Cy + and variable capacitors Cy + The capacitance of Cy-has the property that one increases and the other decreases. (2) Here, considering the electrostatic capacitance detection circuit in the X-axis direction and providing a phase difference detection circuit as shown in FIG. An output can be obtained according to the relative position.

In FIG. 6, the resistance R1 = R2, and
Also, no force is applied to the operation shaft 11 and the variable condenser
Capacitance of Cx + = Capacitance of variable capacitor Cx−
Fixed so that the output Px can output a pulse even when
A capacitor Cxo is inserted. That is, the resistance R1,
Time constant t of the circuit composed of variable capacitor Cx +_x1And resistance
R2, variable capacitor Cx-, fixed capacitor Cxo
Time constant t of the circuit _x2And are not equal
This is because.

A point, B point, C point, D in the circuit of FIG.
FIG. 7 is a timing flowchart showing the operations of the points, B'point (B input section of IC1) and C'point (C input section of IC1).

The IC1 may be an EX-NOR circuit,
The ICs 2 and 3 may be buffers. Further, in order to prevent the time constant t _x1 and the time constant t _x2 from being equal to each other, the resistance R1 ≠ the resistance R2, and the fixed capacitor Cxo may be omitted. (3) When a force is applied to the operation shaft 11, the variable capacitor Cx
+, Since the capacitance of Cx- increases and decreases in the opposite direction, the time constant t _x1, t _x2 also one increases, the other decreases. That is, it becomes as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the width (time) of the "H" signal of the pulse of the output (hereinafter referred to as the output D) at point D changes according to the direction and magnitude of the force in the X direction (the duty changes). ).

Although the X axis has been described above, the same can be said for the detection of the Y axis. (4) In order to use the output D for control and measurement, it may be considered to convert it into an analog signal through a smoothing circuit, but for digital signal processing using a microcomputer, the digital signal processing shown in FIG. 9 is used. It is preferable to use a circuit using the configuration diagram.

Here, in FIG. 9, port D11: digital input 1 (for X-axis output detection) port D12: digital input 2 (for Y-axis output detection) port DO1: digital output (for driving the phase difference detection circuit) port SO : Serial output (serial output of sensor information as a pointing device) Incidentally, instead of SO, a digital output port may be used to output digital values in parallel. (5) Inside the microcomputer, the clock C1
AND operation of DI1 and clock C1 and DI2,
During this time, the internal counter counts at high speed. Let these values be Nx and Ny (see FIG. 10). Clock C1
The AND operation of DI1 and DI2 is performed in order to simplify the subsequent signal processing because the widths of the pulses A and B shown in FIG. 10 are different. Further, if it is difficult to count the count values Nx and Ny by the microcomputer in terms of time, the count values may be time-divisionally counted or dedicated hardware may be provided. (6) Since the count values Nx and Ny of the counter corresponding to the outputs in the sensor X and Y axis directions were obtained in the above (5), the calculation function of the microcomputer was used based on these values to meet the purpose. If the signal is calculated and output, the output information of the sensor converted into a digital signal can be obtained. (7) FIG. 11 shows a block diagram of the digital signal processing of another embodiment. With such a configuration, there is an advantage that the clock generator can be separately provided and the load on the microcomputer can be reduced. (8) In the above embodiment, the back surface of the key base 1 is recessed to form the thin film portion 10. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and only the front surface or both surfaces of the key base 1 is recessed to form the thin film portion 10. It may be formed.

[0023]

From the contents described in the section of the operation, it is possible to provide the electrostatic capacitance type pointing device which can be easily incorporated in the keyboard of the thin personal computer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a pointing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a keyboard.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing constituent members of the keyboard.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the pointing device of the embodiment of the present invention is applied to a keyboard.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a substrate or the like used in the pointing device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a planar positional relationship of each electrode portion used in the pointing device.

FIG. 6 is a phase difference detection circuit diagram used in the pointing device.

FIG. 7 shows points A, B, and C shown in the phase difference detection circuit.
Timing chart of mutual waveforms at points B, C, C and D.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a change in output signal when a force in the X-axis direction is applied to the operation shaft of the pointing device.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of digital signal processing used in the pointing device.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart of a digital signal performed inside the microcomputer shown in the digital signal processing configuration diagram.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of digital signal processing according to another embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a relationship between a sheet electrode and a spacer of the keyboard.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of another aspect of the substrate or the like used in the pointing device.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a capacitance type sensor that can be used as a pointing device.

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing an electrode portion of the capacitance type sensor.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an electrode portion of the capacitance type sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 D electrode part Dx + electrode part Dx− electrode part Dy + electrode part Dy− electrode part 1 key base 2 sheet electrode 3 sheet plate 4 substrate 10 thin film part 11 operation axis

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A resin key base (1), a flexible sheet electrode (2), and an aluminum sheet plate (3).
A pointing device for installation on a keyboard formed by stacking in order from the top, forming at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the key base (1) on a deformable thin film portion (10), An operation shaft (11) is erected on the front surface side of the thin film portion (10), and an electrode portion (D) is formed on the back surface of the thin film portion (10), so that the key base (1) and the sheet electrode (2) are mutually A thin substrate (4) having electrode portions (Dx +) (Dx−) (Dy +) (Dy−) is interposed between the electrode portion (D) and the electrode portions (Dx +) (Dx−) (Dy +). (Dy-) A pointing device characterized by being capable of converting each change in capacitance between them into an electric signal for moving a cursor on a display. 2. A key base (1) made of resin, a flexible sheet electrode (2), and a sheet plate (3) made of aluminum.
A pointing device for installation on a keyboard formed by stacking in order from the top, forming at least one of the front surface and the back surface of the key base (1) on a deformable thin film portion (10), An operation shaft (11) is provided upright on the front surface side of the thin film portion (10), and electrode portions (Dx +) (Dx-) are provided on the back surface of the thin film portion (10).
(Dy +) (Dy-) is formed, and the key base (1) is formed.
A thin substrate (4) having an electrode portion (D) is interposed between the sheet electrode (2) and the sheet electrode (2), and the electrode portion (D) and the electrode portions (Dx +) (Dx-) (Dy +) (Dy-) are provided. A pointing device characterized in that a change in each capacitance between each other can be converted into an electric signal for moving a cursor on a display. 3. The pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate (4) is housed in a recess formed on the back surface side of the resin key base (1).