TWI851370B - Touchpad device - Google Patents

Abstract

A touchpad device includes a substrate, a touch panel, and a support plate. The substrate has a top surface. The touch panel is located above the top surface of the substrate. The touch panel has an inner surface facing the substrate. The inner surface has a connecting portion, a pivot side, and a swing side. The pivot side is connected to one side of the substrate. The connecting portion is located between the pivot side and the swing side, so that the touch panel forms a movable plate, and the movable plate is between the connecting portion and the swing side, and a trigger switch is disposed on the swing side of the inner surface. The support plate is stacked between the substrate and the touch panel. The support plate rests on the top surface of the substrate and is adjacent to the swing side, and the trigger switch is against the support plate. The connecting portion of the touch panel is connected to one side of the support plate, so that the movable plate of the touch panel can swing relative to the support plate and the substrate with the connecting portion as the axis.

Description

Touch panel device

The present invention relates to an input device, and more particularly to a touch panel device.

A touch panel is an input device widely used in computers to sense the movement or pressure of a user's finger to control the movement of a cursor (e.g., controlling cursor displacement or clicking).

The currently known touch panel structure has a touch panel and a substrate. The touch panel has a pivot side and is pivotally fixed to the substrate by the pivot side. When the part of the touch panel away from the pivot side is pressed, the touch panel can swing down relative to the substrate with the pivot side as the axis to generate a corresponding signal.

However, when the user is operating the touch panel, if the user presses the side or corner of the touch panel away from the hinge side, a larger force arm is generated due to the distance between the side or corner and the hinge side. Therefore, the touch panel is prone to bending or deformation, resulting in excessive idle travel of the touch panel during operation, which affects the operating feel.

In view of the above, in one embodiment, a touch panel device is provided, including a substrate, a touch panel and a support plate. The substrate has a top surface. The touch panel is located above the top surface of the substrate, and the touch panel has an inner surface facing the substrate, the inner surface has an abutment portion and a pivot side and a swing side opposite to each other, the pivot side is connected to one side of the substrate, the abutment portion is between the pivot side and the swing side, so that the touch panel forms a movable plate block, the movable plate block is between the abutment portion and the swing side, and a trigger switch is provided on the swing side of the inner surface. The support plate is stacked between the substrate and the touch panel, the support plate is supported on the top surface of the substrate and adjacent to the swinging side, the trigger switch is against the support plate, and the abutting portion of the touch panel is connected to one side of the support plate, so that the movable plate of the touch panel can swing relative to the support plate and the substrate with the abutting portion as the axis.

In summary, according to the touch panel device of the embodiment of the present invention, an abutment portion is further provided between the pivot side and the swinging side of the touch panel, so that the touch panel forms a movable plate between the abutment portion and the swinging side. Thereby, when the user presses a corner, edge or area close to the swinging side, the movable plate can swing relative to the support plate and the base plate with the abutment portion as the axis to trigger the trigger switch, thereby greatly shortening the force arm and effectively reducing the deformation of the touch panel, thereby reducing the empty stroke of pressing to provide a good pressing feel.

It should be noted that in the following descriptions of the embodiments, the so-called "first" and "second" are used to describe different elements, and these elements are not limited by such terms. The same reference numerals will be used to represent the same or similar elements in all drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the touch panel device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the touch panel device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a top view of an embodiment of the touch panel device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line segment 4-4 of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the touch panel device 1 (e.g., a Touchpad or Trackpad) of the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to computer products, and the user can operate the touch panel device 1 by sliding or pressing the finger to control the displacement of the cursor or generate a corresponding control signal. For example, the touch panel device 1 can be installed on a laptop or a portable computer (e.g., a tablet computer), or the touch panel device 1 can also be an independent device and externally connected to an electronic product, which is not limited.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the touch panel device 1 includes a substrate 10, a touch panel 20 and a support plate 30. The substrate 10 can be a hard plate made of metal (such as iron, aluminum or alloy, etc.) or plastic material. The substrate 10 has a top surface 11, and the top surface 11 has a first side 12 and a second side 13 opposite to each other. The touch panel 20 and the support plate 30 are both arranged above the top surface 11 of the substrate 10. It should be noted that in FIG. 3 , the touch panel 20 is presented in a perspective manner so that the positions of the components covered by the touch panel 20 (such as the substrate 10 and the support plate 30, etc.) can be clearly seen.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 , in this embodiment, the touch panel 20 includes a touch plate 28 and a circuit board 29 stacked on each other, and the circuit board 29 is closer to the substrate 10 than the touch plate 28. In this embodiment, the touch plate 28 and the circuit board 29 are integrated into the same board. For example, the surfaces of the touch plate 28 and the circuit board 29 adjacent to each other can be combined into the same board by means of backing glue, chemical glue (such as light-curing glue) or physical glue (such as thermosetting adhesive or thermoplastic adhesive).

In some embodiments, the touch panel 28 may be a plate made of glass or mylar for the user to touch or press, and the circuit board 29 may be a membrane circuit board, a printed circuit board (PCB), a flexible circuit board (FPCB) or a rigid-flex PCB, and the circuit board 29 may process the user's finger movements on the touch panel 28 to generate functions such as scrolling, zooming in, zooming out or opening a window. Alternatively, the circuit board 29 may also generate functions such as selecting or displaying a menu in response to the user's finger pressing and clicking on the touch panel 28.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 , the touch panel 20 has an inner surface 21 facing the substrate 10 , wherein the inner surface 21 is the bottom surface of the circuit board 29 , and the inner surface 21 has a contact portion 22 , a pivot side 23 , and a swing side 24 , wherein the pivot side 23 and the swing side 24 are opposite sides of the inner surface 21 , and the pivot side 23 is disposed on one side of the substrate 10 . In this embodiment, the hinge side 23 of the touch panel 20 is fixed to the first side 12 of the top surface 11 of the substrate 10 by a first fixing member 40, wherein the first fixing member 40 can be a long strip block or plate, and the material of the first fixing member 40 can be metal, plastic, rubber, silicone or sponge, so that the touch panel 20 and the substrate 10 maintain a distance, and when the touch panel 20 is pressed, the touch panel 20 can swing relative to the substrate 10 with the hinge side 23 as the axis.

In some embodiments, the first fixing member 40 may be fixed between the touch panel 20 and the substrate 10 by adhesion, spot welding, hot melting or locking. For example, two surfaces of the first fixing member 40 in contact with the touch panel 20 and the substrate 10 may be provided with adhesive respectively, so that the touch panel 20, the first fixing member 40 and the substrate 10 are bonded and fixed to each other.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 , the contact portion 22 of the inner surface 21 of the touch panel 20 is located between the pivot side 23 and the swing side 24. In this embodiment, the contact portion 22 is a partial surface of the inner surface 21 (such as the area surrounded by the dotted line frame shown in FIG. 2 ), and the embodiment of the present invention forms a movable plate 201 between the contact portion 22 and the swing side 24 of the touch panel 20 through the contact portion 22. In other words, the movable plate 201 is a partial area of the touch panel 20, and the movable plate 201 is between the contact portion 22 and the swing side 24.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 , the support plate 30 may be a high-rigidity plate made of a metal material (such as iron, aluminum or alloy, etc.), so that the support plate 30 is not easily deformed when subjected to force, and the support plate 30 is stacked between the substrate 10 and the touch panel 20. In this embodiment, the support plate 30 is disposed on the top surface 11 of the substrate 10. For example, the support plate 30 may be directly supported on the top surface 11 of the substrate 10, or the support plate 30 may be supported on other components disposed on the top surface 11 of the substrate 10 (as shown in FIG. 4 , the support plate 30 is supported on a sheet 14 on the top surface 11) and indirectly supported on the substrate 10, that is, the support plate 30 and the substrate 10 are not assembled and fixed to each other. The support plate 30 is adjacent to the swing side 24 and is located below the movable plate 201. The abutment portion 22 of the touch panel 20 is disposed on one side of the support plate 30 so that the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 can swing relative to the substrate 10 around the abutment portion 22 when a force is applied.

In addition, a trigger switch 25 is provided at the center of the swinging side 24 of the inner surface 21 of the touch panel 20. For example, the trigger switch 25 can be a button switch, a micro switch or an elastic member. For example, the elastic member can be an elastic body such as a rubber dome, a metal dome, a plastic dome, a spring or a spring. The trigger switch 25 abuts against the support plate 30 (here, the trigger switch 25 abuts against a side of the support plate 30 away from the abutting portion 22), so that the touch panel 20 is located at a height position and maintains a distance from the substrate 10.

Therefore, please refer to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 . When the user presses the corner, edge or area of the touch panel 20 close to the swing side 24 (as shown by the arrow L1 in FIG. 5 , in this case, pressing the edge close to the swing side 24), the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 will swing relative to the support plate 30 and the substrate 10 with the abutment portion 22 as the axis, so that the trigger switch 25 descends and presses the support plate 30 to generate a signal, thereby significantly shortening the force arm and effectively reducing the deformation of the touch panel 20. When the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 is released, the movable plate 201 can rise and return to the above height position through the elastic force accumulated by the trigger switch 25.

Specifically, since the conventional touch panel 20 is not provided with the abutment portion 22 and the support plate 30, when the user presses the corner, edge or area of the touch panel 20 close to the swing side 24, the force arm A1 will be too large (as shown in FIG. 4, the force arm A1 is the distance from the pressing position to the pivot side 23), causing the touch panel 20 to bend or deform significantly, thereby causing the trigger switch 25 to sense unsmoothly or even fail. In contrast, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , the embodiment of the present invention provides an abutment portion 22 and a support plate 30. When the user presses the touch panel 20 at a corner, edge or area close to the swing side 24, the force arm A2 is greatly reduced (as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , the force arm A2 is the distance from the pressing point to the abutment portion 22, and the force arm A2 is smaller than the force arm A1) and the deformation of the touch panel 20 is effectively reduced, thereby reducing the empty stroke of pressing to provide a good pressing feel.

As shown in Figures 2 to 5, there is a first distance D1 between the abutting portion 22 of the touch panel 20 and the swinging side 24, and a second distance D2 between the abutting portion 22 and the pivoting side 23. When the first distance D1 is smaller, the aforementioned force arm A2 will be smaller. For example, in this embodiment, the first distance D1 is smaller than the second distance D2 and the second distance D2 is more than twice the first distance D1, so that when the corner, edge or area of the touch panel 20 close to the swinging side 24 is pressurized, the deformation of the touch panel 20 can be further reduced.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 , in the present embodiment, the contact portion 22 of the touch panel 20 is fixed to one side of the support plate 30 by a second fixing member 50, wherein the second fixing member 50 may be a long strip of block or plate, and the material of the second fixing member 50 may be metal, plastic, rubber, silicone or sponge, etc., so that when the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 is pressurized, the movable plate 201 can swing relative to the support plate 30 with the contact portion 22 as the axis.

In some embodiments, the second fixing member 50 may be fixed between the touch panel 20 and the support plate 30 by adhesion, spot welding, hot melting or locking. For example, two surfaces of the second fixing member 50 in contact with the touch panel 20 and the support plate 30 may be provided with adhesive respectively, so that the touch panel 20, the second fixing member 50 and the support plate 30 are bonded and fixed to each other.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , in the present embodiment, the inner surface 21 of the touch panel 20 has a first side 26 and a second side 27 opposite to each other, and the first side 26 and the second side 27 are connected between the pivot side 23 and the swing side 24. In other words, the pivot side 23, the swing side 24, the first side 26 and the second side 27 are connected to each other to form the periphery of the inner surface 21. The support plate 30 is a rectangular plate, and the two ends of the second fixing member 50 and the two ends of the support plate 30 are respectively adjacent to the first side 26 and the second side 27, so the length of the second fixing member 50 and the length of the support plate 30 can be closer to the length of the touch panel 20, so that the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 can obtain a better fixing and supporting effect and can be more stable during operation.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 , in this embodiment, the support plate 30 includes a first plate 31, a second plate 32 and a first folding plate 33. The first plate 31 maintains a distance from the base plate 10, the abutting portion 22 directly or indirectly bears against the first plate 31, the second plate 32 directly or indirectly bears against the top surface 11 of the base plate 10, the first folding plate 33 is integrally connected between the first plate 31 and the second plate 32, and the trigger switch 25 abuts against the second plate 32. Thus, by bending the support plate 30 from a sheet metal part, the overall structural strength can be improved to prevent the support plate 30 from being deformed due to force.

As shown in FIG. 5 , in this embodiment, the support plate 30 further includes a second folding plate 34, and the first folding plate 33 and the second folding plate 34 are integrally connected to two opposite sides of the second plate 32. Thus, by bending the support plate 30 at multiple different positions, the overall structural strength can be further improved, so that the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 can provide a good pressing feel when being pressed.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 , the touch panel device 1 further includes a reinforcing plate 60 , which is fixed to the inner surface 21 and adjacent to the swing side 24 to increase the rigidity of the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 , thereby further reducing the deformation of the movable plate 201 when under pressure.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 , in this embodiment, the reinforcing plate 60 includes two long plate bodies 61, 63 and two side plates 62. The reinforcing plate 60 is located above the supporting plate 30 and fixed to the inner surface 21. The long plate bodies 61 and 63 are spaced apart from each other. The two side plates 62 are connected to the two opposite ends of the long plate body 61, and the long plate body 61, the two side plates 62 and the other long plate body 63 are surrounded to form a frame. The supporting plate 30 is located between the two side plates 62 and in the frame. In this way, the reinforcing plate 60 can be prevented from occupying the installation space of the supporting plate 30, and the reinforcing plate 60 can improve the structural strength of the movable plate block 201.

As shown in FIG. 2 , FIG. 3 and FIG. 6 , in the present embodiment, each side plate 62 of the reinforcing plate 60 has a through hole 621, and an elastic sheet 622 is provided in the through hole 621. One end of the elastic sheet 622 is connected to the hole wall of the through hole 621, and the other end of the elastic sheet 622 abuts against the top surface 11 of the substrate 10. Thus, when the movable plate 201 of the touch panel 20 is pressed and actuated, the actuation stability of the movable plate 201 can be further improved through the buffering of the elastic sheet 622.

As shown in FIG. 4 , in this embodiment, the substrate 10 includes a first partial plate 101 and a second partial plate 102. The first partial plate 101 is adjacent to the pivot side 23, and the second partial plate 102 is adjacent to the swing side 24. The support plate 30 and the reinforcement plate 60 are stacked between the second partial plate 102 and the touch panel 20, and the distance between the second partial plate 102 and the touch panel 20 is greater than the distance between the first partial plate 101 and the touch panel 20. Thus, by increasing the distance between the second partial plate block 102 of the substrate 10 adjacent to the swing side 24 and the touch panel 20 , the support plate 30 and the reinforcing plate 60 have sufficient installation space, thereby improving the convenience of assembly.

In some embodiments, the hinge side 23 of the touch panel 20 and the substrate 10 and the abutting portion 22 and the supporting plate 30 may be connected to each other in other ways. For example, as shown in FIG. 7 , in this embodiment, the first side 12 of the top surface 11 of the substrate 10 is integrally provided with a first hinge 111, and the hinge side 23 of the touch panel 20 is integrally provided with a second hinge 231. The first hinge 111 is assembled with the second hinge 231, and the first fixing member 40 may be omitted. In addition, in the present embodiment, the first pivot member 111 and the second pivot member 231 are elastic arms and are hooked together. However, the above embodiment is only an example, and the first pivot member 111 and the second pivot member 231 may also be other assembly structures, or the first pivot member 111 and the second pivot member 231 may also be assembled and fixed to each other by other methods such as adhesion, spot welding, hot melting or locking.

Although the technical content of the present invention has been disclosed as above with the preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any slight changes and modifications made by anyone skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the scope defined by the attached patent application.

1: Touch panel device 10: Substrate 101: First partial panel 102: Second partial panel 11: Top surface 111: First pivot piece 12: First side 13: Second side 14: Sheet 20: Touch panel 201: Movable panel 21: Inner surface 22: Abutment 23: Pivot side 231: Second pivot piece 24: Swinging side 25: Trigger switch 26: First side 27: Second side 28: Touch panel 29: Circuit board 30: Support plate 31: First plate 32: Second plate 33: First folding plate 34: Second folding plate 40: First fixing member 50: Second fixing member 60: Reinforcement plate 61,63: Strip plate 62: Side plate 621: Through hole 622: Elastic sheet L1: Arrow D1: First spacing D2: Second spacing A1,A2: Force arm

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the touch panel device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the touch panel device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a top view of an embodiment of the touch panel device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line 4-4 of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a partial enlarged view of FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view along line 6-6 of FIG. 3. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the touch panel device of the present invention.

1: Touch panel device

10: Substrate

11: Top

12: First side

13: Second side

20: Touch panel

201: Movable panels

21: Inner surface

22: Butt joint

23: Pivot side

24: Swing side

25: Trigger switch

26: First side

27: Second side

30: Support plate

40: First fixing member

50: Second fixing member

60: Reinforcement board

61,63: Long strips

62: Side panels

Claims (14)

A touch panel device comprises: A substrate having a top surface; A touch panel located above the top surface of the substrate, the touch panel having an inner surface facing the substrate, the inner surface having an abutment portion and a pivot side and a swing side opposite to each other, the pivot side connected to one side of the substrate, the abutment portion being between the pivot side and the swing side, so that the touch panel forms a movable plate block, the movable plate block being between the abutment portion and the swing side, and a trigger switch being provided on the swing side of the inner surface; and A support plate is stacked between the substrate and the touch panel. The support plate is supported on the top surface of the substrate and adjacent to the swinging side. The trigger switch is against the support plate. The abutment portion of the touch panel is connected to one side of the support plate, so that the movable plate of the touch panel can swing relative to the support plate and the substrate with the abutment portion as the axis. A touch panel device as described in claim 1, wherein a first distance between the abutting portion and the swinging side is smaller than a second distance between the abutting portion and the pivoting side. A touch panel device as described in claim 2, wherein the second spacing is more than twice the first spacing. As described in claim 1, the pivot side is fixed to the substrate by a first fixing member, so that the touch panel can swing relative to the substrate with the pivot side as the axis. A touch panel device as described in claim 1, wherein a first pivot piece is disposed on the top surface of the substrate, a second pivot piece is disposed on the pivot side of the touch panel, and the first pivot piece is assembled to the second pivot piece. As described in claim 1, the abutment portion is fixed to one side of the support plate by a second fixing member, so that the movable plate of the touch panel can swing relative to the support plate with the abutment portion as the axis. A touch panel device as described in claim 6, wherein the inner surface of the touch panel has a first side and a second side opposite to each other, the first side and the second side are connected between the pivot side and the swing side, and the two ends of the second fixing member and the two ends of the supporting plate are respectively adjacent to the first side and the second side. A touch panel device as described in claim 1, wherein the supporting plate includes a first plate, a second plate and a first folding plate, the first plate maintains a distance from the substrate, the abutting portion is connected to the first plate, the second plate rests on the top surface of the substrate, the first folding plate is integrally connected between the first plate and the second plate, and the trigger switch rests on the second plate. A touch panel device as described in claim 8, wherein the supporting plate includes a second folding plate, and the first folding plate and the second folding plate are respectively and integrally connected to two opposite sides of the second plate. The touch panel device as described in claim 1 further includes a reinforcement plate fixed to the inner surface and adjacent to the swing side. A touch panel device as described in claim 10, wherein the reinforcement plate includes a long plate body and two side plates, the two side plates are connected to two opposite ends of the long plate body, and the support plate is located between the two side plates. A touch panel device as described in claim 11, wherein the reinforcement plate includes another long plate body, the other long plate body is fixed to the swinging side, and the long plate body, the two side plates and the other long plate body are connected to each other and surround each other to form a frame. A touch panel device as described in claim 11, wherein each of the side panels has a through hole, an elastic sheet is disposed in the through hole, one end of the elastic sheet is connected to the hole wall of the through hole, and the other end of the elastic sheet abuts against the top surface of the substrate. A touch panel device as described in claim 1, wherein the substrate includes a first partial plate and a second partial plate, the first partial plate is adjacent to the pivot side, the second partial plate is adjacent to the swing side, the support plate is stacked between the second partial plate and the touch panel, and the distance between the second partial plate and the touch panel is greater than the distance between the first partial plate and the touch panel.

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