JP5360580B2 - Tactile feedback touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a horizontal vibration type touch panel structured such that a driving part is configured to be compact for reducing any loss when vibration occurs, and for enabling a user to easily sense vibration. <P>SOLUTION: The vibration face of a touch panel is supported by rectangular parallelepiped elastic body convex parts arranged with equal intervals with their long axes crossing perpendicularly to a vibrating direction, and a connection lever type actuator is used as a driving source so that vibration of an operation part is enabled without interfering the driving of the vibrating direction to the operation part. Also, since a connection lever type displacement enlargement mechanism is used as a driving source, a tactile feeling feedback touch panel is configured under the consideration of an environment by achieving resource saving accompanied by the decrease of the number of components. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a tactile feedback touch panel that vibrates in a horizontal direction with respect to a pressing direction.

  2. Description of the Related Art Currently, touch panels that allow a user to input by directly touching a display screen are widely used in input devices of various information terminals. Among such touch panels, in addition to those that can be simply input by contact, there is a structure that can confirm that the user has input using voice or the like. (Described in Patent Document 1) is registered. In the said patent document 1, it is the structure which provided the vibration generator in the direction which a user presses regarding a touchscreen operation part.

  Further, the structure of Japanese Patent No. 3888099 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) is characterized in that the touch panel operation unit is vibrated in a direction parallel to the surface pressed by the user and the contact part is guided by the input of a carrier wave. . For this reason, it has a structure that can guide the input together with the vibration output to the user.

Noto 2511577 Japanese Patent No. 3888099

  While having the effects described above, the vibrating touch panel described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that it is difficult to increase the size of the touch panel used. This is because the structure described in Patent Document 1 is a structure that generates vibration in the pressing direction.

  In general, for an information terminal such as an ATM, an optical touch panel may be used rather than a pressure sensitive type in terms of durability. When the touch panel operation unit having elasticity such as acrylic is vibrated in the pressing direction with respect to such a structure, the contact surface absorbs vibration. For this reason, in order to output a vibration of a magnitude that can be sensed by the user, it is necessary to increase the amount of displacement of the vibration generator.

  Further, in the touch panel described in Patent Document 2 in which the vibration direction is set in a horizontal direction with respect to the contact surface, vibration is generated due to friction generated between the support member provided in the pressing direction and the touch panel operation unit at the time of user input. Has the problem of being hindered.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the invention described in the present application provides a horizontal vibration type touch panel that has a structure in which a drive unit is configured in a small size, and has a small loss at the time of vibration generation, and is easy for a user to sense vibration.

  For this purpose, in the first aspect of the present invention, the operation portion, which is the vibration surface of the horizontal vibration type touch panel, is pressed by the elastic convex portion of a rectangular parallelepiped whose long axis is orthogonal to the vibration direction arranged at equal intervals. The connecting lever type actuator is used as a drive source.

  By using such a structure, the touch panel according to the present invention eliminates the friction between the touch panel support section and the touch panel operation section generated by the input in the pressing direction, and the same tactile sensation is provided to the user on the entire panel surface. Can be provided. In addition, the connecting lever type displacement magnifying mechanism used in the present invention has an advantage that, due to its structure, the magnifying rate with respect to the displacement amount of the piezoelectric element serving as the driving source is large, and the responsiveness of the piezoelectric element serving as the driving source can be directly reflected. is there.

  The above effect is due to the fact that the convex portion that is the support member is a rectangular parallelepiped, and the amount of movement with respect to the vibration direction is accommodated within the elastic deformation region of the convex portion, and the convex portion is deformed following the touch panel operation unit, The frictional force for the direction is increased. For this reason, even when used for a large touch panel, it is possible to output a stable vibration with little blur.

  Further, by arranging the convex portions as the support members at equal intervals, it is possible to adjust the displacement in the pressing direction that occurs during the operation. This is because the amount of sinking of the touch panel supported by the convex portion varies depending on the aspect ratio and the arrangement interval of the convex section. In addition, since the deformation amount of the convex portion corresponding to the horizontal vibration of the touch panel also changes, the tactile sensation during operation can be optimized only by the shape and arrangement of the convex portion.

  In addition to the above effects, the amount of sinking when inputting to the touch panel can also be changed by changing the material of the protrusions in the present invention. For this reason, in addition to the support structure by the convex shape, various tactile sensations can be output with the convex material.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized by a structure in which the convex portions are integrally formed. More specifically, a plurality of convex portions are formed as a single part by integral molding or the like. For this reason, even when it is necessary to make the convex portion thin as a whole, it is possible to easily install the convex portion, and it is possible to reduce the number of assembling steps by reducing the number of parts.

  Moreover, by forming each convex part integrally, it can adhere with respect to the housing | casing for touchscreens with higher intensity | strength rather than installing only a convex part. For this reason, also with respect to the support of the touch panel, it is possible to obtain a stable vibration characteristic with a uniform support surface as compared with the case where each convex portion is fixed separately.

As described above, by using the structure described in the present invention, the drive unit is made small in size, but there is little mechanical loss at the time of vibration occurrence, and the user senses the vibration with a stable vibration direction. An easy touch panel can be provided.

The perspective view of the vibration touch panel used in the present embodiment Exploded perspective view of the vibration touch panel used in this embodiment Elastic support part of vibration touch panel used in this embodiment Enlarged view of the drive part of the vibration touch panel used in this example Front view of the area around the leaf spring arrangement of the vibration touch panel used in this embodiment A-A 'sectional view of the vibration touch panel shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  1 is a perspective view of a touch panel used in the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the touch panel used in the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an elastic support portion of the touch panel used in the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the drive unit of the touch panel used in this embodiment.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, the touch panel used in this embodiment is provided with an elastic support portion 4 on the surface of the housing 5 serving as a base, and supports the operation portion 3 in the pressing direction of the touch panel. doing. Further, a leaf spring 7 is provided between the side surface of the operation unit 3 and the inner wall of the housing 5, and the drive source 6 fixed to the housing 5 using screws on the side surface of the opposite operation unit 3 is sandwiched with an extremely thin elastic body c. The frame 1 is fixed to the housing 5 by pressing the packing 2 provided on the operation unit 3. Since the drive source 6 is driven to face the side surface of the operation unit 3, the touch panel functions as a tactile feedback touch panel that vibrates in a direction h horizontal to the pressing direction. Since such a structure is used, the touch panel described in the present embodiment can obtain the same tactile sensation regardless of the position on the surface of the operation unit 3 and can reduce the thickness of the touch panel body. It became.

  Further, as can be seen from the enlarged perspective view of the drive source 6 shown in FIG. 4, in the touch panel described in the present embodiment, the displacement of the piezoelectric element a is used as the drive source 6 used when vibration is generated. In this structure, an extremely thin elastic body c is sandwiched between the displacement magnifying mechanism and the operation unit. For this reason, high generation force and responsiveness were able to be exhibited at the time of vibration generation, while making the drive source 6 small. In addition, since the elastic body c is provided between the operation unit 3 and the drive source 6, it is possible to alleviate the tapping sound generated when vibration is generated. Furthermore, since the mechanical fixing method using the displacement magnifying mechanism fixing screw d is used for fixing between the driving source and the frame, the driving source is prevented from dropping due to the inertial force of the operating unit when vibration is generated by the driving unit. High durability could be imparted.

  Further, as can be seen from the front view around the place where the leaf spring is shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, a structure in which a partial guide convex portion e is provided on the inner side surface parallel to the drive direction of the housing 5 to serve as a guide. Is used. For this reason, when the vibration is generated by the drive source 6, the dynamic loss outside the vibration direction can be reduced without disturbing the operation in the vibration direction. In addition, a leaf spring 7 is provided on the inner surface opposite to the drive source 6 to urge the operating portion toward the drive source. For this reason, it is possible to prevent rattling when vibrations occur and to expand the amplitude frequency range in which the operation unit can operate following the drive source 6. Here, with respect to the guide convex portion e provided as a guide on the operation portion side surface, from the same technical point of view, by a damper having a small contact area with the operation portion side surface with respect to the amplitude direction such as a leaf spring provided on the driving portion opposite side Can also be substituted.

  In addition, as can be seen from the elastic support portion 4 shown in FIG. 3, the touch panel described in the present embodiment relates to the operation portion 3, the long axis of the support convex portion f having a rectangular parallelepiped shape and the operation that is vibrated by the drive source 6. The elastic support portion 4 is configured by arranging a plurality of support convex portions f so that the vibration direction h of the portion 3 is orthogonal. Therefore, the operation part 3 has a structure partially supported by the supporting convex part f. By using such a support structure, in the touch panel of this embodiment, when the operation unit 3 is moved in the vibration direction when the operation unit 3 is vibrated by the driving source 6, the support convex portion f is elastically deformed. When trying to move in the other direction, it is possible to provide a directional support structure in which the movement is limited by the frictional force between the operating portion 3 and the supporting convex portion f. In addition, with respect to the end-side support convex portion g at both ends in the vibration direction, the operation portion 3 is stabilized by aligning the long axis length of the end-side support convex portion g with the end portion of the operation portion 3. I was able to support it.

  As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 6, the touch panel described in the present embodiment has a structure in which the packing 2 is sandwiched between the operation unit 3 and the frame 1. For this reason, it became possible to provide a simple waterproofing and dustproofing effect during normal use.

  As described above, by using the structure described in this embodiment, it is possible to provide a touch panel in which a mechanical loss is small when vibrations are generated and the user can easily detect vibrations with a stable vibration direction.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Frame 2 Packing 3 Operation part 4 Elastic support part 5 Housing 6 Drive source 7 Leaf spring a Piezoelectric element b Displacement expansion mechanism c Elastic body d Displacement expansion mechanism fixing screw e Guide convex part f Support convex part g End side support Protrusion h Vibration direction of operation unit 3

Claims (2)

  A horizontal vibration type touch panel using a connecting lever type actuator as a drive source, which supports the operation part of the vibration touch panel at a regular interval by a plurality of rectangular parallelepiped convex portions whose major axes are orthogonal to the vibration direction.   The horizontal vibration type touch panel according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of convex portions are integrally formed.

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