JPH10187312A - Keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a keyboard small in size and thin and to make assemblage extremely easy by detecting a pressed key with a sensor pad and outputting a signal that corresponds to the key. SOLUTION: A sensor pad 3 is entirely filled with matrixes that consist of extremely minute sensor dots 9. For instance, about 10×10 sensor dot matrix is assigned to one key 5, when even one dot among them responds, it is recognized that the key 5 is pressed and a prescribed key signal that corresponds to it is set to be outputted. Through this, the reliability of an key operation is improved. Since this keypad detects which key 5 is pressed with one sheet of the pad 3 and outputs a key signal that corresponds to it, it is not only made small and thin, but also improves productivity because assemblage becomes extremely easy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a keyboard, and more particularly, to a multimedia personal computer and a PC / PC.
The present invention relates to a keyboard suitable for operation of a so-called 2m personal computer such as a TV combination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a keyboard has a key top disposed above a substrate via a click rubber, and when the key top is pressed, a movable contact on the inner surface of the click rubber comes into contact with a fixed contact on the substrate to conduct electricity. It is configured to be. In a so-called 2m personal computer such as a multimedia personal computer or a PC / TV combination, since it is necessary to operate the personal computer at a distance of about several meters from the main body, a wireless communication function is often added to the above-mentioned switching structure.

[0003]

It is desirable that the keyboard used in this type of 2 m personal computer be small and thin in addition to the wireless communication function. However, the above-described switching structure has a limit in reducing the size and thickness. Also, the assemblability is poor. Therefore, a technical problem to be solved arises in order to make this kind of keyboard small and thin and to improve the assemblability, and the present invention aims to solve the problem. .

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems. A plurality of keys are provided on a sensor pad, and each key is provided on the sensor pad. By providing a keyboard configured such that when a key is pressed by assigning a predetermined dot matrix, the pressed key is detected by the sensor pad and a signal corresponding to the key is output. It is.

[0005]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of the keyboard 1, and illustration of a wireless communication mechanism and the like is omitted. The keyboard 1 is formed in a rectangular thin plate shape as a whole, and a sensor pad 3 is disposed on a base 2 of the keyboard 1, and a key panel 4 is closely mounted on the sensor pad 3.

[0006] The key panel 4 has a key portion 6 composed of matrix keys 5, 5, ... and a rectangular opening portion 7.
And the sensor pad 3 is opened from the opening 7.
Are exposed, thereby forming the point pad 8. Here, the key portion 6 of the key panel 4 is formed of a thin flexible film, and when each of the keys 5, 5,... Is depressed, the point pad 8 thereunder is also depressed. Other parts of the key panel 4 are formed of hard resin.

The key portion 6 is composed of a hard resin independent key top for each of the keys 5, 5,... In addition to the thin flexible film described above, and a spring or the like is provided on the lower surface of the key top. The key top may be arranged to urge the key top upward. In that case, a click feeling can be given at the time of key operation.

The sensor pad 3 employs a resistive tablet system using a transparent resistive film here. However, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto. For example, an optical coupling tablet system or a capacitive coupling tablet system may be used. Other methods may be adopted. In the case of the resistive tablet system using a transparent resistive film, an LED can be provided below the sensor pad 3 to provide a backlight to the keys 5, 5,. can do. When there are two or more characters or symbols assigned to one key 5 and one character or symbol is selected by mode switching, light of a different color is applied to each character or symbol. By displaying in a reactive paint, and by providing a plurality of LEDs below the sensor pad 3 for each color, and setting a predetermined LED to emit light in each mode, It is also possible to configure so that only the characters and symbols corresponding to the modes emerge. This allows
Visibility and operability are improved.

As shown in FIG. 2, the entire surface of the sensor pad 3 is filled with a matrix of extremely fine sensor dots 9, 9,. For example, a sensor dot matrix of, for example, about 10 × 10 is assigned to one key 5, and if even one dot responds, the key 5
Is set to be recognized as being pressed, and a predetermined key signal corresponding thereto is output. Thereby, the reliability of the key operation is improved. The sensor dots 9, 9,... Of the portion exposed from the opening 7 are allocated as they are as the sensor dot matrix of the point pad 8, and the mouse pointer moves on the display in accordance with the direction of the finger. .

As described above, while the conventional keyboard has a movable contact and a fixed contact for each key and outputs a key signal by the on / off operation, the keyboard 1 has a single sensor pad 3. Detects which key 5 is pressed, and outputs a key signal corresponding to the key.
Therefore, not only can the size and thickness be reduced, but also the assembly operation becomes extremely simple. Further, in the conventional configuration, it is impossible to check for a defective product only after assembling, but since the keyboard 1 only needs to check the sensor pad 3 and the key panel 4 separately before assembling, the production efficiency is improved. Can be achieved. Furthermore,
Since it is possible to cope with various key arrangement specifications simply by replacing the key panel 4, it is possible not only to achieve more efficient production, but also to adopt the following structure.

That is, FIG. 3 shows a keyboard 11 in which the upper edges of a plurality of key panels are joined and stacked in a book shape.
The top key panel 4A in the figure is a key panel corresponding to a normal keyboard, for example, a JIS layout keyboard, and the bottom key panel 4B is a key panel corresponding to the Internet. When the top key panel 4A is closed and keys are operated from above, the keyboard 11 functions as a normal keyboard.

On the other hand, when the key panel 4A is turned up and the key panel 4B is put out, the mode is automatically switched to the Internet compatible mode. The key panel 4B includes "http:", "www."
Various commands composed of a series of characters and symbols such as "om" are assigned to each key 5, and the corresponding predetermined command is input simply by pressing the key 5. . In addition, these key panels 4A, 4
In addition to B, a key panel for a game machine, a key panel for a TV commander, and the like can be spelled out. This allows
Not only as a normal personal computer, but also the Internet,
A multimedia terminal that is also used as a game and a TV can be operated with the single keyboard 11.

The present invention can be applied not only to a 2 m personal computer but also to a keyboard of a normal desktop personal computer, notebook personal computer, PDA or the like. Further, the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and it is natural that the present invention extends to the modified one.

[0014]

As described above, the keyboard according to the present invention is configured so that a pressed key is detected by the sensor pad and a signal corresponding to the key is output.
Therefore, not only the size and the thickness can be reduced, but also the assembling operation becomes extremely simple. In addition, since defective products can be checked before assembling, production efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a key portion of a keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view of a sensor pad.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a main part of a keyboard corresponding to a multimedia personal computer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,11 keyboard 3 sensor pad 4,4A, 4B key panel 5 key 6 key part 7 opening 8 point pad 9 sensor dot

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of keys are provided on a sensor pad,
Further, by assigning a predetermined dot matrix on the sensor pad to each key, when each key is pressed, the pressed key is detected on the sensor pad and a signal corresponding to the key is output. A keyboard configured to be output.