CN107765879A

CN107765879A - A kind of key board unit

Info

Publication number: CN107765879A
Application number: CN201711170905.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴翔
Original assignee: Darfon Electronics Suzhou Co Ltd
Current assignee: Darfon Electronics Suzhou Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-11-22
Filing date: 2017-11-22
Publication date: 2018-03-06
Anticipated expiration: 2037-11-22
Also published as: CN107765879B

Abstract

The present invention provides a kind of key board unit, and it is included：Include the housing of multiple key openings；At least one keycap set, the keycap set includes at least one keycap, and at least one keycap is mutually aligned and is arranged in same rectilinear direction；The keycap includes face portion and back part, and the face portion is placed in the key opening, and at least one lug is stretched out in the both sides of keycap orientation respectively in back part keycap set belonging to；And pushing mechanism, promote the keycap to rise or sink relative to the housing by controlling the change in location of the lug.So, key cap of key set is shunk when in the key opening of housing, and key board unit keeps ultra-thin state, and thinner outward appearance is presented；In addition, key cap of key set shrinks does not provide user's pressing input operation when in the key opening of housing；Key cap of key set can provide user when being lifted protrusion housing upper surface and press input operation, can effectively prevent touch of key-press by accident from producing unwanted input.

Description

Keyboard device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of keyboards, in particular to a keyboard device with liftable keys.

Background

With the demand for lighter weight and thinner profile of electronic devices such as notebook computers and desktop computers, the keyboard is also becoming lighter and thinner as a common input device, and how to design a thinner keyboard is a design issue in the field. In some electronic devices, the keyboard surface including the keys needs to be rotated as a supporting surface in one state to be supported on a desktop or the like, or to be held by a user, and at this time, the keyboard needs to be protected from manipulation. In addition, in order to temporarily suspend the electronic device to process other affairs in the using process, the keyboard needs to be prevented from being operated, so as to avoid that the operation of the electronic device is influenced by touching the keyboard by other people or data in the electronic device is leaked or damaged;

in the prior art, some manufacturers use lifting the keyboard to separate the keys and the switch to prevent misoperation, but the whole thickness of the keyboard device becomes thicker in the process; in addition, since the operator uses a single-point abutting lifting keyboard, the center point of the key is usually used for pressing a trigger point switch, and the abutting single-point position is deviated to one side, which may cause the key to incline.

Therefore, there is a need to design a new keyboard device with liftable keys to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a keyboard device with liftable keys, which can conveniently realize the lightening and thinning of a keyboard, enables the keyboard to be more attractive and flat, and can arrange the keys according to different use requirements so as to prevent misoperation on the keys.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a keyboard apparatus, comprising:

a housing including a plurality of key openings;

at least one keycap group, wherein one keycap group comprises at least one keycap, and the at least one keycap is aligned with each other and arranged in the same straight direction; the keycap is accommodated in the key opening, and at least one lug respectively extends out of the two sides of the back side of the keycap along the arrangement direction of the keycaps in the keycap group; and

and the pushing mechanism is used for pushing the keycap to ascend or descend relative to the shell by controlling the position change of the lug.

Preferably, the pushing mechanism includes at least two first connecting rods, the two first connecting rods are respectively located at two sides of the arrangement direction of the keycaps in the keycap set, the first connecting rods have a plurality of inclined sliding grooves, and each inclined sliding groove is movably abutted with a corresponding lug to push the keycap to ascend or descend relative to the housing.

Preferably, the housing further comprises a frame portion between adjacent key openings; the keyboard device comprises two keycap groups, wherein the two keycap groups are positioned on different parallel straight lines and are adjacent to the same frame part;

the first link, which is located between the two keycap sets, has two opposite sides, each side corresponding to one of the two keycap sets, and each side has a plurality of the ramp runners, each of which is located above and abuts a corresponding one of the lugs.

Preferably, the frame portion has an upper surface, and the inclined chute has a concave portion, a convex portion, and an inclined portion between the concave portion and the convex portion;

when the lug abuts against the concave part of the corresponding inclined chute, the corresponding keycap extends upwards out of the corresponding key opening and is higher than the upper surface;

when the lug abuts against the convex part of the corresponding inclined chute, the corresponding keycap is flush with the upper surface, or is higher or lower than the upper surface in a small range;

the first connecting rod moves along the length direction of the first connecting rod, so that the lug is abutted against the inclined plane part and moves relatively to be switched to the concave part or the convex part.

Preferably, the pushing mechanism further comprises at least one second connecting rod, and the second connecting rod is perpendicular to the first connecting rod; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the first connecting rod is driven to move along the length direction of the first connecting rod.

Preferably, the first connecting rod is provided with a trapezoidal groove, the second connecting rod is provided with a trapezoidal block, and the trapezoidal groove is abutted with the trapezoidal block by an inclined plane and can move relatively; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the trapezoidal block drives the trapezoidal groove to move through the abutting of the inclined plane so as to drive the first connecting rod to move along the length direction of the first connecting rod.

Preferably, the second connecting rod has a guide slot, the first connecting rod has a convex column, the convex column can move in the guide slot; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the guide groove drives the convex column to move so as to drive the first connecting rod to move along the length direction of the first connecting rod; or,

the first connecting rod is provided with a guide groove, the second connecting rod is provided with a convex column, and the convex column can move in the guide groove; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the convex column drives the guide groove to move so as to drive the first connecting rod to move along the length direction of the first connecting rod.

Preferably, the second connecting rod is perpendicular to and movably connected with the plurality of first connecting rods; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the plurality of first connecting rods are driven to move along the length direction of the first connecting rods.

Preferably, the keyboard device further comprises a circuit board, wherein the circuit board is provided with a plurality of switches, and each switch corresponds to one keycap; when each lug in each key cap group abuts against the convex part of the inclined plane sliding groove in one-to-one correspondence, the key switch of the circuit board is in a closed or forbidden state.

Preferably, the keyboard device further comprises a control unit, and the control unit controls the pushing mechanism to operate so as to push the keycap to ascend or descend relative to the shell.

Preferably, the control unit automatically analyzes and determines a target use state of the keyboard device, and controls the pushing mechanism to push the key caps in part or all of the key cap groups corresponding to the target use state to ascend or descend relative to the casing.

Preferably, the control unit further controls a key switch in the circuit board corresponding to the keycap to be turned on, enabled, turned off or disabled, wherein the key switch corresponding to the keycap that ascends relative to the housing is turned on or enabled, and the key switch corresponding to the keycap that descends relative to the housing is turned off or disabled.

Compared with the prior art, the keyboard device provided by the invention has the advantages that when the key caps of the keys are contracted in the key openings of the shell, the ultrathin state of the keyboard device is kept, and the thinner appearance is realized. In addition, when the key cap is retracted into the key opening of the shell, the corresponding circuit board switch is closed or disabled, and the user does not provide pressing input operation; the key cap is lifted by a small stroke by controlling the pushing mechanism, so that the key cap protrudes out of the upper surface of the shell, and the pressing input operation of a user can be provided; therefore, the keyboard device can keep the ultrathin state when not in use, and effectively prevent the generation of unnecessary input caused by mistakenly touching the keys.

Drawings

FIG. 1A is a schematic front side view of a keyboard assembly of the present invention prior to key cap depression;

FIG. 1B is a schematic front side view of the keyboard apparatus after a key cap is pressed down according to the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of a back side structure of a keyboard device before a pressing operation according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating a back side structure of the keyboard device after a pressing operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2C is an exploded rear view of the keyboard apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a back side structure of a keyboard device before a pressing operation according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating a backside structure of a keyboard device after a pressing operation according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3C is an exploded rear view of a keyboard apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4A is a schematic sectional front view A-A' before a depressing operation according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 4B is a schematic sectional front side view a-a' after the depressing operation according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to further understand the objects, structures, features and functions of the present invention, the following embodiments are described in detail.

Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claims to refer to particular components. As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. The present specification and claims do not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following description and in the claims, the terms "include" and "comprise" are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean "include, but not limited to. The terms "upper", "lower", and the like, refer to an orientation or positional relationship based on that shown in the drawings, or that is conventionally placed in use of the product of the invention, or that is conventionally understood by those skilled in the art, and such terms are used for convenience in describing and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like are used merely to distinguish one description from another, and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

Referring to fig. 1A and 1B, a front three-dimensional structure of the keyboard apparatus of the present invention is disclosed, wherein fig. 1A is a schematic view of a normal state, and fig. 1B is a schematic view of a key cap being pressed down. The keyboard device includes a housing 10, at least one key cap group 20, a pushing mechanism 30 for lifting the key cap, a control unit 40 for controlling the pushing mechanism 30 to operate, a circuit board (not shown) corresponding to the lower portion of the key cap group 20, a keyboard input/output interface (not shown), and the like. The keyboard device may be used as a module to be integrated and applied to electronic devices such as a notebook computer, a desktop computer, and the like, and may also be used as an external input device of a small electronic device such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, and the like, which is not limited to this.

A plurality of key openings 12 are arranged on the shell 10, and a frame part 11 is arranged between adjacent key openings 12; the upper surface 11a of the casing 10 or its frame portion 11 forms a casing appearance, forming a part of the appearance of the assembled keyboard apparatus, which substantially reduces the thickness of the entire keyboard apparatus; the upper surface 11a of the casing 10 or the frame 11 thereof may be used as the inner structure of the casing of the keyboard apparatus, for example, a casing having openings corresponding to the keys is further provided on the upper side of the casing 10 to serve as the appearance of the keyboard apparatus. The lower surfaces 11b of the casing 10 and the frame 11 are configured to accommodate the pushing mechanism 30, for example, a groove is provided to accommodate the rod body in the pushing mechanism 30, and the groove may be a length of the rod body which continuously and completely contains the rod body in the pushing mechanism 30, or a length of the rod body which partially contains a part of the rod body of the pushing mechanism 30; the housing 10 and the lower surface 11b of the frame 11 further have a retaining member for restraining the rod body of the pushing mechanism 30 within the range of the groove, and the rod body can only move along the length direction of the rod body; the holding member is integrated with the housing 10 and the lower surface 11b of the frame 11, and may be realized by means of adhesion, melting and fixing, and the like, which will not be described in detail.

The keycap set 20 includes a plurality of keycaps 21, and all the keycaps 21 in the keycap set 20 are arranged in a row or a column, and preferably, the arrangement direction of the keycaps in all the keycap sets 20 is the same. Fig. 1A and 1B illustrate a general keyboard layout, in which all the key caps 21 in the key cap group 20 are arranged in a row. The keyboard device includes a plurality of row-oriented keycap sets 20 to form a complete key layout, taking fig. 1A and 1B as an example, a row of keycaps 21 may be used as a keycap set 20, or a row of keycaps may be divided into two keycap sets 20, i.e., left and right keycap sets, and for the keycaps 21 (e.g., Enter keys) occupying a plurality of rows in the layout, the pushing mechanisms 30 corresponding to the two keycap sets 20 at the side of the plurality of rows of keycap sets 20 are used to control the lifting thereof.

Each key cap 21 in the key cap assembly 20 may be a separate single body, the key cap assembly 20 may also be a keyboard assembly integrated with the circuit board, and the key cap assembly 20 may be a combination of some key caps 21 in the keyboard assembly. The key cap 21 includes a front portion 211, a back portion 212, and a ledge 213 extending laterally from the back portion 212. The front surface portion 211 forms the appearance of the key cap 21, which is pressed by a user to realize an input operation; the back surface portion 212 is opposed to the front surface portion 211, the back surface portion 212 corresponding to a corresponding key switch in the circuit board; in a normal use state, when the front part 211 is pressed by a user, the back part 212 directly or indirectly abuts against the corresponding key switch to trigger the corresponding key switch to generate an electric signal, and the electric signals generated by all the key switches are compiled to generate corresponding input signals to be provided to the electronic equipment in signal connection with the keyboard device; for example, as shown in fig. 1A and 1B, the keyboard device provides an input signal to the control module of the notebook computer through the input/output port, and also provides a generated electrical signal to the control module of the notebook computer, and the control module generates a corresponding input signal through compiling, which is not described herein again.

Fig. 2A-2C and 3A-3C are schematic backside structures of two embodiments of the present invention, respectively. All the keycaps 21 in the keycap group 20 respectively extend from the back part 212 to two sides along the arrangement direction of the keycaps in the group, the number and the size of each side lug 213 are determined according to the size of the front part 211 of the corresponding keycap 21, and the number of the lugs 213 at the two sides can be equal or different. For example, in the case where all the key caps 21 in the key cap group 20 are aligned in a row, the front side and the rear side of the back surface portion 212 of each key cap 21 protrude out of the bosses 213, respectively; two lugs 213 are disposed on two sides of the general key cap 21 (such as an F function key, a numeric key, an alphabet key, etc.), or two lugs 213 are disposed on one side and one lug 213 is disposed on the other side; at least three lugs 213 are respectively arranged on two sides of a key cap 21 (such as a Backspace key, a space key and the like) which is long along the arrangement direction of the key caps, or at least three lugs 213 are arranged on one side, and two lugs 213 are arranged on the other side; the invention is not limited thereto.

In a normal use state, the front surface portion 211 of the keycap 21 in all the keycap sets 20 protrudes from the upper surface 11a of the casing 10 or the frame portion 11 thereof, so that a user can quickly identify and locate the corresponding keycap 21, and press the keycap 21 to trigger the corresponding key switch in the lower circuit board to generate an electrical signal.

In the non-use state, the surface of the keyboard device is kept flat, that is, the front surface portion 211 of the keycap 21 in the keycap group 20 and the upper surface 11a of the casing 10 or the frame portion 11 thereof are substantially located on the same plane, and simultaneously, the key switch in the corresponding circuit board is in a closed or disabled state, that is, the key input pressed by the keycap is not accepted, and the user cannot press the operation key to perform the input operation; the non-use state may be a state in which the electronic device connected to the keyboard apparatus is not turned on, is in a standby state, or is temporarily not used. In a non-use state, the front surface portion 211 of the keycap 21 in the keycap group 20 may also be slightly higher or lower than the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 or the frame portion 11 thereof, where slightly higher or lower means that a small amplitude is higher or lower than the height of the keycap 21 protruding from the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 in a rising state, and the amplitude of slightly higher or lower is smaller.

Only part of the keycap sets 20 can be raised to protrude above the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 or the frame 11 thereof for the user to press and input, and the other keycap sets 20 are kept flat with the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 or the frame 11 thereof, that is, the other keycap sets 20 are level, slightly higher, or slightly lower with respect to the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 or the frame 11 thereof, that is, the keyboard device is in a limited use state that limits or allows part of the keys to be used, wherein the key switch sets in the circuit board corresponding to the keycap sets 20 limited in use are closed or disabled. For example, only the key cap 21 of the number key can be lifted and used to adapt to the situation that only the number input is needed; the key cap 21 of the direction key can be lifted and used only so as to be suitable for operation and use in game; the invention is not limited thereto.

The keycap set 20 is kept flat with the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 or the frame 11 thereof, i.e. the keycap set 20 is level, slightly higher or slightly lower with respect to the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 or the frame 11 thereof, or the sinking stroke of the keycap 21 may not be enough to trigger the corresponding key switch in the circuit board. All keys can be normally pressed for input, so that the thickness of the whole keyboard device can be controlled to be in a thinner state; the protrusion (or rising) of part or all of the key caps 21 is helpful for identifying and positioning the corresponding keys visually and/or tactually, and the subsequent setting process corresponding to the non-use state and the limited use state can be replaced by the thinner use state described in this paragraph, and will not be described again.

The pushing mechanism 30 is configured to push the key cap 21 to ascend or descend relative to the housing 10 (or the frame portion 11 thereof) by controlling the position change of the lug 213 of the key cap 21.

The pushing mechanism 30 includes a plurality of first links 31, and each of the first links 31 is provided on both sides of the arrangement direction of the key caps of each of the key cap groups 20; corresponding to the position of each lug 213, the first link 31 is provided with a corresponding inclined sliding slot 313, and the inclined sliding slot 313 is movably abutted with the lug 213. When the first link 31 moves along the length direction of the link, the lug 213 abuts against the inclined plane sliding slot 313 and is pushed to rise or sink along the inclined plane of the inclined plane sliding slot 313; the two first links 31 corresponding to the same keycap group 20 move simultaneously in the same direction, so that the lugs 213 on both sides of the keycap 21 are pushed to rise or sink simultaneously, thereby realizing that all the keycaps 21 in the keycap group 20 are pushed to rise or sink simultaneously.

Preferably, the bevel runner 313 has a concave portion 313a, a convex portion 313B, and a bevel portion 313c between the concave portion 313a and the convex portion 313B, and fig. 4A and 4B illustrate one implementation structure of the bevel runner 313; when the first link 31 moves in the longitudinal direction thereof, the lug 213 abuts against the inclined surface portion 313c of the inclined surface slide groove 313 and moves until it moves to the concave portion 313a or the convex portion 313 b; when the lug 213 abuts against the concave portion 313a, the front surface portion 211 of the corresponding key cap 21 extends upward out of the corresponding key opening 12 and is higher than the upper surface 11a of the adjacent frame portion 11, and the corresponding key cap 21 (or the key cap group 20) is in a usable state; when the lug 213 abuts against the protrusion 313b, the front surface 211 of the corresponding key cap 21 is substantially flush with, slightly higher than, or slightly lower than the upper surface 11a of the adjacent frame 11, and the corresponding key cap 21 (or key cap set 20) is in an unusable state. When all the keycap sets 20 are in the unusable state, the keyboard apparatus can be considered to be in the unused state; when some of the keycap sets 20 are in the usable state and the other keycap sets 20 are in the unusable state, the keyboard apparatus may be considered to be in the restricted-use state.

A first link 31 between two keycap sets 20 adjacent in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the keycaps, having two opposite sides, each side corresponding to one keycap set 20; each of which has a plurality of ramp runners 313 in one-to-one correspondence with all of the lugs 213 in the side keycap set 20. Thus, the first link 31 can simultaneously control the height of the lugs 213 of the two keycap sets 20 to control the keycaps 21 of the two keycap sets 20 to ascend and descend. When two keycap sets 20 adjacent in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the keycaps are in different use states, only the lug 213 on the side of the keycap set 20 in the unusable state is raised, thereby presenting a slanted appearance. The first link 31 may also be provided as two parallel first links 31, and each first link 31 controls the height of the corresponding lug 213 in one keycap set 20, so as to realize the difference of position elevation when two keycap sets 20 adjacent in the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of keycaps are in different use states.

Each inclined sliding slot 313 in the first link 31 is located above and abuts against each corresponding lug 213. The inclined chute 313 may also be a guide slot structure with two parallel inclined planes, when the first link 31 moves to one end along the length direction thereof, the lug abuts against an inclined plane in the inclined chute 313 and is pushed by the inclined plane to rise; when the first link 31 moves to the other end along the length direction thereof, the lug abuts against the other inclined surface of the inclined sliding groove 313 and is pushed by the other inclined surface to sink. The invention is not limited thereto.

The pushing mechanism 30 further includes at least one second link 32, the second link 32 is perpendicular to the first link 31, and both the first link 31 and the second link 32 are parallel to the upper surface 11a of the housing 10. When the second link 32 moves along the length direction thereof, the corresponding first link 31 is driven to move along the length direction of the first link itself. Corresponding structures are provided in the first link 31 and the second link 32 to transfer displacement in one direction to displacement in the vertical direction.

For example, as shown in fig. 2A to 2C, the first link 31 has a trapezoidal groove 312, and the second link 32 has a trapezoidal block 322; the inclined plane shapes of the trapezoid grooves 312 and the trapezoid blocks 322 are matched, and the width of the trapezoid grooves 312 is larger than that of the trapezoid blocks 322. When the second link 32 moves towards the narrow part of the trapezoid, an inclined surface 322a of the trapezoid block 322 abuts against an inclined surface 312a of the trapezoid groove 312, and drives the first link 31 to move towards the second link 32; when the second link 32 moves toward the wide portion of the trapezoid, the other inclined surface 322b of the trapezoid block 322 abuts against the other inclined surface 312b of the trapezoid groove 312, and drives the first link 31 to move toward the end away from the second link 32. The trapezoidal blocks 322 may protrude from the surface of the second link 32; the trapezoid block 322 may also be a trapezoid block structure in a groove of the second link 32, in which the dimension of the groove of the second link 32 along the length direction of the second link is greater than the width of the trapezoid groove 312, and the dimension of the groove of the second link 32 along the length direction of the second link is greater than the width of the first link 31.

As shown in fig. 3A to 3C, the first link 31 has a protrusion 312 ', the second link 32 has a guide groove 323', and the protrusion 312 'is movable in the guide groove 323'; when the second link 32 moves along the length direction thereof, the guide groove 323 ' forces the protrusion 312 ' inserted therein to move along the inclined surface of the guide groove 323 ', thereby moving the first link along the length direction thereof. Two ends of the guiding groove 323' can correspond to the first end and the last end of the first link 31, wherein when the first link 31 is located at one of the ends, the corresponding keycap 21 is pushed to rise; when the first link 31 is at another point, the corresponding key cap 21 is pushed to sink. In order to facilitate the abutting and relative sliding of the protruding column 312 ' and the guiding groove 323 ', the protruding column 312 ' and the guiding groove 323 ' may be chamfered, and the protruding column 312 ' may also be a cylinder. In addition, in the case where the first link 31 has a guide groove and the second link 32 has a boss, the displacement of the second link 32 may be transferred to the displacement of the first link 31 perpendicular to the moving direction of the second link 32 by the coupling and interlocking of the boss and the guide groove. And will not be described in detail herein.

The corresponding linkage structures provided in the first link 31 and the second link 32 are not limited to the above-mentioned ones, and may be other linkage structures capable of transferring the displacement in one direction to the displacement in the vertical direction, and are not described again.

The second link 32 may simultaneously control the movement of the plurality of first links 31, thereby controlling the simultaneous ascent or descent of the corresponding plurality of key cap groups 20. Preferably, the second link 32 may be provided at both end sides of the first link 31. Preferably, when two keycap sets 20 are provided in the same row, the two keycap sets 20 may be controlled to ascend or descend, respectively, by providing two second links 32 outside both ends of the row of keycap sets 20 in the arrangement direction to control the first links 31 corresponding to the two keycap sets 20, respectively.

One end side of the keycap arrangement direction in the keycap set 20 may be provided with different second links 32 for a plurality of different keycap sets 20 on that side to achieve different controls for different keycap sets 20. The plurality of second connecting rods 32 on the same side can be along the same straight line direction, and the control units are located on different sides of the plurality of second connecting rods 32; for example, the control unit of the second link 32 located at the front end of the same straight line is located on the front end side of the second link 32, and the control unit of the second link 32 located at the rear end of the same straight line is located on the rear end side of the second link 32, i.e., the two control units are distant from each other. The plurality of second connecting rods 32 on the same side can also be arranged in parallel, and the control units can be located on the same side or different sides; when the control units are adjacent, the displacement control of two or more parallel second connecting rods 32 can be realized by one integrated control unit; when the plurality of controlled second links are located on the same side of the control unit, a part of the second links 32 need to span over a part of the first links 31 which are not controlled by the second links, and a groove is provided at a corresponding position of the second links 32 and the first links 31 which are not controlled by the second links, and the size of the groove is such that the corresponding first links 31 and the corresponding second links 32 do not have mechanical interference within the displacement range of the first links 31 and the second links 32. When all the second links 32 are simultaneously actuated correspondingly, all the key caps 21 of all the key cap groups 20 are simultaneously raised or lowered, thereby realizing the switching of the overall state of the keyboard apparatus. When some of the second links 32 are actuated correspondingly, all the key caps 21 in the corresponding key cap group 20 are lifted or lowered simultaneously, so that the switch to the specific limited use state is realized. The first link 31 and the second link 32 are located on the lower surface 11b of the frame 11 in the housing 10 (as shown in fig. 2A to 3C).

The keyboard apparatus further includes a control unit 40 for controlling the operation of the push mechanism 30 to thereby achieve the ascent or descent of the corresponding keycap set 20 with respect to the housing 10.

The control unit 40 is a mechanical key button such as a slide key, a press key, or the like. For example, the control unit 40 may include a slide key connected with the second link 32; when the pushing mechanism 30 has only the first link 31 and no second link 32, the control unit 40 may include a slide key connected to the first link 31. The sliding key has two positions corresponding to the two ends of the displacement of the connecting rod, and thus corresponding to the two states of the key cap 21 (or the key cap set 20) rising or sinking. The slide key may be located on the upper surface of the housing 10. As another example, the control unit 40 may include a pressing key connected to the second link 32; when the pushing mechanism 30 has only the first link 31 without the second link 32, the control unit 40 may include a pressing key connected to the first link 31. The pressing key is positioned on the shell side wall at one end of the second connecting rod 32 in the length direction or positioned on the shell side wall at one end of the first connecting rod 31 in the length direction; the key has two positions, namely a high position and a low position, which respectively correspond to two displacement ends of the connecting rod and further respectively correspond to two states of rising or sinking of the key cap 21 (or the key cap group 20). The side wall of the casing may be the side wall of the casing 10 forming an appearance casing completely wrapping other structures of the keyboard device, or the side wall of the appearance casing of an electronic device in which the keyboard device is embedded; the invention is not limited thereto.

The control unit 40 may also be controlled using electrical signals. The control unit 40 may send a control signal to the corresponding motor module or other displacement control module based on the actuation of the corresponding mechanical key, touch key or similar control switch by the user, and the motor module (or other displacement control module) controls the corresponding second link 32 to switch to the corresponding displacement position according to the control signal, so as to make the associated first link 31 and keycap set 20 displace in a linkage manner, and finally realize that the corresponding keycap set 20 is in a rising state or a sinking state.

The control unit 40 may further automatically determine a target usage state of the keyboard apparatus based on the analysis, so as to send a control signal to the corresponding motor module or other displacement control module, and the motor module (or other displacement control module) controls the corresponding second link 32 to switch to the corresponding displacement position according to the control signal, so as to make the associated first link 31 and keycap set displace in a linkage manner, and finally, the corresponding keycap set 20 is in a rising state or a sinking state. For example, when the keyboard apparatus has no input operation for more than a certain period of time, the control unit 40 will switch to the standby state, and the control unit 40 controls the keyboard apparatus to enter the non-operation state. For another example, when the control unit 40 detects that the specific game software is opened and enters the game, the keyboard device is controlled to Enter a specific limited-use state in which the key cap 21 of the arrow key, the Enter key, etc. is lifted, so that the user can control the game by inputting the operation thereof. For another example, the notebook computer includes the keyboard device and a display touch screen, the keyboard device and the display touch screen can be connected via the pivot group, so as to open the flip cover, when the keyboard device is opened to a certain angle, even the back shell of the keyboard device is abutted to the back shell of the display screen (i.e. the notebook computer is used as a tablet computer), the upper surface of the shell of the keyboard device including the keycap group can be used as a supporting surface to be placed on a desktop or be held by a hand; the keyboard device and the display touch screen can also be rotated and turned to a certain angle, even the upper surface of a shell containing a key cap group of the keyboard device is abutted with a back shell of the display screen, so that the notebook computer can be used as a tablet computer; when the turning angle is detected to be greater than 180 degrees, or when the keyboard device is turned over by a certain angle after rotation, the control unit 40 determines that the keyboard device is or is about to be in a non-use state, and sends a control signal to the corresponding motor module or other displacement control modules, and the motor module (or other displacement control modules) controls the corresponding second link 32 to be switched to the corresponding displacement position according to the control signal, so that the associated first link 31 and the keycap group are displaced in a linkage manner, and finally the corresponding keycap group 20 is in a sinking state, which is preferably that the keycap group 20 is level or slightly lower relative to the upper surface 11a of the housing 10 or the frame 11 thereof, and preferably, the key switch in the circuit board corresponding to the corresponding keycap group 20 is controlled to be turned off or disabled at the same time.

When having a control switch, the control switch presents different lighting indications, e.g., on/off, different colors, flashing, etc., based on the user's selection; the corresponding light-emitting indication can be presented by the indicating lamp based on the target use state of the keyboard device; the invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the raised portion or the depressed portion of the keycap set 20 may be lighted, for example, the characters or symbols corresponding to the keycap 21 are lighted correspondingly to prompt or emphasize the portion of the keys, which is not described herein again.

The present invention has been described in relation to the above embodiments, which are only exemplary of the implementation of the present invention. It should be noted that the disclosed embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention. Rather, it is intended that all such modifications and variations be included within the spirit and scope of this invention.

Claims

1. A keyboard device, comprising,

a housing including a plurality of key openings;

2. The keyboard apparatus of claim 1,

the pushing mechanism at least comprises two first connecting rods, the two first connecting rods are respectively positioned at two sides of the arrangement direction of the keycaps in the keycap group, each first connecting rod is provided with a plurality of inclined plane sliding grooves, and each inclined plane sliding groove is movably abutted with one corresponding lug to push the keycap to ascend or descend relative to the shell.

3. The keyboard apparatus of claim 2, wherein the housing further comprises a frame portion between adjacent ones of the key openings; the keyboard device comprises two keycap groups, wherein the two keycap groups are positioned on different parallel straight lines and are adjacent to the same frame part;

4. The keyboard apparatus of claim 2, wherein the frame portion has an upper surface, the ramp runner has a recess, a protrusion, and a ramp portion between the recess and the protrusion;

5. The keyboard apparatus of claim 2,

the pushing mechanism also comprises at least one second connecting rod, and the second connecting rod is vertical to the first connecting rod; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the first connecting rod is driven to move along the length direction of the first connecting rod.

6. The keyboard apparatus of claim 5,

the first connecting rod is provided with a trapezoidal groove, the second connecting rod is provided with a trapezoidal block, and the trapezoidal groove is abutted with the trapezoidal block by an inclined plane and can move relatively; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the trapezoidal block drives the trapezoidal groove to move through the abutting of the inclined plane so as to drive the first connecting rod to move along the length direction of the first connecting rod.

7. The keyboard apparatus of claim 5,

the second connecting rod is provided with a guide groove, the first connecting rod is provided with a convex column, and the convex column can move in the guide groove; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the guide groove drives the convex column to move so as to drive the first connecting rod to move along the length direction of the first connecting rod; or,

8. The keyboard apparatus of claim 5,

the second connecting rod is vertical to and movably connected with the first connecting rods; when the second connecting rod moves along the length direction of the second connecting rod, the plurality of first connecting rods are driven to move along the length direction of the first connecting rods.

9. The keyboard apparatus of claim 1,

the keyboard device also comprises a circuit board, wherein the circuit board is provided with a plurality of switches, and each switch corresponds to one keycap; when each lug in each key cap group abuts against the convex part of the inclined plane sliding groove in one-to-one correspondence, the key switch of the circuit board is in a closed or forbidden state.

10. The keyboard apparatus of claim 1,

the keyboard device further comprises a control unit, and the control unit controls the pushing mechanism to operate so as to push the keycap to ascend or descend relative to the shell.

11. The keyboard apparatus of claim 10,

the control unit automatically analyzes and determines the target use state of the keyboard device, and controls the pushing mechanism to push the keycaps in part or all of the keycap groups corresponding to the target use state to ascend or descend relative to the shell.

12. The keyboard apparatus of claim 10,

the control unit also controls the key switch in the circuit board corresponding to the keycap to be turned on, enabled, turned off or disabled, wherein the key switch corresponding to the keycap which ascends relative to the shell is turned on or enabled, and the key switch corresponding to the keycap which descends relative to the shell is turned off or disabled.