CN111986943B

CN111986943B - Key device and terminal equipment

Info

Publication number: CN111986943B
Application number: CN202010783211.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 安鑫荣
Original assignee: TCL Communication Ningbo Ltd
Current assignee: TCL Communication Ningbo Ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-06
Filing date: 2020-08-06
Publication date: 2023-08-15
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-06
Also published as: CN111986943A

Abstract

The application discloses a key device and terminal equipment. According to the application, the material for manufacturing the first gasket is replaced by the insulating material, so that the influence of the key device arranged in the metal frame of the terminal equipment on the antenna performance is reduced, and the utilization rate of the space of the terminal equipment is further improved.

Description

Key device and terminal equipment

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of electronics, and particularly relates to a key device and terminal equipment.

Background

At present, a metal frame of a comprehensive screen is commonly adopted in middle-end and high-end mobile phones, and the antenna often adopts the metal frame as a main radiator. Since the design of the high screen duty ratio results in very small upper and lower antenna headroom, it is necessary to use the space on both sides of the main board of the mobile phone as the antenna headroom to arrange part of the antennas. However, this part of the antenna is sometimes located at the key position, and this results in a great influence on the antenna performance, since conventional keys mostly use metal pieces.

For the above technical problems, the key positions are usually avoided as far as possible, but the implementation reduces the utilization rate of the antenna design to the space of the mobile phone. For 4G handsets, which have fewer antennas, at least the design requirements can be met, but for 5G handsets, which have a large number of antennas, it is difficult to meet the design requirements, and antenna performance must be sacrificed.

In view of the foregoing, a new key design is needed to solve the existing technical problems.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a key device, which is applicable to a terminal device, and the key device includes: the key cap assembly is arranged on one side wall of the shell of the mobile terminal; the flexible circuit board is respectively connected with the key cap assembly and the main board of the mobile terminal; wherein the key cap assembly comprises: the key cap and the at least one first gasket are arranged at the bottom end of the key cap; the material of the at least one first gasket is an insulating material.

Further, the key cap assembly further includes: and each second gasket is correspondingly arranged on the first gasket.

Further, the material of the at least one second gasket has elasticity.

Further, at least one key switch is further arranged on one side of the flexible circuit board, and the at least one key switch is arranged corresponding to the at least one second gasket.

Further, the material of the at least one second gasket is silica gel or rubber.

Further, the insulating material is plastic.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is also provided a terminal device including any one of the above-mentioned key apparatuses.

Further, the key device is arranged in a clearance area of the terminal equipment.

Further, an antenna device is arranged in the clearance area corresponding to the key device.

Further, the frequency band of the antenna device is 1176MHz.

Compared with the prior art, the application has the advantages that the material for manufacturing the first gasket is replaced by the insulating material, so that the influence of the key device arranged in the metal frame of the terminal equipment on the antenna performance is reduced, and the space utilization rate of the terminal equipment is further improved.

Drawings

The technical solution and other advantageous effects of the present application will be made apparent by the following detailed description of the specific embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a key device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device provided in the application embodiment.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It will be apparent that the described embodiments are only some, but not all, embodiments of the application. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to fall within the scope of the application.

In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings are merely for convenience in describing the present application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present application. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like, are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more, unless explicitly defined otherwise.

In the description of the present application, it should be noted that, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be either fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, for example; can be mechanically connected, electrically connected or can be communicated with each other; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communicated with the inside of two elements or the interaction relationship of the two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to the specific circumstances. In this embodiment, the analog display screen touch unit is connected to the head tracking unit, and is configured to obtain a movement path of the sensing cursor in the display device.

In the present application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, a first feature "above" or "below" a second feature may include both the first and second features being in direct contact, as well as the first and second features not being in direct contact but being in contact with each other through additional features therebetween. Moreover, a first feature being "above," "over" and "on" a second feature includes the first feature being directly above and obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicating that the first feature is higher in level than the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature includes the first feature being directly under and obliquely below the second feature, or simply means that the first feature is less level than the second feature.

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of the application. In order to simplify the present disclosure, components and arrangements of specific examples are described below. They are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to limit the application. Furthermore, the present application may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples, which are for the purpose of brevity and clarity, and which do not themselves indicate the relationship between the various embodiments and/or arrangements discussed. In addition, the present application provides examples of various specific processes and materials, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the application of other processes and/or the use of other materials.

As shown in fig. 1, a schematic structural diagram of a key device 10 according to an embodiment of the present application is provided, and the key device is suitable for a terminal device (see fig. 2). The key device 10 includes: a key cap assembly 6 and a flexible circuit board 7.

The key cap assembly 6 is provided on a side wall 31 of the housing 30 of the terminal device 500. Since the contact surface between the housing 30 and the key cap assembly 6 is tightly attached, the housing 30 and the key cap assembly 6 can be fixed more firmly.

In some implementations, a key through hole 40 for mounting the key cap assembly 6 is provided on a side wall of the housing 30. In some embodiments, the housing 30 is a metal frame. A key through hole 40 is provided at one side of the metal frame (i.e., at a position on the side wall of the housing).

In addition, an assembly groove (not shown) surrounding the key through hole 40 is provided at an inner side surface of the housing 30.

The flexible circuit board 7 is connected to the key cap assembly 6 and the motherboard of the mobile terminal 500, respectively.

The key cap assembly 6 includes: a key cap 1, at least one first gasket 2 and at least one second gasket 3. Wherein, the outer diameter of the key cap 1 is smaller than the aperture of the key through hole 40, so that the key cap 1 can move in the key through hole 40 conveniently.

In some embodiments, the number of the first gaskets 2 and the second gaskets 3 is two. The first gasket 2 is arranged at the bottom end of the key cap 1. The material of the first gasket 2 is an insulating material. Specifically, the insulating material is plastic. Compared with the prior art, the first gasket is a metal piece, and the material for manufacturing the first gasket 2 is replaced by an insulating material, so that the influence of the key device 10 arranged in the metal frame of the terminal equipment on the antenna performance is reduced, and the manufacturing process is the same as that of the prior art, so that the space utilization rate of the terminal equipment is improved.

The material of the second gasket 3 has elasticity, and may be silica gel or rubber. The second gasket 3 having elasticity enables the key cap 1 to be restored to the original position by the elasticity of the second gasket 3 when the key cap 1 is pressed.

At least one key switch 4 is further disposed on one side of the flexible circuit board 7, and the at least one key switch 4 is disposed corresponding to the at least one second spacer 3. In the embodiment of the present application, the number of the key switches 4 is two.

As shown in fig. 2, a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 500 according to an embodiment of the present application is provided, which includes the key device 10 described in the foregoing embodiment.

The key device 10 is disposed in the headroom area 20 of the terminal device 500. The effect of the headroom 20 is mainly to keep the metal away from the antenna body (metal shielding), and secondly, the resonance frequency of the antenna can be changed by changing the size of the headroom 20, and furthermore, the headroom 20 changes the division of the near field and the far field of the antenna to a certain extent.

An antenna device is disposed in the headroom area 20 corresponding to the key device 10. In the embodiment of the application, the frequency band of the antenna device is 1176MHz.

As shown in fig. 3, in order to illustrate a specific structure of a terminal device 500 according to an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 500 may be an intelligent communication terminal, a tablet computer, or the like. The terminal device further comprises the following components.

The RF circuit 510 is configured to receive and transmit electromagnetic waves, and to perform mutual conversion between the electromagnetic waves and the electrical signals, thereby communicating with a communication network or other devices. RF circuitry 510 may include various existing circuit elements for performing these functions, such as an antenna, a radio frequency transceiver, a digital signal processor, an encryption/decryption chip, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, memory, and the like. The RF circuitry 510 may communicate with various networks such as the internet, intranets, wireless networks or with other devices via wireless networks. The wireless network may include a cellular telephone network, a wireless local area network, or a metropolitan area network. The wireless network may use various communication standards, protocols, and technologies including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communications (Global System for Mobile Communication, GSM), enhanced mobile communications technology (Enhanced Data GSM Environment, EDGE), wideband code division multiple access technology (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA), code division multiple access technology (Code Division Access, CDMA), time division multiple access technology (Time Division Multiple Access, TDMA), wireless fidelity technology (Wireless Fidelity, wi-Fi) (e.g., institute of electrical and electronics engineers standards IEEE 802.11a,IEEE 802.11b,IEEE802.11g and/or IEEE802.11 n), internet telephony (Voice over Internet Protocol, voIP), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, wi-Max), other protocols for mail, instant messaging, and short messaging, as well as any other suitable communication protocols, even including those not currently developed.

The memory 520 may be used to store software programs and modules, and the processor 580 may perform various functional applications and data processing by executing the software programs and modules stored in the memory 520. Memory 520 may include high-speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or other non-volatile solid-state memory. In some examples, memory 520 may further include memory located remotely from processor 580, which may be connected to terminal device 500 via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the internet, intranets, local area networks, mobile communication networks, and combinations thereof.

The input unit 530 may be used to receive input numeric or character information and to generate keyboard, mouse, joystick, optical or trackball signal inputs related to user settings and function control. In particular, the input unit 530 may include a touch-sensitive surface 531 and other input devices 532. The touch-sensitive surface 531, also referred to as a touch display screen or touch pad, may collect touch operations thereon or thereabout by a user (e.g., operations of the user on the touch-sensitive surface 531 or thereabout by using any suitable object or accessory such as a finger, stylus, etc.), and actuate the corresponding connection means according to a pre-set program. Alternatively, the touch-sensitive surface 531 may comprise two parts, a touch detection device and a touch controller. The touch detection device detects the touch azimuth of a user, detects a signal brought by touch operation and transmits the signal to the touch controller; the touch controller receives touch information from the touch detection device and converts it into touch point coordinates, which are then sent to the processor 580, and can receive commands from the processor 580 and execute them. In addition, the touch-sensitive surface 531 may be implemented in a variety of types, such as resistive, capacitive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave. In addition to the touch-sensitive surface 531, the input unit 530 may also comprise other input devices 532. In particular, other input devices 532 may include, but are not limited to, one or more of a physical keyboard, function keys (e.g., volume control keys, switch keys, etc.), a trackball, mouse, joystick, etc.

The display unit 540 may be used to display information input by a user or information provided to the user and various graphical user interfaces of the terminal device 500, which may be composed of graphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof. The display unit 540 may include a display panel 541, and alternatively, the display panel 541 may be configured in the form of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display ), an OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode), or the like. Further, the touch-sensitive surface 531 may overlay the display panel 541, and when the touch-sensitive surface 531 detects a touch operation thereon or thereabout, the touch-sensitive surface 531 is transferred to the processor 580 to determine the type of touch event, and the processor 580 then provides a corresponding visual output on the display panel 541 in accordance with the type of touch event. Although in the figures the touch-sensitive surface 531 and the display panel 541 are implemented as two separate components for input and output functions, in some embodiments the touch-sensitive surface 531 may be integrated with the display panel 541 for input and output functions.

The terminal device 500 may also include at least one sensor 550, such as a light sensor, a motion sensor, and other sensors. Specifically, the light sensor may include an ambient light sensor that may adjust the brightness of the display panel 541 according to the brightness of ambient light, and a proximity sensor that may turn off the display panel 541 and/or the backlight when the terminal device 500 moves to the ear. As one of the motion sensors, the gravity acceleration sensor can detect the acceleration in all directions (generally three axes), and can detect the gravity and the direction when the device is stationary, and the device can be used for identifying the application of the gesture of the communication terminal (such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, related games, magnetometer gesture calibration), vibration identification related functions (such as pedometer and knocking), and the like; other sensors such as gyroscopes, barometers, hygrometers, thermometers, infrared sensors, etc. that may also be configured with the terminal device 500 are not described in detail herein.

Audio circuitry 560, speakers 561, microphone 562 may provide an audio interface between the user and the terminal device 500. The audio circuit 560 may transmit the received electrical signal converted from audio data to the speaker 561, and the electrical signal is converted into a sound signal by the speaker 561 and output; on the other hand, the microphone 562 converts the collected sound signal into an electrical signal, which is received by the audio circuit 560 and converted into audio data, which is processed by the audio data output processor 580, and then transmitted to, for example, another terminal via the antenna device 510, or the audio data is output to the memory 520 for further processing. Audio circuitry 560 may also include an ear bud jack to provide communication of the peripheral ear bud with terminal device 500.

The terminal device 500 may facilitate user email, web browsing, streaming media access, etc. via a transmission module 570 (e.g., wi-Fi module), which provides wireless broadband internet access to the user. Although the transmission module 570 is shown in the drawings, it is understood that it does not belong to the essential constitution of the terminal device 500, and can be omitted entirely as required within the scope of not changing the essence of the application.

Processor 580 is a control center of terminal device 500 and connects various parts of the entire communication terminal using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of terminal device 500 and processes data by running or executing software programs and/or modules stored in memory 520 and invoking data stored in memory 520, thereby performing overall monitoring of the communication terminal. Optionally, processor 580 may include one or more processing cores; in some embodiments, processor 580 may integrate an application processor that primarily processes operating systems, user interfaces, applications, etc., with a modem processor that primarily processes wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 580.

The terminal device 500 also includes a power supply 590 (e.g., a battery) for powering the various components, which in some embodiments may be logically connected to the processor 580 by a power management system so as to perform functions such as managing charging, discharging, and power consumption by the power management system. Power supply 590 may also include one or more of any of a direct current or alternating current power supply, a recharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converter or inverter, a power status indicator, and the like.

Although not shown, the terminal device 500 may further include a camera (such as a front camera, a rear camera), a bluetooth module, etc., which will not be described herein.

In the implementation, each module may be implemented as an independent entity, or may be combined arbitrarily, and implemented as the same entity or several entities, and the implementation of each module may be referred to the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

In the foregoing embodiments, the descriptions of the embodiments are emphasized, and for parts of one embodiment that are not described in detail, reference may be made to related descriptions of other embodiments.

The principles and embodiments of the present application have been described herein with reference to specific examples, the description of the above examples is only for aiding in understanding the technical solution of the present application and its core ideas; those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit of the application.

Claims

1. A key device adapted for use in a terminal device, said key device comprising:

the key cap assembly is arranged on one side wall of the shell of the terminal equipment and is attached to the contact surface between the shells of the terminal equipment;

the flexible circuit board is respectively connected with the key cap assembly and the main board of the mobile terminal;

wherein the key cap assembly comprises: the key cap and the at least one first gasket are arranged at the bottom end of the key cap; the material of the at least one first gasket is an insulating material; at least one second gasket, each second gasket is correspondingly arranged on the first gasket; the material of the at least one second gasket has elasticity.

2. The key device according to claim 1, wherein at least one key switch is further disposed on one side of the flexible circuit board, and the at least one key switch is disposed corresponding to the at least one second pad.

3. The key device of claim 1, wherein the material of the at least one second pad is silica gel or rubber.

4. The key device of claim 1, wherein the insulating material is plastic.

5. A terminal device, comprising: a key device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 2.

6. The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the key arrangement is disposed in a headroom region of the terminal device.

7. The terminal device according to claim 6, wherein an antenna device is disposed in a headroom region corresponding to the key device.

8. The terminal device according to claim 7, wherein the frequency band of the antenna means is 1176MHz.