CN217546020U - Key and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The application discloses a key and electronic equipment, wherein the key is applied to the electronic equipment and comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is arranged on a shell of the electronic equipment, and a target area of the shell corresponding to the first electrode is flexible; and the second electrode is arranged in the electronic equipment and is opposite to the first electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode form a plate capacitor. The key has a simple structure, and the manufacturing cost of the key can be reduced.

Description

Key and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of pressure induction type keys, in particular to a key and electronic equipment.

Background

The virtual key based on pressure sensing is widely applied to terminal electronic products, for example, a piezoresistive touch key is operated in response to a touch of a user. Specifically, the pressing pressure is transmitted to a piezoresistive sensor (sensor) from an external structure of the terminal product, and the control chip executes a corresponding processing instruction according to a pressing event sensed by the piezoresistive sensor.

The piezoresistive sensor is formed by etching, printing electrodes, assembling and other processes of an upper conductive film and a lower conductive film, and has relatively complex structure and process and higher cost.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The application provides a key and an electronic device, which can reduce the manufacturing cost of the key.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a key applied to an electronic device, including:

the first electrode is arranged on a shell of the electronic equipment, wherein a target area of the shell corresponding to the first electrode has flexibility;

and the second electrode is arranged in the electronic equipment and is opposite to the first electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode form a plate capacitor.

Optionally, the button further includes a detection module, the detection module is disposed inside the electronic device, electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode, and configured to detect a capacitance change of the flat capacitor and determine a pressing event according to the capacitance change.

Optionally, the target region is made of a conductive material, and the target region constitutes the first electrode.

Optionally, the housing is a conductive housing.

Optionally, the target region is made of an insulating material, and a surface of the target region facing the second electrode is provided with the first electrode.

Optionally, the first electrode is embedded in the target region, and a surface of the first electrode facing the second electrode does not extend beyond an inner surface of the housing.

Optionally, the housing is an insulating housing.

Optionally, a first dielectric layer is disposed on the second electrode, a gap is disposed between the first dielectric layer and the first electrode, and the first dielectric layer is used to limit a deformation amount of the target region when the target region is pressed.

Optionally, the deformation amount is smaller than the gap corresponding to a light pressing event, and the deformation amount is greater than or equal to the gap corresponding to a heavy pressing event.

Optionally, the size of the gap is 0.1-5 mm.

Optionally, the gap is filled with a second dielectric layer, and the second dielectric layer has elasticity.

Optionally, the target area is located on a side of the housing and has an arc shape, and the first electrode has an arc shape corresponding to the target area.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device, which includes a housing and the key described in the above embodiments.

The key comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is arranged on the shell, and a target area of the shell corresponding to the first electrode is flexible; the second electrode is arranged in the electronic equipment and is opposite to the first electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode form a plate capacitor. When pressure is applied to the target area, the first electrode bends downward, so that the distance between the first electrode and the second electrode becomes smaller and the plate capacitance increases. Therefore, the occurrence of the pressing event of the key can be judged according to the increase of the plate capacitor. In this embodiment, because the button detects based on the capacitance change, sensitivity is higher to first electrode can directly set up on electronic equipment's casing, and simple structure can reduce the cost of manufacture of button.

Drawings

The technical solutions and advantages of the present application will become apparent from the following detailed description of specific embodiments of the present application when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is an application scenario diagram of a key in an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a key according to a first embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a key according to a second embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a key according to a third embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a key according to a fourth embodiment of the present application

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a key according to a fifth embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Refer to the drawings wherein like reference numbers refer to like elements throughout. The following description is based on illustrated embodiments of the application and should not be taken as limiting the application with respect to other embodiments that are not detailed herein.

The pressure sensing based virtual key is widely applied to terminal electronic products, for example, a piezoresistive touch key is operated in response to a touch of a user. Specifically, the pressing pressure is transmitted to the piezoresistive sensor from the external structure of the terminal product, and the control chip executes a corresponding processing instruction according to a pressing event sensed by the piezoresistive sensor. The piezoresistive sensor is formed by etching, printing electrodes, assembling and other processes of an upper conductive film and a lower conductive film, and has relatively complex structure and process and higher cost. Based on the key, the key can reduce the cost of the key in the related technology.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a view of an application scenario of a key in an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application, where the electronic device 100 includes a housing 10 and a key 20, and in other embodiments, the electronic device 100 may further include a window area 30. The electronic device 100 may be a consumer electronic product such as a mobile phone or a tablet, a control panel of a household appliance such as a washing machine, a refrigerator, or an induction cooker, or a control panel of an industrial control device for manufacturing. The keys 20 are not only in the shape and the arrangement position, but also can be used for making corresponding key characters, such as "+", "-" signs, and the keys 20 can also be arranged on the side of the shell, such as volume keys of a mobile phone. Some functions of the electronic device, such as turning on and off the device, activating a main menu, adjusting volume, brightness, power, etc., may be performed by pressing keys 20.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a key 20 according to a first embodiment of the present application, in which the key 20 includes a first electrode 21 and a second electrode 22.

The first electrode 21 is disposed on the housing 10, and the housing 10 has flexibility in the target region 11 corresponding to the first electrode 21. It is understood that the target area 11 is a local area of the housing 10, and is a region where the first electrode 21 is disposed, and due to the flexibility of the target area 11, when the target area 11 is deformed by pressure, the first electrode 21 is deformed accordingly. Further, the size of the first electrode 21 may correspond to a contact area with the housing 10 when pressed by a finger, for example, 10 × 10mm, or a circular area having a diameter of 10mm, or the like.

And a second electrode 22 disposed inside the electronic device 100 and facing the first electrode 21, wherein the first electrode 21 and the second electrode 22 form a plate capacitor. For example, the second electrode 22 may be a copper sheet disposed directly below the first electrode 21, and for example, a copper exposed area may be disposed at a corresponding position on the circuit board, and the copper exposed area constitutes the second electrode 22.

The operating principle of the key 20 of the present embodiment is: when pressure is applied to the target region 11, the first electrode 21 bends downward, so that the distance between the first electrode 21 and the second electrode 22 becomes smaller, and the plate capacitance increases as can be seen from the formula of calculating the plate capacitance, C = ∈ epsilon 0*S/d (where C is the capacitance, epsilon is the relative permittivity, epsilon 0 is the vacuum permittivity, S is the area of the electrode, and d is the distance between the two electrodes). According to the increase of the plate capacitance, the occurrence of the pressing event of the key 20 can be judged. In this embodiment, since the key 20 is detected based on the capacitance change, the sensitivity is high, and the first electrode of the key 20 can be directly disposed on the housing 10 of the electronic device 100, the structure is simple, and the manufacturing cost of the key 20 can be reduced.

As an example, with continued reference to fig. 2, the key 20 may further include a detection module 23 disposed inside the electronic device and electrically connected to the first electrode 21 and the second electrode 22, for detecting a capacitance change of the plate capacitor and determining a pressing event according to the capacitance change. The detection module 23 may be disposed on a circuit board, and electrically connected to the first electrode 21 and the second electrode 22 through the circuit board. The detection module 23 may be an independent chip, or may be implemented by two chips, namely a capacitance detection chip and a control chip. For example, the capacitance detection chip detects the capacitance change of the panel capacitor, and the control chip judges the pressing event according to the capacitance change. It should be noted that the detection module 23 is a relatively mature technology in the field, and is not described in detail herein.

In some embodiments, the target area 11 and other areas of the housing 10 may be made of the same material or different materials. For example, the target region 11 is made of a conductive material, and other regions of the housing 10 are made of an insulating material; or the target area 11 is made of an insulating material, and other areas of the shell 10 are made of a conductive material; or the entire housing 10 (including the target area 11) is made of a conductive material, such as a metal shell; or the entire housing 10 (including the target area 11) is made of an insulating material, such as a plastic shell. The above structures may be selected according to specific application scenarios, and the present application is not particularly limited.

When the target region 11 is made of an insulating material, referring to fig. 2, the first electrode 21 may be disposed on a side of the target region 11 facing the second electrode 22. For example, the conductive coating may be formed on the inner surface of the target region 11 by coating, plating, evaporation, or the like. In this embodiment, the first electrode 21 is directly formed on the target region 11 of the housing 10, which can reduce the manufacturing cost of the key 20 compared to the conventional piezoresistive sensor.

As another embodiment, referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a key provided in a second embodiment of the present application, when the target area 11 is made of an insulating material, the first electrode 21 may be embedded in the target area 11, and a surface of the first electrode 21 facing the second electrode 22 does not exceed an inner surface of the housing 10. That is, a groove may be formed on the inner surface of the housing 10 at the target region 11, the first electrode 21 is disposed in the groove, and the lower surface of the first electrode 21 is substantially flush with the inner surface of the housing 10, or the lower surface of the first electrode 21 is recessed in the housing 10, so as to avoid the first electrode 21 protruding from the inner surface of the housing 10, which may cause structural interference or increase the overall thickness of the product. And can directly install first electrode 21 (for example the conducting block) in the recess, compare coating, electroplating or evaporation coating preparation conductive coating, this structure is simpler, can further reduce the cost of manufacture of button 20.

Referring to fig. 4, when the target area 11 is made of a conductive material, referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a key provided in the third embodiment of the present application, the target area 11 of the housing 10 can be directly used as the first electrode 21, so that the manufacturing process of the key 20 can be further simplified, and the manufacturing cost of the key 20 can be reduced.

In an embodiment, please refer to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a key 20 according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the key 20 includes a first electrode 21, a second electrode 22, a detection module 23, and a first dielectric layer 24, the first dielectric layer 24 is disposed on a surface of the second electrode 22 facing the first electrode 21, and a gap is disposed between the first dielectric layer 24 and the first electrode 21, and the size of the gap is D0. The first dielectric layer 24 is used to limit the deformation amount of the target region 11 when pressed, and the first dielectric layer 24 may be made of a rigid material, for example, an inorganic material such as barium titanate or silica glass, or a thermosetting polymer material. The first dielectric layer 24 may be made of an elastic material, such as elastic silicone resin. It will be appreciated that the first dielectric layer 24 may increase the capacitance of the plate capacitor and that the first dielectric layer 24 may prevent the target region 11 from being excessively deformed to serve as a support when the target region 11 is pressed to bend downward.

Further, the pressing event may be defined by setting an appropriate distance D0. For example, when the deformation amount D of the target region 11 is smaller than D0, a light pressing event is defined, and when D ≧ D0, i.e., the target region 11 is bent downward to contact the first dielectric layer 24, or when the first dielectric layer 24 has elasticity and the target region 11 is bent downward to exceed D0, a heavy pressing event is defined. For example, a target parameter of the electronic device 100 is adjusted, a light press may be a fine adjustment of the target parameter, and a heavy press may be a coarse adjustment of the target parameter, for example, when the volume is turned up, the volume is increased by 1 every time the electronic device is pressed when the electronic device is pressed lightly, and the volume is increased by 5 every time the electronic device is pressed when the electronic device is pressed heavily.

As an example, the size D of the gap may be 0.1 to 5mm, for example, D may be equal to 0.1mm,0.4mm,0.9mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 3mm, 4mm, or 5mm, and so on. The selection can be specifically performed according to the size and the application field of the electronic device.

In an embodiment, please refer to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a key 20 provided in a fifth embodiment of the present application, in which the key 20 includes a first electrode 21, a second electrode 22, a detection module 23, a first dielectric layer 24 and a second dielectric layer 25, the first dielectric layer 24 is disposed on a surface of the second electrode 22 facing the first electrode 21, a gap is disposed between the first dielectric layer 24 and the first electrode 21, the gap is filled with the second dielectric layer 25, and the second dielectric layer 25 has elasticity. For example, the first dielectric layer 24 is made of a rigid material, and the second dielectric layer 25 is made of an elastic silica gel or a semi-solid glue. In this embodiment, a dielectric material (including the first dielectric layer 24 and the second dielectric layer 25) is filled between the first electrode 21 and the second electrode 22, which can increase the capacitance value of the flat capacitor, and the second dielectric layer 25 is made of an elastic dielectric material, which can enable the first electrode 21 to deform downward when being subjected to a pressure, so as to cause a change in capacitance, thereby realizing detection of a pressing event.

The application also provides an electronic device which comprises a shell and the keys of the above embodiments. As some examples, the electronic device may be a consumer electronic product such as a mobile phone and a tablet, or a household appliance such as a washing machine, a refrigerator and an induction cooker that includes the above-mentioned key, and as an embodiment, the key may be disposed on a control panel of the household appliance, or may be an industrial control device for manufacturing that includes the above-mentioned key, and as an embodiment, the key may be disposed on a control panel of the industrial control device.

In some embodiments, the electronic device may be a communication device, which includes a housing and a window area, and referring to fig. 1, the key may be disposed on the housing below the window area, and the housing below the window area is made of an insulating material; the keys can also be arranged on a shell on the back of the communication equipment, and the shell on the back can be made of metal materials; the key can also be arranged on a shell on the side surface of the communication equipment, the shell on the side surface is arc-shaped, and the first electrode of the key is provided with an arc shape which is adaptive to the target area of the shell on the side surface.

The key and the electronic device provided by the embodiment of the present application are described in detail above, and a specific example is applied in the description to explain the principle and the implementation of the present application, and the description of the embodiment is only used to help understanding the method and the core idea of the present application; meanwhile, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of the present application, the specific implementation manner and the application scope may be changed, and in summary, the content of the present specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present application.

In addition, in the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "top surface", "bottom surface", "upper", "lower", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplification of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present application. In addition, the same or different reference numerals may be used to identify structures having the same or similar characteristics. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more features.

Claims (13)

1. A key applied to electronic equipment is characterized by comprising:

the first electrode is arranged on a shell of the electronic equipment, wherein a target area of the shell corresponding to the first electrode has flexibility;

and the second electrode is arranged in the electronic equipment and is opposite to the first electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode form a panel capacitor.

2. The key according to claim 1, further comprising a detection module, wherein the detection module is disposed inside the electronic device, electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode, and configured to detect a capacitance change of the panel capacitor and determine a pressing event according to the capacitance change.

3. The key of claim 1, wherein said target area is made of a conductive material and said target area constitutes said first electrode.

4. The key of claim 3, wherein the housing is a conductive housing.

5. The key of claim 1, wherein the target area is made of an insulating material, and a side of the target area facing the second electrode is provided with the first electrode.

6. The key of claim 5, wherein the first electrode is embedded in the target area, and a side of the first electrode facing the second electrode does not extend beyond an inner surface of the housing.

7. The key of claim 5, wherein the housing is an insulating housing.

8. The key according to claim 2, wherein a first dielectric layer is disposed on the second electrode, a gap is disposed between the first dielectric layer and the first electrode, and the first dielectric layer is used for limiting deformation of the target region when the target region is pressed.

9. The key of claim 8, wherein the amount of deformation is less than the gap for a light press event and greater than or equal to the gap for a heavy press event.

10. The key of claim 8, wherein the gap is 0.1-5 mm in size.

11. The key of claim 8, wherein the gap is filled with a second dielectric layer, the second dielectric layer being resilient.

12. The key of any one of claims 1-11, wherein the target area is located on a side of the housing and is arcuate, and the first electrode is arcuate to conform to the target area.

13. An electronic device comprising a housing and a key as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12.

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