CN218866943U - Key module and intelligent terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a button module and intelligent terminal. The key module comprises a key body, at least one elastic piece, at least one first fixing piece and a front shell; the key body comprises a pressing part and a key skirt, and the pressing part is arranged on a first side surface of the key skirt; the at least one elastic piece is arranged on the second side face of the key skirt, and the second side face and the first side face are opposite to each other; the at least one first fixing piece is arranged on the second side face of the key skirt; the front shell comprises a main body part and at least one second fixing part arranged on the main body part, the second fixing part is inserted into the corresponding first fixing part, and the first fixing part can move along the pressing direction or the opposite direction of the pressing direction relative to the inserted second fixing part. The application can simplify the assembly structure and the assembly process of the key and the terminal middle frame, the cost is lower, and the elastic pieces with different hardness can be replaced to improve the pressing hand feeling of the key.

Description

Key module and intelligent terminal

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of terminal buttons, in particular to a button module and an intelligent terminal.

Background

The way of realizing the key function of the intelligent terminal represented by the intelligent mobile phone takes a side key as an example, and the following three ways are mainly provided: 1. the elastic arm of the side key is clamped through the hot-melting fixing column of the middle frame of the intelligent terminal, and the elastic arm can rebound after the side key is pressed; 2. the middle frame of the intelligent terminal is provided with a clamping groove, and the elastic arm of the side key extends into the clamping groove and is clamped in the clamping groove; 3. the side regions of the curved screen implement side key functionality.

In the course of conceiving and implementing the present application, the inventors found that at least the following problems existed: in the first mode and the second mode, the intelligent terminal middle frame is required to be provided with corresponding structures for fixing the side keys and the elastic arms thereof, so that the structure is complex, the assembly process is complex, and the limitation of the internal space of the terminal middle frame is easily caused; the first mode needs a hot melting process, and the third mode has high requirements on the screen and high cost.

The foregoing description is provided for general background information and is not admitted to be prior art.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of this, the present application provides a key module and an intelligent terminal, so as to solve the problems of complex assembly structure and assembly process and high cost of the existing key and the middle frame of the terminal.

The application provides a key module, including button body, an at least elastic component, an at least first mounting and preceding shell.

Optionally, the key body includes a pressing portion and a key skirt.

Optionally, the pressing portion is provided on the first side surface of the key skirt.

Optionally, at least one resilient member is disposed on the second side of the key skirt.

Optionally, the second side is opposite the first side.

Optionally, at least one first fastener is disposed on the second side of the key skirt.

Optionally, the front shell comprises a main body portion and at least one second fixing member disposed on the main body portion.

Optionally, the second fixing member is inserted into the corresponding first fixing member.

Optionally, the first fixing piece can move along the pressing direction or the direction opposite to the pressing direction relative to the inserted second fixing piece.

Optionally, one of the first fixing piece and the second fixing piece is an insert rod, and the other is a sleeve.

Optionally, the side wall of the sleeve is provided with a limiting hole.

Optionally, the plunger comprises a cylinder and a protrusion disposed at an end of the cylinder.

Optionally, a post is inserted into the sleeve, and the protrusion is located in the limiting hole.

Optionally, the first fixing member is a sleeve.

Optionally, the second fixture is a bayonet.

Optionally, the key module further comprises a circuit board.

Optionally, the circuit board is disposed on a side of the front shell facing the key skirt, and is provided with at least one through hole, and the insertion rod is inserted into the corresponding through hole.

Optionally, the elastic member is disposed on the second side of the key skirt by adhesive.

Optionally, the second side of the key skirt is provided with a groove, and the elastic member is arranged in the groove after being extruded and deformed.

Optionally, the elastic member is a thermoplastic member, including but not limited to a rigid plastic member, such as PP, PE, PC, PS, ABS plastic member; soft plastic parts, such as TPE thermoplastic parts, TPU thermoplastic parts.

Optionally, the resilient member is annular.

Optionally, the key module further includes a contact disposed on the second side of the key skirt, the pressing portion is pressed to contact the contact, and the contact presses the sensing area of the circuit board.

Optionally, the contact element and/or the at least one first fixing element are disposed on a base strip, and two ends of the base strip are respectively inserted into the annular elastic element in an extending manner.

Optionally, the base strip is secured to the second side of the key skirt. For example, the second side of the key skirt is provided with a groove, and the elastic base strip is arranged in the groove after being extruded and deformed.

Optionally, the at least one first fixing member, the contact member and the base strip are integrally formed.

Optionally, the at least one elastic member, the at least one first fixing member, the contact member and the base strip are integrally formed.

The application provides an intelligent terminal, include as above-mentioned any one the button module.

Optionally, the intelligent terminal further comprises a middle frame.

Optionally, the key module is mounted on the middle frame.

Optionally, the key module includes two pressing portions, two elastic members and a first fixing member, the elastic members are disposed in a pressing direction corresponding to the pressing portions, and the first fixing member is disposed between the two elastic members.

Optionally, the front shell comprises a second fixing member for plugging with the first fixing member.

Optionally, the middle frame is provided with an opening.

Optionally, the button body is arranged in the opening in a penetrating manner, the pressing portion and the key skirt are located on two opposite sides of the middle frame, the orthographic projection of the pressing portion falls into the orthographic projection of the key skirt along the pressing direction, and the middle frame is used for resisting the key skirt and the front shell to move towards the opposite direction of the pressing direction so as to prevent the button body from being separated from the middle frame.

As described above, the key module of the present application includes the key body and the front shell, the key body is provided with the first fixing member, the front shell is provided with the second fixing member, the key module is inserted into the opening of the terminal middle frame, the front shell is located inside the terminal middle frame and can be blocked by the terminal middle frame without leaving the inside of the middle frame, the first fixing member of the key body is inserted into the second fixing member of the front shell, so as to complete the assembly of the key module and the terminal middle frame, the terminal middle frame is not required to be provided with a structure connected with the elastic member of the key, for example, the terminal middle frame only needs to be provided with an opening to allow the pressing portion of the key to be exposed out of the terminal middle frame, and not only the structure is simple, but also the limitation from the installation space is reduced, and the assembly process can be simplified, thereby reducing the cost. Because traditional terminal center all is provided with the opening that is used for installing the button module, then need not to change the structure of terminal center when installing the button module of this application, the compatibility is stronger, and applicable terminal model is more.

In addition, the elastic piece is annular, which is beneficial to improving the pressing hand feeling of the key; optionally, the elastic pieces with different hardness can be replaced, and the pressing hand feeling of the key is further improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application. In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive exercise.

Fig. 1 is a schematic hardware structure diagram of a mobile terminal implementing various embodiments of the present application;

fig. 2 is a communication network system architecture diagram according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is an assembly diagram of a key module and a terminal middle frame according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal middle frame according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of a partial structure of the key module shown in fig. 3 in an assembled state with the middle frame of the terminal;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the key module shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the key module and the middle frame of the terminal shown in FIG. 5;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural perspective view of a key body according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a key module on a second side of a key skirt according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a front shell of a key module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The implementation, functional features and advantages of the objectives of the present application will be further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. With the above figures, there are shown specific embodiments of the present application, which will be described in more detail below. These drawings and written description are not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concepts in any manner, but rather to illustrate the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art by reference to specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present application, as detailed in the appended claims.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, a reference to an element identified by the phrase "comprising one of 82308230- \8230;" 8230; "does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in any process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises that element, and optionally, components, features, elements having the same designation in different embodiments of the application may have the same meaning or may have different meanings as determined by their interpretation in that particular embodiment or by their further context in that particular embodiment.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope herein. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at" \8230; "or" when 8230; \8230; "or" in response to a determination ", depending on the context. Also, as used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, components, items, species, and/or groups, but do not preclude the presence, or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, species, and/or groups thereof. The terms "or," "and/or," "including at least one of the following," and the like, as used herein, are to be construed as inclusive or mean any one or any combination. For example, "includes at least one of: A. b, C "means" any of the following: a; b; c; a and B; a and C; b and C; a and B and C ", again for example," a, B or C "or" a, B and/or C "means" any one of the following: a; b; c; a and B; a and C; b and C; a and B and C'. An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or operations are inherently mutually exclusive in some way.

The words "if", as used herein may be interpreted as "at \8230; \8230whenor" when 8230; \8230when or "in response to a determination" or "in response to a detection", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if determined" or "if detected (a stated condition or event)" may be interpreted as "when determined" or "in response to a determination" or "when detected (a stated condition or event)" or "in response to a detection (a stated condition or event)", depending on the context.

It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.

In the following description, suffixes such as "module", "component", or "unit" used to denote elements are used only for the convenience of description of the present application, and have no specific meaning in themselves. Thus, "module", "component" or "unit" may be used mixedly.

The smart terminal may be implemented in various forms. For example, the smart terminal described in the present application may include mobile terminals such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a palmtop computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Media Player (PMP), a navigation device, a wearable device, a smart band, a pedometer, and the like, and fixed terminals such as a Digital TV, a desktop computer, and the like.

The following description will be given taking a mobile terminal as an example, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the configuration according to the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a fixed type terminal in addition to elements particularly used for mobile purposes.

Referring to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a mobile terminal for implementing various embodiments of the present application, the mobile terminal 100 may include: RF (Radio Frequency) unit 101, wiFi module 102, audio output unit 103, a/V (audio/video) input unit 104, sensor 105, display unit 106, user input unit 107, interface unit 108, memory 109, processor 110, and power supply 111. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mobile terminal architecture shown in fig. 1 is not intended to be limiting of mobile terminals, which may include more or fewer components than those shown, or some components may be combined, or a different arrangement of components.

The following specifically describes the components of the mobile terminal with reference to fig. 1:

the radio frequency unit 101 may be configured to receive and transmit signals during information transmission and reception or during a call, and specifically, receive downlink information of a base station and then process the downlink information to the processor 110; in addition, the uplink data is transmitted to the base station. Typically, radio frequency unit 101 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like. In addition, the radio frequency unit 101 can also communicate with a network and other devices through wireless communication. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol, including but not limited to GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000 ), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), FDD-LTE (Frequency Division duplex-Long Term Evolution), TDD-LTE (Time Division duplex-Long Term Evolution ), 5G (Global System for Mobile communications, or the like).

WiFi belongs to a short-distance wireless transmission technology, and the mobile terminal can help a user to receive and send emails, browse webpages, access streaming media and the like through the WiFi module 102, and provides wireless broadband internet access for the user. Although fig. 1 shows the WiFi module 102, it is understood that it does not belong to the essential constitution of the mobile terminal, and may be omitted entirely as needed within the scope not changing the essence of the invention.

The audio output unit 103 may convert audio data received by the radio frequency unit 101 or the WiFi module 102 or stored in the memory 109 into an audio signal and output as sound when the mobile terminal 100 is in a call signal reception mode, a call mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, a broadcast reception mode, or the like. Also, the audio output unit 103 may also provide audio output related to a specific function performed by the mobile terminal 100 (e.g., a call signal reception sound, a message reception sound, etc.). The audio output unit 103 may include a speaker, a buzzer, and the like.

The a/V input unit 104 is used to receive audio or video signals. The a/V input Unit 104 may include a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) 1041 and a microphone 1042, the Graphics processor 1041 Processing image data of still pictures or video obtained by an image capturing device (e.g., a camera) in a video capturing mode or an image capturing mode. The processed image frames may be displayed on the display unit 106. The image frames processed by the graphic processor 1041 may be stored in the memory 109 (or other storage medium) or transmitted via the radio frequency unit 101 or the WiFi module 102. The microphone 1042 may receive sounds (audio data) via the microphone 1042 in a phone call mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, or the like, and may be capable of processing such sounds into audio data. The processed audio (voice) data may be converted into a format output transmittable to a mobile communication base station via the radio frequency unit 101 in case of a phone call mode. The microphone 1042 may implement various types of noise cancellation (or suppression) algorithms to cancel (or suppress) noise or interference generated in the course of receiving and transmitting audio signals.

The mobile terminal 100 also includes at least one sensor 105, such as a light sensor, a motion sensor, and other sensors. Optionally, the light sensor includes an ambient light sensor that may adjust the brightness of the display panel 1061 according to the brightness of ambient light, and a proximity sensor that may turn off the display panel 1061 and/or the backlight when the mobile terminal 100 is moved to the ear. As one of the motion sensors, the accelerometer sensor can detect the magnitude of acceleration in each direction (generally three axes), detect the magnitude and direction of gravity when stationary, and can be used for applications of recognizing gestures of a mobile phone (such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, related games, magnetometer gesture calibration), vibration recognition related functions (such as pedometers and taps), and the like; as for other sensors such as a fingerprint sensor, a pressure sensor, an iris sensor, a molecular sensor, a gyroscope, a barometer, a hygrometer, a thermometer, and an infrared sensor, which can be configured on the mobile phone, further description is omitted here.

The display unit 106 is used to display information input by a user or information provided to the user. The Display unit 106 may include a Display panel 1061, and the Display panel 1061 may be configured in the form of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), or the like.

The user input unit 107 may be used to receive input numeric or character information and generate key signal inputs related to user settings and function control of the mobile terminal. Alternatively, the user input unit 107 may include a touch panel 1071 and other input devices 1072. The touch panel 1071, also referred to as a touch screen, can collect touch operations of a user (e.g., operations of a user on the touch panel 1071 or near the touch panel 1071 using a finger, a stylus, or any other suitable object or accessory) thereon or nearby and drive the corresponding connection device according to a predetermined program. The touch panel 1071 may include two parts of a touch detection device and a touch controller. Optionally, the touch detection device detects a touch orientation of a user, detects a signal caused by a touch operation, and transmits the signal to the touch controller; the touch controller receives touch information from the touch sensing device, converts the touch information into touch point coordinates, sends the touch point coordinates to the processor 110, and can receive and execute commands sent by the processor 110. In addition, the touch panel 1071 may be implemented in various types, such as a resistive type, a capacitive type, an infrared ray, and a surface acoustic wave. In addition to the touch panel 1071, the user input unit 107 may include other input devices 1072. Optionally, other input devices 1072 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, a mouse, a joystick, and the like, and are not limited thereto.

Alternatively, the touch panel 1071 may cover the display panel 1061, and when the touch panel 1071 detects a touch operation thereon or nearby, the touch panel 1071 transmits the touch operation to the processor 110 to determine the type of the touch event, and then the processor 110 provides a corresponding visual output on the display panel 1061 according to the type of the touch event. Although the touch panel 1071 and the display panel 1061 are shown in fig. 1 as two separate components to implement the input and output functions of the mobile terminal, in some embodiments, the touch panel 1071 and the display panel 1061 may be integrated to implement the input and output functions of the mobile terminal, and is not limited herein.

The interface unit 108 serves as an interface through which at least one external device is connected to the mobile terminal 100. For example, the external device may include a wired or wireless headset port, an external power supply (or battery charger) port, a wired or wireless data port, a memory card port, a port for connecting a device having an identification module, an audio input/output (I/O) port, a video I/O port, an earphone port, and the like. The interface unit 108 may be used to receive input (e.g., data information, power, etc.) from external devices and transmit the received input to one or more elements within the mobile terminal 100 or may be used to transmit data between the mobile terminal 100 and external devices.

The memory 109 may be used to store software programs as well as various data. The memory 109 may mainly include a program storage area and a data storage area, and optionally, the program storage area may store an operating system, an application program required for at least one function (such as a sound playing function, an image playing function, and the like), and the like; the storage data area may store data (such as audio data, a phonebook, etc.) created according to the use of the cellular phone, and the like. Further, memory 109 may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device, or other volatile solid state storage device.

The processor 110 is a control center of the mobile terminal, connects various parts of the entire mobile terminal using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of the mobile terminal and processes data by operating or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 109 and calling data stored in the memory 109, thereby performing overall monitoring of the mobile terminal. Processor 110 may include one or more processing units; preferably, the processor 110 may integrate an application processor and a modem processor, optionally, the application processor mainly handles operating systems, user interfaces, application programs, etc., and the modem processor mainly handles wireless communications. It will be appreciated that the modem processor described above may not be integrated into the processor 110.

The mobile terminal 100 may further include a power supply 111 (e.g., a battery) for supplying power to various components, and preferably, the power supply 111 may be logically connected to the processor 110 via a power management system, so as to manage charging, discharging, and power consumption management functions via the power management system.

Although not shown in fig. 1, the mobile terminal 100 may further include a bluetooth module or the like, which is not described in detail herein.

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication network system on which the mobile terminal of the present application is based is described below.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is an architecture diagram of a communication Network system provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the communication Network system is an LTE system of a universal mobile telecommunications technology, and the LTE system includes a UE (User Equipment) 201, an e-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) 202, an epc (Evolved Packet Core) 203, and an IP service 204 of an operator, which are in communication connection in sequence.

Optionally, the UE201 may be the terminal 100 described above, and is not described herein again.

The E-UTRAN202 includes eNodeB2021 and other eNodeBs 2022, among others. Alternatively, the eNodeB2021 may be connected with other enodebs 2022 through a backhaul (e.g., X2 interface), the eNodeB2021 is connected to the EPC203, and the eNodeB2021 may provide the UE201 access to the EPC 203.

The EPC203 may include an MME (Mobility Management Entity) 2031, an hss (Home Subscriber Server) 2032, other MMEs 2033, an SGW (Serving gateway) 2034, a pgw (PDN gateway) 2035, and a PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) 2036, and the like. Optionally, the MME2031 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE201 and the EPC203, providing bearer and connection management. HSS2032 is used to provide registers to manage functions such as home location register (not shown) and holds subscriber specific information about service characteristics, data rates, etc. All user data may be sent through SGW2034, PGW2035 may provide IP address assignment for UE201 and other functions, and PCRF2036 is a policy and charging control policy decision point for traffic data flow and IP bearer resources, which selects and provides available policy and charging control decisions for a policy and charging enforcement function (not shown).

The IP services 204 may include the internet, intranets, IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), or other IP services, among others.

Although the LTE system is described as an example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present application is not limited to the LTE system, but may also be applied to other wireless communication systems, such as GSM, CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, 5G, and future new network systems (e.g. 6G), and the like.

Based on the above mobile terminal hardware structure and communication network system, various embodiments of the present application are proposed.

Fig. 3 to fig. 10 are schematic views of a structure of a key module 1 and an assembly of the key module 1 and an intelligent terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The key module 1 is used for being installed on a middle frame 20 of an intelligent terminal. For ease of description and understanding, the middle frame 20 may also be described as a terminal middle frame 20, where appropriate for the description below. Referring to fig. 3 and 4 together, in a scenario where the key module 1 is disposed in the middle frame 20, the intelligent terminal can implement a side key function; in other scenarios, for example, when the key module 1 is disposed on the rear cover, the intelligent terminal can implement the rear cover key function. In the scenarios including but not limited to these scenarios, the key module 1 is a device partially exposed in the middle frame 20, and herein, the embodiment of the present application may also implement other functions, such as fingerprint identification, through the key module 1.

The middle frame 20 is provided with an opening 20a, and the shape of the opening 20a may be the same as the shape of the exposed part of the key module 1 (i.e., the pressing part 101 of the key body 10 described below), so that the effect of tightly attaching the edges of the middle frame 20 and the exposed part of the key may be improved, and the sealing performance of the intelligent terminal may be improved. For example, for a scene of a middle frame disposed in the intelligent terminal, please refer to fig. 2, where the opening 20a is a strip extending along the extending direction y of the middle frame, and the outer portion of the key module 1 is a strip.

The extending direction y may also be referred to as a second direction y, a length direction or a height direction of the intelligent terminal, the width direction of the intelligent terminal is a first direction x, the thickness direction is a third direction z, and the first direction x, the second direction y and the third direction z are pairwise perpendicular. It should be noted that, limited by the error (also called tolerance) in actual processing or measurement or operation, the term perpendicular as used herein does not require that the included angle between the two directions is necessarily 90 °, but allows a deviation of a predetermined threshold value, for example, a deviation of ± 10 °, and the term perpendicular is understood to mean that the included angle between any two directions is 80 ° to 100 °.

The key module 1 includes a key body 10, at least one elastic member 11, at least one first fixing member 12, and a front housing 13. The embodiment of the present application is described by taking two elastic members 11, a first fixing member 12 and a front shell 13 as an example, and it should be understood that other numbers may be set according to actual needs.

The key body 10 includes a pressing portion 101 and a key skirt 102, and may be an integrally molded part.

The pressing portion 101 is disposed on a first side surface of the key skirt 102, and the pressing portion 101 can be exposed out of the terminal middle frame 20 through the opening 20a for being pressed by a user to implement a corresponding key function.

The key skirt 102 is disposed inside the terminal middle frame 20, for example, inside the smart terminal, along the first direction x, an orthogonal projection of the pressing portion 101 falls into an orthogonal projection of the key skirt 102, optionally, an edge portion of the key skirt 102 is located outside the orthogonal projection of the pressing portion 101 and is disposed around the pressing portion 101, and an orthogonal projection of the opening 20a of the terminal middle frame 20 also falls into the orthogonal projection of the key skirt 102, where, in a state where the key module 1 is assembled in the smart terminal, the terminal middle frame 20 can resist (a first side surface of) the key skirt 102 from moving in a direction opposite to the first direction x and being separated from the terminal middle frame 20, and in a complete pressing event of the key module 1, the pressing portion 101 can always penetrate through the opening 20a of the terminal middle frame 20.

The key skirt 102 may have a plate shape or a plate shape, and further includes a second side surface disposed opposite to the first side surface in the first direction x. The elastic member 11 and the first fixing member 12 are disposed on the second side of the key skirt 102.

The front case 13 includes a main body portion 131 and at least one second fixing member 132 disposed on the main body portion 131.

Along the line of sight in the first direction x, the orthographic projection of the opening 20a of the terminal middle frame 20 falls within the orthographic projection of the main body portion 131, so that the main body portion 131 can be prevented from being detached from the terminal middle frame 20 through the opening 20a via the inner side (the right side in fig. 5) of the terminal middle frame 20. The main body 131 functions to include, but not limited to, encapsulating or carrying structural elements (e.g., the circuit board 14) of the key module 1, and cooperating with structural elements inside the smart terminal. The so-called mating includes, but is not limited to, at least one of: 1. structural elements inside the intelligent terminal are abutted against the right side (i.e. the side where the second fixing member 132 is not arranged) of the front shell 13, so that the key module 1 is relatively fixed on the terminal middle frame 20; 2. the front case 13 is mounted on a structural element inside the smart terminal, thereby assisting in fixing the key module 1 at the opening 20a of the smart terminal.

The number of the second fixing members 132 and the number of the first fixing members 12 may be the same or different. The present application is described by way of example with respect to the provision of a second mount 132.

The assembly mode of the key module 1 and the terminal middle frame 20 is as follows:

the key body 10 is inserted through the opening 20a of the terminal middle frame 20 along the direction opposite to the first direction x through the inner side of the terminal middle frame 20, the front shell 13 is located inside the terminal middle frame 20 and is blocked by the terminal middle frame 20 without leaving the inside of the terminal middle frame 20, and the first fixing member 12 of the key body 10 is inserted into the second fixing member 132 corresponding to the front shell 20, so that the assembly of the key module 1 and the terminal middle frame 20 can be completed.

In an assembled state, the second fixing element 132 is inserted into the corresponding first fixing element 12, and the first fixing element 12 can move along the pressing direction x relative to the inserted second fixing element 132 to implement a pressing function, or move along a direction opposite to the pressing direction x to implement a springback reset function after pressing.

The elastic member 11 is located between the second side of the key skirt 102 and the front case 13, and does not have a direct structural connection relationship with the structural elements of the smart terminal including the middle frame 20 in the non-pressed state.

Therefore, the terminal middle frame 20 does not need to be provided with a structure connected with the elastic piece 11 of the key, the structure is simple, the limitation of installation space is reduced, the assembly process and difficulty can be simplified, and the cost is reduced. It should be understood that, the opening 20a of the terminal middle frame 20 is originally or the traditional intelligent terminal installation key needs to be set, and the opening 20a is only utilized instead of being additionally set in the present application, in other words, the structure of the terminal middle frame 20 does not need to be changed when the key module 1 of the present application is installed, and the key module 1 of the present application has strong compatibility and is suitable for intelligent terminals with more models.

In some scenarios, the key module 1 cannot or can only move in a small range along the second direction y and/or the third direction z relative to the middle frame 20 after being assembled in the opening 20a of the terminal middle frame 20, the small range includes: the assembly stability of the key module 1 and the middle frame 20 and/or the waterproof and other sealing performances of the intelligent terminal at the assembly positions (namely the opening 20 a) are not affected.

With continued reference to fig. 3-10, optionally, one of the first and second fixing members 12, 132 is a plunger and the other is a sleeve. The first fixing member 12 is shown as a sleeve and the second fixing member 132 is shown as a plunger. The side wall of the sleeve 12 is provided with a limiting hole 121. The plunger 132 includes a column 1321 and a projection 1322 provided at an end of the column 1321 (an end away from the main body 131 of the front case 13), the column 1321 is inserted into the sleeve 12, and the projection 1322 is located in the limiting hole 121. The size of the limiting hole 121 is larger than that of the projection 1322, so that the projection 1322 is allowed to move relatively in the limiting hole 121 during a pressing event, and the hole wall of the limiting hole 121 on the side away from the key skirt 102 blocks the projection 1322, thereby preventing the second fixing member 132 from being disengaged from the first fixing member 12 when moving along the first direction x.

In the second direction y, the projection 1322 may engage with the hole wall of the limiting hole 121, for example, in fig. 5 to 7, the upper edge and the lower edge of the projection 1322 engage with the upper hole wall and the lower hole wall of the limiting hole 121, respectively, so that the inserted link 132 may be prevented from being shifted in the second direction y relative to the sleeve 12 during the pressing operation.

For the key module 1 provided with the circuit board 14, the circuit board 14 may be disposed on a side of the front case 13 facing the key skirt 102. The circuit board 14 is provided with at least one through hole 141, for example, the number of the through holes may be the same as the number of the second fixing members 132, and the insertion rod 132 is inserted into the corresponding through hole 141.

The circuit board 14 may be provided with a connecting portion 143 for electrically connecting with a motherboard of the smart terminal, thereby electrically connecting the circuit board 14 with the motherboard of the smart terminal. Alternatively, the front case 13 may be provided with a carrier 133 to allow the connection portion 143 of the circuit board 14 to be disposed on the carrier 133 and electrically connected with the main board of the smart terminal via the carrier 133. In some scenarios, the bearing portion 133 may be a structure protruding from the main body portion 131 of the front case 13, for example, actually appearing as a boss.

The application is not limited to the function or type of circuit board 14. For example, a key press may be detected; to the button module 1 that has the fingerprint identification function, can discern fingerprint data and according to fingerprint data identification user identity, and/or give intelligent terminal's internal components and parts (for example main control chip etc.) with fingerprint data transmission. The Circuit Board 14 may be a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC) or a rigid PCB (Printed Circuit Board), or a combination of both.

The key module 1 further includes a contact 15, and the contact 15 is disposed on the second side of the key skirt 102. The pressing portion 101 is pressed to contact with the contact 15, and the contact 15 presses the sensing area 142 of the circuit board 14, so that the key module 1 and/or the smart terminal detects the pressing event.

As shown in fig. 3 to 10, the elastic element 11 may be annular, and the radial direction of the annular elastic element 11 is perpendicular to the second side of the key skirt 102 and the circuit board 14. In the pressing process, the annular elastic member 11 deforms to reduce the radial dimension in the first direction x, and the pressing hand feeling and the rebound effect of the key module 1 can be adjusted by adjusting the hardness of the elastic member 11.

In some scenarios, the elastic member 11 is a thermoplastic member, including but not limited to at least one of a rigid plastic member and a flexible plastic member. Examples of the rigid plastic member include PP (polypropylene), PE (polyethylene), PC (polycarbonate), PS (polystyrene copolymer), and ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer) plastic members. The soft plastic parts are, for example, TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) thermoplastic parts, TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer) thermoplastic parts. The definition of hard and soft can be seen in the prior art.

The elastic member 11 and the key skirt 102 are optionally assembled in at least one of the following ways:

in the first mode, the elastic member 11 is disposed on the second side of the key skirt 102 by adhesive.

In the second mode, the second side surface of the key skirt 102 is provided with a groove, the size of the elastic member 11 in a natural state is larger than that of the groove, and the elastic member 11 is arranged in the groove after being extruded and deformed.

In a third way, for a scenario where the key skirt 102 (or the second side of the key skirt 102) is a plastic part or a thermoplastic part, the elastic part 11 may be adhered to the second side of the key skirt 102 by a heat melting manner.

Optionally, the contact element 15 and/or the at least one first fixing element 12 of the key module 1 are disposed on a base strip 16, and two ends of the base strip 16 are respectively extended and inserted into the annular elastic element 11. The manner in which base strip 16 is secured to the second side of key skirt 102 can be seen in the manner in which resilient member 11 is secured.

In some scenarios, the at least one first fixing element 12, the contact element 15 and the base strip 16 are an integral molding; or, the at least one elastic element 11, the at least one first fixing element 12, the contact element 15 and the base strip 16 are integrally formed; thereby facilitating production and assembly with the key skirt 102.

The number of the elastic elements 11 and the installation position on the key module 1 are not limited in the embodiments of the present application. For example, in the scenarios shown in fig. 3 to 10, the key module 1 includes two pressing portions 101, two elastic members 11, one first fixing member 12, and two contact members 15. Two key functions, such as volume increase and volume decrease, can be respectively realized by the two pressing portions 101, each elastic member 11 is disposed in the pressing direction x corresponding to the pressing portion 101, and the first fixing member 12 is disposed between the two elastic members 11; the front case 13 includes a second fixing member 132 for being inserted with the first fixing member 12.

The key module 1 of any preceding embodiment of this application can regard as an independent product production, manufacturing, sale and with intelligent terminal equipment, intelligent terminal reserve have the structure of looks adaptation can.

The application also provides an intelligent terminal, which comprises a middle frame and the key module 1 in any one of the embodiments, wherein the key module 1 is installed on the middle frame, and the assembling mode of the key module 1 and the middle frame can refer to the above. Optionally, the intelligent terminal further includes a processor, and the key module 1 is electrically connected to the processor. The intelligent terminal can have the middle frame 20, which is exemplified by fig. 3 and 4, and has the beneficial effects that the key module 1 can produce.

It is to be understood that the foregoing scenarios are only examples, and do not constitute a limitation on application scenarios of the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, and the technical solutions of the present application may also be applied to other scenarios. For example, as can be known by those skilled in the art, with the evolution of system architecture and the emergence of new service scenarios, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

The above-mentioned serial numbers of the embodiments of the present application are merely for description, and do not represent the advantages and disadvantages of the embodiments.

The steps in the method of the embodiment of the application can be sequentially adjusted, combined and deleted according to actual needs.

The units in the device of the embodiment of the application can be combined, divided and deleted according to actual needs.

In the present application, the same or similar term concepts, technical solutions and/or application scenario descriptions will be generally described only in detail at the first occurrence, and when the description is repeated later, the detailed description will not be repeated in general for brevity, and when understanding the technical solutions and the like of the present application, reference may be made to the related detailed description before the description for the same or similar term concepts, technical solutions and/or application scenario descriptions and the like which are not described in detail later.

In the present application, each embodiment is described with an emphasis on the description, and reference may be made to the description of other embodiments for parts that are not described or recited in any embodiment.

All possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments are not described in the present application for the sake of brevity, but should be considered as the scope of the present application as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the method of the above embodiments can be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases, the former is a better implementation manner. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application or portions contributing to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product, where the computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as a ROM/RAM, a magnetic disk, and an optical disk) as above, and includes several instructions to enable a terminal device (which may be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, a controlled terminal, or a network device) to execute the method of each embodiment of the present application.

In the above embodiments, all or part of the implementation may be realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are all or partially generated when the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line) or wirelessly (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, memory Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present application, and not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and all modifications of equivalent structures and equivalent processes, which are made by the contents of the specification and the drawings of the present application, or which are directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, are included in the scope of the present application.

Claims (10)

1. A key module, comprising:

the key body comprises a pressing part and a key skirt, and the pressing part is arranged on a first side surface of the key skirt;

the elastic piece is arranged on a second side surface of the key skirt, and the second side surface is opposite to the first side surface;

the first fixing piece is arranged on the second side face of the key skirt;

the front shell comprises a main body part and at least one second fixing part arranged on the main body part, the second fixing part is connected with the corresponding first fixing part in an inserting mode, and the first fixing part can move along the pressing direction or the direction opposite to the pressing direction relative to the connected second fixing part.

2. The key module according to claim 1, wherein one of the first fixing member and the second fixing member is an insertion rod, the other one is a sleeve, and a side wall of the sleeve is provided with a limiting hole; the inserted bar comprises a cylinder and a protruding part arranged at the end part of the cylinder, the cylinder is inserted into the sleeve, and the protruding part is positioned in the limiting hole.

3. The key module according to claim 2, further comprising a circuit board disposed on a side of the front housing facing the key skirt and having at least one through hole, wherein the insertion rod is inserted into the through hole.

4. The key module according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the elastic member is disposed on the second side of the key skirt, and comprises at least one of:

gluing;

the second side of the key skirt is provided with a groove, and the elastic piece is arranged in the groove after being extruded and deformed.

5. The key module according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the elastic member is a thermoplastic member.

6. The key module of claim 3, further comprising at least one of:

the elastic piece is annular;

the key module further comprises a contact piece arranged on the second side surface of the key skirt, and the pressing part is pressed to be in contact with the contact piece so that the contact piece presses the induction area of the circuit board;

the contact element and/or the at least one first fixing element are arranged on a base strip, and two ends of the base strip extend and are inserted into the annular elastic element respectively.

7. The key module of claim 6, wherein the base strip is secured to the second side of the key skirt.

8. The key module of claim 6, wherein the at least one first fixing element, the contact element and the base strip are integrally formed; or, the at least one elastic piece, the at least one first fixing piece, the contact piece and the base strip are integrally formed pieces.

9. An intelligent terminal, characterized in that it comprises a key module according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The intelligent terminal according to claim 9, further comprising a middle frame, wherein the middle frame is provided with an opening, the key body penetrates through the opening, the pressing portion and the key skirt are located on two opposite sides of the middle frame, an orthographic projection of the pressing portion falls into an orthographic projection of the key skirt along the pressing direction, and the middle frame is used for resisting movement of the key skirt and the front shell in a direction opposite to the pressing direction.

Images