DE8514959U1 - Digitizer tablet - Google Patents

Description

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Digitizer, ..tablet

The innovation concerns a digitizer tablet with a plate »on the front and back of which are each formed parallel to each other electrical conductor tracks, of which the Conductor tracks on the back at an angle, and preferably at right angles to the conductor tracks on the front

run along the plate.
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A digitizer tablet looks like a drawing board and is used to convert the coordinates of a drawing into computer-understandable signals. The drawing is for this on the Tablet placed and scanned by means of a pen at the points desired by the user. Each time the pen is pressed down, sends the tablet sends the coordinates of the current pen position to the computer or the connected device.

Digitizer tablets are known which are in the form of a conventional Printed circuit board are formed, i.e. in each case on the front and on the back groups of mutually parallel Conductor tracks are formed, which are produced by the usual etching process for the production of printed circuit boards. The circuit board must first be etched, then connecting lines must be drilled between the front and back and the plate must be provided with solder resist. Since the- | like circuit boards are relatively thick, i.e. usually | Have a thickness of about 1 mm, such a conductor |

plate in addition to the relatively high cost of its manufacture Ii

^ou also has the disadvantage that the resolving power in some ||

Cases is insufficient. J

The present innovation is therefore based on the task of creating a §

indicate new digitizer tablet of the type mentioned above, which on- |

simple and economical due to its physical configuration f

1 can be produced more easily. ψ

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According to the innovation, a digitizer tablet will be the one mentioned at the beginning Specified type, which is characterized in that the plate consists of a plastic film and that the electrical conductor tracks are printed. Sheets made of plastic film can be processed in a much larger area and much easier therefore manufacture more economically than corresponding printed circuit boards » Printed conductor tracks can be used in connection with such foils and they are technically equivalent to the conductor tracks of a circuit board and yet easier to manufacture.

The plastic film can for example consist of a polyester. However, a sheet of paper can also be used if necessary. Because the conductor tracks on the front and back usually are connected with high resistance, the electrical insulation of the plate does not play an essential role. Foil thicknesses were preferred between 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm used, although if necessary also foils thicknesses of up to 1 mm can be used. The lower the film thickness, the better the resolution of the digitizer Tablets. For this reason alone, film thicknesses with the smallest possible thickness are preferred.

According to a preferred embodiment, the arrangement is made such that the film forms a rectangular area and that the ends of the conductor tracks on the back and on the front by not crossing or touching one another third and fourth conductor tracks are connected to terminals arranged next to one another along an edge of the film and that the third and fourth conductor tracks as well as the connections are each printed.

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According to a preferred embodiment, the connections are open the front and back are arranged along the same edge.

To make it as easy as possible to connect the connections to other electrical devices, the connections are on the The front side is arranged in a common area along the common edge which is separate from the connections on the rear side.

Especially with those digitizer tablets, where the most space-saving size of the digitizer tablet is important An embodiment has proven to be expedient in which the areas in which the connections on the front or rear

^ ₅ are in the form of tabs. These tabs can be bent particularly easily with respect to the remaining surface of the film, so that connections to electrical devices can be made that are not in the plane of the digitizer tablet, but approximately below it. This reduces the total area.

Furthermore, it has proven to be advantageous if on the front a second protective film is stuck onto the film.

In the following, the innovation is to be explained in more detail with reference to preferred exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing. In the drawing show:

Fig. 1 shows a first embodiment of a digitizer tablet and formed _{according to the innovation g0}

2 shows a second embodiment of one designed according to the innovation Digitizer tablets.

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, According to Fig. 1 are on a film 1 on the front one

first group of mutually parallel conductor tracks 2 formed » '5 while on the back a second group of one another paral-1 lelen conductor tracks 3 are formed. The ends of the two groups

\ pen of conductor tracks are each on one side through one across

for this purpose running conductor track 4 or 5 connected to one another. ^The; other free ends of the conductive traces 2 and 3, namely 6 or 7,

IO could in practice with appropriate, on the slide 4 on- ■ '■ printable tab connections are tapped. To that extent represents

^l; : the described digitizer tablet 1 already has a complete

\ a marketable unit. The film preferably consists of a

ψ Plastic such as polyester, although other plastics such as

t. 15 polyurethane etc. can be used in the same way. It ^? 'Under certain circumstances, a sheet of paper can also be used, since

|; Paper, like plastic, is made of an insulating material.

* The conductor tracks 2 and 3 are made of a conductive material such as

I conductive silver or conductive lacquer, which are commercially available,

20 prints. The imprint can be done with the help of a conventional printing or screen printing process. The foils should preferably be subjected to an aging process so that they practically do not expand when the temperature changes. A temperature expansion of the foils is undesirable, but quite permissible, provided that the change in area is linear over the area. Temperature ranges from approx. -10 ° C to + 40 ° C should be taken into account. The tablet according to the innovation thus has the essential advantage over the previously known printed circuit boards that the cost of the material is a maximum of 30-20 % of the previous material costs. Furthermore, ^{v is} at most one tenth of the time for printing on the plates that

are thus completed, compared to the manufacturing time for a circuit board. Due to the enormous constancy of the thickness of the film over its entire surface, the neu-35 According to the digitizing tablet, there is practically no electronic reconciliation of the individual connections to be done more in contrast

to the previously known printed circuit board, which often had deviations in thickness and for this reason a comparison of the individual Connections made necessary through different resistors or capacitors. Just in the manufacture of the new digitizer Tablets results in a gain in working time of around one hour per digitizer tablet. Furthermore, the fact that the thickness of the film is very small, and the distances between the conductor tracks running parallel to one another are each a group can be made relatively low, resulting in a significantly higher level of accuracy in the definition of points when using such digitizer tablets later. Finally, another particular benefit is the fact mention that the foils used are easily bendable. The digitizer tablets can therefore also be glued to round surfaces become what was previously not possible.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the free ends 6 and 7 of the two groups of conductor tracks in each case by non-crossing and non-touching third and fourth Conductor tracks 8 and 9 are connected to terminals 10 and 11, respectively. The connections are on different sides of the slide 1, however preferably along the same edge 12 of the film. For reasons of better electrical connection, these connections are 10

and 11 preferably wider than the conductor tracks themselves. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the connections 10 and 11 are to enable a better connection of the individual Head to appropriate contact groups in separate areas

13 and 14 along the edge 12. The connections must be 30

do not end at the same edge of the film, but can also end on separate edges.

The embodiment of FIG. 2 differs from that in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 only in that

that the connections 15 and 16 corresponding to the connections 10 and 11 lie on tabs 17 and 18 of the film 19, respectively. These Since they are made of the same material as the overall film 19, tabs are easily about the axis 20 or 21 from the plane of the drawing can be bent out backwards or forwards, so that the connections provided on the tabs in corresponding mating connections of plugs that are about in the right

^ Q angles to the plane of the drawing are arranged. The tabs can can of course be arranged at different edges of the film 19.

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Claims (9)

1. Digitizer Table ¹ : with a plate on the front and back of which parallel electrical conductor tracks are formed, of which the conductor tracks on the back are at an angle, and preferably at right angles, to the conductor tracks on the front of the plate run, characterized in that the plate consists of a plastic film (1, 19) and that the electrical conductor tracks (2, 3) are printed on. 30th 2. Digitizer tablet according to claim 1, characterized in that that the plastic film consists of a polyester. 3. Digitizer tablet according to claim 1, characterized in that that the plastic film consists of paper. 35 t ti ti * * * ι j a ·· * i
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IMf I · · * · * 4. digitizer tablet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the film has a thickness between 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm. 5. Digitizer tablet according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the film (1, 19) forms a rectangular area and that the ends of the conductor tracks (2, 3) on the back and on the front by themselves not in each case intersecting or contacting third and fourth Lei ⁺ erbahnen (8, 9) each along one edge (12) of the film side by side terminals (10, 11) are connected, and that the third and fourth conductors (8, 9) as well as the Connections (10, 11) are each printed. 6. digitizer tablet according to claim 5, characterized in that the connections (10, 11) on the front and the rear side are arranged along the same edge (12), 7. digitizer tablet according to claim 6, characterized in that that the connections on the front in a common (13), separated from the connections on the back Area (14) lie along the common edge (12). 8. digitizer tablet according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized that the areas in which the connections (15, 16) are located on the front or back, in the form of tabs (17, 18) are formed. 9. digitizer tablet according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized characterized that on the front of the film (1, 19) a second protective film is stuck on. * * IIIJII ti ft » * ι ι ι ι ι ι t · * * 111 I Il I (dl * i t i t i t 4 t t * 4th * * Ii * t * * * ti * ti * i it do