JP2004356028A - Push-button switch device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light emitting structure of a push-button switch device reduced in size. <P>SOLUTION: The light emitting structure of a transparent material, comprises a light guide member having a light inlet part for introducing light from a light source, a light guide part for guiding the introduced light, and a light emitting part for emitting the guided light. The light from the light source is guided by the light guide member to illuminate the push-button part. A cavity 7D penetrating in thickness direction is provided in the light guide member 7, a light emitting part 7C is provided on the side wall of the cavity 7D, and a contact part of the push-button switch is arranged in the cavity 7D. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a push-button switch device used for, for example, a mobile phone, and more particularly to a brilliant structure of a push-button switch device capable of manufacturing a mobile phone in a small size.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the brilliant structure of the conventional push button switch device, one light guide plate 3 for illuminating the entire area of the back surface of the keyboard 1 and the liquid crystal display panel 2 and an LED 4 for illuminating one portion of the light guide plate 3 are provided. The entire area of the keyboard 1 and the liquid crystal display panel 2 is illuminated from the back by only one light guide plate 3 and the LEDs 4. (For example, see Patent Document 1)
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-6-22017 (abstract, FIG. 1)
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Since the conventional push button switch device is configured as described above and the light guide plate 3 is arranged on the back surface of the keyboard 1, there is a problem that miniaturization (thinning) is difficult. Further, since the light guide plate 3 and the printed circuit board 5 are composed of different components, there is a problem that miniaturization (thinning) is also difficult in this regard.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a light guide plate is provided with a cavity penetrating in a thickness direction, and a contact portion of a push button switch is disposed in the cavity, thereby reducing the size (thinness). It is an object of the present invention to obtain a push-button switch device which enables the above.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pushbutton switch device that can be made smaller (thinner) by also using a light guide plate as a printed circuit board.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A push button switch device according to the present invention is a push button switch device that guides light from a light source by a light guide member and shines the push button portion. In the push button switch device, a cavity that penetrates the light guide member in the thickness direction is provided, and a side wall of the cavity is provided. And a contact portion of the push button switch is disposed in the cavity.
Further, in the push button switch device according to the present invention, in a glitter structure of the push button switch device which guides light from a light source by a light guide member and shines the push button portion, a printed circuit forming a switch circuit is formed in the light guide member. In addition, a light emitting portion for emitting the light guided near the contact portion of the push button switch is provided.
[0006]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is an external view of a key side of a foldable mobile phone having a brilliant structure of a push button switch device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing Embodiment 1, and FIG. 3 is an external view showing a light guide member. It is.
FIG. 1 shows a mobile phone to which the present invention is applied. 2. Description of the Related Art In a mobile phone, a dial push button switch and a function push button switch are provided with a backlight structure for illuminating a push button portion in order to facilitate operation at night or the like. FIG. 1 is a view of the inside with the front case removed.
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, a keypad 1 composed of a push button portion 1A and an elastic sheet 1B made of silicon rubber or an elastomer, which are vertically movably assembled in a push button guide hole 6 provided in a front case 5, and a push button portion In a push button switch structure including a printed circuit board 3 mounted with a dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 provided corresponding to 1A, the push button portion 1A is made of a transparent or colored translucent synthetic resin material such as an acrylic resin. The elastic sheet 1B is formed of a transparent or translucent elastic member such as silicone rubber or an elastomer, and is bonded to each other with a transparent adhesive to constitute the keypad 1.
[0007]
On the other hand, the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 mounted on the printed circuit board 3 is disposed immediately below the push button, and a projection 1C corresponding to the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 is formed on the elastic sheet 1B constituting the keypad 1, The operation of the push button portion 1A is transmitted to the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2, and the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 is deformed. In the above-described configuration, a light guide member 7 made of a transparent synthetic resin or the like is arranged in a gap between the keypad 1 and the printed board 3 generated by the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 and the projection 1C, and light emitted from the LED 4 is emitted. It is configured to guide and emit light to the vicinity of the push button, transmit through the elastic sheet 1B and the push button section 1A, and shine the operation surface of the push button section 1A.
As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the light guide member 7 includes a light incident portion 7A, a light guide portion 7B, a light emitting portion 7C, and a cavity 7D. The cavity 7D penetrates in the thickness direction, and the light emitting portion 7C has a cavity. It is provided on the side wall of 7D. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a contact structure of a push button switch, that is, a dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 is arranged inside the cavity 7D, thereby realizing miniaturization (thinning). The light-entering section 7A is arranged so as to effectively receive the light of the LED 4, and the light-guiding section 7B is configured to apply a reflection treatment to the surface and not emit the light that has entered. In addition, the reflection processing is constituted by, for example, a reflection film on which metal deposition is performed. The light emitted from the LED 4 enters the light guide portion 8B from the light incident portion 7A and repeatedly reflects on the diffused light emitting portion 8C provided on the side wall of the cavity 7D, that is, near the push button, and the light is unspecified. The light emitting portion 7C is configured to diffuse and partially emit light from the inside of the light guide member 7. The light emitting portion 7C is capable of arbitrarily selecting the degree of diffused reflection or the area, so that the plurality of push button portions 1A The operation surface can be illuminated uniformly or arbitrarily regardless of the distance.
[0008]
In FIG. 3, the LEDs 4 are arranged at both ends of the light guide member 7. Since this has a complicated shape with a narrow space due to the cavity 7D, light enters from both ends. In a second embodiment described later, since the transparent printed circuit board 8 has a simple shape, light enters from only one end (see FIG. 5).
Also, in FIG. 2, the oblique lines indicating the cross section are difficult to see, so they are shown only on the front case 5 and the printed circuit board 3.
[0009]
In the first embodiment, the light guide 7 </ b> B is thinner than the LED 4 in order to realize the miniaturization (thinning). Therefore, in order to guide the light from the LED 4 to the light guide portion 7B without leakage, the light incident portion 7A has the same thickness as the LED 4. In addition, in order to reduce light leakage, the LED 4 is brought closer to the light incident surface and the light incident surface is finished to a mirror surface. This point is configured in the same manner in Embodiment 2 described later.
Next, the diffusion process will be described. In the first and second embodiments, the process of roughening the surface in a satin pattern is called a diffusion process. As another means, the same effect can be exerted even if a sheet containing air bubbles is adhered or a material containing a metal powder in a clear paint is applied.
[0010]
Next, diffusion of light will be described. Here, a case where the surface of the light guide member is roughened in a satin pattern will be described. Light in the light guide member can be roughly classified into the following two types.
1. 1. Light that is totally reflected at the boundary of the light guide member and is repeatedly reflected in the light guide member. Light that passes through the boundary surface of the light guide member and goes out The cause of such a state is determined by the angle of incidence on the boundary surface. Light entering the interface at an angle close to a right angle penetrates, and light entering the interface shallowly is totally reflected. Considering the light that reaches the light emitting unit 7C based on this basic property, there are lights having various incident angles, but the directivity of the lens of the light source (LED) (the LED emits strong light in a specific direction) (Having directivity), there is a lot of light that is shallowly incident on the boundary surface. For this reason, when the light emitting portion 7C is mirror-finished, much light is reflected and cannot go out of the light guide member. When the light emitting portion 7C is roughened like a satin finish as described above, the boundary surface exists at various angles with respect to the incident light, and a part of the light is emitted from the light guide member. Also, light reflected into the light guide member may re-enter the matte surface, and when the entire light emitting portion is viewed, light in various directions comes out. The emission of light in various directions is referred to as “diffused light” in this specification.
[0011]
Next, the degree of irregular reflection here means the intensity of light emitted from the light emitting section 7C. In order to emit light strongly, it is necessary that the surface of the pear surface has large irregularities and that there are many irregularities per unit area. In addition, irregular reflection means that light is diffused.
In addition, the degree of irregular reflection can be arbitrarily selected by selecting the size of the unevenness of the matte surface and the amount of unevenness per unit area. If the pears are the same, you can select the intensity of light emission according to the size of the area.
That is, the intensity of light can be selected when the area changes and when the unevenness of the matte surface changes and the amount of unevenness per unit area changes.
The light emitting part close to the light source selects an area or pear surface in the direction to reduce the light emission amount because the strong light arrives, and the light emitting part far from the light source increases the light emission amount because the weak light arrives. By selecting the area or the pear surface in the direction, the intensity of light coming out of each light emitting unit can be made constant. In addition, light emitted from a specific light emitting section can be freely selected to be stronger or weaker than other parts. For example, the power button can be made brighter and brighter.
[0012]
As described above, according to the first embodiment, the light emitted from the LED 4 is guided and emitted to the vicinity of the predetermined push button 1A by the light guide member 7 disposed between the keypad 1 and the printed board 3. By doing so, it is possible to effectively shine the operation surface of the push button unit 1A. The light guide member 7 is provided with a cavity 7D, and a contact portion of the push button switch is disposed in the cavity 7D. Therefore, miniaturization of the device and reduction of the brilliant power are achieved.
[0013]
Embodiment 2 FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing Embodiment 2, and FIG. 5 is an external view showing another example of the light guide member.
In the first embodiment, the case where the light guide member 7 is arranged between the keypad 1 and the printed board 3 has been described. However, the printed board 3 is formed of a transparent member, so that the light guide member 7 is formed. Functions can be provided. In other words, the light guide member can also serve as a printed board.
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 4, a keypad 1 composed of a push button portion 1A and an elastic sheet 1B made of silicon rubber or an elastomer, which are vertically movably mounted in a push button guide hole 6 provided in a front case 5, and a push button portion In a push button switch structure including a printed circuit board mounted with a dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 provided corresponding to 1A, the push button portion 1A is formed of a transparent or colored translucent synthetic resin material such as an acrylic resin. The elastic sheet 1B is formed of a transparent or translucent elastic member such as silicone rubber or an elastomer, and is bonded to each other with a transparent adhesive to form the keypad 1.
[0014]
On the other hand, the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 mounted on the printed circuit board is disposed immediately below the push button, and a projection 1C corresponding to the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 is formed on the elastic sheet 1B constituting the keypad 1; The operation of the portion 1A is transmitted to the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2, and the dome-shaped metal spring contact 2 is deformed. In the above configuration, the printed circuit board 8 is made of a transparent synthetic resin or the like, and the light of the LED 4 enters from a part of the end face, is guided to near the push button and emitted, passes through the elastic sheet 1B and the push button section 1A, and is The surface is configured to shine. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the transparent printed circuit board 8 is configured such that the base material is made of a transparent member, and a light incident portion 8A is partially formed on an end face, a light emitting portion 8C is partially formed on a surface, and a switch circuit is formed on other portions. It is composed of a pattern and a reflection film 9 on which a reflection process, for example, a metal deposition is performed. Light emitted from the LED 4 enters the light guide section 8B of the printed circuit board from the light incident section 8A and repeats reflection, hits the diffused light emitting section 8C provided near the push button on the surface, and the light is diffused indefinitely and partially. Is configured to emit light from the base material of the printed circuit board, transmit through the elastic sheet 1B and the push button portion 1A, and shine the surface of the push button portion 1A. By making a selection, the plurality of push button units 1A can uniformly or arbitrarily shine the operation surface regardless of the distance from the LED 4.
In FIG. 4, only the front case 5 is shown because oblique lines indicating the cross section are difficult to see.
[0015]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention provides a pushbutton switch device that guides light from a light source by a light guide member and shines the push button portion, in which a light guide member is provided with a cavity that penetrates in a thickness direction, and a side wall of the cavity is provided on the side wall of the cavity. Since the light emitting portion is provided and the contact portion of the push button switch is disposed in the cavity, a downsized push button switch device can be obtained.
[0016]
Further, as described above, in the brilliant structure of the pushbutton switch device that guides the light from the light source by the light guide member and shines the push button portion, the printed circuit forming the switch circuit is formed in the light guide member. In addition, since the light emitting section is provided on the surface of the printed circuit board near the contact portion of the push button switch, a miniaturized push button switch device can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an external view of a foldable portable telephone provided with a push-button switch device of the present invention on a key side.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a principal part showing the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an external view showing a light guide member.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a principal part showing the second embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an external view showing another example of the light guide member.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Keypad, 1A push button part, 1B elastic sheet, 1C protrusion 2 Dome-shaped metal spring contact, 3 printed circuit board, 4 LED,
5 front case, 6 push button guide hole, 7 light guide member, 7A light input section,
7B light guide section, 7C light emitting section, 7D cavity, 8 transparent printed circuit board,
8A light input section, 8B light guide section, 8C light output section, 9 reflection film.

Claims (3)

In a push button switch device that guides light from a light source by a light guide member and shines a push button portion, a cavity that penetrates the light guide member in the thickness direction is provided, and the light emitting portion is provided on a side wall of the cavity. A push button switch device, wherein a contact portion of the push button switch is arranged in the cavity. In a push button switch device that guides light from a light source by the light guide member and shines the push button portion, a printed circuit forming a switch circuit is formed in the light guide member, and the print near the contact portion of the push button switch is formed. A push button switch device comprising a light emitting portion provided on a substrate surface. The push button switch device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit is subjected to a diffusion processing in which a surface is formed in a satin shape so as to emit light by diffusing light.

Images