JP2005115725A - Input device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an input device allowing input of signals of the direction of operation on an input button, amount of operation, and speed of operation to an electronic device such as a cellular phone with a feeling of clicking. <P>SOLUTION: The input device comprises a circuit board 13 on which a plurality of on/off switch elements 10 are disposed; a keypad 12 made from a flexible elastomer with a switch pressing protrusion 15 formed in a position corresponding to each switch element on a surface opposite to the circuit board; a key top 11 made from hard material and secured to a side opposite to the pressing protrusion formation face of the key pad, the key top being operated by an operator to input data; and a signal processing means 20 for processing on/off signals coming from the switch elements. A set of each switch element and the pressing protrusion is disposed on a normal passing through the center of the key top as well as on a vertical passing through each of the intersections between a plurality of concentric circles surrounding the center of the key top and a plurality of radii passing through the center. The pressing protrusions differ in length with the different concentric circles. A signal processing circuit includes an operating direction/operating amount detection circuit 21 and an operating speed detection circuit 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an input device for inputting operation direction, operation amount and operation speed signals to a large number of on / off switch element groups to an electronic device.

  In electronic devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and game play devices, a predetermined operation input by a user is received, and a predetermined program proceeds based on the operation input. It has become. Normally, this type of operation input is often performed while looking at the cursor and other indicators displayed on the screen, and there are many directions such as four directions (up / down / left / right) or eight directions including diagonal directions by operating the operation keys. It is common to require a direction input. In order to perform such multi-directional input, a so-called joystick type input device is used.

  This type of input device normally has a built-in two-dimensional force sensor, and separately detects the X-axis direction component and the Y-axis direction component of the applied force, thereby providing the direction of the applied operation input. The operation amount is detected. Furthermore, the operation input applied in the oblique direction is also detected by performing an operation for combining the X-axis direction component and the Y-axis direction component. In the input device using the above two-dimensional force sensor, the operation input by the operator is regarded as a continuous variable (analog input) instead of an on / off binary (digital input), and not only in front and rear, left and right, but also in any direction It is possible to input various values that capture the operation of.

  In addition, in the input device used for the electronic device, the operation input having the above-described directivity is possible, and the response at the time of the input operation, that is, the feeling transmitted to the fingertip (referred to as a click feeling). Is required. Therefore, it is desirable to secure a certain stroke for the operation input and to give a click feeling to the operator's fingertip during operation by using, for example, a dome-shaped metal contact member (so-called metal dome).

  However, the input device using the above two-dimensional force sensor is not suitable for use with a metal dome because of its structure, and therefore is not necessarily suitable for an input device for an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a PDA or a game play device. I can't say that.

  On the other hand, the input devices described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 can give the operator a click feeling during operation, but only one switch element (contact point) is provided for each operation direction. Therefore, only a binary signal having [0, 1] in a specific direction as a domain can be input. That is, there is no difference in the output signal between when the operation is performed quickly and when the operation is performed slowly, and various values cannot be input as in the input device using the two-dimensional force sensor. .

JP 2001-143570 A JP 2003-100182 A

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is that it is possible to input a signal such as an operation direction and an operation amount with a click feeling for input to an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a PDA or a game device, and a simple structure and low cost. An input device is provided.

The above issues
A flexible circuit board in which a plurality of on / off switch elements are arranged, and a pressing projection for pressing each switch element is formed at a position corresponding to each switch element on a surface facing the circuit board surface. A key top made of a hard material that is fixed to the surface of the keypad made of elastomer and the side of the keypad opposite to the surface on which the pressing projection is formed, and the operator inputs data by tilting or pressing the keypad And a signal processing circuit for processing an on / off signal from each switch element,
Each switch element and pressing projection pair is arranged on a perpendicular line passing through the center of the key top, and on a perpendicular line passing through the intersections of a plurality of concentric circles surrounding the center of the key top and a plurality of radii passing through the center, In addition, the length of each pressing projection in the perpendicular direction is different for each concentric circle, and the signal processing circuit further includes an operation direction / operation amount detection circuit for detecting the direction and degree of inclination of the key top, and the key top is inclined. This can be solved by an input device that includes an operation speed detection circuit that detects the speed of the operation to be performed.
This problem solving means corresponds to claim 1.

Among the above switch elements, the one arranged on the center of the key top and at least one of a plurality of concentric circles utilizes the deformation of a thin metal dome-shaped spring when pressed by the pressing protrusion. It is assumed that a metal dome type switch that conducts the fixed contact is used, and that a contact piece type switch that conducts the conductor piece formed at the tip of the pressing projection in contact with the fixed contact on the circuit board is used.
This description corresponds to claim 2.

The signal processing means in the problem solving means includes a memory device for storing a two-dimensional position of each contact as address information, a signal from the operation direction / operation amount detection circuit, and a signal from the operation speed detection circuit. And an arithmetic processing circuit for performing appropriate processing.
This description corresponds to claim 3.

The operation speed detection circuit in the problem solving means detects the operation speed from the time when each contact in the operation direction is turned on and the time when the contact is turned off.
This description corresponds to claim 4.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the contact points are arranged on a perpendicular line passing through the center of the key top and on a perpendicular line passing through the intersections of a plurality of concentric circles surrounding the center of the key top and a plurality of radii passing through the center. Can input a multi-value variable signal whose domain is [0, 1, 2,..., N] (n is the number of contacts in one operation direction) in one operation direction (radial direction). By processing these signals with the operation amount / operation direction detection circuit and the operation speed detection circuit, various directions relating to the direction and degree of inclination of the key top by the operator and the speed of the operation of tilting the key top can be obtained. Information can be entered.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since at least one of the plurality of switches arranged in one operation direction (radial direction) uses a metal dome type switch that gives a click feeling, input operation is performed in all operation directions. Sometimes a comfortable click feeling can be obtained. In addition, a dome-shaped switch that requires a relatively large installation area and a contact-type switch that does not give a feeling of clicking but can be installed in a small area are mixed as appropriate, so many switch elements cannot be accommodated within the limited key-top projection area. It can be implemented without.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the position of each contact is recorded in the memory device as address information, the two-dimensional position of the contact turned on can be obtained immediately by referring to this, In addition, since the operation processing circuit combines the signals from the operation amount / operation direction detection circuit and the operation speed detection circuit and performs appropriate processing, various information on the operation amount, operation direction, and operation speed are most utilized in electronic devices. It is possible to output in an easy state.

  According to the invention of claim 4, since the operation speed is detected based on the time point when each contact in the operation direction is turned on and the time point when it is turned off, the operation speed can be obtained only by adding a simple configuration. Information can be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS An exemplary embodiment of an input device according to the invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, the basic structure and basic operation principle of the input device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the input device 1 is roughly composed of a key switch 10 and a signal processing means 20. Further, the key switch 10 has a key top 11, a keypad 12, a circuit board 13, and contacts 14. The signal processing means 20 is an operation amount / operation direction detection circuit 21, an operation speed detection circuit 22, a memory device 23, and a clock generator. A circuit 24 and an arithmetic processing circuit (hereinafter referred to as “MPU”) 25 are included.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the key switch 10 is, for example, a central switch used as a confirmation switch and a multidirectional key switch capable of performing eight radial inputs. A case of having three switches in each direction is illustrated. The key top 11 having a substantially disc shape is formed of a hard material such as a metal such as aluminum or a plastic such as polycarbonate resin, and is fixed to the flat upper surface 12a of the key pad 12 using, for example, a transparent adhesive.

  The keypad 12 is formed of silicone rubber or various thermoplastic elastomers. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a number of contact pressing protrusions (so-called “so-called”) are formed on the lower surface 12 b of the keypad 12 corresponding to the key top 11. .. Are pushed together and formed integrally. The contact pressing protrusions 15, 15,... Are formed so that the length, that is, the downward protrusion amount differs depending on the position. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the contact pressing protrusions 15, 15,... Surround a perpendicular line passing through the center immediately below the center of the key switch 10 (key top 11) and the center of the key switch 10. Each of the operation directions of the key top 11 is provided respectively on a perpendicular line passing through the intersection just below the intersection of the plurality of concentric circles and a plurality of radii extending radially from the center of the key switch 10 and as shown in FIG. The length of the pusher is different for each concentric circle. As shown in FIG. 3, the contact pressing protrusion 15 located at the center of the key switch 10 is the longest, and the contact pressing as the distance from the center of the key switch 10 increases on a plurality of radii extending radially from the center of the key switch 10. The lengths of the protrusions 15, 15,... Are gradually shortened. It should be noted that the tip of a part of the contact pressing protrusions 15, 15,... (Shown in a circle with cross-hatching in FIG. 4) is formed from a metal piece or a layer formed by printing conductive ink. Conductive pieces 14c, 14c,... Are provided. The keypad 12 having the above configuration is fixed so that the back surface 12b faces the surface of the circuit board 13 in parallel.

  As shown in FIG. 3, fixed contacts 14a, 14a,... Are formed on the circuit board 13 so as to be on the same plane at positions immediately below the contact pressing protrusions 15, 15,. . The contacts 14, 14,... Constitute the center switch of the key switch 10 and a group of switches arranged in eight radial directions, respectively, and the fixed contact 14a on the circuit board 13 and It is configured by a metal dome 14b which is a movable contact disposed or a conductive piece 14c provided at the tip of the contact pressing projection 15 of the keypad 12. Therefore, when each contact 14 is pressed downward by the contact pressing protrusion 15 of the keypad 12 positioned immediately above, the metal dome 14b is deformed or the conductive piece 14c and the fixed contact 14a come into contact with each other. As a result, the fixed contact 14a conducts, current flows, and the contact 14 is turned on. The on / off output signals from the contacts 14, 14,... Are individually input to the signal processing means 20, as shown in FIG.

  By the way, the metal dome 14b used as one of the movable contacts is accompanied by a click feeling at the time of operation. However, the metal dome 14b has a large diameter of 2 to 5 mm and cannot be arranged at a very narrow interval. On the other hand, in the combination of the conductive piece 14c and the fixed contact 14a, which are contact piece switches, the conductive pieces 14c can be made relatively small, so that they can be arranged at narrower intervals. There is a drawback of not having a click feeling. Therefore, it is desirable to use these in an appropriate mixture. For example, the metal dome 14b may be used as at least one movable contact among the contacts 14, 14,... Arranged radially in one radial direction, and the other may be a piece-type switch.

  The operation amount / operation direction detection circuit 21 detects the amount of operation by the operator (that is, the degree of tilt of the key top) based on the number of contacts 14 that are turned on in a specific direction. A radial direction as an operation target is detected from the position of each contact 14 that is continuously turned on (refer to information in a memory device 23 described later), and the detection result is output as an operation amount / operation direction detection signal.

  The operation speed detection circuit 22 measures the time difference at the time of signal change (potential change) from the contacts 14 and 14 that are continuously turned on or off when the key switch 10 is operated. The speed of operation is detected, and the detection result is output as an operation speed detection signal.

  The memory device 23 stores address information relating to a predetermined two-dimensional position (X-axis direction component and Y-axis direction component) of each contact point 14, and this address information is manipulated and manipulated direction detection circuit as necessary. 21 and the operation speed detection circuit 22 are referred to. In the input device 1, of the contacts 14, 14,..., Only the contact 14 located at the center of the key switch 10 is located at the origin serving as a reference for assigning a two-dimensional position to each contact 14. Therefore, the X-axis direction component and the Y-axis direction component are each 0.

  The clock generation circuit 24 applies a reference clock (P in FIG. 11) as a temporal reference for various detection processes to the operation amount / operation direction detection circuit 21 and the operation speed detection circuit 22. The MPU 25 appropriately processes the operation amount / operation direction detection signal and the operation speed detection signal output from the operation amount / operation direction detection circuit 11 and the operation speed detection circuit 22, and uses these information on the electronic device side. Processing such as conversion to a format that is easy to perform is performed.

  Next, the operation of each part of the input device 1 and the signal input to the signal processing means 20 by the operation of the key switch 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 5 to FIG. 9, the contact point 14 that is turned on is shown in black. For example, a state where the two contacts 14 and 14 are turned on in a specific direction by the operation of the key switch 10 by the operator is assumed as an initial state (see FIG. 5). Then, it is assumed that the three contacts 14, 14, and 14 are sequentially turned on by operating the key switch 10 in a different direction from this initial state (see FIG. 9). In this case, taking the relative elapsed time t on the horizontal axis, the level of the potential of the signal output from the corresponding contact 14, 14,... Is shown in FIG.

  That is, at time T0, which is an initial state in which the two contacts 14 and 14 are pressed and turned on by the operation of the key switch 10 in the specific A radial direction, the signal Sw1 from the two contacts 14 and 14 is set. The potentials of -1 and Sw1-2 are both high. When the key switch 10 is operated in another B radial direction from this state, the contact 14 closer to the outer periphery of the key top 11 is turned off at T1, and the potential of the signal Sw1-2 becomes low ( (See FIG. 6). Similarly, at T2, the contact 14 on the innermost periphery of the key switch 10 in the A radius direction is turned off, and the potential of the corresponding signal Sw1-1 becomes low (see FIG. 7). Further, when the key switch 10 is operated in another B radial direction, the contact 14 on the innermost periphery of the key switch 10 in the B radial direction is turned on in T3 (see FIG. 7 again), and further, T4 In FIG. 8, the contact 14 on the intermediate circumference of the key switch 10 is turned on (see FIG. 8), and the contact 14 on the outermost circumference of the key switch 10 is turned on (see FIG. 9). , Sw3-2 and Sw3-3 are sequentially high. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the key switch 10 in the state of FIG. 9 as viewed from the side. Tn indicates relative time with reference to T0.

  At this time, the operation speed of the key switch 10 by the operator can be detected by calculation of each time difference, that is, T2-T1 = t1, T3-T2 = t2, T4-T3 = t3, T5-T4 = t4. . When the time differences in this case are compared, as shown in FIG. 11, t1 = t2, t2 <t3, t3> t4, and t4 = t1. From these relationships, information regarding the operation speed of the key switch 10 in the above case can be obtained.

  At the same time, in the above example, the number of the contacts 14 that are turned on in the radial direction that was first operated is two, and the contacts 14 that are turned on in another radial direction further operated from that direction. Since the number is 3, the magnitude of the operation amount of the key switch 10 in each direction is detected. Note that the operation direction can be specified by reading the address of each contact from the memory device 23 as described above. Even when the direction changes during the operation, the change can be followed by reading the address information corresponding to the contact point 14 turned on or off from the memory device 23 in the same manner.

  Since the present invention relates to an input device for an electronic device, it can be used in various industrial fields such as a manufacturing industry for electronic devices, communication industry, entertainment industry, etc., and can contribute to the development of each industry.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the basic structure of the input device of this invention. It is a top view which shows the positional relationship of the keypad in the input device of this invention, the keytop mounted in the upper surface, and the several switch press protrusion formed in the lower surface. It is a sectional side view of the input device of this invention. It is the figure which looked at the back surface of the keypad in the input device of this invention, Comprising: The tip of the press protrusion for pressing a metal dome was a white circle, and the conductive piece was provided in the front end of the press protrusion in order to comprise a contact piece type switch Things are shown as circles with cross-hatching. It is explanatory drawing of key switch operation shown in the best embodiment of this invention, Comprising: The state which two switches on the circle of the innermost circumference and intermediate circumference of a certain radial direction are turned on is shown. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state following FIG. 5 in terms of time, and shows a state in which only one switch on the innermost circle in the same radial direction as in FIG. 5 is turned on. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state following FIG. 6 in terms of time, in which one switch that was turned on in FIG. 6 is turned off, and one piece on the innermost circle in the radial direction different from the case of FIG. The state where the switch is turned on is shown. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state following FIG. 7 in terms of time, and shows a state where two switches on the innermost circle and the middle circle in the same radial direction as in FIG. 6 are turned on. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a state following FIG. 8 in terms of time, in which three switches on the innermost, intermediate and outermost circles in the same radial direction as in FIG. 6 are turned on. Show. It is a sectional side view of the input device of the present invention in the state of FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an on-off waveform and a clock waveform of each switch corresponding to the states of FIGS. 5 to 9 in comparison with a time axis.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input device 10 ... Key switch 11 ... Key top 12 ... Keypad 12a ... Keypad upper surface 12b ... Keypad lower surface 13 ... Circuit board 14 ... Contact 14a ... Fixed contact 14b ... Movable contact (metal dome)
14c ... movable contact (conductive piece)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Contact pressing protrusion 20 ... Signal processing means 21 ... Operation amount / operation direction detection circuit 22 ... Operation speed detection circuit 23 ... Memory device 24 ... Clock generation circuit 25 ... Arithmetic processing circuit

Claims (4)

An input device capable of inputting key operation direction, operation amount, and operation speed data performed by an operator to an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a PDA, or a game device,
A circuit board on which a plurality of on / off switch elements are arranged;
A flexible elastomer keypad formed with pressing protrusions for pressing each switch element at a position corresponding to each switch element on the surface facing the circuit board surface;
A key top made of a hard material, which is fixed to a surface of the keypad opposite to the surface on which the pressing protrusion is formed, and an operator inputs data by tilting or pressing the keypad;
A signal processing circuit for processing an on / off signal from each switch element,
Each of the switch elements and the pressing protrusions is arranged on a perpendicular line passing through the center of the key top, and on a perpendicular line passing through intersections of a plurality of concentric circles surrounding the center of the key top and a plurality of radii passing through the center. And, the length in the perpendicular direction of each pressing projection is different for each concentric circle,
The signal processing circuit includes an operation direction / operation amount detection circuit for detecting a direction and a degree of inclination of the key top, and an operation speed detection circuit for detecting the speed of the operation of tilting. apparatus.   Among the switch elements, those arranged on the center of the key top and at least one of the concentric circles are fixed contacts utilizing deformation of a thin metal dome-shaped spring when pressed by a pressing protrusion. 2. A metal dome type switch that conducts electrical current, and the other is a contact type switch that conducts electrical contact by a conductor piece formed at the tip of a pressing projection contacting a fixed contact on a circuit board. The input device described in 1.   The signal processing means stores a two-dimensional position of each contact as address information, and an arithmetic processing circuit that performs appropriate processing by combining signals from the operation direction / operation amount detection circuit and operation speed detection circuit The input device according to claim 1, further comprising: The input device according to claim 1, wherein the operation speed detection circuit detects an operation speed from a time point when each contact in the operation direction is turned on and a time point when the contact point is turned off.

Images