JP2005117079A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems wherein the assembly work and the operation of key buttons of an electronic apparatus are made troublesome because key rubber is deflected by its self-weight in a manner of approaching a click dome. <P>SOLUTION: A key rubber 21 adhered to each of the main key buttons 16 of a mobile phone 1 is formed to be a flat plate and is provided with: a pair of support holes 212 penetrating through cylindrical ribs 211 provided at its both ends; and an actuator 213 located on the a rear side of the surface of the key rubber 21 for pressing the click dome 4. The key rubber 21 is supported on a key rubber support part 3 in a form of a drum in a direction apart from the click dome 4, and the tip of the actuator 213 is always in contact with the surface of the click dome 4 around its top part. The key rubber support part 3 consists of a pair of support pins 31 inserted to the support holes 212 and pin support plates 32 for fixing the support pins 31. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly to an electronic device having a key rubber that transmits a pressing force of a key button to a click dome.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a keyboard has a membrane switch that is fixedly attached to a substrate, and is provided with a key button that is operated to face each switch of the membrane switch, and includes a printed wiring board (1) that constitutes the substrate, A plurality of switches (21) each having a click disk (22) are arranged in a single layer, and are integrally configured, and the membrane switch (2) and the click disk (22) are fixed to the printed wiring board (1). At the opposite position, there is a pressing projection (31) on the back side, an operation display (32) is formed on the top surface (32) on the front side, and a hard transparent plate (34) is formed on the top surface (32). The key button (33) formed by bonding is arranged, and the key button (33) is made a business trip from the substrate portion (35) having a predetermined thickness through the thin skirt portion (36). Molded Keyboard switch, wherein the substrate section is Ju置 to the membrane switch (2) and (35) the top of the key to be closely fixed (3), to become consists is known from below of Patent Document 1.

Although the technique of Patent Document 1 is advantageous for downsizing and thinning of the keyboard switch, there is a problem that high technology and expensive equipment are required in order to integrally mold all the parts with a soft rubber material. In this field, there is still a great demand for continuously adopting the flat key rubber that has been conventionally employed. By the way, the above-mentioned key rubber is conventionally fixed by inserting a pair of positioning pins fixed to a housing of an electronic device or the like into a pair of fixing holes provided at both ends thereof. However, the pitch of the pair of fixing holes of the key rubber is designed and manufactured to be equal to the pitch of the pair of positioning pins. In this case, the key rubber approaches the click dome by its own weight when fixed to the positioning pins. As a result, there is a problem that the assembly of the electronic device and the operability of the key buttons are often deteriorated by bending.
JP-A-6-275169 (Claim 1, FIG. 1)

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problem to be solved by the present invention is to develop an electronic device in which the problem of bending of the key rubber approaching the click dome as described above is solved in view of the above problems in the prior art.

  An electronic apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a key button, a click dome, a key rubber that is provided between the key button and the click dome and transmits a pressing force of the key button to the click dome, and the key rubber. An electronic apparatus having a key rubber holding portion that holds both ends of the key rubber, wherein the key rubber has a drum shape in a direction away from the click dome when the key button is not pressed. Is.

  An electronic apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a key button, a click dome, a key rubber that is provided between the key button and the click dome and transmits a pressing force of the key button to the click dome, and the key rubber. The key rubber is held by the key rubber holding portion so that a tensile stress is generated between the both end portions when the key button is not pressed. It is characterized by that.

  In the electronic device according to claim 1 of the present invention, the key rubber has a drum shape in a direction away from the click dome when the key button is not pressed, in other words, in a direction opposite to the bending direction in the prior art. Since it is held by the key rubber holding portion in a deformed state, the problem of bending is solved, and the assembling property of the electronic device and the operability of the key button are improved.

  In the electronic apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention, the key rubber is held by the key rubber holding portion so that a tensile stress is generated between both ends of the key rubber when the key button is not pressed. This solves the problem and improves the ease of assembling electronic devices and the operability of key buttons.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 to 5 illustrate Embodiment 1 of an electronic device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a foldable portable telephone 1 as an example of the electronic device. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the portable telephone 1 in an opened state, FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a key button and key rubber included in FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the key rubber holding portion 3 included in FIG. 3.

  1 to 5, a mobile phone 1 includes an operation main body 12 having an operation unit 11 for performing key operations, an information display main body 14 having an information display unit 13 for displaying information necessary for the key operation and incoming call, In addition, a hinge 15 is provided for connecting the operation body 12 and the information display body 14 so that the key operation unit 11 and the information display unit 13 can be folded together. The operation body 12 has a main key button 16 and a side key button 17, and the information display body 14 has a back key button 18.

  3 to 5, the assembly 2 includes a main key button 16 and a key rubber 21, and the center of the back surface of the main key button 16 is attached to the key rubber 21 with an appropriate adhesive (not shown). It is glued to the surface. The main key button 16 is set by being inserted from below into an opening 121a opened in the casing 121 forming the operation main body 12.

  The key rubber 21 is a flat plate provided with a pair of holding holes 212 drilled through the cylindrical ribs 211 provided at both ends thereof and an actuator 213 provided on the back surface of the front surface to press the click dome 4. As shown in FIG. 3, it is held in a drum shape in a direction away from the click dome 4 as shown in FIG. However, the tip of the actuator 213 may always be in contact with the surface near the top of the click dome 4. The key rubber holding unit 3 includes a pair of holding pins 31 inserted through the holding holes 212 and a pin support plate 32 that fixes the holding pins 31.

  4 and 5, the distance between the centers of the holding holes 212 before the holding pin 31 is inserted into the key rubber 21 of the assembly 2, that is, the pitch of the pair of holding holes 212 is P1, Assuming that the distance between the central axes of the pins 31, that is, the pitch of the pair of holding pins 31 is P 2, the key rubber 21 having a pitch P 1 larger than the pitch P 2 is used. When 31 is inserted and the assembly 2 is held by the key rubber holding portion 3, the key rubber 21 is held in a drum shape based on the relationship of pitch P1> pitch P2, as shown in FIG.

  If the pitch P1 is excessively large with respect to the pitch P2, it is difficult to mount the assembly 2 between the casing 121 and the key rubber holding portion 3, and conversely, the pitch P1 is equal to the pitch P2 or very slight. If it is large, it cannot be sufficiently drum-shaped, but if the thickness of the key rubber 21 and its elasticity based on the material forming the key rubber 21 are determined, the appropriate size of the pitch P1 relative to the pitch P2 is determined by trial and error. Can be determined easily.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described. When the main key button 16 is pressed in the state of FIG. 3, the key rubber 21 is bent toward the click dome 4 by the pressing force, and the click dome 4 is bent downward by the pressing force of the actuator 213. And the fixed contact portion 5 installed under the click dome 4 come into contact with each other and the switch is turned on. Thereafter, when the main key button 16 is released, the shapes of the key rubber 21 and the click dome 4 are restored to the state shown in FIG. For this reason, the problem of the bending in the prior art is solved, and the assembling property of the electronic device and the operability of the key button 16 are improved.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 6 explains Embodiment 2 in the electronic device of the present invention, and corresponds to FIG. 3 of the foldable portable telephone 1 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) as an example of the electronic device. FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2.

  In FIG. 6, the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the assembly 2 is held by the key rubber holding portion 3, and the key rubber 21 has the arrow B− even when the main key button 16 is not pressed. The other configurations are the same except that the key rubber 21 is held by the key rubber holding portion 3 so that a tensile stress is generated between both ends of the key rubber 21 so as to be pulled in the direction B. Since the key rubber 21 is tensioned as described above, the problem of the bending in the prior art is solved, and the assembling property of the electronic device and the operability of the key button 16 are improved.

  6, the distance between the centers of the holding holes 212 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) before the holding pins 31 are inserted into the key rubber 21 of the assembly 2, that is, the pitch of the pair of holding holes 212. Is P1, and the distance between the central axes of the holding pins 31, that is, the pitch of the pair of holding pins 31 is P2, the key rubber 21 having a pitch P1 smaller than the pitch P2 is used, and its holding hole When the holding pin 31 is inserted through 212 and the assembly 2 is held by the key rubber holding portion 3, the key rubber 21 is held in a moderately tensioned state as shown in FIG. 6 based on the relationship of pitch P1 <pitch P2. .

  If the pitch P1 is too small with respect to the pitch P2, it will be difficult to hold the assembly 2 on the key rubber holding portion 3. Conversely, if the pitch P1 is equal to or slightly smaller than the pitch P2, sufficient Although it cannot be in a tensioned state, when the thickness of the key rubber 21 and its elasticity based on the material forming the key rubber 21 are determined as in the case of the first embodiment, the key rubber 21 is appropriately tensioned. In addition, an appropriate size of the pitch P1 with respect to the pitch P2 can be easily determined by trial and error.

  Note that the key rubber 21 is used so that the holding pin 31 is inserted into the holding hole 212 by using the key rubber 21 having a diameter a smaller than the outer diameter b of the holding pin 31 before the holding pin 31 is inserted. Then, there is an advantage that the key rubber 21 is stably held by the key rubber holding portion 3 during the assembly work of the portable telephone. At this time, if the pitch P2 before insertion is made larger than the pitch P1, for example, by the difference α between the outer diameter b and the hole diameter a, the key rubber 21 can be in a moderately tensioned state, and the bending in the prior art can be achieved. The problem is solved.

  The sizes of the hole diameter a, the outer diameter b, and the difference α depend on the pitch P1 of the key rubber 21 and the like. For example, when the pitch P1 is about 30 mm, the difference α is preferably about 0.05 mm to 1 mm. Is about 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described. When the main key button 16 is pressed in the state of FIG. 6, the key rubber 21 is bent toward the click dome 4 by the pressing force, and the click dome 4 is bent downward by the pressing force of the actuator 213, so that the movable contact of the click dome 4 is And the fixed contact portion 5 installed under the click dome 4 come into contact with each other and the switch is turned on. Thereafter, when the main key button 16 is released, the shapes of the key rubber 21 and the click dome 4 are restored to the state shown in FIG.

  The present invention is not limited to the first embodiment and the second embodiment, but includes various embodiments in accordance with the problems of the present invention and the spirit of the solution. For example, in the first and second embodiments, the key button is the main key button 16, but the present invention can be applied to the case of the side key button 17 and the rear key button 18.

  The electronic device according to the present invention has a high possibility of being used for various electronic devices including a key button and a key rubber, such as a portable telephone and a personal computer, because the bending of the key rubber is eliminated.

1 is a perspective view of a mobile phone 1 of Embodiment 1 as an example of an electronic device. It is a perspective view of the state which opened the portable telephone 1 of FIG. It is a fragmentary sectional view along the AA line of FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the assembly 2 included in FIG. 3. It is a perspective view of the key rubber holding | maintenance part 3 contained in FIG. FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 mobile phone, 11 operation unit, 12 operation body, 13 information display unit,
14 Information display body, 15 hinges, 16 main key buttons,
17 side key button, 18 back key button, 2 assembly, 21 key rubber, 211 rib, 212 holding hole, 213 actuator, 3 key rubber holding part,
31 holding pin, 32 pin support plate, 4 click dome, 5 fixed contact part.

Claims (6)

  A key button, a click dome, a key rubber provided between the key button and the click dome to transmit the pressing force of the key button to the click dome, and a key rubber holding portion for holding both ends of the key rubber. An electronic device, wherein the key rubber has a drum shape in a direction away from the click dome when the key button is not pressed.   The key rubber has a pair of holding holes perforated at both ends thereof, and the key rubber holding part is inserted into the holding hole and from the pitch of the pair of holding holes before the insertion. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a pair of holding pins having a small pitch.   A key button, a click dome, a key rubber provided between the key button and the click dome to transmit the pressing force of the key button to the click dome, and a key rubber holding portion for holding both ends of the key rubber. An electronic device, wherein the key rubber is held by the key rubber holding portion so that a tensile stress is generated between the both ends when the key button is not pressed.   The key rubber has a pair of holding holes perforated at both ends thereof, and the key rubber holding part is inserted into the holding hole and from the pitch of the pair of holding holes before the insertion. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3, comprising a pair of holding pins having a large pitch.   The hole diameters of the pair of holding holes before the insertion are smaller than the outer diameters of the pair of holding pins, and the pitch of the pair of holding pins is the difference between the outer diameter and the hole diameter. 5. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the pair of holding pins is press-fitted into the pair of holding holes larger than a pitch of the holding holes.   The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic apparatus is a portable telephone.

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