JP3194387B2 - Touch response sensor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch response sensor for detecting the degree of depression of an operator such as an electronic musical instrument in a plurality of stages.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electronic musical instrument, a sensor has been proposed which detects not only a simple on / off operation but also a movement of a finger or the like in a plurality of stages in order to detect a subtle movement during a performance.
FIG. 12 shows a conventional touch response sensor of this type. The main body 2 of the touch response sensor is substantially in the shape of a bowl. It has. The sensor body is fixedly mounted on a circuit board 12, and a peripheral switch 3 and a central switch 4 are formed between the sensor body and the circuit board.

When used for performance, the top is pushed down by the stroke of a performance operator (actuator). As the top is gradually depressed, the peripheral portion 8 is first deformed, and the peripheral switch 3 is turned on.
When further depressed, the bowl 9 is deformed and the central switch 4 is turned on. Thus, this touch response sensor can detect the stroke of the performance operator in two stages. Further depression can be dealt with by deformation of the bowl 9 and the center 10.

[0004]

However, in such a touch response sensor, when the peripheral switch 3 is turned on and continues to be pressed down, the bowl 9 is deformed. The generated elastic force (force for pushing down the contact 3) is generated by the restoring elastic force (contact 3
If the force is not greater than the lifting force, the contact 3 on the sensor body 2 side will float up, and the peripheral edge switch 3 may be turned off.

In order to solve this problem and obtain a stable contact pressure, it is necessary to increase the elastic force generated by the bowl with the stroke.

Also, in order to obtain a stable contact pressure with respect to the center switch 4, it is necessary to increase the elastic force of the center 10 with the stroke. FIG. 13 shows the relationship between the stroke of the sensor body thus designed and the reaction force (pressing force). As described above, in the conventional touch response sensor, the reaction force increases with the stroke, so that the playing feeling is such that the finger is pushed back, which is not preferable. Since it is necessary to provide the sensor, there is a disadvantage that the design of the sensor body is not flexible.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a touch response sensor for an electronic musical instrument which solves the above-mentioned problems by providing a plurality of elastic bodies.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a sensor provided in operator having a predetermined operation <br/> stroke, said deformed by the operation of the steering Sakuko, it exceeds a predetermined amount of deformation After that, the reaction force does not increase and the operation of the operator
A plurality of swelling portion elastic bodies including those that deform in the middle of the reaction and the reaction force increases according to the amount of deformation, and a plurality of switches that close at different amounts of deformation of the swelling portion elastic body, Wherein the plurality of bulging portion elastic bodies are formed in a double-package configuration.

[0009]

Touch response sensor of the electronic musical instrument of the action] The present invention, a plurality of bulging portion elastic body deforms by operating the operating element, such as performance operators, different variations of the bulged elastic member
A plurality of switches that close in shape quantity are provided. As the performance operation element is operated, the bulging portion elastic body is deformed, and the plurality of switches are closed at different timings. Deformation of the bulged elastic body, after exceeding the predetermined deformation amount as the reaction force does not increase, during the operation of the operator
A reaction force according to the deformation amount and deformation from can be arbitrarily set, including as to increase. Further, the plurality of switches can be arbitrarily associated with the deformation states of the plurality of bulging portion elastic bodies, respectively.

For example, a switch may be caused only by deformation of one bulge elastic body and another switch may be caused by deformation of a plurality of bulge elastic bodies. In addition, the swelling portion elastic body and the switch can be arbitrarily associated with each other. Thereby, the touch feeling of the performance operator can be arbitrarily set, and the on timing of the switch can be arbitrarily set.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a touch response sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This touch response sensor has an outer elastic body 1 and an inner elastic body 2. The outer elastic body 1 has a simple bowl shape, and has a top portion 5 and a hemispherical bowl portion 11 which come into contact with an actuator (not shown). The inner elastic body 2 has the same configuration as the conventional touch response sensor main body shown in FIG. 11 (the same reference numerals are given and the description is omitted).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the stroke and the reaction force (pressing force) when the touch response sensor is pushed down from above. When the touch response sensor is pushed down from above, the outer elastic body 1 is first deformed and comes into contact with the top 7 of the inner elastic body 2 (stroke to A). When deformed to this state, the outer elastic body 1 is in a buckled state. Here, buckling does not mean that the elastic limit of the material of the outer elastic body 1 has been exceeded,
This means that the proportional relationship between the stroke and the reaction force is lost due to the characteristic of the shape of the bowl portion 11, and the reaction force does not increase even if the stroke is increased. Therefore, when the external force disappears, the outer elastic body 1 returns to its original shape. When pressed down after the contact, the peripheral edge 8 of the inner elastic body 2 is deformed together with the outer elastic body 1 and the peripheral switch 3 is turned on. When further depressed, the bowl 9 of the inner elastic body 2 is deformed and the central switch 4 is turned on. The relationship between the stroke and the reaction force of the inner elastic body 2 is as shown in the lower side of FIG. 2 (FIG. 12). When these reaction forces are combined, the result becomes as shown by the broken line in the figure, and a key switch-like reaction force can be realized. Even if there is a further depression, the center 10
, The stroke can be further maintained.

FIG. 3A shows an embodiment in which a push button 13 is provided as an operator on the touch response sensor shown in FIG. The upward movement of the push button 13 is restricted by the panel 14, and the touch response sensor (outer elastic body 1) placed below the push button 13 is stopped in a state where the touch response sensor is pushed down by A. When the push button 13 is depressed from this state, a reaction force is generated from the beginning of the stroke as shown in FIG.
A better touch feeling can be achieved.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a touch response sensor according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, membrane switches 31 and 41 are formed in the touch response sensor of FIG. 1 in place of the peripheral switch 3 and the central switch 4. The protrusions 30 and 40 of the inner elastic body 2 are respectively connected to the membrane switches 31 and 4
1 is used as an actuator for turning on.
The protruding portion 30 is a circumferential protruding portion, but the membrane switch 31 may be provided on the entire circumference corresponding to the protruding portion 30 or may be provided only on a part thereof. By doing so, the reliability of the contact can be improved.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the touch response sensor according to the present invention. In this touch response sensor, a central projection 23 is provided on the outer elastic body 21,
The top portion 24 of the inner elastic body 22 is opened. Therefore, the peripheral edge switch 25 is formed on the inner elastic body 22 and the circuit board 12 as in the embodiment of FIG. 1, but the central switch 26 is formed on the protrusion 23 of the outer elastic body 21 and the circuit board 12. You.

With such a configuration, the depression stroke of the actuator is directly transmitted to the projection 23, so that the closing timing (stroke) of the center switch can be made uniform. Further, there is an advantage that the air circulation hole (not shown) in the elastic body when the switch is operated only needs to be on the outer elastic body side.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a touch response sensor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, two large and small inner elastic bodies (52, 53) are provided,
Numeral 1 has an elliptical shape so that the inner elastic bodies 52 and 53 can be housed side by side. Each of the inner elastic bodies 52 and 53 has a simple bowl shape, and the inner elastic body 52 is formed slightly larger. Only the inner bowl 53
It may be provided higher. In addition, these inner elastic members 5
Only the central switches 54 and 55 are formed on the switches 2 and 53. When the outer elastic body 51 is pushed down from above, the outer elastic body 51 is sequentially brought into contact with the inner elastic bodies 52 and 53 to be deformed. As a result, the inner contacts 54 and 55 are sequentially turned on.
With such a configuration, it is possible to simplify the production of each elastic body and increase the degree of freedom in setting the pressing force (reaction force).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which a plurality of the touch response sensors of FIG. 1 are connected in series.

This is used, for example, for detecting the on / off state of the keyboard of an electronic musical instrument or for a touch response switch with a tangential time difference. A plurality of outer elastic bodies 1 are formed on the upper sheet 60, and a plurality of inner elastic bodies 2 are formed on the lower sheet 61. Each sheet 60, 61
Are fixed to the circuit board 62 by elastic projections 60a and 61a. In the case of a simple on / off switch, only the central portion 10 is used as a switch, and in the case of a touch response switch, the peripheral portion may be used as a switch.
This configuration is not limited to the keyboard of an electronic keyboard instrument, but can be applied to a connecting push button device.

FIG. 8 shows a fifth embodiment of the touch response sensor according to the present invention. In this touch response sensor, the bowl portion 75 of the outer elastic body 70 including the top portion 74 and the bowl portion 75 is constituted by a cylinder 75b and a shoulder portion 75a. The shoulder 75a is formed thinner than the other part (the cylinder 75b). By forming in such a shape, a buckling effect can be obtained more strongly than in the case of forming in a hemispherical shape. Furthermore, various characteristics can be imparted by devising the balance of the shoulders. For example, characteristics suitable for keys of an electronic keyboard instrument as shown in FIG. 9 can be realized.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10, a touch response switch 79 shown in FIG. 8 is provided below the key 80, and an actuator 82 projecting below the key 80 is provided.
To push it down. The touch response switch 79 is fixed on the circuit board 85. The key 80 swings up and down around a fulcrum 81. This swing is hook 8
3, the push rod 84 is provided with stoppers 86 and 87, respectively.
It is possible in the range until it comes into contact with. When the push rod 84 swings to a position (84 ') where the push rod 84 contacts the stopper 87, the actuator 82 moves to the position of 82' and pushes down the touch response switch 79.
By setting the reaction force characteristics of the touch response switch 79 at this time as shown in FIG. 9, the feeling of pressing the key 80 can be improved.

As described above, by providing a plurality of elastic bodies in a multiplex configuration and giving characteristics to the respective reaction force characteristics, the degree of freedom in the characteristics can be improved.

Such a touch response sensor can be used for a finger playing operator (see FIG. 11) as shown in JP-A-1-167894 and JP-A-2-17398.
Further, it can be used as a pad switch for a percussion or the like, a press sensor of an electronic keyboard instrument, or the like.

As described above, in the touch response sensor according to the present invention, the reaction force does not increase after exceeding the predetermined deformation amount, and the reaction force changes in the middle of the operation of the operation element, and the reaction force increases according to the deformation amount. By providing a plurality of swelling portion elastic bodies including an increasing one and closing a plurality of switches, it is possible to freely set the touch feeling of the performance operator and improve the playing feeling. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a touch response sensor according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a pressing characteristic of the touch response sensor,

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which push buttons are provided as performance operators on the touch response sensor,

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a touch response sensor according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a touch response sensor according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a touch response sensor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which a button is provided to indicate a state in which a plurality of the first embodiments are connected in series;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a touch response sensor according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a pressing characteristic of the fifth touch response sensor;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing keys of an electronic keyboard instrument in which the fifth touch response sensor is used,

FIG. 11 is a view showing a finger playing operator using the first to fifth touch response sensors;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a conventional touch response sensor,

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a pressing characteristic of the conventional touch response sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-outer elastic body, 2-inner elastic body, 3-peripheral switch, 4-center switch, 8-peripheral part, 9-bowl part, 10
-The center.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI H01H 13/70 H01H 13/70 F

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sensor provided in operator having a predetermined operating stroke, the deformed by the operation of the steering Sakuko, after exceeding the predetermined deformation amount as the reaction force does not increase, the operation Way of child operation
A plurality of swelling portion elastic bodies including one that deforms from the inside and a reaction force increases according to the amount of deformation; and a plurality of switches that close at different amounts of deformation of the swelling portion elastic body. A touch response sensor, wherein the plurality of bulging portion elastic bodies are formed in a double-package configuration.