JP3219354B2 - Multi-directional input device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-directional input device for switching various contacts by tilting an operating body in an arbitrary direction, and more particularly to a multi-directional input device having a switching function by pressing a central portion of the operating body. The present invention relates to a multi-directional input device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a multidirectional input device of this type, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-150778, a driving body is held in a housing in a vertically movable and tiltable state. A tact switch for detecting vertical movement and a tact switch for tilt detection, which are operated by a driving body, is disposed inside a housing, and the tact switches are soldered on an insulating substrate. The vertical movement detection switch element is arranged at a position facing the center of the lower surface of the driving body, while the tact switches for tilt detection are provided at four positions on the peripheral edge of the lower surface of the driving body at intervals of 90 degrees in the circumferential direction. Are located.

[0003] The multi-directional input device thus configured is
When the operating body connected to the driving body is tilted in an arbitrary direction, the tact switch for tilt detection located in the tilting direction is selectively pressed and turned on, and when the central portion of the operating body is pressed, A tact switch for detecting a vertical movement located immediately below the driving body is pressed and turned on, so that a switching operation can be performed not only by a tilting operation but also by a pressing operation.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional multidirectional input device, the driving body is held in the housing by a plurality of elastic pieces provided on the driving body. In order to increase the size of the multidirectional input device due to the piece, there has been proposed a device in which a driving body is held in a housing by using the resilience of each tilt detection tact switch. However, in this case, when the center part of the operating body is pressed to turn on the tact switch for vertical movement detection, each tilt detection tact switch is also pressed by the descent of the driving body. The click feeling generated from the tact switch is remarkably weakened, and there is a problem that the operation feeling is poor for the operator who presses the operation body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a multidirectional input device having a clear click feeling and a good operation feeling.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a vertical movement detecting switch element and a plurality of tilt detecting switch elements, an insulating substrate on which these switch elements are mounted, and A driving body held up and down and tiltable by a tilt detection switch element,
By pressing the central portion of the driving body, the vertical movement detection switch element is operated with a click feeling, and by tilting the driving body in an arbitrary direction,
In the multidirectional input device in which the tilt detection switch element is selectively operated, an elastic substrate is placed on the insulating substrate.
And projecting obliquely upward on this elastic substrate via a thin portion.
A plurality of protrusions are provided, and a front portion is provided in the middle of each of the thin portions.
Opposing the upper surface of the insulating substrate with a predetermined clearance
An intermediate portion is provided, and the tilt detection
The movable contact of the switch element is provided, and
A fixed contact opposed to each of these movable contacts is provided.

[0007]

When the driver is tilted in an arbitrary direction, the top surface of the protrusion located in the tilting direction is pressed by the driver, so that the protrusion first deforms a thin portion outside the intermediate portion and causes the intermediate portion to deform. After abutting on the insulating substrate, the thin portion inside the intermediate portion is buckled and deformed, so that the movable contact provided on the inner bottom surface of the protruding portion contacts the fixed contact provided on the insulating substrate, and The tilt detection switch is turned on. At this time, the other tilt detection switches and the vertical movement detection switch elements do not receive the pressing force from the driving body, so that both of them maintain the off state.

On the other hand, when the central portion of the driving body is pressed,
Since the driving body descends against the resilience of each projection, the vertical movement detection switch is pressed by the driving body to be turned on. At this time, each protruding portion also receives the pressing force from the driving body and is deformed until the intermediate portion comes into contact with the insulating substrate, but only the thin portion outside the intermediate portion is deformed, and a relatively large pressing force is applied. Since the thin portion inside the intermediate portion that requires the buckling does not buckle, the click feeling generated from the vertical movement detection switch is hardly reduced by the deformation of the protruding portion.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a sectional view of a multi-directional input device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the multi-directional input device, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a main part of the multi-directional input device, and FIG. Is a rear view of an elastic substrate provided in the multidirectional input device, FIG. 5 is a plan view of an insulating substrate provided in the multidirectional input device, and FIG. 6 is an operation of a first protrusion provided in the multidirectional input device. FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory views of the operation of the second projection provided in the multidirectional input device.

The multidirectional input device according to this embodiment mainly includes a housing 1 forming an outer shell, and the housing 1.
A driving body 2 disposed therein, an operating body 3 integrated with the driving body 2 and disposed outside the housing 1, an insulating substrate 4 fixed to a lower end of the housing 1, and an insulating substrate The elastic substrate 5 is mounted on the elastic substrate 4, and a slip ring 6 is provided between the elastic substrate 5 and the driving body 2.

The housing 1 is made of a synthetic resin material.
A through hole 7 is formed in the center of the top surface of the housing 1, and a guide portion 7 a is formed inside the through hole 7. Four openings 8 are formed around the through hole 7, and two pins 9, 10 (FIG. 3) are formed on the top surface of the housing 1.
(See Reference).

The driving body 2 is made of a synthetic resin material. A shaft portion 12 having a square hole 11 is provided at the center of the driving body 2, and a plurality of blade pieces 13 are integrally formed around the shaft portion 12. Have been. The upper part of each wing piece 13 is a curved surface 13a, and these curved surfaces 13a form a part of a spherical surface centered on the fulcrum O shown in FIG. A hemispherical pressing portion 14 is formed on the lower surface of the shaft portion 12, and four radially extending arms 15 are formed integrally below the shaft portion 12, respectively. The arms 15 are kept at 90-degree intervals in the circumferential direction, and two of the arms 15 that are opposed by 180 degrees are formed with a pressing portion 16. A torsion spring 17 is wound around the lower part of each wing piece 13.
Are locked by spring receiving portions 18 provided on the driving body 2 and are located between the pins 9 and 10 of the housing 1. Further, a part of the shaft portion 12 reaches the outside through the through hole 7 of the housing 1, and a shaft 19 vertically provided at the center of the operating body 3 is press-fitted into the square hole 11 of the driving body 2. Thus, the driving body 2 and the operating body 3 are integrated.

The insulating substrate 4 is made of an insulating material such as a phenol resin, and a horizontal type tact switch 20 is soldered to a central portion thereof. The tact switch 20 is a known tact switch in which a contact is switched with a click feeling by pressing a stem protruding from an upper end. As shown in FIG. 5, on the insulating substrate 4, 90
Four sets of fixed contacts 21 arranged at an interval of two degrees and two sets of fixed contacts 22 arranged between three consecutive sets of fixed contacts 21 are formed. Also, the insulating substrate 4
The housing 1 is provided with a plurality of mounting holes 23, and a projecting pin (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the housing 1 is attached to each of the mounting holes 2.
The housing 1 and the insulating substrate 4 are integrated by press-fitting the protrusions 3 and applying heat to the protruding pins as necessary.

The elastic substrate 5 is made of an elastic material such as silicon rubber, and has a window hole 24 at the center thereof, and is held and fixed between the lower portion of the housing 1 and the insulating substrate 4. On the upper surface of the elastic substrate 5, four second protrusions 25 arranged at intervals of 90 degrees in the circumferential direction around the window hole 24 and three continuous second protrusions 25 are provided. And the two first protrusions 26 arranged in the first portion are formed. As shown in FIG. 6, the first protrusion 26 is
Projecting upward through a thin portion 26a extending obliquely upward from the upper surface of the driving member 2,
Facing the side surface. A movable contact 27 facing the fixed contact 22 on the insulating substrate 4 is provided on the bottom surface of the first protruding portion 26. The fixed contact 22 and the movable contact 27 serve as a contact portion of the rotation detecting switch element. Is composed. The movable contact 27 is deviated from the center of the first protruding portion 26 in a direction away from the pressing portion 16, and inclines away from the insulating substrate 4 as the distance from the pressing portion 16 increases. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
The second protruding portion 25 extends from the upper surface of the elastic substrate 5 to the outer thin portion 2.
5a, and projects upward through an intermediate thin portion 25b extending obliquely upward from the intermediate portion 28. The top surface of the second projecting portion 25 is The lower surface of the arm portion 15 is opposed via a slip ring 6 described later. A movable contact 29 facing the fixed contact 21 on the insulating substrate 4 is provided on the bottom surface of the second protrusion 25.
The movable contact 29 is inclined so as to move away from the insulating substrate 4 toward the outside of the elastic substrate 5, and the fixed contact 21 and the movable contact 29 constitute a contact portion of the tilt detection switch element. are doing. Further, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
An air escape groove 30 connecting the air outlets 6 is formed.

The lubricating ring 6 is made of a lubricating material such as PVC or Teflon, and has two notches 6a formed on the inner peripheral edge of the lubricating ring 6. The lubricating ring 6 is provided between the lower surface of each arm 15 of the driving body 2 and the elastic substrate 5.
Are interposed between the second projection 25 and the top surface thereof.
Both first projections 26 of the elastic substrate 5 extend above the slip ring 6 through the respective notches 6a. Here, the driving body 2 and the elastic substrate 5 are arranged in such a manner that each arm 15 slightly pushes down the corresponding second protruding portion 25 by a small amount. The housing 1 is always urged upward by a reaction force from the projection 25 of the housing 1.
It is designed to be kept horizontal inside. And
When each curved surface 13a slides along the guide portion 7a, the driving body 2 is rotatable and tiltable in multiple directions, and is pressed down against the elastic force of each second protrusion 25. The driving body 2 can also be pressed.

Next, the operation of the multidirectional input device thus configured will be described. FIG. 1 shows a non-operation state,
In this case, the pressing portion 14 of the driving body 2 and the tact switch 20
A clearance is formed between the first and second stems, and the tact switch 20 is off. Also, the first protrusion 2
6 and the fixed contact 22 on the insulating substrate 4, and the movable contact 29 of the second protrusion 25 and the fixed contact 21 on the insulating substrate 4 are all separated from each other. Are both in the off state. The second
The lower surface of the intermediate portion 28 of the protruding portion 25 is slightly separated from the surface of the insulating substrate 4 by the above-described pressing portion 14.
And the clearance between the tact switch 20 and the stem of the tact switch 20.

When the operator rotates the operating body 3 in either the forward or reverse direction, for example, clockwise in FIG. 3, from the non-operation state shown in FIG. 1, the driving body 2 integrated with the operating body 3 becomes a fulcrum O. Rotate in the same direction about the axis passing through. In this case, due to the difference in the coefficient of friction between the driving body 2 made of a synthetic resin material and the elastic substrate 5 made of silicon rubber or the like, the lubricating ring 6 does not rotate with respect to the elastic substrate 5 and each arm of the driving body 2 1
The lower surface of 5 slides on the upper surface of slip ring 6. When the driving body 2 rotates in this manner, the torsion spring 17 is charged by one end of the torsion spring 17 being pressed against the pin 9, and one of the pressing portions 16 of the driving body 2 is opposed to the elastic substrate. In order to press the first projection 26 of FIG. 5, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6, the thin portion 26a of the first projection 26 buckles obliquely with the pressing side as a fulcrum. The generated click feeling is transmitted to the operator via the driving body 2 and the operating body 3. When the first protrusion 26 tilts in this manner, the movable contact 27 provided on the bottom surface of the first protrusion 26 comes into contact with the fixed contact 22 opposed thereto, and one of the rotation detection switches is turned on. As described above, the movable contact 2
7 is deviated from the center of the first protrusion 26 in a direction away from the pressing side, so that the first protrusion 26 contacts the fixed contact 21 even with a small amount of tilt, and the movable contact 27 After that, the first protrusion 26 is elastically deformed to obtain an overstroke.

When the rotational operation force on the operating body 3 is removed, the driving body 2 returns to the state shown in FIG. 3 by the accumulated force of the torsion spring 17, and the first protrusion 26 also has its own elasticity. 6, the movable contact 27 is separated from the fixed contact 22 and the rotation detection switch returns to the original off state. In addition, contrary to the above,
When the operator rotates the operating body 3 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3, the torsion spring 17 is charged by the other end thereof being pressed against the pin 10, and the other first protrusion 26 of the elastic substrate 5 is moved. Since the other pressing portion 26 of the driving body 2 is pressed, the other rotation detection switch is turned on.

When the operator presses an arbitrary peripheral portion of the operating body 3, for example, an upper left end of the operating body 3 from the non-operation state shown in FIG. 1, the operating body 3 and the driving body 2 center on the fulcrum O. The arm 15 that is tilted in the direction indicated by the two-dot chain line in the same figure and that is located on the left side in FIG. Projection 2
Press 5. At this time, the first protrusion 26 of the elastic substrate 5
Is located in the notch 6a of the lubricating ring 6, no pressing force acts on the first protrusion 26 even when the lubricating ring 6 is tilted. When the second protrusion 25 is pressed by the arm 15 in this manner, the second protrusion 25
First, after the outer thin portion 25a is deformed and the intermediate portion 28 comes into contact with the insulating substrate 4, the inner thin portion 25b is buckled and deformed as shown in FIG.
Is transmitted to the operator via the operating body 3. And
When the second protruding portion 25 buckles, the movable contact 29 provided on the bottom surface of the second protruding portion 25 moves to the fixed contact 2 opposed thereto.
Touching 1 will turn on any tilt detection switch,
As described above, since the movable contact 29 is inclined away from the insulating substrate 4 toward the outside of the elastic substrate 5, the movable contact 29 contacts the fixed contact 21 in a parallel state.

When the tilting operation force on the operating body 3 is removed, the driving body 2 and the lubricating ring 6, which have been tilted by the elasticity of the second projection 25, rise to the position shown in FIG. The contact 29 is separated from the fixed contact 21 and the tilt detection switch returns to the original off state. When the operator presses another peripheral portion of the operating body 3 and tilts it, one or two second projecting portions 2 located in the tilting direction are used.
5 operates in the same manner as described above, and the other tilt detection switches are turned on.

Further, when the operator pushes the central portion of the operating body 3 from the non-operating state shown in FIG. 1, the operating body 3, the driving body 2 and the slip ring 6 become resilient by the respective second projecting portions 25. And the pressing portion 14 of the driving body 2 presses the stem of the tact switch 20, the click feeling from the tact switch 20 is transmitted to the operator via the driving body 2 and the operating body 3, and The tact switch 20 is turned on. At this time, each of the second protruding portions 25 also receives the pressing force from the driver 2 and deforms until the intermediate portion 28 contacts the insulating substrate 4 as shown in FIG. Since only the outer thin portion 25a and the inner thin portion 25b requiring a relatively large pressing force are not buckled and deformed, the reduction of the click feeling from the tact switch 20 by the second protrusion 25 is suppressed. .

As described above, in the above-described embodiment, when the driving body 2 is rotated in either the forward or reverse direction by the operating body 3, the side surface of the first protrusion 26 provided on the elastic substrate 5 is driven. Pressed by the pressing portion 16 of the body 2, the thin portion 26 a of the first protruding portion 26 buckles obliquely to the opposite side with the pressing side as a fulcrum, but is provided on the inner bottom surface of the first protruding portion 26. Since the movable contact 27 is provided at a position eccentric with respect to the center of the first protrusion 26, the movable contact 27 is provided on the insulating substrate 4 even when the first protrusion 26 is tilted by a small amount. The switch comes into contact with the fixed contact 21 and the rotation detection switch is turned on. And the movable contact 27 is fixed contact 2
Even after the contact with the first member 1, the overstroke can be obtained by the first protrusion 26 being elastically deformed, so that the operation feeling can be enhanced.

When the driver 2 is tilted in an arbitrary direction by pressing an arbitrary peripheral portion of the operating body 3, the top surface of the second protrusion 25 located in the tilt direction is moved by the arm 15 of the driver 2. Since the movable contact 29 provided on the inner bottom surface of the second protrusion comes into contact with the fixed contact 22 provided on the insulating substrate 4 and the tilt detection switch is turned on, the rotation detection switch is turned on. Contact 2 for switch for tilt and switch for tilt detection
7, 29, the first and second protrusions 26 of the elastic substrate 5;
25 can be integrally formed. Therefore, only the insulating substrate 4 and the elastic substrate 5 mounted on the insulating substrate 4 are the only components of the contact portions of the rotation detecting switch and the tilt detecting switch, and only the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be significantly reduced. In addition, since it is not necessary to use a vertical type tact switch as a rotation detection switch, it is possible to prevent an increase in the height of the multidirectional input device.

A slip ring 6 is provided between the lower surface of each arm 15 of the driver 2 and the top surface of each second protrusion 25 of the elastic substrate 5. Since the notch 6a through which both the first protrusions 26 of the elastic substrate 5 are inserted is formed, when the driving body 2 is rotated by the operating body 3, the lubricating ring 6 does not rotate with respect to the elastic substrate 5; The lower surface of each arm 15 of the body 2 rotates and slides on the upper surface of the slip ring 6.
Therefore, each second protruding portion 25 is not worn by the rotation of the driving body 2, and the life of the contact portion can be extended.

Further, the second protrusion 25 of the elastic substrate 5
Has an intermediate portion 28 extending above the insulating substrate 4 via the outer thin portion 25a, and an inner thin portion 25b extending obliquely upward from the intermediate portion 28. When each of the second protrusions 25 is pressed,
Also, under the pressing force from the driving body 2, the intermediate portion 28 is deformed until it comes into contact with the insulating substrate 4, but only the outer thin portion 25a is deformed by this pressing force, and a relatively large pressing force is required. The inner thin portion 25b does not buckle. For this reason, the click feeling generated from the tact switch 20 is hardly reduced by the second protrusion 25, and the operation feeling can be enhanced from this point as well.

In the above embodiment, the multidirectional input device for switching various contacts according to the rotation operation, the tilting operation and the push operation of the operating body 3 has been described.
The present invention can also be applied to a multidirectional input device in which only the push operation and the tilt operation of the operation body 3 can be performed by omitting the rotation operation of the operation body 3.

In the above embodiment, the case where the tact switch 20 is used as the vertical movement detection switch element has been described.
It is also possible to use a click rubber type switch configured in the same manner as the projection 25 of FIG.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When operating the vertical movement detection switch is pushed a central portion of the driver, each protrusion of the elastic substrate which holds the driving body, medium
An intermediate part that requires a relatively large pressing force just because the intermediate part comes into contact with the insulating substrate due to deformation of the thin part outside the intermediate part.
Since the thinner part inside does not buckle and deform, the click feeling generated from the vertical movement detection switch element is hardly weakened by the tilt detection switch element, so that the multi-directional input device has a clear click feeling and good operation feeling. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a multi-directional input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the multi-directional input device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the multidirectional input device.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of an elastic substrate provided in the multidirectional input device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an insulating substrate provided in the multidirectional input device.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view of a first protrusion provided in the multidirectional input device.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when a second projection provided in the multidirectional input device is tilted.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when the second protrusion is pushed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Housing 2 Drive body 3 Operation body 4 Insulating board 5 Elastic board 6 Slip ring 7 Through-hole 9, 10 pin 11 Central movable contact 12 Shaft part 13 Wing piece 13a Curved surface 14 Press part 15 Arm part 16 Press part 17 Screw Spring 18 Spring receiving part 20 Tact switch 21, 22 Fixed contact 25 Second protruding part 25a Outside thin part 25b Inner thin part 26 First protruding part 26a Thin part 27, 29 Movable contact 28 Intermediate part

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01H 25/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vertical movement detecting switch element and a plurality of tilt detecting switch elements, an insulating substrate on which each of these switch elements is mounted, and a drive held up and down and tiltable by each of the tilt detecting switch elements. With the body,
By pressing the central portion of the driving body, the vertical movement detection switch element is operated with a click feeling, and by tilting the driving body in an arbitrary direction,
In the multidirectional input device in which the tilt detection switch element is selectively operated, an elastic substrate is placed on the insulating substrate.
And projecting obliquely upward on this elastic substrate via a thin portion.
A plurality of protrusions are provided, and a front portion is provided in the middle of each of the thin portions.
Opposing the upper surface of the insulating substrate with a predetermined clearance
An intermediate portion is provided, and the tilt detection
The movable contact of the switch element is provided, and
A multi-directional input device, further comprising a fixed contact facing each of the movable contacts .