JP4102506B2 - Switch system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a switch system disposed on a panel of a center console in a vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, the following switch system has been proposed.
4 and 5, the switch system 80 includes a plurality of key tops 83 exposed from the panel 82 of the center console 81, and a transparent resin and a key top 83 below the key tops 83 as shown in FIG. The display device 84 is arranged and a substrate 85 that electrically connects the display device 84 to each other. Reference numeral 95 denotes a mode switch for changing the mode function of the key top 83, reference numeral 96 denotes a CD (compact disc) insertion slot, and reference numeral 97 denotes an MD (mini disc) insertion slot.
[0003]
Each key top 83 is assigned a number of functions for each mode. For this reason, the character character 98 irradiated to the key top 83 is changed by changing the character character 98 on the display device 84.
Since the key top 83 and air have different refractive indexes, when external light 92 from an unillustrated external light source is irradiated on the front surface 83a of the key top 83, the light reflected from the back surface 83b of the key top 83 is different from the back surface. Some of them pass through 83b. The light reflected by the back surface 83b becomes the back surface reflected light 93, while the light transmitted through the back surface 83b is reflected by the front surface 84a of the display device 84 and becomes device reflected light 93 '.
[0004]
However, since display light 94 for projecting the character character 98 is emitted from the display device 84 onto the front surface 83a of the key top 83, the back surface reflected light 93 and the device reflected light 93 ′ are emitted onto the front surface 83a of the key top 83. And display light 94 are mixed, causing halation. Therefore, the character character 98 is difficult to see.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a switch system that allows a driver to clearly see a character character in a key top even when external light is applied to the key top.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a transparent key top having an operation plate portion, a panel exposing the front surface of the operation plate portion, and a display device for irradiating light on the back surface of the operation plate portion. A first member that absorbs the light component perpendicular to the traveling direction of the incident light and transmits the other component in order from the front surface side to the operation plate portion. A switch system having a light reflection suppressing means that is arranged in close contact with a second member that changes the phase of the other component by transmitting the other component twice (claim 1).
The switch system is characterized in that the surface of the first member that is not in close contact with the second member is the front surface of the operation plate portion (Claim 2).
When the light emitted from the display device itself has a deflection characteristic, the light reflection suppressing means has the same characteristics as the first member, the second member, and the deflection characteristic in order from the front side of the operation plate portion. The switch system which arrange | positions the 3rd member which has these is characterized.
[0007]
According to the first aspect, the light reflection suppressing means arranges the first member and the second member in close contact with the first member in order from the front surface of the operation plate portion. The first member absorbs one of the two components orthogonal to the traveling direction of the light incident from the front surface of the operation plate portion and transmits the other component. Further, the second member changes the phase of the first other component by transmitting the other component that has passed through the first member twice. Therefore, when the light that has been transmitted twice through the second member is incident on the first member again, the other component of the light transmitted through the first member is weaker than or absorbed by the first other component. Thereby, the light leaking from the front surface of the operation plate portion is weakened or eliminated.
[0008]
According to claim 2, the surface of the first member that is not in close contact with the second member is the front surface of the operation plate portion. Thereby, nothing is interposed between the surface of the first member and the front surface of the operation plate portion.
According to the third aspect, when the light emitted from the display device itself has a deflection characteristic, the light reflection suppressing means is in order from the front surface side of the operation plate portion, and the second member is in close contact with the first member. And a third member having the same characteristics as the deflection characteristics of the display device. Thereby, only the light irradiated with the display device permeate | transmits the inside of an operation board part, and radiate | emits from a front surface.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, specific examples of embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show an embodiment of a switch system according to the present invention.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the switch system 1 includes a key top 3 disposed on the panel 2, a display device 5 positioned below the key top 3, and a substrate that electrically connects the display device 5. 6 and light reflection suppressing means 4 provided on the key top 3.
The panel 2 in FIG. 1 is, for example, a vehicle center console (reference numeral 81 in FIG. 4). The panel 2 is formed with an opening 2a for exposing the key top 3 to the outside.
[0010]
As shown in FIG. 2, the key top 3 is a push button for operating a car audio or a car air conditioner. Since all the key tops 3 have the same configuration, only one will be described.
The key top 3 includes a rectangular parallelepiped operation plate portion 11, a support arm 12 extending from one end surface of the operation plate portion 11, and an operation plate portion 10 coupled to the other end surface of the operation plate portion 11. And the key top 3 is shape | molded with resin which has a light transmittance.
[0011]
The operation plate portion 11 is a portion that comes into contact with the driver of the vehicle for pressing. The support arm portion 12 is pivotally supported on the back surface 2b of the panel 2 so as to be rotatable. An operation pin 13 is integrally provided at the free end of the operation plate 10. The operation pin 13 is electrically connected to the substrate 6 via a tact switch 14.
[0012]
As shown in FIG. 2, the light reflection suppressing means 4 includes a deflection plate 15 (corresponding to the first member of the claims) and a quarter wave plate (hereinafter simply referred to as a wave plate) in the operation plate portion 11. Corresponding to the second member of the item) and a transparent electrode 17 in the display device 5. The front surface 15 a of the deflection plate 15 is located on the front surface 11 a side of the operation plate portion 11. The back surface 15b of the polarizing plate 15 is in close contact with the front surface 16a of the wave plate 16 so as not to form an air layer. The back surface 16 b of the wave plate 16 is located on the back surface 11 b side of the operation plate portion 11. Note that the front surface 15a of the deflection plate 15 and the front surface 11a of the operation plate portion 11 can be matched.
The polarizing plate 15 is a film and the wave plate 16 is a transparent plate made of birefringent crystals.
[0013]
In this case, the light itself emitted from the display device 5 has no deflection characteristics. In the present embodiment, the case where the display device 5 is an EL (electroluminescent) display will be described. A CRT (cathode ray tube or cathode ray tube) can be used instead of the EL display.
[0014]
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the display device 5 includes a case 20 that includes a box-shaped case 20, a light emitting unit 21 disposed in the case 20, and a transparent electrode 22 positioned above the light emitting unit 21. Has an opening 20a in the upper part and a control part (not shown) for controlling the light emitting part 21 in the lower part. The control unit is electrically connected to the substrate 6. A glass layer 23 is fitted into the opening 20 a, and a light emitting unit 21 is disposed below the glass layer 23. There is an air layer 25 between the glass layer 21 and the operation plate portion 11. Since there is this air layer 25, the key top 3 can be pressed.
[0015]
A method of providing the deflecting plate 15 and the wave plate 16 on the operation plate portion 11 of the key top 3 is a method of insert-molding the polarizing plate 15 and the wave plate 16 when the key top 3 is formed. Thereby, an air layer can be eliminated between the polarizing plate 15 and the wave plate 16. The reason for eliminating the air layer is that if there is an air layer, light reflection occurs at the interface and the character character 19 in FIG. 1 is blurred.
As another method, the deflecting plate 15 and the wave plate 16 are bonded in the operation plate portion 11 with an adhesive (not shown). Another method is a method of insert molding (secondary molding) of the polarizing plate 15 and the wave plate 16 again when the key top 3 is molded.
[0016]
Next, how the external light 30 from the external light source is suppressed in the key top 3 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, when the external light 30 from the external light source is applied to the key top 3, the external light 30 is reflected by the front surface 11 a of the operation plate portion 11 and is refracted into the transmitted light 32. .
[0017]
The transmitted light 32 is reflected by the back surface 11 b of the operation plate portion 11 and is divided into a back surface reflected light 33 and a back surface 11 b that is reflected by the transparent electrode 22 and divided into a device reflected light 34. In the meantime, one of the two components orthogonal to the traveling direction of the transmitted light 32 is absorbed by the polarizing plate 15, and only the other component orthogonal to one of the components is transmitted through the polarizing plate 15 to become linearly polarized light. Become. When the other component is incident on the wave plate 16 after passing through the polarizing plate 15, the phase of the other component is shifted by λ / 4 (hereinafter, the wavelength is λ). And it injects into the back surface 11b of the operation board part 11. FIG.
[0018]
Since the transmitted light 32 is reflected by the back surface 11b while being linearly polarized, the other component of the back surface reflected light 33 remains linearly polarized. When the back surface reflected light 33 is incident on the wave plate 16 again, the phase of the other component of the back surface reflected light 33 is shifted by λ / 4 during transmission through the wave plate 16. Then, the phase of the other component is shifted by a total of λ / 2. That is, the other component is parallel to one component. Therefore, when the back-surface reflected light 33 is incident on the polarizing plate 15 after being transmitted through the wave plate 16 by the first other component, the other component is absorbed by the polarizing plate 15. Thereby, the back surface reflected light 33 does not leak from the polarizing plate 15 to the front surface 11 a of the operation plate portion 11.
Further, the device reflected light 34 that has been transmitted through the back surface 11b of the operation panel 11 and reflected by the transparent electrode 22 of the display device 5 is also absorbed by the polarizing plate 15 for the same reason as described above. Therefore, the device reflected light 34 does not leak from the front surface 11 a of the operation plate portion 11.
[0019]
As described above, it is possible to suppress the back surface reflected light 33 and the device reflected light 34 from being emitted from the front surface 11a of the operation plate portion 11. On the other hand, display light (not shown) emitted from the light emitting unit 21 of the display device 5 can pass through the wave plate 16 and the polarizing plate 15. Therefore, only the display light can be emitted from the front surface 11a even when the external light 30 is applied to the front surface 11a of the operation plate portion 11. Thereby, the character character 19 can be displayed clearly (clearly) in the key top 3. At the same time, the character character 19 can have high contrast (brightness, color, shape, etc.).
In the case of an EL display or CRT that does not have a change characteristic in the light itself emitted from the display device 5, a polarizing plate 15, a wave plate 16, and a transparent electrode 22 are disposed in the display device 5. By disposing the polarizing plate 15 and the wave plate 16 disposed inside the operation plate unit 11 and leaving the transparent electrode 22 in the display device 5, the operation plate unit 11 can be reliably removed from the front surface 11 a of the operation plate unit 11 at low cost. Light reflection can be suppressed.
[0020]
In the case where the light emitted from the display device 5 itself has polarization characteristics, that is, a TFT (thin film transistor) (not shown). At this time, since the internal polarizing plate is disposed on the surface of the light emitting portion of the TFT, the display light itself emitted from the light emitting portion has a polarization characteristic. Therefore, if another polarizing plate (corresponding to the third member in the claims) having the same characteristics as the internal polarizing plate is disposed in the operation plate portion, the same effect as described above can be obtained.
For example, if the internal polarizing plate has a characteristic of shifting the phase by λ / 4, other polarizing plates that use the phase shifting by λ / 4 are used.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the light reflection suppressing means absorbs one of the two components orthogonal to the traveling direction of the light incident sequentially from the front side of the operation plate. In addition, the first member that transmits the other component and the second member that changes the phase of the other component by transmitting the transmitted second component twice are arranged in close contact with each other. Therefore, when light that has passed through the second member twice is incident on the first member, the other component of the light is weakened or absorbed. That is, light leaking from the front surface of the operation plate portion can be suppressed. Since only the light emitted from the display device is emitted from the front surface of the operation panel, the character character in the key top can be clearly displayed.
[0022]
According to the invention of claim 2, the first member that is not in close contact with the second member is the front surface of the operation plate portion. Therefore, nothing is interposed between the surface of the first member and the front surface of the operation plate portion. Thereby, back surface reflected light and device reflected light can be suppressed reliably.
Further, when light from the outside is directly incident on the surface of the first member, reflection of light on the surface of the first member can be suppressed as compared with a case where light is incident on the front surface of the operation plate portion.
[0023]
According to invention of Claim 3, when the light itself which a display device emits has a polarization characteristic, a light reflection suppression means is a 1st member, a 2nd member, and a display device in an order from the front surface of an operation board part. A third member having the same characteristic as the polarization characteristic is arranged. Therefore, only the light irradiated by the display device can be emitted from the front surface of the operation plate part. Thereby, even when the polarization characteristic is shaken in the display device, light reflection can be easily suppressed from the front surface of the operation plate portion.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a switch system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line YY in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a front view showing a conventional example.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of FIG. 4;
6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line ZZ in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Switch system 2 Panel 2a Opening 3 Key top 4 Light reflection suppression means 5 Display device 11 Operation board part 15 Polarizing plate (1st member)
16 1/4 wavelength plate (second member)
22 Transparent electrode

Claims (3)

In a switch system including a transparent key top having an operation plate portion, a panel exposing the front surface of the operation plate portion, and a display device for irradiating light to the back surface of the operation plate portion,
The first component that absorbs the light component orthogonal to the traveling direction of the light incident on the operation plate portion in order from the front side and transmits the other component, and the second component transmitted through A switch system comprising: a light reflection suppressing means that is arranged in close contact with a second member that changes the phase of the other component by transmitting the second component. The switch system according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the first member that is not in close contact with the second member is a front surface of the operation plate portion. When the light itself emitted from the display device has a deflection characteristic, the light reflection suppressing means has the same characteristics as the first member, the second member, and the deflection characteristic in order from the front side to the operation plate portion. The switch system according to claim 1, further comprising a third member having a third member.

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