JP6758121B2 - Keyboard switch - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a keyboard switch applied to an input device (for example, a keyboard) for inputting information to an electronic device.

Conventionally, as a keyboard switch used in an input device (for example, a keyboard) for inputting information to an electronic device, those described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-329770 (Patent Document 1) have been proposed. As shown in Patent Document 1, conventionally, the strokes of the keys at the time of input are set to the same dimensions for all the keyboard switches provided on the keyboard.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-329770

In recent years, the needs for keyboards have diversified, and there is a need to use different keyboards according to the purpose of use. That is, for example, when playing a game or the like, an increasing number of users want to use a keyboard with a short keystroke in order to quickly press a predetermined key, and normally use a keyboard with a long keystroke other than a game or the like. ..

As described above, the conventional keyboard has a problem that the keyboard must be used properly according to the purpose of use, which is complicated.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard switch capable of changing a predetermined key stroke with one keyboard. is there.

In order to achieve the above object, the keyboard switch according to one aspect of the present invention includes a key top that moves up and down by receiving a pressing force, a plunger that is engaged with the lower part of the key top and moves up and down together with the key top. A cup rubber arranged under the plunger and supporting the plunger from below, a housing arranged on the outer peripheral side of these plungers and the cup rubber, and a housing supported by the housing and extending laterally. The existing plate and a spacer arranged between the plate and the key top are provided, the spacer is configured to be removable with respect to the keyboard, and the spacer is formed in an annular frame in a plan view. , Has a notch on the inner peripheral side of the frame .
Further, the keyboard switch according to one aspect of the present invention includes a key top that moves up and down in response to a pressing force, a plunger that is engaged with the lower part of the key top and moves up and down together with the key top, and a plunger under the plunger. A cup rubber arranged on the side and supporting the plunger from below, a housing arranged on the outer peripheral side of the plunger and the cup rubber, and a plate supported by the housing and extending laterally. A spacer is provided between the plate and the key top, and the spacer is detachably configured with respect to the keyboard, and the spacer is integrally formed corresponding to a plurality of adjacent keys on the keyboard. There is.

According to the keyboard switch of the present invention, the spacer is configured to be removable from the keyboard. Therefore, when the spacer is arranged between the plate and the key top, when the key top is pushed down and hits the spacer, the vertical stroke of the key top at the time of keying is shortened, and the hitting sound is also reduced. Therefore, it is advantageous when you want to quickly press a predetermined key in a game or the like or when you want to increase the speed of text input.

On the other hand, when the spacer is not arranged, the vertical stroke of the key top becomes long. Therefore, the reaction force when the key top is pressed down is also reduced, and the burden on the operator's fingers can be reduced.

In this way, since the operator can freely attach and detach the spacer, the stroke of a predetermined key can be changed with one keyboard.

It is a perspective view of the keyboard switch which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the keyboard switch which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is an exploded perspective view of the keyboard switch which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which assembled the keyboard switch of FIG. In this figure, FIG. 5A is a plan view of the spacer according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 5B is a side view of the spacer of FIG. 5A. It is sectional drawing which shows the dimension of the component part of the keyboard switch which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a graph which shows roughly the relationship between the distance which pressed the key top and the reaction force in the keyboard switch which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the keyboard switch which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the keyboard switch which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. In this figure, FIG. 10A is a plan view of the spacer according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 10B is a side view of the spacer of FIG. 10A. In this figure, FIG. 11A is a plan view of the spacer according to another embodiment, and FIG. 11B is a side view of the spacer of FIG. 11A.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The keyboard switch according to the embodiment of the present invention is used for a keyboard which is an input device for inputting information to an electronic device.

[First Embodiment]
First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, a plurality of keys are arranged in parallel on the keyboard 1 along the horizontal direction and the vertical direction.

The keyboard switch 3 is located on the key top 5 that moves up and down in response to a pressing force from the operator, the plunger 7 that is engaged with the lower part of the key top 5 and moves up and down together with the key top 5, and the lower side of the plunger 7. A cup rubber 9 that is arranged and supports the plunger 7 from below, a housing 11 that is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the plunger 7 and the cup rubber 9, and a plate 13 that is supported by the housing 11 and extends laterally. It includes a spacer 15 arranged between the plate 13 and the key top 5, and a coil spring 17 arranged under the cup rubber 9. The spacer 15 is configured to be removable from the keyboard 1. Further, the keyboard switch 3 is arranged on the substrate 19. Hereinafter, a specific description will be given.

The key top 5 is formed of a material such as synthetic resin, and has a key top main body 21 having an outer peripheral shape formed in a pyramidal trapezoidal shape, and a side surface portion 23 extending diagonally downward from the outer peripheral end of the key top main body 21. , Is integrally formed with a cylindrical connecting cylinder portion 25 extending downward from the central portion of the lower surface of the key top main body portion 21 and engaging with the plunger 7. The upper surface of the key top main body 21 is formed on the pressing surface 27, and the central portion in the left-right direction is formed in a curved shape that is recessed downward so that the operator can easily press it with a finger.

The plunger 7 is made of a material such as synthetic resin and moves up and down together with the key top 5. The plunger 7 has a tubular portion 29 arranged on the upper side, a contact portion 31 extending laterally from the lower end of the tubular portion 29, and a claw portion 33 bent at the tip of the contact portion 31 and extending downward. And are formed integrally from. The contact portion 31 can come into contact with the pressing portion 35 of the cup rubber 9, which will be described later, and the lower end 37 of the claw portion 33 can come into contact with the base portion 39 of the cup rubber 9.

The cup rubber 9 is made of elastic rubber or the like and is arranged on the lower side of the plunger 7. The cup rubber 9 is formed from a pressing portion 35 which is an upper surface, a tubular leg portion 41 extending downward from the outer peripheral edge of the pressing portion 35, and a flat base portion 39 extending laterally from the lower end of the leg portion 41. It is formed integrally.

The housing 11 is made of a material such as synthetic resin, and is integrated from a square tubular housing body 43 arranged on the lower side and a cylindrical connecting protrusion 45 arranged on the upper side of the housing body 43. Is formed in. A convex portion 47 protruding in the lateral direction is formed on the lower side of the housing main body 43, and a support surface 49 for supporting the plate 13 is formed on the upper end of the convex portion 47. On the side surface of the housing body 43, a protrusion 51 is formed above the support surface 49. Further, a tubular portion 29 of the plunger 7 is inserted on the inner peripheral side of the connecting protrusion 45.

The plate 13 is made of a material such as metal or synthetic resin, and has a rectangular opening 53 into which the housing 11 is inserted. The peripheral edge of the opening 53 is placed on the support surface 49 of the housing 11, and the peripheral edge of the opening 53 is sandwiched between the support surface 49 of the housing 11 and the protrusion 51 from above and below.

The spacer 15 is formed of rubber such as urethane foam, but the material is not particularly limited as long as it is an elastic body. It is formed in a rectangular (annular) frame in a plan view, and has a notch 55 on the inner peripheral side of the frame. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5A, the spacer 15 is formed into a square in a plan view, and the vertical side portion 57 extending in the vertical direction and the horizontal side portion 59 extending in the horizontal direction in FIG. 5A are formed. And are formed integrally from. With respect to the pair of vertical side portions 57 facing each other, a notch 55 is formed on the inner peripheral side of the central portion of the vertical side portion 57 in the extending direction. Here, in the present embodiment, the spacer 15 is provided at the position of the key shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but the arrangement position of the spacer 15 is not particularly limited and can be arbitrarily selected.

The coil spring 17 is formed in a spiral shape in which the diameter gradually increases from the upper side to the lower side when no load is applied, and is housed on the inner peripheral side of the cup rubber 9. The coil spring 17 is formed by winding a coil wire having conductivity, and is configured to be elastically deformable in the vertical direction.

A switch mechanism including a pair of electrode portions 61, 61 is provided on the surface of the substrate 19. Then, when the pressing portion 35 of the cup rubber 9 is pushed downward to crush the coil spring 17, the amount of electrical capacitance coupling between the pair of electrode portions 61, 61 by the coil spring 17 increases, so that the switch. It is possible to detect that the key top 5 is pressed by the mechanism.

Next, the dimensional relationship of each component will be described with reference to FIG.

The vertical distance between the lower end 63 of the side surface 23 of the key top 5 and the upper surface 65 of the spacer 15 is S1, and the vertical distance between the lower end 63 of the side surface 23 of the key top 5 and the upper surface 67 of the plate 13 is S2. Let t be the thickness of. Therefore, the relational expression S2-S1 = t is established. The thickness t of the spacer 15 can be set to an arbitrary thickness.

When the pressing surface 27 of the key top 5 is pressed, the plunger 7 is lowered together with the key top 5, and the lower end 63 of the side surface portion 23 of the key top 5 hits the upper surface 65 of the spacer 15. Since the spacer 15 is an elastic body, it flexes and deforms to some extent, but when the spacer 15 is attached, the vertical stroke of the key top 5 is approximately S1. On the other hand, when the spacer 15 is not attached, when the pressing surface 27 of the key top 5 is pressed, the plunger 7 is lowered together with the key top 5, and the lower end 63 of the side surface portion 23 of the key top 5 hits the upper surface 67 of the plate 13. Therefore, when the spacer 15 is not attached, the vertical stroke of the key top 5 is S2. As described above, the vertical stroke of the key top 5 is shorter when the spacer 15 is attached.

Further, the relationship between the pressing pressure F when the key top 5 is pressed down and the stroke S of the key top 5 will be described with reference to the graph of FIG.

When the key top 5 is pushed down, the plunger 7 is lowered together with the key top 5, and the cup rubber 9 and the coil spring 17 are elastically deformed. Due to the reaction force of the cup rubber 9 and the coil spring 17, the pressing force F1 acts up to the stroke S1. After that, when the lower end 63 of the side surface portion 23 of the key top 5 hits the upper surface 67 of the plate 13, the reaction force of the spacer 15 is applied and the pressing force F2 acts from the stroke S1.

The action and effect of the first embodiment will be described below.

(1) The keyboard switch 3 includes a key top 5 that moves up and down in response to a pressing force, a plunger 7 that is coupled (engaged) to the lower part of the key top 5 and moves up and down together with the key top 5, and the plunger. A cup rubber 9 arranged on the lower side of the plunger 7 and supporting the plunger 7 from below, a housing 11 arranged on the outer peripheral side of the plunger 7 and the cup rubber 9, and being supported by the housing 11. A plate 13 extending in the lateral direction and a spacer 15 arranged between the plate 13 and the key top 5 are provided. The spacer 15 is configured to be removable from the keyboard 1.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the key top 5 is removed using a jig, the spacer 15 is attached, and then the key top 5 is assembled to attach the spacer 15 to a desired key. be able to. Therefore, when the spacer 15 is arranged between the plate 13 and the key top 5, when the key top 5 is pushed down and hits the spacer 15, the vertical stroke of the key top 5 is shortened and the tapping sound is also reduced. Therefore, it is advantageous when you want to quickly press a predetermined key in a game or the like or when you want to increase the speed of text input.

On the other hand, when the spacer 15 is not arranged, the vertical stroke of the key top 5 becomes long. Therefore, the reaction force when the key top 5 is pressed down is also reduced, and the burden on the operator's fingers is also reduced.

In this way, since the operator can freely attach and detach the spacer 15, it is not necessary to change the keyboard 1 according to the purpose of use, and one keyboard 1 can be used for various purposes. it can.

(2) The spacer 15 is configured so that the arrangement position on the keyboard 1 can be arbitrarily selected.

Therefore, the spacer 15 can be arranged only on the keys that the operator uses particularly frequently, and the keyboard 1 can be customized to be convenient for the individual operator.

(3) The spacer 15 is formed of an elastic body. Therefore, when the key top 5 is pushed down and hits the spacer 15, the spacer 15 is elastically deformed, so that the loudness of the hitting sound when the key is hit is reduced.

(4) The spacer 15 can be set to an arbitrary thickness. Therefore, the vertical stroke of the key top 5 can be arbitrarily changed according to the thickness of the spacer 15.

(5) The spacer 15 is formed in a rectangular (annular) frame in a plan view, and has a notch 55 on the inner peripheral side of the frame.

Since the notch 55 is provided on the inner peripheral side of the frame body, when the spacer 15 is removed, the fingers can be inserted into the notch 55 of the frame body to grip the spacer 15, and the work efficiency when attaching and detaching the spacer 15 is improved. To do.

(6) The spacer 15 is formed corresponding to one key on the keyboard. Therefore, the spacer 15 can be attached only to a specific key desired by the operator, which has the effect of improving usability.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10. However, the same reference numerals are given to the parts having the same configuration as that of the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The spacer 115 according to the second embodiment is integrally formed corresponding to a plurality of adjacent keys on the keyboard 101. The spacer 115 is formed of rubber such as urethane foam, but the material is not particularly limited as long as it is an elastic body.

Specifically, in FIG. 10A, the spacer 115 corresponds to four keys of the keyboard 101: W key 110, A key 120, S key 130, and D key 140, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. .. These W key 110, A key 120, S key 130, and D key 140 are keys that are frequently used in the game, and are four adjacent keys.

That is, the spacer 115 is formed by connecting four frames having a square plane view. Further, each frame is formed into a rectangular (annular) frame in a plan view, and has a notch 55 on the inner peripheral side of the frame. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10A, each frame is formed into a square in a plan view, and the vertical side portion 57 extending in the vertical direction and the horizontal side extending in the horizontal direction in FIG. 10A are formed. It is integrally formed with the portion 59. With respect to the pair of vertical side portions 57, 57 facing each other, a notch 55 is formed on the inner peripheral side of the central portion of the vertical side portion 57 in the extending direction.

The action and effect of the second embodiment will be described below.

(1) The spacer 115 is integrally formed corresponding to a plurality of adjacent keys on the keyboard 101.

Therefore, for example, in a game, the WASD key is often used, so that it is possible to meet the needs of an operator who wants to quickly press a key when playing a game.

Although the keyboard switch of the present invention has been described above based on the illustrated embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and the configuration of each part may be replaced with an arbitrary configuration having the same function. it can.

For example, in the second embodiment described above, the spacer 115 corresponding to the WASD key has been described, but as shown in FIG. 11, the spacer 215 corresponding to the direction key can also be applied.

1,101 Keyboard 3 Keyboard Switch 5 Key Top 7 Plunger 9 Cup Rubber 11 Housing 13 Plate 15, 115, 215 Spacer 55 Notch

Claims (5)

A key top that moves up and down in response to a pressing force, a plunger that is engaged with the lower part of the key top and moves up and down together with the key top, and a plunger that is arranged under the plunger and supports the plunger from below. Cup rubber, a housing arranged on the outer peripheral side of these plungers and cup rubber, a plate supported by the housing and extending laterally, and a spacer arranged between the plate and the key top. And with
The spacer is configured to be removable with respect to the keyboard .
A keyboard switch characterized in that the spacer is formed in an annular frame in a plan view and has a notch on the inner peripheral side of the frame . A key top that moves up and down in response to a pressing force, a plunger that is engaged with the lower part of the key top and moves up and down together with the key top, and a plunger that is arranged under the plunger and supports the plunger from below. Cup rubber, a housing arranged on the outer peripheral side of these plungers and cup rubber, a plate supported by the housing and extending laterally, and a spacer arranged between the plate and the key top. And with
The spacer is configured to be removable with respect to the keyboard.
The spacer is a keyboard switch characterized in that the spacer is integrally formed corresponding to a plurality of adjacent keys on the keyboard. The keyboard switch according to claim 1 or 2 .
The spacer is a keyboard switch characterized in that the arrangement position on the keyboard can be arbitrarily selected. The keyboard switch according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .
The spacer is a keyboard switch characterized in that it is formed of an elastic body. The keyboard switch according to any one of claims 1 , 3 and 4.
The spacer is a keyboard switch characterized in that it is formed corresponding to one key in the keyboard.

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