JPH02920Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] This invention is suitable for use mainly in electronic devices such as communication devices and audio equipment, which have a large number of operation parts (knobs, push buttons, etc.) on the panel surface. It is.

[Prior art]

Electronic devices such as communication devices and audio equipment that are constructed using electronic technology are often designed to be used for multiple purposes in response to the user's needs, so it is necessary to have an operation panel for this purpose. Several are placed on the panel surface. For example, communication equipment has a band switch to select the frequency band and a mode switch to select the radio wave format, and audio equipment has a selector to select the source such as radio, record, tape, etc., and a tone control to adjust the frequency characteristics. However, once these settings are made, they are often used continuously, and during that time, these operating sections are no longer required. Note that these devices have control units for tuning, volume, power, etc. that require constant operation, and as the devices become smaller, the panel surface becomes crowded and becomes inconvenient to handle. The operation section is divided into a regular operation section and an emergency operation section, and the emergency operation section 3 is divided into a regular operation section and an emergency operation section.
Although a method has been used to organize the panel surface by putting a lid 31 on the panel, it is disadvantageous in terms of space for small equipment, and there is a problem that it is easily damaged when the lid 31 is opened. Another method is to provide an extruded portion 4 on a part of the panel surface as shown in FIG.
There is a type in which an emergency operation section 41 is provided inside this. This configuration saves space on the panel surface, and is particularly suitable for installing a numeric keypad with a large operating area. However, the amount of protrusion when the extrusion part 4 is pulled out is large, and there are concerns about the strength of the mechanism. In addition, since the appearance of the panels in both Figures 3 and 4 changes greatly depending on the usage conditions, problems have been pointed out from an art design perspective, and other countermeasures have been desired.

[Purpose of invention]

In recent wireless communications equipment, especially in the FM band, the mainstream method is to divide the operating frequency into equal intervals and set channels, and in response to this, it has become possible to select the desired channel with a switch on the equipment side. In addition to push-button switches, tactile switches, which operate with the touch of a finger, are also widely used.

This invention compensates for the drawback that the touch-switch type selector or ten-key switch takes up a relatively large amount of space, and also provides an operating section structure for electronic equipment that eliminates the drawbacks illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

[Summary of the idea]

This invention is described in the claims for utility model registration, and as illustrated in FIG.
1, 12, 13, etc., is provided with one or more transparent or semi-transparent sub-panels 2 that generally cover the panel section 1 , and the width of the sub-panels 2 is one-half or less of the width of the panel section 1 . This is a sub-panel for an electronic device, which is movable parallel to the panel section and is characterized in that transparent electrodes 23a to 23n of touch sensors are provided on the sub-panel surface 20.

In other words, a transparent or translucent sub-panel is installed parallel to the panel in front of the panel, and the sub-panel only has a transparent electrode for a touch sensor attached by metal plating or metal vapor deposition, so the surface is flat. Since the surface of the panel 1 and the operation section attached thereto are transparent regardless of the position of the sub-panel 2 , the aspect of the panel 1 does not change even if the sub-panel is moved.

Set the width of sub-panel 2 to half the width of panel section 1 .
The following stipulation is that when sub-panel 2 is moved parallel to panel 1 , if the width of sub-panel 2 is more than half of 1 , an inoperable part will be created at the connection part on panel 1 . It's for a reason. Further, the number of sub-panels 2 is not limited to one, and two or more sub-panels 2 may be moved independently.

[Example of idea]

FIG. 2A shows an embodiment of the present invention. The sub-panel 2 has an end 2 parallel to the direction of movement as shown in Fig. 2B.
1 and 22 are bent into a U-shape and engaged with guide portions 14 and 15 of one part of the panel to be slidably held. Touch sensor 23a with transparent electrode
The lead wires 23'a to 23'n of ~23n are provided with contacts 25a to 25n at the end 24 of the sub-panel 2 ,
A circuit is constructed by contacting a receiving contact point (not shown) provided on the guide portion 14 of the panel 1 . In the example shown in FIG. 2, the touch sensor circuit of the sub-panel 2 is configured to be conductive only when the sub-panel 2 is located in front of the tuning operation section 12 as shown in 2A, and in this state, the touch sensor circuit of the sub-panel 2 is connected to the tuning operation section (TUNING). 12 and band switching (BAND) 13
Since these are covered by the sub-panel 2 , they cannot be operated, but this also has the effect of preventing the inconvenience of manual tuning and touch channel selection operating at the same time. In this case, it is natural that operation units such as volume adjustment (VOLUME) and gain adjustment (GAIN) that require constant operation are placed in the operable area. Note that in addition to the sub-panel 2A shown by the chain line in the figure, another sub-panel such as 2B may be provided, and another operating section using a transparent electrode may be provided on this sub-panel.

[Effect of idea]

As described in detail in the main text and shown in the drawings and examples, the present invention uses movable sub-panels to enable dual control, such as manual and automatic operation, of the panel operation mechanisms of electronic equipment, which is undergoing a significant trend toward miniaturization. This has a great practical effect, as it saves the installation space for the function operation section, and it also necessarily separates the normal use section from the emergency use section, which prevents erroneous operation. Alternatively, by making it translucent and using a transparent electrode as the operating section, the visual effect in terms of art design is also an important objective of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an example of an implementation structure, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are examples of a conventional structure. 1 ... Panel, 2 , 2A, 2B... Sub-panel, 11, 12, 13... Operation unit, 14, 15...
... Guide part, 20, 21, 22, 24 ... Sub-panel part, 23a to 23n ... Transparent electrode, 2
3'a~23'n...Transparent electrode lead wire, 25a~
25n...Contact.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In an electronic device having an operation mechanism in a panel part, one or more transparent or semi-transparent sub-panels are provided to cover the panel part, and the width of the sub-panels is one-half or less of the width of the panel part, and A sub-panel for an electronic device, which is movable in parallel and is characterized in that a transparent electrode of a touch sensor is provided on the sub-panel surface.