JPH04153720A - Input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the durability for input by arranging elastic particles of less than several microns in particle size which are made of an organic material and electric insulators between substrates at optional places and using them as spacers. CONSTITUTION:The input device consists of a flexible plastic substrate 1, a lower substrate 2 of glass or plastic, electrodes 3a and 3b which are formed on the entire surfaces of the substrates 1 and 2, and the spacer particles 4 made of silicone balls which are the elastic electric insulators and particles of less than several microns. Then the electrode 3a on the substrate 1 is given a potential gradient by switching an analog switch and the potential at a position which is contacted by input is led out of the electrode 3b on the lower substrate 2; and the other potential is led out by switching the analog switch, thereby detecting the input device with those potentials. Consequently, the durability to the input is improved.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an input device.

[Conventional technology]

A conventional input device of this type was as shown in FIG. In this input device, organic or inorganic hard balls made of polystyrene, glass, etc. are sprayed onto the spacer 9 by a spray method or the like.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, in the case of conventional input devices of this type, the spacer was a hard ball, so in the case of input devices for digitizer applications that require input on the entire input surface, the input force causes the electrodes on the board surface to There were cases where the spacer was damaged or damaged. If the electrode is scratched, even if a straight line is input, it will be recognized as a curved line, and if the spacer is damaged, it will be in constant contact, causing incorrect input. .

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and its purpose is to provide an input device with improved durability against input.

[Means to solve the problem]

The input device of the present invention is an input device in which key input electrodes are formed on the surface of each substrate, and the substrates are placed facing each other with the electrodes inside. It is characterized in that particles of a certain electrically insulating material with a diameter of several microns or less are arranged as spacers.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an input device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is an example of a device configuration according to the present invention. 1 is a flexible plastic substrate, 2 is a glass or plastic lower substrate, and 3a and 3b are the substrates 1 and 3b, respectively.
An electrode formed on the entire surface of 2, 4 spacer particles made of elastic silicone balls with a diameter of 6 microns, 6
7 is an analog switch, and 8 is a power supply. Note that the substrate spacing t is preferably 100 microns or less, preferably 60 microns or less, and, taking malfunctions into consideration, 1 micron or more.

The method of this operation is to apply a potential gradient to the electrode 3a on the substrate 1 by switching an analog switch, take out the potential at the contact position by input from the electrode 3b on the lower substrate 2, and then switch the analog switch to apply a potential gradient to the electrode 3a on the substrate 1. Potentials are taken 8 and the input device is detected based on those potentials.

A sliding test was performed in which a ballpoint pen 10 with a tip curvature radius of 0.35n+mR was continuously reciprocated on the same straight line while applying a load of 500g from the top surface of the substrate 1, as shown in Fig. 3, on the input device fabricated with the above configuration. When we tested the conventional input device using a hard ball as a spacer, we found that the spacer moved and dug into the substrate after several hundred operations, damaging the electrodes and making it difficult to maintain a uniform potential gradient on the electrode 3a on the substrate 1. In contrast to this problem, the position detection accuracy of the input was greatly reduced due to the error, and the spacer was destroyed and the substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2 were constantly in contact, resulting in erroneous input. In the input device, no digging of the spacer into the substrate or destruction of the spacer is observed even after several thousand times of operation, and no scratches occur on the electrodes, so the potential gradient of the electrode 3a on the substrate 1 remains uniform and the input position remains unchanged. There was no change in detection accuracy.

<Example 2> In Example 1, the same results as in Example 1 were obtained even when urethane rubber balls were used as the spacer particles.

<Example 3> In Example 1, polyester, PES, acrylic, polyimide, or other transparent and flexible plastic was used for the substrate 1, glass was used for the lower substrate 2, and electrodes 3a and 3b were formed by vapor deposition, sputtering, A transparent input device is made using transparent electrodes formed by a method such as CVD, and an LCD is created.

It was placed on a display device such as an EL, LED, plasma display, or ECD to form a display/input device.

Input devices include at least an analog potential detection type input device using a substrate with a plurality of striped electrodes and a resistor connecting them, a contact position detection type input device having matrix electrodes on the upper and lower substrates, etc. It goes without saying that all types of input devices in which upper and lower substrates contact each other can be used, in which one substrate is made of a flexible material such as plastic or thin glass.

Further, the material of the spacer may be any resin as long as it has elasticity and insulating properties.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, in an input device that detects potential in an analog manner by forming electrodes on the entire surface, there is no decrease in input potential detection accuracy and there is no short-circuit failure caused by contact between upper and lower substrates. An input device may be provided.

In addition, by adjusting the density and diameter of the spacer particles, human input methods can be controlled depending on the purpose of the input device, such as making it possible to input with a writing instrument such as a pencil but not with a finger, or inputting with either a finger or a writing instrument. It also has the effect of being able to do so.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main sectional view of a key manual device section of an input device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of Embodiment 1 of the input device of the present invention. 3rd t! 1 is an explanatory diagram of the sliding test in Example 1. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a key manual unit of a conventional input device. Substrate Lower Substrate Electrode Spacer Particle Pencil Silver Paste Analog Switch Power Supply Hard Spacer Ballpoint Pen Weight Above Applicant Seiko Epson Corporation Agent Patent Attorney Kizobe Suzuki and 1 other person Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an input device in which key input electrodes are formed on the surface of each substrate, and the substrates are placed facing each other with the electrodes inside, an elastic electrically insulating material made of an organic substance is placed at any location between the substrates. An input device characterized by having spacers arranged with particles having a diameter of several microns or less.