JPH07192572A - Push-button structure of small size electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To expand the mounting area of electronic parts of a circuit board, by superposing a flexible key having a conductor corresponding to a key contact, through a part having a key contact of a heart seal connected to the circuit board and a display panel. CONSTITUTION:While a liquid crystal display panel 12 to which the liquid crystal contact 19b of a heat seal 13 is thermally press-fitted is mounted on a circuit board 11, the board contact 19a and the contact 21a of the heat seal 13 are thermally press-fitted to the electrode pattern 18 for connection of the board 11. To the vertical holding surface 14b of a spacer 14 inserted in the insertion groove 14a at the end of the board 11, the heat seal 13 is adhered and fixed in the condition of bending the extension larger width parts 13b of the heat seal 13, which a double-sided tape 15, and the positioning pin 14c of the holding surface 14b is inserted to the extension larger width parts 13b of the heat seal 13. The plane part 16a of a flexible key 16 is superposed on the surface side of the larger width parts 13b having the key contacts 21, and the buttons 16b of the flexible key 16 are faced to the holes 2c formed to the side surface 2b of a case 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a push button structure in a small electronic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a small electronic device having a liquid crystal display, the structure of a push button provided on the side surface is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the circuit board 71 and the liquid crystal display panel 72
And a heat seal 73 for contacting them, and a mechanical switch 7 mounted vertically on the circuit board 71.
4, 74, 74 and buttons 76, 76, 76 made of resin for pushing these switches from the case 75.

The mounting state of these is as shown in FIG.
The liquid crystal display panel 72 includes a circuit board 71 and a heat seal 7.
3 is contacted and the mechanical switch 74 is
Fit the circuit board 71 into the notch and solder 77
The switch 74 itself is fixed by the
The four terminals are soldered to the circuit board 71.

[0004]

As described above, conventionally, since the space for fitting the mechanical switch 74, the solder pad for fixing the space, and the pad for connecting the heat seal 73 are required on the circuit board 71, There are drawbacks that the board area of the electronic component is reduced, the cost is high due to the use of the mechanical switch 74, and the number of components is large, so that the assembling work is difficult.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce the electronic component mounting area of a circuit board in a small electronic device having a push button on the side surface side with respect to the surface having a display portion, and
An object of the present invention is to provide a push button structure that is easy to assemble and is inexpensive.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a display panel mounted on a circuit board on one surface side of a case, and push buttons on the side surface side of the case on which the display panel is provided. In a small electronic device including, a heat seal having a wiring pattern for connecting the circuit board and the display panel on one surface side and a key contact portion on the other surface side, and fixed to an end portion of the circuit board And a flexible key having a conductive portion corresponding to the key contact portion of the heat seal on the inner end side of the button portion. The push button structure is characterized in that the flexible key is superposed on the supporting surface of the supporting base fixed to the end of the substrate through the portion having the key contact portion of the heat seal.

[0007]

The key is provided on the substantially vertical support surface of the support table fixed to the end of the circuit board through the portion having the heat-seal key contact portion for connecting the circuit board and the display panel mounted thereon. Since the push button is configured by stacking the flexible key having the conductive portion corresponding to the contact portion on the inner end side of the button portion, the mounting area of the electronic component on the circuit board is larger than the conventional one.

Further, since the mechanical switch used in the past is not necessary, the assembling work becomes simpler than the conventional one, and the cost can be reduced.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the push button structure for a small electronic device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, FIG. 1 shows a pager 1 as an example of a small electronic device to which the present invention is applied. Reference numeral 2 is a case, 3 is a display portion, and 4, 5 and 6 are push buttons. As shown in the figure, the pager 1 is provided with a mode switching, a light ON / OF, on the side surface side of the case 2 on which the display unit 3 is provided.
F, three push buttons 4, 5 and 6 for switching the display are provided. The display unit 3 is, as shown in FIG.
Transparent cover 7 fitted in the display window 2a formed on the upper surface of the
Visible from the outside through.

FIG. 2 shows internal electronic parts and the like including rubber keys constituting the push buttons 4, 5, and 6.
Is a circuit board, 12 is a liquid crystal display panel, 13 is heat seal, 14 is a spacer (support), 15 is double-sided tape,
16 is a rubber key.

As shown in the figure, on the upper surface of the circuit board 11,
A pair of mini lamps 17, 17 for illuminating the display unit 3 are mounted, and a connection electrode pattern 18 including a pad for connecting a liquid crystal and a pad for connecting a key contact is formed. A heat seal 13 is connected to the liquid crystal display panel 12.

The heat seal 13 is, as shown in FIG.
A wiring pattern 19 is formed on one surface side. The wiring pattern 19 has a substrate contact portion 19a at one end and a liquid crystal contact portion 19b at the other end. The heat seal 13 has an extended wide portion 13a formed by extending from the wiring pattern 19 and widened, and positioning holes 13b and 13b are formed at both ends of the extended wide portion 13a.

Further, the heat seal 13 has the extended wide portion 1 on the back surface side of the surface having the wiring pattern 19.
Three key contact portions 21, 21, 21 are formed on 3a. The key contact portions 21, 21, 21 are formed at through holes 13c, 13c, 1 at positions on both sides of the wiring pattern 19.
Substrate contact portion 21 continuous through 3c and 13c
a and 21a. It should be noted that the surface of the wiring pattern 19 has a substrate contact portion 19a, 21a, 21a and a liquid crystal contact portion 19 as shown by a virtual line range in FIG.
An insulating portion 22 formed by applying an insulating material or the like is formed between b and b.

The spacer 14 forming the support base is made of resin, and as shown in FIG. 5, a substrate insertion groove 14a is formed on the back side over the entire width direction, and the substrate insertion groove 14 is formed on the front side.
It is formed on a support surface 14b which is perpendicular to a, and positioning pins 14c, 14c are projectingly provided at both ends of this support surface 14b. The board insertion groove 14a is formed by the spacer 14
Is also formed on the projecting piece portions 14d, 14d formed at both end portions of the back surface.

A double-sided tape 15 is prepared to bond and fix the extended wide portion 13a of the heat seal 13 to the support surface 14b of the spacer 14.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rubber key 16 has three button portions 16b, 16 which bulge on the flat plate portion 16a.
b and 16b are integrally formed, and the button portion 16
In the inside of b, 16b, 16b, the key contact portions 21, 2 are provided.
A conductive portion 1 such as a carbon pad formed by carbon printing for contacting and short-circuiting with each of 1, 21 respectively.
6c, 16c, 16c are respectively provided so as to project.

The above-mentioned electronic parts and the like are assembled in the following manner. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal display panel 12
The liquid crystal contact portion 19b of the heat seal 13 is thermocompression bonded to the liquid crystal display panel 12 and the circuit board 11
In addition to being mounted on top, the board contact portions 19a, 21a, 21a of the heat seal 13 are thermocompression bonded to the connection electrode patterns (pads for liquid crystal connection and pads for key contact connection) 18 of the circuit board 11.

Further, a spacer 14 is attached to the end portion of the circuit board 11 by inserting it into the board insertion groove 14a, and a vertical support surface 14b of the spacer 14 is attached.
In a state where the extended wide portion 13a of the heat seal 13 is bent, the double-sided tape 15 is adhesively fixed. Further, the positioning pins 14c, 14 of the support surface 14b of the spacer 14 are
c is fitted into the positioning holes 13b and 13b of the extended wide portion 13a of the heat seal 13, respectively.

The extended wide portion 1 of the heat seal 13
As shown in FIG. 2, the flat plate portion 16a of the rubber key 16 is superposed on the surface side having the key contact portions 21, 21, 21 of 3a, and the hole portions 2c, 2c formed in the side surface portion 2b of the case 2, as shown in FIG.
The button portions 16b, 16b, 16b of the rubber key 16 are made to face 2c, respectively. As a result, as shown in FIG.
Two push buttons 4, 5, 6 are mounted.

As described above, the heat seal 13 is used which is compatible with the contact between the circuit board 11 and the liquid crystal display panel 12 and the key contact portions 21, 21, 21 for the push buttons 4, 5, 6. The conductive parts 16c, 16c, 16c corresponding to the contact parts 21, 21, 21 are replaced by button parts 16b, 1
Due to the structure using the rubber key 16 inside 6b and 16b and the spacer 14 fixed to the circuit board 11 and having the vertical support surface 14b, in comparison with the conventional one,
It is possible to increase the mounting area of electronic components on the circuit board, simplify the assembly work, and reduce the cost.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a modified example in which the spacer 14 is replaced by a battery holder 24 which also serves as a support for accommodating and holding the battery 23. The same members as those in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals. However, the description thereof will be omitted, and only the differences will be described in the following description.

That is, as shown in the figure, the battery holder 24 for accommodating and holding the battery 23 is formed with the board insertion groove 24a and the supporting surface 24c perpendicular to the groove 24a, and the supporting surface 24b.
Positioning pins (not shown) are projectingly provided at both ends of the.
A slide-type battery lid 25 is provided on the lower surface of the case 2.

The end portion of the circuit board 11 is inserted into the board insertion groove 24a of the battery holder 24, and the extended wide portion 1 of the heat seal 13 is attached to the vertical support surface 14b of the battery holder 24.
In the state where 3a is bent, it is adhesively fixed with the double-sided tape 15. Further, positioning pins (not shown) on the support surface 24b of the battery holder 24 are fitted into the positioning holes 13b and 13b of the extended wide portion 13a of the heat seal 13, respectively.

Thereafter, as in the above embodiment, the heat seal 1
The flat plate portion 16a of the rubber key 16 is superposed on the surface side of the extended wide portion 13a of 3 having the key contact portions 21, 21 and 21,
The button portions 16b, 16b, 16b of the rubber key 16 are made to face the holes 2c, 2c, 2c of the case side surface portion 2b, respectively.

As described above, by using the battery holder 24 also as the support stand, the number of parts can be reduced as compared with the case where the dedicated spacer 14 is used.

Although the pager is used in the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this.
It may be another small electronic device including a display unit and a push button. Further, the push button is not limited to the rubber key, and may be any movable member having a restoring function by itself or in combination with other members, and the number thereof is also arbitrary. In addition, it goes without saying that the specific detailed structure and the like can be appropriately changed.

[0028]

As described above, according to the push button structure for a small electronic device according to the present invention, the circuit board and the display panel mounted on the circuit board are connected to each other, and the heat seal having the key contact portion and the circuit are provided. Compared with the conventional one, a support base having a substantially vertical support surface fixed to the end of the substrate and a flexible key having a conductive portion corresponding to the key contact portion of the heat seal at the inner end of the button portion were used. As a result, the mounting area of the electronic component on the circuit board can be expanded, and the assembling work can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a pager as an example of a small electronic device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing internal electronic components and the like including a push button according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a mounted state of electronic components and the like according to the present invention.

4A and 4B show the shape of a heat seal used in the present invention, wherein FIG. 4A is a plan view seen from the liquid crystal-substrate contact side, and FIG. 4B is a plan view seen from the key contact side.

5A and 5B show the shape of a spacer (support base) used in the present invention, (a) is a front view, (b) is a plan view,
(C) is a rear view and (d) is a side view.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional side view of a mounting state similar to FIG. 3 showing a modified example of a battery holder also used as a support base used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing an electronic component and the like including a push button provided on the side surface side of a small electronic device having a conventional liquid crystal display.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional side view showing a mounting state of a conventional electronic component and the like.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Small electronic device 2 Case 3 Display part 4, 5, 6 Push button 11 Circuit board 12 Liquid crystal display panel 13 Heat seal 13a Extended wide part 13b Positioning hole 13c Through hole 14 Spacer (support base) 14a Board insertion groove 14b Support surface 14c Positioning pin 15 Double-sided tape 16 Rubber key 16a Flat plate portion 16b Button portion 16c Conductive portion 19 Wiring pattern 21 Key contact portion 23 Battery 24 Battery holder (support base) 24a Board insertion groove 24b Support surface

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A small electronic device comprising a display panel mounted on a circuit board on one side of a case, and a push button on a side surface side of the case on which the display panel is provided, the circuit board and the display panel. A heat seal having a wiring pattern for connecting to and on one surface side and a key contact portion on the other surface side, and a support having a supporting surface fixed to an end portion of the circuit board and substantially perpendicular to the circuit board. A table, and a flexible key having a conductive part corresponding to the key contact part of the heat seal on the inner end side of the button part, and on the support surface of the support table fixed to the end part of the circuit board. A push button structure for a small electronic device, characterized in that the flexible key is superposed through a portion of the heat seal having the key contact portion.