JPH0864080A - Multi-way input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain a multi-way input device in which a click feeling generated by pressing the center is accurate, and the operating feeling is good. CONSTITUTION: Plural fixed contacts are provided on an insulating substrata 4 on which a tact switch 20 is loaded at the center, and while the plural second projections 25 having movable contacts 29 are provided on elastic substrates 5, the second projections 25 are projected upward obliquely through outer side thin wall members 25a, intermediate members 28, and inner side thin wall members 25b. These elastic substrate 5 are loaded on the insulating substrate 4 making the intermediate members 28 float a little from the insulating substrate 4, and while a driving body 2 is held movable vertically and inclinable in the multiple directions in a housing 1 by the second projections 25, the center of the lower surface of the driving body 2 is opposed to the stem of the tact switch 20 maintaining a specific interval.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-directional input device for switching various contacts by tilting an operating body in an arbitrary direction, and more particularly to a multi-directional inputting device provided with a switching function by pressing a central portion of the operating body. The present invention relates to a multi-directional input device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a multidirectional input device of this type, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-150778, a driving body is held in a housing in a vertically movable and tiltable state, and It has been proposed that a tact switch for detecting vertical movement and a tact switch for tilt detection, which are operated by a driving body, are arranged inside a housing, and these tact switches are soldered on an insulating substrate. The vertical movement detection switch element is arranged at a position facing the central portion of the lower surface of the driving body, while the tilt detection tact switches are arranged at the peripheral portion of the lower surface of the driving body at intervals of 90 degrees in the circumferential direction. It is arranged.

A multi-directional input device having such a structure is
When the operating body connected to the driving body is tilted in any direction, the tactile switch for tilt detection located in the tilting direction is selectively pressed to turn on, and when the central portion of the operating body is pressed, The tact switch for detecting vertical movement, which is located directly below the driving body, is pressed and turned on, and the switching operation can be performed not only by the tilting operation but also by the pressing operation.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional multi-directional input device, a plurality of elastic pieces provided on the driving body are used to hold the driving body in the housing. Since the multi-directional input device is increased in size by one piece, it has been proposed that the driving body is held in the housing by utilizing the elastic force of each tilt detection tact switch. However, in this case, when the tactile switch for vertical movement detection is turned on by pressing the central portion of the operating body, each tilt detection tactile switch is also pushed by the descent of the driving body, so The click feeling generated from the tact switch is significantly weakened, and there is a problem that the operation feeling is bad for the operator who presses the operating body.

The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances of the prior art as described above, and an object thereof is to provide a multidirectional input device having a clear click feeling and a good operation feeling.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a vertical movement detecting switch element and a plurality of tilt detecting switch elements, an insulating substrate on which each of these switch elements is mounted, and And a driving body that is held so as to be vertically movable and tiltable by a tilt detection switch element,
By pressing the central portion of the driving body, the vertical movement detection switch element is operated with a click feeling, and by tilting the driving body in an arbitrary direction,
In a multidirectional input device in which the tilt detection switch element is selectively operated, fixed contacts of the tilt detection switch element are respectively provided on the insulating substrate, and an elastic substrate is placed on the insulating substrate and the elastic substrate is mounted on the insulating substrate. The substrate is provided with an intermediate portion extending above the insulating substrate via an outer thin portion and a plurality of protrusions projecting obliquely upward from the intermediate portion via the inner thin portion, and the rotation surface is provided on the inner bottom surface of these protrusions. The movable contact of the detection switch element is provided respectively.

[0007]

When the driver is tilted in an arbitrary direction, the top surface of the protrusion located in the tilting direction is pressed by the driver, so that the thin outer portion of the protrusion is first deformed and the middle portion contacts the insulating substrate. After the contact, the inner thin part buckles and deforms, the movable contact provided on the inner bottom surface of the protrusion contacts the fixed contact provided on the insulating substrate, and the tilt detection switch turns on. Become. At this time, the other tilt detection switches and the vertical movement detection switch elements do not receive the pressing force from the driving body, so that they are both kept in the off state.

On the other hand, when the central portion of the driving body is pressed,
Since the driving body descends against the elastic force of each protruding portion, the vertical movement detection switch is pressed by the driving body to be turned on. At this time, each projecting portion also receives a pressing force from the driving body and is deformed until the intermediate portion comes into contact with the insulating substrate, but only the outer thin portion deforms, and the inner thin wall requiring a relatively large pressing force. Since the part does not buckle and deform, the click feeling generated from the vertical movement detection switch is hardly reduced by the deformation of the protruding part.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a multi-directional input device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the multi-directional input device, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a main part of the multi-directional input device, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a rear view of an elastic substrate provided in the multi-directional input device, FIG. 5 is a plan view of an insulating substrate provided in the multi-directional input device, and FIG. 6 is an operation of a first protrusion provided in the multi-directional input device. Explanatory diagrams, FIGS. 7 and 8 are operation explanatory diagrams of the second protrusion provided in the multi-directional input device.

The multi-directional input device according to this embodiment mainly includes a housing 1 forming an outer shell, and the housing 1
A driving body 2 arranged inside, an operating body 3 integrated with the driving body 2 and arranged outside the housing 1, an insulating substrate 4 fixed to the lower end of the housing 1, and the insulating substrate. It is composed of an elastic substrate 5 placed on the surface 4 and a sliding ring 6 interposed between the elastic substrate 5 and the driving body 2.

The housing 1 is made of a synthetic resin material,
A through hole 7 is formed in the center of the top surface of the housing 1, and a guide portion 7a is formed inside the through hole 7. Four openings 8 are formed around the through hole 7, and two pins 9 and 10 (see FIG. 3) are provided on the top surface of the housing 1.
(See) is installed vertically.

The driving body 2 is made of a synthetic resin material, and a shaft portion 12 having a square hole 11 is provided at the center of the driving body 2, and a plurality of blades 13 are integrally formed around the shaft portion 12. Has been done. The upper portion of each wing piece 13 is a curved surface 13a, and these curved surfaces 13a form part of a spherical surface centered on the fulcrum O shown in FIG. A hemispherical pressing portion 14 is integrally formed on the lower surface of the shaft portion 12, and four arm portions 15 radially extending are integrally formed on the lower portion of the shaft portion 12. The arms 15 are kept at 90 ° intervals in the circumferential direction, and two of the arms 15 facing each other by 180 ° are formed with a pressing portion 16. A torsion spring 17 is wound around the lower portion of each wing piece 13.
Both ends of are engaged with spring receiving portions 18 provided on the driving body 2 and are located between the pins 9 and 10 of the housing 1. Further, a part of the shaft portion 12 reaches the outside through the through hole 7 of the housing 1, and the shaft 19 vertically provided at the center of the operating body 3 is press-fitted into the square hole 11 of the driving body 2. As a result, the driving body 2 and the operating body 3 are integrated.

The insulating substrate 4 is made of an insulating material such as phenol resin, and a horizontal type tact switch 20 is soldered to the central portion thereof. The tact switch 20 is a known one in which the contact is switched with a click feeling by pressing a stem protruding from the upper end. As shown in FIG. 5, on the insulating substrate 4, 90 ° in the circumferential direction with the tact switch 20 as the center.
Four sets of fixed contacts 21 arranged at an interval of 4 degrees and two sets of fixed contacts 22 arranged between three sets of continuous fixed contacts 21 are formed, respectively. Also, the insulating substrate 4
A plurality of mounting holes 23 are formed in each of the mounting holes 2 and a projecting pin (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the housing 1 is attached to each mounting hole 2.
The housing 1 and the insulating substrate 4 are integrated with each other by press-fitting into the housing 3 and heating the protruding pins as necessary.

The elastic substrate 5 is made of an elastic material such as silicon rubber, and has a window hole 24 formed in the center thereof, and is sandwiched and fixed between the lower portion of the housing 1 and the insulating substrate 4. On the upper surface of the elastic substrate 5, there are four second protrusions 25 arranged at intervals of 90 degrees in the circumferential direction around the window hole 24, and between three consecutive second protrusions 25. And the two first protrusions 26 arranged in the. As shown in FIG. 6, the first protrusion 26 is formed of the elastic substrate 5.
Of the pressing member 16 of the driving body 2 is projected upward through a thin portion 26a extending obliquely upward from the upper surface of the driving body 2.
Facing the side of. A movable contact 27 facing the fixed contact 22 on the insulating substrate 4 is provided on the bottom surface of the first protruding portion 26. The fixed contact 22 and the movable contact 27 form a contact portion of the rotation detection switch element. Are configured. The movable contact 27 is biased in the direction away from the pressing portion 16 with respect to the center of the first protruding portion 26, and is inclined so as to separate from the insulating substrate 4 as the distance from the pressing portion 16 increases. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
The second projecting portion 25 extends from the upper surface of the elastic substrate 5 to the outer thin portion 2
5a, and an upper portion of the second projecting portion 25 of the driving body 2 is projected upward through an intermediate portion 28 that extends in the horizontal direction via 5a and an inner thin portion 25b that extends obliquely upward from the intermediate portion 28. The lower surface of the arm portion 15 is opposed to the lower surface of the arm portion 15 via a sliding ring 6 described later. A movable contact 29 facing the fixed contact 21 on the insulating substrate 4 is provided on the bottom surface of the second protrusion 25.
The movable contact 29 is inclined so as to move away from the insulating substrate 4 toward the outside of the elastic substrate 5, and the fixed contact 21 and the movable contact 29 form a contact portion of the tilt detection switch element. are doing. Furthermore, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
A groove 30 for air escape connecting 6 is formed.

The slidable ring 6 is made of a material having a high slidability such as PVC or Teflon, and two notches 6a are formed on the inner peripheral edge of the slidable ring 6. The sliding ring 6 is formed on the lower surface of each arm 15 of the driving body 2 and the elastic substrate 5.
Is provided between the top surface of each of the second protrusions 25 of
Both first protrusions 26 of the elastic substrate 5 extend to above the sliding ring 6 through the notches 6a. Here, since the positional relationship between the driving body 2 and the elastic substrate 5 is set such that each arm portion 15 pushes down the corresponding second projecting portion 25 by a certain amount, the driving body 2 has each second The housing 1 is always urged upward by receiving a reaction force from the protruding portion 25 of the housing 1.
It is designed to be held horizontally inside. And
Since each curved surface 13a slides along the guide portion 7a, the driving body 2 is rotatable and tiltable in multiple directions, and is pushed down against the elastic force of each second protrusion 25. The driver 2 can also be pressed.

Next, the operation of the multidirectional input device configured as described above will be described. FIG. 1 shows a non-operation state,
In this case, the pressing portion 14 of the driving body 2 and the tact switch 20
A clearance is formed between the stem and the stem, and the tact switch 20 is in the off state. In addition, the first protrusion 2
The movable contact 27 of 6 and the fixed contact 22 on the insulating substrate 4, and the movable contact 29 of the second projecting portion 25 and the fixed contact 21 on the insulating substrate 4 are all separated from each other, and the rotation detection switch and the tilt detection switch. Are both off. The second
The lower surface of the intermediate portion 28 of the protruding portion 25 is slightly spaced from the surface of the insulating substrate 4, and the distance is the same as the pressing portion 14 described above.
Is set to be approximately the same as the clearance between the stem of the tact switch 20 and the stem.

When the operator rotates the operating body 3 in either the forward or reverse direction, for example, the clockwise direction in FIG. 3 from the non-operating state shown in FIG. 1, the driving body 2 integrated with the operating body 3 has a fulcrum O. Rotate in the same direction around the axis passing through. In this case, the slip ring 6 does not rotate with respect to the elastic substrate 5 due to the difference in the friction coefficient between the driving body 2 made of a synthetic resin material and the elastic substrate 5 made of silicon rubber or the like, and each arm of the driving body 2 does not rotate. 1
The lower surface of 5 rotates and slides on the upper surface of the sliding ring 6. When the driving body 2 rotates in this manner, the torsion spring 17 stores energy by pressing one end of the torsion spring 17 against the pin 9, and one of the pressing portions 16 of the driving body 2 is opposed to the elastic substrate. 5 presses the first protrusion 26, the thin portion 26a of the first protrusion 26 is obliquely buckled and deformed with the pressing side as a fulcrum, as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. The generated click feeling is transmitted to the operator via the driving body 2 and the operating body 3. When the first projecting portion 26 is tilted in this way, the movable contact 27 provided on the bottom surface of the first projecting portion 26 comes into contact with the fixed contact 22 that faces the movable contact 27, and one rotation detection switch is turned on. , As mentioned above, the movable contact 2
Since 7 is biased in the direction away from the pressing side with respect to the center of the first protrusion 26, the movable contact 27 contacts the fixed contact 21 even when the first protrusion 26 is tilted by a small amount. The first protrusion 26 is elastically deformed even after the contact with, and an overstroke can be obtained.

When the rotary operation force applied to the operating body 3 is removed, the driving body 2 is returned to the state of FIG. 3 by the stored force of the torsion spring 17, and the first projecting portion 26 also has its own elasticity. As a result, the movable contact 27 is separated from the fixed contact 22 to automatically return to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 6, and the rotation detection switch returns to the original OFF state. Incidentally, contrary to the above,
When the operator rotates the operating body 3 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3, the torsion spring 17 is charged by the other end being pressed against the pin 10, and the other first protrusion 26 of the elastic substrate 5 is stored. Since it is pressed by the other pressing portion 26 of the driving body 2, the other rotation detection switch is turned on.

When the operator pushes an arbitrary peripheral portion of the operating body 3, for example, the upper left end portion of the operating body 3 from the non-operating state shown in FIG. 1, the operating body 3 and the driving body 2 are centered on the fulcrum O. Of the arm portions 15 of the driving body 2, the arm portion 15 located on the left side in FIG. 1 is tilted in the direction indicated by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. Protrusion 2
Press 5. At this time, the first protrusion 26 of the elastic substrate 5 is formed.
Is located in the notch 6a of the slidable ring 6, no pressing force acts on the first protrusion 26 even if the slidable ring 6 is tilted. When the second protrusion 25 is pressed by the arm 15 in this way, the second protrusion 25 is
First, after the outer thin portion 25a is deformed and the intermediate portion 28 comes into contact with the insulating substrate 4, the inner thin portion 25b is buckled and deformed, as shown in FIG.
Is transmitted to the operator via the operating body 3. And
When the second protruding portion 25 buckles, the movable contact 29 provided on the bottom surface of the second protruding portion 25 faces the fixed contact 2
When touching 1 and any tilt detection switch is turned on,
As described above, since the movable contact 29 is inclined so as to move away from the insulating substrate 4 toward the outside of the elastic substrate 5, the movable contact 29 contacts the fixed contact 21 in a parallel state.

When the tilting operation force for the operating body 3 is removed, the driving body 2 and the slidable ring 6 which are inclined due to the elasticity of the second projecting portion 25 are raised to the position shown in FIG. The contact 29 is separated from the fixed contact 21, and the tilt detection switch returns to the original OFF state. When the operator presses the other peripheral portion of the operating body 3 and tilts it, one or two second protrusions 2 located in the tilting direction.
5 operates in the same manner as above, and the other tilt detection switches are turned on.

Further, when the operator pushes in the central portion of the operating body 3 from the non-operating state shown in FIG. 1, the operating body 3, the driving body 2 and the slidable ring 6 cause the elastic force of each second projecting portion 25. Since the pressing portion 14 of the driving body 2 presses the stem of the tact switch 20, the click feeling from the tact switch 20 is transmitted to the operator via the driving body 2 and the operating body 3, The tact switch 20 is turned on. At this time, each of the second projecting portions 25 also receives the pressing force from the driving body 2 and is deformed until the intermediate portion 28 contacts the insulating substrate 4 as shown in FIG. 8. However, this pressing force does not deform. Since only the outer thin portion 25a and the inner thin portion 25b that requires a relatively large pressing force do not buckle and deform, it is possible to prevent the second protrusion 25 from reducing the click feeling from the tact switch 20. .

As described above, in the above-described embodiment, when the driving body 2 is rotated in either the forward or reverse direction by the operating body 3, the side surface of the first projecting portion 26 provided on the elastic substrate 5 is driven. The thin portion 26a of the first protruding portion 26 is pressed by the pressing portion 16 of the body 2 and is obliquely buckled and deformed to the opposite side with the pressing side as a fulcrum, but it is provided on the inner bottom surface of the first protruding portion 26. Since the movable contact 27 is provided at a position eccentric to the center of the first protruding portion 26, the movable contact 27 is provided on the insulating substrate 4 even if the first protruding portion 26 is tilted by a small amount. The fixed contact 21 is contacted, and the rotation detection switch is turned on. The movable contact 27 is the fixed contact 2
Even after touching 1, the first protrusion 26 is elastically deformed to obtain an overstroke, so that the feeling of operation can be enhanced.

When the driver 2 is tilted in an arbitrary direction by pressing an arbitrary peripheral portion of the operating body 3, the top surface of the second projecting portion 25 positioned in the tilting direction is moved by the arm 15 of the driver 2. Since the movable contact 29 provided on the inner bottom surface of the second protrusion contacts the fixed contact 22 provided on the insulating substrate 4 and the switch for tilt detection is turned on, the rotation detection is performed. Movable contacts 2 for power switch and tilt detection switch
7, 29 to the first and second protrusions 26 of the elastic substrate 5,
25 can be integrally formed. Therefore, the insulating substrate 4 and the elastic substrate 5 mounted thereon are the only components constituting the contact portions of the rotation detecting switch and the tilt detecting switch, and the number of components and the number of assembling steps can be greatly reduced. In addition, since it is not necessary to use a vertical type tact switch as a rotation detection switch, it is possible to prevent the height dimension of the multidirectional input device from increasing.

A slidable ring 6 is provided between the lower surface of each arm portion 15 of the driving body 2 and the top surface of each second projecting portion 25 of the elastic substrate 5, and the slidable ring 6 is attached to the slidable ring 6. Since the notches 6a through which the first protrusions 26 of the elastic substrate 5 are inserted are formed, when the driving body 2 is rotated by the operating body 3, the sliding ring 6 does not rotate with respect to the elastic substrate 5, and the drive is performed. The lower surface of each arm portion 15 of the body 2 rotationally slides on the upper surface of the sliding ring 6.
Therefore, each second protrusion 25 is not worn by the rotation of the driving body 2, and the life of the contact portion can be extended.

Further, the second protruding portion 25 of the elastic substrate 5
Has an intermediate portion 28 that extends above the insulating substrate 4 via the outer thin portion 25a and an inner thin portion 25b that extends obliquely upward from the intermediate portion 28. When the pressing operation is performed, each second protrusion 25
Also receives the pressing force from the driving body 2 and deforms until the intermediate portion 28 comes into contact with the insulating substrate 4. However, this pressing force deforms only the outer thin portion 25a and requires a relatively large pressing force. The inner thin portion 25b does not buckle and deform. Therefore, the click feeling generated from the tact switch 20 is hardly reduced by the second protruding portion 25, and the operation feeling can be enhanced also from this point.

In the above embodiment, the multidirectional input device which switches various contacts according to the rotation operation, the tilting operation and the push operation of the operating body 3 has been described.
The present invention can be applied to a multi-directional input device in which only the push operation and the tilt operation of the operating body 3 can be omitted by omitting the rotating operation of.

In the above embodiment, the case where the tact switch 20 is used as the vertical movement detection switch element has been described, but instead of the tact switch 20, each second
It is also possible to use a click rubber type switch having the same structure as that of the protruding portion 25.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the vertical movement detection switch is operated by pushing in the central portion of the driving body, each protrusion of the elastic substrate holding the driving body is relatively contacted with the insulating substrate by the deformation of the thin outer portion. Since the inner thin part that requires a large pressing force does not buckle and deform, the click sensation generated by the vertical movement detection switch element is hardly weakened by the tilt detection switch element. A direction input device can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a multidirectional input device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the multidirectional input device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the multi-directional input device.

FIG. 4 is a back view of an elastic substrate included in the multi-directional input device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an insulating substrate provided in the multi-directional input device.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of a first protrusion provided in the multi-directional input device.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram when the second protrusion provided in the multi-directional input device is tilted.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when the second protrusion is pushed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Housing 2 Driving body 3 Operating body 4 Insulating substrate 5 Elastic substrate 6 Sliding ring 7 Through hole 9, 10 pin 11 Central movable contact 12 Shaft part 13 Wing piece 13a Curved surface 14 Pressing part 15 Arm part 16 Pressing part 17 Twisting Ri spring 18 Spring receiving portion 20 Tact switch 21, 22 Fixed contact 25 Second protruding portion 25a Outer thin portion 25b Inner thin portion 26 First protruding portion 26a Thin portion 27, 29 Movable contact 28 Middle portion

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vertical movement detection switch element, a plurality of tilt detection switch elements, an insulating substrate on which the respective switch elements are mounted, and a drive which is held by the respective tilt detection switch elements so as to be vertically movable and tiltable. With a body,
By pressing the central portion of the driving body, the vertical movement detection switch element is operated with a click feeling, and by tilting the driving body in an arbitrary direction,
In a multidirectional input device in which the tilt detection switch element is selectively operated, fixed contacts of the tilt detection switch element are respectively provided on the insulating substrate, and an elastic substrate is placed on the insulating substrate and the elastic substrate is mounted on the insulating substrate. The substrate is provided with an intermediate portion extending above the insulating substrate via an outer thin portion and a plurality of protrusions projecting obliquely upward from the intermediate portion via the inner thin portion, and the rotation surface is provided on the inner bottom surface of these protrusions. A multidirectional input device, wherein movable contacts of detection switch elements are provided respectively.