JPH086714A - Input operation unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily operate an input operation key constituting an input operation part and a click key constituting a click operation part with one hand and to improve the operation performance of the input operation unit by arranging the input operation key and click key coaxially with each other. CONSTITUTION:The input operation key 21 which constitutes the input operation part and the click key 34 which constitutes the click operation part are arranged coaxially with each other. Then a click key storage hole 50' is bored in the center part of the input operation key 21, and the click key 34 is stored in the click key storage hole 50'. With the input operation key 21 pressed, an angle signal and a speed signal corresponding to the pressing force can be generated at the place where the pressing operation is done. Then the click key 34 is pressed and when the operation stroke exceeds a certain point, an inversion plate 70 is turned over upside down. Consequently, a movable click contact 60 is pressed to come into contact with a fixed click contact 61, and a condition setting signal can be generated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input operation device,
In particular, it relates to an input operation device in which an input operation key and a click key are concentrically configured and arranged.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The prior art of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes the entire input operation device, and 1
Reference numeral 0 is a housing of the input operation device. This housing 1
Reference numeral 0 has an input operation key 21, a click key 34, and a click key 35. The housing 10 houses a matrix switch operated by these keys and a signal processing circuit controlled by the matrix switch. A cable 36 is connected to a computer or computer-related equipment.

Next, the internal structure of the input operation device 1 is shown in FIG.
Will be described with reference to. Reference numeral 11 is a front panel of the housing 10, and 13 is a back plate of the housing 10. Membrane switches are strip contacts 30 and grouped contacts 31A-
31D. 14A and 14B are flexible insulating thin films forming this membrane switch. Reference numeral 15 is a spacer interposed between the insulating thin films 14. Insulating thin film 1
4 and the spacer 15 are shown enlarged, but are actually very thin. 15A is a space formed by punching out the spacer 15. This spacer 15
Bends the insulating thin film 14A and the insulating thin film 14B,
It is interposed between both thin films. The input operation key 21 is the back plate 13
It is supported by a pin 16 protruding from. Reference numeral 17 denotes an elastic body, which is joined to the lower surface of the input operation key 21 and faces the membrane switch. The elastic body 17 is made of a rubber elastic material such as synthetic rubber or a synthetic resin having rubber elasticity. A ring-shaped elastic portion 17 ₁ is formed on the lower surface of the elastic body 17 and further outside the elastic portion 17 ₁ . A ring-shaped skirt portion 17 ₂ is formed on the lower surface of the peripheral edge portion. The input operation key 21 and the elastic body 17 constitute a pressing operation section for pressing the membrane switch. The spacer 15 has an insulating thin film 14A and an insulating thin film 14
B is laminated and laminated on the back plate 13 for backing. 5
Reference numeral 0 denotes a circular hole that is formed in the front surface panel 11 from the surface of the front surface panel 11 downward and has a diameter that increases. The input operation key 21 and the elastic body 17 are housed and held in the circular hole 50.

The membrane switch will be described with reference to FIG. The membrane switch shown in FIG. 4 has strip contact groups 30A and 30C and grouping contacts 31B and 31D on one side of the spacer. Grouping contacts 31A and 31C are formed on the other side of the spacer facing this, facing the one side of the strip contact groups 30A and 30C, and facing the grouping contacts 31B and 31D. Form 30B and 30D. Here, the strip contact 3
Symbols 0, 1 and 2, 3, ... Are attached to the numbers 0, which indicate the contact numbers of the corresponding strip contacts 30. As for the order of the contact numbers, assuming that the circle 1 is pressed first, when the pressing position is displaced counterclockwise, the cursor movement direction is sequentially deflected counterclockwise, and the circle 20 is pressed last. Occasionally, the displacement takes one turn. An example of common connection line is strip contact 3
The lead wire is led out as shown in FIG.

The membrane switch as described above can be used to form a matrix switch, which can be used to construct an input manipulator. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 40 represents an arithmetic processing circuit composed of a microcomputer. P and Q are operation input terminals for the microcomputer 40, and R is a condition setting input terminal. θ is an angle signal, V is a speed signal, and S is a condition setting signal. Here, the operation direction of the operation key 21 can be recognized and determined by arithmetically processing the contact between the grouping contact 31 and the strip contact 30 corresponding to the operation direction of the operation key 21 by the processing circuit 40. . For example, when the grouping contact 31A and the strip contact round 1 connected to the common connection line 13 come into contact with each other, the operation input end P ₁₃ and the operation input end Q ₂₁ are interconnected, and the arithmetic processing circuit 40 makes this connection. recognize. When the grouping contact 31C and the narrow contact circle 15 connected to the common connection line 13 come into contact with each other, the operation input end P ₁₃ and the operation input end Q ₂₀ are connected to each other, and the arithmetic processing circuit 40 recognizes this connection. To do. When the grouped contacts and the two strip contacts adjacent to each other come into contact with each other, two sets of the operation input terminals P and Q are connected to each other, and the arithmetic processing circuit 40 uses the two operation input terminals P and Q.
Recognize a pair of connections. The same applies when the grouped contacts and the three strip contacts come into contact with each other.

As described above, the combination of contact points that come into contact corresponds to the operation direction of the operation key 21. When the number of contact strips is two, the processing circuit 40 outputs the central direction of the strip contact as corresponding to the operation direction. When the number of contact strips is three, for example, the intermediate strip contact is output as the one corresponding to the operation direction. The contact number of the strip contact 30 with respect to the grouped contacts 31A to 31D can be detected, and this contact number can be made to correspond to the speed signal V. For example, the number of contacts is 1 or 2
It is possible to output three kinds of speed signals V depending on whether there are three or three. The operation direction of the operating rod 20 recognized by the arithmetic processing circuit 40 is converted into an electric signal that conforms to the communication standard of a general-purpose mouse or joystick or other input operation device, and these are converted to a computer as a cursor angle signal θ to a computer. Output.

The input operation device as described above can be used for controlling the cursor position displayed on the display device of the computer equipment. In this case, the above-mentioned operation direction corresponds to the angle signal θ which is the direction in which the cursor should be moved, and the number of contact of the strip contacts corresponds to the speed signal V which is the moving speed to be achieved by the cursor.

[0008]

In the input operation device 1, the input operation key 21 and the click key 34 or 35 are generally spaced apart from each other, and both hands are required to operate both keys. It was necessary to operate by. Even if the input operation key 21 and the click key 34 or 35 are within the range of the fingers of one hand,
It has been customary to employ a configuration in which movement of one hand is required to operate both of them, or operation with one hand is extremely difficult. Further, since the input operation key and the click key are arranged apart from each other, a space for installing both the input operation key and the click key in a plane is required.
It can be said that such an input operation device is, after all, an operation device having a poor space factor, which cannot be said to have good operability that is difficult to operate with one hand.

The present invention provides an input operation device having a good space factor, which can be operated by only one hand and which solves the above-mentioned problems.

[0010]

A plurality of strip contact groups each having a plurality of strip contacts 30 arranged in an annular shape are provided, and a grouping contact 31 that faces each strip contact group is provided. Click operation units 4 and 70, which are provided with the input operation units 3 and 17 for making the contact group 30 and the grouping contact 31 mutually contact, and make the click contacts 50 and 51 mutually contact.
And an input operation key 3 for forming a speed signal, an angle signal, and a condition setting signal, and an input operation key 3 forming an input operation section and a click key 4 forming a click operation section.
Constituted input operators arranged coaxially with each other.

Then, a click key accommodating hole 50 'is formed at the center of the input operation key 3, and the click key accommodating hole 5 is formed.
An input manipulator that accommodates the click key 4 at 0'is constructed.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a view showing a cross section of an input operation device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 30 is a strip contact formed on the insulating thin film 14A and the insulating thin film 14B by printed wiring. The thickness of the insulating thin film 14 is extremely thin.
Reference numeral 31 is a grouped contact, which is also formed on the insulating thin film 14A and the insulating thin film 14B by printed wiring, similarly to the strip contact 30. Reference numeral 15 is a spacer interposed between the two insulating thin films 14A and 14B. The spacer 15 is also shown to be extremely thick for the sake of illustration and description, but is actually extremely thin, and is substantially the same as or thinner than the insulating thin film 14. 15A is a cylindrical space having a very low height formed by punching out the spacer 15. Reference numeral 15 'is a ring-shaped spacer positioned coaxially with the space 15A. Strip contact 3 mentioned above
The 0 and the grouping contacts 31A to 31D are positioned and arranged in a ring-shaped region outside the ring-shaped spacer 15 'in the space 15A formed in the spacer 15 and face each other, as shown in the drawing.

Reference numeral 60 denotes a movable click contact, which is a space 15
It is formed on the insulating thin film 14A inside the ring-shaped spacer 15 'in A. A fixed click contact 61 is formed on the insulating thin film 14B inside the ring-shaped spacer 15 'in the space 15A. Reference numeral 21 is an input operation key, and 17 is an elastic body attached to the lower surface of the input operation key 21. The input operation key 21 and the elastic body 17
And constitute an input operation unit. Reference numeral 50 denotes a circular hole formed in the front panel 11, and the input operation key 21 and the elastic body 17 which form the input operation section are accommodated in the circular hole 50. Further, 34 is a click key, 70 is a reversal plate, and 50 'is a click key accommodation hole. The click key 34 and the reversing plate 70 are provided in the click key receiving hole 50 '.
The click key 34 is supported by a reversing plate 70 from below as shown in the drawing.

Here, by pressing the input operation key 21, it is possible to generate an angle signal and a speed signal corresponding to the pressed position and the pressing force as described above. Then, the click key 34 is pressed, and when the operation stroke exceeds a certain point, the reversing plate 7
0 flips downward, which causes the movable click contact 60
Can be pressed to contact the fixed click contact 61 to generate a condition setting signal.

[0015]

According to the input operation device of the present invention, in the input operation device for generating the speed signal, the angle signal and the condition setting signal as described above, the input operation key forming the input operation portion and the click operation forming the click operation portion. Since the keys are arranged coaxially with each other, both the input operation key and the click key are within the range of the fingers of one hand, making it easy to operate both keys with one hand Performance improves. On top of that, since both keys are coaxially overlapped,
The space factor of the input manipulator in the horizontal direction is greatly improved. In the input operation device of the present invention, the strip contacts and the grouping contacts are arranged in an annular shape, and a space is inevitably formed at the center of these contacts. By adopting a configuration in which this is pressed by the click key 34 accommodated in the click key accommodating hole 50 ′ formed in the central portion of the input operation key 21, the space factor of the input operation device is further improved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an input operation device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an input operation device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a membrane switch.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a control process of information obtained by pressing a matrix switch circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Input operation key 4 Click key 15 Spacer 17 Elastic body 30 Strip contact 31 Grouping contact 50 Movable click contact 50 'Click key accommodating hole 51 Fixed click contact 70 Inversion plate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of strip contact groups each comprising a plurality of strip contacts arranged in an annular shape, and a grouping contact facing each strip contact group, the strip contact group and the grouping contacts. An input operation unit that includes an input operation unit that makes contact with each other and a click operation unit that makes contact between click contacts mutually and that generates a speed signal, an angle signal, and a condition setting signal. An input operation device characterized in that a key and a click key constituting a click operation unit are arranged coaxially with each other. 2. The input operation device according to claim 1, wherein a click key accommodating hole is formed at the center of the input operation key, and the click key is accommodated in the click key accommodating hole. vessel.