JPH10116534A - Operation button mechanism for electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of parts for the operation part of electronic equipment and make the whole of a device thin. SOLUTION: An elastic sheet material forms the operation part 7 of a portable tape player device. Furthermore, the operation part 7 is formed out of a plurality of bulged parts 21 projected from the operation surface thereof, and a projection 23 formed on the reverse side of the operation surface of each bulged part 21. In this case, the operation part 7 so formed is provided, so as to face externally from the operation opening 12 of an outer casing 4 and have the projection 23 positioned above a diaphragm switch 44 operable, upon pressing the operation mode switch of the player device 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation button mechanism for electronic equipment such as a tape player, a disc player, and a radio receiver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic apparatus such as a small tape player, a disc player, or a radio receiver which is excellent in portability is provided with operation buttons for performing the operation. Such a small electronic device is formed so that the operation button does not protrude from the exterior housing in order to improve portability.

For example, a portable tape player device 20
As shown in FIG. 12, 0 is formed to have a size substantially the same as the outer shape of the tape cassette as a recording medium. This tape player device 200 is composed of an outer casing 201 in which a cassette housing section for housing a tape cassette is housed and in which a printed wiring board is housed, and a lid 202 for opening and closing the cassette housing section. ing. The outer housing 201 has a play button 203 for playing back audio data recorded in a tape cassette on its main surface, a stop button 204 for stopping a playback operation and the like, and rewinding of the magnetic tape. Rewind button 205 for fast-forwarding the magnetic tape and a fast-forward button 206 for fast-forwarding the magnetic tape. Hereinafter, the playback button 203 and the stop button 20
4. The rewind button 205 and the fast forward button 206 are collectively called operation buttons.

[0004] In the tape player device 200 configured as described above, when the above-described play button is pressed in a state where the tape cassette is mounted in the cassette storage section, the audio data recorded on the magnetic tape is reproduced.

By the way, the operation buttons 211 of such a small-sized tape player device are configured as shown in FIG. That is, the operation button 211 has an operation section 212 formed of a synthetic resin material whose surface is plated and having a substantially convex cross section, a sheet metal 213 supporting the operation section 212, and protrudes from the sheet metal 213. And a projection 214 provided. When the operation unit 212 is pressed, the sheet metal 213 is elastically displaced and presses the diaphragm switch 216 provided on the printed wiring board 215 via the protrusion 214 when the operation button 211 configured as described above is pressed. It has been made like that.

[0006]

However, the operation buttons 211 are individually formed, increasing the number of parts, complicating the assembling work, and failing to reduce the number of parts. . The operation button 211 includes an operation unit 212, a sheet metal 213, and a protrusion 21.
4 is superimposed, it is difficult to further reduce the thickness of the tape player device 200 (specifically, about 1.2 mm).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an operation button of an electronic device which can reduce the number of components and contribute to making the entire device thinner. .

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided an operation button mechanism for an electronic device, comprising: an operation portion formed of an elastic sheet material having a plurality of bulging portions on an operation surface side; A projection provided at a location corresponding to the bulge on the back surface of the operation surface of the elastic sheet material, and the bulge is pressed by operating the bulge to press a switch provided on the wiring board. It is characterized by.

In the operation button mechanism of the electronic device configured as described above, a plurality of operation buttons are provided on the elastic sheet, and the elastic sheet member is provided with the projection.
The number of components can be reduced without intervening a sheet metal as in the related art, and the overall thickness of the electronic device can be reduced. Further, since a plurality of bulging portions are provided by the elastic sheet material, a plurality of operation buttons are manufactured at a time.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an operation button mechanism of an electronic device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The operation button mechanism of this electronic apparatus is applied to a small-sized tape player apparatus which is excellent in portability and uses a tape cassette in which an audio signal is recorded as a recording medium.

This tape player device 1 is, for example, shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, an outer casing 2 is provided in which a tape cassette is housed with a short side direction of the tape cassette as an insertion end, and a cassette housing section in which recording and / or reproduction of a magnetic tape is performed is provided. And a lid 3 for closing the part so as to be openable and closable.

The exterior housing 2 is formed so as to form a peripheral portion of the exterior housing 2 with a housing portion 4 disposed so as to close a rear portion of the exterior housing 2. 2 and an outer frame 5 disposed on the front surface of the vehicle.

The housing portion 4 is formed of a metal material such as aluminum, and is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped having a size substantially the same as the outer shape of the tape cassette 1 as a whole. The housing unit 4 is provided with an operation unit 7 of the tape player device 1 on a main surface 6 thereof. This operation unit 7
Is a playback button 8 composed of four push buttons 8, 9, 10, and 11 for operating an audio signal recorded on the magnetic tape of the tape cassette 100.
A stop button 9 for performing an operation for stopping a reproducing operation and the like, a rewind button 10 for performing an operation of rewinding the magnetic tape, and a fast-forward button 11 for performing an operation of fast-forwarding the magnetic tape. Consists of Hereinafter, the play button 8, the stop button 9, the rewind button 10, and the fast forward button 11 are collectively referred to as operation buttons 8,
They are called 9,10,11.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the operation section 7 faces outward from an operation opening section 12 provided in the main surface section 6 of the housing section 4. A shutter 13 is slidably mounted on the upper surface of the operation unit 7.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the operating portion 7 has a substantially elliptical shape, and is formed of an elastic sheet 22 made of, for example, a PET film on which a plurality of bulging portions 21 are formed, and a synthetic resin material. Bulging portion 21 of elastic sheet 22
And an aluminum deposition layer 24 formed by evaporating aluminum on the operation surface side of the elastic sheet 22. The operation unit 7 is provided with a diaphragm switch 44 installed on a printed circuit board disposed inside the housing unit 4 as described later.
Is disposed so that the projection 23 is located above the upper part.

The swelling portion 21 is in the form of each operation button in the operation portion 7. The bulging portion 21 is formed to bulge in a substantially arc shape in cross section facing the operation surface direction. The operating portion 7 forms the bulging portion 21 at four places,
It is formed so as to be integrated with the panel section 25. The swelling portion 21 is formed such that its apex is flush with the surface of the panel portion 25. That is, the bulging portion 2
1 is formed so as to bulge from a position one step lower than the panel portion 25 by forming a groove portion 26 around the periphery thereof. Further, on the operation surface side of the bulging portion 21, a triangle mark indicating a play button, a square mark indicating a stop button, and an FF indicating a fast forward button are provided.
And a REW mark indicating that the button is a rewind button is printed.

The elastic sheet 22 serving as a base of the operation unit 7 thus configured is formed by thermally deforming a PET film using a mold device.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the above-mentioned mold apparatus, a cavity is formed in which the bulging portion 21 and the protruding portion 23 are formed by abutting the upper die 31 and the lower die 32. The upper die 31 has a concave portion 33 formed in an arc shape to form the operation surface side of the bulging portion 21,
Projections 3 for forming grooves 26 at both ends of the operation surface 1
4 are formed. In addition, the lower mold 32 has
1 and a concave portion 3 for forming a projection for pressing the diaphragm switch.
6 are formed.

In such a mold apparatus, a rectangular mold having a size sufficient to form the plurality of operation sections 7 on which the aluminum vapor-deposited layers 24 are formed in the opened state is provided. And the projection 23
Is filled with a synthetic resin material in the concave portion 36 of the lower mold 32 for forming the above. Then, the upper mold 31 and the lower mold 32 are clamped to thermally deform the PET film 37 and to form the protrusions 23 on the elastic sheet 22. Thereafter, the mold device is opened, and the upper mold 81 and the lower mold 82 are opened and the bulging portion 2 is opened.
1 is an operation unit 7 integrally formed with a projection 23 on the back surface side.
Are formed on the PET film 37 as shown in FIG.

Thereafter, the elastic sheet 22 is printed and cut on the surface on the operation surface side to be individually formed. The operation unit 7 thus formed is attached to the inner surface side of the housing unit 4 so as to face outward from the operation opening 12.

As described above, since the plurality of operation units 7 are formed at a time by the mold apparatus, the number of manufacturing steps of the operation units can be reduced. The operation unit 7 includes an aluminum deposition layer 24.
Since the plurality of operation buttons are formed integrally only by providing the protrusions 23 on the elastic sheet 22 provided with, the number of parts can be reduced and the production cost can be reduced.

Further, a portion of the operating portion 7 having the maximum thickness, that is, the swelling portion 2 swelling on the operating surface side.
The thickness from the top of 1 to the tip of the protrusion 23 is about 0.7 m
m. Therefore, the operation unit 7 can be made thin.

The operation unit 7 is, as shown in FIG.
It is attached to a support plate 41 provided inside the housing 4. The support plate 41 is provided with four button insertion holes 42, 42, 42, 42 corresponding to the operation unit 7.
The operation unit 7 is arranged so that the operation buttons 8, 9, 10, 11 are inserted into the button insertion holes 42, 42, 42, 42, respectively. As shown in FIG. 8, the operation unit 7 is provided with a projection 23 on the upper surface of a diaphragm switch 44 disposed on the printed circuit board 43 through the button insertion hole 42.
Is fixed by being adhered with an adhesive paper so as to face. Therefore, when the swelling portion 21 is pressed by a finger or the like, the protrusion 23
Can press the diaphragm switch 44.

The operation section 7 is protected by a shutter 13 which can open and close the operation opening 12 as shown in FIG. The shutter 13 is larger than the shape of the operation surface of the operation unit 7 and is formed so as to cover the operation unit 7. The shutter 13 is formed on one side surface thereof with a bulging finger-hook portion 43 for facilitating opening and closing operations of the shutter 13. This shutter 13
Is provided with a hard coat layer on a surface facing outward on a substrate formed of a stainless steel material.

On the back surface of the shutter 13, mounting pins 44 and 45 and a latching pin 46 are implanted. The support plate 41 is formed with slide slits 47 and 48 through which mounting pins 44 and 45 implanted on the rear surface of the shutter 13 are inserted, and a latch pin 49.

The slide slits 47 and 48 are formed such that the longitudinal width thereof restricts the moving area of the shutter 13 by inserting the mounting pins 44 and 45. The slide slits 47 and 48 are formed such that their longitudinal directions are parallel to each other.

The latch pin 46 implanted on the back of the shutter 13 and the latch pin 4 implanted on the support plate 41
9, a toggle spring 50 is attached. That is, in the toggle spring 50, the latch pin 46 is inserted into one end 51, and the latch pin 49 is inserted into the other end 52. The support plate 41 is provided with a toggle spring moving opening 53 for disposing the toggle spring 50.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the toggle spring 50 is attached to the
It is arranged in.

Here, as shown in FIG. 9, when the operation unit 7 is exposed outward, the shutter 13 moves the mounting pins 44 and 45 to the slide slits 47 of the support plate 41,
48 and supported. Further, the shutter 13 is operated by the toggle spring 5 so as to maintain the operation unit 7 at this position.
It is elastically biased by 0.

When the shutter 13 is moved in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 9, the shutter 13 can be operated to move the finger hook 43 with a finger or the like. At this time, the shutter 13
Is a movement against the elasticity of the toggle spring 50. However, when the shutter 13 reaches a position where the operation part 7 is half closed, the elasticity of the toggle spring 50 urges the shutter 13 in the direction of closing the operation part 7 and moves. That is, the shutter 13
When the operation unit 7 is half closed, the finger holder 43 can move in the direction in which the operation unit 7 is closed without being moved by a finger or the like. Therefore, the shutter 13
As shown in FIG. 10, the operating portion 7 is elastically urged by the toggle spring 50 so as to maintain the closed position.

That is, the shutter 13 is provided with the toggle spring 5
With 0, the elastic member is normally elastically biased to either the position where the operating portion 7 faces outward or the position where the operating portion 7 is closed.

Therefore, when operating the above operation buttons,
Since the shutter 13 can be biased to a position where the operation unit 7 faces outward, the operation buttons can be operated without being disturbed by the shutter 13.

When the above operation buttons are not operated,
The shutter 13 can always cover and close the operation unit 7. When the operation button is not operated, for example, during reproduction of the tape cassette, the shutter 13 can prevent an erroneous operation of the operation button.

The support plate 41 on which the shutter 13 and the operation unit 7 are disposed as described above is fixed by bonding the outer peripheral portion and the inner surface of the housing portion 4 with adhesive paper. At this time, as shown in FIG.
It is arranged so as to face outward from 2.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the lid pair 3 rotatably supported on the front surface of the exterior housing 2 is composed of a frame 61 and a frame 61 so as to form the main surface of the lid 3. And a half-mirror plate 62 disposed at the same position.

The half mirror plate 62 has an acrylic resin plate formed to be larger than the main surface of the tape cassette 100, a hard coat layer formed on a surface facing the outside of the acrylic resin plate, and a cassette storage portion. And a reflective layer formed by depositing aluminum on the surface to be formed. Here, the half mirror plate 62 is in the form of a half mirror by adjusting the amount of aluminum vapor deposition on the reflective layer.

Further, a black print layer is formed on the periphery of the acrylic resin so that only the main surface of the tape cassette 100 housed in the cassette housing section can be seen on the upper surface of the reflective layer. I have. Therefore, the half mirror plate 62 is formed with a see-through portion 63 through which the main surface portion can be seen through and a non-see-through portion 64 through which other portions cannot be seen through.

The frame 61 on which the half mirror plate 62 is disposed is formed such that the main surface 65 and the rising peripheral wall 66 are integrated. A support hole through which a screw 67 is inserted is formed in the rising peripheral wall 66. Therefore, the lid 3 can be rotated by the screw 67, and the cassette housing portion can be opened to the outside from one end in the longitudinal direction of the lid 3.

Further, a tape cassette holder in which the tape cassette is slid and housed is formed on the inner surface of the frame 61 on the lid 3.

The lid 3 having the above-described configuration is opened at one end in the longitudinal direction of the outer casing 2 and the lid 3 presses an open button 68 disposed on the surface of the cassette housing to open the cassette housing. The part is opened outward.

Therefore, when reproducing the tape cassette, the cassette housing portion can be opened outward by pressing the open button 68 with a finger or the like. Then, the tape cassette is slid and housed in a cassette holder formed on the inner surface of the lid 3. After that, the cassette housing section is closed by the lid 3, and the reproduction button 8 of the operation section 7 is pressed to reproduce the audio signal of the tape cassette.

At this time, even when the cover 3 is closed, the operating state of the reel shaft, the color of the tape cassette 100 and the tape cassette 100 are passed through the see-through portion 63 of the half mirror plate 62.
Can be recognized. Normally, the half mirror plate 62 can be used as a mirror.

Further, for example, when the tape cassette 100 is being reproduced and there is no need to operate the operation buttons, the operation unit 7 can be closed by the shutter 13 as shown in FIG. Erroneous operation of the operation button is prevented.

When operating the operation buttons,
The shutter 13 can be slid and moved to open the operation unit 7. At this time, since the shutter 13 is slid, for example, by pressing the finger hook 43,
The main body 6 of the housing 4 can be moved away from the inner surface of the main surface 6 without being rubbed. Therefore, at the time of the opening / closing operation, the shutter 13 can open or close the operation unit 7 without damaging the surface facing the outside of the shutter 13.

The operation unit 7 which is thinned and formed integrally with operation buttons is a tape player 1
The design value can be enhanced while having the function of selecting and operating the operation mode.

The operation button mechanism of the electronic device according to the present invention is not limited to the above, and can be applied to an electronic device such as a disc player device or a radio receiving device.

Further, the operation button mechanism of the electronic device according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described one, but may be one to two.
The present invention can be applied to an operation unit including the above operation buttons.

Furthermore, the operation button mechanism of the electronic device according to the present invention is not limited to the above, and can be appropriately designed in accordance with the electronic device to which it is applied.

[0049]

The operation button mechanism of the electronic apparatus according to the present invention can reduce the number of parts and reduce the thickness of the entire apparatus by providing a projection on the elastic sheet material. In addition, the operation button mechanism of the electronic device can reduce the number of parts, can reduce the thickness of the entire device, and can increase the design value. Further, in the operation button mechanism of the electronic device, since a plurality of operation buttons are provided on the elastic sheet material, a plurality of operation units can be formed at a time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape player device to which an operation button mechanism of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, as viewed from an exterior housing side.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the tape player device to which the operation button mechanism of the electronic apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied, as viewed from a lid side;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a configuration of a housing, a shutter, an operation unit, and a support plate that form part of the configuration of the tape player device.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an operation unit.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the operation unit.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a part of a shape of a mold for molding an operation unit.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a PET film formed with a plurality of operation units.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a positional relationship between an operation button and a diaphragm switch.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing a state when a shutter opens an operation unit.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a state when a shutter closes an operation unit.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a state where a shutter closes an operation unit in the tape player device.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional tape player device.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional operation button and a diaphragm switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 exterior housing, 3 lid, 7 operating section, 13 shutter, 21 bulging section, 22 elastic sheet, 23 projecting section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An operation section made of an elastic sheet material having a plurality of bulging portions on an operation surface side, and a protrusion provided at a position corresponding to the bulge portion on a back surface of the operation surface of the elastic sheet material. The operation button mechanism of the electronic device, wherein the operation section presses the switch section provided on the wiring board when the bulging section is pressed. 2. The operation button mechanism for an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein an aluminum vapor deposition layer is formed on the operation surface side of the elastic sheet material.