JPH1092258A - Key top for keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a key top for a keyboard and a display character forming method, in which luminous efficiency in a display part emitting fluorescence is enhanced, the structure of the display part is simple, and its forming method is simple. SOLUTION: A color display layer 3 and a fluorescent layer 7 are stacked and formed in separate processes. A character graphic is drawn with a white display layer 3 on the surface of a key top 6, and a transparent or semitransparent fluorescent layer 7 is formed thereon. By this constitution, the color of the color display layer 3 can be looked through the transparent or semitransparent fluorescent layer 7 stacked on the color display layer 3 in broad day light, and the fluorescent layer 7 extremely clearly emits light without being disturbed in a dark night, and the character graphic can be discriminated. The fluorescent layer 7 is widely formed on the key top 6, the color display layer 3 is formed thereon, and the character graphic may be displayed in a black void on the inside of the fluorescent layer T.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a keytop constituting a keyboard used for an input device of a computer and a method of forming a display character thereof, and more particularly to a structure of a keytop which emits fluorescent light from its surface in dark night. The present invention relates to a display character forming method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A keyboard is a personal computer,
It is used for word processors, information input devices of various electronic devices, and the like. The keyboard has a plurality of key tops arranged on the front side operated by humans, and a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit such as a membrane switch is arranged on the back side thereof. , Display characters, numbers, symbols, etc., representing the respective functions are displayed. When the keytop is pressed, the contacts on the back side of the keytop are operated to close the electric circuit.

On the other hand, the surface of the key top is subjected to a semi-gloss treatment or a matting treatment on the cover and the key top of the keyboard in order to prevent eye fatigue due to light reflection, and the surface is formed in a semi-cylindrical or semi-cylindrical shape. It is formed into a spherical spherical shape and reflects and reflects reflected light.

[0004] As described above, a matte protective film is formed on the surface of the keytop, and characters, symbols, and the like are written thereon. For this notation, a pad printing method similar to the offset printing method is usually used. According to this printing method, a printing ink is filled in the engraved portion of a concave plate engraved with a written character or a figure of a key top, and the head formed in a spherical shape and formed of a soft substance such as silicon rubber is engraved with the engraved portion. After pressing the ink on the surface of the key top and transferring the ink in it to the pad, the tip of this pad is pressed against the surface of the key top to re-transfer the ink on the tip of the pad to the surface of the key top and to the surface of the key top. Print and display text and graphics.

[0005] The keyboard is not always used in the daytime, and is used in the dark at night, for example, a keyboard for operating a photographic processing apparatus in a dark room or a keyboard of a remote control device of an astronomical telescope in the dark. Often. In such a case, it is convenient if the character symbol written on the surface of the keytop emits fluorescence or emits stored light.

[0006]

In this type of fluorescent printing, a color pigment mixed type ink in which a desired color pigment and a fluorescent substance are mixed is used. However, when a printing ink is formed by mixing a fluorescent substance and a pigment, the pigment on the surface acts so as to block the fluorescent light emitted in the deep part of the painted surface, so that the luminous efficiency is reduced. Therefore, the printed film thickness must be increased to increase the light emission amount of the entire film. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the number of times of printing and perform overprinting. However, when the overprinting is performed a plurality of times by using the pad printing method, a printing shift occurs, the yield is deteriorated, and the inconvenience that productivity is reduced due to an increase in the number of times of careful printing increases.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the related art, and an object of the present invention is to connect an actuator which operates a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit to a surface thereof. In a key top for a keyboard having a display portion formed thereon and a method of forming a display character thereof, a key for a keyboard having a simple structure of the display portion and a simple formation method is provided, while improving the luminous efficiency of the display portion emitting fluorescence. An object of the present invention is to provide a top and a display character forming method thereof.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention as described above, in the present invention, a color display layer and a fluorescent layer are formed by lamination in separate steps. First, a character figure is drawn on the surface of the keytop with a white color display layer, and a transparent or translucent fluorescent layer is overlaid thereon and painted. With such a configuration, in daylight, the color of the color display layer can be visually recognized through the transparent or translucent fluorescent layer laminated thereon, and in dark night, the color display layer The fluorescent layer arranged on the part of the formed character figure, without blocking the emitted fluorescence by anyone,
It emits light very clearly, and character figures can be distinguished.

When the key top is white or a color close to white, a color such as black, red, or green is selected as a color display color to be printed on the key top. When the layer is applied, the fluorescence emitted from the fluorescent layer is absorbed by the color display layer, so that the emission from the fluorescent layer is dimmed. In order to avoid such inconveniences, a fluorescent layer is applied to a large area of the surface of the keytop, and the display characters and graphics are printed on the fluorescent layer with ink of the above-mentioned color to form a color display layer. . With this configuration, the fluorescent light emitted from the fluorescent layer is absorbed by the color display layer attached thereon. Therefore, in the dark night, the display is such that the display characters appear dark and dark within an area that shines in a wide range of fluorescent colors.
In daylight, the fluorescent layer applied to the surface of the key top is transparent or translucent, so that it is invisible to the human eye, and only the display characters and figures drawn by the color display layer can be visually recognized.

[0010] The invention made on the basis of such a technical idea is further described. In a key top for a keyboard which is connected to an actuator for operating a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit and has a display portion formed on a surface thereof, An object of the present invention is to provide a key top for a keyboard, which has a display portion in which a character and a graphic comprising a substantially transparent and thin fluorescent layer and a color display layer are laminated, and a surface of the key top is covered. Also provided is a keyboard key top characterized by laminating a character / graphic portion composed of a worn color display layer and a substantially transparent and thin fluorescent layer covering the upper surface of substantially the same portion, furthermore A substantially transparent and thin fluorescent layer deposited on the surface of the key top, and a fluorescent layer deposited on at least a part of the edge of the color display layer, which is deposited on the upper surface of the fluorescent layer. More located inside, there is provided also a keyboard key top, wherein a fluorescent layer is exposed. Of course, in the present invention, the color display layer and the fluorescent layer are formed in a separate step.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a recess 2 is formed on a concave plate 1 made of a metal plate such as a copper plate by using an etching method. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. Next, an ink in which a pigment of a desired color is mixed is flown onto the upper surface of the concave plate 1, and then the upper surface of the concave plate 1 is wiped with a doctor blade 4 in the arrow direction. In this operation, the ink 3 is wiped off while leaving the ink 3 in the depression 2 on the concave plate 1.

Next, a pad 5 made of silicone rubber having a cylindrical lower surface is pressed against the upper surface of the concave plate 1 as shown in FIG. By this operation, the ink 3 accumulated in the depression 2 of the concave plate 1 is transferred to the lower surface of the pad 5. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, the pad 5 to which the ink has been transferred is pressed against the upper surface of the semi-cylindrical key top 6, and the ink 3 on the pad 5 is transplanted onto the upper surface of the key top 6. This allows
As shown in FIG. 6, a character figure is printed on the upper surface of the key top 6 to form a color display layer. Thereafter, the printed character / graphic is dried.

Next, the recess 2 shown in FIG. 1 is filled with a fluorescent paint in the same manner as described above. And this fluorescent paint 7
Is printed on the color display layer 3 formed on the surface of the keyboard 6 as shown in FIG. Finally, the upper surface of the keytop 6 is covered with a transparent protective film 8. The fluorescent layer 7 formed by applying the fluorescent paint is formed of a fluorescent paint using a phosphor fine powder having a chemical composition of strontium aluminate as a pigment. This fluorescent paint has a relatively good light-transmitting property and forms a substantially transparent film when applied thinly. For this reason, the color of the background to be printed (the color of the ink 3 in this embodiment) greatly affects the luminance of the fluorescent layer 7. That is, when the underlayer is white, the emission of the fluorescent layer formed thereon is diverged from the surface by 100% without being substantially dimmed. Emission is diminished by approximately 50 percent and diverges from the surface. For this reason, in this embodiment, the color of the key top 6 is black, a white background character / character (ink 3) is printed thereon, and two transparent fluorescent layers 7 are applied thereon.

In this order, color printing, drying, and multi-layer coating and drying of a fluorescent paint are alternately performed to form a display portion. Finally, a protective film is coated with a hard transparent resin to complete the display.
The key top formed in this manner is disposed above a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit such as a membrane switch, and is connected to an actuator for operating the key top, for example. Although the surface of the key top has a semi-cylindrical shape, the present invention can also be applied to a semi-cylindrical or planar shape of this portion.

The characteristics of the printing thickness and the brightness of the fluorescent layer used in the present invention will be described. For example, in the case of a fluorescent layer formed by applying a fluorescent paint ink called "N night light storage", about 1
The maximum afterglow brightness is achieved with a thickness of mm, and when the film thickness becomes thinner, the light becomes almost parabolic and dims. In the above embodiment of the present invention,
It was found that a film thickness of about 20 μm was obtained, and a sufficiently recognizable luminance in the dark was maintained for about 1 hour. (Normally, the luminance level that can be sufficiently recognized by the naked eye is about 0.3 mcd.)

The surface coated with the multi-layer printed luminous phosphorescent or fluorescent paint ink is the surface to which the tip of the finger touches, so that the finger is easily stained, and the unevenness of the touch surface does not feel good. Therefore, this problem can be solved by applying a hard transparent resin (for example, acrylic, polyester, etc.) which is hardly stained and has good wear resistance to the surface of the key top.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above embodiment, the color of the key top 6 is black, so that the character figure written thereon may be white. However, the color of the key top is not only black but also light gray or ivory. In such a key top, a white character figure is inconspicuous. In addition, if a fluorescent paint is applied in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment on the black and white printed character graphic, if the fluorescent light emitting portion (character graphic portion) is viewed in the dark at night, the black portion on the back side also emits fluorescence. The part that is visible through the part and emits fluorescence becomes pale black and is dimmed. In order to avoid such inconvenience, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of fluorescent paints are applied to the surface of the keytop 6 and dried,
The fluorescent layer 7 is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, characters and graphics are printed on the surface of the dried fluorescent layer 7 with black or red, green or other color ink which absorbs fluorescent light to form the color display layer 3. After that, as shown in FIG. 10, a protective film 8 is applied to the surface of the key top 6. With this configuration, in the dark night, the fluorescent light is emitted from the fluorescent layer 7 on the keytop 6, and the fluorescent light is absorbed by the color display layer portion on which the character graphic is printed and adhered on the fluorescent light. The part where the character / graphic part emits fluorescence is displayed in black.

[0019]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a fluorescent light is emitted from a keyboard keytop having a display portion formed on its surface, which is connected to an actuator for operating a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit. Since the fluorescent layer that emits light and the color display layer that displays the characters and graphics are formed as separate layers, the fluorescent light that is emitted from the fluorescent layer and reaches the operator is:
Light can be emitted efficiently without being absorbed by a pigment or the like. In addition, since the character display is formed by one printing without performing overprinting on the color display layer, no bleeding or displacement of the printing occurs around the character display. Further, since the fluorescent layer is transparent or translucent, even if overprinting is performed to improve the luminance of the fluorescent light and the peripheral area is blurred, it is not noticeable. As described above, according to the present invention, the luminous efficiency of the fluorescent layer is good, the printing method is simple, and the product yield is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a concave plate used for pad printing.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the concave plate.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state where ink is placed on the concave plate.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing transfer of ink by a pad.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the transfer of ink by a pad has been completed.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the transfer of the ink by the pad is completed.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a completed key top.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a first manufacturing step of another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a second manufacturing step of another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing a third manufacturing step of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1... Concave plate 2... Depression 3... Ink (color display layer) 4... Doctor blade 5... Pad 6. 7 ... Fluorescent layer 8 ... Protective film

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Nobuyuki Motoo 1-1-1 Katase, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa Minebea Inside the Mechatronics Division (72) Naoya Takagi 1-1-1-1 Katase, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa Minebea Shares Company Mechatronics Division

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard key top having a display portion formed on a surface thereof connected to an actuator for operating a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit, comprising a substantially transparent and thinly formed fluorescent layer and a color display layer. A key top for a keyboard having a display portion in which character figures and graphics are stacked. 2. A key figure for a keyboard, which is connected to an actuator for operating a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit and has a display portion formed on a surface thereof, wherein a character figure comprising a color display layer attached to the surface of the key top. A key top for a keyboard, comprising: a portion and a substantially transparent and thin fluorescent layer covering an upper surface of substantially the same portion. 3. An almost transparent thin-layer fluorescent lamp attached to the surface of a key top for a keyboard key top having a display portion formed on the surface, the fluorescent key being connected to an actuator for operating a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit. A keypad for a keyboard, wherein the fluorescent layer is exposed so that at least a part of an edge of the color display layer is located inside the applied portion of the fluorescent layer, and the fluorescent layer is exposed. . 4. The key top for a keyboard according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of fluorescent layers are laminated. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least a layered portion of the color display layer and the fluorescent layer is covered with a protective layer.
A key top for a keyboard according to any one of claims 4 to 4. 6. The key top for a keyboard according to claim 1, wherein an upper surface of the key top has a cylindrical shape. 7. The key top for a keyboard according to claim 1, wherein an upper surface of the key top has a concave spherical shape. 8. The key top for a keyboard according to claim 1, wherein an upper surface of the key top is flat. 9. In a method for forming a display character of a key top for a keyboard having a display portion formed on a surface, the color display layer and the fluorescent layer are connected to an actuator for operating a contact mechanism for opening and closing an electric circuit. A display character forming method for a key top for a keyboard, wherein the display character is formed by lamination in a process.