JPS607518A - Keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the thickness of a display part by providing a flexible transparent film containing a design on its surface to the 2nd electrode plate opposed to the 1st electrode plate. CONSTITUTION:A device main body 1 contains a keyboard part 2 and a display part 3 of liquid crystal, etc., and a sheet type transparent keyboard 4 is set on the part 3. The keyboard 4 contains plural key patterns for display key display characters 6. At the part 3 a display device 3a is inserted to a holder 8 and fixed onto a printed base board 7. Then plural units of the 1st transparent electrode plate 9 are formed on the upper surface of the 1st electrode plate 10 set on the holder 8. The 2nd transparent electrode 12 made of a flexible transparent material contacts with the plate 9 to constitute a key input circuit. Furthermore a display film 16 containing a design applied by the silk screening, etc. on the surface is bonded to a display plate 14 to cover easily the areas excepting a display range.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a keyboard in which transparent electrodes are arranged opposite to each other on opposing surfaces of two electrode plates made of transparent members.

(Conventional example) Various electronic devices, such as calculators with program functions, that have keyboards consisting of many keys, have conventionally required a large area of the keyboard on the main body of the device, making it difficult to manually operate the keys. Considering the performance, the area of the entire device becomes large, so a sheet-like transparent keyboard is placed on the display that displays input information and calculation results, etc., and the manual input contents of multiple keys are displayed. By enabling predetermined key manual input by pressing the position corresponding to the manual input display, the number of buttons on the keyboard is eliminated, making the device more compact.

The structure of a programmable calculator equipped with such a transparent keyboard is shown in Figure 1, @. In FIG. 1(2), 1 is the main body of the device, which is composed of an upper case 1a and a lower case 1b. 2 is a keyboard section equipped with a plurality of keys 2& for performing various inputs; 6 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display for displaying input contents and calculation results; A sheet-like transparent keyboard 4 is arranged.

On the display 6, display characters 5 indicating input contents and calculation results, and key display characters 6 are displayed at positions corresponding to a plurality of key patterns (described later) provided on the transparent keyboard 4. It is a schematic sectional view of the t-vertical in which the contents of the key display characters 6A can be changed by operating the above predetermined keys.

A printed circuit board 7 on which electronic circuits for performing various arithmetic operations are formed is disposed inside the main body 1. A liquid crystal display 6 as a display is mounted on the printed circuit board 7 by a display holder 8. Retained. Further, a transparent keyboard 4 is formed on the display holder 8,
The transparent keyboard 4 has a first electrode plate 1o made of a transparent member, on which a plurality of transparent first electrodes 9 are formed, and a spacer 11 to form a slight gap, and a transparent second vL sphere 12 is formed on the back surface. It is formed by a second electrode plate 13 made of a transparent member, and is held between the display holder 8 and the display plate 14 fixed to the upper case 1a of the main body 1.

According to the transparent keyboard 4 constructed as described above, the plurality of transparent first electrodes 9 of the first electrode plate 1o are disposed on the liquid crystal display 3.
By displaying the contents of a plurality of key manual inputs at positions corresponding to the keys, the operator presses the vicinity of a predetermined key display character 6 with a finger or the like to move the second electrode plate 16 to a flexible member such as a polyester film. When formed by the second electrode plate 16
One circuit is formed by bending and contacting the second transparent electrode 12 formed on the back surface of the second electrode plate 1'5 and the first transparent electrode 9 on the first electrode plate 10. 2 transparent F
By connecting the IA electrodes 9 and 12 to the electronic circuit on the printed circuit board Z in advance, one key human power can be recognized.

However, in the transparent keyboard configured as described above, for the purpose of sandwiching the transparent keyboard part 4 with the display holder 8, and due to the principle of the liquid crystal display 6, transparent electrodes provided outside the predetermined display range are also exposed. Since voltage is supplied to the liquid crystal display 5 while it is in operation, some parts are lit outside the predetermined display range. Therefore, in order to cover areas other than the display range from the outside, it is necessary to provide the display board 14 with an opening smaller than the external dimensions of the liquid crystal display 3.
A step is created between the top surface and the top surface of the second electrode plate 16 constituting the transparent keyboard 4, which not only makes it difficult to see the characters displayed on the display device B, but also causes the disadvantage that the thickness of the display section becomes large. .

(Objective) The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard in which the upper surface of the display part can be made smooth and the thickness of the display part can be made small.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 2(5) to 0. In addition, in FIG. 1(2), the same parts or corresponding parts as @ are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, as shown in the external view of the program calculator in FIG. It is structured without any problems.

That is, as shown in the exploded view of the display part B in FIG. The liquid crystal display 6a is held by inserting it into the slit 7a and bending it. At this time, a conductive connector 15 made of an elastic member and having a plurality of conductive parts formed thereon is connected to a plurality of electrode patterns (circuits) of the liquid crystal display 3a and a plurality of conductive connectors 15 on the printed circuit board Z corresponding to the electrode patterns. Electrical connection is made possible by distributing the electrodes between the formed electrode patterns 7b.

Further, a first electrode plate 10 having a plurality of first transparent electrodes 9 formed on its upper surface is disposed on the display holder 8, and each of the plurality of first transparent electrodes 9 is connected to a printed circuit board Z. It is connected to the predetermined pattern above by a conductive means such as a plexiple table (circuit). Next, the first electrode plate 10
The second transparent electrode 12 that contacts the plurality of first transparent electrodes 9 above and forms one key input circuit is made of a flexible transparent member such as a polyester film, and has a size other than the area of the display section. It is formed on the back surface of the display film 16, which has been subjected to a design treatment such as cicle printing on the surface. Therefore, by attaching the display film 16 to the display board 14 with an adhesive or the like, the surface of the display section becomes a smooth surface, and the display film 16 also hides areas other than the display range of the liquid crystal display 6a.
This can be easily achieved by surface treatment means such as silk printing on the surface, so that it is possible to reduce the thickness of the display section, as shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 6 (q).

Further, the electrical connection between the second transparent electrode 12 on the back surface of the display film 16 and the predetermined circuit pattern 7C on the printed circuit board Z is made by a coil made of a conductive material between the upper surface of the printed circuit board 7 and the mold surface of the display film 16. This is made possible by providing the spring 17.

Furthermore, although the display panel 14 is provided separately in this embodiment, it may be formed integrally with the upper case 1a that constitutes the main body 1.

(Effect) As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the first
A second electrode plate provided with a second transparent electrode facing the first transparent electrode of the electrode plate is made of a flexible transparent film whose surface is subjected to a design treatment, and the flexible transparent film is attached to the display section of the main body of the device. This not only makes it possible to smooth the entire top surface of the display section without creating a level difference between the top surface of the display section and the transparent keyboard section, but also allows the transparent keyboard section to be made thinner.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram for explaining the structure of a conventional device, (5) is an external view, @ is a sectional view, and Fig. 2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. B) is an exploded assembly drawing, (
Q is a cross-sectional view, 1 is a main body, 6 is a display section, 4 is a transparent keyboard section, 14 is a display board, and 16 is a display film. Applicant Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A keyboard in which transparent electrodes are arranged opposite to each other on opposing surfaces of two electrode plates made of transparent members. A keyboard characterized in that a surface of at least one of the electrode plates is subjected to a decorative surface treatment.