KR20060102834A - Production method of one body style metal touch pad having luminescent pigment and metal keypad having one body style metal touch pad produced by that method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a metal keypad, and more particularly, by integrating a base, a key top and a front housing through a very thin metal touch pad, and molding a phosphorescent pigment on letters and figures formed on the key top, thereby significantly reducing the thickness of the keypad. In addition, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad provided with a phosphorescent pigment to distinguish between letters and figures formed in a key top in a dark place, and a metal keypad provided with an integrated metal touch pad manufactured by the method.

Keypad, metal touch pad, metal keypad, luminous pigment

Description

TECHNICAL METHOD OF ONE BODY STYLE METAL TOUCH PAD HAVING LUMINESCENT PIGMENT AND METAL KEYPAD HAVING ONE BODY STYLE METAL TOUCH PAD PRODUCED BY THAT METHOD}

1 is a schematic process chart showing a method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad with a phosphorescent pigment according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a detailed process diagram showing a method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad with a phosphorescent pigment according to the present invention,

3 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section of a metal keypad according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the photoluminescent part of the integrated metal touch pad with a photoluminescent pigment according to the present invention,

5 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section of a keypad for a conventional mobile phone.

<Detailed Description of Main Parts of Drawing>

100-Metal Touch Pad 110-Metal Foil

115-Epoxy Coating 120-Resin Pads

121-Plastic Film 122-Upper Silicon Film

123-Lower Silicon Film 124-Protrusions

125-Extrusion Line 130-Adhesive

140-Through Line 150-Etch

160-Luminous Flux 200-Dome Switch

300-light source 400-printed circuit board

The present invention relates to a metal keypad. More particularly, the thickness of the keypad is remarkably increased by integrating the base, the key top and the front housing through a very thin metal touch pad, and molding the phosphorescent pigment into the letters and figures formed on the key top. The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad provided with a phosphorescent pigment, and to a metal keypad provided with the integrated metal touch pad manufactured by the method.

In general, a keypad is an input means for transmitting a user's input signal to a printed circuit board provided in a mobile phone, a remote controller or a PDA, and the like. A keypad used in the prior art has a character or a figure as shown in FIG. 5. The printed key top 10 and the base 20 positioned at the bottom of the front housing are connected through a connecting portion, and the key top 10 and the base 20 are coupled to the front housing 40 forming the appearance of the mobile phone. The key top 10 has a structure protruding outside the hole formed in the front housing 40, the lower end of the key top 10 and the base 20 is printed with a dome switch (Dome Switch) 50 is attached The printed circuit board (PCB) 60 has a structure in which the keytop 10 and the keytop 10 are coupled to each other, and a protrusion 11 is formed at the bottom of the keytop 10 so as to press a dome switch. It is composed.

However, such a conventional keypad has a structure in which a dome switch and a light source are installed on a printed circuit board, a keytop, a base, and a front housing are coupled thereon, and a predetermined space is provided between the protrusions of the printed circuit board and the bottom of the keytop. There was a problem in that the thickness of the keypad could not be lightly and lightly reduced such that the thickness of the entire keypad was about 2 mm to about 5 mm. To solve this problem, the present inventors have a problem for a mobile phone that can reduce the thickness of the keypad. Invented the metal keypad and filed a patent application (application number: 10-2004-46477) and PCT application (application number: PCT / KR2004 / 001807) to the Korean Patent Office.

In addition, such a conventional keypad is provided with a light source such as an LED that allows the user to identify the characters and figures printed on the key top at night so that a portable device such as a mobile phone or a PDA can be used in a dark place. When the keytop is operated to use the device, battery power is supplied to the light source to emit light and distinguish the button portion of the keytop even in the dark.

However, since the battery is consumed in order for the light source to emit light by the operation signal of the key top, the user emits light only about 5 to 10 seconds after the operation signal of the key top is recognized to reduce the battery consumption. Thereafter, it is common to set and use the power supply to the light source to be cut off. Therefore, when the keytop is not operated for a certain time, power supply to the light source is cut off, so that the user cannot distinguish the button unit.

In addition, there is a problem that the battery is consumed early when the battery power supply to the light source is continued in order to distinguish the button unit at night or in a dark place.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, the base and the key top and the front housing is integrated through a very thin metal touch pad and molding the phosphorescent pigment on the letters and figures formed on the key top, the keypad to a thin thin Forming and manufacturing method of integrated metal touch pad with phosphorescent pigment which enables to distinguish letters and figures formed on key top even in dark place without power supply of battery and metal keypad with integrated metal touch pad manufactured by the method It is intended to provide.

Metal keypad provided with a one-piece metal touch pad with a phosphorescent pigment according to the present invention for achieving the above object is composed of a metal pad and a resin pad coupled to the back surface of the metal foil and letters etched on the top. A metal touch pad formed by integrating a key top, a base and a front housing, a printed circuit board positioned below the metal touch pad, and a fixed contact on the printed circuit board under pressure of the metal touch pad. In the metal keypad with an integrated metal touch pad comprising a dome switch in contact with the portion, characterized in that it further comprises a photoluminescent portion molded with a phosphorescent pigment in the etching portion of the letters and figures formed on the metal foil. do.

In the method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad provided with a phosphorescent pigment according to the present invention, a character and a figure or a through line are etched in the metal foil, and a semi-transparent film formed in the through line is formed after the translucent film is formed in the etch portion of the character and the figure. Metal foil processing process comprising removing a part, and printing a variety of colors on the plastic film, the resin film is seated on the back of the film through the heat press press and molded after the protruding line inserted into the through line of the metal foil In the method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad comprising a resin pad manufacturing process comprising seating the formed resin film on the entire surface of the film, and a crimp bonding process for joining the metal foil and the resin pad with an adhesive. Metal flake processing is on the upper part of the etching portion of the letters and figures molded with the phosphorescent pigment Before forming the translucent film, the photoluminescent pigment molding process for molding and inserting the photoluminescent pigment in the etching portion of the character and figure is characterized in that it is configured to further comprise.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the metal keypad with the integrated metal touch pad provided with the phosphorescent pigment according to the present invention is in contact with the thin metal foil 110 and the dome switch etched with letters and figures on the upper portion. The metal touch pad 100 made of a resin pad 120 joined to the back surface of the metal foil so as to buffer the metal foil, and a phosphorescent part 160 in which a phosphorescent pigment is molded in an etching portion of letters and figures formed on the metal foil. ), A printed circuit board 400 positioned at a lower end of the metal touch pad 100 and having a fixed contact portion at a predetermined position, and installed on an upper end of the printed circuit board 400 to be printed by the pressure of the metal touch pad 100. And a dome switch 200 in contact with the fixed contact portion on the circuit board, and a light source 300 disposed between the metal touch pad and the printed circuit board.

The metal foil 110 is formed by etching letters and figures, the key top and the base and the front housing forming a button portion in one metal foil is integrated. At this time, the front and rear surfaces of the metal foil is nickel and cobalt is plated, it is preferable that the coating is further provided with an epoxy coating is coated to prevent corrosion and scratches.

The letters and figures are preferably formed by etching the metal foil by an etching method so that light generated from a light source installed under the metal foil can be displayed to the outside. In this case, the letters and figures may be formed by half-etching only a portion of the front surface without completely penetrating the metal foil.

In addition, the metal foil 110 may be formed by etching only the letters and figures, as well as when the pressure is applied to the buttons on which the letters and figures are etched, the button portions move independently and the dome switch (located at the bottom thereof) ( The through line 140 may be further provided to pass through the button circumference in a predetermined line shape so as to press the 200.

The resin pad 120 is composed of silicon pads having silicon films 122 and 123 bonded to upper and lower surfaces of the PC film 121, and the lower silicon film 123 is in contact with the dome switch 200 on the rear surface. Preferably, the protrusion 124 is further included.

In addition, the resin pad 120 is a protruding line 125 inserted into the through line 140 to prevent a wound caused by a sharp etching surface of the metal foil 110 etched to form the through line 140. ) Is preferably formed on the upper surface of the upper silicon film 122.

The etching portion 150 formed by etching or half-etching the metal foil 110 to form letters or figures is formed in a structure that is blocked by an epoxy film 115 that is a translucent film. The translucent epoxy film 115 prevents the etched portion 150 from being introduced into the metal keypad and prevents light from being emitted by the photoluminescent portion 160 provided therein. It is configured to be.

However, some of the numbers 5 and the like located in the center of the metal foil may be configured such that the protruding line 125 of the upper silicon film is inserted and protrudes like the through line so that the visually impaired or the general person can use it.

The photoluminescent unit 160 is formed by molding a photoluminescent pigment in the etching portion of the letters and figures formed on the metal foil. In this case, the photoluminescent pigment is a pigment having the property of absorbing and accumulating light such as sunlight or phosphor, and slowly emitting it in a dark place, which is different depending on the usage conditions, but after about 30 hours of irradiation with light for about 5 hours. It will emit light. Therefore, the phosphorescent pigment molded in the etching portion emits light for a long time even without a battery supply, and the user can distinguish the etching portion of characters and figures in a dark place.

As such, the dome switch 200 and the LED 300 are formed on the lower portion of the metal touch pad formed by combining the metal foil 110 and the silicon pad 120 in which the phosphorescent pigment is molded in the letters and figures. Installed PCB 400 is located to configure a metal keypad.

Next, a method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad provided with a phosphorescent pigment forming a metal keypad according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The method of manufacturing an integrated metal touch pad provided with a phosphorescent pigment according to the present invention includes a metal foil processing process (S100) for forming a keytop, a base and a front housing integrally on one metal foil, and molding a phosphorescent pigment, and various colors. A resin pad manufacturing process (S200) for coating a resin film on the printed film, and a compression bonding process (S300) for bonding the metal foil and the resin pad.

The metal flake processing step (S100) is an etching process (S110) to etch characters and graphics or through lines in the raw metal flakes 110 through the metal etching technique, and by inserting a phosphorescent pigment in the etching portion of the characters and graphics A photoluminescent pigment molding process (S112) for molding, a semi-transparent film forming process (S113) for forming a translucent film on the etched portion of the letters and figures on which the photoluminescent pigment is molded, and a through line of the metal foil or a button portion of the number 5 It comprises a semi-transparent film removal process (S117) for removing the translucent film, and the inspection process (S119) for inspecting the completeness of the metal foil produced through the above process.

The etching process (S110) is applicable to all metal etching techniques currently used to etch metal, such as wet chemical etching or dry plasma etching, the metal flakes 110 is preferably composed of brass flakes or stainless flakes.

In this case, the metal foil 110 may be etched to penetrate letters and figures according to its shape, or only a part of the front surface is etched by half etching to form a button part. In addition, the through-line 140 for moving the button portions etched with the letters and figures may be etched in a constant line shape along the circumference of the button portion, or may be configured without etching the through-line 140.

In addition, when the metal foil is not a corrosion-resistant metal material, such as stainless, it is preferable that the primary plating process (S111) for performing metal plating on the metal foil 110 to prevent corrosion of the metal foil is further configured.

In the first plating process (S111), it is preferable to use nickel as a plating material to prevent corrosion, and plating is performed by forming a plating film on the metal foil through an electroplating method or a chemical plating method.

The photoluminescent pigment molding process (S112) is molded by inserting the photoluminescent pigment in the etching portion of the letters and figures etched in the etching process. As such, when the phosphorescent pigment is molded in the etching part of the characters and figures, even if the battery power supply to the light source is cut off after about 5 to 10 seconds, the user can distinguish the button unit by emitting light from the phosphorescent pigment for a long time. .

The semi-transparent film forming process (S113) prevents foreign substances from penetrating into the keypad and allows light emitted from the phosphorescent pigment to be emitted to the outside. Forming a semi-transparent epoxy film 115 on the surface of the metal flakes, a material of a semi-transparent film, such as epoxy resin or ultraviolet curable resin is injected into the upper portion of the letters and figures to form a translucent film through a drying process.

In addition, the spin processing process (S114) for etching the spin pattern having a predetermined slope on the surface of the metal foil 110 by using a spin cutting machine for visual enhancement of the metal touch pad, and the spin using a press It is preferable that the press process (S115) for flattening the metal foil bent by the process is further included.

In addition, when the spin process is included, the metal foil is plated with a metal having a specific color such as cobalt to form a metal touch pad in a desired color, and the top plated film removed by the spin process is again formed. It is preferable that the secondary plating process (S117) to prevent the coating of the metal flakes is further included.

The semi-transparent film removal process (S116) is projected to the outside part when combined with the metal flakes is inserted into the protrusion line 125 formed on one surface of the resin pad so that the keypad users can distinguish between the button portion by the tactile touch As the semi-transparent film of the portion for removing the semi-transparent film 115, in the semi-transparent film forming process (S112) of the semi-transparent film formed on the number of the through line and the button portion of the semi-transparent film formed on the metal foil is removed. At this time, when the photoluminescent pigment is molded in the etching portion of the number 5 in the photoluminescent pigment molding process, it is a matter of course that the translucent film of the portion may not be removed.

In addition, in order to improve the durability of the metal touch pad and to prevent fingerprints and scratches, the surface coating process (S118) of applying a coating on the surface of the metal foil using a spray and performing hard coating may be further included. Subsequently, the stamping, deformation, dimensions, surface state, etc. of the completed metal foil are examined through the various processes described above in the inspection process (S119).

Next, the resin pad manufacturing process (S200), a film printing process (S210) for printing a variety of colors on the plastic film 121 to enter the middle portion of the resin pad, and to cut and perforate the printed film to match the mold The film cutting and punching process (S220), the resin film 123 is mounted on the back surface of the film 121 through a heat press press, and the back structure primary molding process (S230), and the front of the primary molded product Secondary molding process (S240) of the front structure for forming the resin film 122 to form a protrusion line 125 to be inserted into the through line 140, and the outer surface of the resin pad 120 is formed on the back and front It includes a punching process (S250) for punching the wealth, and a test process (S260) for inspecting the related specifications.

In this case, it is preferable to use a silicone resin as the resin seated on the plastic film, and it is preferable to use a PC film (Poly Carbonate film) as the plastic film.

The pressure bonding process (S300) is a metal foil 110, a photoluminescent pigment is molded through the metal foil processing process (S100) and the resin pad 120 is completed through the resin pad manufacturing process (S200) the adhesive material 130 As a compression bonding using), the protruding line 125 is inserted into the through line 140 of the metal foil and the button portion of the number 5 to protrude outward.

The present invention is not limited to the technical spirit of the specific embodiments or drawings described above, and those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the invention claimed in the claims Various modifications can be made by anyone, as well as such changes are within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Metal key pad provided with a one-piece metal touch pad with a phosphorescent pigment according to the present invention, the base and the key top and the front housing in a very thin metal touch pad of the letters and figures etched on the metal foil to form a button portion By molding the phosphorescent pigment on the etched portion, the keypad is made thin and the letters and figures formed on the key top can be distinguished even in the dark by the light emitted from the phosphorescent pigment molded on the characters and figures without supplying battery power. It has an effect.

Claims (2)

A metal touch pad formed of a metal foil etched with letters and figures on the upper portion and a resin pad coupled to the back surface of the metal foil, the key top, the base and the front housing being integrally formed, and a printed circuit board positioned below the metal touch pad; In the metal keypad provided with an integrated metal touch pad is provided on the printed circuit board, including a dome switch contacting the fixed contact portion on the printed circuit board by the pressure of the metal touch pad, A metal keypad provided with an integrated metal touch pad provided with a phosphorescent pigment, characterized in that the phosphorescent pigment is further formed on the etched portion of the letters and figures formed on the metal foil. A metal foil processing process comprising etching a character, a figure or a through line on a metal foil, forming a semi-transparent film on the etched portion of the character and the figure, and then removing a part of the translucent film formed on the through line, and various colors on the plastic film. A resin pad manufacturing process comprising printing a resin film on the back surface of the film through a thermopressing press and molding the resin film, and then seating the resin film having a protruding line inserted into the through line of the metal foil on the entire surface of the film; In the integrated metal touch pad manufacturing method comprising a press bonding process for bonding the metal foil and the resin pad using an adhesive material, The metal foil processing process, A photoluminescent pigment molding process for molding and inserting a photoluminescent pigment into an etched portion of the character and figure before forming a translucent film on the upper portion of the etched portion of the luminescent pigment and the figure is molded. Integral metal touch pad manufacturing method comprising a pigment.

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