TW202001508A - Touch light guide film capable of effectively reducing the complexity of the product structure and saving the space occupied by the light guide plate - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch light guide film includes a light emitting layer, a light guiding layer, an elastic light-transmitting layer, and at least one light emitting source. The light emitting layer has a first circuit. The light guiding layer is located on one side of the light emitting layer, and the light guiding layer has a second circuit and a receiving space. The second circuit is located at a position corresponding to the first circuit. The receiving space is recessed or penetratingly located in the light guiding layer. The elastic light-transmitting layer is disposed between the light emitting layer and the light guiding layer, and the elastic light-transmitting layer has a through hole and a receiving hole. The through hole is located at a position corresponding to the first circuit and the second circuit, and when the elastic light-transmitting layer is pressed, the through hole is configured to allow the first circuit to contact the second circuit. The receiving hole is located at a position corresponding to the receiving space. The light emitting source is disposed in the light emitting layer and penetrates through the receiving hole to protrude to the receiving space. As such, the present invention effectively reduces the complexity of the product structure and saves the space occupied by the light guide plate.

Description

Touch light guide film

The invention relates to a light guide film, in particular to a light guide film integrating a light emitting source and a touch circuit.

The light guide plate is the main component of the backlight module, and the backlight module is a necessary light source for the liquid crystal display (LCD). In recent years, the light guide plate has also been applied to display screens such as electronic paper (Electrophoretic display, EPD), and is specifically called the front light plate; because the EPD requires an ambient light source to make it visible, the front light plate is tiled on the EPD Above to replace the ambient light source in the dark. In addition, the light guide plate can also be used in a light-emitting keyboard. For example, U.S. Patent Certificate No. 8,097,822 is a classic luminous keyboard design. Its method is to lay a light guide plate on the base of the keyboard and break holes in the light guide plate for the key cap mechanism to be inserted into the base and the light guide plate. Lay three layers of film on top of the press control circuit module; this design can use a small number of LEDs and the light guide plate combination, that is, to provide a lot of light on the four corners of the keycap. However, recent high-end light-emitting keyboard products, such as the US Patent Certificate No. 9,449,772, in order to further compress the overall thickness of the keyboard, in addition to the keycap mechanism is modified from the traditional scissors foot structure to the butterfly foot structure, the light guide plate is replaced by the keycap Many light guide sheets and LEDs are arranged one by one under the mechanism; this design scheme reduces the overall thickness of the keyboard, but increases the manufacturing and assembly costs of many LEDs and light guide sheets.

The invention provides a touch-type light guide film, which is a light guide plate integrating a light-emitting source, a light guide structure and a touch circuit into a film. With this feature, the touch-sensitive light guide film can be used for electronic products to integrate lighting and signal transmission functions, and there is no need to additionally provide a press control circuit module above the light guide plate.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a touch-sensitive light guide film is provided, which includes a light exit layer, a light guide layer, an elastic light-transmitting layer, and at least one light emitting source. The light exit layer has a first circuit. The light guide layer is located on one side of the light exit layer, and the light guide layer has a second circuit and an accommodating space. The second circuit position corresponds to the aforementioned first circuit. The accommodating space is recessed or penetrates the light guide layer. The elastic light-transmitting layer is disposed between the light-emitting layer and the light-guiding layer, and the elastic light-transmitting layer has a through hole and a receiving hole. The positions of the through holes correspond to the first circuit and the second circuit, and when the elastic light-transmitting layer is pressed, the through holes allow the first circuit to contact the second circuit. The location of the receiving hole corresponds to the receiving space. The light-emitting source is disposed on the light-emitting layer and penetrates the accommodating hole to protrude into the accommodating space of the light-guiding layer to provide light to enter the light-guiding layer.

In this way, this embodiment integrates the light guide plate and the touch circuit, so that the touch light guide film has both surface light source illumination and circuit control functions. For consumer electronic products that focus on visual effects, the touch-sensitive light guide film can effectively reduce the product structure complexity and save the space occupied by the light guide plate.

In an embodiment, the number of the aforementioned light-emitting sources may be plural, and the light-emitting colors of the respective light-emitting sources may be different.

In addition, the touch-sensitive light guide film may include a third circuit, and the third circuit is connected to the light source to control its light emission. In this embodiment, the third circuit may also be connected to the first circuit or the second circuit, and the first circuit or the second circuit controls the light source to emit light.

The thickness of the light guide layer corresponding to the light-emitting source can be gradually increased to form a light-receiving portion, and the cross-sectional shape of the light-receiving portion can be trumpet-shaped. In this way, the light guide layer can increase the light receiving area by using the light receiving portion, so that the light guide effect of the touch-type light guide film is better. Further, the cross-sectional area of the accommodating hole may be larger than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating space for accommodating the light-receiving portion.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a light-emitting keyboard is provided, which includes a plurality of keycap structures, a key frame, the touch-type light guide film of the foregoing embodiment, and a bottom plate. The key frame has a plurality of slots to accommodate the key cap structure. The touch-sensitive light guide film is located under the key frame, and is pressed by each key cap structure member to make the first circuit contact with the second circuit. And the light exit layer of the touch-sensitive light guide film provides light to each keycap structure. The bottom plate is located below the touch-sensitive light guide film, the bottom plate has a reflective surface, and the position of the reflective surface corresponds to the light guide layer.

The technical characteristics of the touch-sensitive light guide film in this embodiment are the same as those in the previous embodiment, so they will not be repeated here. When the touch-type light guide film is applied to a light-emitting keyboard, each group of the first circuit and the second circuit can be directly used as a circuit to transmit the signal of each key, and the light guide film is integrated with the first circuit and the second circuit, so that the light-emitting keyboard does not Need to set up additional light guide plate structure, greatly reducing weight and volume.

In the foregoing light-emitting keyboard, the light sources of the touch-sensitive light guide film may be plural, and the light-emitting colors of the light-emitting sources may be different. The aforementioned touch-sensitive light guide film may include a third circuit, and the third circuit is connected to the light source to control its light emission. The third circuit may be connected to the first circuit or the second circuit, and the first circuit or the second circuit controls the light source to emit light. In the aforementioned light-emitting keyboard, the thickness of the light guide layer of the touch-sensitive light guide film corresponding to the light source can be gradually increased to form a light-receiving portion, and the cross-sectional shape of the light-receiving portion can be trumpet-shaped. The cross-sectional area of the accommodating hole of the elastic light-transmitting layer may be larger than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating space for accommodating the light-receiving portion.

The technical features and functions of further embodiments of this embodiment are as described in the aforementioned embodiment of the touch light guide film, and will not be repeated here.

In order to fully understand the purpose, features and effects of the present invention, the following specific examples and the accompanying drawings are used to make a detailed description of the present invention, as follows:

1 and 2, the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 includes a light exit layer 200, a light guide layer 300, an elastic light-transmitting layer 400 and at least one light source 500. The light exit layer 200 has a first circuit 210. The light guide layer 300 is located on the side of the light exit layer 200 and has a second circuit 310. The elastic light transmissive layer 400 is disposed between the light exit layer 200 and the light guide layer 300, and the elastic light transmissive layer 400 has a through hole 401. The positions of the first circuit 210, the second circuit 310, and the through holes 401 in the thickness direction of the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 correspond to each other, so when the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 is pressed by the light exit layer 200 and the light guide layer 300 on both sides At this time, the thickness of the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 is reduced and the first circuit 210 and the second circuit 310 are in contact. When the pressing force disappears, the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 is elastically reset, so that the first circuit 210 and the second circuit 310 are separated again, so that the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 has a signal transmission function.

The light guide layer 300 further has an accommodation space 301, and the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 further has an accommodation hole 402 corresponding to the position of the accommodation space 301. The light-emitting source 500 is disposed on the light-emitting layer 200, and the position of the light-emitting source 500 corresponds to the aforesaid accommodating space 301 and the accommodating hole 402, through which the accommodating hole 402 protrudes into the accommodating space 301 of the light guide layer 300 to provide light Enter the light guide layer 300.

Taking the material side as an example, the light-emitting layer 200, the light guide layer 300, and the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 can be PC, PET, and PC plastic in order to avoid the sticking problem after laminating the same material film. In terms of thickness, the design concept of the light-emitting layer 200 is that in addition to carrying the first circuit 210, in addition to the holes that must be broken in the application of the light-emitting keyboard, the overall surface must be as complete and flat as possible; the light-emitting layer 200 is mainly responsible for the task of emitting light, not Light guide, so the overall thickness design can reach 0.05~0.1mm, the current test sample is 0.075mm.

The main function of the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 is to provide the through hole 401 and the resilience. At present, the thickness of the test sample only needs to be 0.05 mm to achieve the standard; in order to further increase the resilience, a protrusion may be added around the through hole 401. Taking the application of the light-emitting keyboard as an example, the number of through holes 401 and broken holes on the surface of the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 exceeds 400. When each through hole 401 is provided with a convex column, the convex column can be supported by the elastic transparent An air gap is created between the light layer 400 and the light exit layer 200 to solve the sticking problem.

It is worth mentioning that even if the elastic light-transmitting layer 400, the light guide layer 300 and the light-emitting layer 200 are made of the same PC or PET material, the problem of sticking to each other can still be avoided by the aforementioned air gap. Because the thickness of the elastic light-transmitting layer 400 is only 0.05 mm, the protrusions are thinner, so it is not easy to form by injection. In practice, the convex pillars can be formed using optical glue (OCA).

The main function of the light guide layer 300 is to transmit the light of the light emitting source 500. The thickness of the current general-purpose LED is about 0.4 mm, and the LED dedicated to the light-emitting keyboard can be as thin as 0.3 mm. Regarding the thickness design of the light guide layer 300, the current hot pressing process (Embossing) is used to apply the optical dots to the 0.1~0.3mm light guide plate. It is stated that if the optical dots need to be applied on the light guide plate below 0.1mm, the semiconductor process of yellow light development needs to be used; otherwise, if the optical dots need to be applied on the light guide plate above 1mm, the extrusion process should be adopted ( Extrusion). However, even if the hot pressing process (Embossing) is adopted, the thickness range must be selected first, and then the roller set and mechanism parts can be customized and designed, and cannot be universally used for light guide plates that are too thin or too thick.

From the optical application side, the light guide layer 300 is provided with optical dots, using the design of the dot density, depth or shape and destroying the principle of total reflection, the light is evenly led out to the upper surface, and then penetrates the elastic transparent layer 400 With the light exit layer 200, a surface light source is formed. In the application of the light-emitting keyboard, although the uniformity cannot be compared with the specifications of the display backlight module due to too many holes, but it is also saved because of the concealment of the keycap and the frame, only need to ensure that the four corners between the keys The uniformity of the light emitting position is sufficient. Conversely, if the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 is not applied to a light-emitting keyboard, there is no need to deal with the hole breaking problem of the light guide layer 300, but the optical taste of the light layer 200 must be improved, for example, to keep it flat and complete, or add additional The upper cover provides light fogging and physical protection.

3A and 3B, the thickness of the light guide layer 300 corresponding to the light source 500 may be gradually increased to form the light receiving portion 302, and the cross section shape of the light receiving portion 302 is trumpet-shaped. As shown in FIG. 3A, the cross-sectional area of the accommodating hole 402 is larger than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating space 301, so that the light receiving portion 302 can be accommodated in the accommodating hole 402. In this embodiment, the overall thickness of the touch-sensitive light-guiding film 100 can be further reduced. Taking the test sample as an example, the thickness of the light-guiding layer 300 is 0.15 mm, and the thickness of the light-receiving portion 302 is increased to 0.3 mm, thereby allowing light to be received The portion 302 matches the thickness of the LED of the light-emitting keyboard.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3B, the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 may include a third circuit 510, which is connected to the light source 500 to control its light emission. In other embodiments, the third circuit 510 may also be connected to the first circuit 210 or the second circuit 310, and the first circuit 210 or the second circuit 310 controls the light source 500 to emit light. In other words, in the application of a non-luminous keyboard, it is not necessary to ensure that the light source 500 continues to emit light; for example, when the finger presses the first circuit 210 and the second circuit 310 to be conductive, the finger itself has shielded the surrounding light-emitting area, It is meaningless to make the light emitting source 500 emit light. It may be considered to use the conduction of the first circuit 210 and the second circuit 310 to bypass the current of the light emitting source 500.

4A and 4B, another embodiment of the present invention is a light-emitting keyboard 600, including a plurality of keycap structures 700, a key frame 800, the touch light guide film 100 and the bottom plate 900 of the foregoing embodiments. The key frame 800 has a plurality of slots 810 to accommodate the key cap structure 700. The touch-type light guide film 100 is located below the key frame 800, and the touch-type light guide film 100 is pressed by the keycap structure 700 to make the first circuit 210 and the second circuit 310 contact. The bottom plate 900 is located below the touch-sensitive light guide film 100, and the bottom plate 900 has a reflective surface 901. The reflective surface 901 receives the light from the light guide layer 300 and reflects it to the light exit layer 200, and allows the light exit layer 200 to provide light to the aforementioned keycap structure 700.

In this way, the light-emitting keyboard 600 can use the touch-type light guide film 100 to achieve the functions of transmitting commands and emitting light without the need for an additional light guide plate. In addition, in the application of the light-emitting keyboard 600, the arrangement of the key cap structure 700 and the key frame 800 can play a concealing function on the light-emitting layer 200 and enhance the optical taste.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the thickness of the light guide layer 300 may increase toward the light exit layer 200. Alternatively, in the embodiment of FIG. 4B, the thickness of the light guide layer 300 may also increase toward the bottom plate 900. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2, the thickness of the light guide layer 300 is uniform, and does not increase toward the light exit layer 200 or the bottom plate 900. The thickness design of the above-mentioned light guide layer 300 can be determined according to actual needs, rather than limiting the present invention. For example, to increase the light guide effect of the touch-sensitive light guide film, one design method may be the same as the design method of the light guide layer 300 of FIG. 3B, and the thickness of the light guide layer 300 increases toward the light exit layer 200 to utilize light The portion 302 increases the light receiving area.

The light-emitting keyboard 600 of this embodiment has been described with respect to other examples of the touch-sensitive light-guiding film 100 as described in the foregoing embodiments, so it will not be repeated here.

In other embodiments, the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 or the light-emitting keyboard 600 may include a plurality of light-emitting sources 500, and the light-emitting colors of the light-emitting sources 500 may be different. As shown in FIG. 5, the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 may also be implemented as a ring-shaped surface light source. In detail, the touch-sensitive light guide film 100 can be disposed on the surface of the audio and makeup mirrors, and uses light sources 500 of different colors to achieve functions such as command feedback or situation change. For example, in the application of the light-emitting ring, several LEDs can provide light with a basic background color. The first circuit 210 and the second circuit 310 are arranged in pairs, and are located around the third circuit 510 and its corresponding light source 500; When the light source 500 provides a light different from the basic background color to indicate to the user, the user can conduct the corresponding operation by pressing and turning on the first circuit 210 and the second circuit 310.

According to the description of the foregoing embodiments, the touch light guide film of the present invention has the functions of surface light source and circuit control, and can be applied to various electronic products, such as a light-emitting keyboard or others. In addition, the invention integrates the structure of the light guide plate into the film, which can reduce the complexity of the structure of the electronic product and reduce the volume of the electronic product.

The present invention has been disclosed in the above with preferred embodiments, but those skilled in the art should understand that this embodiment is only used to depict the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that all changes and substitutions equivalent to this embodiment should be included within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be subject to those defined in the scope of patent application.

100‧‧‧Touch light guide film 200‧‧‧Light exit layer 210‧‧‧ First circuit 300‧‧‧Light guide layer 301‧‧‧Accommodation space 302‧‧‧Light receiving section 310‧‧‧Second circuit 400‧‧‧ Elastic light transmissive layer 401‧‧‧Through hole 402‧‧‧Accommodation hole 500‧‧‧Light source 510‧‧‧ Third circuit 600‧‧‧Light keyboard 700‧‧‧Key cap structure 800‧ ‧‧Key frame 810‧‧‧Slotted 900‧‧‧Bottom plate 901‧‧‧Reflective surface

1 is an exploded view of a touch light guide film according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side view of the touch light guide film of FIG. 1; FIG. 3A is a housing of the touch light guide film of FIG. 1 Schematic diagram of the hole and the light receiving part; FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram corresponding to the position of the light receiving part and the light source of the touch-type light guide film of FIG. 1; FIG. 4A is an exploded view of a light emitting keyboard according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4B is a view of FIG. 4A Side view of the light-emitting keyboard; and FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the application of the touch light guide film of FIG. 1.

100‧‧‧Touch light guide film

200‧‧‧Light emitting layer

210‧‧‧ First Circuit

300‧‧‧Light guide layer

301‧‧‧accommodation space

310‧‧‧ Second Circuit

400‧‧‧Elastic transparent layer

401‧‧‧through hole

402‧‧‧accommodation hole

500‧‧‧Light source

Claims (10)

A touch-sensitive light-guiding film includes: a light-emitting layer with a first circuit; a light-guiding layer on one side of the light-emitting layer, the light-guiding layer with: a second circuit corresponding to the first circuit; And an accommodating space, recessed or penetratingly located in the light guide layer; an elastic light-transmitting layer disposed between the light-emitting layer and the light guide layer, the elastic light-transmitting layer having: a through hole, and the through hole The position corresponds to the first circuit and the second circuit, and when the elastic light-transmitting layer is pressed, the through hole is used for the first circuit to contact the second circuit; and a receiving hole, the position corresponds to the receiving space; and At least one light-emitting source is provided in the light-emitting layer, and the light-emitting source penetrates the accommodating hole and protrudes into the accommodating space to provide light to enter the light-guiding layer. The touch-type light guide film according to claim 1, wherein the number of the light-emitting sources is plural, and the light-emitting colors of the light-emitting sources are different. The touch-sensitive light guide film according to claim 1, further comprising: a third circuit connected to the light source to control the light source to emit light. The touch-type light guide film according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the light guide layer corresponding to the light source is gradually increased to form a light-receiving portion, and the cross-sectional shape of the light-receiving portion is trumpet-shaped. The touch-type light guide film according to claim 4, wherein the cross-sectional area of the accommodating hole is larger than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating space for accommodating the light-receiving portion. A light-emitting keyboard, comprising: a plurality of key cap structures; a key frame with a plurality of slots to accommodate the key cap structures; the touch-sensitive light guide film as described in claim 1, under the key frame, The touch-type light guide film is pressed by the keycap structural members to bring the first circuit into contact with the second circuit, and the light exit layer provides light to the keycap structural members; and a bottom plate is located at the touch Under the light guide film, the bottom plate has a reflective surface, and the position of the reflective surface corresponds to the light guide layer. The light-emitting keyboard according to claim 6, wherein the number of the light-emitting sources is plural, and the light-emitting colors of the light-emitting sources are different. The light-emitting keyboard according to claim 6, further comprising: a third circuit connected to the light-emitting source to control the light-emitting source to emit light. The light-emitting keyboard according to claim 6, wherein the thickness of the light guide layer corresponding to the light source is gradually increased to form a light-receiving portion, and the cross-sectional shape of the light-receiving portion is trumpet-shaped. The illuminated keyboard according to claim 9, wherein the cross-sectional area of the accommodating hole is larger than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating space for accommodating the light-receiving portion.

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