TWI578355B - Keyswitch and keyboard thereof - Google Patents

Description

Button and its keyboard

The present invention relates to a button and a keyboard thereof, and more particularly to a lever arm that is slid with the actuating member to trigger the switch unit and directly connects the first connecting structure and the second connecting structure to the bottom cover and the abutting surface of the bottom plate, and The fixing seat is integrally formed with a button movably connected to the first support member and the second support member and a keyboard thereof.

In terms of current personal computer usage habits, the keyboard is one of the indispensable input devices for entering text, symbols or numbers. Moreover, the consumer electronics products that are in contact with everyday life or the large-scale processing equipment used in the industry need to have a button structure as an input device to operate the above-mentioned electronic products and processing equipment.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic cross-sectional view of the prior art button 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the button 1 includes a bottom plate 10, a keycap 12, a circuit board 14, a lifting support device 16, and an elastic member 18. The circuit board 14 is disposed on the bottom plate 10. The lifting support device 16 is disposed between the keycap 12 and the bottom plate 10 for supporting the keycap 12. The elastic member 18 is also disposed between the keycap 12 and the bottom plate 10, so that after the keycap 12 is pressed by the user, the triggering portion 19 of the elastic member 18 triggers the switch 15 on the circuit board 14, thereby executing the user. The function you want to enter.

However, since the switch 15 on the circuit board 14 is triggered by pressing the keycap 12 to press the trigger portion 19 of the elastic member 18, the circuit board 14 and the elastic member 18 are relatively subjected to a large compressive stress. Therefore, the pressing feeling of the button 1 is not sensitive enough and the service life of the elastic member 18 is affected. Further, if the user presses the circuit board 14 with excessive compressive stress, the circuit board 14 may appear. Permanent deformation, causing damage to the circuit or continuous triggering of the switch 15.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a use of a spring arm to slide the actuator to trigger the switch unit and to directly integrate the first connection structure and the second connection structure with the bottom cover, the abutment surface, and the fixed seat. A key that is movably coupled to the first support member and the second support member and a keyboard thereof are formed to solve the above problems.

According to an embodiment, the button of the present invention comprises a keycap, a bottom plate portion, an upper cover, a switch unit, an actuating member, a first support member, and a second support member. The bottom plate portion has at least one first connecting structure, at least one second connecting structure, a lower cover, an abutting surface, and a fixing seat. The upper cover has a sliding slot, and the upper cover is sleeved on the lower cover to form an accommodation space together with the lower cover. The switch unit is disposed in the fixing base and located in the accommodating space, and the switch unit has an extension portion for electrically connecting a printed circuit board. One end of the actuating member abuts against the key cap and the actuating member is movably disposed through the sliding slot. The elastic member is disposed in the accommodating space and abuts between the abutting surface and the actuating member. Two ends of the first support member are movably connected to the first connecting structure and the key cap, respectively. Two ends of the second support member are movably coupled to the second connecting structure and the key cap, respectively. When the keycap is pressed by an external force and the pivoting of the first support member and the second support member moves from an unpressed position to a pressed position, the actuating member is triggered to move downward relative to the sliding slot. The switch unit. When the external force is released, the elastic member drives the actuating member to move upward relative to the sliding slot to drive the keycap to return from the pressed position to the undepressed position.

According to another embodiment, the keyboard of the present invention includes a plurality of keys and a printed circuit board. At least one of the plurality of buttons includes a keycap, a bottom plate portion, an upper cover, a switch unit, an actuating member, a first support member, and a second support member. The bottom plate portion has at least one first connecting structure, at least one second connecting structure, a lower cover, an abutting surface, and a fixing seat. The upper cover has a sliding slot, and the upper cover is sleeved on the lower cover to form an accommodation space together with the lower cover. The switch unit is disposed in the fixing base and in the accommodating space and has an extension. One end of the actuating member abuts against the key cap and the actuating member is movably disposed through the sliding slot. The elastic member is disposed in the accommodating space and abuts between the abutting surface and the actuating member. Two ends of the first support member are movably connected to the first connecting structure and the key cap, respectively. Two ends of the second support member are movably coupled to the second connecting structure and the key cap, respectively. The printed circuit board is electrically connected to the extension of the switch unit. When the keycap is pressed by an external force and the pivoting of the first support member and the second support member moves from an unpressed position to a pressed position, the actuating member is triggered to move downward relative to the sliding slot. The switch unit. When the external force is released, the elastic member drives the actuating member to move upward relative to the sliding slot to drive the keycap to return from the pressed position to the undepressed position.

In summary, the mechanical trigger design that moves the actuator up and down to turn the switch unit on or off to replace the elastic trigger design of the prior art using the elastic member to directly trigger downward, the invention can not only greatly improve the trigger sensitivity of the button And pressing the hand feeling, and at the same time, correspondingly reducing the compressive stress on the printed circuit board of the button, thereby solving the problem that the button pressing feeling mentioned in the prior art and the service life of the elastic member are affected, and avoiding the problem If the user presses improperly, the circuit is damaged or the switch is continuously triggered. In addition, the present invention adopts the first connection structure as compared with the prior art, which requires an additional configuration of the bottom plate between the upper and lower cover structures for accommodating the actuator, the elastic member, and the switch unit, and the printed circuit board. The second connecting structure is directly formed integrally with the lower cover of the bottom plate portion, the abutting surface, and the fixing seat to achieve the effect of omitting the bottom plate, thereby effectively reducing the overall thickness of the button to facilitate the subsequent thin design of the keyboard.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention will be further understood from the following embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged schematic view of a keyboard 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the keyboard 100 of FIG. 2, in order to clearly show The internal mechanism of the button 102 is designed, and the key cap 106 is shown in broken lines in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the keyboard 100 includes a plurality of buttons 102 (in order to clearly display the button structure design of the keyboard 100, only a single button 102 is shown in FIG. 2, and the design of the other buttons 102 is It is possible to push the circuit board 104 as well. The plurality of buttons 102 include a keycap 106, a bottom plate portion 108, an upper cover 110, a switch unit 112, an actuating member 114, an elastic member 116, a first support member 118, and a second support member 120, and are disposed on the printed circuit board 104. The function that the user desires to input is performed for the user to press. The bottom plate portion 108 has at least one first connecting structure 122 (two shown in FIG. 3, but not limited thereto), and at least one second connecting structure 124 (two are shown in FIG. 3, but are not limited thereto) ), the lower cover 126, the abutting surface 128, and the fixing base 130. The upper cover 110 has a sliding slot 132 , and the upper cover 110 is sleeved on the lower cover 126 to form an accommodation space 134 together with the lower cover 126 . The switch unit 112 is disposed in the fixing base 130 and in the accommodating space 134 and has an extending portion 136 to electrically connect the printed circuit board 104. The structural design of the fixing base 130 for fixing the switch unit 112 is common in the prior art. The related description will not be repeated here. One end of the actuating member 114 abuts against the key cap 106 and the actuating member 114 is movably disposed through the sliding slot 132 such that the actuating member 114 can slide in the sliding slot 132 as the keying cap 106 moves downward. . The elastic member 116 is preferably a spring (but not limited thereto). The elastic member 116 is disposed in the accommodating space 134 and abuts between the abutting surface 128 and the actuating member 114 for providing elasticity. The force is restored to the actuator 114 to drive the keycap 106 back.

As for the design of the lifting and lowering support of the button 102, the two ends of the first supporting member 118 are respectively movably connected to the first connecting structure 122 and the key cap 106, and the two ends of the second supporting member 120 are respectively movably connected to The second connecting structure 124 and the key cap 106, in more detail, in this embodiment, the first connecting structure 122 and the second connecting structure 124, the lower cover 126, the abutting surface 128, and the fixing base 130 are plastic The injection method is integrally formed, so that an additional bottom plate is disposed under the upper and lower cover structures for accommodating the actuating member, the elastic member and the switch unit to be movably connected with the button support, compared to the prior art. The invention adopts a design in which the first connecting structure 122 and the second connecting structure 124 are directly formed integrally with the lower cover 126, the abutting surface 128, and the fixing base 130, so as to achieve the effect of omitting the configuration of the bottom plate, thereby effectively Reduce the overall thickness of the button to facilitate the subsequent thin design of the keyboard. In a practical application, the first connecting structure 122 is preferably a rotating slot, and the second connecting structure 124 is preferably a sliding slot. When the first supporting member 118 is assembled, the first supporting member 118 is slidably The second connecting member 120 is slidably coupled to the second connecting structure 124 (sliding groove) when the second supporting member 120 is assembled, and is rotatably connected to the first connecting structure 122 (rotating groove). And the second support member 120 is rotatably pivotally connected to the keycap 106. Through the structural connection design, the key cap 106 can be moved up and down relative to the bottom plate portion 108 via the first support member 118 and the second support member 120. .

In addition, in terms of the trigger design of the actuating member 114 and the switch unit 112, the keyboard 100 preferably uses a design in which the actuator biases the arm to turn the switch unit on or off (but is not limited thereto). It is also possible to use other designs in which the switching unit can be triggered as the actuator moves, for example, the actuator can be used to directly trigger the design of the electrodes of the switching unit. For example, in this embodiment, the switch The unit 112 can include a spring arm 140, a first electrode 142, and a second electrode 144. The extension portion 136 can have a first extension member 146 and a second extension member 148. The actuator member 114 can extend outward to form a skirt 115. The elastic arm 138 can be formed from one end of the first electrode 142 for abutting against the skirt 115 of the actuating member 114. The first extending member 146 can be formed from the other end of the first electrode 142 for electrical connection to the printing. The circuit board 104, the second extension 148 can be formed from one end of the second electrode 144 for electrically connecting to the printed circuit board 104, whereby the skirt 115 of the actuator 114 is attached when the actuator 114 moves upward. The elastic arm 140 can be biased such that the first electrode 142 and the second The pole 144 is separated. When the actuating member 114 moves downward, the skirt of the actuating member 114 can be offset from the elastic arm 140 to move the elastic arm 140 toward the second electrode 144 to drive the first electrode 142 to contact the second electrode. 144, thereby performing the function that the user desires to input.

In practical applications, in order to improve assembly convenience, the bottom plate portion 108 may further have a positioning structure 109 for engaging with the printed circuit board 104 (which may adopt a common structural positioning design, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 The positioning structure 109 (positioning shaft) is inserted into the hole-axis design of the positioning hole 105 of the circuit board 104 to assist the bottom plate portion 108 to be positioned on the printed circuit board 104 more quickly and stably. In addition, the button 102 can further include a light-emitting unit 150 (such as a light-emitting diode, but is not limited thereto). The light-emitting unit 150 can be electrically connected to the printed circuit board 104 and disposed in the accommodating space 134 for emitting light to The key cap 106 (in this design, the key cap 106, the upper cover 110, the actuating member 114, the first support member 118, and the second support member 120 may be selectively composed of a light-transmitting material, but not limited thereto), In order to produce the button light effect.

Herein is a description of the trigger design of the button 102, please refer to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the keyboard 100 of FIG. 2 along the section line AA, and FIG. 5 is a key cap of FIG. 106 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the pressed position. When the keycap 106 is pressed by an external force from the unpressed position as shown in FIG. 4 and moves to the pressing position as shown in FIG. 5 as the first support member 118 and the second support member 120 are pivoted downward. The actuating member 114 moves downward from the skirt 115 as shown in FIG. 4 against the biasing elastic arm 140 with respect to the bottom plate portion 108 as the lower end of the keycap 106 moves as shown in FIG. 5. The skirt 115 is offset from the elastic arm 140. At this time, since the skirt 115 no longer abuts against the biasing elastic arm 140, the elastic arm 140 makes the first electrode as shown in FIG. The position separated from the second electrode 144 is elastically restored to the position where the first electrode 142 is in contact with the second electrode 144 as shown in FIG. 5 to ensure that the switch unit 112 can be moved in the key cap 106 as shown in FIG. The pressed position is triggered, so that the keyboard 100 can perform the function that the user desires to input.

On the other hand, when the external force is released, the elastic member 116 can be automatically driven by the actuating member 114 to drive the keycap 106 from the pressed position as shown in FIG. 5 to the unpressed position as shown in FIG. The effect of the return position. In the above process, the elastic member 116 can provide the elastic force to the actuating member 114 to drive the actuating member 114 to move upward from the position where the skirt 115 and the elastic arm 140 are displaced as shown in FIG. 5 to the position as shown in FIG. The skirt 115 abuts against the position of the biasing spring arm 140. At this time, the elastic arm 140 is biased by the skirt 115 from the position where the first electrode 142 is in contact with the second electrode 144 as shown in FIG. The position where the first electrode 142 is separated from the second electrode 144 as shown in FIG. 4 causes the switch unit 112 to return to the untriggered state for the user to perform a subsequent pressing operation.

In this way, the mechanical trigger design of the above-mentioned elastic arm as the actuator moves up and down to make the switch unit be turned on or off, instead of the elastic trigger design of the prior art directly triggering downward by the elastic member, the present invention can not only greatly The trigger sensitivity and the pressing feel of the push button are increased, and the compressive stress applied to the printed circuit board of the button is correspondingly lowered, thereby solving the key press feeling and the service life of the elastic member mentioned in the prior art. Problems, and avoiding damage to the circuit or continuous triggering of the switch due to improper user press.

In addition, as can be seen from the above, the present invention adopts a design that additionally requires a bottom plate between the upper and lower cover structures for accommodating the actuator, the elastic member, and the switch unit, and the printed circuit board as compared with the prior art. The first connecting structure and the second connecting structure are directly formed integrally with the lower cover of the bottom plate portion, the abutting surface, and the fixing seat to achieve the effect of omitting the bottom plate, thereby effectively reducing the overall thickness of the button to facilitate the subsequent thin design of the keyboard.

It is to be noted that the structural design of the bottom plate portion is not limited to the above embodiment, and the design of the first connecting structure and the second connecting structure extending outward from the lower cover may also be adopted. For example, refer to the sixth embodiment. Figure 3 is a perspective view of a bottom plate portion 108' according to another embodiment of the present invention. The components described in this embodiment have the same reference numerals as those of the above embodiments, and have similar structures. Or function, the related description will not be repeated here. As shown in FIG. 6, the bottom plate portion 108' may have a connecting arm 152, a first connecting structure 122, a second connecting structure 124, a lower cover 126, an abutting surface 128, and a fixing base 130. The cover 126 extends outwardly to be connected to the first connecting structure 122 and the second connecting structure 124 respectively, so that the first connecting structure 122 and the second connecting structure 124 can be integrated with the lower cover 126, the abutting surface 128, and the fixing base 130. Forming and achieving the effect of saving the cost of the board of the bottom plate. For a description of the structural relationship between the bottom plate portion 108' and the upper cover 110, the switch unit 112, the actuating member 114, the elastic member 116, the first support member 118, and the second support member 120, reference may be made to the above embodiment. This will not be repeated here. The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made to the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

1, 102‧‧‧ button
10‧‧‧floor
12, 106‧‧‧ key cap
14‧‧‧ boards
15‧‧‧ switch
16‧‧‧ Lifting support device
18‧‧‧Flexible parts
19‧‧‧Trigger
100‧‧‧ keyboard
104‧‧‧Printed circuit board
105‧‧‧Positioning holes
108, 108'‧‧‧ bottom plate
109‧‧‧ Positioning structure
110‧‧‧Upper cover
112‧‧‧Switch unit
114‧‧‧Acoustic
115‧‧‧ skirt
116‧‧‧Flexible parts
118‧‧‧First support
120‧‧‧second support
122‧‧‧First connection structure
124‧‧‧Second connection structure
126‧‧‧Under the cover
128‧‧‧Abutment
130‧‧‧ Fixed seat
132‧‧‧Chute
134‧‧‧ accommodating space
136‧‧‧Extension
140‧‧‧Bounce arm
142‧‧‧First electrode
144‧‧‧second electrode
146‧‧‧First extension
148‧‧‧Second extension
150‧‧‧Lighting unit
152‧‧‧Connecting arm

Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a prior art button. 2 is a partially enlarged schematic view of a keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a schematic view of the explosion of the keyboard of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the keyboard of Figure 2 taken along section line A-A. Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the key cap of Fig. 4 pressed to the pressing position. Figure 6 is a perspective view of a bottom plate portion according to another embodiment of the present invention.

100‧‧‧ keyboard

102‧‧‧ button

104‧‧‧Printed circuit board

106‧‧‧Key Cap

108‧‧‧Bottom plate

110‧‧‧Upper cover

114‧‧‧Acoustic

118‧‧‧First support

120‧‧‧second support

122‧‧‧First connection structure

124‧‧‧Second connection structure

126‧‧‧Under the cover

132‧‧‧Chute

Claims (10)

A button comprising: a key cap; a bottom plate portion having at least one first connecting structure, at least one second connecting structure, a lower cover, an abutting surface, and a fixing seat; an upper cover having a sliding a slot, and the upper cover is sleeved on the lower cover to form an accommodating space with the lower cover; a switch unit is disposed in the fixed seat and located in the accommodating space, the switch unit has an extension portion for An electrically connecting piece of the printed circuit board; one end of the abutting member abutting the key cap and movably extending through the sliding slot; an elastic member disposed in the receiving space and abutting the abutting And a first support member, the two ends of which are movably connected to the first connecting structure and the key cap respectively; and a second supporting member, the two ends of which are respectively movably connected to The second connecting structure and the key cap; wherein when the key cap is pressed by an external force and the pivoting of the first supporting member and the second supporting member moves from an unpressed position to a pressing position, the actuation The piece moves downward relative to the chute The switch unit; when the external force is released, the resilient member driving the actuating member is moved upward relative to the slide to drive the keycap return from the pressing position to the non-pressing position. The button of claim 1, further comprising: an illumination unit electrically connected to the printed circuit board and disposed in the accommodating space for emitting light to the keycap. The button of claim 1, wherein the first connecting structure, the second connecting structure, the lower cover, the abutting surface, and the fixing base are integrally formed by plastic injection. The button of claim 1, wherein the at least one first connecting structure is a rotating slot, and the at least one second connecting structure is a sliding slot. The button of claim 1, wherein the bottom plate portion further has a positioning structure for engaging the printed circuit board to position the bottom plate portion on the printed circuit board. A keyboard comprising: a plurality of buttons, at least one of the plurality of buttons comprising: a keycap; a bottom plate portion having at least one first connection structure, at least one second connection structure, a lower cover, and an offset a cover, and a fixing base; an upper cover having a sliding slot, and the upper cover is sleeved on the lower cover to form an accommodation space together with the lower cover; a switch unit disposed on the fixed seat and located The accommodating space has an extending portion, and one end of the engaging member abuts against the key cap and is movably disposed in the sliding slot; an elastic member disposed in the accommodating space and abutting Between the abutting surface and the actuating member; a first supporting member, the two ends of which are movably connected to the first connecting structure and the key cap respectively; and a second supporting member, the two ends of which are respectively movable Connected to the second connection structure and the keycap; and a printed circuit board electrically connected to the extension of the switch unit; wherein when the keycap is pressed by an external force, the first support member and the first The pivoting of the two supports When the unpressed position moves to a pressing position, the actuating member moves downward relative to the sliding slot to trigger the switch unit; when the external force is released, the elastic member drives the actuating member to move upward relative to the sliding slot, The keycap is driven to return from the pressed position to the unpressed position. The keyboard of claim 6, wherein the button further comprises: an illumination unit electrically connected to the printed circuit board and disposed in the accommodating space for emitting light to the keycap. The keyboard of claim 6, wherein the first connecting structure, the second connecting structure, the lower cover, the abutting surface, and the fixing base are integrally formed by plastic injection. The keyboard of claim 6, wherein the at least one first connecting structure is a rotating slot, and the at least one second connecting structure is a sliding slot. The keyboard of claim 6, wherein the bottom plate portion further has a positioning structure for engaging the printed circuit board to position the bottom plate portion on the printed circuit board.