TWI659344B - Touchpad structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A touchpad structure includes a bottom plate, a circuit board, and a receiving seat. The bottom plate includes a first side edge and an assembly area. The assembly area is adjacent to the first side edge. The assembly area is provided with a first hook base and a second hook base. The first hook base is adjacent to the first side edge, and the second hook base is closer to the first side. The hook seat is away from the first side. The circuit board includes a second side edge, and the second side edge corresponds to the first side edge of the bottom plate. The receiving seat is disposed between the circuit board and the bottom plate and is fixed on the second side of the circuit board. The receiving seat includes a third side and a fourth side on the opposite side, and the third side corresponds to the first side of the bottom plate. An elastic hook is provided on the side, and a limit hook is provided on the fourth side. The elastic hook and the limit hook extend in opposite directions. The elastic hook is elastically engaged with the first hook seat, and the limit hook is set correspondingly. At the second hook seat.

Description

Touchpad structure

The invention relates to a touch panel structure.

A touchpad (TouchPad or TrackPad) is an input device widely used in notebook computers. The touchpad can sense the movement or pressing of the user's finger to control the movement of the indicator (such as a movement such as a displacement or a click).

A general touchpad includes a touch panel, a circuit board, and a bottom plate. The touch panel is fixed on the top surface of the circuit board. A part of the bottom surface of the circuit board is fixed to the bottom plate through an adhesive layer. When the user presses the touch panel, the The control panel and the circuit board can swing around the part of the adhesive layer as an axis. However, the adhesive layer of this assembly method is prone to degumming due to long-term stress, and when the circuit board or touch panel of the touch panel is damaged, it must also be replaced with the base plate to increase costs.

In view of this, in one embodiment, a touch panel structure is provided, which includes a bottom plate, a circuit board, and a socket. The bottom plate includes a first side edge and an assembly area. The assembly area is adjacent to the first side edge. The assembly area is provided with a first hook base and a second hook base. The first hook base is adjacent to the first side edge, and the second hook base is closer to the first side. The hook seat is away from the first side. The circuit board includes a second side edge, and the second side edge corresponds to the first side edge of the bottom plate. The receiving seat is disposed between the circuit board and the bottom plate and is fixed to the second side of the circuit board. The receiving seat includes a third side and a fourth side on the opposite side, and the third side corresponds to the first side of the bottom plate. And, there is a flexible hook, a limit hook is provided on the fourth side, the elastic hook and the limit hook extend in opposite directions, the elastic hook is elastically hooked on the first hook seat, and the limit hook is set correspondingly At the second hook seat.

In summary, according to the touchpad structure of the embodiment of the present invention, a receiving seat is fixed through the second side of the circuit board, and the elastic hook and the limiting hook are assembled on the assembly area of the base plate through the receiving seat. The circuit board can be more firmly assembled on the bottom plate and the service life of the product can be improved. In addition, when the circuit board is damaged and needs to be replaced or repaired, it is only necessary to detach the receiving seat from the bottom plate, and it is not necessary to detach it with the bottom plate. Or replace.

FIG. 1 is an application schematic diagram of an embodiment of a touchpad structure of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a touchpad structure of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged and exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a touchpad structure of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the touchpad structure 1 (TouchPad or TrackPad) can be applied to a portable computer to sense the movement of a user's finger to control an index operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the touchpad structure 1 is applied to a notebook computer 2. However, this is not a limitation. In other embodiments, the touchpad structure 1 can also be applied to other portable computers (such as tablet computers). Alternatively, the touchpad structure 1 may also be an independent device and connected to a portable computer, which is not limited in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the touch panel structure 1 includes a base plate 10, a circuit board 20, a socket 22, and a touch substrate 30. The bottom plate 10, the circuit board 20 and the touch substrate 30 are stacked along the Z-axis direction. Here, the bottom plate 10 is located at the bottom, and the circuit board 20 is sandwiched between the touch substrate 30 and the bottom plate 10. The touch substrate 30 may be a glass substrate or a mylar substrate, and the touch substrate 30 may be fixed (such as fixed or locked) on the circuit board 20 so that a user's finger can contact and operate the touch substrate 30. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom plate 10 may be a rigid plate body, such as a metal plate or an acrylic plate. In this embodiment, the bottom plate 10 is in the form of a frame, but this is not limited. The bottom plate 10 may also be Solid complete board. Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the bottom plate 10 can be used for fixing (eg, locking or fixing) inside the notebook computer 2.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in this embodiment, the bottom plate 10 includes a first side edge 11 and an assembly area 12. A trigger portion 15 is provided on one side of the base plate 10 (the trigger portion 15 is a bump protruding upward from the base plate 10 as a whole) for triggering the circuit board 20 to generate a signal. The first side 11 is a side of the bottom plate 10 away from the trigger portion 15. The assembly area 12 is an area of the bottom plate 10 adjacent to the first side edge 11. The assembly area 12 is provided with at least one first hook base 13 (four here) and at least one second hook base 14 (four here). Each first hook base 13 is adjacent to the first side edge 11, and each second hook base 14 is farther from the first side edge 11 than each first hook base 13.

In some embodiments, each of the first hook bases 13 and each of the second hook bases 14 can be integrally bent upward from the bottom plate 10. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the bottom plate 10 includes an upper surface 101, and each of the first hook bases 13 includes a hollowed area 131 and a bent piece 132. The hollowed area 131 penetrates the bottom plate 10. The folded piece 132 is integrally bent upward from the bottom plate 10 (here, the folded piece 132 is L-shaped), and the folded piece 132 is located above the hollowed-out area 131 and protrudes from the upper surface 101 by a fitting distance D. In addition, in this embodiment, the plurality of first hook bases 13 are arranged along the X-axis direction, and the plurality of first hook bases 13 may be respectively located on the same axis or different axes, which is not limited.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 again, in this embodiment, each of the second hook bases 14 includes a vertical plate 141, and the vertical plate 141 is integrally bent from the bottom plate 10 and protrudes from the upper surface 101. A hole slot 142 is provided. The plurality of second hook bases 14 are arranged along the X-axis direction, and the plurality of second hook bases 14 may be respectively located on the same axis or different axes, which is not limited. In addition, the embodiments of the first hook base 13 and the second hook base 14 described above are merely examples. In fact, the structures of the first hook base 13 and the second hook base 14 can be interchanged with each other, or the first hook base 13 and The second hook base 14 may also have the same structure, which is not limited in this embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the circuit board 20 includes a second side edge 21. In this embodiment, the circuit board 20 is covered on the base plate 10, and the second side edge 21 corresponds to the first side edge 11 of the base plate 10, that is, the second side edge 21 of the circuit board 20 and the first side edge of the base plate 10 One side 11 is located on the same side. The receiving seat 22 may be made of plastic material. The receiving seat 22 is fixed on the second side 21 of the circuit board 20 and is detachably assembled on the assembly area 12 of the base plate 10. For example, in this embodiment, the receiving base 22 is in the shape of a long board, and the area of the receiving base 22 is smaller than the area of the circuit board 20, and the receiving base 22 is fixed (eg, locked or fixed) on the circuit board 20. The bottom of the second side edge 21 is located between the bottom plate 10 and the circuit board 20.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 again, the circuit board 10 is detachably assembled on the assembly area 12 of the bottom plate 10 through the receiving seat 22. For example, in this embodiment, the receiving seat 22 includes a third side edge 23 and a fourth side edge 25 located on opposite sides. The third side edge 23 corresponds to the first side edge 11 of the bottom plate 10, and the third side edge 23 A plurality of elastic hooks 24 corresponding to the first hook base 13 are provided, a plurality of limit hooks 26 corresponding to the second hook base 14 are provided on the fourth side 25, and each of the elastic hooks 24 and each limit The hooks 26 extend in opposite directions. Each of the elastic hooks 24 is elastically hooked to each of the first hook bases 13, and each of the limit hooks 26 is correspondingly hooked to each of the second hook bases 14.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in an embodiment, the receiving seat 22 may include a limiting side wall 222, wherein the limiting side wall 222 is disposed along the third side 23 of the receiving seat 22. Thereby, in the process that the second side 21 of the circuit board 20 is connected to the receiving seat 22, the second side 21 of the circuit board 20 can obtain a limit by abutting against the limit side wall 222, so as to achieve the assembly process. It does not need time-consuming alignment to increase manufacturing efficiency and avoid errors.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, in this embodiment, each of the elastic hooks 24 is an elastic pin protruding from the third side 23, and each of the limit hooks 26 includes an elastic arm 261 and an inverted hook.部 262. The elastic arm 261 extends from the fourth side 25 (here the elastic arm 261 extends in the direction of the bottom plate 10), and the barb portion 262 is located at the bottom end of the elastic arm 261. In other embodiments, the limit hook 26 may also be a non-elastic hook, which is not limited.

Therefore, please refer to FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 (in these figures, the circuit board 20 is shown in a perspective manner to clearly see the structure of the receiving seat 22 and the base plate 10, which will be described first) before assembly In the process, the circuit board 20 can be tilted first, and each of the elastic hooks 24 can be diagonally inserted into the hollow area 131 of each first hook base 13 and embedded in the fitting distance D (as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4). Then press the circuit board 20 downward, so that each of the limit hooks 26 can be crossed in the hole 142 correspondingly to the vertical plate 141 of the second hook base 14, and the elastic hook 24 can be elastically pushed upward. The lower surface of the bent piece 132 of the first hook base 13 is used to complete the assembling operation (as shown in FIG. 5). In an embodiment, the fitting distance D and the thickness of the elastic hook 24 may be substantially the same to provide stability after fitting.

For details, please refer to FIGS. 6 to 8 for detailed cross-sectional views, where FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along 7-7 of FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along 8-8 of FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 7, after the receiving seat 22 is assembled in the assembling area 12 of the bottom plate 10, the receiving seat 22 is hooked into the hole groove 142 through the limiting hook 26, so that the receiving seat 22 can obtain the limits in the Z-axis direction and the X-axis direction. . As shown in FIG. 8, the elastic hook 24 can be elastically engaged with the bending piece 132 to further strengthen the Z-axis direction. In addition, in this embodiment, the bending piece 132 includes a stop surface 133 facing the fourth side 25, and the receiving seat 22 can abut against the stopping surface 133 to further limit the Y-axis direction and prevent the receiving seat 22 from facing Go out. As shown in FIG. 8 again, in an embodiment, the front end of the elastic hook 24 may further be provided with a guide slope 241, so that the elastic hook 24 can be obtained during the fitting distance D (as shown in FIG. 3). The guide slope 241 guides more smoothly.

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 again, when the circuit board 20 is damaged and needs to be replaced or repaired, the limit hook 26 can be pressed in the Y-axis direction, so that the inverted hook portion 262 of the limit hook 26 can be adjusted by The elastic force of the spring arm 261 can withdraw from the second hook base 14 so that the limit hook 26 is no longer limited by the second hook base 14. Therefore, the circuit board 20 can be lifted up to make the limit card The hook 26 is separated from the second hook seat 14 (as shown in FIG. 4). Then, the circuit board 20 is pulled out obliquely, so that the elastic hook 24 can be separated from the bending piece 132 of the first hook base 13, and the circuit board 20 can be detached from the bottom plate 10.

As shown in FIG. 3, in an embodiment, a bottom of the receiving seat 22 may be provided with a limiting post 221. The bottom plate 10 defines a recess 102 corresponding to the limiting post 221, and the limiting post 221 may be correspondingly inserted into the recess In 102, the limiting effect of the three directions (X axis, Y axis, and Z axis) of the receiving seat 22 is strengthened.

Accordingly, in the embodiment of the present invention, a receiving seat 22 is fixedly disposed through the second side 21 of the circuit board 20, and the elastic hook 24 and the limiting hook 26 are detachably assembled on the base plate 10 via the receiving seat 22. The assembly area 12 enables the circuit board 20 to be more firmly assembled to the base plate 10 than in the past by means of adhesion, and it will not cause degumming during long-term use, thereby increasing product life. In addition, when the circuit board 20 is damaged and needs to be replaced or repaired, it is only necessary to detach the receiving seat 22 from the bottom plate 10 instead of being detached or replaced with the bottom plate 10, thereby achieving the advantage of cost savings.

Next, the operation mode of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 10, an elastic switch 27 (such as a key switch or a mechanical switch) may be provided at the bottom of the circuit board 20 corresponding to the trigger portion 15. When the receiving seat 22 is assembled in the assembly area 12 of the base plate 10, The switch 27 can abut against the trigger portion 15 so that the circuit board 20 is elastically supported. As shown in FIG. 11, when the user needs to operate the index to perform a pointing operation, the user can press the circuit board 20 downward (as shown by an arrow L), and the circuit board 20 can be opposed to each other with the position of the limit hook 26 as an axis. Swing on the bottom plate 10 so that the elastic switch 27 is resisted by the trigger portion 15 of the bottom plate 10 to generate a corresponding signal.

Please refer to FIG. 8 and FIG. 11 again, since the elastic hook 24 is an elastic pin and has elastic force, and the bending piece 132 against which the elastic hook 24 abuts also has elastic force, therefore, the circuit board 20 is pressed. At this time, elastic deformation can be generated between the elastic hook 24 and the bending piece 132, so that the second side 21 of the circuit board 20 can be lifted upward to avoid affecting the swing of the circuit board 20. When the user does not press the circuit board 20, the circuit board 20 can swing and reset by the elastic force of the elastic switch 27 and the elastic restoring force of the elastic hook 24 and the bending piece 132 (as shown in FIG. 10).

As shown in FIG. 8, an edge 251 of the fourth side 25 of the receiving seat 22 near the bottom plate 10 may be provided. Therefore, when the circuit board 20 is swung relative to the bottom plate 10 with the position of the limit hook 26 as an axis, the circuit board 20 is not blocked by the corner of the fourth side 25 near the bottom plate 10, thereby improving the operation comfort. In some embodiments, the surface of the bevel 251 may be an inclined surface (as shown in FIG. 8) or an arc surface, which is not limited.

Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 9, where FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along 9-9 of FIG. 6. In this embodiment, a grounding pad 40 may be provided on the assembly area 11 of the base plate 10, and the socket 22 is provided with an escape hole 223 corresponding to the ground pad 40. The ground pad 40 is located in the escape hole 223 and is electrically connected to the circuit board. 20. In one embodiment, the material of the grounding pad 40 may be a material that can be easily welded, such as iron or copper, and is electrically connected to the circuit board 20 through welding and is available for grounding. In this way, the selection of the material of the base plate 10 can be more flexible. For example, the base plate 10 can use high-strength but difficult to weld materials (such as stainless steel) to improve the structural strength, or other materials that cannot be welded (such as acrylic). .

Although the technical content of the present invention has been disclosed as above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art and making some changes and retouching without departing from the spirit of the present invention should be covered by the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be determined by the scope of the appended patent application.

1‧‧‧touchpad structure

2‧‧‧ laptop

10‧‧‧ floor

101‧‧‧ top surface

102‧‧‧Dent

11‧‧‧ the first side

12‧‧‧Assembly area

13‧‧‧The first hook seat

131‧‧‧ hollowed out area

132‧‧‧Folding piece

133‧‧‧stop surface

14‧‧‧Second hook seat

141‧‧‧Stand

142‧‧‧hole slot

15‧‧‧Trigger Department

20‧‧‧Circuit Board

21‧‧‧ the second side

22‧‧‧Receiving seat

221‧‧‧ limit post

222‧‧‧Limited side wall

223‧‧‧Escape hole

23‧‧‧ Third side

24‧‧‧Flexible hook

241‧‧‧Guide bevel

25‧‧‧ fourth side

251‧‧‧bevel

26‧‧‧Limit card hook

261‧‧‧ Bomb Arm

262‧‧‧Inverted hook

27‧‧‧Flexible Switch

30‧‧‧ touch substrate

40‧‧‧ grounding gasket

D‧‧‧Mating distance

L‧‧‧ Arrow

[FIG. 1] It is an application schematic diagram of an embodiment of the touch panel structure of the present invention. [FIG. 2] An exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the touch panel structure of the present invention. [FIG. 3] It is a partially enlarged exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the touch panel structure of the present invention. [FIG. 4] An assembly schematic diagram of an embodiment of the touch panel structure of the present invention. [FIG. 5] An assembly schematic diagram of an embodiment of the touch panel structure of the present invention. [FIG. 6] A partial top view of an embodiment of the touch panel structure of the present invention. [Fig. 7] Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along 7-7 of Fig. 6. [Fig. [Fig. 8] Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along 8-8 of Fig. 6. [Fig. [FIG. 9] It is the 9-9 sectional view of FIG. [FIG. 10] A cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a touch panel structure of the present invention. [FIG. 11] It is an operation schematic diagram of an embodiment of the touch panel structure of the present invention.

Claims (10)

A touchpad structure includes: a base plate including a first side edge and an assembly area, the assembly area being adjacent to the first side edge, the assembly area being provided with a first hook base and a second hook base, the A first hook base is adjacent to the first side edge, and the second hook base is farther from the first side edge than the first hook base; a circuit board includes a second side edge, and the second side edge corresponds to the base plate. The first side edge; and a receiving seat disposed between the circuit board and the base plate and fixed to the second side edge of the circuit board, the receiving seat including a third side edge on an opposite side and a A fourth side, the third side corresponds to the first side of the bottom plate, and is provided with an elastic hook; the fourth side is provided with a limit hook, the elastic hook and the limit hook Extending in the opposite direction, the elastic hook is elastically hooked to the first hook base, and the limit hook is hooked to the second hook base correspondingly. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein the base plate includes an upper surface, the first hook seat includes a hollowed-out area and a bent piece, and the bent piece is bent upward and located above the hollowed-out area and is convex. Out of a fitting distance from the upper surface, the elastic hook is an elastic pin and correspondingly fits within the fitting distance, and elastically abuts against the lower surface of the bent piece. The touch panel structure according to claim 2, wherein the bending piece includes a stop surface facing the fourth side, and the receiving seat abuts against the stop surface. The touchpad structure according to claim 2, wherein a front end of the elastic pin is further provided with a guide slope. The touchpad structure according to claim 1, wherein the limit hook includes a spring arm and an inverted hook portion, the elastic arm extends from the fourth side, and the inverted hook portion is located at the bottom end of the elastic arm and Hooked on the second hook seat. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein the bottom plate includes an upper surface, and the second hook seat includes a vertical plate, the vertical plate protrudes from the upper surface and is provided with a hole slot, and the limit card hook is a hook Set in the hole slot. The touch pad structure according to claim 1, wherein a bottom of the receiving seat is further provided with a limiting post, and the bottom plate is provided with a recess corresponding to the limiting post, and the limiting post is correspondingly inserted in the recess. in. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein an edge of the fourth side of the socket near the bottom plate is further provided with an oblique angle. The touch panel structure according to claim 1, wherein the receiving seat includes a limiting side wall, and the second side of the circuit board abuts against the limiting side wall. The touch pad structure according to claim 1, wherein a grounding pad is further provided on the assembly area of the base plate, and the socket is provided with an escape hole corresponding to the ground pad, and the ground pad is located in the escape hole and It is electrically connected to the circuit board.