TWI680479B - keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

A keyboard includes an upper base plate, keys, a lower base plate, a link mechanism, a drive motor, and an auxiliary motor device. The lower base plate is slidably disposed under the upper base plate and has a fixed structure. The link mechanism is connected to the side of the lower base plate and is movably disposed under the upper base plate. The drive motor drives the link mechanism so that the lower base plate slides relative to the upper base plate. The auxiliary motor device is connected to the bottom side of the lower base plate to drive the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate. When the driving motor drives the link mechanism to slide to the collapsed position, the link mechanism drives the lower base plate to slide to a position where the fixed structural member presses the button, so that the button is lowered to the collapsed height. During the sliding process of the lower base plate, the auxiliary motor device assists in driving the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate.

Description

keyboard

The invention relates to a keyboard, in particular to a keyboard that uses a driving motor and an auxiliary motor device to drive the keycaps of the keys to a closed height.

In terms of current notebook computer usage habits, the keyboard is one of the indispensable input devices for entering text, symbols or numbers. Recently, due to the thinning trend of notebook computers, there is a demand for thinning of keyboards used in notebook computers.

Traditional keyboards use a compression design that sets the assembly structure of the scissor foot support device and the elastomer between the keycap and the base plate. As a result, when the keycap is pressed by the user, the elastic body provides elastic restoring force to the keycap. Drive the keycap back to the position before pressing with the action of the scissor foot support device. However, due to the cross-pivot design of the scissor foot support used in the scissor foot support device described above, a large height space is required for the keys. Therefore, when the upper cover of the notebook computer and the lower case are folded, in order to avoid setting the lower The keycap on the case hurts the display screen set on the upper cover. There is often a gap between the upper cover and the lower case to accommodate the keycap. This will limit the appearance size of the notebook computer, which is not conducive to the notebook computer. Slim design.

In order to solve the above problems, a lower base plate that is generally slidable relative to the upper base plate and is provided with a fixed structural member at the position corresponding to the scissor foot support of each key is usually disposed under the upper base plate of the keyboard. A lever mechanism and a driving motor connected to the link mechanism to provide a sliding driving force, whereby each fixed structural member is pushed when the driving motor drives the lower base plate to slide to the closed position relative to the upper base plate via the link mechanism The scissor foot support of the corresponding button is pivoted downward, so that the keycap sinks to avoid the above-mentioned problems that damage the display screen. However, the unilateral drive design mentioned above tends to As a result, the lower base plate may deflect and jam during the sliding movement with respect to the upper base plate, thereby causing the problem of damage to the keyboard components and causing many inconveniences in controlling the lifting of the keycap.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard that uses a driving motor and an auxiliary motor device to drive a keycap of a key to a folded height to solve the above-mentioned problem.

According to an embodiment, the keyboard of the present invention includes an upper base plate, a plurality of keys, a lower base plate, a link mechanism, a drive motor, and an auxiliary motor device. The plurality of keys are disposed on the upper base plate, and each key includes a keycap and a supporting device. The supporting device is movably connected to the upper bottom plate and the keycap, so that the keycap moves up and down relative to the upper bottom plate. The lower base plate is slidably disposed under the upper base plate, and the lower base plate has at least one fixed structural member corresponding to the position of the supporting device of each key. The link mechanism is connected to a first side of the lower bottom plate and is movably disposed under the upper bottom plate to slide between an unfolded position and a folded position relative to the upper bottom plate. The driving motor is connected to the link mechanism, and the driving motor provides a first driving force to drive the link mechanism to slide relative to the upper base plate, so that the lower base plate slides relative to the upper base plate along with the link mechanism. The auxiliary motor device is adjacent to a second side of the lower base plate and is connected to a bottom side of the lower base plate. The auxiliary motor device provides a second driving force to drive the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate. The side is opposite to the first side, and the second driving force is in the same direction as the first driving force. When the driving motor provides the first driving force to drive the link mechanism to slide from the unfolded position to the folded position, the link mechanism drives the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate to cause the at least one fixed structure The component presses the position of the supporting device, so that the keycap is lowered to a closed height. During the driving motor driving the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate via the link mechanism, the auxiliary motor device provides the second driving force to assist in driving the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate.

In summary, when the lower base plate slides relative to the upper base plate to press the support device of the key, the key system can be in a state where the height of the key cap is lowered to further reduce the overall height, thereby facilitating portability. The thin design of the electronic device effectively solves the problem of the keycap injury and the display screen mentioned in the prior art. In addition, through the above-mentioned side drive design of the drive motor and the bottom drive design of the auxiliary motor device, the present invention can reliably solve the problem that the unilateral drive design of the motor mentioned in the prior art will cause the lower base plate to slide. The problem of damaging the keyboard components caused by deflection jamming occurred in the process, and the smoothness of the action of the keycap during the lifting process was greatly improved.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention can be further understood through the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

10‧‧‧ keyboard

12‧‧‧ Upper floor

14‧‧‧ bottom plate

16‧‧‧ button

18‧‧‧ connecting rod mechanism

19‧‧‧ Rack

20‧‧‧Drive motor

21‧‧‧Gear

22‧‧‧ auxiliary motor device

24‧‧‧Keycap

25‧‧‧ Elastomer

26‧‧‧ support device

28‧‧‧first support

30‧‧‧Second support

32‧‧‧ fixed structure

34‧‧‧ abutment surface structure

36‧‧‧base

38‧‧‧ auxiliary motor

40‧‧‧Activity board

42‧‧‧ Helical gear drive shaft

44‧‧‧ helical rack structure

46‧‧‧ convex post

48‧‧‧ driven slot

S ₁ ‧‧‧First side

f ₁ ‧‧‧first driving force

S ₂ ‧‧‧Second side

S ₃ ‧‧‧ bottom side

f ₂ ‧‧‧Second driving force

d‧‧‧distance

D‧‧‧Side Length

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the buttons in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged schematic view of the keyboard of Figure 1 from another perspective.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the link mechanism of Fig. 3 sliding down to the closed position.

Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the auxiliary motor device of Fig. 3 connected to the bottom plate.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button of FIG. 1 along the section line A-A when the keycap is lowered to the collapsed height.

Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the keyboard 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of the key 16 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic enlarged view of the keyboard 10 in FIG. 1 from another perspective. In order to clearly show the internal structure of the key 16, the illustration of the keycap 24 is omitted in FIG. 2. The keyboard 10 can be applied to a portable electronic device (such as a notebook computer or a foldable keyboard device) that generally has an opening and closing mechanism composed of an upper cover and a lower casing for the user to press and execute the input that the user wants. Function (but not limited to this). As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the keyboard 10 includes an upper base plate 12, a lower base plate 14, a plurality of keys 16, a link mechanism 18, and a drive motor 20. And auxiliary motor device 22. The lower base plate 14 is slidably disposed under the upper base plate 12 and has a position corresponding to the support device 26 of each key 16 with at least one fixed structure 32 (two are shown in the second figure, but not limited to this). The fixed structure The piece 32 is preferably formed by protruding from the lower bottom plate 14 to the keycap 24 and being bent through the upper bottom plate 12. In order to simplify the description, the following describes one of the keys 16 with a keycap folding design. The structural design of other keys 16 with the same design can be deduced by analogy according to the following description, and will not be repeated here. The button 16 is provided on the upper bottom plate 12. The button 16 includes a key cap 24 and a support device 26. The support device 26 is provided between the upper bottom plate 12 and the key cap 24 and includes a first support member 28 and a second support member 30. The first support member 28 and the second support member 30 are movably connected to the keycap 24 and the upper bottom plate 12 and are pivotally connected to each other so that the keycap 24 can follow the intersection of the first support member 28 and the second support member 30. The pivoting moves up and down relative to the upper floor 12. In this embodiment, it can be seen from FIG. 2 that the position of the first support member 28 corresponding to the fixed structural member 32 may have an abutting surface structure 34, and the abutting surface structure 34 is preferably an inclined surface structure and is gradually reduced in thickness. The method is extended to form (but not limited to this, for example, in another embodiment, the present invention may adopt a design in which the abutting surface structure is a curved surface structure), whereby the fixed structural member 32 can follow the bottom plate. 14 slides along the abutting surface structure 34 to drive the keycap 24 to descend to the collapsed height during the sliding process of the lower bottom plate 14 to the collapsed position.

In practical applications, the button 16 series can preferably adopt an elastic reset design (but not limited to this, that is, in another embodiment, it can adopt other common keycap reset designs, such as magnetic reset Design, etc.), for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the key 16 may further include an elastic body 25. The elastic body 25 is preferably a rubber dome and abuts on the keycap 24 and the upper base plate, respectively. 12. Thus, when the external force pressing the keycap 24 is released, the elastic body 25 can drive the keycap 24 to return, thereby generating the effect of the automatic return of the keycap, so that the user can perform continuous pressing operations.

The following is a detailed description of the connecting rod drive design of the drive motor 20 and the auxiliary drive design of the auxiliary motor device 22, please refer to FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6, and FIG. The link mechanism 18 in the figure slides down to the collapsed position. Figure 5 is a perspective view of the auxiliary motor device 22 in Figure 3 connected to the bottom plate 14. Figure 6 is the key 16 in Figure 1 and the key cap 24 in Figure 1. A schematic cross-sectional view along the section line AA when descending to the collapsed height. As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the link mechanism 18 is connected to the first side S ₁ of the lower base plate 14 and is movably disposed under the upper base plate 12 so as to be shown in FIG. 3 relative to the upper base plate 12. Slide between the unfolded position and the closed position as shown in Figure 4. In practical applications, the link mechanism 18 series can adopt the linkage linkage design commonly used in keycap sinking and folding design, such as The single link linkage design or the multi-link labor-saving linkage design, etc., are described in the prior art, and are not repeated here. The drive motor 20 adopts a common reciprocating drive design (for example, the drive motor 20 can drive the link mechanism 18 to slide by using the gear 21 as shown in FIG. 3 to engage the rack 19 of the link mechanism 18) to connect to the connection lever mechanism 18, whereby the motor drive train 20 may provide a driving force f ₁ of the first drive link mechanism 18 with respect to the sliding floor 12, so that the lower plate 14 with the link mechanism 18 can be folded position is not collapsed and Sliding between positions slides relative to the upper floor 12.

On the other hand, the auxiliary motor device 22 is adjacent to the second side S _{2 of the} lower bottom plate 14 and is connected to the bottom side S ₃ of the lower bottom plate 14. The auxiliary motor device 22 may adopt a motor-driven plate design to provide a second The driving force f ₂ (same direction as the first driving force f ₁ ) drives the lower base plate 14 to slide relative to the upper base plate 12, thereby achieving an auxiliary driving effect. More specifically, in this embodiment, it can be seen from FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 that the auxiliary motor device 22 may include a base 36, an auxiliary motor 38, and a movable plate 40. The base 36 is fixed to the upper base plate. At 12 times, the auxiliary motor 38 has a helical gear drive shaft 42. The helical gear drive shaft 42 is rotatably disposed on the base 36, and the movable plate 40 is movably disposed on the base 36 and movably connected to the lower base plate 14, A helical rack structure 44 is formed on the movable plate 40 to mesh with the helical gear drive shaft 42. Thus, when the auxiliary motor 38 provides a second driving force f _{2 to} rotate the helical gear drive shaft 42, the helical gear drive shaft 42 can be driven The meshing between the helical rack structure 44 and the helical gear transmission shaft 42 drives the movable plate 40 to move on the base 36, thereby achieving the effect of assisting the sliding movement of the lower base plate 14 relative to the upper base plate 12.

In practical applications, the connection between the lower bottom plate 14 and the movable plate 40 may adopt a common movable connection design, such as a connection design between a convex pillar and a slot (but not limited to this). For example, as As shown in FIG. 5, the lower bottom plate 14 may have a convex post 46, and the movable plate 40 has a driven slot 48 corresponding to the position of the convex post 46. The convex post 46 is movably passed through the driven slot 48. When the movable plate 40 moves on the base 36, the driven slot 48 can drive the lower base plate 14 to slide relative to the upper base plate 12 via the protrusion 46. In addition, it is known from practical experience that the distance d between the position where the auxiliary motor device 22 is connected to the lower bottom plate 14 and the second side S ₂ along the bottom side S ₃ may be preferably between the bottom side S The length of the side D of ₃ is in the range of one third to one quarter, so as to achieve the purpose of making the forces on both sides of the bottom plate 14 more uniform.

Through the above design, when the driving motor 20 is linked through the meshing between the gear 21 and the rack 19 to provide a first driving force downward f ₁ drives the link mechanism 18 downward from the unfolded position as shown in FIG. 3 When sliding to the closed position as shown in FIG. 4, the link mechanism 18 can correspondingly drive the lower base plate 14 to slide downward from the position shown in FIG. 3 to the position shown in FIG. 4. At this time, it can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 6 that as the lower base plate 14 slides, the fixed structural member 32 can slide along the abutting surface structure 34 to press the first support member 28 to drive the keycap 24. Overcome the elastic force of the elastic body 25 and drop to the closed height as shown in FIG. 6. In addition, in the process in which the drive motor 20 drives the lower base plate 14 to slide downward relative to the upper base plate 12 via the link mechanism 18, the auxiliary motor 38 is capable of engaging with the helical rack structure 44 and the helical gear transmission shaft 42. Provide a second downward driving force f _{2 to} drive the movable plate 40 on the base 36 to move downward from the position shown in FIG. 3 to the position shown in FIG. 4 to assist in driving the lower base plate 14 relative to the upper base plate. Slide 12 down.

On the other hand, when the drive motor 20 through the engagement between the gear 21 and the rack 19 interlocked to provide an upward force f ₁ of a first driving mechanism driving link 18 from the back slide upwardly retracted position as shown in FIG. 4 as the In the unfolded position shown in FIG. 3, the link mechanism 18 can correspondingly drive the lower bottom plate 14 to slide upward from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 3, during this process. As the lower base plate 14 slides, the fixed structural member 32 can correspondingly leave the abutment surface structure 34 to release the first support member 28 (as shown in FIG. 2). At this time, since the fixed structural member 32 is no longer The first support member 28 is pressed again. Therefore, the elastic body 25 provides a restoring elastic force to drive the keycap 24 to rise to an unfolded position for the user to perform subsequent pressing and input operations. Similarly, in the process in which the drive motor 20 drives the lower base plate 14 to slide upward relative to the upper base plate 12 via the link mechanism 18, the auxiliary motor 38 can be engaged through the meshing between the helical rack structure 44 and the helical gear drive shaft 42. A second upward driving force f _{2 is provided to} drive the movable plate 40 from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 3 on the base 36 to assist in driving the lower base plate 14 relative to the upper base plate 12. Swipe up. It should be noted that, in practical applications, the initial time when the driving motor 20 provides the first driving force f _{1 and} the initial time when the auxiliary motor 38 provides the second driving force f ₂ may preferably have a time difference, that is, The auxiliary motor 38 can provide a second driving force f ₂ after the driving motor 20 provides the first driving force f to drive the link mechanism 18 (such as after 0.1 seconds, but not limited to this). Therefore, the sliding of the lower bottom plate 14 relative to the upper bottom plate 12 can be made more stable.

In this way, when the keyboard 10 configured with the keys 16 is applied to a portable electronic device (such as a notebook computer) generally having an opening and closing mechanism composed of an upper cover and a lower casing, the keyboard 10 can use the driving motor 20 And the auxiliary motor device 22 drives the lower base plate 14 to slide relative to the upper base plate 12 as the upper cover of the portable electronic device is closed relative to the lower case, so that the keycap 24 can be lowered to the closed height as shown in FIG. 6. In order to achieve the effect that the keyboard 10 can reduce the height of the keycap as the portable electronic device is closed, in other words, when the lower base plate 14 slides relative to the upper base plate 12 to press the support device 26 of the key 16, the key 16 can be It is in a state where the height of the keycap is lowered to further reduce the overall height, which is beneficial to the thin design of the portable electronic device and effectively solves the problem of the keycap injury and the display screen mentioned in the prior art. In addition, through the above-mentioned side-side drive design of the drive motor 20 and the bottom-side drive design of the auxiliary motor device 22, the present invention can definitely solve the problem that the unilateral drive design of the motor mentioned in the prior art will During the sliding process, the problem that the keyboard components are damaged due to deflection jamming, and the smoothness of the keycap during the lifting process is greatly improved.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of patent application of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (5)

A keyboard includes: an upper base plate; a plurality of keys disposed on the upper base plate, each key comprising: a key cap; and a support device movably connected to the upper base plate and the key cap, So that the key cap moves up and down relative to the upper base plate; the lower base plate is slidably disposed under the upper base plate, and the lower base plate has at least one fixed structure corresponding to the position of the support device of each key; a link mechanism Connected to a first side of the lower base plate and movably disposed under the upper base plate to slide between an unfolded position and a closed position relative to the upper base plate; a drive motor connected to In the link mechanism, the driving motor provides a first driving force to drive the link mechanism to slide relative to the upper base plate, so that the lower base plate slides relative to the upper base plate with the link mechanism; and an auxiliary motor device, It is adjacent to a second side of the lower base plate and is connected to a bottom side of the lower base plate. The auxiliary motor device provides a second driving force to drive the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate. The second side Opposite the first side, the second driving force is in the same direction as the first driving force; wherein when the driving motor provides the first driving force to drive the link mechanism to slide from the unfolded position to the folded position At this time, the link mechanism drives the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate to a position where the at least one fixed structural member presses the support device, so that the keycap is lowered to a closed height; after the drive motor passes the link, During the mechanism driving the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate, the auxiliary motor device provides the second driving force to assist in driving the lower base plate to slide relative to the upper base plate. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein there is a time difference between a first initial time when the driving motor provides the first driving force and a second initial time when the auxiliary motor device provides the second driving force. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary motor device comprises: a base fixed under the upper base plate; and an auxiliary motor having a helical gear transmission shaft rotatably disposed on the base. A base; and a movable plate movably disposed on the base and movably connected to the lower base plate, the movable plate is formed with a helical rack structure to mesh with the helical gear drive shaft; wherein when the auxiliary When the motor provides the second driving force to rotate the helical gear drive shaft, the helical gear drive shaft drives the movable plate to move on the base via the meshing between the helical rack structure and the helical gear drive shaft to assist in driving the The lower base plate slides relative to the upper base plate. The keyboard according to claim 3, wherein the lower bottom plate has a convex column, and the movable plate has a driven slot at a position corresponding to the convex column, and the convex column can be movably passed through the driven slot. When the movable plate moves on the base, the driven slot drives the lower bottom plate to slide relative to the upper bottom plate via the protruding column. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the position where the auxiliary motor device is connected to the lower bottom plate and the second side along the bottom side is one third of the length of one side of the bottom side To a quarter.