TWI691878B - Portable electronic device and touch control module thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A touch control module is provided, including a touch pad, a protection layer, a circuit board, and at least a fixing sheet. The protection layer is disposed on a top surface of the touch pad, and the circuit board is disposed on a bottom surface of the touch pad. Specifically, the circuit board includes polymer composite material, and the fixing sheet is fixed to the circuit board and protrudes from an edge of the circuit board.

Description

Portable electronic device and its touch module

The invention relates to a touch module. More specifically, the present invention relates to a touch module having a circuit board with polymer composites.

A touch pad (touch pad) is an input interface commonly found in notebook computers, in which a metal sheet is usually provided inside the touch pad as a support structure. In addition, the aforementioned metal sheet can also be used as a shielding member to solve problems such as Electro-Magnetic Interference and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). Several applications related to the aforementioned metal sheets can be found in patent cases such as Republic of China Announcement Nos. M285760, 422364, and Republic of China Publication No. 200931302.

However, the traditional metal sheet not only has the problems of high cost and poor assembly accuracy, but also has considerable weight. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the touch panel is often increased, and it is not conducive to achieving weight reduction of electronic products. In view of this, how to avoid the aforementioned problems caused by the metal sheet inside the conventional touch panel and promote the weight reduction of electronic products has become an important issue.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an embodiment of the present invention provides a touch module, including a touch panel, a protective layer, a circuit board and at least one locking plate, the protective layer is disposed on one of the touch panels On the top surface, the circuit board is disposed on a bottom surface of the touch panel and contains a polymer composite material, wherein the locking piece is embedded inside the circuit board.

In an embodiment, the locking piece has at least one hook, and the hook has a U-shaped structure and is embedded inside the circuit board.

In one embodiment, the locking plate has a zigzag structure.

In one embodiment, the aforementioned circuit board contains thermosetting resin.

In one embodiment, the circuit board has an FR-4 substrate, and the locking piece is fixed to a bottom surface of the circuit board by surface bonding technology.

In one embodiment, the protective layer is made of glass, fiberglass, or polyethylene terephthalate.

In an embodiment, the touch module further includes a stud and a screw, and the locking piece is in the shape of a flat plate, wherein the stud is locked to a bottom surface of the circuit board, and the screw passes through the The locking piece is locked on the aforementioned stud.

In one embodiment, the touch module further includes an elongated flexible member, and the circuit board is formed with a groove, wherein the flexible member is embedded inside the circuit board and spans the groove.

In one embodiment, the flexible member has at least one hook, and the hook has a U-shaped structure and is embedded inside the circuit board.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a portable electronic device including an input unit and a display unit pivotally connected to each other, wherein the input unit includes an upper casing, a lower casing and the touch module as described above , Wherein the upper case is connected to the lower case, and the locking piece is connected to the circuit board and the upper case.

The following describes a portable electronic device and its touch module according to embodiments of the present invention. However, it can be easily understood that the embodiments of the present invention provide many suitable inventive concepts and can be implemented in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments disclosed are only used to illustrate the use of the present invention in a specific method, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the disclosure. It is understandable that these terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted to have a meaning consistent with the background or context of the relevant technology and this disclosure, and not in an idealized or excessively formal manner Interpretation, unless specifically defined here.

The foregoing and other technical contents, features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the following detailed description with reference to one of the preferred embodiments of the drawings. The direction words mentioned in the following embodiments, for example: up, down, left, right, front or back, etc., are only for the directions referring to the attached drawings. Therefore, the directional terminology is used to illustrate rather than limit the invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 first. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the portable electronic device 100 of this embodiment is, for example, a notebook computer, which mainly includes a display unit 10, an input unit 20, and at least one pivot H; for example, the aforementioned display unit 10 may be a liquid crystal display and has a display screen 11, which may be pivotally connected to the input unit 20 through the pivot H so that the display unit 10 can rotate relative to the input unit 20.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the aforementioned input unit 20 has an upper casing 21 and a lower casing 22 connected to each other, wherein a touch module 30 and a keyboard module k are provided on the top side of the upper casing 21, When the user operates the portable electronic device 100, he can input data through the aforementioned touch module 30 and keyboard module k, or control the cursor on the display screen 11; in addition, when the user ends the operation and wants to close the portable In the case of the electronic device 100, the display unit 10 and the input unit 20 can be superposed to facilitate storage.

Then please refer to FIGS. 2-6 together, FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the touch module 30 in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of the flexible member 34 in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 It shows an enlarged view of the lock piece 35 in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively show perspective views of the touch module 30 in FIG. 1 after being combined at different angles.

As shown in FIGS. 2-6, the touch module 30 of this embodiment mainly includes a protective layer 31, a touch panel 32, a circuit board 33, a long flexible member 34 and at least one lock The sheet 35, wherein the protective layer 31 covers the top surface of the touch panel 32, and the circuit board 33 is fixed to the bottom surface of the touch panel 32.

It should be understood that the aforementioned flexible member 34 and the lock piece 35 are mainly used to connect the aforementioned circuit board 33 and the upper housing 21 of the input unit 20. In this embodiment, the flexible member 34 and the locking piece 35 can be made of metal, so that the grounding circuit inside the circuit board 33 can be electrically connected to the input unit through the flexible member 34 or the locking piece 35 20's upper housing 21.

The protective layer 31 can be made of glass or carbon fiber with high structural strength. However, it can also be made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with insulating properties. For example, the aforementioned protective layer 31 may be Mylar film produced by DuPont to protect and electrically isolate the touchpad 32 underneath.

In addition, in order to reduce the weight of the touch module 30, the circuit board 33 in this embodiment is a printed circuit board (PCB) made of polymer composites. It is composed of a substrate with high structural strength (such as FR-4 substrate) and a metal circuit formed inside. For example, the circuit board 33 may include materials such as copper foil, glass fiber, and thermosetting resin. The thermosetting resin is, for example, epoxy.

As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 6, a groove 331 is formed on one side of the circuit board 33, wherein the flexible member 34 spans the groove 331, and the U-shaped hooks 341 at both ends thereof are Embedded and fixed in the two slits 332 on the circuit board 33; in addition, at least one locking hole 342 is further formed on the flexible member 34, and can be passed through the locking hole through a locking member such as a screw during assembly 342, by which the flexible member 34 is fixed to the upper casing 21 of the input unit 20.

It should be understood that, because the flexible member 34 has a deformable characteristic, when the user presses a finger downward (-Z axis direction) and applies a pressure to the protective layer 31, the protective layer 31, touch The board 32 and the circuit board 33 will sink together with respect to the upper housing 21 of the input unit 20, and a disc-shaped elastic body (not shown) located below the circuit board 33 contacts the flexible member 34, The aforementioned elastic body is, for example, a metal dome.

Then, after the user releases the pressure, the elastic body and the flexible member 34 can provide an elastic restoring force, so that the protective layer 31, the touch panel 32, and the circuit board 33 return to their original initial positions, which is convenient for use The user performs a click action through the touch module 30, and can provide the user with a good tactile feeling.

It should be particularly noted that, since the circuit board 33 in this embodiment is made of a composite material substrate (for example, FR-4 substrate), this not only helps to hook at least one hook on the flexible member 34 341 is firmly embedded in the slit 332 on the circuit board 33, and can be directly through automated processes such as surface-mount technology (SMT) to improve the assembly accuracy and combination between the flexible member 34 and the circuit board 33 Strength, which can greatly reduce assembly costs, improve assembly efficiency and improve product yield. Furthermore, since the density of the composite material substrate is smaller and lighter than that of the conventional metal sheet, this embodiment also has a significant effect of promoting the weight reduction of electronic products.

Next, please refer to FIGS. 2, 4, and 6 together. In this embodiment, the locking plate 35 is substantially a zigzag structure, which mainly includes a first segment P1, a second segment P2, and a third segment P3 (Figure 4), and the third stage P3 connects the first stage P1 and the second stage P2. As can be seen from Figure 4, a U-shaped hook 351 is formed on both sides of the first segment P1, and at least one locking hole 352 is formed on the second segment P2, protruding from the circuit One edge of the board 33 allows the hook 351 to be inserted into the slit 333 (Figure 2) on the circuit board 33 during assembly, and can pass through the locking hole 352 through a locking member such as a screw, so that the locking piece 35 The second section P2 is connected to the upper casing 21 of the input unit 20.

As mentioned above, since the circuit board 33 in this embodiment is made of a composite material substrate (for example, FR-4 substrate), it not only helps to embed at least one hook 351 on the lock piece 35 into the circuit firmly At the same time, the board 33 can also be automated through surface-mount technology (SMT) and other automated processes to improve the assembly accuracy and bonding strength between the locking plate 35 and the circuit board 33, which can greatly reduce assembly costs and improve assembly efficiency And improve the yield of the product.

Please refer to FIG. 7 again, which shows a cross-sectional view along the line A1-A2 in FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 7, since the hook 351 in this embodiment is flat and has a U-shaped structure, it can be embedded in the slit 333 on the circuit board 33 during assembly, wherein the width of the hook 351 It may be equal to or slightly larger than the width of the slit 333. For example, before assembly, a partial area of the bottom surface 330 of the circuit board 33 may be pre-coated with solder paste, and then the hook 351 may be embedded in the slit 333 on the bottom side of the circuit board 33, and then through surface adhesion technology (Surface- Mount technology (SMT) and other automated processes electrically connect the locking plate 35 and the wires (not shown) in the circuit board 33.

As mentioned above, this embodiment mainly replaces the traditional metal sheet with a circuit board 33 containing a polymer composite material, so that not only the overall weight is lighter than the traditional touch module, but also a single process (For example, surface adhesive technology) and quickly fix the flexible member 34 and the locking plate 35 together on the circuit board 33, so it can have a significant effect of greatly increasing production efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs, and can also increase the flexible member 34. The bonding strength between the locking plate 35 and the circuit board 33 can effectively improve the reliability and product yield of the touch module 30.

Please refer to FIG. 8 again. FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention where the locking plate 35 is fixed to the bottom surface 330 of the circuit board 33. It should be noted that, in order to avoid the assembly tolerance between the circuit board 33 and the upper housing 21 due to assembly tolerance during the assembly process of the zigzag lock piece 35, it is changed in this embodiment. The zigzag-shaped locking plate 35 is replaced with a flat-shaped locking plate 35 ′, and the locking hook 351 does not need to be formed on the locking plate 35 ′, wherein the locking plate 35 ′ will protrude from one edge of the circuit board 33.

As shown in FIG. 8, a threaded pillar S1 (threaded pillar) may be locked on the bottom surface 330 of the circuit board 33 during assembly, and then the screw S2 may be used to pass through the flat-shaped locking piece 35 ′ to lock the lock The plate 35' is locked on the top side of the stud S1, so that the lock plate 35' can be maintained at a single height to ensure its flatness.

Finally, please refer to FIG. 9, which shows an exploded view of the touch module 40 according to another embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 9, the touch module 40 of this embodiment is mainly used to replace the touch module 30 in FIGS. 1 and 2, which mainly includes a protective layer 41, a touch panel 42, and a circuit板43及At least one locking piece 45.

It should be understood that the protective layer 41, the touchpad 42, the circuit board 43, and the lock piece 45 in this embodiment may be the same as the protective layer 31, the touchpad 32, the circuit board 33, and the lock piece 35 shown in FIG. The same material is used, but the touch module 40 in this embodiment is not provided with the flexible member 34 as shown in FIG. 2, and the circuit board 43 in this embodiment is not formed as shown in FIG.的槽331.

As can be seen from FIG. 9, the protective layer 41 covers the top surface of the touchpad 42, and the circuit board 43 is connected to the bottom surface of the touchpad 42. For example, the protective layer 41 may be made of glass or carbon fiber with high structural strength, but it may also contain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material with insulating properties. In this embodiment, the aforementioned protective layer 31 is a Mylar film produced by DuPont to protect and electrically isolate the touchpad 42 underneath.

On the other hand, the aforementioned circuit board 43 may be a printed circuit board (PCB), and it contains a high-strength substrate (eg, FR-4 substrate) made of a composite material. For example, the circuit board 43 may include copper foil, glass fiber, and thermosetting resin. The thermosetting resin is, for example, epoxy.

Since the circuit board 43 in this embodiment is made of a composite material substrate (for example, FR-4 substrate), it is beneficial to embed the hooks 451 on both sides of the lock piece 45 firmly inside the circuit board 43. At the same time, it can also help to automatically improve the assembly accuracy and bonding strength between the locking plate 45 and the circuit board 43 through surface-mount technology (SMT) and other automated processes, which can greatly reduce assembly costs and improve assembly efficiency And improve the yield of the product. Furthermore, since the density of the composite material substrate is smaller than that of the conventional metal sheet and lighter in weight, it also has a significant effect of promoting the weight reduction of electronic products.

Although the embodiments and advantages of the present invention have been disclosed above, it should be understood that any person with ordinary knowledge in the technical field can make changes, substitutions, and retouching without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In addition, the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the processes, machines, manufacturing, material composition, devices, methods, and steps in the specific embodiments described in the specification. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field can disclose the content of the present invention It is understood that current or future developed processes, machines, manufacturing, material composition, devices, methods, and steps can be used according to the present invention as long as they can implement substantially the same functions or obtain substantially the same results in the embodiments described herein. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention includes the above processes, machines, manufacturing, material composition, devices, methods and steps. In addition, each patent application scope constitutes an individual embodiment, and the protection scope of the present invention also includes a combination of each patent application scope and embodiment.

Although the present invention is disclosed as the foregoing several preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs can make some changes and retouching without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the scope defined in the appended patent application. In addition, each patent application scope is constructed as an independent embodiment, and various combinations of patent application scopes and embodiments are within the scope of the present invention.

100: portable electronic device

10: display unit

11: Display screen

20: input unit

21: Upper case

22: Lower case

30: Touch module

31: protective layer

32: Touchpad

33: circuit board

330: bottom surface

331: groove

332: slit

333: slit

34: Flexible piece

341: Card hook

342: Locking hole

35: Lock tab

35’: Lock tab

351: Card hook

352: Locking hole

41: protective layer

42: Touchpad

43: Circuit board

45: Lock plate

451: Card hook

H: pivot

k: keyboard module

P1: The first section

P2: The second section

P3: The third section

S1: stud

S2: screw

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the touch module 30 in FIG. 1. Fig. 3 shows an enlarged view of the flexible member 34 in Fig. 2. FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of the lock piece 35 in FIG. 2. FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively show perspective views of the touch module 30 in FIG. 1 after being combined at different viewing angles. FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view along the line A1-A2 in FIG. 6. FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view of the locking piece 35 fixed to the bottom surface 330 of the circuit board 33 according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 shows an exploded view of the touch module 40 according to another embodiment of the invention.

30: Touch module

31: protective layer

32: Touchpad

33: circuit board

330: bottom surface

331: groove

332: slit

333: slit

34: Flexible piece

341: Card hook

342: Locking hole

35: Lock tab

351: Card hook

352: Locking hole

Claims (16)

A touch module includes: a touch panel; a protective layer disposed on a top surface of the touch panel; a circuit board disposed on a bottom surface of the touch panel and containing a polymer composite material; at least one A plate-shaped locking plate is fixed on the circuit board and protrudes from an edge of the circuit board; a stud is fixed on a bottom surface of the circuit board; and a screw passes through the locking plate and locks It is fixed on the stud. A touch module includes: a touch panel; a protective layer disposed on a top surface of the touch panel; a circuit board disposed on a bottom surface of the touch panel and containing a polymer composite material; and at least A locking piece is fixed on the circuit board and protrudes from an edge of the circuit board, wherein the locking piece has at least one hook, the hook has a U-shaped structure and is embedded inside the circuit board. The touch module as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the lock piece has a zigzag structure. The touch module as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the circuit board contains thermosetting resin. The touch module as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the circuit board includes an FR-4 substrate, and the lock piece is fixed to the circuit board by surface adhesion technology One of the bottom surface. The touch module as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the protective layer is made of glass, fiberglass or polyethylene terephthalate. The touch module as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the touch module further includes an elongated flexible member, and the circuit board is formed with a groove, wherein the flexible member is embedded in the Inside the circuit board and across the groove. The touch module as described in item 7 of the patent application scope, wherein the flexible member is embedded inside the circuit board. A portable electronic device includes: an input unit including an upper casing, a lower casing and a touch module as described in item 2 of the patent application scope, wherein the upper casing is connected to the lower casing, The lock piece is connected to the circuit board and the upper casing; and a display unit is pivotally connected to the input unit. A portable electronic device includes a touch module. The touch module includes: a touch panel; a protective layer disposed on a top surface of the touch panel; and a circuit board disposed on the touch panel One of the bottom surfaces of the board and contains a polymer composite material; and at least one locking piece fixed on the circuit board and protruding from an edge of the circuit board, wherein the locking piece has at least one hook and the hook has a U-shape Structure and embed inside the circuit board. The portable electronic device as described in item 10 of the patent application scope, wherein the lock piece has a zigzag structure. The portable electronic device as described in item 10 of the patent application scope, wherein the circuit board contains a thermosetting resin. The portable electronic device as described in item 10 of the patent application range, wherein the circuit board includes an FR-4 substrate, and the lock piece is fixed to a bottom surface of the circuit board by surface bonding technology. The portable electronic device as described in item 10 of the patent application scope, wherein the protective layer is made of glass, fiberglass or polyethylene terephthalate. The portable electronic device as described in item 10 of the patent application scope, wherein the touch module further includes a long flexible member, and the circuit board is formed with a groove in which the flexible member is embedded Inside the circuit board and across the groove. The portable electronic device as described in item 15 of the patent application scope, wherein the flexible member is embedded inside the circuit board.

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