TWI785879B - Keys, key devices and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a key, a key device, and electronic equipment. The key includes a main body that guides light from a light-emitting element on one side from a light-incident portion to a light-exit portion on the other side; the light-incidence portion has a convex surface that protrudes toward the light-emitting element, and the The surface area of the light incident part is larger than the surface area of the light exit part. As a result, the light is converged into the range of the light emitting part through the interior of the main body, which can reduce light loss and improve the display quality of the key, and ensure that the display brightness and uniformity will not be reduced even when the key is tilted.

Description

Keys, key devices and electronic equipment

The present invention relates to the technical field of electronic products, and in particular to a button, a button device and electronic equipment.

At present, buttons have been widely used in electronic products. Electronic products such as timers or counters are sometimes equipped with some buttons, which can transmit light from light-emitting elements (such as LEDs), so as to indicate certain information or display certain content.

Reference 1: JP2017123256A

It should be noted that the above introduction to the background technology is only for the convenience of a clear and complete description of the technical solutions of the present application and for the convenience of understanding by those skilled in the art. It cannot be considered that the above technical solutions are known to those skilled in the art just because these solutions are described in the background technology section of this application.

However, the inventors found that the light from the light-emitting element in the current key is generally reflected or transmitted through the light guide area before reaching the exit area (display area); If it is blocked, the brightness of the display will change, and it is easy to cause the problem of incorrect indication or the problem of deterioration of the display effect.

In order to solve at least one of the above problems, embodiments of the present application provide a button, a button device, and an electronic device. Looking forward to improving the display quality of the keys, it can ensure that the display brightness and uniformity will not be reduced even when the keys are tilted.

According to an aspect of the embodiment of the present application, a button is provided, including:

a main body portion having a light incident portion on a first surface on one side and a light emitting portion on a second surface on the other side;

Wherein, the main body guides the light from the light emitting element on one side of the key from the light incident part to the light emitting part on the other side of the key; The light-emitting element has a convex surface, and the surface area of the light incident part is larger than the surface area of the light exit part.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided a button device, including a plurality of the above-mentioned buttons, and the plurality of buttons are arranged side by side and connected by connecting components; the button device is integrally formed of transparent rubber.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present application, an electronic device is provided, including:

one or more light emitting elements disposed on the circuit board; and

The key or key device as described above; wherein each key is configured with at least one light-emitting element.

One of the beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present application is that: the main body of the button can guide the light from the light-emitting element on one side to the light-emitting portion on the other side; The convex surface is convex, and the surface area of the light incident part is larger than the surface area of the light exit part. As a result, the light is converged into the range of the light emitting part through the interior of the main body, which can reduce light loss and improve the display quality of the key, and ensure that the display brightness and uniformity will not be reduced even when the key is tilted.

With reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, specific embodiments of the present application are disclosed in detail, indicating the manner in which the principles of the application may be employed. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereby in scope. Embodiments of the present application encompass many modifications, variations and equivalents within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The foregoing and other features of the present application will become apparent from the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the specification and drawings, specific embodiments of the present application are specifically disclosed, which indicate some embodiments in which the principles of the present application can be adopted. It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the described embodiments, on the contrary, the present application The application includes all amendments, variations and equivalents that come within the scope of the appended claims.

In this embodiment of the application, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used to distinguish different elements from the title, but they do not indicate the spatial arrangement or temporal order of these elements, and these elements should not be referred to by these terms. restricted. The term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The terms "comprising", "having" and the like refer to the presence of stated features, elements, elements or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, elements or components.

In this embodiment of the application, the singular forms "a", "the" and so on may include plural forms, which should be broadly understood as "one" or "one type" and not limited to the meaning of "one"; in addition, the term "the " shall be understood to include both the singular and the plural, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Furthermore, the term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on...", unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

In addition, in the following description of the present application, for the convenience of description, the side of the operation part or the light emitting part is referred to as "upper side" or "upper side", and the side of the light incident part or light emitting element is referred to as "lower side". ” or “Bottom Side”. However, it should be noted that these are just for the convenience of description, and do not limit the orientation of the key or the key device during manufacture and use.

Embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiments of the first aspect

Embodiments of the present application provide a key and a key device (key set).

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a key device according to an embodiment of the present application, showing the situation of viewing the key device from a side. FIG. 2 is another schematic view of the key device of FIG. 1 , showing the key device viewed from above. Fig. 3 is another schematic diagram of the key device of Fig. 1, showing the situation of viewing the key device from below.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 , the button device 100 includes a plurality of buttons 101 arranged side by side and connected by a connecting component 102 . In FIGS. 1 to 3 , for the sake of simplicity, a button 101 is used as an example for reference numerals. The key 101 may include: a main body 1011 .

As shown in FIG. 3 , the first surface 10111 of the main body 1011 on one side (lower side) has a light incident portion 201; as shown in FIG. 2 , the second surface 10112 of the main body 1011 on the other side (upper side) has a light The emitting part (or may be called the display part) 202 .

In some embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 , the button 101 may further include: a first supporting portion 1012 and a second supporting portion 1013 juxtaposed. As shown in FIG. 1 , the main body part 1011 is on the first support part 1012 and the second support part 1013 , but the present application is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the main body part 1011 also has a first operating part 203 on the other side (upper side) of the button 101 for accepting user operations (such as " +") and the second operation part 204 (such as "-" shown in FIG. 2 ), the light emitting part 202 is between the first operation part 203 and the second operation part 204 . As shown in FIG. 3 , the light incident portion 201 is between the first support portion 1012 and the second support portion 1013 .

Fig. 4 is another schematic diagram of the key device according to the embodiment of the present application, showing the situation of viewing the key device from obliquely below. As shown in FIG. 4 , the main body portion 1011 has a light incident portion 201 having a convex surface 2011 on one (lower) first surface 10111 .

In some embodiments, the button device 100 may be integrally formed of transparent rubber. For example, it can be made of transparent silicone rubber. In addition, for a certain key 101 (for example, including the main body 1011 , the first support 1012 and the second support 1013 ), the key 101 may also be integrally formed of transparent rubber.

Therefore, through the integral molding of the transparent rubber, the product structure and production process can be simplified, the cost can be reduced and the key quality can be improved. But the present application is not limited thereto, for example, other materials can also be used. In addition, the button device in the embodiment of the present application is not limited to an integrated structure, and can also adopt a split structure; in addition, it is not limited to transparent rubber, for example, other transparent materials can also be used.

In some embodiments, the keys made of transparent materials can be coated, for example, surfaces other than the light incident part 201 and the light exit part 202 are coated with opaque materials. It is also possible to use a laser to remove part of the paint after color coating the entire surface of the key to form a transparent window (such as the light incident portion 201 and the light exit portion 202 ). Thus, the key or the key device can be obtained with simple operation, and the integrally formed key is not easy to be damaged, and the service life of the key or the key device can be extended.

It is worth noting that Figs. 1 to 4 only schematically illustrate the key device of the present application, but the present application is not limited thereto; for example, other components or devices may be provided, and specific reference may be made to related technologies, and descriptions are omitted here. For components or elements that are not specified in FIGS. 1 to 4 , reference may be made to related technologies, and the present application is not limited thereto.

In addition, FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate that the key device includes 6 keys as an example, but the present application is not limited thereto; the number of keys in the key device may be one or more. A button will be used as an example for description below. The light emitting element in the embodiment of the present application is, for example, a light emitting diode (LED), but the present application is not limited thereto.

Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button according to the embodiment of the present application, showing the situation that the button guides light under normal conditions. As shown in FIG. 5 , the main body portion 1011 can guide the light from the light emitting element 501 on one side (lower side) of the key 101 from the light incident portion 201 to the light emitting portion 202 on the other side (upper side) of the key 101 .

As shown in FIG. 5 , the light incident portion 201 has a convex surface 2011 protruding toward the light emitting element 501 , and the surface area of the light incident portion 201 is larger than that of the light emitting portion 202 . The light from the light emitting element 501 irradiating the convex surface 2011 can be refracted, and can be converged into the range of the light emitting part 202 through the interior of the main body part 1011 .

Thus, at least part of the light from the light emitting element is refracted in the visible light range through the convex optical structure, thereby effectively reducing light loss. The light is converged into the range of the light emitting part through the inside of the main body part, which can improve the display quality of the key, and ensure that the display brightness and uniformity will not be reduced even when the key is tilted.

Fig. 6 is another schematic cross-sectional view of the button according to the embodiment of the present application, showing the situation that the button guides light when it is tilted. As shown in FIG. 6 , the key 101 deforms under pressure from the first operation part 203 or the second operation part 204 , causing the key 101 to tilt and the light incident part 201 to be displaced.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6 , the light incident part 201 is configured to: when the key 101 is deformed by pressure, light from the center of the light emitting element 501 and illuminated along a direction perpendicular to the light emitting element 501 Light rays can fall within the range of the convex surface 2011 . Since the light from the center of the light-emitting element has the highest brightness, the light there falls into the light incident part 201 and is refracted to the light exit part, which can reduce light loss and ensure the brightness of the display area.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the maximum tiltable angle of the button 101 is θ. In this case, the light emitted from the center of the light emitting element 501 and illuminated in the vertical direction (shown as 601 in FIG. 6) is still falls within the range of the convex surface 2011 (shown at point A).

As shown in FIG. 6 , even if the key is tilted, the light from the center of the light-emitting element 501 can be refracted by the convex surface 2011 and guided inside the main body 1011 to be guided from the light emitting portion 202 of the main body 1011. export.

Therefore, even when the key is tilted, the light can be converged into the range of the light emitting part through the inside of the main body, the display quality of the key can be improved, and the display brightness and uniformity can be guaranteed not to be affected by the inclination angle. change and decrease.

The above embodiments are only illustrative examples of the embodiments of the present application, but the present application is not limited thereto, and appropriate modifications can also be made on the basis of the above various embodiments. For example, each of the above-mentioned embodiments may be used alone, or one or more of the above-mentioned embodiments may be combined.

It can be known from the above embodiments that the main body of the button can guide the light from the light-emitting element on one side to the light-emitting portion on the other side; the light-incidence portion has a convex surface protruding toward the light-emitting element, And the surface area of the light incident part is larger than the surface area of the light exit part. As a result, the light is converged into the range of the light emitting part through the interior of the main body, which can reduce light loss and improve the display quality of the key, and ensure that the display brightness and uniformity will not be reduced even when the key is tilted.

Embodiments of the second aspect

The embodiment of the second aspect of the present application provides an electronic device, which has the button or the button device described in the embodiment of the first aspect. Since in the embodiment of the first aspect, the structure of the button or the button device has been described in detail, the content thereof is incorporated here, and the description is omitted here.

In the embodiment of the present application, the electronic device may be any device provided with a button or a button device, such as a timer, a counter, a switch, an indicator light, a display screen, and the like.

The above embodiments are only illustrative examples of the embodiments of the present application, but the present application is not limited thereto, and appropriate modifications can also be made on the basis of the above various embodiments. For example, each of the above-mentioned embodiments may be used alone, or one or more of the above-mentioned embodiments may be combined.

The present application has been described above in conjunction with specific implementation manners, but those skilled in the art should be clear that these descriptions are exemplary rather than limiting the protection scope of the present application. Those skilled in the art can make various variations and modifications to this application according to the spirit and principles of this application, and these variations and modifications are also within the scope of this application.

The preferred embodiments of the present application are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. The many features and advantages of these embodiments are apparent from this detailed description, and thus the appended claims are intended to cover all such features and advantages of these embodiments that fall within their true spirit and scope. In addition, since those skilled in the art can easily think of many modifications and variations, the embodiments of the present application are not intended to be limited to the precise structures and operations illustrated and described, but can cover all suitable modifications and variations within the scope thereof. and equivalents.

100: Button device 101: button 102: Connecting parts 201: light incident part 202: Light emitting part 203: The first operation department 204: The second operation department 501: Light emitting element 601: light 1011: Main body 1012: The first support part 1013: the second support part 2011: Convex 10111: first surface 10112: second surface A: point LED: light emitting diode θ: angle

The included drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the embodiments of the present application, which constitute a part of the specification, are used to illustrate the implementation of the present application, and explain the principle of the present application together with the text description. Apparently, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings according to these drawings without creative efforts. In the attached picture: FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a button device according to an embodiment of the present application; Fig. 2 is another schematic diagram of the button device of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is another schematic diagram of the button device of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is another schematic diagram of the button device of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a button according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 6 is another schematic cross-sectional view of the button according to the embodiment of the present application.

101: button

201: light incident part

202: Light emitting part

203: The first operation department

204: The second operation department

501: Light emitting element

1011: Main body

1012: The first support part

1013: the second support part

2011: Convex

LED: light emitting diode

Claims (10)

A button, characterized in that the button includes: a main body, which has a light incident part on the first surface on one side, and a light emitting part on the second surface on the other side; The light from the light emitting element on one side of the key is guided from the light incident part to the light exit part on the other side of the key; the light incident part has a convex surface protruding toward the light emitting element, and the The surface area of the light incident part is greater than the surface area of the light exit part, and the button further includes: a first support part and a second support part juxtaposed; on two supporting parts, and the light incident part is between the first supporting part and the second supporting part. The button according to claim 1, wherein the light from the light-emitting element irradiated on the convex surface is refracted and converged into the range of the light emitting part via the inside of the main body part. The key according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the key is integrally formed of transparent rubber, and the surface other than the light incident part and the light exit part is coated with an opaque material. A button, characterized in that the button includes: a main body, which has a light incident part on the first surface on one side, and a light emitting part on the second surface on the other side; The light of the light emitting element on one side of the key is guided from the light incident part to the light emitting part on the other side of the key; The light incident part has a convex surface protruding toward the light-emitting element, and the surface area of the light incident part is larger than the surface area of the light exit part, and the main body part also has a surface on the other side of the key for receiving A first operation part and a second operation part operated by a user; the light emitting part is between the first operation part and the second operation part. The key according to claim 4, wherein the key is deformed under pressure from the first operation part or the second operation part, thereby causing the key to tilt and the light incident part to generate displacement. The key according to claim 5, wherein the light incident part is configured to emit light from the center of the light emitting element in a direction perpendicular to the light emitting element when the key is deformed by pressure of rays are able to fall within the confines of the convex surface. The button according to claim 5, wherein the light from the center of the light-emitting element can be refracted by the convex surface, and guided inside the main body to be led out from the light emitting part of the main body . The key according to any one of claim 4 to claim 7, wherein the key is integrally formed of transparent rubber, and the surface other than the light incident part and the light exit part is coated with an opaque material. A button device, characterized in that the button device includes a plurality of buttons as described in any one of the request item 1 to the request item 8, and the plurality of buttons are arranged side by side and connected by connecting parts; the button device is made of transparent Rubber one-piece molding. An electronic device, characterized in that the electronic device comprises: One or more light-emitting elements, which are configured on a circuit board; and the button as described in any one of claim item 1 to claim item 8, or the button device as described in claim item 9; wherein each button is configured with at least one The light emitting element.

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