TWM494957U - Input apparatus with changeable arrangement - Google Patents

Description

Input device with switchable configuration

This creation relates to the structure of an input device, and more particularly to an input device that can be configured in a changeable configuration.

In recent years, the rapid development of software and electronic technology has made the interaction between electronic products and users more frequent, in order to enhance user experience. In order to make the interaction between the electronic product and the user easier, in the case of a tablet computer, a base with a keyboard is generally provided for the user to input.

With the maturity and wide application of touch technology, more and more electronic devices use touch technology as a new input means to facilitate user input operations. Touch technology can be integrated into the keyboard to save space in the entire keyboard design and expand the use of the keyboard and increase the function of the keyboard, bringing more convenience to the user.

Currently, keyboards for electronic devices only have a key input function. If the user needs to use the touch function, such as cursor control and graphic drawing, the electronic device needs to be connected with another touch panel for use. However, the space required for a keyboard plus a touchpad is not small, and the conversion operation is inconvenient. And in today's frequent international exchanges, the demand for keyboard input switching in different languages is increasing, and the existing keyboard input devices have room for improvement.

In response to the above problems, there are currently products that integrate physical buttons and touch panels, but they only have the structure of the two sides side by side, so the space occupied by them is limited, and there is still some inconvenience in the conversion of operations. In addition, at present, a touch keyboard is also available in the market, and a virtual keyboard is mainly built on the touch panel. In use, the user taps on the touch panel to input according to the indication line of the virtual keyboard. In addition, in the touch keyboard, the function switching between the touch panel and the virtual keyboard is realized by using an application running on the computer in the form of a menu, and the conversion operation is cumbersome, and there is a reaction delay when sharing the computer data processing resources. The problem.

The main purpose of this creation is to provide a switchable configuration input device that can be implemented in a menu form without the need for an application, and which eliminates the cumbersome procedure of the conversion operation and increases the convenience of use.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a switchable configuration input device comprising a sensing electrode layer, at least one input film, and a control unit. The sensing electrode layer has a plurality of sensing electrode points to sense whether an external object is in proximity. The at least one input film has an identification component, and the at least one input film is disposed on the sensing electrode layer to form an input unit with the sensing electrode layer. The control unit is connected to the sensing electrode layer, receives an electrical signal output by the sensing electrode layer, determines a position at which the external object touches the at least one input film, and determines the input device The input further generates an input signal; wherein the sensing electrode layer senses the identification component to generate a configuration identification signal, and the control unit identifies the signal according to the configuration to determine an input configuration of the input device.

100‧‧‧Transformable input device

110‧‧‧Induction electrode layer

120‧‧‧ at least one input film

130‧‧‧Control unit

140‧‧‧ interface

150‧‧‧Wireless charging unit

121‧‧‧ Identifying components

111‧‧‧Configure the sensing area

191~195‧‧‧Location

160‧‧‧External host

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of one of the input devices of the present transformable configuration.

FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of the input device of the present transformable configuration.

FIG. 3 is another schematic diagram of the input device of the present transformable configuration.

FIG. 4 is still another schematic diagram of the input device of the present transformable configuration.

FIG. 5 is a more schematic diagram of the input device of the present transformable configuration.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view showing the stacking of the input film of the present invention.

1 is a schematic diagram of an input device 100 of the presently configurable configuration. The input device 100 of the switchable configuration includes a sensing electrode layer 110, at least one input film 120, a control unit 130, an interface 140, and a wireless charging. Unit 150.

The sensing electrode layer 110 has a plurality of sensing electrode points (not shown) to sense whether an external object is in proximity. The sensing electrode layer 110 is a capacitive sensing electrode layer, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The sensing electrode layer 110 is constructed on a rigid substrate or a flexible flexible substrate.

The at least one input film 120 has an identification component 121. The at least one input film 120 is disposed on the sensing electrode layer 110 to form an input unit with the sensing electrode layer 110.

The control unit 130 is connected to the sensing electrode layer 110 to receive the electrical signal outputted by the sensing electrode layer 110, and determines the position of the external object touching the at least one input film 120 to determine the input of the input device 100. An input signal is generated, wherein the sensing electrode layer 110 senses the identification component 121 to generate a configuration identification signal, and the control unit 130 determines an input configuration of the input device 100 according to the configuration.

The interface 140 is connected to the control unit 130 and an external host 160 to transmit the input signal output by the control unit 130 to the external host 160. The interface 140 is a wireless interface, wherein the wireless interface is one of the following: a Bluetooth wireless interface, a WiFi wireless interface, and an RF wireless interface.

The wireless charging unit 150 is connected to the sensing electrode layer 110, the control unit 130, and the interface 140. The wireless charging unit 150 receives an RF signal and converts it into at least a DC voltage to supply power to the sensing electrode layer 110. The control unit 130 and the interface 140.

As shown in FIG. 1, the at least one input film 120 is detachable from the sensing electrode layer 110. The at least one input film 120 only needs to be placed on the sensing electrode layer 110, and the sensing electrode layer 110 can sense the touch position of the user, thereby generating the electrical signal. The control unit 130 receives the electrical signal output by the sensing electrode layer 110, determines the touch position of the user, and determines the input of the input device 100 to generate an input signal.

The identification component 121 is a metal identification component or an identification component having a different dielectric constant than the material of the input film. When the at least one input film 120 is placed on the sensing electrode layer 110, the identification component 121 is located in a configuration sensing area 111. The configuration sensing area 111 of the capacitive sensing electrode layer 110 can sense the identification component 121 to generate the configuration identification signal.

Each of the at least one input film has a different pattern, and the different pattern may be a pattern of a keyboard button, a pattern of a control panel, a pattern of a mouse pad or other combination of the above patterns or a software-specific input device pattern. . As shown in FIG. 1 , the pattern of the at least one input film 120 is an English word keyboard and a numeric keyboard, and the identification component 121 is located at a first position 191 . FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of the input device 100 of the present changeable configuration. The pattern of the at least one input film 120 is a phonetic keyboard and a numeric keypad, and the identification component 121 has a Two positions 192, wherein the second position 192 is adjacent to the first position 191.

FIG. 3 is still another schematic diagram of the input device 100 of the present changeable configuration. The pattern of the at least one input film 120 is a Chinese input keyboard and a numeric keypad, and the identification component 121 is located at the Three positions 193, wherein the third position 193 is adjacent to the second position 192. FIG. 4 is still another schematic diagram of the input device 100 of the presently configurable configuration, wherein the pattern of the at least one input film 120 is an English word keyboard and a Cursor/touch pad, and has a The identification element 121 is tied to a fourth position 194, wherein the fourth position 194 is adjacent to the third position Set 193. The mouse on the external host 160 can be controlled by the user's finger sliding on the cursor touchpad. The user's finger can also input handwriting on the cursor touchpad. The sensing electrode layer 110 can recognize the trajectory input by the user's finger. The input trajectory can be transmitted from the interface 140 to the external host 160, and the software thereon can be used. Identify and generate handwritten input. FIG. 5 is still another schematic diagram of the input device 100 of the presently configurable configuration. The pattern of the at least one input film 120 is a Cursor/touch pad, and the identification component 121 is Positioned in a fifth position 195, wherein the fifth position 195 is adjacent to the fourth position 194.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view showing the stacking of the input film of the present invention. The position (first position 191) of the identification element 121 of the input film 120 of the English word keyboard and the numeric keypad is overlapped with the position (second position 192) of the identification element 121 of the input film 120 of the phonetic keyboard and the numeric keypad. The sensing electrode layer 110 can detect that the input film 120 of the phonetic keyboard and the numeric keypad is superimposed on the input film 120 of the English word keyboard and the numeric keyboard, so the control unit is different. 130 can determine the input film 120 of the phonetic keyboard and the English word keyboard input film 120. Therefore, in addition to replacing the at least one input film 120, the keyboard configuration can be changed, and simultaneously stacking an input film 120 can also change the keyboard configuration. In addition, for other Chinese The input film 120 of the keyboard and the numeric keypad, the input film 120 of the English word keyboard and the cursor touch panel, and the input film 120 of the cursor touch panel have the position of the identification component 121 (the third position 193, the first The four positions 194 and the fifth position 195) are also different from each other, so that the control unit 130 can determine which type of input film 120 is when stacked.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that the present invention only needs to replace the at least one input film 120, and the control unit 130 can detect the keyboard configuration thereon without being implemented by the application running on the external host 160 in a menu form. The cumbersome procedure of the conversion operation can increase the convenience of use.

The above-described embodiments are merely examples for convenience of description, and the scope of the claims is intended to be limited to the above embodiments.

100‧‧‧Transformable input device

110‧‧‧Induction electrode layer

120‧‧‧ at least one input film

130‧‧‧Control unit

140‧‧‧ interface

150‧‧‧Wireless charging unit

121‧‧‧ Identifying components

111‧‧‧Configure the sensing area

191,192,193,194,195‧‧‧Location

160‧‧‧External host

Claims (10)

The input device of the switchable configuration comprises: a sensing electrode layer having a plurality of sensing electrode points for sensing whether an external object is in proximity; at least one input film having an identifying component, the at least one input film An input unit is formed on the sensing electrode layer and the sensing electrode layer; and a control unit is connected to the sensing electrode layer, and receives an electrical signal output by the sensing electrode layer, and determines that the external object touches the at least Inputting a position of the film to determine an input of the input device, thereby generating an input signal; wherein the sensing electrode layer senses the identification component to generate a configuration identification signal, and the control unit identifies the signal according to the configuration An input configuration of the input device is determined. The input device of claim 1, further comprising: an interface connected to the control unit and an external host to transmit the input signal output by the control unit to the external host. The input device of claim 2, wherein the at least one input film is separable from the sensing electrode layer. The input device of claim 3, wherein the identification component is a metal identification component or an identification component having a different dielectric constant than the film material. The input device of claim 4, wherein the sensing electrode layer is a capacitive sensing electrode layer, and the capacitive sensing electrode layer senses the identifying component to generate the configuration identification signal. The input device of claim 5, wherein each of the input films of the at least one input film has a different pattern, the different pattern It is a pattern of a keyboard button, a pattern of a control panel, a pattern of a mouse pad or other combination of the above patterns or a software-specific input device pattern. The input device of claim 5, wherein the interface is a wireless interface. The input device of claim 7, wherein the wireless interface is one of the following: a Bluetooth wireless interface, a WiFi wireless interface, and an RF wireless interface. The input device of claim 8, further comprising: a wireless charging unit connected to the sensing electrode layer, the control unit, and the interface, the wireless charging unit receiving an RF signal and converting the same At least a continuous voltage is applied to the sensing electrode layer, the control unit, and the interface. The input device of claim 8, wherein the sensing electrode layer is constructed on a rigid substrate or a flexible flexible substrate.