Patent Application
20200401234
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of input devices, particularly to an input device capable of discriminating using patterns of users.
Electronic devices such as computers generally comprises a host, a display and an input device, etc. With the development of technology, light-emitting devices such as backlight sources can be installed to specific computer input devices, maintaining certain visibility in the dark for the computer input device.
However, the backlight light source of the general computer input device is only disposed below the keyswitch providing visual reorganization of characters on the keyswitch for users in the dark, which is unsatisfactory for advanced needs for users. For example, the current using mode/status of the input device cannot be recognized from the illuminating state of the characters of the keyswitch. Thus, it is desirous to develop a solution to recognize the current user mode with the input device.
The embodiments of the present disclosure provide an input device capable of discriminating using patterns of users.
In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides an input device comprising a housing, a keyboard assembly, and a first light source. The housing comprises a body and a plurality of sidewalls. The plurality of sidewalls is disposed along the body to form an accommodating space. The keyboard assembly is disposed in the accommodating space. The first light source is disposed in the body. The light emitted from the first light source emits from the plurality of sidewalls.
Therefore, within the input device of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a glowing visual effect is created through the periphery of the keyboard assembly by providing the body with the first light source emitting light that emits the plurality of the sidewalls of the housing. By configuring computer using modes, which correspond to the light emitting states, it is possible for users to intuitively discriminate the using patterns.
It should be understood, however, that this summary may not contain all aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure, that this summary is not meant to be limiting or restrictive in any manner, and that the disclosure as disclosed herein will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to encompass obvious improvements and modifications thereto.
The features of the exemplary embodiments believed to be novel and the elements and/or the steps characteristic of the exemplary embodiments are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The Figures are for illustration purposes only and are not drawn to scale. The exemplary embodiments, both as to organization and method of operation, may best be understood by reference to the detailed description which follows taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are shown. This present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.
Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but function. In the following description and in the claims, the terms “include/including” and “comprise/comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted as “including but not limited to”. “Substantial/substantially” means, within an acceptable error range, the person skilled in the art may solve the technical problem in a certain error range to achieve the basic technical effect.
The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the disclosure. This description is made for the purpose of illustration of the general principles of the disclosure and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the disclosure is best determined by reference to the appended claims.
Moreover, the terms “include”, “contain”, and any variation thereof are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. Therefore, a process, method, object, or device that includes a series of elements not only includes these elements, but also includes other elements not specified expressly, or may include inherent elements of the process, method, object, or device. If no more limitations are made, an element limited by “include a/an” does not exclude other same elements existing in the process, the method, the article, or the device which includes the element.
In the following embodiment, the same reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements throughout the disclosure.
In this embodiment, the plurality of sidewalls 12 is connected to the body 11. The plurality of sidewalls 12 is disposed along the body 11 and extends downward to form an accommodating space 13. It should be noted that the plurality of sidewalls 12 and the body 11 could be integrally formed into one piece, for example, manufactured by double injection molding, or could be connected by other methods such as pasting and riveting after they have been individually molded, but the connecting methods are not limited thereto. The keyboard assembly 20 is disposed in the accommodating space 13, which means the body 11 and the plurality of sidewalls 12 is disposed along the periphery of the keyboard assembly 20. The first light source 30 is disposed below the body 11. The “below” means that the first light source 30 is lower than the body 11 in vertical height, and the present disclosure would not limit any overlapping between the first light source 30 and the body 11 in vertical projection. The first light source 30 comprises a first light emitting element 31 and a first light source circuit board 32. The first light emitting element 31 is disposed on the first light source circuit board 32. Since the plurality of sidewalls, 12 is transparent, the light emitted from the first light emitting element 31 can be emitted from the plurality of sidewalls 12, thereby lighting up the periphery of the keyboard assembly 20.
In one embodiment, the input device 1 further comprises a controller (not shown in) connected to the first light emitting element 31 for activating and deactivating the first light emitting element 31. The electronic device can also have the lighting effects of the first light emitting component 31 corresponding to the using modes of the electronic device, to facilitate the discrimination of the current mode or the electronic device. For example, when the first light emitting element 31 is turned on, that is, the light is coming out from the plurality of sidewalls 12, the electronic device is under a state of e-competition; when the first light emitting element 31 is turned off, that is, the light is not coming out from the plurality of sidewalls 12, the electronic device is under a state of sleep. In this way, the current mode or state of the electronic device can be simply discriminated according to the light emitting state of the plurality of sidewalls 12.
In one embodiment, the keyboard assembly 20 comprises a baseplate 21 and a plurality of keyswitches 22 disposed on the baseplate 21. The plurality of sidewalls 12 extends from the joint between the body 11 toward the baseplate 21. In this embodiment, the angle between the plurality of sidewalls 12 and the body 11 is an obtuse angle. In other embodiments, the angle between the plurality of sidewalls 12 and the body 11 may also be an acute angle or a right angle, which is changeable according to actual requirements, and it is not limited by the present disclosure.
In one embodiment, the input device 1 further comprises an outer frame 40 which is disposed in the accommodating space 13 and is sleeved on the keyboard assembly 20. The outer frame 40 is provided with a plurality of openings 41 adapted to the plurality of keyswitches 22. The plurality of keyswitches 22 protrudes from the plurality of openings 41. The outer frame 40 can protect and position the plurality of keyswitches 22. In addition, the height of the outer frame 40 is lower than that of the body 11. That is, a height difference exists between the outer frame 40 and the body 11, which prevents the outer frame 40 from blocking light coming out from the plurality of sidewalls 12.
In one embodiment, as shown in
In another embodiment, the second light source 23 comprises a plurality of second light emitting elements 25, a second light source circuit board 26, and a second light guiding plate 27. The number of second light emitting elements 25 is less than the number of keyswitches 22. A plurality of second light emitting elements 25 is disposed on a side of the second light guiding plate 27. As shown in
Referring to
In one embodiment, the first light source circuit board 32 and the second light source circuit board 26 are individually provided. In another embodiment, the first light source circuit board 32 and the second light source circuit board 26 are integrally provided. The term “integrally” indicates that the first light source circuit board 32 and the second light source circuit board 26 could be integrally manufactured as a single element, or could be connected to form a one-piece by other methods.
In addition, in one embodiment, the first light source 30 comprises a plurality of first light emitting elements 31, a first light source circuit board 32, and a first reflective layer 33. The plurality of first light emitting elements 31 are disposed around the body 11. The first reflective layer 33 is disposed on the optical path of the plurality of first light emitting elements 31. That is, the first reflective layer 33 is disposed on a surface of the body 11 opposite to the plurality of first light emitting elements 31, which means that each sidewall 12 is correspondingly provided with the first light emitting element 31 and the first reflective layer 33.
In one embodiment, the first light source 30 comprises a plurality of first light emitting elements 31, a first light source circuit board 32, and a first reflective layer 33. A plurality of first light emitting elements 31 is disposed around the body 11, and the first reflective layer 33 is disposed on the optical path of the plurality of first light emitting elements 31. That is, the first reflective layer 33 is disposed below the plurality of first light emitting elements 31. Each side wall 12 is correspondingly provided with a first light emitting element 31 and a first reflective layer 33. A part of the light from the plurality of first light emitting elements 31 is directly emitted to the corresponding sidewall 12, and a part of the light is emitted to the first reflective layer 33 before being reflected to the corresponding sidewall 12. It should be noted that the first reflective layer 33 may be a single element, such as a ring frame shaped reflective layer, or may be a plurality of reflective layers provided individually, but it is not limited by the present disclosure.
In one embodiment, the first light emitting element 31 may be a light emitting diode (LED) or a flexible light bar, but it is not limited by the present disclosure.
In summary, the present disclosure proposed an input device in which a glowing effect can be created on the periphery of the keyboard assembly by providing the body with the first light source emitting light which emits the plurality of the sidewalls of the housing. By configuring computer using modes, which correspond to the light emitting states, it is possible for users to intuitively discriminate the using patterns.
It is to be understood that the term “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variants thereof, is intended to encompass a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or device of a series of elements not only include those elements but also comprises other elements that are not explicitly listed, or elements that are inherent to such a process, method, article, or device. An element defined by the phrase “comprising a . . . ” does not exclude the presence of the same element in the process, method, article, or device that comprises the element.
Although the present disclosure has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it does not intend to limit the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art having regard to this present disclosure that other modifications of the exemplary embodiments beyond those embodiments specifically described here may be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications are considered within the scope of the disclosure as limited solely by the appended claims.
This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. US62/863,251, filed on Jun. 18, 2019, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62863251 | Jun 2019 | US |
