Patent Application
20150206674
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-006643, filed Jan. 17, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments described herein relate generally to a keyboard and an electronic apparatus.
Conventionally, there is a keyboard in which the key switch is covered by a cover sheet. The cover sheet is arranged in a keyboard which is desired to be capable of coping with the moisture and dust, such as a keyboard of an apparatus located at a place where there is moisture or dust.
The cover sheet is made of a material that can be bent softly. The material has some elasticity. The cover sheet is flat in a case in which the stroke of the key top is small, and is formed to have concave-convex shape for each key switch in a case in which the stroke of the key top is large.
Incidentally, the key top is, for example, 7 mm thick and is smaller than the fingertip in most cases. Further, the key top is harder than the finger. For these reasons, the cover sheet dents together with the key top in the finger when the key top is pressed by a finger. Such an operation is carried out repeatedly on the keyboard, thus, the cover sheet is rubbed against the key top, as a result, damage is caused to the cover sheet gradually, and the cover sheet may be broken along the edge of the key top. Further, in a case in which display, such as characters or images indicating the function assigned to each key is printed at the inner side of the cover sheet facing the key top, the display may be scrapped and faded due to the operation mentioned above.
In accordance with one embodiment, a keyboard consisting of one or a plurality of keys comprises one or a plurality of key switches corresponding to the number of the keys, a cover sheet and a protection piece. The key switch includes a main body and a key top which protrudes from the main body, and is pressed into the main body for a predetermined stroke when a pressing operation is carried out and is returned to the original position when the pressing operation is released. The cover sheet covers the key switch. The protection piece is fixed on the cover sheet at a position between the key top and the cover sheet.
In accordance with one embodiment, an electronic apparatus comprises a keyboard as stated above and a control section configured to carry out a processing when receiving a signal generated along with a key input on the keyboard.
The embodiment is described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The main body 2 is equipped with a built-in control section 21 and a load cell 22. The control section 21 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory) (none is shown) and the like. The ROM stores various data and various programs executed by the CPU. The RAM temporarily stores the data and programs when the CPU executes various programs. The CPU develops and executes the program read from the ROM on the RAM to collectively control each section of the weighing device 1.
The load cell 22 sends the output corresponding to the weight of a weighing target placed on the upper tray 3 to the control section 21. The control section 21 calculates the weight of the weighing target according to the output from the load cell 22.
The operation display section 4 receives an operation by an operator and displays an image indicating various kinds of information to the operator. The display for customer 5 displays an image indicating various kinds of information to a customer.
The operation display section 4 includes a monitor 41, a touch panel 42, and a keyboard 43. The monitor 41 displays an image. The touch panel 42, laminated on the surface of the monitor 41, outputs the coordinate of a touched position to receive an operation corresponding to the image displayed on the monitor 41.
The keyboard 43 consists of, for example, a plurality of keys 6 arranged in a matrix state. The keys 6 output a signal according to a key input. The control section 21 carries out a processing after it receives the signal.
The keyboard 43 has a cover sheet 7.
The keyboard 43 further includes a protection sheet 8.
The relation between the protection piece 81, the frame 82 and the connection part 83 is described in detail.
The protection pieces 81 serve as the components of the keys 6.
The key switch 61 includes a main body portion 611 and a key top 612. The shape of the key top 612 is, for example, a round shape having a diameter of about 7 mm. The protection piece 81, in, for example, a round shape having a diameter of about 11 mm, is arranged in such a manner that the key top 612 is at the approximate center thereof. In this way, the outer periphery of the protection piece 81 extends to a position about 2 mm away from the outer periphery of the key top 612.
It goes without saying that the size of the protection piece 81 is not limited to that described above, and no specific limitation is given to the size of the protection piece 81 as long as the protection piece 81 can be fitted into the area of each key 6 and touched by a fingertip, and is larger than the key top 612.
With such a constitution, when the key 6 is operated, that is, pressed, the key top 612 is pressed by a predetermined stroke. At this time, the cover sheet 7 extends along with the pressing operation. When the key top 612 is pressed, the key switch 61 outputs a signal. The control section 21 carries out a processing after receiving a signal that is output along with the key input.
In accordance with the present embodiment, each key 6 includes the protection piece 81, in this way, the cover sheet 7 having a thickness of, for example, 0.1 mm is reinforced to a thickness of 0.45 mm, including the double-sided tape. In this way, the cover sheet 7 is less likely to dent together with the key top 612 in the finger during the operation of the keys 6.
Thus, the damage of the cover sheet 7 along the edge of the key top 612 caused by the repeating of the operation is less likely to occur. Further, it is possible to prevent that the display arranged at the surface of the cover sheet 7 at the side of the key top 612 is scrapped and faded.
Further, the key switch 61 is operated across the protection piece 81 having a diameter larger than that of the key top 612, thus, the key top 612 is pressed more easily compared with a case in which the key top 612 much smaller than the fingertip is pressed across the soft cover sheet 7 only. That is, the operability can be improved if each key 6 is equipped with the protection piece 81.
In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the stroke of the key top 612 is not large, that is, the subduction amount of the protection piece 81 is not large, and a flat cover sheet 7 is used. The cover sheet 7 made of a material that can be bent softly has elasticity. The part of the cover sheet 7 where no protection piece 81 is attached, that is, the part between the protection pieces 81 is retractable. Thus, the adjacent protection pieces 81 are flexible, and the operability of the keys 6 is not impaired.
On the contrary, in a case in which the stroke of the key top 612 is large, a cover sheet having a concave-convex shape for each key switch 61 is adopted to guarantee the operability of the keys 6. This case is described with reference to
Hereinafter, the modification of the present embodiment is described. In the modification, the same parts as those described in the embodiment are not described repeatedly.
The concave-convex shape for each key switch 61 is arranged in a matrix state in the cover sheet 10.
The protection sheet 9 includes protection pieces 91, a frame 92 and connection parts 93, and the connection parts 93 are embossed along the inner surface shape of the key switch 61 so as to lift up the protection piece 91 with respect to the frame 92.
With such a constitution, it is possible to cope with the large stroke through the deflection of the cover sheet 10 and the connection part 93, even in a case of a keyboard which is not capable of coping with the large stroke of the key top through the elasticity of the flat cover sheet only.
In accordance with the embodiment and the modification described above, the cover sheet is protected from the key top through the protection piece, in this way, it is possible to prevent the damage of the cover sheet such as the breakage, the scraping of the display and the like.
In addition, the shape of the protection piece in the embodiment described above is a round shape; however, it is not limited to this according to different applications. The protection piece may be of any shape (for example, rounded shape) as long as it has no angle that causes damage to the cover sheet.
In the embodiment described above, the protection pieces are connected with the frame through connection parts to constitute the protection sheet; however, for example, the protection pieces may be collectively connected with each other according to different applications. In this case, it is desired that the intervals between the protection pieces are stretchable.
Further, in the embodiment described above, the protection pieces are adhered to the inner side of the cover sheet; however, the protection pieces may be fixed on the cover sheet through other methods than the adhering method; alternatively, the protection pieces may be fixedly integrated with the cover sheet.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-006643 | Jan 2014 | JP | national |
