Patent Grant
10347441
The present invention relates to a structure of an input device, and in particular, to a key and an elastomer structure thereof.
In the modern society, the use of electronic products has become an indispensable part of the life, and necessities such as eating, clothing, living, traveling, teaching, and entertainment are correlated to electronic products. To facilitate carrying and using of the electronic products, the electronic products are designed to be light and thin. Usually, an electronic product has a key structure. To make the electronic product lighter and thinner, measures are taken to simplify configurations of a support structure and an elastic structure in the key structure, or reduce the heights of the support structure and the elastic structure. In this way, the height of the key is reduced and the volume of the entire keyboard is reduced, but the feel of a pressing stroke of the key may be lost. As a result, a user cannot determine whether pressing of the key is completed or uncomfortable pressing feel is generated, and therefore the user feels inconvenient.
To maintain a good feel of pressing of the key, US patent publication no. US20110203912 discloses a key structure in which an elastomer (Elastomeric Dome) is used together with a metal elastic piece (Metal Dome). When a key is pressed, the elastomer is first touched and pressed to deform, and subsequently, the metal elastic piece is touched and pressed, so as to maintain the pressing feel of the key. However, in the earlier patent, a protrusion structure at a lower surface of a key cap directly presses the metal elastic piece. In this way, noises may be generated during pressing. Moreover, both the key cap and the metal elastic piece are rigid structures, resulting in a rigid pressing feel. In addition, in the prior art, a key is usually mounted by first adhering a metal elastic piece onto a thin film switch and then disposing an elastomer on the metal elastic piece. In the assembly process, by the mounting method, the protrusion structure at the lower surface of the key cap may not be able to actually press the metal elastic piece due to an offset of a center point between the elastomer and the metal elastic piece, resulting in a failure in the key function or a change in the pressing stroke of the keyboard.
Therefore, how to maintain the pressing feel and comfort of a key and avoid an offset in mounting of an elastomer and an elastic piece of the key when the height of the key structure is reduced is a technical issue to be resolved by the present invention.
A main objective of the present invention is providing a key structure that has a decreased entire height and a stable pressing stroke, and has an elastic element capable of avoiding a pressing offset.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a key structure, including:
a key cap;
a support board;
an elastic element including an elastomer and an elastic piece, where the elastomer has a first surface and a second surface, and the first surface includes a first protrusion portion and a second protrusion portion; and
a support element connected to the key cap and the support board and surrounding the elastic element, where
when the key cap descends, the first protrusion portion is pressed by the key cap and generates a deformation, so as to form a first pressing stroke, and subsequently, the key cap presses the second protrusion portion to enable the elastic piece to generate a deformation, so as to form a second pressing stroke.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the elastic piece has a third surface and a fourth surface, and the third surface of the elastic piece is adjacent to the second surface of the elastomer.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, when the elastic piece is pressed by the second protrusion portion to generate a deformation, the fourth surface is configured to contact a switch to generate a key signal.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the switch is disposed at a surface of a thin film layer.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the thin film layer is disposed on the support board.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the vertical height of the second protrusion portion is equal to that of the first protrusion portion.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the vertical height of the second protrusion portion is less than that of the first protrusion portion.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the first protrusion portion is a coronal protrusion portion and surrounds the second protrusion portion.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the coronal protrusion portion is provided with at least one notch.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the material of the elastomer is rubber or silicon.
In the foregoing preferred embodiment, the support element includes a first support and a second support.
More detailed descriptions are made with reference to the examples of the embodiments and the accompanying drawings, to make advantages and features of the present invention and the method to implement the present invention easier to understand. However, the present invention may be implemented in different forms and it should not be understood that the present invention can be implemented only by using the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, for those ordinarily skilled in the art, the provided embodiments will make the disclosure more apparent and comprehensive and completely convey the scope of the present invention.
First, referring to
Still referring to
The thin film layer 40 is disposed on the support board 50, and includes the switch 401 and the opening 402. The second bonding portions 501a and 501b of the support board 50 pass through the opening 402 of the thin film layer 40, so as to be pivotally connected to the second end 2012 of the first support 201 and the second end 2022 of the second support 202. The elastic element 30 is disposed on the switch 401, and includes the elastomer 301 and the elastic piece 302. When the key cap 10 is pressed to descend, the elastic element 30 generates a deformation to form at least one pressing stroke, and contact the switch 401 by means of the elastic piece 302, so as to generate a key signal. When the key cap 10 is not pressed, the elastic element 30 also provides an upward elastic restoring force for the key cap 10, so as to raise and reset the key cap 10.
Referring to
Still referring to
Referring to
By adjusting the vertical heights of the first protrusion portion 30111 and the second protrusion portion 30112 of the elastomer 301, various pressing feel may be generated. In this way, the key structure provided in the present invention may be applied to various electronic products having a keyboard.
Compared with the prior art, the key cap of the key structure provided in the present invention presses the elastomer to enable the elastic piece to generate a deformation instead of directly pressing the elastic piece, so that the rigid pressing feel and problems generated by noises can be alleviated. In another aspect, when the height of the key structure is reduced, the two stages of pressing stroke are formed by means of the first protrusion portion and the second protrusion portion of the elastomer together with the elastic piece, thereby maintaining a stable pressing feel of the key. Further, different pressing feel may be generated by adjusting the vertical heights of the first protrusion portion and the second protrusion portion of the elastomer, so that the key structure provided in the present invention can be applied to various electronic products having a keyboard. In addition, because the elastic piece is pre-adhered into the elastomer, during a process of manufacturing a keyboard, an offset in mounting of the elastomer and the elastic piece can be effectively avoided, so as to improve the yield of the electronic product manufacturing. Therefore, the present invention actually is a creation having great industrial value.
Any modification made to the present invention by persons skilled in the art by means of technical measures shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 106109935 A | Mar 2017 | TW | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090283393 | Chen | Nov 2009 | A1 |
| 20150237764 | Liu | Aug 2015 | A1 |
| 20180012713 | Taga | Jan 2018 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180277318 A1 | Sep 2018 | US |
