MANUFACTURING METHOD OF KEYPAD FOR MOBILE PHONE AND KEYPAD MANUFACTURED THEREBY

Abstract

Disclosed is a manufacturing method of a keypad for a mobile phone and the keypad manufactured thereby, in which a vacuum deposition layer and a cellophane paper are attached to a lower surface of a key in the keypad. The keypad for a mobile phone includes a plurality of keys, each key includes a key body of a transparent resin material and a high-hardness transparent coating layer coated onto a surface of the key body in order to increase hardness, and each key comprises a key background color paint layer for color presentation, coated onto a lower surface of the key body; an opaque paint layer coated onto a lower surface of the key background color paint layer; a transparent marking portion formed by performing a laser processing according to a shape of a numeral, a character, or a symbol with respect to the lower surface of the key body so as to remove the color paint layer and the opaque paint layer; a metallic vacuum deposition layer formed on the lower surface of the key body and a lower surface of the opaque paint layer; and a transparent color-printed layer or a cellophane paper attached to a lower surface of the metallic vacuum deposition layer so as to present various colors.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional keypad for a mobile phone;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the keypad shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a region of “A” shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the construction of a keypad for a mobile phone according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the keypad for the mobile phone according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a region of “B” shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a use state of the keypad for the mobile phone according to the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for manufacturing the keypad for the mobile phone according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 7, a keypad 100 of a mobile phone includes a plurality of keys 110. As shown in FIG. 4, a key body 101 of the key 110 is formed of a light-transmissive resin material, and a high-hardness transparent coating layer 102 is coated onto the surface of the key body 101 in order to increase hardness.

The light-transmissive resin material includes polycarbonate, acrylic resin, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In addition, the light-transmissive resin material may include additives for reinforcing hardness and a lubrication property so as to improve the abrasion resistance and scratch resistance properties of the key body 101.

Herein, if the key body 101 is formed of the light-transmissive resin material including the hardness-reinforcement and lubrication-property-reinforcement additives, a process of coating the high-hardness transparent coating layer 102 onto the surface of the key body 101 is omitted.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a key background color paint layer 103 for color presentation is coated onto a lower surface of the key body 101, and then a light-shielding or opaque paint layer 104 is coated onto a lower surface of the color paint layer 103 in order to prevent light from being transmitted through a portion other than a light-transmissive marking portion described later. When the key background color paint layer 103 and opaque paint layer 104 have been sequentially coated onto the lower surface of the key body 101, a laser processing according to the shape of a numeral, a character, or a symbol is performed with respect to the lower surface of the key body 101 so as to remove a part of the color paint layer 103 and opaque paint layer 104, thereby forming the light-transmissive marking portion 105. Next, a metallic vacuum deposition layer 106 is formed on a lower surface of the color paint layer 103 and opaque paint layer 104 so as to provide an elegant metallic gloss to the keypad 100.

The metallic vacuum deposition layer 106 may be made from aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), tin (Sn), and titanium (Ti), and may be a compound layer which is made from silicon dioxide (SiO₂), titanium dioxide (TiO₂), or zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂) depending on the end use purpose.

As shown in FIG. 6, a color-printed layer or cellophane paper 107 is attached to a lower surface of the metallic vacuum deposition layer 106 so as to present various colors through the light-transmissive marking portion 105 when the key emits light.

The attachment of the cellophane paper 107 may be achieved by using transparent adhesives (not shown) or by a heat treatment process for applying heat.

As shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, the key body 101 is connected with an elastic pad 2, and then is installed on a printed circuit board 10 including a light emitting unit 11. According to such a construction, whenever the light emitting unit 11 emits light, it is possible, due to the color-printed layer or cellophane paper 107, to present various colors in the keypad 100.

The manufacturing method of the keypad for a mobile phone, which has the above-mentioned construction according to the present invention, will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 8.

First, according to the manufacturing method of the keypad for a mobile phone, a key body 101 is formed of a light-transmissive resin material in step 1.

The light-transmissive resin material includes, among other materials, polycarbonate, acrylic resin, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Then, a high-hardness transparent coating layer 102 is coated onto the surface of the key body 101 in order to increase hardness in step 2.

In this case, if the light-transmissive resin material includes the hardness-reinforcement and lubrication-property-reinforcement additives, the step of coating the high-hardness transparent coating layer 102 is omitted. This is because, when the key body 101 is formed of a material including the hardness-reinforcement and lubrication-property-reinforcement additives, the abrasion resistance and scratch resistance properties of the key body 101 are improved, so that it is unnecessary to coat the high-hardness transparent coating layer 102 onto the surface of the key body 101 in order to additionally improve the abrasion resistance and scratch resistance properties of the key body 101.

In step 3, a key background color paint layer 103 for color presentation is coated onto a lower surface of the key body 101.

In step 4, an opaque paint layer 104 is coated onto a lower surface of the key background color paint layer 103 in order to prevent light from being transmitted through a portion other than a light-transmissive marking portion 105.

In step 5, a laser processing according to the shape of a numeral, a character, or a symbol is performed with respect to the lower surface of the key body 101 so as to remove a part of the color paint layer 103 and the opaque paint layer 104, thereby forming the light-transmissive marking portion 105.

In step 6, a metallic vacuum deposition layer 106 is formed on a lower surface of the key body 101 and the opaque paint layer 104, which have been obtained as a result of step 5, so as to provide a metallic gloss to the keypad 100.

The metallic vacuum deposition layer 106 may be made from aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), tin (Sn), and titanium (Ti), and may be a compound layer which is made from silicon dioxide (SiO₂), titanium dioxide (TiO₂), or zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂), depending on the use purpose.

In step 7, a color-printed layer or cellophane paper 107 is attached to a lower surface of the metallic vacuum deposition layer 106, which have been obtained as a result of step 6, so that various colors can be presented whenever light is emitted from the light emitting unit 11 included in the printed circuit board 10.

The attachment of the cellophane paper 107 may be achieved by using transparent adhesives (not shown) or by a heat treatment process for applying heat.

Thereafter, the resultant key body 101 is connected with the elastic pad 2, and then is installed on the printed circuit board 10 (see FIG. 5).

While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to a certain preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method of a keypad for a mobile phone and the keypad manufactured thereby, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a keypad which includes a plurality of keys, the method comprising the steps of: (1) forming a key body of a light-transmissive resin material;(2) coating a high-hardness transparent coating layer onto a surface of the key body in order to increase hardness;(3) coating a key background color paint layer for color presentation onto a lower surface of the key body;(4) coating a light-shielding paint layer onto a lower surface of the key background color paint layer in order to prevent light from being transmitted through a portion other than a light-transmissive marking portion;(5) forming the light-transmissive marking portion by performing a laser processing according to a shape of a numeral, a character, or a symbol with respect to the lower surface of the key body so as to remove the key background color paint layer and the light-shielding paint layer;(6) forming a metallic vacuum deposition layer on the lower surface of the key body and a lower surface of the light-shielding paint layer; and(7) attaching a one of color-printed layer and a cellophane paper to a lower surface of the metallic vacuum deposition layer so as to present various colors.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (2) is omitted by forming the key body from a high-hardness light-transmissive resin material which contains additives for reinforcing hardness and a lubrication property and thus improving abrasion resistance and scratch resistance properties of the key body.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in step (7), the cellophane paper is attached to a surface of an elastic pad for the keypad, or a surface of the elastic pad is color-printed.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-transmissive resin material includes one of polycarbonate, acrylic resin, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metallic vacuum deposition layer is made of any one selected from a group consisting of aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), tin (Sn) and titanium (Ti).

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metallic vacuum deposition layer is made of any one selected from a group consisting of silicon dioxide (SiO2), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and zirconium dioxide (ZrO2).

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the resin material is one of transparent and translucent.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-shielding paint layer is opaque.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the marking portion is one of transparent and translucent.

10. A keypad for a mobile phone including a plurality of keys, each key includes a key body of a light-transmissive resin material and a high-hardness transparent coating layer coated onto a surface of the key body in order to increase hardness, the key comprising: a key background color paint layer for color presentation, coated onto a lower surface of the key body;a light-shielding paint layer coated onto a lower surface of the key background color paint layer;a light-transmissive marking portion formed by performing a laser processing according to a shape of a numeral, a character, or a symbol with respect to the lower surface of the key body so as to remove the key background color paint layer and the paint layer;a metallic vacuum deposition layer formed on the lower surface of the key body and a lower surface of the paint layer; anda color-printed layer or a cellophane paper attached to a lower surface of the metallic vacuum deposition layer so as to present various colors.

11. The keypad as claimed in claim 10, wherein the resin material includes a high-hardness resin material which contains additives for reinforcing hardness and a lubrication property so as to improve abrasion resistance and scratch resistance properties of the key body.

12. The keypad as claimed in claim 10, wherein the resin material includes one of polycarbonate, acrylic resin, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

13. The keypad as claimed in claim 10, wherein the metallic vacuum deposition layer is made of any one selected from a group consisting of aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), tin (Sn), and titanium (Ti).

14. The keypad as claimed in claim 10, wherein the metallic vacuum deposition layer is made of any one selected from a group consisting of silicon dioxide (SiO2), titanium dioxide (TiO2), and zirconium dioxide (ZrO2).

15. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the resin material is one of transparent and translucent.

16. The Method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the paint layer is opaque.

17. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the marking portion is one of transparent and translucent.

18. A keypad for a mobile phone including a plurality of keys, each key comprising: a key body made of a transparent resin material;a high-hardness transparent coating layer coated onto a surface of the key body in order to increase hardness;a key background color paint layer for color presentation, coated onto the key body;an opaque paint layer coated onto the key background color paint layer;a transparent marking portion formed by performing a laser processing according to a shape of a numeral, a character, or a symbol with respect to the key body so as to remove the key background color paint layer and the opaque paint layer;a metallic vacuum deposition layer formed on the opaque paint layer and the transparent marking portion; anda color-printed layer or a cellophane paper attached to the metallic vacuum deposition layer so as to present various colors.