Patent Application
20120293240
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch control panel, a touch switch, or a touch keyboard, and more particularly to a membrane touch control panel including a simplified structure for allowing the membrane touch control panel to be easily and quickly manufactured with greatly reduced manufacturing cost and procedures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical touch control panels, touch switches, or touch keyboards comprise one or more key pad labels, and a pair of laminate sheets carry confronting conductor electrodes, each of the conductor electrodes being shaped to exactly follow the corresponding key pad label, and one or more spacer sheets disposed between the pair of laminate sheets for electrically separating the confronting conductor electrodes, and the spacer sheet is provided with a plurality of openings formed at positions corresponding to each of the conductor electrodes.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,559 to Taguchi discloses one of the typical membrane keyboards also comprising a spacer sheet disposed between a pair of laminate sheets for electrically separating the confronting conductor electrodes, and arranged for allowing the confronting conductor electrodes to be selectively actuated and contacted with each other.
However, it will be complicated and difficult to attach or mount or secure or couple or anchor the laminate sheets and the spacer sheet and the key pad labels together, and to suitably align the confronting conductor electrodes of the laminate sheets with each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,834 to Inubushi et al. discloses another typical lighted switch illuminator comprising a stack consisting of the transparent electrode layer, a light emitting layer, a dielectric layer, a rear electrode layer, and a insulation layer arranged in an order and disposed between a printed board and a film click board which include the confronting conductor electrodes or contacts to be selectively actuated and contacted with each other.
However, it will be complicated and difficult to attach or mount or secure or couple or anchor the stack of the transparent electrode layer, and the light emitting layer, and the dielectric layer, and the rear electrode layer, and the insulation layer, and the printed board and the film click board together, and to suitably align the confronting conductor electrodes or contacts of the printed board and the film click board with each other.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the touch conventional membrane touch control panels.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a membrane touch control panel including a simplified structure for allowing the membrane touch control panel to be easily and quickly manufactured with greatly reduced manufacturing cost and procedures.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a membrane touch control panel comprising a basic layer, a number of first conductors provided on the basic layer, and each first conductor including a number of first electrodes electrically connected and coupled together, and each first conductor including an opening formed in each of the first electrodes, and a number of second conductors provided on the basic layer, and each second conductor including a number of second electrodes electrically connected and coupled together, and the second electrodes of the second conductors being received and engaged in the openings of the first electrodes respectively for forming a number of switch members, in which the membrane touch control panel includes a structure or configuration that may be easily and quickly manufactured with greatly reduced manufacturing cost and procedures.
A control device may further be provided, and the first conductors and the second conductors are electrically connected and coupled to the control device. The switch members are preferably arranged in a matrix.
Further objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of the detailed description provided hereinbelow, with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to the drawings, and initially to
The first conductors 30 includes a notch or cavity or opening 32 formed in each of the first electrodes 31 for receiving or engaging with the second electrodes 51 of the second conductors 50 respectively, in which the first electrodes 31 of the first conductors 30 and the second electrodes 51 of the second conductors 50 are located in the same plane or height, and the second electrodes 51 of the second conductors 50 are located or engaged in the openings 32 of the first electrodes 31 for forming a number of switch members 300, such that the first electrodes 31 of the first conductors 30 and the second electrodes 51 of the second conductors 50 may be easily and quickly disposed or attached or applied or mounted or secured or printed on the basic layer 10 with a greatly simplified printing or applying or manufacturing procedure. The first conductors 30 and the second conductors 50 are electrically connected or coupled to the control device 20.
In operation, as shown in
Alternatively, as shown in
It is to be noted that the structure or configuration of the membrane touch control panel may be greatly simplified and may be easily and quickly manufactured with greatly reduced manufacturing cost, and the manufacturing procedures for the membrane touch control panel may also be greatly simplified or reduced.
Accordingly, the membrane touch control panel in accordance with the present invention includes a simplified structure for allowing the membrane touch control panel to be easily and quickly manufactured with greatly reduced manufacturing cost and procedures.
Although this invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example only and that numerous changes in the detailed construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
