TWI663621B - keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

A keyboard includes upper and lower base plates and first and second keys. The lower bottom plate is slidably disposed under the upper bottom plate and has first and second hooks. The first key comprises a first keycap and a first supporting device movably connecting the upper base plate and the first keycap. The second key comprises a second keycap and a second supporting device movably connecting the upper base plate and the second keycap. The first abutment surface structure of the first support device and the second abutment surface structure of the second support device have the same maximum thickness and have different projection lengths relative to the lower floor. When the lower base plate is slid to the first folded position, the first hook is slid along the first abutment surface structure to drive the first keycap down to the folded height. When the lower bottom plate is slid to the second folded position, the second hook is slid along the second abutment surface structure to drive the second keycap to descend to the folded height.

Description

keyboard

The invention relates to a keyboard, in particular to a keyboard that can be lowered to a folded height by using a keycap on a bottom plate which can slide relative to the upper bottom plate to drive keys.

In terms of current notebook computer usage habits, the keyboard is one of the indispensable input devices for entering text, symbols or numbers. Recently, due to the thinning trend of notebook computers, there is a demand for thinning of keyboards used in notebook computers.

Generally, the traditional keyboard adopts a pressing design in which the assembly structure of the scissor foot supporting device and the elastic member is disposed between the keycap and the bottom plate. Thus, when the keycap is pressed by the user, the elastic member provides elastic restoring force to the keycap. The keycap is driven to return to the position before pressing with the mechanism of the scissor foot support device. However, due to the cross-pivot design of the scissor foot support used in the scissor foot support device described above, a large height space is required for the keys. Therefore, when the upper cover of the notebook computer and the lower case are folded, in order to avoid setting the lower The keycap on the case hurts the display screen set on the upper cover. There is often a gap between the upper cover and the lower case to accommodate the keycap. This will limit the appearance size of the notebook computer, which is not conducive to the notebook computer. Slim design.

In order to solve the above problems, a lower bottom plate is usually disposed under the upper bottom plate of the keyboard. The lower bottom plate can be slid horizontally relative to the upper bottom plate and a hook is formed at the position corresponding to the scissor support of each key. When sliding relative to the upper bottom plate to the closed position, each hook will push the scissor foot support of the corresponding button to pivot downward, so that the keycap sinks to avoid the above-mentioned problems that may damage the display screen. The number of keys on the keyboard is also at least nearly a hundred. If only the single lower base plate is used to control the lifting of each keycap on the keyboard, a considerable level of thrust will be required, and it will also lead to The bottom plate must have a certain thickness to produce sufficient structural rigidity. Therefore, how to reduce the horizontal thrust that the lower bottom plate needs to provide when the control keycap sinks, and at the same time reduce the structural thickness and rigidity requirements of the lower bottom plate are the main topics of the current keyboard design for the control keycap lifting.

Therefore, one of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a keyboard that can be lowered to a folded height by using a keycap on a bottom plate that can slide relative to the upper plate to drive the keys to a closed height, so as to solve the above problem.

According to an embodiment, the keyboard of the present invention includes an upper bottom plate, a lower bottom plate, at least one first button, and at least one second button. The lower bottom plate is slidably disposed under the upper bottom plate to slide between an initial position, a first folded position and a second folded position relative to the upper bottom plate, and has at least a first hook and at least one The second card hook. The at least one first button is disposed on the upper base plate. The at least one first button includes a first keycap and a first support device. The first supporting device is disposed between the upper base plate and the first keycap and includes a first supporting member and a second supporting member. The first supporting member and the second supporting member are movably connected to the first supporting member. The key cap and the upper base plate are pivotally crossed with each other, so that the first key cap moves up and down relative to the upper base plate with the cross pivot of the first support member and the second support member. The first support member has A bearing platform and a first abutment surface structure are formed by extending the bearing platform from the first support toward the at least one first hook in a constant thickness manner, and the first abutting structure is formed from the bearing The platform is formed by extending toward the at least one first hook in a decreasing thickness manner. The at least one second button is disposed on the upper base plate. The at least one second button includes a second keycap and a second support device. The second supporting device is disposed between the upper bottom plate and the second keycap and includes a third supporting member and a fourth supporting member, and the third supporting member and the fourth supporting member are movably connected to the second supporting member. The key cap and the upper base plate are pivotally crossed with each other, so that the second key cap moves up and down relative to the upper base plate with the cross pivot of the third support member and the fourth support member. The third support member has A second abutment surface structure extending toward the at least one second hook in a decreasing thickness manner is formed, and a first projection length of the first abutment surface structure relative to the lower base plate is shorter than the second abutment surface structure. relatively At a second projected length of the lower floor, the first abutment surface structure has the same maximum thickness as the bearing platform and the second abutment surface structure. When the first keycap is not pressed and the lower bottom plate is slid from the initial position to the first folded position relative to the upper bottom plate, the at least one first hook is slid along the first abutting surface structure to The first keycap is driven down to a closed height. When the second keycap is not pressed and the lower bottom plate is slid from the first folded position to the second folded position relative to the upper bottom plate, the at least one first hook is slid along the bearing platform, And the at least one second hook is slid along the second abutment surface structure to drive the second keycap to descend to the folded height.

In summary, the first hook and the second hook are slid along the first abutment surface structure of the first support member and the second abutment surface structure of the third support member as the lower base plate slides. Design, the first keycap and the second keycap can be lowered to the same folding height in sections during the sliding process of the lower bottom plate to different folding positions, so as to avoid that the lower bottom plate must push the first keycap and the second keycap together. Time is reduced to the same closing height, resulting in labor-saving effects.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention can be further understood through the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

10‧‧‧ keyboard

12‧‧‧ Upper floor

14‧‧‧ bottom plate

16‧‧‧First button

18‧‧‧Second button

20‧‧‧The first card hook

22‧‧‧Second card hook

24‧‧‧First keycap

26‧‧‧First support device

28‧‧‧first support

30‧‧‧Second support

32‧‧‧Second keycap

34‧‧‧Second support device

36‧‧‧third support

38‧‧‧ fourth support

40‧‧‧Support platform

42‧‧‧ the first abutment surface structure

44‧‧‧Second abutment surface structure

46‧‧‧The first elastic member

48‧‧‧Second elastic member

L ₁ ‧‧‧ the first projection length

L ₂ ‧‧‧ second projection length

T‧‧‧Maximum thickness

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged schematic view of the first button in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged schematic view of the second button in Figure 1.

Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the first button of Fig. 1 along the section line A-A.

Fig. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the second button of Fig. 1 along the section line B-B.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the first button in FIG. 4 when the lower bottom plate slides to the first collapsed position.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the second button in FIG. 5 when the lower bottom plate slides to the first folded position.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the first button in FIG. 6 when the lower bottom plate slides to the second folded position.

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the second button of FIG. 7 when the lower bottom plate slides to the second folded position.

Fig. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between the sliding distance of the bottom plate and the required thrust force under Fig. 1.

Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the keyboard 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is FIG. 1. The enlarged schematic diagram of the first button 16 in FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the second button 18 in FIG. 1, the sectional diagram of the first button 16 along the section line AA in FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the second button 18 along the section line BB. In order to clearly show the internal structure of the first button 16 and the second button 18, the second key figure 24 is omitted and the third key figure 24 is omitted. The second keycap 32 is shown. The keyboard 10 can be applied to a portable electronic device (such as a notebook computer keyboard or a foldable keyboard device) that generally has an opening and closing mechanism composed of an upper cover and a lower casing for the user to press to perform the input desired by the user (But not limited to this), in practical applications, the keyboard 10 can adopt a common linkage design to drive the design of the bottom plate 14 can be moved horizontally relative to the upper plate 12 (but not limited to this, it can also use manual push-pull The lower base plate 14 can be moved horizontally relative to the upper base plate 12). For example, the keyboard 10 can use a linkage mechanism to make the lower base plate 14 relatively horizontal as the upper cover of the portable electronic device is opened and closed relative to the lower case. Movement. As for the structural design and working principle of the linkage mechanism, it is common in the prior art, so it will not be repeated here.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the keyboard 10 includes an upper base plate 12, a lower base plate 14, a first key 16, and a second key 18. The lower bottom plate 14 is slidably disposed under the upper bottom plate 12 to slide relative to the upper bottom plate 12 and has at least one first hook 20 (two are shown in FIG. 2 but not limited to this) and at least one second Hooks 22 (two are shown in FIG. 3, but not limited to this), the first hook 20 is preferably formed by protruding from the lower base plate 14 to the first keycap 24 and bending through the upper base plate 12 The second hook 22 is preferably formed by protruding from the lower bottom plate 14 to the second keycap 32 and bending through the upper bottom plate 12. The first button 16 and the second button 18 are preferably keys arranged on the keyboard 10 and arranged next to each other (but not limited to this), and the number thereof may be changed according to the actual application of the keyboard 10 To simplify the description, the following One of them has a first button 16 and a second button 18 with a keycap folding design. As for the other first buttons 16 with the same design (as shown in Figure 1, they are also located in the second row as the first button 16). The structural design of the other first keys 16) and the second keys 18 (as shown in FIG. 1 are the same as the second keys 18 and the other second keys 18 in the third row), and so on.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the first button 16 is provided on the upper base plate 12. The first button 16 includes a first key cap 24 and a first supporting device 26. The first supporting device 26 is provided on the upper base plate. 12 and the first keycap 24 include a first support member 28 and a second support member 30, and the first support member 28 and the second support member 30 are movably connected to the first keycap 24 and the upper base plate 12 and each other The cross pivot is connected so that the first keycap 24 can move up and down relative to the upper base plate 12 with the cross pivot of the first support member 28 and the second support member 30. As for the design of the second button 18, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the second button 18 is disposed on the upper base plate 12, and the second button 18 includes a second key cap 32 and a second supporting device 34. The second support device 34 is disposed between the upper bottom plate 12 and the second keycap 32 and includes a third support member 36 and a fourth support member 38. The third support member 36 and the fourth support member 38 are movably connected to the first support member 36. The two keycaps 32 and the upper base plate 12 are pivotally crossed with each other, so that the second keycap 32 moves up and down relative to the upper base plate 12 with the cross pivot of the third support member 36 and the fourth support member 38. In this embodiment, as can be seen from FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the first support member 28 may have a bearing platform 40 and a first abutment surface structure 42, and the bearing platform 40 is from the first support member 28 toward the first The hook 20 is formed to extend in a constant thickness manner. The first abutment surface structure 42 is preferably a bevel structure and is formed from the supporting platform 40 to the first hook 20 in a manner of decreasing thickness. The third support The piece 36 may have a second abutting surface structure 44. The second abutting surface structure 44 may preferably be a bevel structure and extend toward the second hook 22 in a manner of decreasing thickness. The slope is greater than the slope of the second abutting surface structure 44. More specifically, the first projection length L ₁ of the first abutting surface structure 42 relative to the lower base plate 14 is smaller than the second abutting surface structure 44 relative to the lower base plate. The second projection length L _{2 of} 14 is, and the first abutment surface structure 42 has the same maximum thickness T as the abutment platform 40 and the second abutment surface structure 44.

In practical applications, the first button 16 and the second button 18 are preferably made of flexible keys. Bit design (but not limited to this, that is, in another embodiment, it can use other common keycap reset designs, such as magnetic reset design, etc.), for example, as shown in Figure 2 and As shown in FIG. 3, the first button 16 may further include a first elastic member 46, and the second button 18 may further include a second elastic member 48. The first elastic member 46 may preferably be a rubber dome and be respectively The first keycap 24 and the upper bottom plate 12 abut, and the second elastic member 48 is preferably a rubber washer and abuts the second keycap 32 and the upper bottom plate 12, respectively. Thus, when the first key is pressed, When the external force of the cap 24 and the second keycap 32 is released, the first elastic member 46 can drive the first keycap 24 to return, and the second elastic member 48 can drive the second keycap 32 to return, thereby generating a key. The function of the automatic return of the cap is convenient for the user to perform subsequent pressing operations.

The following is a detailed description of the height adjustment operation of the keyboard 10, please refer to FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG. 10, and FIG. A schematic cross-sectional view of the first key 16 in the figure when the lower bottom plate 14 slides to the first collapsed position, and FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the second key 18 in FIG. FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the first button 16 in FIG. 6 when the lower bottom plate 14 is slid to the second folded position, and FIG. 9 is the second button 18 in FIG. A schematic cross-sectional view at the time of position, FIG. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between the sliding distance of the bottom plate 14 and the required thrust force under the first figure. When the first keycap 24 is not pressed and the lower bottom plate 14 slides from the initial position as shown in FIG. 4 to the first closed position as shown in FIG. 6 with respect to the upper bottom plate 12, the first hook 20 is The first support member 28 can be pushed down by sliding along the first abutment surface structure 42 to drive the first keycap 24 to overcome the elastic force of the first elastic member 46 and lower to the folded height as shown in FIG. At the same time, it can be seen from FIG. 5 and FIG. 7 that as the lower bottom plate 14 slides, the second hook 22 can slide down the third support member 36 along the second abutting surface structure 44 to drive the first The two-key cap 32 overcomes the elastic force of the second elastic member 48 and drops to a height as shown in FIG. 7.

Next, when the lower base plate 14 continues to slide relative to the upper base plate 12 from the position shown in FIG. 7 to the second closed position as shown in FIG. 9, the second hook 22 can be abutted along the second The surface structure 44 slides and continues to press the third support member 36, thereby driving the second keycap 32 to overcome the elastic force of the second elastic member 48 to lower As shown in FIG. 9, at the same time, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, as the lower bottom plate 14 slides, the first hook 20 can be supported along the same thickness. The platform 40 slides to maintain the first keycap 24 at the same collapsed height.

In this way, when the keyboard 10 configured with the first button 16 and the second button 18 is applied to a portable electronic device (such as a notebook computer) generally having an opening and closing mechanism composed of an upper cover and a lower case, the keyboard 10, the lower base plate 14 can be closed by the linkage mechanism with the upper cover of the portable electronic device relative to the lower case, and relative to the upper base plate 12 from the initial position, passing through the first collapsed position, and finally sliding to the second collapsed position. The first keycap 24 and the second keycap 32 can be lowered to the same folded height as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 so that the keyboard 10 can be lowered as the portable electronic device is closed. The effect of the height of the keycap. In other words, when the lower bottom plate 14 slides to the second closed position relative to the upper bottom plate 12, the first button 16 and the second button 18 can both be in a state where the height of the keycap is reduced to further reduce the overall height Therefore, it is beneficial to the thin design of the portable electronic device and effectively solves the problems of the keycap injury and the display screen mentioned in the prior art.

Furthermore, through the design of the first hook 20 and the second hook 22 sliding along the first abutment surface structure 42 and the second abutment surface structure 44 with different slopes as the lower base plate 14 slides, The first keycap 24 and the second keycap 32 can be lowered to the same folding height in stages during the sliding process of the lower bottom plate 14 to different folding positions, thereby avoiding that the lower bottom plate 14 must push the first keycap 24 and the second key. In the case that the cap 32 is lowered to the same closed height at the same time, a labor-saving effect is produced.

For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when the lower base plate 14 slides to the first closed position (such as 1.5 mm from the initial position relative to the upper base plate 12), the lower base plate 14 drives the first keycap on the first hook 20 The required thrust when 24 is lowered to the collapsed height as shown in FIG. 6 is equal to the maximum thrust f _max . At the same time, the lower bottom plate 14 drives the second keycap 32 on the second hook 22 to descend as shown in FIG. 7. The required thrust at the height shown (representing that the second keycap 32 has not been lowered to the collapsed height) is equal to the thrust f ₁ (which is less than the maximum thrust f _max ), that is, the lower base plate 14 is opposite to the upper base plate. The total thrust required when 12 slides to the first collapsed position is equal to the sum of the maximum thrust f _max and the thrust f ₁ , which is smaller than the lower bottom plate 14 pushing the first keycap 24 and the second keycap 32 to the same collapse at the same time. The total thrust required at altitude (ie 2 * f _max ).

On the other hand, when the lower bottom plate 14 slides to the second folded position (eg, 2 mm from the initial position with respect to the upper bottom plate 12), the lower bottom plate 14 drives the second keycap 32 to fall to the second keycap 32 as shown in FIG. 9 The required thrust at the collapsed height shown is equal to the maximum thrust f _max . At the same time, the lower bottom plate 14 on the first hook 20 only needs to slide along the bearing platform 40 to maintain the first keycap 24 at The required thrust force at the collapsed height shown in FIG. 8 is equal to the thrust force f ₂ (which is less than the maximum thrust force f _max ). Therefore, the lower base plate 14 needs to slide to the second collapsed position relative to the upper base plate 12. The total thrust is equal to the sum of the maximum thrust f _max and the thrust f ₂ , which is smaller than the total thrust required when the lower bottom plate 14 pushes the first keycap 24 and the second keycap 32 to the same closed height (ie, 2 * f _max ).

In summary, the total thrust required for the lower base plate to slide to the first collapsed position and the second collapsed position in sequence will be less than the lower base plate to push the first keycap and the second keycap down to The total thrust required at the same collapsed height. Therefore, the keyboard provided by the present invention can not only effectively solve the need for a single bottom plate to control each keycap to fall to the same collapsed height as mentioned in the prior art. The problem is that the horizontal thrust is too large, so that the labor-saving effect is achieved, and the structural thickness and rigidity requirements of the lower base plate can be reduced, which is beneficial to the thin design of the keyboard.

It is worth mentioning that the structural design of the first abutting surface structure and the second abutting surface structure is not limited to the inclined surface design mentioned in the above embodiment, that is, as long as the first hook and the second card are used Designs in which the hooks slide on the first abutment surface structure and the second abutment surface structure to drive the first keycap and the second keycap to descend to the same folded height, which all belong to the protection scope of the present invention. For example, in another embodiment, the first abutting surface structure and the second abutting surface structure may both be curved surfaces, and the curvature of the first abutting surface structure is greater than the curvature of the second abutting surface structure. As a result, the first hook and the second hook can slide along the first abutment surface structure and the second abutment surface structure with different curvatures as the lower base plate slides, to drive the first keycap and the first The two-key cap slides to the bottom During the collapsed position, the sections are lowered to the same collapsed height. As for the related descriptions of this embodiment and other derivative variations, it can be deduced by analogy with reference to the above embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

In addition, in practical applications, the structural design of the first hook and the second hook may not be limited to the above embodiment. For example, in another embodiment, the first hook may have an upright plate and The abutment arm can be formed by bending the upright plate from the bottom plate to the first keycap. The abutment arm can be preferably cylindrical and made of plastic (but not limited to this) and extends from the upright plate ( It can be achieved by common structural molding processes, such as the implantation process, etc.), so that the abutting arm of the first hook can be clicked during the sliding process of the lower base plate relative to the upper base plate to the first folded position. The contact method abuts the first abutting surface structure, thereby reducing the sliding friction between the hook and the abutting surface structure and preventing the hook from scratching the support.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of patent application of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

A keyboard includes: an upper bottom plate; a lower bottom plate slidably disposed under the upper bottom plate to slide between an initial position, a first folded position, and a second folded position relative to the upper bottom plate; And has at least a first hook and at least a second hook; at least one first button is disposed on the upper base plate, the at least one first button includes: a first keycap; and a first support device , Which is disposed between the upper bottom plate and the first keycap and includes a first support member and a second support member, the first support member and the second support member are movably connected to the first keycap and The upper bottom plate is pivotally crossed with each other, so that the first keycap moves up and down relative to the upper bottom plate with the cross pivot of the first support member and the second support member. The first support member has a bearing. A platform and a first abutment surface structure, the bearing platform extending from the first support member toward the at least one first hook in a manner of constant thickness, the first abutment structure is facing from the bearing platform The at least one first hook is gradually reduced in thickness And extended at least; and at least one second button disposed on the upper base plate, the at least one second button including: a second key cap; and a second support device disposed on the upper base plate and the second A third support member and a fourth support member are included between the keycaps, and the third support member and the fourth support member are movably connected to the second keycap and the upper bottom plate and are pivotally connected to each other so that The second keycap moves up and down relative to the upper base plate with the cross pivot of the third support member and the fourth support member, and the third support member has a thickness that gradually decreases toward the at least one second hook. A second abutment surface structure is formed, and a first projection length of the first abutment surface structure relative to the lower base plate is shorter than a second projection length of the second abutment surface structure relative to the lower base plate. A contact surface structure has the same maximum thickness as the bearing platform and the second contact surface structure; wherein when the first keycap is not pressed and the lower base plate slides from the initial position to the upper base plate to At the first collapsed position, At least one first hook is slid along the first abutting surface structure to drive the first keycap down to a folded height, and at least one second hook is slid along the second abutting surface structure to drive The second keycap is lowered; when the second keycap is not pressed and the lower bottom plate is slid from the first folded position to the second folded position relative to the upper bottom plate, the at least one first hook Sliding against the bearing platform, and the at least one second hook is slid along the second abutment surface structure to drive the second keycap to descend to the folded height. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the first abutting surface structure and the second abutting surface structure are both inclined structures, and one of the first abutting surface structures has a slope greater than that of the second abutting surface structure. A slope. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the first abutting surface structure and the second abutting surface structure are both curved structures, and a curvature of one of the first abutting surface structures is greater than that of the second abutting surface structure. One curvature. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first hook protrudes from the lower base plate toward the key cap and is bent through the upper base plate. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first hook has an upright plate member and an abutment arm, the upright plate member is formed by bending from the lower bottom plate to the keycap, and the abutment arm is formed from the The upright plate extends to abut the first abutment surface structure in a point contact manner during the lower base plate slides relative to the upper base plate to the first collapsed position, and slides on the lower base plate to the second collapsed position. During the position process, the second abutting surface structure is abutted in a point contact manner. The keyboard according to claim 5, wherein the abutment arm is cylindrical. The keyboard according to claim 5, wherein the contact arm is made of plastic material. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first key further includes a first elastic member, the at least one second key further includes a second elastic member, and the first elastic members respectively abut against the first elastic member. The key cap and the upper base plate are used to drive the first key cap to return, and the second elastic member abuts the second key cap and the upper base plate respectively to drive the second key cap to return. When the lower bottom plate is slid to the first folded position, the at least one first hook drives the first keycap to overcome the elastic force of the first elastic member and drop to the folded height. When the lower bottom plate is slid to the second folded position, When in the collapsed position, the at least one second hook drives the second keycap to overcome the elastic force of the second elastic member and decrease to the collapsed height.