JP2869698B2 - Key top plate - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key top plate provided with a plurality of key tops for a push button switch on a single film plate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a key top plate having a large number of key tops formed on a single resin film plate has been used.
FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of use of this type of conventional key top plate.

As shown in FIG. 1, the key top plate 80 is used by mounting an outer case 90 thereon and a hard substrate 95 thereunder. Here the key top plate 80
Is constructed by mounting a number of key tops 83 in a flexible film plate 81. The key top 83 is formed by molding a mold resin on the film plate 81.

The outer case 90 is a hard synthetic resin plate having a through hole 91 at a position facing each key top 83 of the key top plate 80. Hard substrate 9
Reference numeral 5 denotes a metal dome-shaped movable contact 97 provided at a position on the upper surface facing each of the key tops 83.

The outer case 90, the key top plate 80, and the substrate 95 are overlapped. At this time, through holes 85, 99 provided in the key top plate 80 and the substrate 95, respectively.
Then, a projection (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the outer case 90 is inserted into the outer case 90, and the tip thereof is heat-sealed on the lower surface side of the substrate 95. As a result, these members are integrated.

When the key top 83 exposed from the through hole 91 of the outer case 90 is pressed with a finger, the key top 8 is pressed.
A pressing portion (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the third contact 3 presses the movable contact 97 to turn it on.

Since the key top plate 80 is flexible, even if the outer case 90 is curved in a convex or concave shape in one direction, the key top plate 80 can easily be similarly curved.

[0008]

In recent years, some electronic devices have a surface shape of a part to which a key top of an outer case is attached in a convex or concave shape in two directions, that is, a three-dimensional curved shape. Have appeared.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a portable telephone 100 according to an example of such an electronic apparatus. FIG. 6 is FIG.
FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a key top 83 portion of the mobile phone 100 shown in FIG.
FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view in the direction D shown in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a large number of key tops 83 for a touch-tone dial or the like are exposed on the surface of an outer case 103 of the portable telephone 100.

The part of the outer case 103 to which the key top 83 is attached is curved convexly in the horizontal direction (C direction) and concavely curved in the vertical direction (D direction). .

When a key top plate 80 having the structure shown in FIG. 7 is to be attached to the back surface of the outer case 103 so as to conform to the shape of the outer case 103, the key top plate 80 also faces in the direction C as shown in FIG. Must be curved convexly and concavely curved in the direction D (the direction orthogonal to the direction C).

However, as described above, the key top plate 80
Cannot be curved. This is because, when trying to bend simultaneously in the C direction and the D direction, the two sides a and b shown in FIG. 8 must extend, while the central part d must contract. The film plate 81 cannot be extended or contracted.

On the other hand, in order to solve this problem, the entire key top plate 80 may be made of rubber. If rubber is used as the key top plate 80, it can be curved as shown in FIG.

However, when rubber is used as the key top plate 80, the key top 83 is also made of rubber. However, this key top 83 is soft, does not become a so-called hard key, and has a poor pressing feeling. There was a problem. There is also a problem that the cost of the key top plate 80 is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to provide a hard key type which can easily cope with the case where the surface of the outer case is formed to be curved in two different directions. Key top plate.

[0017]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention comprises a film plate made of a flexible resin film, and a plurality of film plates are provided in two different directions on the surface of the film plate. attaching the key tops of each, and in the two different directions other push-button switch key top plate is attached structure to the lower surface of the member while one in which one of the direction is curved film plate of the, among a plurality of the key top toward the direction which is not curved in the key top plate of said two directions, the height of the at least one key top of the film plate, than the height of the film plate of another keytop High or low ,
Other parts each having a curved surface in two different directions
When the key top plate is attached to the lower surface of the material, each key top
Through the through holes provided in other members.
I put it out.

[0018] The present invention is flexible and comprises a film plate made of a resin film having a respective mounting a key top of each plurality toward two different directions of the plane of the film plate, and the two different directions in another push button switch key top plate is attached structure to the lower surface of the member while one that has one toward bending the film plate of the curved key top plate of said two directions
In the direction along the plane, the film plate is cut out leaving one connection portion so as to divide the film plate into a plurality of portions, and the film plate is bent with the connection portion as a boundary , toward two different directions.
Key top plate on the lower surface of other member having curved surface and bent surface
When the key top is attached, the top surface of each key top is provided on another member
The through-holes were exposed through the respective through-holes.

Further, according to the present invention, the height of each pressing portion projecting from the lower surface of each of the key tops from the film plate is adjusted such that the position of the lower surface of each pressing portion is substantially the same in a state where the key top plate is bent or bent. was <br/> allowed Rukoto different in height so as to be positioned above.

[0020]

When the surface shape of the outer case to which the key top plate is mounted is curved or bent in two different directions, the key top plate only needs to be curved in one direction. In the other direction, the height of each keytop is changed to correspond to the curved shape, or the keytop is bent at the connecting portion.

Further, by making the height of each pressing portion of the keytop different from the film plate, the substrate disposed under the keytop plate can be made flat.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a view showing a key top plate 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a plan view, FIG. 1 (b) is a sectional view taken along line EE of FIG. FIG. 3C is a sectional view taken along line FF of FIG.

As shown in FIG.
Comprises a film plate 11 made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin film having flexibility (for example, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, or the like), and each of the film plate 11 faces the longitudinal direction G and the lateral direction H of the surface of the film plate 11. A plurality of key tops 13 are attached.

Here, each key top 13 is attached to the film plate 1.
1 is bent upward and at the same time
The curved portion 12 and the mold resin 15 are directly welded and integrated by filling and solidifying the mold resin 15 in the lower surface side concave portion 2 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side sectional view of a main part for explaining a specific method of forming the key top 13 on the film plate 11. As shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the film plate 11 is sandwiched between an upper mold 200 and a lower mold 250. Here, the upper mold 200 has a recess 20 for forming the key top 13.
1 is provided, and the lower mold 250 is provided with a concave portion 251 for forming the pressing portion 16 of the key top 13. Further, a pin gate 253 is provided in the concave portion 251 of the lower mold 250.

When a thermoplastic molten resin (for example, polycarbonate resin) is press-fitted from the pin gate 253 at a high temperature and a high pressure, the portion of the film plate 11 located in the concave portion 201 is pushed up while being stretched by heat and pressure. The curved portion 12 is formed in close contact with the inner surface of the concave portion 201 as shown by the dotted line, and the concave portion 201 and the concave portion 251 are simultaneously filled with the molten resin.

By the way, as described above, the resin film is heated to a high temperature.
The present inventor has found that if the resin film and the mold resin are brought into contact with each other while being stretched under a high pressure state, the resin film and the mold resin can be integrally and firmly fused without using any adhesive. It has been found by various experiments.

Therefore, the curved portion 12 of the film plate 11 and the press-fitted mold resin 15 are firmly fused without any adhesive and are not separated.

Then, when the upper and lower molds 200 and 250 are removed, the key top plate 10 shown in FIG. 1 is completed.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 1C, of the key tops 13 of the key top plate 10 according to the present invention in the horizontal direction H, the central key top 13 is a film plate of the key tops 13 on both sides. It is higher up the height L ₂ than the height L ₁ from 11.

On the other hand, the height of each key top 13 in the vertical direction G of the key top plate 10 is the same in each row. In other words, each key top 1 in the left column
The height of each of the key tops 13 in the row 3 and the right row is L _1.
And the height of each key top 13 in the center row is L
₂ is the same.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the height of the pressing portion 16 on the lower surface of the key top 13 is made different from the film plate 11 in the longitudinal direction G of each key top 13. ing. On the other hand, the height of the pressing portion 16 is the same in the horizontal direction H as shown in FIG.

Next, FIG. 2 is a view showing a state in which the key top plate 10 and the substrate 30 are attached to the back side of the outer case 20, FIG. 2 (a) is a plan view, and FIG. (A)
(C) is a sectional view taken along line LL in (a) of FIG.

As shown in the figure, the surface of the outer case 20 is convexly curved in the horizontal direction H and simultaneously concavely curved in the vertical direction G. A large number of through holes 2 are provided at positions of the exterior case 20 facing the respective key tops 13.
1 are provided, while four projections 23 protrude from the lower surface side.

Next, the substrate 30 is formed by providing a large number of switch contacts 31 on a flat rigid substrate. Each switch contact 31 is provided at a position facing the pressing portion 16 of each key top 13, and a metal dome-shaped movable contact 33 is attached on each switch contact 31.

In order to assemble these, first, the key top plate 10 is attached to the back surface side of the outer case 20 so as to be in close contact therewith. At this time, the protrusion 23 of the outer case 20 is inserted into the hole 17 provided in the key top plate 10 (see FIG. 1A). In this state, each key top 13 is attached to the outer case 20.
Is exposed to the surface from each of the through holes 21.

Next, a rectangular frame-shaped spacer 25 is mounted on the back side of the key top plate 10, and a substrate 30 is further mounted on the back side. At this time, the protrusion 2 of the outer case 20
3 is inserted into a hole 35 (see FIG. 2 (b)) provided in the substrate 30 and its tip is heat-sealed, whereby these members are integrally fixed. As a result, the outer periphery of the key top plate 10 is pressed against the back surface of the outer case 20 by the frame-shaped spacer 25, so that the key top plate 10 comes into close contact with the back surface of the outer case 20. Each pressing portion 16 comes into contact with or approaches each movable contact 33. When each key top 13 is pressed, the pressing portion 16 reverses the movable contact 33 and turns on the switch contact 31 thereunder.

By the way, at this time, the film plate 11 constituting the key top plate 10 is concavely curved in the vertical direction G, but is not curved in the horizontal direction H but is linear. That is, since the bending of the film plate 11 is performed only in one direction, the bending can be easily performed.

On the other hand, the film plate 11 is not curved in the horizontal direction H, but the height of the key tops 13 arranged in the horizontal direction H is increased by only the height of the key top 13 in the central row (height L).
₂ ) With this configuration, it is possible to cope with the convex curved surface of the exterior case 20 in the lateral direction H.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a key top plate 40 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 2B is a sectional view taken along line MM of FIG. 2A, and FIG. 2C is a sectional view taken along line NN of FIG.

As shown in FIG.
Comprises a film plate 41 made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin film having flexibility, similarly to the key top plate 10, and a plurality of film plates 41 are provided in the longitudinal direction G and the lateral direction H of the surface of the film plate 41, respectively. Each key top 43 is attached. Each of the key tops 43 causes the film plate 41 to bend upward in the same manner as the key tops 13 and at the same time, the bending portion 4 of the film plate 41.
The curved portion 42 and the mold resin 45 are directly welded and integrated by filling and solidifying a mold resin 45 on the lower surface side of 2. A pressing portion 46 is provided on the lower surface of the mold resin 45.

The key top plate 40 differs from the key top plate 10 in that the heights L ₃ of the key tops 43 from the film plate 41 are the same, and that one key top 43 is provided substantially at the center thereof. This is a point where the connecting portion 49 is cut out. Note that the length of the pressing portion 46 differs for each keytop 43 as necessary.

Next, FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the key top plate 40 and the substrate 60 are attached to the back side of the outer case 50. FIG. 4A is a cutaway view of the MM portion shown in FIG. 3 (b) is a side sectional view corresponding to a cut portion of the NN portion shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 3 (c) is a cut portion of the OO portion shown in FIG. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, the outer case 50 is curved in the horizontal direction H shown in FIG. This curved surface extends over the entire top and bottom of the outer case 50.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3A, the outer case 50 is formed linearly in the vertical direction G shown in FIG. 3 and is bent at a substantially central position P thereof. The bent position P is located at a position facing the connecting portion 49 of the key top plate 40. Further, a through hole 51 is provided at a position facing each key top 43 of the outer case 50.

The substrate 60 has a flat plate shape, and the movable contact 6 is located at a position facing each pressing portion 46 of the key top plate 40.
A switch contact 61 with 3 is provided.

Then, the key top plate 40 is arranged on the lower surface side of the outer case 50, and the substrate 60 is fixed thereunder via the frame spacer 55 (fixing means is not shown). The outer periphery of the key top plate 40 is pressed against the lower surface of the outer case 50 by the frame-shaped spacer 55, and the outer case 50
Is fixed so as to be in close contact with the lower surface of the. In this state, each key top 43 is exposed on the surface from each through hole 51 of the outer case 50.

At this time, the key top plate 40 is bent in the vertical direction G at the position P in a state where the entire key top plate 40 is convexly curved in the horizontal direction H, and the bent position P is the connecting portion. Since they are connected only by 49, even if the entire key top plate 40 is curved in the horizontal direction H, it can be easily bent. That is, it can easily cope with an outer case having a surface shape that is curved in one direction and bent in the other direction.

In this embodiment, the example in which the key top plate 40 is bent at the connecting portion 49 is shown.
The key top plate 40 may be bent at a plurality of positions by providing the connecting portions 49 at a plurality of positions. Further, the number of connecting portions 49 provided at one place may be plural instead of one.

In the first and second embodiments, the key top plate is curved in one direction and bent or bent in a direction perpendicular to the curved direction.
The direction of bending or bending may be other than the orthogonal direction.

In the first embodiment (the same applies to the second embodiment), the key top 13 is attached to the film plate 11 so that the film plate 11 is bent upward and, at the same time, the curved portion 12 of the film plate 11 is bent. An example is shown in which the film plate 11 and the mold resin 15 are directly welded by filling and solidifying the mold resin therein. However, depending on the material of the film plate 11, the material of the mold resin 15, and other molding conditions of the mold resin 15, May not have strong adhesive strength between them. In such a case, adhesion may be performed with an adhesive layer interposed therebetween. The material of the adhesive layer may be a hot-melt adhesive such as a vinyl chloride resin or a polyester resin, or a thermosetting adhesive such as a urethane resin or an epoxy resin.

If the key tops 13 are provided without providing any through holes in the film plate 11, the key top plate 10 can be provided with a waterproof effect, which is preferable.

The present invention is not limited to the key top plate having the above-described structure. For example, a through hole is formed in a film plate, and the top and bottom of the film plate are filled with a molding resin, whereby the key top is mounted. It may be formed. Also, the periphery of the portion of the film plate where the key tops are provided may be cut out, for example, in a C-shape to facilitate the vertical movement of the key tops.

In short, a key top having a structure in which a plurality of key tops are attached to at least two different directions (not necessarily orthogonal directions) of the surface of a film plate made of a flexible resin film. Any structure may be used as long as it is a plate.

[0055]

As described above in detail, according to the key top plate of the present invention, even if the surface of the outer case is curved or bent in two directions, it can easily cope with this. Thus, there is an excellent effect that each key top of the hard key type can be exposed to the surface through the through hole of the outer case.

Further, since the height of each pressing portion of the key top from the film plate is made different, the substrate disposed under the key top plate can be made flat.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a key top plate 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are plan views, FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line E-E of FIG. 3A, and FIG.
It is -F sectional drawing.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a key top plate 10 and a substrate 30 are attached to the back side of an outer case 20, and FIG.
FIG. 3B is a plan view, FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along line KK of FIG. 4A, and FIG. 4C is a sectional view taken along line LL of FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a key top plate 40 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2A is a plan view, FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along line MM of FIG. 1A, and FIG.
It is -N sectional drawing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which a key top plate 40 and a substrate 60 are attached to the back surface side of an outer case 50, and FIG.
Is a side sectional view corresponding to a cut portion of the MM portion shown in FIG. 3,
FIG. 3B is a side sectional view corresponding to a cut portion of the NN portion shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 3C is a side sectional view corresponding to a cut portion of the OO portion shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the mobile phone 100.

6 is a key top 83 of the mobile phone 100 shown in FIG.
5A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion, FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view in a C direction shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view in a D direction shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a usage example of a conventional key top plate.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state in which the key top plate 80 is curved in two orthogonal directions.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side sectional view of a main part for describing a specific method of forming the key top 13 on the film plate 11.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 40 Key top plate 11, 41 Film plate 12, 42 Curved portion 13, 43 Key top 15, 45 Mold resin 49 Connecting portion

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-134827 (JP, A) JP-A-5-11899 (JP, A) JP-A-2-118 (JP, U) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01H 13/70

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A film plate comprising a flexible resin film, and a plurality of key tops are respectively attached in two different directions on the surface of the film plate.
And in the two different directions other push-button switch key top plate is attached structure to the lower surface of the member in a curved state of the film plate towards one direction of the key of said two directions among a plurality of the key top toward the direction which is not curved top plate, the height of the at least one key top of the film plate and allowed higher or lower than the height of the film plate top other keys, different Other parts each having a curved surface in two directions
When the keytop plate is attached to the lower surface of the material,
The upper surface of the loop penetrates through holes provided in other members
A key top plate that is exposed . 2. A film plate comprising a flexible resin film, and a plurality of key tops are respectively attached in two different directions on the surface of the film plate.
And in the two different directions other push-button switch key top plate is attached structure to the lower surface of the member in a curved state of the film plate towards one direction of the key of said two directions In the direction along the curved surface of the top plate
So that the film plate is divided into a plurality of parts.
When the key-top plate is attached to the lower surface of another member having a curved surface and a curved surface in two different directions , Each key
The upper surface of the loop penetrates through holes provided in other members
A key top plate that is exposed . 3. The height of each pressing portion protruding from the lower surface of each key top from the film plate is such that the position of the lower surface of each pressing portion is substantially on the same plane when the key top plate is curved or bent. 3. The key top plate according to claim 1 , wherein the heights of the key top plates are different.