TWI674607B - Keyswitch - Google Patents

Abstract

A key comprises a keycap, an upper base plate with a first magnetic piece, a supporting device and a lower base plate. The supporting device is disposed between the upper base plate and the key cap and includes first and second supporting members that pivot the key cap and the upper base plate to move the key cap up and down. The first supporting member has a second magnetic member corresponding to the first magnetic member. The supporting portion extends from the second supporting member to the first supporting member to support the second magnetic member. The lower base plate has an ejection plate member and is slidably disposed under the upper plate to slide between the ejection and non-ejected positions. The ejection plate member projects from the lower plate to the keycap and is bent through the upper plate. When the keycap is not pressed and the lower bottom plate slides to the ejection position, the ejection plate member laterally ejects one of the first and second support members to drive the second magnetic member away from the first magnetic member to make the keycap toward Move down.

Description

button

The present invention relates to a key, and more particularly to a key that uses a push-up plate member that can slide relative to the upper base plate to push the support device laterally to reduce the height of the keycap.

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. In practical applications, the design of the scissor foot mechanism used by the scissor foot support device described above will cause a large height space for the keys, which is not conducive to the application of a thin keyboard. At present, a common method for solving the above problems is to replace the scissor foot support design by using a magnetic member provided on a support device and a bottom plate to generate a magnetic attraction force as a driving force for resetting a keycap.

However, since the magnetic parts respectively disposed on the supporting device and the bottom plate occupy the internal space of the keys, the keys still have a certain structural height. Therefore, when the upper cover of the notebook computer is folded with the lower case, in order to avoid being disposed on the lower case, The keycap on the body 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 good for the notebook computer. Thin design.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device which can be slid with respect to the upper base plate. The ejection plate of the lower bottom plate laterally ejects the supporting device to reduce the key cap height of the keys, so as to solve the above problem.

According to an embodiment, the key of the present invention includes a keycap, an upper base plate, a supporting device, and a lower base plate. The upper base plate has a first magnetic member. The support device is disposed between the upper base plate and the keycap and includes a first support member and a second support member, and the first support member and the second support member are pivotably connected to the keycap and the keycap. An upper base plate for moving the keycap between an unpressed position and a pressed position with the support device, the first support member has a second magnetic member, the second magnetic member corresponds to the first magnetic member, and a support The abutting portion extends from the second support member to the first support member to support the second magnetic member. The lower bottom plate has an ejection plate member and is slidably disposed under the upper bottom plate to slide between an ejection position and an un-ejected position relative to the upper bottom plate. The ejection plate member moves from the lower bottom plate to the key. The cap protrudes and is bent through the upper bottom plate. When the key cap is pressed, the second magnetic member moves away from the first magnetic member with the pivoting of the first support member and the second support member, and the support portion is lifted, the key cap is accompanied by The support device is moved from the unpressed position to the pressed position. When the keycap is not pressed and the lower bottom plate is located in the unpushed position, a magnetic attraction between the second magnetic piece and the first magnetic piece keeps the keycap in the unpressed position. When the keycap is not pressed and the lower base plate is slid to the ejection position relative to the upper base plate, the ejection plate member laterally ejects at least one of the first support member and the second support member to The second magnetic member is driven away from the first magnetic member to cause the keycap to move downward.

In summary, the present invention adopts the design of the ejection plate of the lower bottom plate which can laterally eject the support device as the lower plate slides relative to the upper plate, so that the keycap can be moved downward correspondingly, thereby achieving The effect of reducing the height of the keycap. In this way, the keyboard can be in a state where the height of the keycap is reduced to further reduce the overall height of the keyboard, which is conducive to the thin design of portable electronic devices and effectively solves the problem of the previous technology. The mentioned keycaps hurt the display screen.

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, 100‧‧‧ button

12‧‧‧Keycap

14‧‧‧ Upper floor

16‧‧‧ support device

18, 102, 102 ’‧‧‧ lower floor

20‧‧‧The first magnetic piece

22‧‧‧first support

24‧‧‧Second support

26‧‧‧Second magnetic part

28‧‧‧ Support Department

30, 104‧‧‧ ejection plate

31, 117‧‧‧ curved outer surface

106、106’‧‧‧Folding sheet

108‧‧‧ Longitudinal section

110、110’‧‧‧Horizontal film section

112‧‧‧ giving way

114‧‧‧ Beveled Lead Angle Structure

116‧‧‧ Arc-shaped protrusion structure

118‧‧‧ convex hull

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

Figure 2 is an explosion diagram of the button in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button of Fig. 1 along the section line A-A.

Fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button of Fig. 3 when the bottom plate slides to the ejection position.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a button according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 is an explosion diagram of the button in Figure 5.

Fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button of Fig. 5 along the section line B-B.

Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button of Fig. 5 along the section line C-C.

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button of FIG. 7 when the lower base plate is slid to the ejection position.

Fig. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button of Fig. 8 when the lower base plate is slid to the ejection position.

FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged schematic diagram of a bottom plate according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the button 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic view of the button 10 in FIG. 1. Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button 10 along the section line AA in Figure 1. In order to clearly show the internal structure of the button 10, the keycap 12 is briefly shown in perspective dashed line in Figure 1. The button 10 is applicable to Generally, a portable electronic device (such as a notebook keyboard or a foldable keyboard device) with an opening and closing mechanism composed of an upper cover and a lower case is provided for the user to perform a function (but not to (This is limited). In practical applications, a keyboard equipped with a plurality of keys 10 can adopt a common linkage design to drive the design of the lower base plate 18 to move left and right relative to the upper base plate 14. For example, the keyboard can be linked using a link. The mechanism makes the lower base plate 18 move relative to the left and right as the upper cover of the portable electronic device is opened and closed relative to the lower case. As for the structural design and operating principle of the linkage mechanism, it is common in the prior art, so it is not necessary here. More details.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the key 10 includes a keycap 12, an upper base plate 14, a support device 16, and a lower base plate 18. The upper base plate 14 has a first magnetic member 20, and the supporting device 16 is disposed between the upper base plate 14 and the keycap 12 and includes a first support member 22 and a second support member 24, and a first support member 22 and a second support member. 24 is pivotally connected to the keycap 12 and the upper bottom plate 14 to move the keycap 12 with the supporting device 16 between the unpressed position and the pressed position. The first support member 22 has a second magnetic member 26 and a second magnetic member. 26 corresponds to the first magnetic member 20, and the supporting portion 28 may be formed from the second supporting member 24 to the first supporting member 22 to support the second magnetic member 26. In practical applications, one of the first magnetic member 20 and the second magnetic member 26 may be a magnet, and the other of the first magnetic member 20 and the second magnetic member 26 may be a magnet or a magnetically conductive material (for example, iron Or other metals). In this embodiment, the first magnetic member 20 is preferably a magnet, and the second magnetic member 26 is preferably composed of iron and has magnetic permeability. In another embodiment, the supporting device 16 may be made entirely of a magnetically conductive material, or both the first magnetic member 20 and the second magnetic member 26 may be magnets.

Through the above design, when the keycap 12 is not pressed, the magnetic attraction between the first magnetic member 20 and the second magnetic member 26 keeps the keycap 12 in an unpressed position as shown in FIG. 3. When the keycap 12 is pressed by an external force, and the external force is sufficient to overcome the magnetic attraction force, the second magnetic member 26 is separated from the first magnetic member 20 with the pivoting of the first support member 22 and the second support member 24 and made to resist. When the portion 28 is lifted, the keycap 12 moves downward from the unpressed position as shown in FIG. 3 with the supporting device 16 to complete the pressing input operation of the key 10. On the other hand, when the external force is released, the magnetic attraction between the first magnetic piece 20 and the second magnetic piece 26 attracts the second magnetic piece 26 and the first magnetic piece 20 closer, so that the keycap 12 moves back to the same position as the supporting device 16 The unpressed position shown in Figure 3, so as to achieve the automatic return of the keycap.

As for the structural design of the lower base plate 18, it can be seen from FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 that the lower base plate 18 may have a push-up plate member 30 and may be slidably disposed under the upper base plate 14 in a push-up position relative to the upper base plate 14 Sliding between the ejection positions, the ejection plate member 30 protrudes from the lower bottom plate 18 to the keycap 12 and is bent through the upper bottom plate 14 (for example, by a stamping method, but is not limited thereto). In this embodiment, Roof piece 30 It may be an arc-shaped protrusion structure formed at a position of the lower bottom plate 18 corresponding to the second support member 24. Furthermore, in order to surely avoid the structural interference of the ejection plate member 30 when it is pushed laterally against the second support member 24 In the case of a jam, the ejection plate member 30 may be preferably bent outward relative to the first magnetic member 20 to form an arc-shaped outer surface 31, thereby pushing the ejection plate member 30 laterally to eject the second support member 24. In the middle, the arc-shaped outer surface 31 can be slid in cooperation with the second supporting member 24 to a position where the supporting portion 28 is raised.

The following is a detailed description of the height adjustment operation of the button 10. Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of the button 10 of FIG. 3 when the lower base plate 18 slides to the ejection position. When the keycap 12 is not pressed and the lower bottom plate 18 is slid from the unpushing position shown in FIG. 3 relative to the upper bottom plate 14 to the ejecting position as shown in FIG. 4, the ejecting plate member 30 will follow The sliding of the lower base plate 18 pushes the second support member 24 so that the abutment portion 28 is lifted, and further pushes the first support member 22 upward, thereby, as the first support member 22 pivots upward, the second magnetic The piece 26 can overcome the magnetic attraction force between the second magnetic piece 26 and the first magnetic piece 20 to be separated from the first magnetic piece 20, and move together with the first support piece 22 to a position as shown in FIG. 4, so that The keycap 12 is caused to move downward as the first support 22 and the second support 24 pivot. In this way, when a keyboard equipped with a plurality of keys 10 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 linkage mechanism can be used The lower base plate 18 slides to the ejection position relative to the upper base plate 14 as the upper cover of the portable electronic device is closed with respect to the lower case, so that the keycap 12 is moved down to a position as shown in FIG. As the portable electronic device is closed to reduce its height, in other words, when the lower base plate 18 slides relative to the upper base plate 14 to the ejection position shown in FIG. 4, the button 10 can be at the height of the keycap. In order to further reduce the overall height of the key 10, it is beneficial to the thin design of the portable electronic device and effectively solves the problems of the key cap injury and the display screen mentioned in the prior art.

On the other hand, when the lower base plate 18 is slid from the ejection position shown in FIG. 4 to the non-ejected position as shown in FIG. 3, the ejection plate member 30 will support the second support as the lower base plate 18 slides. The piece 24 is separated. At this time, since the second support piece 24 is no longer supported by the ejection plate member 30 and is attracted by gravity to pivot downward, Therefore, in the case where the supporting portion 28 will no longer push up the second magnetic member 26 as the second supporting member 24 pivots downward, the second magnetic member 26 will be subjected to the second magnetic member 26 and the first The magnetic attraction force between the magnetic members 20 is driven from the position shown in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 3 to attract the first magnetic member 20 again. In this way, when the keyboard equipped with a plurality of keys 10 causes the lower base plate 18 to open with respect to the lower case of the portable electronic device and slide to the upper base plate 14 to the unpushing position by the linkage mechanism, the keycap 12 It can then move to the position as shown in Figure 3 and return to the original height for the user to perform subsequent pressing operations.

It is worth mentioning that the structural design of the ejector plate is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, please refer to FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8. FIG. A three-dimensional schematic diagram of the button 100 according to an embodiment, FIG. 6 is an exploded schematic diagram of the button 100 in FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view of the button 100 along the section line BB in FIG. 5, and FIG. The keypad 100 in the figure is a cross-sectional schematic diagram along the section line CC. In order to clearly show the internal structure of the keypad 100, the keycap 12 is briefly shown in FIG. 5 with a perspective dotted line. In this embodiment and the above-mentioned embodiment, Those components that have the same number indicate that they have the same structure or function, and their descriptions are not repeated here. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 8, the key 100 includes a keycap 12, an upper base plate 14, a supporting device 16, and a lower base plate 102. The lower base plate 102 may have a push-up plate member 104 and is slidably disposed under the upper base plate 14 to slide between a push-up position and an un-pushed position relative to the upper base plate 14. The push-up plate member 104 includes a bending piece 106 (preferably The ground is made of magnetic or weak magnetic material to generate magnetic isolation effect, which is beneficial to overcome the magnetic attraction between the second magnetic piece 26 and the first magnetic piece 20, and can separate the second magnetic piece 26 and the first magnetic piece with less effort. The magnetic piece 20 is not limited thereto. The bent piece 106 is formed at the position of the lower base plate 102 corresponding to the first support 22 and has a longitudinal piece portion 108 and a transverse piece portion 110. The longitudinal piece portion 108 extends from the lower base plate 102. It is connected to the transverse piece 110 to form a yielding space 112 together with the transverse piece 110. Furthermore, in order to surely avoid the structural interference and jam problem when the bent piece 106 is pushed laterally against the first support 22, the first The two magnetic pieces 26 may be formed with chamfered guide angle structures 114 at positions corresponding to the lateral piece 110, thereby, in the process of laterally pushing the first support member 22 laterally, the lateral piece 110 may be inclined The structure of the cut-angle structure 114 is guided to move the second magnetic member. 26 Away from the first magnetic member 20.

In actual application, in order to make the supporting device 16 be pushed upward by the ejection plate 104 surely, as can be seen from FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, in this embodiment, the ejection plate 104 may further include an arc. The protruding structure 116 is formed at the position of the lower base plate 102 corresponding to the second support member 24. Furthermore, in order to avoid the structural interference card when the protruding structure 116 is pushed laterally against the second support member 24, Dead problem, the arc-shaped protruding structure 116 may be preferably bent inwardly relative to the first magnetic member 20 to form an arc-shaped outer surface 117, whereby the arc-shaped protruding structure 116 laterally ejects the second supporting member 24. In the process, the arc-shaped outer surface 117 can be slid in cooperation with the second supporting member 24 to a position where the supporting portion 28 is raised.

The following is a detailed description of the height adjustment operation of the button 100. Please refer to FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10. FIG. 9 shows that the button 100 of FIG. 7 slides to the ejection position on the lower bottom plate 102. FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the button 100 of FIG. 8 when the lower base plate 102 slides to the ejection position. When the keycap 12 is not pressed and the lower bottom plate 102 is slid from the un-pushing position as shown in FIG. 7 relative to the upper bottom plate 14 to the ejection position as shown in FIG. 9, the first magnetic member 20 is accommodated in The second magnetic member 26 is pushed up laterally in the space 112 and the lateral piece 110 is pushed away from the first magnetic member 20. At the same time, it can be seen from FIG. 8 and FIG. With the sliding of the lower bottom plate 102, the arc-shaped protruding structure 116 will simultaneously push up the second support member 24 so that the supporting portion 28 is lifted, thereby further pushing the first support member 22 upward, thereby, the key The cap 12 can be moved downwards correspondingly as the first support 22 and the second support 24 pivot upward. In this way, when a keyboard equipped with a plurality of keys 100 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 linkage mechanism can be used The lower base plate 102 slides to the ejection position relative to the upper base plate 14 as the upper cover of the portable electronic device is closed with respect to the lower case, so that the keycap 12 is moved to the position as shown in FIG. The effect of closing the portable electronic device to reduce its height. In other words, when the lower base plate 102 slides relative to the upper base plate 14 to the ejection position shown in FIG. 9, the button 100 can be in a state where the height of the keycap is lowered. In order to further reduce the overall height of the key 100, thereby facilitating the portable electronic device The thin design effectively solves the problem of keycap injury and display screen mentioned in the prior art. As for other related descriptions of this embodiment, it can be deduced by analogy with reference to the above embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

In practical applications, the structural design of the bending piece is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, please refer to FIG. 11, which is an enlarged schematic view of a part of the bottom plate 102 ′ according to another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment has the same number as the elements mentioned in the above embodiment, which means that it has the same structure or function, and the related description is not repeated here. As shown in FIG. 11, the lower base plate 102 'has a bent piece 106', and the bent piece 106 'has a longitudinal piece portion 108 and a transverse piece portion 110'. In this embodiment, the transverse piece portion 110 ' A support member 22 protrudes to form a convex hull 118, whereby the convex hull 118 can push the second magnetic member 26 upward further during the process of laterally pushing the first support member 22 laterally by the lateral sheet portion 110 '. Therefore, the bending piece 106 ′ can surely separate the second magnetic member 26 from the first magnetic member 20 with the sliding of the lower bottom plate 102 ′, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing the height of the keys. As for other related descriptions of this embodiment, it can be deduced by analogy with reference to the above embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

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 (10)

A key comprises: a keycap; an upper base plate having a first magnetic member; a support device disposed between the upper base plate and the keycap and including a first support member and a second support The first support and the second support are pivotably connected to the keycap and the upper bottom plate to move the keycap with the support device between an unpressed position and a pressed position. A supporting member has a second magnetic member. The second magnetic member corresponds to the first magnetic member. A supporting portion is formed from the second supporting member to the first supporting member to support the second magnetic member. And a bottom plate, which has an ejection plate member and is slidably disposed under the upper plate plate to slide between an ejection position and an un-ejected position relative to the upper plate plate, and the ejection plate member is from the lower plate plate; It protrudes toward the keycap and bends through the upper bottom plate; wherein when the keycap is pressed, the second magnetic member is connected to the first magnetic member as the first support member and the second support member pivot. When the pieces are far away and the supporting portion is lifted, the The cap moves with the supporting device from the unpressed position to the pressed position; when the keycap is not pressed and the lower bottom plate is in the unpushed position, one of the second magnetic piece and the first magnetic piece The magnetic cap keeps the key cap in the unpressed position; when the key cap is not pressed and the lower bottom plate is slid to the ejection position relative to the upper bottom plate, the ejection plate member laterally ejects the first support member. And at least one of the second supporting members, to drive the second magnetic member away from the first magnetic member to move the keycap downward. The key according to claim 1, wherein the ejection plate member is an arc-shaped protrusion structure, and the arc-shaped protrusion structure is formed at a position of the lower bottom plate corresponding to the second support member. When the key cap is not pressed and When the lower bottom plate is slid to the ejection position, the arc-shaped protruding structure laterally ejects the second support member so that the supporting portion is lifted up and ejects the second magnetic member away from the first magnetic member. The button according to claim 2, wherein the arc-shaped protruding structure is bent outward relative to the first magnetic member to form an arc-shaped outer surface, and the process of pushing the second supporting member laterally on the arc-shaped protruding structure In the middle, the arc-shaped outer surface cooperates with the second supporting member to slide to a position where the supporting portion is raised. The button according to claim 1, wherein the ejection plate includes a bent piece, the bent piece is formed at a position of the lower bottom plate corresponding to the first support member, and has a longitudinal piece portion and a transverse piece portion. The longitudinal piece extends from the lower plate to the transverse piece to form a concession space with the transverse piece. When the keycap is not pressed and the lower plate slides to the ejection position, the first magnet A piece is accommodated in the yielding space, and the lateral piece pushes the second magnetic piece laterally so that the second magnetic piece is far from the first magnetic piece and drives the keycap to move downward. The button according to claim 4, wherein the lateral piece portion protrudes to the first support member to form a convex hull, and in the process of laterally ejecting the first support member by the lateral piece portion, the convex hull is pushed upward. The second magnetic member. The button according to claim 4, wherein the second magnetic member is formed with a chamfered chamfer structure at a position corresponding to the lateral piece. During the lateral pushing of the lateral piece to the first support member, the lateral The piece moves along the chamfered lead angle structure to a position where the second magnetic member is far from the first magnetic member. The key according to claim 4, wherein the ejection plate member further includes an arc-shaped protrusion structure formed at a position of the lower bottom plate corresponding to the second support member. When the keycap is not pressed and the When the lower bottom plate is slid to the ejection position, the arc-shaped protruding structure laterally ejects the second support member so that the supporting portion is lifted up and ejects the second magnetic member away from the first magnetic member. The button according to claim 7, wherein the arc-shaped protruding structure is bent inward relative to the first magnetic member to form an arc-shaped outer surface, and the process of pushing the second supporting member laterally in the arc-shaped protruding structure In the middle, the arc-shaped outer surface cooperates with the second supporting member to slide to a position where the supporting portion is raised. The button according to claim 1, wherein one of the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member is a magnetic member, and the other of the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member is a magnetic member Piece or a magnetically permeable material. The button according to claim 1, wherein the ejector plate is made of a magnetically-isolating or weakly-magnetic material.