CN111831126B

CN111831126B - Sinking type keyboard device

Info

Publication number: CN111831126B
Application number: CN201910329047.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李柏欣
Original assignee: Chicony Electronics Suzhou Co Ltd
Current assignee: Chicony Electronics Suzhou Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-23
Filing date: 2019-04-23
Publication date: 2023-03-28
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-23
Also published as: CN111831126A

Abstract

A sunk keyboard device comprises a substrate, a plurality of keycaps, a sliding plate and a driving piece. The plurality of keycaps are arranged above the substrate in a liftable mode, and each keycap is provided with a first guide piece. The sliding plate is arranged below the base plate in parallel, the sliding plate comprises a long edge and a short edge connected with the long edge, and the sliding plate is provided with a plurality of second guiding pieces corresponding to the first guiding pieces respectively. The driving part is arranged on the short side of the sliding plate and comprises a driving motor, the driving motor drives the sliding plate to slide relative to the base plate along the long side direction, and the second guiding parts are respectively abutted against the first guiding parts so as to drive the keycaps to sink relatively.

Description

Sinking type keyboard device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a keyboard device, and more particularly, to a recessed keyboard device.

Background

The keyboard is a common peripheral input device for computers at present, and is used for inputting characters or instructions. Generally, a keyboard includes a bottom plate, a plurality of keys assembled on the bottom plate, and a cover plate above the bottom plate, wherein a keycap of each key protrudes out of a surface of the cover plate for a user to press.

However, for a portable electronic product (such as a notebook computer or a tablet computer) with a keyboard, the keyboard is often folded and folded without using the keyboard, for example, for the notebook computer, the screen is covered on the keyboard for being carried out, and for the tablet computer, the keyboard can be folded or slid to the back of the touch screen to reduce the overall volume and be conveniently placed on a plane for use. However, since the key caps of the keyboard protrude out of the surface of the cover plate and are in a lifting state capable of being stressed, after the keyboard is folded and folded, the key caps are easily worn by external force or continuously pressed, which causes troubles in use.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the foregoing, in one embodiment, a recessed keyboard device is provided, which includes a substrate, a plurality of keycaps, a sliding plate, and a driving element. The plurality of keycaps are arranged above the substrate in a liftable mode, and each keycap is provided with a first guide piece. The sliding plate is arranged below the substrate in parallel, the sliding plate comprises a long edge and a short edge connected with the long edge, and the sliding plate is provided with a plurality of second guide pieces corresponding to the first guide pieces of the keycaps respectively. The driving part is arranged on the short side of the sliding plate and comprises a driving motor, the driving motor drives the sliding plate to slide relative to the base plate along the long side direction, and the second guiding parts are respectively abutted against the first guiding parts of the keycaps so as to drive the keycaps to sink relatively.

In summary, the sunk keyboard apparatus of the embodiment of the invention is arranged on the short side of the sliding plate through the driving motor, and can drive the sliding plate to slide along the long side direction, so as to drive the keycap to sink without protruding out of the surface of the cover plate, thereby improving the stability of the sliding plate in the sliding process and avoiding the situation of deviation or shaking.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a submerged keyboard apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is another exploded perspective view of the embodiment of the sunk keyboard apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the recessed keyboard apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a partial top view of an embodiment of a recessed keyboard apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is an action diagram of fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of fig. 4 taken at 6-6.

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken from 7-7 of fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of 8-8 of fig. 4.

Fig. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the recessed keyboard apparatus of the present invention.

Wherein the reference numerals are:

1. sinking type keyboard device

10. Substrate board

11. The top surface

12. Bottom surface

13. Perforation

14. Screw hole

15. Cover plate

151. Fixing piece

16. Hollow hole

20. Key cap

21. First guide member

211. First guide inclined plane

30. Sliding plate

31. Long side

32. Short side

321. Sliding block

33. Second guide member

331. Second guide inclined plane

34. Long hole groove

35. Light hole

40. Driving member

41. Driving motor

411. Transmission gear

42. Driving rod

421. Rack bar

422. Sliding rail

423. First end

424. Second end

50. Guiding rod

51. Fixed rod segment

52. Guide rod section

53. Club head

60. Backlight plate

L1, L2 arrow

Detailed Description

As shown in fig. 1 to fig. 3, the sunk keyboard apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a substrate 10, a plurality of key caps 20, a sliding plate 30 and a driving member 40, wherein the plurality of key caps 20 are disposed above the substrate 10 in a liftable manner, and the driving member 40 is used for driving the sliding plate 30 to slide relative to the substrate 10, so as to drive the plurality of key caps 20 to sink and approach the substrate 10. In some embodiments, the keyboard apparatus 1 may be a keyboard of a notebook computer, a keyboard of a general desktop computer, or an external keyboard for connecting a tablet computer.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the substrate 10 has a top surface 11 and a bottom surface 12 opposite to each other, and a plurality of lifting structures (not shown) may be disposed on the top surface 11 for correspondingly assembling a plurality of keycaps 20. For example, the lifting structure may include a Scissor linkage (Scissor) and an elastic element (e.g., an elastic rubber, an elastic sheet, or a mechanical switch). The plurality of key Caps 20 may include a plurality of letter keys, a plurality of number keys, a Space key (Space key), an Enter key (Enter key), a capital Lock key (Caps Lock key), and the like, and the plurality of key Caps 20 are respectively assembled to the plurality of lifting structures and connected to the substrate 10. In some embodiments, the substrate 10 may be a rigid plate made of metal (e.g., iron, aluminum, or alloy) or plastic.

As shown in fig. 1, a cover plate 15 is further disposed above the substrate 10, the cover plate 15 has a plurality of through holes 16 to respectively correspond to the plurality of key caps 20, so that when each key cap 20 is not pressed, the elastic component of the lifting structure disposed below each key cap 20 elastically supports upwards, and can protrude out of each through hole 16 to expose the cover plate 15 for the user to press. When each key cap 20 is pressed, it can sink and approach towards the substrate 10 through the guiding of the lifting structure.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, each keycap 20 is further provided with a first guide 21. In the present embodiment, each first guiding element 21 is a plate extending from the same side of each keycap 20, but this is not a limitation. In other embodiments, each keycap 20 may extend from different sides beyond the first guide 21.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the sliding plate 30 is disposed parallel to the substrate 10 and can slide relative to the substrate 10. In the embodiment, the sliding plate 30 is stacked on the bottom surface 12 of the substrate 10 and located below the substrate 10, and the sliding plate 30 is disposed below the substrate 10 instead of above the substrate 10, so that there is enough space above the substrate 10 to dispose other structures and facilitate the assembly of the keycaps 20. In detail, since the space between the base plate 10 and the cover plate 15 is limited, if the sliding plate 30 is disposed above the base plate 10 and between the base plate 10 and the cover plate 15, the installation space of other structures is easily occupied, the assembling operation of each structure on the base plate 10 is not facilitated, and the thickness of the sliding plate 30 is also limited, so that the strength is easily insufficient. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the sliding plate 30 is disposed below the base plate 10, so that the disposing and assembling space between the base plate 10 and the cover plate 15 can be increased, and the structural strength of the sliding plate 30 can be improved (for example, the thickness of the sliding plate 30 can be increased according to the requirement).

As shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, in the present embodiment, the sliding plate 30 is a rectangular plate corresponding to the substrate 10 and includes two long sides 31 and two short sides 32 respectively connected to ends of the two long sides 31, a length of each long side 31 is greater than a length of each short side 32, and the upper surface of the sliding plate 30 is provided with a plurality of second guiding members 33 for respectively driving the first guiding members 21 of the plurality of key caps 20. As shown in fig. 3, in the present embodiment, each second guiding element 33 is a plate body formed by bending the sliding plate 30 upwards integrally, the base plate 10 is provided with a plurality of through holes 13, and the plurality of second guiding elements 33 of the sliding plate 30 respectively penetrate upwards through the plurality of through holes 13 and are adjacent to the plurality of first guiding elements 21. When the sliding board 30 slides relative to the base board 10, the second guides 33 can be synchronously displaced along the through holes 13 to approach or separate from the first guides 21 of the keycaps 20. However, the above embodiments are only examples, and in other embodiments, the second guide 33 may be a separate component and assembled on the sliding plate 30, or the second guide 33 may be formed on the sliding plate 30 by insert molding (insert molding).

As shown in fig. 2 and 4, the driving member 40 is disposed on the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30 for driving the sliding plate 30 to slide along the long side 31 relative to the base plate 10. In the present embodiment, the driving member 40 includes a driving motor 41 and a driving rod 42, the driving rod 42 is connected between one of the short sides 32 of the slide board 30 and the driving motor 41, and the driving motor 41 drives the driving rod 42 to displace relative to the slide board 30 along the direction of the short side 32 (i.e. the extending direction of the short side 32, such as the Y-axis direction in the figure) so as to drive the slide board 30 to slide relative to the base board 10 along the direction of the long side 31 (i.e. the extending direction of the long side 31, such as the X-axis direction in the figure) via the driving rod 42.

For example, as shown in fig. 2 to 4, in the present embodiment, the first guide 21 of each key cap 20 extends toward the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30 (here, the Y-axis direction). The driving rod 42 is provided with a plurality of sliding rails 422 extending along the direction of the short side 32, wherein the sliding rails 422 have a first end 423 and a second end 424, the first end 423 is close to the sliding plate 30 relative to the second end 424, and a side of the driving rod 42 away from the sliding plate 30 is provided with a rack 421, and the rack 421 extends along the direction of the short side 32. The driving motor 41 has a pinion 411 to engage with the rack 421. The short side 32 of the sliding board 30 is provided with a plurality of sliding blocks 321 respectively and correspondingly arranged in the plurality of sliding rails 422.

As shown in fig. 4 and 6, in the present embodiment, each key cap 20 is in an uncompressed state, and at this time, each sliding block 321 of the sliding plate 30 is located at the first end 423 of each sliding rail 422, and each first guide 21 of each key cap 20 and each second guide 33 on the sliding plate 30 maintain a distance therebetween. When the driving motor 41 operates to rotate the transmission gear 411 in a first direction (clockwise in the figure), the driving rod 42 is driven to displace along the short side 32 (as indicated by arrow L1). Therefore, as shown in fig. 5 and fig. 7, each sliding block 321 of the sliding plate 30 can slide from the first end 423 to the second end 424 of each sliding rail 422, so as to drive the sliding plate 30 to slide relative to the substrate 10 along the direction of the long side 31 (as indicated by arrow L2), and further to make the plurality of second guiding members 33 on the sliding plate 30 move synchronously to respectively approach and press the plurality of first guiding members 21, so as to drive the plurality of keycaps 20 to relatively sink and approach the substrate 10. Thereby. The embodiment of the present invention can control the driving motor 41 to operate to make each key cap 20 sink downward without protruding the surface of the cover plate 15 (please refer to fig. 1) when the sunk keyboard apparatus 1 is not in use, so as to avoid the situation that the key caps 20 are worn away by external force or pressed by mistake. On the contrary, as shown in fig. 5 and fig. 7, when the driving motor 41 operates to rotate the transmission gear 411 toward a second direction (counterclockwise direction in the present figure) opposite to the first direction, the driving rod 42 is driven to move and reset, so that each sliding block 321 of the sliding plate 30 slides from the second end 424 to the first end 423 of each sliding rail 422, the sliding plate 30 is driven to slide and reset relative to the substrate 10, and further the plurality of second guiding members 33 on the sliding plate 30 synchronously move to respectively get away from the plurality of first guiding members 21, so that each keycap 20 returns to an un-pressed operable state (as shown in fig. 4 and fig. 6).

Therefore, in the embodiment of the invention, the driving member 40 is arranged on the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30 and can drive the sliding plate 30 to slide along the direction of the long side 31, so that the stability of the sliding plate 30 in the sliding process can be improved, and the situation of deviation or shaking is avoided. In detail, since the length of the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30 is shorter than that of the long side 31, when the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30 receives the driving force generated by the driving member 40, the force can be transmitted to the whole short side 32 to avoid only local stress, and the sliding plate 30 is prevented from shifting or shaking in the sliding process. For example, as shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5, in the present embodiment, the driving motor 41 of the driving member 40 is adjacent to the center of the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30, and when the driving motor 41 operates to apply a force to the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30, the force applied to the center of the short side 32 can be rapidly transmitted to the two ends, so that the entire short side 32 is applied with the force to drive the sliding plate 30 to move stably.

However, the above embodiments are only examples, in other embodiments, the driving member 40 may also include only the driving motor 41, and the driving motor 41 is directly connected to the short side 32 of the sliding plate 30, for example, the transmission gear 411 of the driving motor 41 is engaged with the tooth portion on the short side 32, so that the driving motor 41 can directly drive the sliding plate 30 to slide relative to the substrate 10 when operating. In addition, the driving motor 41 and the driving rod 42, and the driving rod 42 and the sliding plate 30 can be linked through other transmission mechanisms (such as a belt, a chain or different gear sets), which is not limited.

As shown in fig. 6 and 7, in some embodiments, the first guide 21 of each keycap 20 has a first guide slope 211, and the second guide 33 of the sliding plate 30 has a second guide slope 331. When the sliding plate 30 slides along the long side 31 (as indicated by arrow L2) relative to the base plate 10, the first guiding inclined surface 211 of each first guiding member 21 correspondingly abuts against the second guiding inclined surface 331 of each second guiding member 33, so that the first guiding members 21 and the second guiding members 33 of each keycap 20 are in abutting contact with each other through the inclined surfaces, and the contact friction force between each other can be greatly reduced, thereby saving labor.

As shown in fig. 2, fig. 4 and fig. 8, in an embodiment, the sliding plate 30 is provided with a plurality of long holes 34 along the long side 31 direction (such as the X-axis direction in the figure), and a guiding rod 50 is inserted into each long hole 34, so that when the sliding plate 30 slides relative to the substrate 10, the sliding plate 30 can be guided by the guiding rod 50 to ensure the linear movement along the long side 31 direction, and the sliding plate 30 can be further limited by the short side 32 direction (i.e. the Y-axis direction), thereby further avoiding the sliding plate 30 from shaking or shifting.

As shown in fig. 2 and 8, in one embodiment, each guide rod 50 has a fixed rod section 51 and a guide rod section 52, wherein the outer diameter of the guide rod section 52 is larger than the outer diameter of the fixed rod section 51, and the cross section of the guide rod 50 is stepped. The fixing rod section 51 of each guide rod 50 is used to be fixedly arranged on the substrate 10, for example, the fixing rod section 51 is a screw rod section, the substrate 10 is provided with a screw hole 14 corresponding to each fixing rod section 51, so that each guide rod 50 can be screwed to each screw hole 14 of the substrate 10 through the fixing rod section 51, and the guide rod section 52 is located in the long hole groove 34 and correspondingly abuts against the bottom surface 12 of the substrate 10 to achieve the locking effect. Therefore, each guiding rod 50 can serve to fix the substrate 10 and the guiding sliding plate 30. However, this embodiment is merely an example, and in other embodiments, the fixing rod segment 51 may also fix the substrate 10 by other methods such as fitting or riveting.

As shown in fig. 8, in an embodiment, each guide rod 50 further has a rod 53, the guide rod 52 is connected between the fixed rod 51 and the rod 53, wherein the outer diameter of the rod 53 is larger than the outer diameter of the guide rod 52, and the sliding plate 30 is supported between the rod 53 of each guide rod 50 and the base plate 10 and keeps a predetermined tolerance without fastening, so that the sliding plate 30 is limited and can slide relative to the base plate 10 and each guide rod 50.

In another embodiment, as shown in fig. 9, each guide rod 50 can be fixed to the cover plate 15. In this embodiment, the cover plate 15 has a plurality of fixing members 151 disposed on a surface thereof adjacent to the base plate 10 for assembling the guiding rods 50, for example, each fixing member 151 may be a threaded hole, the fixing rod section 51 of each guiding rod 50 is a screw section, so that each guiding rod 50 can be screwed to the fixing member 151 of the cover plate 15 through the fixing rod section 51, and the guiding rod section 52 is located in the slot 34. Thus, each guiding rod 50 can serve to fix the cover plate 15 and the guiding sliding plate 30. In other embodiments, the fixing rod segment 51 may be fixed to the cover plate 15 by other methods such as fitting or riveting.

However, the above embodiments are only examples, and in other embodiments, the base plate 10, the cover plate 15 and the sliding plate 30 may be respectively assembled to different structures.

As shown in fig. 2, fig. 6 and fig. 7, in an embodiment, a backlight plate 60 is further disposed below the sliding plate 30, wherein the backlight plate 60 may be made of a light-guiding material to have a function of guiding light, for example, the backlight plate 60 may be a plate made of Polycarbonate (PC), acrylic Plastic (PMMA) or glass material, but the invention is not limited thereto, and the backlight plate 60 may also be an electroluminescent plate or other plate capable of serving as a backlight source. The slide board 30 is provided with a plurality of light holes 35 corresponding to the plurality of key caps 20. When external light (e.g., light emitted from LEDs disposed adjacent to the backlight panel) enters the backlight panel 60, the backlight panel 60 transmits the light upward, and the light passes through the plurality of light-transmitting holes 35 to irradiate each key cap 20, so that each key cap 20 can emit light to meet the use environment with insufficient illumination.

As shown in fig. 2, fig. 6 and fig. 7, in an embodiment, the backlight plate 60 may be fixed below the sliding plate 30, for example, by being adhered or locked on the surface of the sliding plate 30, so that the backlight plate 60 is fixed below the sliding plate 30, which may achieve a better light guiding effect without providing a hole to avoid other components, and further, may prevent the sliding plate 30 from interfering or rubbing with the backlight plate 60 during the sliding process relative to the substrate 10, thereby increasing the service life.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A recessed keyboard apparatus, comprising:

a substrate;

the keycaps are arranged above the substrate in a lifting manner, and each keycap is provided with a first guide piece;

the sliding plate is arranged below the base plate in parallel and comprises a long edge and a short edge connected with the long edge, the sliding plate is provided with a plurality of second guide pieces respectively corresponding to the first guide pieces of the keycaps and is provided with a long hole groove along the long edge direction, and a guide rod piece penetrates through the long hole groove; and

and the driving part is arranged on the short side of the sliding plate and comprises a driving motor, the driving motor drives the sliding plate to slide relative to the substrate along the long side direction, so that the second guiding parts respectively abut against the first guiding parts of the keycaps to drive the keycaps to sink relatively.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driving motor is located near a center of the short side.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate has a plurality of through holes, and the second guiding members of the sliding plate respectively penetrate through the through holes to respectively correspond to the first guiding members of the key caps.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein a cover plate is further disposed above the base plate, the guiding member comprises a fixing rod section and a guiding rod section, the fixing rod section is fixed on the base plate or the cover plate, and the guiding rod section has an outer diameter larger than that of the fixing rod section and is located in the slot.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a backlight plate is disposed below the slide plate, and the slide plate has a plurality of light holes corresponding to the key caps.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the backlight plate is fixed to the sliding plate.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driving member comprises a driving rod connected between the short side and the driving motor, the driving motor drives the driving rod to move along the short side relative to the sliding plate, so that the driving rod drives the sliding plate to slide along the long side relative to the substrate.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the driving rod is provided with a rack extending in the short side direction, and the driving motor has a transmission gear engaged with the rack.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the driving rod has a sliding rail extending along the short side, the short side of the sliding plate has a sliding block slidably disposed on the sliding rail, the sliding rail has a first end and a second end, and the first end is close to the sliding plate relative to the second end.