CN101246405A - Pressing type touch control panel device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a touch control panel device, which is arranged in an electronic device and comprises a touch control module and a flexible circuit board, wherein the flexible circuit board is positioned below the touch control panel and is provided with a plurality of holes and a plurality of sensing elements, and the holes are arranged at gaps between the sensing elements so as to avoid damaging the functions of the sensing elements; and a plurality of metal gaskets arranged at specific positions below the bottom surface of the flexible circuit board, wherein each metal gasket position represents the position of a function key. The holes are used for increasing flexibility and avoiding excessive deformation of the touch module when a user presses the function key.

Description

Depressible touchpad device

technical field

The present invention relates to a touch panel device, in particular to a touch panel device that utilizes structural improvement to change the force-bearing type of the touch panel and has a plurality of metal contact pads to increase its functionality.

Background technique

The use of directional push button devices or non-directional touchpad devices is commonly used on index input devices (Index Input Devices) such as computers (Computers), personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA) or other electronic equipment; In the known technology, there are various implementations of the structural composition of the push control button device, and the composition shown in FIG. 1 is one of them.

As shown in the figure, the push button device mainly includes a button unit 10, a polyurethane film (Thermoplastic Polyurethane Pellet, TPU) 12, a flexible circuit board (FPCB) 14, a metal frame 16 and a rubber button interface 18 . Wherein, the key unit 10 is composed of a plurality of protruding keys, which are exposed outside the casing of the electronic device; the polyurethane adhesive film 12 is a heat-plastic material, which is used to prevent the key unit 10 from directly contacting the flexible circuit board 14, so as to Avoid damage to the flexible circuit board 14; the flexible circuit board 14 also includes a sensor 140, when the user presses one of the buttons of the key unit 10, the polyurethane adhesive film 12 can be pressed against the flexible circuit board 14, and the flexible circuit board 14 can be activated. The circuit board 14 senses and transmits a signal through the sensor 140 to notify the processing unit of the electronic device; the metal frame 16 and the rubber button interface 18 are used to fix the position of the push button device, and another function of the rubber button interface 18 is to prevent the flexible circuit board 14 from Excessive deformation occurs when the user presses the key unit 10 .

In the known technology, the non-directional touch panel can be divided into three types: resistive, electromagnetic and inductive, mainly including a plastic film and a flexible circuit board (FPCB), providing users with two-dimensional direction In the movement control of a pointing cursor, the change of the voltage value is used to provide the processor of the electronic device to identify the position that the user intends to point to.

Generally speaking, the touch panel has a planar structure. If it is used for keyboard input, when the user touches the planar structure with his fingers, he lacks the tactile sensation of pressing the keys. The plate is pressed multiple times, pressed for too long or pressed too short, resulting in operation errors and inconvenience in use.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a depressible touch panel. A depressible structure is specially designed for the function keys that need to be frequently used when using the touch panel. Increase user convenience.

Contents of the invention

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a depressible touch panel. By improving the structural elements and adding a depressible structure, the force type of the depressible structural elements can be changed without affecting its touch control. Under the touch performance of the touch panel, thereby improving the usability and function of the touch panel.

A touch panel device of the present invention is installed in an electronic device, comprising a touch module with a touch panel and a flexible circuit board, wherein the touch panel is the contact interface between the touch panel device and the user The flexible circuit board is located under the touch panel and has multiple holes and multiple sensing elements. The multiple holes are arranged in the gap between the multiple sensing elements and the sensing elements to avoid damaging the multiple sensing elements. The function of the flexible circuit board is used to sense the user's touch position, and generate a corresponding cursor signal and cursor displacement control on the screen of the electronic device; and a plurality of metal gaskets are arranged on the bottom surface of the flexible circuit board The specific position below corresponds to the position below the plurality of sensing elements, wherein each position of the metal spacer represents the position of a function key. Wherein, a plurality of holes are used to increase flexibility and avoid excessive deformation of the touch module when the user presses the function key.

In order to enable a further understanding and recognition of the present invention, a detailed description will be given below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a known push control button device;

2A is a schematic diagram of a touch panel device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2B is a schematic diagram of a flexible circuit board of a touch panel device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3A is a schematic diagram of a touch panel device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

3B is a schematic diagram of a flexible circuit board of a touch panel device according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a practical application of a touch panel device according to an embodiment.

Detailed ways

Please refer to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B at the same time. FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of a touch panel device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of a flexible circuit board of a touch panel device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A shows a front top view and a side view of the touch panel device 2 , and FIG. 2B shows a front top view and a side view of the flexible circuit board 22 .

The touch panel device 2 is used in electronic devices, such as: mobile phones, personal digital assistant devices, notebook computer input devices and other portable electronic devices, etc.; the touch panel device 2 includes a touch module and a plurality of metal Gasket 240. Wherein, the touch module can be of general capacitive type, electromagnetic type or resistive type, since it can be implemented by those skilled in the art, it will not be described in detail here.

The touch module has a touch panel 20 and a flexible circuit board 22 . Wherein, the touch panel 20 is the contact interface between the touch panel device and the user, and is made of a thermoplastic, transparent or semi-transparent plastic material, such as: polyurethane film (TPU, Thermoplastic Polyurethane Pellet); The circuit board 22 is located under the touch panel 20 and has a plurality of holes 222 and a plurality of sensing elements 220 . A plurality of holes 220 are arranged in a matrix, and are drilled in the gap between any sensing element 220 and the sensing element 220 in the circuit board 22; it is designed according to the size of the gap between the sensing elements used , the diameter of the hole 220 ranges from 0.6mm to 2.0mm.

A plurality of metal spacers 240 are disposed at specific positions under the bottom surface of the flexible circuit board 22 , and correspondingly placed under the plurality of sensing elements 220 , wherein each metal spacer 240 represents the position of a specific function key. Among them, a plurality of metal pads 240 can be directly arranged on the lower surface of the flexible circuit board 22 according to the circuit design, or arranged under the flexible circuit board 22 with a gap, so as to achieve the tactile feeling when pressing and make the flexible circuit board The board 22 transmits the command of the pressed function key to smoothly execute the function. In addition, the size of the metal gasket can be designed and adjusted according to the touch feeling and the actual number of function keys required.

When the user presses a certain metal spacer 240 (function key), because the flexible circuit board 22 has a plurality of holes 222, it can increase its flexibility and avoid the excessive movement of the flexible circuit board 22 and the touch panel 20. The deformation further affects false sensing of the sensing element 220 around the pressed touch panel 20 .

Wherein, a plurality of holes 222 are arranged in the gap between the sensing element 220 and the sensing element 220, so as to avoid damaging the functions of the plurality of sensing elements 220, and prevent the user from touching the touch module when pressing the touch module. Excessive deformation of the module increases flexibility and lifespan. When the user touches a tool such as a finger or a light pen on the touch panel 20, the voltage of the flexible circuit board 22 will change to sense the user's touch position and generate a corresponding response on the screen of the electronic device. The cursor signal and cursor displacement control.

The flexible circuit board 22 can determine whether the user is using the touch function or the press function according to the length of time the user's finger stays on the same fixed point on the touch panel. When the user stays at the position of any metal pad 240 for more than 25ms, or directly exerts a pressing force, or does not move past any adjacent sensing element 220 for more than 25ms, it is determined that the press is to be performed The function of the function key 240 will execute the function of the pressed function key 240 and temporarily stop the touch function; If the adjacent sensing element 220 has not exceeded 25 ms, it is determined that the touch function is to be executed. Wherein, the execution of the press function will take priority over the touch function, that is, when the touch command and the press command are input at the same time, the press command will be executed first.

However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. Please refer to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B at the same time. FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a touch panel device according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. Schematic of the circuit board.

Its principle is the same as the above-mentioned embodiment in FIG. 2 , the plurality of holes 322 on the flexible circuit board 32 are only drilled and set in the surrounding space with the metal gasket 340 under the sensing element 320, so as to prevent the user from causing softness when pressing. Excessive deformation of the circuit board 32 and the touch panel 30 further affects false sensing of the sensing element 320 around the pressed touch panel 30 , and improves flexibility and service life. Such transformations are equivalent transformations of the structures of the present invention and are well known to those skilled in the art, so details will not be repeated here.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram of a practical application of a touch panel device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure shows an input device of an electronic device, which includes a plurality of function keys and a touch panel device, wherein the touch panel 40 is marked with a plurality of function key symbols by means of transfer printing, each symbol has a A metal spacer (represented by a dotted line frame), its touch panel 40 is a smooth plane, which is convenient for users to perform touch functions, and can also press to perform special function keys, such as inputting Arabic numerals or controlling up and down , left, right directions, etc.

In the present invention, the touch panel device is improved by adding a plurality of metal pads under the touch module and improving the interface structure of the flexible circuit board of the touch module, that is, drilling a plurality of holes on the flexible circuit board , which can effectively avoid the deformation of the surrounding flexible circuit board and touch panel due to the concentration of compressive stress on a single point when pressing the touch panel, improve the flexibility of the touch module, and increase the number of different areas that can be pressed Function keys to enhance the functionality of the touchpad device.

Although the present invention is described above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the spirit of the present invention and the entity of the present invention is only limited to the above embodiments. Therefore, any modifications made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention shall be included in the following claims.

Claims (11)

1. A touch panel device, arranged in an electronic device, comprising: A touch module has a touch panel and a flexible circuit board, wherein the touch panel provides an input interface for the user, and the flexible circuit board is located under the touch panel to sense the user's A touch position, and a corresponding cursor signal is generated, the flexible circuit board has a plurality of holes and a plurality of sensing elements, and the plurality of holes are arranged in the gaps between the plurality of sensing elements; and A plurality of metal spacers are arranged under the flexible circuit board, wherein the position of each metal spacer represents the position of a function key. 2. The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an input device of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant device, an MP3 player or a notebook computer. 3. The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein the diameters of the plurality of holes range from 0.6mm to 2.0mm. 4. The touch panel device according to claim 1, wherein each of the metal pads is located below one of the sensing elements, and a plurality of the holes are provided in the space around the sensing element. 5. The touch panel device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of holes are distributed around the positions of the plurality of metal spacers. 6. The touch panel device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of holes are arranged in a matrix. 7. A touch panel device installed in an electronic device, comprising a touch module and a plurality of metal pads, wherein the touch module has a touch panel and a flexible circuit board, the flexible circuit board There are a plurality of holes and a plurality of sensing elements on the circuit board, and each of the metal gaskets is arranged below the flexible circuit board relative to the sensing elements, and represents the position of a function key, and is characterized in that: the plurality of A hole is arranged in the gap between the plurality of sensing elements. When a user presses the function key, the touch panel device will give back a pressing touch to the user. 8. The touch panel device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the plurality of holes are distributed around the positions of the plurality of metal spacers. 9. The touch panel device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the plurality of holes are arranged in a matrix. 10. The touch panel device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the diameters of the plurality of holes range from 0.6 mm to 2.0 mm. 11. The touch panel device according to claim 7, wherein the electronic device is an input device of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant device, an MP3 player or a notebook computer.

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