JPS61198521A - Transparent touch switch - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a transparent touch switch, and particularly to a transparent touch switch suitable for use in combination with a display device such as a liquid crystal display device.

[Prior Art] A flat transparent touch switch suitable for use in combination with a display device such as a liquid crystal display device is known.

This type of transparent touch switch is known, for example, from Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-1
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 35885, a flexible front substrate with an electrode formed on at least one place on the back surface, and (at least two on the surface corresponding to the position of the plate where the electrode is formed) It is usually formed by having electrode surfaces facing each other at a predetermined distance from a transparent back substrate on which one electrode piece is formed.

This type of transparent touch switch can be made extremely thin,
And when used in combination with a display device such as a liquid crystal display device,
Switch functions such as selecting the required mode and displaying 9 displays are extremely suitable, but with conventional transparent touch switches, the on/off operation of the switch cannot be confirmed with a fingertip, and the external It was usual to provide a device and output r'f in conjunction with the switching operation to indicate on/off operation.

On the other hand, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-73923, a bush switch is provided on the back surface of a front substrate that can be turned over within the elastic limit, and the on/off operation of the bush switch can be sensed with a fingertip. Some devices are known that allow the switch to be transparent, but because the mechanism is a bush switch, it is impossible to make the entire switch transparent.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] - As mentioned above, conventionally known transparent touch switches do not produce a click feeling when operated, that is, when the switch part is pressed, the fingertip feels when the switch is turned on or off. It was impossible to create the feeling that the load applied to the body was instantly reduced.

Furthermore, with the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-73!323, it was possible to obtain a click feeling, but it was impossible to make the switch transparent.

The present invention was made in order to eliminate the following drawbacks of conventional touch switches, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transparent flat touch switch having a click feeling.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The transparent touch switch of the present invention includes a flexible transparent front substrate on which an electrode is formed at at least one location on the back surface, and a position corresponding to the position where the electrode is formed on the front substrate. A transparent touch switch in which a transparent back substrate having at least two electrode pieces formed on a surface thereof and an electrode facing each other at a predetermined interval,
A transparent plate-like member is formed as a convex surface on the front substrate at a position corresponding to the electrode formation position of the front substrate, and the convex surface is freely reversible within its elastic limit in response to a suppressing operation of the electrode formation position of the front substrate. is provided on the back surface of the back substrate.

The following is a representative example of the transparent touch switch of the present invention.
The configuration of the present invention will be explained in detail.

FIG. 1 is a representative example of the transparent touch switch of the present invention described above.
It is a sectional view showing an example.

In the figure, a transparent conductive film such as tin oxide (5n02) or lead oxide (PbO2) is coated on a predetermined portion of the back surface of a flexible front substrate l made of a transparent polymer film such as polyester by vapor deposition or sputtering. etc., to form the electrode 2. On the other hand, similarly, the surface of the flexible transparent back substrate 3 made of a transparent polymer film such as polyester, which corresponds to the electrode 2, is coated with a transparent conductive film such as 5n02 or PbO2.
At least two pieces of electrode plates 4 are formed. The electrode pieces 4 are each connected to an external circuit, and each serves as a terminal of a switch.

The front substrate 1 and the back substrate 3 are fixed to each other by a spacer 5 having insulating properties such as epoxy resin, with electrode surfaces facing each other at a predetermined interval.

Back substrate 3 made to face front substrate 1 as described above
A convex surface 6 is formed on the rear surface of the front substrate L at a position corresponding to the formation position of the electrode 2 on the front substrate L. A transparent plate-like member 7 that can be freely reversed within its elastic limit according to the
is provided.

The plate member 7 is made of acrylic, polycarbonate,
A transparent polymer film such as nylon or polyester is used, and the convex surface 6 is formed by processing the polymer film by low-temperature compression molding or the like. Of the materials mentioned above as the material for the plate member 7, polyester or polycarbonate is a more preferable material in terms of characteristics such as transparency and elasticity.

On the front and back surfaces of the plate member 7, flexible and highly transparent elastic members 8a, 8 made of silicone elastomer or the like are used.
b is applied, and the elastic member 8a applied to the surface of the plate-like member 7 is applied to the back surface of the back substrate 3, and the plate-like member 7 is fixed to the back substrate 3.

The elastic member 8a applied to the surface of the plate member 7 includes:
A slightly hard silicone elastomer with a hardness of about 30 to 40 degrees (JIS A standard) is used, and the elastic member 8b coated on the back side has a hardness of 10 to 20 degrees (JIS standard).
Optimal licking action can be obtained by using a slightly softer silicone elastomer. Note that the silicone elastomer uses diorganopolysiloxane as a main component, and also contains a crosslinking agent, a curing catalyst, a filler, and the like.

The thickness of the elastic members 8a and 8b is preferably 1 to 5 m, and it is preferable to form the elastic members 8a and 8b so that the thickness S is approximately 1 m from the west end of the convex surface 6, so that the elastic recovery of the member 7 can be performed smoothly. − is preferable.

The elastic members 8a and 8b are connected to the plate member 7 as in the example shown in FIG.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG.
It may also be formed only on the periphery of the plate member 7. In this case, the elastic members 8a and 8b do not act to apply elastic force to the reversing operation of the convex surface 6 of the plate-like member 7, and the plate-like member 7 is connected to the back substrate 3 and the display substrate 9 of the liquid crystal display device to be described later. It only has the function of fixing to.

The transparent touch switch constructed as described above can be highly effective when used in combination with a display device such as a liquid crystal display device, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. That is, by linking the switch operation with the operation of the display device on the back side, it is possible to display the meaning of the switch operation on the display device.

A liquid crystal display device is constructed by placing a display substrate 9 and an electrode substrate IO with their electrode surfaces facing each other, sealing the periphery with a sealing material 12 to form a display cell, injecting liquid crystal 11 into the cell, Accordingly, an sXJ plate (not shown) may be provided to configure the structure.

In the illustrated example, the display substrate 9 is fixed to the back surface of the elastic member 8b and combined with a transparent touch switch.

The transparent touch switch of the present invention can be used in combination with any other display device, such as an electrochromic display device, a plasma display device, or a display device such as a light emitting diode, in addition to the above-mentioned liquid crystal display device. It goes without saying that the transparent touch switch may be used in combination with a panel on which a picture or symbol is simply drawn to indicate the meaning of the switch operation, and there is no need to use it in combination with a display means on the other side, and the transparent touch switch may be used alone.

[Operation] The operation of the transparent touch switch of the present invention will be explained using the example shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state in which an operator presses the transparent touch switch shown in FIG. 1 with his or her finger 13 and the switch is turned on.

As shown in the figure, when the operator presses the front substrate 1 of the transparent touch switch with the f finger 13, the transparent touch □ switch l
curves in the direction of the back substrate 3 and presses the spacer 5 with its back surface, and due to the pressure of the spacer 5, the back substrate 3 begins to curve in the direction of the convex surface 6 of the plate member 7. The pressing force of the back substrate 3 is applied to the hour convex surface 6 via the elastic member 8a. Plate member 7
has elasticity, so the convex surface 6 starts to deform according to the pressing force, but the front substrate 1. Back board 39
A load due to the repulsive force of the elastic members 8a, 8b, and the plate member 7 is applied. However, when the operator presses the front substrate l more strongly against this load, the electrode 2 on the back side of the front substrate l comes into contact with both the electrode pieces 4 on the front side of the back substrate 3, and the electrode piece 4 contacts the electrode 2 on the front side of the back substrate 3. At the same time, the convex surface 6 of the plate-shaped member 7 rapidly turns over and becomes the four surface 14, and the load on the operator's f finger 13 is rapidly reduced, and a click feeling is transmitted to the operator. The load required for the convex surface 6 to turn over to the four surfaces 14 is preferably set to 20 to 20 w from the viewpoint of operational feel.

In this way, while the operator continues to press the front substrate l with the finger 13, the transparent touch switch continues to be in the on state, but when the operator releases the finger 13 from the front substrate l, the four sides 14 are The convex surface 6 is restored by the elastic recovery force caused by the elasticity of the shaped member 7 and the difference between the elastic forces of the elastic members 8a and 8b, and at the same time, the front substrate l and the back substrate 3 are also restored by their respective elastic recovery forces, so that the electrode 2 becomes an electrode. When separated from piece 4, the switch is turned off.

It has already been mentioned that a preferable display can be obtained by displaying an operation such as the state 1 action of the switch using a display element corresponding to the position of the switch in conjunction with the switch when the switch is in the on state.

When the elastic members 8a and 8b are provided only on the periphery of the transparent touch switch as in the example shown in FIG. 14, and when restoring to the convex surface 6, it is restored by its own elastic restoring force. 4.Other operations are the same as in the example of FIG.

[Example] Indium was added to multiple locations on the back side of the polyester film.
Tin oxide (ITO) was vapor-deposited to form electrodes and serve as a front substrate. Similarly, ITO was vapor-deposited on the surface of the polyester film at positions corresponding to the electrode formation positions on the front substrate to form two pieces of comb-like electrodes, thereby forming a back substrate. Epoxy resin was applied as a spacer between the front substrate and the back substrate, and the peripheral portion was fixed with the same epoxy resin to form a flat transparent touch switch.

On the other hand, a polyester film is low-temperature compression molded to form a convex surface with a height of 2a at a position corresponding to the electrode of the front substrate,
A silicone elastomer with a hardness of 35 degrees (JIS A standard) is applied to a thickness of 3 mm on the convex side of the polyester film, and a silicone elastomer with a hardness of 15 degrees (JIS A standard) is applied to the opposite back surface.
ISA standard) silicone elastomer was applied to a thickness of 3mm.

This polyester film was applied to the back surface of the back substrate so that the convex surface and the previous electrode position corresponded to each other, and a guest-host type liquid crystal was injected between the two glass electrode substrates and the peripheral area A liquid crystal display device is sealed with epoxy resin, and a liquid crystal display device is applied to the back surface of the polyester film so that the electrode formation position of the front substrate and the display position of the liquid crystal display device are aligned. We created a transparent touch switch with the structure shown in the figure.

This transparent touch switch has a load on the operator's fingers of approximately 2
When the weight reached 5 g, the convex surface of the polyester film was reversed to become a concave surface, and a good lick distance was obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] In the transparent touch switch of the present invention, a plate member having a convex surface that can be freely reversed within the elastic limit according to the operator's suppressing action is provided on the back surface of the flat touch switch. At the same time as the switching operation, a good lick feeling is obtained in the operator's fingers, and the operator can clearly sense the on/off operation of the switch, resulting in extremely good operability.

Furthermore, by forming the plate-like member from a transparent material, the entire touch switch can be made transparent, so the touch switch is extremely suitable for use in combination with other display devices or display boards.

Furthermore, since the overall thickness can be made extremely thin, the entire device can be made compact and portable when used as an input device for a display device, etc., and can be extremely widely applied.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are cross-sectional views showing typical examples of the transparent touch switch of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the operating state of the example of FIG. 1.

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) A flexible transparent front substrate with an electrode formed on at least one location on the back surface, and a transparent back substrate with at least two electrode pieces formed on the surface of the front substrate corresponding to the position where the electrode was formed. In a transparent touch switch having electrode surfaces facing each other at a predetermined interval, a convex surface is formed on the front substrate side at a position corresponding to the electrode formation position of the front substrate, and the convex surface is pressed against the electrode formation position of the front substrate. A transparent touch switch characterized in that a transparent plate-like member is provided on the back surface of the back substrate and can be freely reversed within its elastic limit according to the conditions. (2) The transparent touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the front substrate is a polymer film. (3) The transparent touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the back substrate is a polymer film. (4) The transparent touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the plate-like member has a transparent elastic material layer formed on its front and back surfaces. (5) The transparent touch switch according to claim 4, wherein the transparent elastic member layer is a silicone elastomer. (6) The transparent touch switch according to claim 1, wherein the plate member is a polymer film.