JPH087691A - Switch button device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a light, thin, short, and small switch button device suitable for an electronic device such as a telephone, particularly for a portable device. [Structure] The thin plate member 12 is formed of a thin metal plate or a thin resin plate, a plurality of display surface portions 12a are arranged in accordance with the arrangement of switches (not shown), and are supported by a narrow support beam 12c. It is a flat plate-shaped integral structure that is continuous with the slightly wide band-shaped portion 12b. Characters 13a, numbers 13b, patterns 13c, etc. are displayed on the display surface portion 12a by printing in the case of a resin plate or a metal thin plate and by half etching in the case of a metal thin plate. The display surface portion 12a is insert-molded so as to be covered with the button portion 11 made of transparent resin. In the case of a thin metal plate, it is possible to make it an illumination type by illuminating from the back side by penetrating etching processing such as letters. At the time of etching, the cost can be reduced by etching the outer shape at the same time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a switch button device, and more particularly to a light and extremely thin switch button device suitable for portable telephones and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the liberalization of mobile phones, which are typical of mobile communication terminals, various phones have been sold and used in the market. However, it has been several years since a mobile phone was developed and put into practical use. During this period, various new technologies have been developed and adopted. There are still some technologies that are not yet established for the components of the.

The main items of technology required for mobile phones are small size, light weight, communication quality, battery life, dustproof, dripproof,
Although operability, low price, etc. are mentioned, in the future, there will be more and more diverse requirements, and at the same time, there will be a full-scale movement to make improvements and adopt new technologies to meet various requirements. Is coming.

Among these demands, the push button for a mobile phone is also required to be small, lightweight, and easy to operate. The conventionally adopted push buttons are shown in FIGS. 12 to 15.

The one shown in FIG. 12 is of a rubber top type, and is constituted by connecting a plurality of buttons, but for simplification, one of them is taken as a sectional view. The whole is made of transparent or semi-transparent silicon rubber, 1 is a button portion pressed by a fingertip, and is connected to a base portion 2 that is in close contact with a printed circuit board 4 via a thin return portion 3 It is an integrated structure. Reference numeral 1b is a contact on the back surface of the button portion 1, and 4a is a contact on the surface of the printed circuit board 4. When pressed, they contact each other to close the circuit.

The pressing surface on the upper surface of the button portion 1 is printed with a display 1a of numbers, characters, pictures, letters and the like. By using a non-transparent printing ink, if the light source is arranged on the back surface of the rubber top, the whole is illuminated and letters and the like are shaded, so that it can be operated even in a dark place such as at night.

The one shown in FIG. 13 is also of the rubber top type, which has the same construction as that shown in FIG.
The base portion 2 and the return portion 3 are formed, and thereafter, characters, pictures, alphanumeric characters and the like 5a are printed on the upper surface of the button portion 1 with a light-transmitting paint of a predetermined color, and the printing surface and side surface of the button portion 1 are further formed. The entire surface of the base portion 2 and the return portion 3 is coated with an opaque and laser-processable color tone to form a backlight protective coating layer 5, and finally, a backlight protective coating for characters, pictures, alphanumeric characters, etc. By incinerating the layer 5 with a laser beam to form the laser cut groove 5b, the incinerated characters and the like are illuminated and displayed when the light source is placed on the back surface of the rubber top, and can be operated even in a dark place such as at night. You can

Further, 1b is a contact point on the back surface of the button portion 1, 4
Reference numeral a denotes a contact on the surface of the printed circuit board 4, and when pressed, both are in contact with each other to close the circuit, which is similar to the example shown in FIG.

14 and 15 show a plastic button system, in which the button portion 8 is formed of a transparent plastic, and characters or the like are printed on the back surface thereof with the light transmitting paint 8a, and then the light transmitting suppressing paint 8b is applied. After coating,
The surface is bonded to the flat part of the silicon rubber cover 6 made of silicon rubber, which is lowered by one step, by the bonding surface 9. Reference numeral 4 is a printed circuit board, 4a is a contact point thereof, and 7 is a metal contact having a spring action, which electrically connects the contact points 4a when pressed. The silicone rubber cover portion 6 serves both as dustproof and dripproof with the recent miniaturization of mobile phones, and also as light guide during illumination.

The plurality of button portions 8 are formed in a continuous shape as shown in FIG. This is because the buttons are connected to each other by a branch portion 10 having a certain degree of strength in order to prevent deformation or misalignment during printing after molding, and the branch portions 10 are used to form molding materials for a plurality of button portions 8. It is filled with resin.
Characters, pictures, alphanumeric characters, etc. are printed on the respective back surfaces of the button portion 8 thus formed with the light-transmitting paint 8a of each color tone as described above, and finally, the entire back surface of the button is subjected to the previous step. The printing process is completed by printing the light transmission suppressing paint 8b of the transparent ink for suppressing the printing, and further printing the adhesive surface 9 for adhering to the surface of the silicon cover portion 6.

Thereafter, the cutting die is set in a separate process, the branch portion 10 connecting the button portions 8 is cut off to make the plurality of button portions 8 free one by one, and the process is completed.

[0012]

Of the above-mentioned three conventional switch button devices, the one shown in FIG.
Silicone rubber is used as the material for the buttons. Due to the rubber elasticity peculiar to silicon rubber, it is not possible to obtain the feel suitable for a small stroke of a mobile phone, and the printing of characters etc. is done directly on the pressing surface. However, there is a drawback that printing is erased if the operation is performed frequently or if the operation is performed with the tip of a nail or the like.

Next, the one shown in FIG. 13 is widely used and is in the mainstream at present, but it has a drawback that it has a large number of steps, takes a long time, and is expensive.

Furthermore, regarding the ones shown in FIGS.
Since there are many printing processes, it takes time until the ink dries in each printing process, and the more colors are used for printing, the more processing time it takes, and the yield including problems such as defects during drying occurs. Is a problem. Further, as described above, after the printing process is completed, it is set in a cutting die of another process, and the branch part 10 connecting the button parts 8 is cut off to make the plurality of button parts 8 free one by one. Since the printing is performed on the back side in the process, it is turned upside down. Therefore, the process is complicated in that it cannot be conveyed to the bonding process unless either branch is cut and the branch 10 is reversed, or the cut one is reversed. Have the drawback to Further, there is also a problem that the transported button is displaced on the silicon cover 6 during transportation, or an external force is applied before the adhesive is hardened to shift the position or peel off.

The present invention provides a switch button device for a telephone which solves these drawbacks, is light, thin, short and short, has improved operability, and is also effective in reducing the price.

[0016]

According to the present invention, there are provided a plurality of display surface portions, each of which is provided in an arrangement corresponding to a plurality of switches, and a support beam which supports the plurality of display surface portions. A thin plate member integrally formed with a belt-like portion that supports the support beam, and a plurality of independent button portions that are formed of transparent or semitransparent resin and press the plurality of switches, respectively, are provided. The button portion is solved by insert molding the plurality of display surface portions of the thin plate member.

Further, the above-mentioned problem can be solved by printing characters, pictures, and alphanumeric characters on the display surface portion of the thin plate member in the preceding paragraph.

Further, the above-mentioned problems are as follows in the preceding paragraph.
The thin plate member is formed of a thin metal plate, and characters, pictures, alphanumeric characters, etc. are formed on the display surface portion by half etching processing and / or etching processing that penetrates in a “blank” state. It is what is done.

The above-mentioned problems can be solved in the preceding paragraph by performing the outline cutting of the thin plate member at the same time as the half etching process and / or the etching process.

[0020]

[Function] The thin plate member formed of an ultra-thin plate material and provided with the display surface portion for displaying characters and the button portion into which the switch member is inserted can make the switch button as a whole as thin and light as possible. , Downsize. When a thin metal plate is used for the thin plate member, the outer shape can be removed by etching at the same time as the characters on the display surface and the like. Regardless of whether the thin plate member is made of metal or resin, it is possible to transmit light only to a portion such as a character, so that it can be used as an illumination type switch from the back surface.

[0021]

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention is shown in FIGS. Reference numeral 11 denotes a button portion, which is formed by arranging a plurality of thin plate members, which will be described later, by using a transparent material of polycarbonate, and arranging the thin plate members at predetermined positions. Reference numeral 12 denotes the above-mentioned thin plate member, and in this embodiment, it is formed by using a SUS material having a thickness of about 0.1 mm. This embodiment is composed of these two elements. The individual elements will be described in detail below.

A plan view of the thin plate member 12 is shown in FIG. The thin plate member 12 is arranged on a printed circuit board (not shown),
Oval display surface portions 12a are arranged at positions corresponding to the positions of a plurality of switches (not shown), and two opposite sides of the edge portions of the plurality of display surface portions 12a are connected to each other with a narrow support beam 12a.
c, each of which is supported by the support beam 12c.
It is formed in a shape connected to the strip-shaped portion 12b wider than c. In this embodiment, a total of 15 switches, three switches horizontally and five switches vertically, are arranged, so that the switches are arranged correspondingly. The shapes of the support beam portion 12c and the belt-shaped portion 12b are formed in accordance with the design contents of the place to be used, and the support beam may be provided only on one side of the display surface portion 12a depending on the case.

Reference numeral 13a denotes the display surface portion 12 of the thin plate member 12.
It is a character processed on the surface of a, and in this embodiment, it is half-etched by engraving etching as shown in the partial sectional view of FIG. 13b is a number, 1
3c is a design, and both are half-etched like the character 13a. In the etching process, the outer shape is also formed at the same time. Further, the grooves such as the characters engraved by the etching process are subjected to a process such as coloring if necessary.

The thin plate member 12 that has undergone the etching process
In the step of forming the button portion 11, is inserted and molded. That is, the front surface is larger than the projection surface of the display surface portion 12a, and the side surface is as shown in the side sectional views of FIGS.
The upper surface is thicker and the lower surface is thin, and the button portion 11 is formed around each display surface portion 12a by molding so as to cover the display portion surface 12a. A front view and a side view of the state after the molding process is shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, respectively.

Although not shown in the drawing, the usage state of the device is
Even if each button portion 11 is pressed, the display surface portion 12a in the button portion 11 is supported by the support beam 12c.
Since c has a very narrow width and the plate thickness is extremely thin, it has no influence on other buttons or switches.

In the above embodiment, characters, patterns, alphanumeric characters, etc. were processed and displayed by engraving etching processing. However, as shown in the partial sectional view of FIG. The periphery is formed as a recessed portion 13d by half-etching with a constant area, and a character,
It is also possible to leave the pattern, alphanumeric characters and the like 13e without etching, and to make it visible by embossing.

Alternatively, as shown in the partial sectional view of FIG. 8, with respect to a predetermined portion of the display surface portion 12a of the metal thin plate member 12,
Characters, patterns, alphanumeric characters, etc. 13f by etching processing
It may be displayed by penetrating through, and in this case, a special effect can be obtained by illuminating by placing a light source on the back surface.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the display surface portion 12a of the thin metal plate member 12 has a state in which characters, patterns, alphanumeric characters and the like 13f are penetrated and removed by etching, and characters, patterns, and English. The area around a number or the like is formed as a recessed portion 13d by half-etching processing in a certain area, and letters, patterns, alphanumeric characters 13e, etc. are left in the recessed area without being etched, and are in an embossed state. It is also possible to mix the three with the state of 13a by engraving half-etching, or to mix the two of the three with each other, and any of them can obtain a unique effect. .

In some cases, if a light source on the back surface is not used for illumination, characters or the like may be printed on the display surface portion 12a of the thin plate member 12 formed of a metal thin plate by silk printing or the like as shown in FIG. It is also possible to display 13 g.

Further, in the example of FIG. 11, the periphery of the characters, patterns, alphanumeric characters, etc. is formed as a recessed portion 13d of half etching processing in a constant area, and the character,
When the pattern, alphanumeric characters, etc. 13e are left without being etched and are made to be embossed, an etching mask film of a predetermined color is used, and it is displayed as characters 13h by remaining after the half etching process. Moreover, in this case, it is possible to realize two colors by mixing the character, the pattern, the alphanumeric character 13f, etc., which are penetrated and removed.

In the above embodiments, the thin plate members 12 are all metal thin plates, but other thin plates such as plastics can be used. In this case, a transparent material can be used. You can get what works. In this case, the printing may be performed with opaque characters or the like, or the characters and the like may be transparent and the surroundings may be opaque, which is suitable for an illumination type using transmitted light.

Further, although the above embodiments have been described mainly for a telephone, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to an electronic device other than a telephone.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the switch button device is made of the plastic which is insert-molded with an extremely thin thin plate member which is printed or etched, a plurality of switches such as telephones are required. It is possible to realize an ultra-thin and compact switch button device that is effective for use in electronic devices.

Further, since a plurality of button portions can be integrally formed, improvement can be expected in terms of assembly and quality.

Further, when characters or the like on the display surface of the thin plate member are printed, it is possible to realize multi-color printing and the printing can be performed by a general printing method, so that the cost is low.

When the thin plate member is a metal thin plate, the characters and the like can be displayed by half etching, and a unique effect can be obtained. Moreover, since the outer shape of the thin plate member can be formed at the same time by etching, a die for removing the outer shape is not required, and the cost can be reduced. This enables switch layouts such as switch intervals of a plurality of designs without investment in stamping dies and the like, which is a great advantage in terms of development cost and period.

When the thin plate member is made of a metal thin plate, it is possible to use the insert-molded button as an illuminated switch from the back side by finishing the etching by penetrating the display of characters and the like. It is possible to mix these with the characters and the like by the half etching process, and various effects can be obtained.

Further, by using a thin metal plate as the thin plate member and grounding this, it is possible to prevent static electricity entering from the button portion.

When the thin plate member is a resin thin plate, it is made of a transparent material or a semi-transparent material, and characters and the like are printed with opaque ink, so that the button formed by insert molding the button is illuminated from the back surface. Can be used as Alternatively, it is also possible to obtain a unique effect by transmitting only the characters and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1 of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a B-B portion in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a thin plate member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a display surface portion of a thin plate member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a display surface portion of a thin plate member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a display surface portion of a thin plate member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the display surface portion of the thin plate member according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the display surface portion of the thin plate member according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the display surface portion of the thin plate member according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory sectional view of a conventional switch button device.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory sectional view of a conventional switch button device.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory sectional view of a conventional switch button device.

FIG. 15 is a front view of a conventional switch button device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Button Part 12 Thin Plate Member 12a Display Surface Part (of Thin Plate Member) 12b (Sheet Member) Strip Part 12c Support Beam 13a Character 13b Number 13c Picture

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A thin plate member in which a plurality of display surface portions respectively provided in an arrangement corresponding to a plurality of switches, a support beam that supports the plurality of display surface portions, and a strip portion that supports the support beams are integrated. And a plurality of independent button portions formed of transparent or semi-transparent resin and pressing the plurality of switches, respectively, the plurality of independent button portions include the plurality of display surface portions of the thin plate member. A switch button device, which is formed by insert molding. 2. The switch button device according to claim 1, wherein characters, pictures, alphanumeric characters and the like are provided on the display surface portion of the thin plate member by printing. 3. The thin plate member is formed of a metal thin plate,
2. The switch button device according to claim 1, wherein characters, patterns, alphanumeric characters, etc. are formed on the display surface portion by half etching processing and / or etching processing that penetrates in a “blank” state. . 4. The switch button device according to claim 3, wherein the outline cutting of the thin plate member is performed simultaneously with the half etching process and / or the etching process.