Keyboard

Abstract

The invention discloses a keyboard, and relates to the technical field of man-machine interaction. The keyboard comprises a communication module, a main control circuit and a plurality of keyboard keys, the keyboard keys are made of sensitive materials which can generate physical characteristic changes during manual operation, and the physical characteristics comprise electrical characteristics, optical characteristics, thermal characteristics and / or mechanical characteristics. The main control circuit is used for detecting physical characteristic change conditions of the plurality of keyboard keys in real time and determining operated keys in the plurality of keyboard keys according to the physical characteristic change conditions, and the communication module is used for transmitting unique identification information of the operated keys to target input equipment in real time. Therefore, the keyboard keys can be made to be very small (for example, 5 * 5 mm), a keyboard input function can be provided, the purposes of miniaturization and convenience in carrying of keyboard products are achieved, and practical application and popularization are facilitated.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of human-computer interaction, and in particular relates to a keyboard. Background Art

[0002] Currently, electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones need to realize human-computer interaction, and are generally equipped with keyboards for interactive input.

[0003] Existing keyboards have the following disadvantages:

[0004] (1) Large size. Especially with the development of mobile phone technology (mobile phones tend to replace devices such as laptops and desktops), mobile phones can be made very small, but the input devices are large, which restricts the development of mobile phone technology;

[0005] (2) Some existing input methods that use technologies such as light projection are immature, have high error rates, are inaccurate, consume a lot of power, and are not practical;

[0006] (3) The existing input methods such as touch screen mobile phones and computers cannot replace the advantages of keyboards because they interfere with outputs such as displays and have been in practice for a long time;

[0007] (4) Existing input methods such as voice input and artificial intelligence are still immature. Summary of the invention

[0008] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a keyboard to solve the problems of large size and inconvenience in carrying of existing keyboards.

[0009] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0010] In a first aspect, a keyboard is provided, comprising a communication module, a main control circuit and a plurality of keyboard keys, wherein the keyboard keys are made of a sensitive material that produces a change in physical properties when manually operated, and the physical properties include electrical properties, optical properties, thermal properties and / or mechanical properties;

[0011] The main control circuit is connected to the plurality of keyboard keys respectively, and is used to detect changes in physical characteristics of the plurality of keyboard keys in real time, and determine an operated key among the plurality of keyboard keys according to the changes in the physical characteristics;

[0012] The communication module is connected to the main control circuit and is used to transmit the unique identification information of the operated key to the target input device in real time.

[0013] Based on the above invention content, a new keyboard solution is provided, which is conducive to achieving product miniaturization, namely, it includes a communication module, a main control circuit and multiple keyboard keys, wherein the keyboard keys are made of sensitive materials that will produce changes in physical properties when manually operated, and the physical properties include electrical properties, optical properties, thermal properties and / or mechanical properties. The main control circuit is used to detect the changes in the physical properties of the multiple keyboard keys in real time, and determine the operated key among the multiple keyboard keys according to the changes in the physical properties. The communication module is used to transmit the unique identification information of the operated key to the target input device in real time, so that the keyboard keys can be made very small (for example, 5×5mm) and can provide keyboard input function, thereby achieving the purpose of miniaturization of keyboard products and convenient carrying, and facilitating practical application and promotion.

[0014] In a possible design, the sensitive material includes a photosensitive material and / or a pressure-sensitive material.

[0015] In a possible design, when the sensitive material includes a photosensitive material, the keyboard keys use changes in electrical properties of a photoresistor as corresponding changes in physical properties.

[0016] In a possible design, when the keyboard is divided into a plurality of keyboard partitions and each keyboard partition includes at least two keyboard keys, at least two photoresistors corresponding to the at least two keyboard keys are connected in parallel;

[0017] Detecting changes in physical properties of the plurality of keyboard keys in real time, and determining an operated key among the plurality of keyboard keys according to the changes in physical properties, comprises:

[0018] Power on and scan each keyboard partition in real time to obtain the regional current size of each keyboard partition;

[0019] For each keyboard partition, the operated key among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys is determined according to the corresponding regional current size.

[0020] In a possible design, for each keyboard partition, determining the operated key among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys according to the corresponding regional current size includes:

[0021] For each keyboard partition, the corresponding regional current size is imported into a key operation recognition model pre-established based on the corresponding key operation test results, and the unique identification information of the operated key among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys is output, wherein the key operation test results include the regional current size when the keyboard key is not operated and the regional current size when any keyboard key and any combination of keyboard keys are manually operated.

[0022] In a possible design, a resistor is connected in series between the connection ends of two adjacent photoresistors on the same side of the at least two photoresistors or the connection ends are connected via a conductive rubber cable.

[0023] In a possible design, when the connection ends of the same side of the two adjacent photoresistors are connected by a conductive rubber cable, a plastic base film that is fold-resistant and has the same area and shape as the keyboard is also included. The conductive rubber cable is laid on the plastic base film, and insulating glue is filled between the two conductive rubber cables that are not connected, and the width of the conductive rubber cable is less than half the width of the corresponding keyboard partition.

[0024] In a possible design, the photoresistor adopts an inverse photoresistor module including a first sub-resistor, a second sub-resistor, a photosensitive sub-resistor and a transistor, wherein one end of the first sub-resistor is used to connect to the positive electrode of the power supply, the other end of the first sub-resistor is respectively connected to one end of the photosensitive sub-resistor and the base of the transistor, the other end of the photosensitive sub-resistor is connected to the emitter of the transistor and is used to connect to the negative electrode of the power supply, the collector of the transistor is connected to one end of the second sub-resistor, and the other end of the second sub-resistor is used to measure the current together with the negative electrode connection end of the power supply;

[0025] A resistor is connected in series in the parallel branch to which the photoresistor belongs.

[0026] In a possible design, the communication module adopts a Bluetooth module.

[0027] In a possible design, a battery module is also included for supplying power to the communication module, the main control circuit and the keyboard keys.

[0028] Beneficial effects of the above scheme:

[0029] (1) The present invention provides a novel keyboard solution that is conducive to achieving product miniaturization, namely, it includes a communication module, a main control circuit and a plurality of keyboard keys, wherein the keyboard keys are made of a sensitive material that will produce physical property changes when manually operated, and the physical properties include electrical properties, optical properties, thermal properties and / or mechanical properties. The main control circuit is used to detect the physical property changes of the plurality of keyboard keys in real time, and determine the operated key among the plurality of keyboard keys according to the physical property changes. The communication module is used to transmit the unique identification information of the operated key to the target input device in real time. In this way, the keyboard keys can be made very small (for example, 5×5 mm) and can provide keyboard input function, thereby achieving the purpose of miniaturization of keyboard products and convenient carrying, and facilitating practical application and promotion.

[0030] (2) The keyboard can be made very thin and light, foldable and easy to carry, which completely solves the problem that electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers are getting smaller and more portable, but their input devices (keyboards) cannot be easily carried;

[0031] (3) It is also possible to maintain a large difference in the identification resistance of each key, which facilitates the establishment of a key operation identification model and improves the accuracy of model identification. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0033] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the principle structure of a keyboard provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0034] Figure 2 This is an example diagram of keyboard partitions provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the parallel structure of some photoresistors in a keyboard provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the circuit structure of a reverse photoresistor module provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a parallel structure of some photoresistors in a keyboard based on a reverse photoresistor module provided by an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the present invention will be briefly introduced below in combination with the drawings and the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the following description of the structures of the drawings is only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other embodiments can be obtained based on these embodiments without creative work. It should be noted that the description of these embodiments is used to help understand the present invention, but does not constitute a limitation of the present invention.

[0039] It should be understood that although the terms first and second, etc. may be used herein to describe various objects, these objects should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one object from another object. For example, a first object can be referred to as a second object, and similarly, a second object can be referred to as a first object without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

[0040] It should be understood that the term "and / or" that may appear in this document is merely a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that there may be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can indicate three situations: A exists alone, B exists alone, or A and B exist at the same time. For another example, A, B and / or C can indicate the existence of any one of A, B and C or any combination of them. The term " / and" that may appear in this document describes another type of association object relationship, indicating that there may be two relationships. For example, A / and B can indicate two situations: A exists alone or A and B exist at the same time. In addition, the character " / " that may appear in this document generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0041] Embodiment 1

[0042] like Figures 1 to 3 As shown, the keyboard provided in this embodiment includes but is not limited to a communication module, a main control circuit and multiple keyboard keys, wherein the keyboard keys are made of sensitive materials that will produce changes in physical properties when manually operated, and the physical properties include but are not limited to electrical properties, optical properties, thermal properties and / or mechanical properties; the main control circuit is respectively connected to the multiple keyboard keys, and is used to detect the changes in the physical properties of the multiple keyboard keys in real time, and determine the operated key among the multiple keyboard keys according to the changes in the physical properties; the communication module is connected to the main control circuit, and is used to transmit the unique identification information of the operated key to the target input device in real time.

[0043] like Figures 1 to 3 As shown, in the specific structure of the keyboard, the communication module can specifically, but not limited to, transmit the unique identification information of the operated key in real time to a target input device such as a computer, mobile phone, server or other electronic device through wireless communication methods such as Bluetooth, Star Flash, WiFi, 2.4G, 5.0G or any self-developed wireless communication or wired communication methods, so as to realize the keyboard input function (that is, to achieve the purpose of human-computer interaction such as data interaction). For example, the communication module adopts a Bluetooth module. The keyboard keys are used for manual operation to determine the information to be input, such as Figure 2As shown, specifically but not limited to character keys and / or shortcut keys, etc., which can be made very small and thin, for example, the size is 5×5mm and the thickness is 0.1mm. Specifically, the sensitive material includes but is not limited to photosensitive materials and / or pressure-sensitive materials, etc., wherein the photosensitive material will undergo obvious physical property changes before and after natural light or artificial light is irradiated and the light is blocked, for example, the photoresistor has a smaller resistance when there is light irradiation, and a larger resistance when there is no light irradiation; the pressure-sensitive material will also undergo obvious physical property changes before and after being touched or tapped, so the operated key among the multiple keyboard keys can be determined based on these physical property changes. In detail, the electrical properties include but are not limited to any single property such as resistance, capacitance, inductance, current and voltage or any combination thereof, the optical properties include but are not limited to any single property such as refractive index and light intensity or any combination thereof, the thermal properties include but are not limited to any single property such as temperature, specific heat and thermal conductivity or any combination thereof, and the mechanical properties include but are not limited to any single property such as pressure, strength and stiffness coefficient or any combination thereof. Specifically, when the sensitive material includes a photosensitive material, the keyboard keys use the changes in the electrical characteristics of the photoresistor as the corresponding changes in the physical characteristics. In addition, the keyboard may also include a battery module for powering the communication module, the main control circuit and the keyboard keys, wherein the battery module may be a No. 7 battery, a button battery or a rechargeable battery for regular replacement.

[0044] Specifically, when the keyboard is divided into a plurality of keyboard partitions and each keyboard partition includes at least two keyboard keys, at least two photoresistors corresponding to the at least two keyboard keys are connected in parallel. Figure 2 As shown, the keyboard can be divided into twelve keyboard partitions, wherein keyboard partition 10 and keyboard partition 12 each include five keyboard keys, and the parallel circuit structure of five photoresistors corresponding to the five keyboard keys is as shown in FIG. Figure 3 As shown, when each / part of the keyboard keys are operated, there will be different changes in electrical characteristics due to the shading effect, ensuring that the operated keys (which can be one or multiple keys at the same time) can be accurately determined based on these changes in electrical characteristics. In addition, the keyboard is divided into partitions only for the convenience of wiring and resistance identification, and has no special meaning; in actual engineering implementation, the partitions can be adjusted according to the wiring design requirements and the resistance identification sensitivity (differences in resistance of various keys) (even if the wiring is convenient, each key can be used as a partition). Such wiring can make the resistance of each key differ greatly, which is convenient for operation and identification.

[0045] The hardware structure of the main control circuit can be implemented by, but not limited to, the existing control chip and its peripheral circuits. Specifically, the physical property changes of the multiple keyboard keys are detected in real time, and the operated keys among the multiple keyboard keys are determined according to the physical property changes, including but not limited to the following steps: first, each keyboard partition is powered on and scanned in real time to obtain the regional current size of each keyboard partition; then, for each keyboard partition, the operated keys among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys are determined according to the corresponding regional current size. The specific method of the aforementioned power-on scanning to obtain the regional current size of each keyboard partition can be implemented by the existing conventional current acquisition technology. In detail, for each keyboard partition, the operated keys among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys are determined according to the corresponding regional current size, including but not limited to: for each keyboard partition, the corresponding regional current size is imported into the key operation recognition model established in advance based on the corresponding key operation test results, and the unique identification information of the operated keys among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys is output, wherein the key operation test results include but are not limited to the regional current size when the keyboard keys are not operated and the regional current size when any keyboard key and any keyboard key combination are manually operated. The aforementioned key operation recognition model is a mapping model between the operation key and the regional current size, which can be established based on the key operation test results. Since the recognition accuracy of the key operation recognition model is positively correlated with the degree of obvious changes in electrical characteristics, in order to further present significantly different changes in electrical characteristics to improve the recognition accuracy of the key operation recognition model, preferably, a resistor is connected in series between the connection ends on the same side of two adjacent photoresistors in the at least two photoresistors or connected by a conductive rubber cable, such as Figure 3As shown, a resistor is connected in series between the upper connection ends of the two adjacent photoresistors, and a resistor is also connected in series between the lower connection ends of the two adjacent photoresistors. At the same time, since the resistance of the conductive rubber is relatively large, a conductive rubber cable can be used to replace the resistor in series to reduce the required components. In addition, in detail, when the connection ends on the same side of the two adjacent photoresistors are connected by a conductive rubber cable, a plastic bottom film that is foldable and has the same area and shape as the keyboard is also included. The conductive rubber cable is laid on the plastic bottom film, and an insulating glue is filled between the two conductive rubber cables that are not connected, and the width of the conductive rubber cable is less than half of the width of the corresponding keyboard partition, so that all the photoresistors of the corresponding keyboard partition are connected in parallel between the two conductive rubber cables; for example, if the thickness of the plastic bottom film is 0.1mm, the thickness of the conductive rubber cable is 0.1mm, and the thickness of the photoresistor is 0.3mm, then after all the keys (i.e., photoresistors), wires and bottom films are glued together, the total thickness of the entire keyboard product is 0.5mm, which is very light and thin and can be folded at will, and is very convenient to carry.

[0046] In summary, the keyboard provided by this embodiment has the following technical effects:

[0047] (1) This embodiment provides a new keyboard solution that is conducive to achieving product miniaturization, that is, it includes a communication module, a main control circuit and a plurality of keyboard keys, wherein the keyboard keys are made of a sensitive material that will produce physical property changes when manually operated, and the physical properties include electrical properties, optical properties, thermal properties and / or mechanical properties. The main control circuit is used to detect the physical property changes of the plurality of keyboard keys in real time, and determine the operated key among the plurality of keyboard keys according to the physical property changes. The communication module is used to transmit the unique identification information of the operated key to the target input device in real time. In this way, the keyboard keys can be made very small (for example, 5×5 mm) and can provide keyboard input functions, thereby achieving the purpose of miniaturization of keyboard products and convenient carrying, and facilitating practical application and promotion;

[0048] (2) The keyboard can be made very thin and light, foldable and easy to carry, which completely solves the problem that electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers are getting smaller and more portable, but their input devices (keyboards) cannot be easily carried.

[0049] Embodiment 2

[0050] Based on the technical solution of the first embodiment, this embodiment also provides another keyboard that is conducive to the establishment of a key operation recognition model and improves the accuracy of model recognition. The difference between the keyboard and the first embodiment is that the photoresistor adopts an inverse photoresistor module including a first sub-resistor R1, a second sub-resistor R2, a photosensitive sub-resistor R3 and a transistor Q1, wherein one end of the first sub-resistor R1 is used to connect to the positive electrode of the power supply, and the other end of the first sub-resistor R1 is respectively connected to one end of the photosensitive sub-resistor R3 and the base of the transistor Q1, and the other end of the photosensitive sub-resistor R3 is connected to the emitter of the transistor Q1 and is used to connect to the negative electrode of the power supply, and the collector of the transistor Q1 is connected to one end of the second sub-resistor R2, and the other end of the second sub-resistor R2 is used to measure the current together with the negative electrode connection end of the power supply; a resistor R4 is connected in series in the parallel branch to which the photoresistor belongs. Figures 4-5 As shown, considering that the photoresistor is turned on under light and blocked (or the resistance increases significantly) under no light (i.e. when the finger hits the keyboard and covers the photoresistor), therefore, when no key is pressed, the circuit is in the on state. In the same area, the resistance difference when different keys are pressed, several keys are pressed, or no key is pressed is small, making it difficult to establish a key operation recognition model with high recognition accuracy. However, through the specific design of the aforementioned reverse photoresistor module, the entire reverse photoresistor module can be made to have the characteristics of light blocking (or resistance greatly increased) and no light conduction (such as Figure 4 As shown, the specific working principle is: under light conditions, the resistance of the photoresistor R3 is small, and the voltage between the base and the emitter of the transistor Q1 is small, so that the collector and the emitter are not turned on; when the key is pressed, the finger covers the photoresistor, there is no light, the resistance of the photoresistor R3 is large, the voltage between the base and the emitter is large, and the collector and the emitter are turned on; after the key is turned on, the current passing through the second sub-resistor R2 is different, and then it can be determined whether the key is pressed based on the current difference), and when the second word resistor R2 in the inverse photoresistor module is unified as a fixed resistance value, by configuring different identification button resistors R4 in the circuit, the identification resistances of each key can be kept relatively different, which is convenient for establishing a key operation recognition model and improving the model recognition accuracy.

[0051] In summary, the other keyboard provided in this embodiment has the following technical effects based on the technical effects of the first embodiment:

[0052] (1) It is also possible to maintain a large difference in the identification resistance of each key, which facilitates the establishment of a key operation identification model and improves the accuracy of model identification.

[0053] Finally, it should be noted that the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A keyboard, characterized in that: It includes a communication module, a main control circuit and a plurality of keyboard keys, wherein the keyboard keys are made of a sensitive material that will produce a change in physical properties when manually operated, and the physical properties include electrical properties, optical properties, thermal properties and / or mechanical properties; The main control circuit is connected to the plurality of keyboard keys respectively, and is used to detect changes in physical characteristics of the plurality of keyboard keys in real time, and determine an operated key among the plurality of keyboard keys according to the changes in the physical characteristics; The communication module is connected to the main control circuit and is used to transmit the unique identification information of the operated key to the target input device in real time.

2. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein: The sensitive material includes a photosensitive material and / or a pressure-sensitive material.

3. The keyboard according to claim 2, characterized in that When the sensitive material includes a photosensitive material, the keyboard keys use changes in electrical properties of photoresistors as corresponding changes in physical properties.

4. The keyboard according to claim 3, characterized in that When the keyboard is divided into a plurality of keyboard partitions and each keyboard partition includes at least two keyboard keys, at least two photoresistors corresponding to the at least two keyboard keys are connected in parallel; Detecting changes in physical properties of the plurality of keyboard keys in real time, and determining an operated key among the plurality of keyboard keys according to the changes in physical properties, comprises: Power on and scan each keyboard partition in real time to obtain the regional current size of each keyboard partition; For each keyboard partition, the operated key among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys is determined according to the corresponding regional current size.

5. The keyboard according to claim 4, characterized in that For each keyboard partition, determining the operated key among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys according to the corresponding regional current size includes: For each keyboard partition, the corresponding regional current size is imported into a key operation recognition model pre-established based on the corresponding key operation test results, and the unique identification information of the operated key among the corresponding at least two keyboard keys is output, wherein the key operation test results include the regional current size when the keyboard key is not operated and the regional current size when any keyboard key and any combination of keyboard keys are manually operated.

6. The keyboard according to claim 4, characterized in that A resistor is connected in series between the connection ends of two adjacent photoresistors in the at least two photoresistors on the same side or the connection ends are connected through a conductive rubber cable.

7. The keyboard according to claim 6, wherein: When the connection ends of the same side of the two adjacent photoresistors are connected by a conductive rubber cable, a plastic base film which is fold-resistant and has the same area and shape as the keyboard is also included. The conductive rubber cable is laid on the plastic base film, and insulating glue is filled between the two conductive rubber cables that are not connected, and the width of the conductive rubber cable is less than half the width of the corresponding keyboard partition.

8. The keyboard according to claim 4, characterized in that The photoresistor adopts an inverse photoresistor module including a first sub-resistor (R1), a second sub-resistor (R2), a photosensitive sub-resistor (R3) and a transistor (Q1), wherein one end of the first sub-resistor (R1) is used to connect to the positive electrode of a power supply, the other end of the first sub-resistor (R1) is respectively connected to one end of the photosensitive sub-resistor (R3) and the base of the transistor (Q1), the other end of the photosensitive sub-resistor (R3) is connected to the emitter of the transistor (Q1) and is used to connect to the negative electrode of the power supply, the collector of the transistor (Q1) is connected to one end of the second sub-resistor (R2), and the other end of the second sub-resistor (R2) is used to measure the current together with the negative electrode connection end of the power supply; A resistor (R4) is connected in series in the parallel branch of the photoresistor.

9. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein: The communication module adopts a Bluetooth module.

10. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein: It also includes a battery module for supplying power to the communication module, the main control circuit and the keyboard keys.

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