Keys and keyboards

The keyboard uses a magnetic angle sensor and spiral guide mechanism to address detection inconsistencies and structural complexity, ensuring accurate and temperature-resistant keypress detection with a compact and user-friendly design.

CN114204931BActive Publication Date: 2025-07-15QUANZHOU KTSENSE MICROELECTRONICS CO LTD
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Patent Information

Application Number
CN202111610754.5
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Patents(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2021-12-27
Publication Date
2025-07-15
Estimated Expiration
2041-12-27

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

The magnetic sensor detection scheme of existing keyboards is easily affected by external environmental factors such as temperature, resulting in inconsistent detection results and inconsistent key performance. The detection fails when continuously pressing, the size or size of the key is too large, and the difficulty of pressing is high.

Method used

A magnetic angle sensor is used to detect the rotation of the permanent magnet, and the transmission connection between the moving part and the rotating part is realized through the coordination between the spiral guide rail and the guide part, and the pitch of the spiral guide rail is adjusted to adjust the stroke ratio. The rotating part and the moving part are directly driven, and the magnetic angle sensor is installed on the same circuit board.

Benefits of technology

It improves the accuracy and consistency of button detection, reduces the temperature impact, improves the flexibility of button pressing, reduces the volume, simplifies the structure, and has good economicality.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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  • Figure CN114204931B_ABST
    Figure CN114204931B_ABST
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Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of keyboards, and provides a key and a keyboard. The key includes a base body, a moving member movably mounted on the base body along a preset trajectory, a rotating member rotatably mounted on the base body, and a magnetic angle sensor fixed to the base body. The pressing portion of the key is located on the moving member; the rotation axis of the rotating member is along a first direction, the preset trajectory extends along the first direction, and the moving member and the rotating member are in transmission connection through the cooperation of a spiral guide rail and a guiding portion. The guiding portion is movable along the spiral guide rail. The two ends of the spiral guide rail along the first direction are respectively a first end and a second end. The spiral guide rail spirally extends from the first end around the axis of the rotating member to the second end; the spiral guide rail is located on the rotating member, and the guiding portion is located on the moving member; the rotating member has a permanent magnet, and the magnetic angle sensor is used to detect the rotation of the permanent magnet. The key of the present invention has a simple structure, a small volume / size, flexible pressing, good economy, and accurate detection of pressing actions.
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Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of keyboards, and more particularly to a key and a keyboard. Background Art

[0002] Some existing keyboards use magnetic sensors to detect the pressing actions of keys. A relatively common solution is to install a permanent magnet on the key. The permanent magnet moves synchronously with the keycap of the key, and a Hall switch is used to sense the movement of the permanent magnet. In this way, the detection of the pressing action of the keycap can be achieved in a non-contact manner, which has beneficial technical effects such as waterproof, dustproof, and reduced mechanical wear.

[0003] The Hall switch has two states: triggered and untriggered. When the keycap is in the up state (the keycap is at the initial position), the Hall switch is in the untriggered state. At this time, when the keycap is pressed until the permanent magnet approaches the Hall switch, the Hall switch is triggered, so that the keycap being pressed can be detected through the Hall switch.

[0004] However, when operating the keyboard quickly, the keycap may be pressed again before it is fully bounced up (not returned to the initial position). During this process, the Hall switch may always be in the triggered state. Therefore, no matter how continuously the keycap is pressed at this time, the pressing action cannot be detected by the Hall switch.

[0005] In addition, some existing keyboards use linear magnetic sensors to detect the pressing actions of keys. For example, the Chinese patent application with the publication number CN108415578A outputs a linear signal through a magnetic sensor and detects the pressing action of the keycap according to this linear signal.

[0006] However, the magnetic sensors (Hall switches, linear magnetic sensors) in the above solutions all detect the pressing actions of keycaps by sensing the intensity of the magnetic field. On the one hand, since the detection of the magnetic field intensity by the magnetic sensor is easily interfered by external environmental factors such as temperature (commonly known as temperature drift), the detection results of the magnetic sensor for the same intensity magnetic field in different temperature environments will be inconsistent, resulting in inconsistent use performance of the keyboard in different temperature environments. And because the keyboard will generate heat during use, obvious performance changes will also occur during high-intensity use such as games. Especially in the solution using a Hall sensor to detect the pressing action of the keycap, due to the high power consumption of the Hall sensor, the temperature of the keyboard will increase significantly after continuous use for a certain period of time, resulting in large changes in the performance of the keyboard during use, which cannot meet the user's requirements for the performance of the keyboard.

[0007] On the other hand, due to the possible errors in the detection of magnetic field strength by magnetic sensors, the performance consistency of different magnetic sensors in detecting magnetic field strength is poor. Even magnetic sensors produced in the same batch may have different performances, and the detection results of each magnetic sensor for the same strength magnetic field may be inconsistent. This results in that in the scheme where the keyboard detects the magnetic field strength by detecting the keycap pressing action of each key through the magnetic sensor, some keys may be detected as being pressed by the magnetic sensor when the keycaps are pressed a small part of the stroke, while other keys may not be detected as being pressed until the keycaps are pressed most of the stroke, resulting in a poor user experience. In addition, since the magnetic field strength of the permanent magnet itself also has an error range, the magnetic field strength of the permanent magnets set on each keycap is also inconsistent, which may further aggravate the inconsistency in the performance of each key on the same keyboard.

[0008] In addition, a Chinese utility model patent with publication number CN208890780U discloses a new type of key for the purpose of detecting the key depth state and having good signal linearity. The scheme adopts a rotating magnetic field sensor to detect the key pressing depth state and improve the signal linearity; however, the scheme adopts a gear rack transmission method. At this time, if the diameter of the gear is set too large, the volume / size of the key will be too large, resulting in fewer applicable scenarios for the new type of key; if the diameter of the gear is set too small, it will cause the gear to be more difficult to drive. At this time, a greater pressing force is required to press the key, resulting in the key pressing movement being not flexible enough. Summary of the invention

[0009] One of the purposes of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned defects of the prior art and to provide a key that can accurately detect the movement of a moving part, has a small volume / size, and is easier to press.

[0010] The key provided by the present invention includes a base, a moving part movably installed on the base along a preset trajectory, a rotating part rotatably installed on the base and a magnetic angle sensor fixed to the base, the pressing part of the key is located on the moving part; the rotation axis of the rotating part is along a first direction, the preset trajectory extends along the first direction, the moving part and the rotating part are transmission connected through the cooperation of a spiral guide rail and a guide part, the guide part is movable along the spiral guide rail, the two ends of the spiral guide rail along the first direction are respectively a first end and a second end, the spiral guide rail spirally extends from the first end around the rotation axis of the rotating part to the second end; the spiral guide rail is located on the rotating part, and the guide part is located on the moving part; and / or the spiral guide rail is located on the moving part, and the guide part is located on the rotating part; the rotating part has a permanent magnet, and the magnetic angle sensor is used to detect the rotation of the permanent magnet.

[0011] As can be seen from the above, on the one hand, in this solution, the movement of the moving part is indirectly detected by detecting the rotation of the permanent magnet through the magnetic angle sensor, and then the pressing action of the pressing part is detected. In this way, not only can the non-contact detection of the pressing action be achieved, but also, compared with the prior art solution of detecting the pressing action by the magnetic sensor sensing the magnetic field strength, since the detection performance of the magnetic angle sensor is not easily affected by environmental factors such as temperature, the detection result of the magnetic angle sensor in this solution is not easily changed with the temperature. The detection results of the magnetic angle sensor in this solution have good consistency in different temperature environments. Therefore, the detection result of the magnetic angle sensor in this solution can more accurately reflect the situation of the pressing part being pressed. The detection of whether the pressing part is pressed in the present invention is not easily affected by external environmental factors such as temperature, and when the pressing part is continuously pressed when it is not fully reset, the pressing action can still be detected. The present invention can accurately detect the situation of the pressing part being pressed, and the user experience is good; moreover, since the detection result of the magnetic angle sensor is not easily affected by environmental factors such as temperature and the detection accuracy of the magnetic angle sensor is better, when multiple keys of this solution are used to detect the same magnetic field, the consistency of the detection results is good. When this solution is applied to a keyboard, the performance consistency of each key is good.

[0012] On the other hand, in this solution, only by adjusting the pitch of the spiral guide rail can the proportional relationship between the moving stroke of the moving part and the rotating stroke of the rotating part be adjusted. When adjusting the proportional relationship between the two strokes in this solution, there will be no obvious change in the volume / size of the key. Therefore, in this embodiment, the pitch of the spiral guide rail can be set to ensure the flexibility of key pressing to a greater extent without worrying about causing an increase in the volume / size of the key, which is beneficial to reducing the pressing difficulty of pressing the key, improving the flexibility of the key pressing movement, reducing the size / volume of the key, expanding the applicable scenario range of the key, and ensuring that the key is suitable for application to the keyboard described later.

[0013] In addition, since the rotating part and the moving part are directly driven, it is relatively easy to press the moving part, and the key movement is relatively flexible.

[0014] A preferred solution is that the number of the spiral guide rail and the guiding part in cooperation is at least two groups distributed along the circumferential direction of the rotating part.

[0015] As can be seen from the above, this is beneficial to the stable transmission between the rotating part and the moving part.

[0016] Another preferred solution is that the magnetic angle sensor includes a magnetoresistive sensing element.

[0017] As can be seen from the above, in this way, the power consumption of the magnetic angle sensor is relatively low, which is further beneficial to reducing the influence of changes in environmental factors such as temperature on the detection performance of the pressing action.

[0018] Another preferred solution is that the magnetic angle sensor is located on one side of the rotating member along the first direction.

[0019] As can be seen from the above, on the one hand, the magnetic angle sensor is placed along the axis compared with the permanent magnet. In this way, the existing general magnetic angle sensor can be used in this solution, which is beneficial to improving the versatility of the magnetic angle sensor and the economy of the keys in this solution. On the other hand, when the keys in this solution are applied to a keyboard, the magnetic angle sensors of each key can be arranged on the same circuit board, which is beneficial to simplifying the structure of the keyboard and improving the economy of the keyboard.

[0020] Another preferred solution is that the distribution direction of the south pole and the north pole of the permanent magnet is perpendicular to the first direction, the rotation axis of the rotating member passes through the center position of the permanent magnet and also passes through the magnetic angle sensor.

[0021] Another preferred solution is that one of the rotating member and the moving member has a transmission cylinder, and the other has a transmission shaft, and the transmission cylinder is sleeved on the outer periphery of the transmission shaft.

[0022] As can be seen from the above, this is beneficial to the compact structure of the key, further beneficial to reducing the volume / size of the key, and further beneficial to the miniaturization of the key.

[0023] The inner contour shape of the cross-section of the normal line of the transmission cylinder along the first direction is circular, the inner contour shape of the cross-section of the normal line of the transmission shaft along the first direction is circular, and the transmission cylinder and the transmission shaft are rotatably and slidably matched.

[0024] As can be seen from the above, this is further beneficial to the stable transmission between the rotating member and the moving member.

[0025] A further solution is that the spiral guide rail is arranged on the cylinder wall of the transmission cylinder, and the guiding part extends from the transmission shaft to the spiral guide rail; or the spiral guide rail is arranged on the transmission shaft, and the guiding part extends from the transmission cylinder to the spiral guide rail.

[0026] Another preferred solution is that it further includes a pre-tightening and returning member, and the moving member is kept at the initial position under the action of the pre-tightening and returning member; and when the moving member leaves the initial position along the preset trajectory, the acting force of the pre-tightening and returning member tends to force the moving member to return to the initial position along the preset trajectory.

[0027] A further solution is that the spiral guide rail includes a spiral surface inclined towards the first direction, and the spiral surface abuts against the guiding part under the action of the pre-tightening and returning member.

[0028] Another preferred solution is that the spiral guide rail includes a spiral groove, the spiral groove has a first spiral surface and a second spiral surface arranged oppositely, both the first spiral surface and the second spiral surface extend spirally around the rotation axis of the rotating member, and along the first direction, the guiding part is fitted between the corresponding first spiral surface and the second spiral surface.

[0029] As can be seen from the above, when the moving part reciprocates along the preset trajectory, the cooperation between the spiral guide rail and the guiding part can ensure that the rotating part and the corresponding moving part move synchronously according to their respective laws, without separately providing a pre-tightening part for the rotating part (such as the pre-tightening torsion spring in the third embodiment). This is beneficial to reducing the number of pre-tightening parts and further simplifies the structure of the key.

[0030] The second object of the present invention is to overcome the defects of the prior art and provide a keyboard that can accurately detect key actions, has a relatively small key volume / dimension, and is relatively easy to press.

[0031] The keyboard provided by the present invention includes the aforementioned keys.

[0032] Different from the solution that only needs to detect whether the key is pressed, the solution of CN208890780U uses a magnetic angle sensor in the new key for the purpose of detecting the key depth state and having good signal linearity; however, the application scenario of the keyboard determines that it only needs to detect whether the key is pressed, that is, the solution of CN208890780U gives the opposite technical inspiration for applying the magnetic angle sensor to the keyboard, and it is not easy for those skilled in the art to think of applying the magnetic angle sensor to the keyboard to detect whether the key is pressed.

[0033] This solution applies the magnetic angle sensor to the keyboard for the purpose of improving the detection accuracy of key pressing or improving the consistency of pressing detection results. However, if the structure of the CN208890780U solution is simply applied to the keys of the keyboard, there will be problems such as complex structure and difficult pressing. Specifically: on the one hand, the CN208890780U solution uses a gear-rack transmission method. At this time, if the diameter of the gear is set too large, the volume / dimension of the key will be too large, which is not conducive to being applied to the keyboard; if the diameter of the gear is set too small, the driving difficulty of the gear will increase, and a greater pressing force is required to press the key at this time, which is not conducive to being applied to the keyboard; on the other hand, the rotating magnetic field sensor of the CN208890780U solution is located on one side of the key perpendicular to the pressing direction. Therefore, if the structure of the CN208890780U solution is applied to the keys of the keyboard, a separate circuit board needs to be provided on one side of each key perpendicular to the pressing direction to install the rotating magnetic field sensor, which results in a complex structure of the circuit board and a complex structure of the keyboard, and poor economy.

[0034] In the case where the keyboard adopts a magnetic angle sensor to detect the key pressing action, this solution takes into account both the flexibility of the key pressing movement and the pursuit of miniaturization of the key volume / size. The moving part and the rotating part are connected through the cooperation of a spiral guide rail and a guide part. In this way, the proportional relationship between the moving stroke of the moving part and the rotation stroke of the rotating part can be adjusted by adjusting the pitch of the spiral guide rail without increasing the volume / size of the key. This is beneficial to ensuring the miniaturization of the key and improving the flexibility of the key pressing movement.

[0035] A preferred solution is that the keyboard has a circuit board, a plurality of keys, each rotating member is located on the same side of the circuit board along the thickness direction, and each magnetic angle sensor is arranged on the circuit board; the first direction is along the thickness direction of the circuit board.

[0036] As can be seen from the above, this is conducive to simplifying the structure of the circuit board. The keyboard of this scheme has a simple structure, good economy, accurate detection of key actions, small volume / size, and flexible pressing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Figure 1 It is an exploded view of a key embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] Figure 2 It is a cross-sectional view of a key embodiment of the present invention, and the normal line of the cross-sectional surface is along the X-axis direction.

[0039] Figure 3 It is a structural diagram of the cooperation between the moving part and the rotating part in the key embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] This embodiment of Figures 1 to 3 A unified spatial rectangular coordinate system (right-hand system) is used to represent the relative position relationship between the various components, where the positive direction of the Z axis is vertically upward.

[0041] Please refer to Figures 1 to 3 The keyboard of this embodiment includes an upper shell, a lower shell (not shown in the figure), a circuit board 1000 and a plurality of keys 2000 of this embodiment. The main surface normal of the circuit board 1000 is along the Z-axis direction. The upper shell is located on the positive side of the Z-axis of the lower shell. The upper shell and the lower shell are fixedly connected by screws. The upper shell and the lower shell form a first installation cavity. The combination of the upper shell, the lower shell and the circuit board 1000 can be set with reference to the existing keyboard, which will not be repeated here. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, only the circuit board 1000 and the magnetic angle sensor 9 described later can be arranged in the first installation cavity, and the other structures of the keys 2000 are fixedly arranged on the positive side of the Z-axis of the upper shell. In this way, the first installation cavity can be set as a sealed cavity, which is conducive to achieving the waterproof and dustproof purposes of the keyboard.

[0042] The key 2000 of this embodiment includes a cover body 1, a frame body 2, a moving member, a rotating member, a pre-tightening and returning member, and a magnetic angle sensor 9. The cover body 1 and the frame body 2 of this embodiment constitute the base body of the present invention, and the upper shell and the lower shell constitute the shell of the keyboard. The base body is fixedly connected to the shell. The transmission from the moving member to the rotating member in this embodiment is realized by the cooperation of a spiral groove 171 (an example of a spiral guide rail) and a convex column 184 (an example of a guiding portion) described below.

[0043] The frame body 2 has an opening on the positive Z-axis side. The cover body 1 is located on the positive Z-axis side of the frame body 2, and the frame body 2 is located on the positive Z-axis side of the circuit board 1000. The cover body 1 and the frame body 2 are fixedly connected by a snap-fastening method. The cover body 1 and the frame body 2 enclose a second installation cavity 2001. Both the rotating member and the pre-tightening and returning member are installed in the second installation cavity 2001. The rotating member, the moving member, and the pre-tightening and returning member of this embodiment are installed on the shell through the frame body 2 and the cover body 1. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, the frame body 2 and the cover body 1 can also be cancelled, and the rotating member, the moving member, and the pre-tightening and returning member can be directly installed on the shell. At this time, the shell is the base body of the present invention.

[0044] The moving member includes a key cap (not shown in the figure) and an integrally formed key shaft 3, a connecting plate 16, and a transmission cylinder 17. The key shaft 3 has a mounting hole 34 with an opening facing the negative Z-axis direction. The cross-sectional profile shape of the normal line of the mounting hole 34 along the Z-axis direction is circular. The key shaft 3, the connecting plate 16, and the transmission cylinder 17 are sequentially connected along the negative Z-axis direction. The main surface normal line of the connecting plate 16 is along the Z-axis direction. The center lines of the mounting hole 34 and the transmission cylinder 17 coincide and are both along the Z-axis direction. The outer edge of the connecting plate 16 protrudes radially outside the outer peripheral wall of the transmission cylinder 17. The transmission cylinder 17 and the connecting plate 16 are both located in the second installation cavity 2001. The cover body 1 has a first through hole penetrating along the Z-axis direction. The key shaft 3 is slidably inserted through the first through hole along the Z-axis direction. The cross-sectional dimension of the connecting plate 16 along the normal line of the Z-axis direction is larger than the cross-sectional dimension of the first through hole. A spiral groove 171 is formed on the peripheral wall of the transmission cylinder 17. The spiral groove 171 penetrates the cylinder wall of the transmission cylinder 17 radially. The negative Z-axis end of the spiral groove 171 is an open end (an example of the first end), and the positive Z-axis end of the spiral groove 171 is a closed end (an example of the second end). The spiral groove 171 spirally extends from the open end around the center line of the transmission cylinder 17 to the closed end. The number of the spiral grooves 171 is two, and the two spiral grooves 171 are circumferentially arrayed along the transmission cylinder 17.

[0045] The key cap is installed at the positive Z-axis end of the key shaft 3. The upper shell has a second through hole penetrating along the Z-axis direction. The key cap is exposed on the positive Z-axis side of the keyboard through the second through hole. The positive Z-axis side wall surface of the key cap is the pressing portion of the key 2000. The Z-axis direction in this embodiment is the first direction. The preset trajectory is along the Z-axis direction and passes through the first through hole. The moving member can slide up and down along this preset trajectory.

[0046] The central axis of the transmission cylinder 17 coincides with the rotation axis of the rotating member. The rotating member includes a main structure 18 and a permanent magnet 8. The main structure 18 of the rotating member is in the shape of a stepped shaft. The cross-sectional contour shape of the normal line of the main structure 18 of the rotating member in the Z direction is circular. The main structure 18 of the rotating member includes a first shaft section 181, a second shaft section 182, and a third shaft section 183 that are sequentially connected along the positive Z-axis direction and have the same rotation axis. The diameters of the first shaft section 181 and the third shaft section 183 are both smaller than the diameter of the second shaft section 182. The first shaft section 181 is rotatably connected to the frame 2, and the third shaft section 183 is rotatably and slidably fitted in the mounting hole 34. Of course, in order to prevent the first shaft section 181 from disengaging from the cooperation with the frame 2 along the positive Z-axis direction, a limiting structure (not shown in the figure) is preferably provided. For example, the limiting structure is a pre-tightening compression spring provided in the mounting hole 34. The positive Z-axis end of the pre-tightening compression spring abuts against the key shaft 3, and the negative Z-axis end of the pre-tightening compression spring abuts against the third shaft section 183. Another example is to pass the first shaft section 181 to the negative Z-axis side of the frame 2 and connect a limiting structure to the first shaft section 181 on the negative Z-axis side of the frame 2.

[0047] The transmission cylinder 17 is sleeved on the outer peripheral wall of the second shaft section 182. There are two convex columns 184 protruding radially outward on the outer peripheral wall of the second shaft section 182. The two convex columns 184 are circumferentially arrayed along the second shaft section 182. The two convex columns 184 correspond to two spiral grooves 171 one by one. The convex column 184 penetrates radially into the corresponding spiral groove 171. The convex column 184 contacts the side wall surface of the corresponding spiral groove 171. The convex column 184 can slide relative to the transmission cylinder 17 along the spiral groove 171. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, the number of matching groups of the spiral groove 171 and the convex column 184 can also be set to three groups, four groups, etc.

[0048] The transmission cylinder 17 of this embodiment and the hole wall of the mounting hole 34 constitute the transmission cylinder of the present invention. The second shaft section 182 and the third shaft section 183 of this embodiment constitute the transmission shaft of the present invention. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, the cooperation between the mounting hole 34 and the third shaft section 183 can also be cancelled, and the outer peripheral wall of the second shaft section 182 and the inner peripheral wall of the transmission cylinder 17 can be set to be rotatably and slidably fitted.

[0049] The permanent magnet 8 is located at the negative Z-axis end of the rotating member. Specifically, the permanent magnet 8 of this embodiment is an annular magnet. The permanent magnet 8 is fixedly sleeved on the first shaft section 181, and the permanent magnet 8 of this embodiment is located in the second installation cavity 2001.

[0050] The pre-tightening and return member in this embodiment is a helical compression spring 19. The helical compression spring 19 is sleeved on the outer peripheral wall of the transmission cylinder 17. The negative Z-axis end of the helical compression spring 19 abuts against the positive Z-axis side wall of the frame 2, and the positive Z-axis end of the helical compression spring 19 abuts against the negative Z-axis side wall of the connecting plate 16. Under the extrusion of the helical compression spring 19, the positive Z-axis side wall of the connecting plate 16 abuts against the negative Z-axis side of the cover 1.

[0051] The magnetic angle sensor 9 in this embodiment is located on the negative Z-axis side of the permanent magnet 8. Each magnetic angle sensor 9 is axially placed relative to the corresponding permanent magnet 8 (the magnetic angle sensor 9 is located on one side of the corresponding permanent magnet 8 along the rotation axis). The magnetic angle sensors 9 of each key 2000 are all located on the same circuit board 1000. Preferably, the distribution direction of the south pole and the north pole of the permanent magnet 8 is perpendicular to the first direction. The rotation axis of the rotating member passes through the center position of the permanent magnet 8 and also passes through the magnetic angle sensor 9. This embodiment can use existing general magnetic angle sensors 9. For example, the magnetic angle sensor 9 adopts the magnetic angle sensor 9 in the invention patent application with the publication number of CN109855668A, which is beneficial to improving the versatility of the magnetic angle sensor 9 and is beneficial to improving the economy of the key 2000 and the keyboard in this embodiment.

[0052] The magnetic angle sensor 9 is also often referred to as a magnetic encoder, a magnetic encoder chip, a magnetic encoding chip, etc., such as the magnetic encoding chip in the utility model patent with the publication number of CN206455664U.

[0053] When the positive Z-axis side wall of the connecting plate 16 abuts against the negative Z-axis side wall of the cover 1, the moving member and the rotating member are both in the initial position. When the user presses the keycap along the negative Z-axis, the pressing force overcomes the elastic force of the helical compression spring 19, and the keycap, the key shaft 3, the connecting plate 16, and the transmission cylinder 17 move synchronously along the negative Z-axis. When the transmission cylinder 17 moves to the negative Z-axis side, the positive Z-axis side helical surface of the helical groove 171 cooperates with the convex post 184 to drive the rotating member to rotate around its rotation axis, thereby driving the permanent magnet 8 to rotate. The rotation situation of the permanent magnet 8 can correspond to the pressing situation of the keycap. Therefore, the pressing situation of the keycap can be reflected by detecting the rotation situation of the permanent magnet 8. After the user cancels the pressing force on the keycap, the keycap, the key shaft 3, the connecting plate 16, and the transmission cylinder 17 return to their initial positions along the positive Z-axis under the action of the helical compression spring 19 until the connecting plate 16 abuts against the negative Z-axis side wall of the cover 1. During this process, the negative Z-axis side helical surface of the helical groove 171 cooperates with the convex post 184 to drive the rotating member to rotate back to its original position around its rotation axis.

[0054] The magnetic angle sensor 9 of this embodiment detects the rotation of the permanent magnet 8. The detection result of the magnetic angle sensor 9 reflects the relative proportional relationship of the magnetic field intensities in each direction. Specifically, the magnetic angle sensor 9 determines the rotation of the permanent magnet 8 according to the detected magnetic field direction, and the magnetic field direction is expressed as the proportional relationship of the magnetic field intensities in at least two mutually perpendicular directions. For example, when the magnetic angle sensor 9 detects the magnetic field component in the XOY plane, the magnetic field direction can be expressed as the proportional relationship between the magnetic field component in the X-axis direction and the magnetic field component in the Y-axis direction. Therefore, although environmental factors such as temperature are likely to affect the detection accuracy of the magnetic sensor for the magnetic field intensity, they are not likely to affect the detection result of the magnetic angle sensor 9. That is, the detection result of the magnetic angle sensor 9 is not easily affected by environmental factors such as temperature. The detection results of the magnetic angle sensor 9 in different temperature environments are in good consistency, and the detection error of the magnetic angle sensor 9 is small. The performance of the key 2000 in this embodiment is not likely to fluctuate due to changes in environmental factors such as temperature. The performance of the key 2000 in different temperature environments is in good consistency, and it can make the performance of each key 2000 on the same keyboard in good consistency, which is beneficial to improving the user experience.

[0055] Therefore, when the keyboard of this embodiment is applied to situations such as continuous rapid pressing in games, even if the keycap is pressed again when it has not fully returned to its original position, this pressing action will cause the permanent magnet 8 to rotate counterclockwise, which can then be detected by the magnetic angle sensor 9, thus being beneficial to improving the user experience. Specifically, the magnetic angle sensor 9 of this embodiment is used to detect the rotation angle and direction of the corresponding permanent magnet 8. When the magnetic angle sensor 9 of this embodiment detects that the permanent magnet 8 continuously rotates more than a preset angle along a preset rotation direction (for example, the counterclockwise direction when looking at the permanent magnet 8 along the negative Z-axis), it is confirmed that the corresponding keycap has been pressed once. The preset angle can be specifically selected according to the sensitivity requirement for detecting the pressing action and will not be elaborated here. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, it can also be confirmed that the keycap has been pressed when the magnetic angle sensor 9 detects that the permanent magnet 8 rotates to a preset position / angle along the preset rotation direction. The preset position / angle can be, for example, the position / angle of the permanent magnet 8 when the corresponding key shaft 3 is at the negative Z-axis end of its sliding stroke.

[0056] Moreover, since this embodiment uses the cooperation of the spiral guide rail and the guiding portion to achieve the transmission from the moving part to the rotating part, this embodiment only needs to adjust the pitch of the spiral guide rail to adjust the proportional relationship between the moving stroke of the moving part and the rotating stroke of the rotating part. When adjusting the proportional relationship between the two strokes in this solution, it will not cause an obvious change in the volume / size of the key 2000. Therefore, this embodiment can, to a greater extent, set the pitch of the spiral guide rail with the aim of ensuring the flexible pressing of the key 2000 without worrying about causing an increase in the volume / size of the key 2000, which is beneficial to meeting the requirements of the keyboard for the size of the key 2000.

[0057] In addition, since in this embodiment, the magnetic angle sensors 9 are arranged axially relative to the permanent magnet 8, and the rotating member and the moving member are directly driven, the magnetic angle sensors 9 can still be arranged on the same circuit board 1000. On the one hand, the magnetic angle sensors 9 in this embodiment can use the magnetic angle sensors 9 in ordinary magnetic knobs, which is beneficial to improving the versatility of the magnetic angle sensors 9. On the other hand, it is beneficial to simplify the transmission structure from the key shaft 3 to the permanent magnet 8, which is beneficial to improving the flexibility of the key 2000. On the other hand, since the magnetic angle sensors 9 can be arranged on the same circuit board 1000, there is no need to separately set a circuit board 1000 for each key 2000, which is beneficial to simplifying the structure of the circuit board 1000, simplifying the structure of the keyboard, and improving the economy of the keyboard.

[0058] Specifically, the magnetic angle sensor 9 in this embodiment is a tunneling magnetoresistance effect sensor (TMR), which has a tunneling magnetoresistance sensing element. The tunneling magnetoresistance effect sensor has the characteristic of low power consumption. Therefore, even if the keyboard is continuously used for a long time, it is not easy to generate too much heat and will not cause the temperature of the keyboard to rise too high. Of course, the magnetic angle sensor 9 can also have an anisotropic magnetoresistance sensing element or a giant magnetoresistance sensing element, and neither will cause the temperature of the keyboard to rise too high.

[0059] The spiral guide rail in this embodiment is arranged on the moving member, and the guiding portion is arranged on the rotating member. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, the spiral guide rail can also be arranged on the rotating member, and the guiding portion can be arranged on the moving member.

[0060] The permanent magnet 8 in this embodiment is located in the second installation cavity 2001, and the distance from the permanent magnet 8 to the corresponding magnetic angle sensor 9 may be relatively far. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, the first shaft section 181 can also extend to the negative Z-axis side of the housing 2, and the permanent magnet 8 can be fixed to the negative Z-axis end of the first shaft section 181. This is beneficial to making the distance between the permanent magnet 8 and the corresponding magnetic angle sensor 9 closer, so that the permanent magnet 8 with a smaller magnetic field intensity can be selected in this embodiment, which is beneficial to reducing the interference magnetic field of each permanent magnet 8 on other magnetic angle sensors 9 on the same keyboard and is beneficial to improving the accuracy of the motion detection of the magnetic angle sensor 9 for the permanent magnet 8. Of course, at this time, the permanent magnet 8 can also use other shaped magnets such as a disc-shaped magnet or a bar-shaped magnet.

[0061] The spiral groove 171 of this embodiment has two relatively arranged spiral surfaces (i.e., the spiral surface on the positive Z-axis side and the spiral surface on the negative Z-axis side, examples of the first spiral surface and the second spiral surface of the present invention). One spiral surface is inclined upward, and the other spiral surface is inclined downward. The convex post 184 is fitted between the two spiral surfaces. Therefore, whether the key shaft 3 is pressed or rebounded (returned to its original position), the rotating member can be driven to rotate by the force between the convex post 184 and the spiral surface. Optionally, in other embodiments of the present invention, the spiral guide rail may also have only a spiral surface inclined downward (the spiral surface on the positive Z-axis side), and a pre-tightening torsion spring is provided for the cooperation between the housing 2 and the rotating member. The extension trajectory of this spiral surface is set with reference to the extension trajectory of the spiral groove 171 of this embodiment. Under the action of the pre-tightening torsion spring, the convex post 184 abuts against the corresponding spiral surface. In this way, when the user presses the keycap along the negative Z-axis, the pressing force overcomes the elastic forces of the spiral compression spring 19 and the pre-tightening torsion spring, causing the keycap, the key shaft 3, the connecting plate 16, and the transmission cylinder 17 to move in the negative Z-axis direction, and at the same time causing the rotating member to rotate. And after the pressing force is withdrawn, the rotating member rotates back under the action of the pre-tightening torsion spring until the connecting plate 16 abuts against the negative Z-axis side wall of the cover body 1, ensuring that the convex post 184 always abuts against the corresponding spiral surface. Similarly, in other embodiments of the present invention, the spiral guide rail may also have only a spiral surface inclined upward, and a pre-tightening torsion spring is provided for the cooperation between the housing 2 and the rotating member. The extension trajectory of this spiral surface is set with reference to the spiral groove 171 of this embodiment. Under the action of the pre-tightening torsion spring, the spiral surface abuts against the corresponding convex post 184. In this way, when the user presses the keycap along the negative Z-axis, the rotating member rotates under the action of the pre-tightening torsion spring. And after the user's pressing force is withdrawn, the spiral compression spring 19 overcomes the elastic force of the pre-tightening torsion spring, forcing the keycap, the key shaft 3, the connecting plate 16, and the transmission cylinder 17 to return to the positive Z-axis, and forcing the rotating member to rotate back. Of course, the spiral guide rail is preferably the spiral groove 171 of this embodiment, so that only one of the pre-tightening torsion spring and the spiral compression spring 19 needs to be provided, which is beneficial to simplifying the structure of the key 2000 and the structure of the keyboard.

[0062] Finally, it should be emphasized that the above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention can have various changes and modifications. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The button includes a base body and a moving member movably mounted on the base body along a preset track, and the pressing part of the button is located on the moving member; It is characterized in that: It further includes a rotating member rotatably mounted on the base body and a magnetic angle sensor fixed on the base body. The rotation axis of the rotating member is along a first direction, the preset track extends along the first direction, the moving member and the rotating member are in transmission connection through the cooperation of a spiral guide rail and a guiding part, the guiding part is movable along the spiral guide rail, the two ends of the spiral guide rail along the first direction are respectively a first end and a second end, and the spiral guide rail spirally extends from the first end around the rotation axis of the rotating member to the second end; The spiral guide rail is located on the rotating member, and the guiding part is located on the moving member; and / or the spiral guide rail is located on the moving member, and the guiding part is located on the rotating member; The rotating member has a permanent magnet, and the magnetic angle sensor is used to detect the rotation of the permanent magnet.

2. The button according to claim 1, wherein: The number of the cooperations between the spiral guide rail and the guiding part is at least two groups circumferentially distributed along the rotating member.

3. The button according to claim 1, wherein: The magnetic angle sensor includes a magnetoresistive sensing element; The magnetic angle sensor is located on one side of the rotating member along the first direction; The distribution directions of the south pole and the north pole of the permanent magnet are perpendicular to the first direction, the rotation axis of the rotating member passes through the central position of the permanent magnet and passes through the magnetic angle sensor.

4. The button according to claim 1, wherein: One of the rotating member and the moving member has a transmission cylinder, and the other has a transmission shaft, and the transmission cylinder is sleeved on the outer periphery of the transmission shaft; The inner contour shape of the cross section of the transmission cylinder along the first direction of the normal line is circular, the inner contour shape of the cross section of the transmission shaft along the first direction of the normal line is circular, and the transmission cylinder and the transmission shaft are rotatably and slidably matched.

5. The button according to claim 4, wherein: The spiral guide rail is arranged on the cylinder wall of the transmission cylinder, and the guiding part extends from the transmission shaft to the spiral guide rail; or the spiral guide rail is arranged on the transmission shaft, and the guiding part extends from the transmission cylinder to the spiral guide rail.

6. The button according to claim 1, wherein: It further includes a pre-tightening return member, and the moving member is kept at an initial position under the action of the pre-tightening return member; and when the moving member leaves the initial position along the preset track, the acting force of the pre-tightening return member tends to force the moving member to return to the initial position along the preset track.

7. The button according to claim 6, wherein: The spiral guide rail includes a spiral surface inclined towards the first direction, and the spiral surface abuts against the guiding part under the action of the pre-tightening return member.

8. The button according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The spiral guide rail includes a spiral groove having a first spiral surface and a second spiral surface disposed opposite to each other. Both the first spiral surface and the second spiral surface spiral extend around the rotation axis of the rotating member. Along the first direction, the guiding portion is fitted between the corresponding first spiral surface and the second spiral surface.

9. Keyboard, characterized in that: It includes the keys according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The keyboard according to claim 9, characterized in that: The keyboard has a circuit board. The number of the keys is multiple. Each of the rotating members is located on the same side of the circuit board in the thickness direction, and each of the magnetic angle sensors is disposed on the circuit board; The first direction is along the thickness direction of the circuit board.

Citation Information

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