electronic machines

Abstract

To provide an electronic device in which a lightweight, highly rigid upper cover for a keyboard housing can be realized at low cost. [Solution] The electronic device (10) includes a keyboard (26) and an upper cover member (18) that exposes a plurality of depressible keycaps (26a) of the keyboard (26). The upper cover member (18) is made of a plate-shaped resin material containing glass fiber, and a frame-shaped inclined surface (18c) is formed between a key arrangement area (18a) in which the keycaps (26a) are arranged and a peripheral area (18b) thereof, with the key arrangement area (18a) being lower than the peripheral area (18b), and a metal frame member (31) fixed to the back side of the key arrangement area (18a), with the keyboard (26) attached to the frame member (31).

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic device including a keyboard and a cover member. [Background technology]

[0002] In a notebook PC, a keyboard housing and a display housing are rotatably connected by a hinge. The keyboard housing of the notebook PC shown in Patent Document 1 is formed by combining an upper cover member and a lower cover member, and houses a main board, battery, keyboard, touchpad, antenna, etc.

[0003] The upper cover member has keyholes that expose multiple keycaps of the keyboard so that they can be pressed, and a rectangular hole that exposes the touchpad. The area of ​​the upper cover member where the keycaps are arranged is often formed slightly lower than the surrounding area depending on the pressing stroke of the keycaps. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-187471 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The upper cover member is often made of metal materials such as magnesium alloys and aluminum alloys, or resin materials such as polycarbonate and ABS. Metal and resin materials each have their own advantages and disadvantages when used as the upper cover member.

[0006] The advantages of using general metal materials include their high rigidity, which allows for thin-wall molding and lightweight construction, the ability to achieve a high-quality metal texture, and ease of surface treatment. On the other hand, the disadvantages include their high cost, the fact that only the part covering the antenna must be made of resin because it is impermeable to radio waves, and the fact that openings must be made in the capacitive touchpad area because it blocks the electric field. In particular, if studs or other components are required to fit the keyboard mounting area and the shape is complex, CNC processing or other similar processes will be required, which will increase costs even further.

[0007] The advantages of using general resin materials include low cost, the ability to house antennas and capacitive touchpads inside due to their permeability to radio waves and electric fields, and the ability to accommodate complex shapes through injection molding. Therefore, it is possible to accommodate keyboard mounting studs and shapes where the area where keycaps are placed is slightly lower than the surrounding area at low cost. On the other hand, disadvantages include their relatively low rigidity, which results in thick walls and increased weight, poor texture, and incompatibility with some surface treatment methods.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has an object to provide an electronic device in which an upper cover of a keyboard housing can be realized that is lightweight, highly rigid, and low cost. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, an embodiment of the electronic device of the present invention is an electronic device comprising a keyboard and a cover member that exposes a plurality of key caps of the keyboard so that they can be pressed, the cover member being made of a plate-shaped resin material containing a filler, an inclined surface being formed between the key arrangement range in which the key caps are arranged and its surrounding range, the key arrangement range being lower than the surrounding range, a metal frame member being fixed to the back side of the key arrangement range, and the keyboard being attached to the frame member. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the above aspects of the present invention, the upper cover of the keyboard housing can be realized to be lightweight, highly rigid, and low cost. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an electronic device according to an embodiment, viewed from above. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the keyboard housing. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the upper cover member. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a side view of the upper cover member and the frame member. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the manufacturing process of the upper cover member, where (a) shows the heat molding process, and (b) shows an intermediate stage material obtained in the heat molding process. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the inclined surface. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the upper cover member after the surface treatment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a method for manufacturing the keyboard housing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an electronic device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these preferred embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an electronic device 10 according to an embodiment, viewed from above. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 10 according to this embodiment is a clamshell notebook PC, and has a configuration in which a keyboard housing 11 and a display housing 12 are connected by a hinge 13 so that they can rotate relative to each other. The keyboard housing 11 is a flat box-shaped body and is adjacent to the display housing 12. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the electronic device 10. Although a notebook PC is shown as an example of the electronic device 10, any electronic device having a keyboard 26 may be used.

[0014] The display housing 12 has a display device 21 that occupies most of the area on the front side, and an electronic device 22 such as a camera provided on the upper edge, and is covered on the back side with a cover 23.

[0015] The keyboard housing 11 is box-shaped and made up of an upper cover member 18 and a lower cover member 20. The upper cover member 18 is generally flat and forms the top surface, while the lower cover member 20 forms the bottom and sides. The sides may be separate from the lower cover member 20. The upper cover member 18 and the lower cover member 20 are connected by engagement using projections and recesses, adhesive tape, screws, magnets, or the like.

[0016] For ease of explanation, the side on which the keyboard 26 is arranged will be referred to as the upper side, and the side on which the lower cover member 20 is arranged will be referred to as the lower side, with the keyboard housing 11 serving as the reference. Furthermore, the direction along the left and right short sides of the keyboard housing 11 will be referred to as the front-rear direction, with the side on which the keyboard 26 is arranged referred to as the Y1 side and the side on which the touchpad 27 is arranged referred to as the Y2 side. The longitudinal direction of the keyboard housing 11 will be referred to as the lateral direction.

[0017] The keyboard housing 11 is essentially a main body housing, and is provided with a main board 24, a battery 25, a keyboard 26, a touchpad 27, a pair of left and right antennas 28, etc. The main board 24 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), memory, etc., and controls the electronic device 10 overall, and is located in a position that occupies approximately half of the Y1 side. The battery 25 is adjacent to the main board 24, and is located in a position that occupies approximately half of the Y2 side. The antennas 28 are provided in an L-shape along the corner on the Y2 side, separated into left and right, and are capable of transmitting and receiving radio waves through the top cover member 18. The keyboard 26 is located in a position that occupies approximately half of the Y1 side, and is in an area that roughly overlaps with the main board 24.

[0018] Of the components of the keyboard housing 11 illustrated above, the main board 24, battery 25, touchpad 27, and antenna 28 are provided inside the housing. The touchpad 27 is fixed, for example, to the rear surface of the top cover member 18. A frame or the like may be provided as a marker within the area of ​​the top cover member 18 where the touchpad 27 is provided.

[0019] The touchpad 27 is located on the Y2 side adjacent to the keyboard 26. The touchpad 27 is located approximately in the center of the keyboard housing 11, and its left and right margins 29 can be used as palm rests by the user. The width of the touchpad 27 is approximately half the width of the keyboard housing 11 or slightly smaller. The touchpad 27 is capacitive and can detect the position of a person's finger through the top cover member 18. Therefore, the top cover member 18 does not need a hole to expose the touchpad 27, and a continuous surface is formed with the left and right margins 29, resulting in a seamless, unified design. The touchpad 27 does not generally have a mechanical click button mechanism, but this can be achieved by, for example, tactile feedback or the generation of a click sound. Depending on the specifications, a hole to expose the touchpad 27 may be provided in the top cover member 18.

[0020] The keyboard 26 has an array of keycaps 26a and a base plate 26b (see FIG. 4). The base plate 26b includes a membrane sheet or the like. The base plate 26b is provided with multiple screw insertion holes 26c for mounting. The keyboard 26 may also include a light-emitting module or the like. The keycaps 26a are exposed upward and can be pressed through multiple keyholes 30 formed in the top cover member 18. The keyholes 30 are formed in a staggered grid pattern corresponding to the arrangement of the keycaps 26a, but may also be a single rectangular hole that exposes all of the multiple keycaps 26a depending on the specifications. If the keyboard housing 11 is equipped with a speaker, the top cover member 18 may be provided with a hole that allows sound from the speaker to pass through. Generally, one keycap 26a is exposed through one keyhole 30, but multiple cursor keys, function keys, and other keys with small individual areas may be exposed through one keyhole 30.

[0021] A frame-shaped inclined surface 18c is formed between the key arrangement area 18a in which the keycaps 26a are arranged and its surrounding area 18b in the upper cover member 18, and the key arrangement area 18a is shaped like a tray, being slightly lower than the surrounding area 18b. The height difference between the key arrangement area 18a and the surrounding area 18b is about 1 mm to 2 mm, so it is not deep. Because the key arrangement area 18a is slightly lower than the surrounding area 18b, an appropriate depression stroke of the keycaps is ensured, and further, when the display housing 12 and the keyboard housing 11 are stacked, the keycaps 26a do not come into contact with the display device 21. In this embodiment, the key arrangement area 18a is rectangular with rounded corners, but other shapes may be used depending on the specifications. For example, the cursor key portion may protrude slightly toward the Y2 side.

[0022] A certain width is ensured between the outermost keyhole 30 and the inclined surface 18c. The area of ​​the upper cover member 18 other than the inclined surface 18c is basically flat on both the front and back surfaces. A notch 18e in which the hinge 13 is disposed is formed on the edge on the Y1 side of the upper cover member 18.

[0023] The upper cover member 18 is made of a resin material containing glass fiber (filler), such as FR4 (Flame Retardant Type 4) epoxy or GFRP (Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic). The surface 18d of the upper cover member 18 is molded with UV (ultraviolet) cured resin, which provides high hardness and excellent abrasion resistance. The UV cured resin also provides a luxurious appearance with its molded texture (glossy or matte finish like glass) and fingerprint-resistant finish (which maintains the texture without stickiness). This molded finish provides a touch similar to that of expensive excimer UV coating. Resin materials containing glass fiber are highly decorative and suitable for surface treatment with UV cured resin.

[0024] Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of keyboard housing 11. Main board 24, battery 25, etc. are omitted from Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of upper cover member 18. Fig. 4 is a side view of upper cover member 18 and frame member 31.

[0025] Similar to the front surface, the back surface of the top cover member 18 has an inclined surface 18c between the key arrangement area 18a and the peripheral area 18b, and the key arrangement area 18a is slightly convex with respect to the peripheral area 18b. However, the back surface side of the key arrangement area 18a has been machined to be slightly thinner than the peripheral area 18b (see FIG. 6), so the amount of protrusion is small. The thickness of the peripheral area 18b of the top cover member 18 is about 0.4 to 0.5 mm, making it thin and lightweight, but it also contains glass fiber, which gives it moderate strength and a high Young's modulus of bending.

[0026] A frame member 31 is fixed to the key arrangement area 18a using adhesive or double-sided tape. The frame member 31 is made of a metal material such as an aluminum alloy and is sufficiently rigid to secure the keyboard 26. The frame member 31 is the same size as the key arrangement area 18a and has key holes 32 formed therein that are the same shape and arranged as the key holes 30. Studs 31a are formed on the back surface of the frame member 31 at positions corresponding to the screw insertion holes 26c, and the keyboard 26 can be secured by threading screws 33 into the studs 31a. There are many screws 33, but Figure 4 shows only a few representative ones. Slightly larger studs 31b are formed on the left and right Y1 side ends of the frame member 31. The studs 31b are used to secure the top cover member 18 to other components. The frame member 31 is generally flat, but has a somewhat complex shape, including many studs 31a and two studs 31b. The frame member 31 can be molded, for example, by die casting or press working, to form the shape shown above.

[0027] When viewed from directly above, the frame member 31 overlaps with the lattice shape of the key arrangement area 18a and is barely visible, maintaining the unity of the appearance. However, since the upper surface of the frame member 31 is slightly visible from diagonally above, it is painted in approximately the same color as the surface 18d of the upper cover member 18. The lower surface of the frame member 31 is the silver color of the material.

[0028] FIG. 5 illustrates the manufacturing process for the upper cover member 18, with (a) illustrating the heat molding process and (b) illustrating the intermediate-stage material 18B obtained in the heat molding process. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the inclined surface 18c. FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the upper cover member 18 after surface treatment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the manufacturing process for the keyboard housing 11. In the following description, step numbers in FIG. 8 are written in parentheses. Prior to the process shown in FIG. 5(a), a first surface treatment is performed on a resin blank 18A containing glass fiber (S1). As shown in FIG. 7, this surface treatment involves applying decorative printing 35b using ink to a filler-reinforced resin material 35a, followed by molding 35c with UV-curable resin. The filler-reinforced resin material 35a corresponds to the blank 18A.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 5(a), in the heat molding process (S2), the surface-treated blank 18A is pressed and heated between two upper and lower dies 34a and 34b. Blank 18A is less expensive than metal plates of similar strength, and even less expensive than metal plates partially incorporating radio-wave-transmitting resin. One die 34a has a recessed portion 34aa corresponding to the key arrangement area 18a and the surrounding inclined surface 18c, while the other die 34b has a convex upper portion 34ba corresponding to the recessed portion 34aa. While blank 18A is hard and difficult to mold into a complex shape using injection molding, the inclined surface 18c has a relatively simple shape and only a small height difference, requiring minimal processing. Therefore, this process allows for molding, resulting in intermediate blank 18B, as shown in FIG. 5(b). In the example shown in Figure 5(a), the blank plate 18A is made of a thermoplastic material. In the case of a thermosetting material, the material should be heated appropriately to make it fluid, and then the material should be filled into a heated mold and solidified.

[0030] The intermediate stage material 18B is processed by CNC (Computer Numerical Control) (S3) or the like to form a keyhole 30, and the peripheral edge including the notch 18e is then cut to a predetermined size to obtain the upper cover member 18 (see FIG. 3).

[0031] 6, the key arrangement area 18a, which is convex on the back surface, can be made thinner by cutting the portion indicated by the symbol 18aa in phantom lines to a certain extent. The edges of the top cover member 18 may be chamfered appropriately. This CNC processing is not performed on the entire surface of the intermediate stage material 18B, but basically only on the peripheral edges such as the notch 18e, the key arrangement area 18a, and the keyhole 30, which reduces the processing time and the associated increase in costs.

[0032] After this, the upper cover member 18 is subjected to a final surface treatment (S4). As shown in FIG. 7, the final surface treatment involves physical vapor deposition of fingerprint-resistant printing 35d as an outer layer on top of the decorative printing 35b. The thickness of each layer is, for example, 0.8 mm for the filler-reinforced resin material 35a, 50 μm for six layers of decorative printing 35b, 10 μm for the molding 35c, and 20 nm for the physical vapor deposition 35d. The final fingerprint resistance is imparted to the outermost layer of physical vapor deposition 35d.

[0033] Furthermore, a frame member 31 is fixed to the rear side of the key arrangement area 18a (S5), the keyboard 26 is attached to the frame 31 (S6), and the touchpad 27 and antenna 28 are attached at predetermined positions in the peripheral area 18b (S7). The touchpad 27 and antenna 28 are attached using, for example, adhesive, double-sided tape, screws, etc. The main board 24 and other components are attached to the lower cover member 20, and the upper cover member 18 and the lower cover member are combined to obtain the keyboard housing 11 (S8).

[0034] As described above, the top cover member 18 in the electronic device 10 according to this embodiment is made of a plate-shaped resin material containing glass fiber. Compared to resin materials that do not contain glass fiber, it is thin, lightweight, and highly rigid. Furthermore, compared to metal plates, it can be realized at a lower total cost, including material and processing costs. Because the top cover member 18 contains glass fiber, it can be molded after decoration. Conventional processes require decoration tailored to the three-dimensional object, and decorative methods have been limited to painting and embossing. However, by decorating the flat shape before molding, decoration methods such as printing on the flat shape or printing + UV resin coating are now possible. In particular, printing + UV resin coating is inexpensive, high-quality, and expected to have a high yield, making it excellent for decoration and achieving a high-quality texture. The top cover member 18 is permeable to radio waves and electric fields, has a low dielectric constant, and allows the placement of a touchpad 27 and antenna 28 on the back side without the need for cutouts, improving design and further reducing processing time.

[0035] The filler contained in the upper cover member 18 to strengthen it is not limited to glass fiber, but may be, for example, carbon fiber.

[0036] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can of course be freely modified within the scope of the gist of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0037] 10 Electronic equipment 11 Keyboard housing 12 Display housing 18 Upper cover member 18A material board 18B Intermediate Material 18a Key layout range 18b Surrounding Area 18c slope 18d surface 20 Lower cover member 26 keyboards 26a keycap 26b base plate 26c Screw insertion hole 27 Touchpad 28 Antenna 29 Left and right margins 30,32 Keyhole 31 Frame members 31a, 31b studs 33 Screw 34a,34b type

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising a keyboard and a cover member that exposes a plurality of key caps of the keyboard so that the key caps can be pressed, The cover member is made of a plate-shaped resin material containing a filler, and an inclined surface is formed between a key arrangement area where the key caps are arranged and a peripheral area thereof, and the key arrangement area is lower than the peripheral area. The cover member is formed such that the thickness of the key arrangement area is thinner than that of the surrounding area by cutting the back surface of the key arrangement area, A metal frame member is fixed to the back side of the key arrangement area, The keyboard is attached to the frame member. An electronic device characterized by:

2. 10. The electronic device according to claim 1, The inclined surface is formed by thermal processing of a plate-shaped material. An electronic device characterized by:

3. 10. The electronic device according to claim 1, A capacitive touch pad is provided on the rear surface of the peripheral area of ​​the cover member. An electronic device characterized by:

4. 10. The electronic device according to claim 1, The surface of the cover member is molded with UV curable resin. An electronic device characterized by:

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