Cross-Shaped Inner Frame Touch Pad for Uniform Click Feel
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing touch pads in laptop PCs often fail to provide a consistent and satisfying click feeling across their entire surface, particularly near the shaft, leading to user discomfort.
Innovation Solution
A touch pad design featuring a sensor board, outer and inner frames, and a cross-shaped inner frame with arm portions supported by shafts, allowing the entire surface to move up and down appropriately and providing a good click feeling through a switch mechanism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a shaft is provided along an edge adjacent to the keyboard to enable pressing operation, then the near side has appropriate up-down movement width, but the far side near the shaft does not move up and down much, resulting in poor click feeling
Solution Approach 1:
The touch pad surface is divided into multiple independent pressing regions through the cross-shaped inner frame structure with four arm portions, allowing each region to move independently up and down, ensuring uniform click feeling across the entire surface including areas far from the shaft
Solution Approach 2:
The cross-shaped inner frame introduces a new structural dimension by extending arm portions in multiple directions from the shaft, transforming the single-edge support into a multi-directional support system that distributes movement capability uniformly across the touch pad surface
2Ease of operation
If the sensor board is pushed by a hand, then a pressing operation is performed, but the far side near the shaft does not move enough to provide satisfactory click feeling
Solution Approach 1:
The arm portions are designed to be flexible and capable of independent deformation, allowing dynamic response to pressing forces applied at different locations on the touch pad surface, ensuring adequate movement and click feeling throughout the entire surface
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enables the entire surface of the touch pad to move up and down uniformly, ensuring a consistent and satisfying click feeling, enhancing user experience.
Implementation Method 1
the arm portion is displaced relative to the outer frame while the other end is pushed down, and is inclined with respect to the shaft support portion in the pitch direction, and the one end is pushed up to perform a pressing operation with respect to the switch
Data Source
AI summary
A touch pad, on which a pointing operation is performed by a hand, includes: a sensor board configured to recognize a touch position by a hand; an outer frame configured to be fixed to the sensor board; a cross-shaped inner frame configured to be disposed on an inner side of the outer frame, in which one ends of four arm portions are connected and the other ends extend toward four locations of the outer frame; a switch configured to be provided between the one end of the arm portion and the sensor board; and a shaft support portion configured to support each of the four arm portions to be capable of being inclined in a pitch direction at an intermediate portion. The other end is displaced in a lifting/lowering direction together with the sensor board, and is supported to be relatively displaceable in the other two directions.