Ergonomic Key Input Structure for Quiet, Consistent Keystrokes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional key input devices often result in user fatigue and discomfort due to poorly designed key top heights and arrangements, leading to inconsistent keystroke sounds and operability issues, especially when used with either hand.
Innovation Solution
A key input device with sloping key tops and a unique configuration of wall parts and rubber key tops that reduce contact area and keystroke sound, featuring a nonwoven fabric sheet to absorb impact and enhance user comfort, allowing for uniform key top heights and consistent touch surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If key tops are arranged with uniform heights and slopes to fit user's hand, then user comfort and ease of operation are improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The key input device is divided into separate components: key tops, a member with holes, and wall parts. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently with standard tolerances, then assembled to achieve the overall uniform height and slope configuration, reducing the cumulative precision requirements compared to manufacturing the entire assembly as a single piece.
Solution Approach 2:
The key tops are designed with specific local characteristics including slopes and heights that match the natural contours of fingers. Each key top has a tailored shape at its contact surface while maintaining uniform overall dimensions, allowing ergonomic optimization without compromising manufacturing consistency across the entire keyboard.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If wall parts are configured to reduce contact area between key tops and housing, then keystroke sound is minimized, but structural stability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The wall parts are designed to extend only partially from the member, creating deliberate gaps between adjacent wall parts. This extraction of complete enclosure removes the source of harmful keystroke sounds by reducing contact area, while the remaining wall structure maintains sufficient structural stability through strategic positioning and support from the member.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall parts are pre-configured with specific extensions from the member before key insertion, establishing predetermined pathways that guide key movement while minimizing unintended contact. This preliminary structuring ensures both noise reduction and stability without requiring complex real-time adjustments.
3Ease of operation
If nonwoven fabric sheet is added to absorb impact, then user comfort and fatigue reduction are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The nonwoven fabric sheet serves as an intermediary layer positioned between the key tops and the member. This simple textile material absorbs impact and provides cushioning without requiring complex mechanical structures, achieving enhanced user comfort through a single additive component rather than complex mechanisms.
4Ease of operation
If key tops are designed with slopes to fit hand contours, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The slopes and contours are applied only to the local contact surfaces of the key tops where user fingers interact, rather than complicating the entire key top structure. This localized ergonomic design achieves ergonomic fit while keeping the overall key top geometry simple and manufacturable through standard processes.
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 device provides improved user comfort and reduced fatigue by fitting key tops to the user's hand, minimizing keystroke sound, and maintaining consistent touch feelings across keys, enhancing overall usability and reducing material costs.
Implementation Method 1
a nonwoven fabric sheet to absorb impact and enhance user comfort
Data Source
AI summary
A key input device includes: a key; a member having a hole through which the key is movably inserted; and wall parts separate from each other and extending from an edge of the hole in a direction perpendicular to a board of the device.