Ultrathin Metal Dome Keyboard for Tactile Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional computer keyboards are thick and cumbersome, lacking portability and tactile feedback, while touch keyboards lack key travel sensation and are prone to mistyping due to their compact design and tight key arrangement.
Innovation Solution
An ultrathin metal dome keyboard design featuring a combination of keys/keycaps, a light guide film, a fixing film/air hole layer, metal domes, a conductive film/PCB, and a key plate, with metal domes providing tactile feedback and LED lighting for improved usability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional key structures (keycap with poly cap or scissor keys) are used, then tactile feedback and key travel sensation are provided, but the keyboard thickness becomes large and portability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses ultra-thin metal domes (thickness 0.03-0.50mm) as the switching mechanism instead of conventional thick key structures. The metal domes provide tactile feedback through their elastic deformation and snap-through action while maintaining extreme thinness, resolving the contradiction between tactile feedback and keyboard thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the dimensional parameters of the key structure by using metal domes with thickness of only 0.03-0.50mm and pressing strokes of 0.10-1.00mm. This parameter change enables the keyboard to be ultra-thin while still providing perceptible tactile feedback through the controlled elastic deformation of the metal dome structure.
2Length of stationary object
If touch keyboard structure is used, then keyboard thickness is reduced and portability is improved, but tactile feedback and key travel sensation are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The metal dome structure acts as a flexible thin film element that provides mechanical tactile feedback. When pressed, the metal dome elastically deforms and produces a snap-through action that gives the user perceptible key travel sensation, unlike rigid touch keyboards. This maintains thinness while restoring tactile feedback.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the purely electronic touch sensing mechanism with a mechanical metal dome switching mechanism. The metal dome's physical deformation and contact provide natural tactile feedback, substituting the lifeless touch interface with a mechanically responsive system that gives key travel sensation.
3Ease of operation
If conventional keyboard structures are used, then tactile feedback is provided, but the keyboard is heavy and cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The use of ultra-thin metal domes (0.03-0.50mm thickness) and thin keycaps (0.10-2.00mm thickness) dramatically reduces the mass of the key structure. The flexible thin film metal dome structure provides the necessary mechanical response with minimal weight, resolving the contradiction between tactile feedback and keyboard weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the mass-related parameters by using metal domes with extremely small dimensions and low mass, and keycaps with thickness of only 0.10-2.00mm. These parameter changes reduce the overall keyboard weight while maintaining the gram force value between 30-200 gf for adequate tactile feedback.
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 ultrathin metal dome keyboard offers a lightweight, portable solution with tactile feedback similar to scissor keys, low noise, and uniform lighting, enhancing input experience with a gram force value between 30-200 gf and a pressing stroke of 0.10-1.00 mm, addressing the thickness and feedback issues of conventional keyboards and the compactness of touch keyboards.
Implementation Method 1
a light guide film, an LED light source, and through an optical design method, the key surface is enabled to emit light uniformly
Implementation Method 2
adopts ultrathin metal domes as an input device... having characteristics of being light, thin, and easy to carry, and having light emitting keys, a short stroke, and lower noises
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses a computer thin film switch keyboard, wherein the keyboard comprises keys/keycaps, a light guide film, a fixing film/air hole layer, metal domes, an air slot layer, a conductive film/PCB and a key plate, the key plate is disposed at the lowest layer, the conductive film/PCB is disposed above the key plate, the air slot layer is disposed above the conductive film/PCB, the metal domes are disposed on the conductive film/PCB, more than one metal dome is disposed corresponding to key configurations on the keyboard, the fixing film/air hole layer is disposed above the metal domes, and the keys/keycaps are disposed above the fixing film/air hole layer. The present invention has characteristics of being light, thin, and easy to carry, and having a Bluetooth function, a short stroke, and lower noises, etc.