Secure Compact Keyboard With Unremovable Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing secure input devices, such as payment terminals, face challenges in protecting keyboard signals from unauthorized access due to the difficulty in implementing false keys in compact designs, which are prone to aesthetic and security deformations, and require significant space and thickness, making them vulnerable to hacking attempts.
Innovation Solution
A keyboard assembly comprising a printed circuit, a spacer, and a transparent plate with holes, where the elements are glued or screwed together to form an unremovable unit, eliminating the need for false keys and preventing external disassembly, and featuring deformable keys arranged in series with unique patterns to enhance security and reduce thickness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dummy keys with plastic extensions are used to detect unauthorized access, then security against spy devices is improved, but the keyboard requires large spacing between keys and increased thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the dummy key function with the transparent plate structure by integrating contact pads directly into the plate. The transparent plate serves dual purposes: as a structural component and as the carrier for security-sensitive contact pads, eliminating the need for separate dummy keys with plastic extensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the security function from the mechanical dummy key structure and relocates it to the transparent plate with contact pads. This separation allows the keyboard to maintain compact dimensions while preserving security capabilities through electronic rather than mechanical means.
2Reliability
If plastic extensions are used to support dummy keys, then detection of casing opening attempts is improved, but aesthetic deformations and manufacturing issues occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical plastic extension system with an electronic contact pad system integrated into the transparent plate. This substitution eliminates the aesthetic deformations caused by plastic extensions while maintaining the security detection function through electrical contact rather than mechanical pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The transparent plate is designed to integrate multiple functions: structural support, aesthetic surface, and security sensor carrier. By combining these functions into a single component, the patent eliminates the need for separate plastic extensions that cause manufacturing and aesthetic problems.
3Volume of moving object
If compact keyboard design is implemented to reduce terminal size, then terminal dimensions are reduced, but dummy key implementation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the dummy key functionality into the transparent plate structure itself. The contact pads are directly integrated into the plate, allowing security functions to be implemented in compact keyboards without requiring additional space for separate dummy key mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the security function from the physical dummy key structure and implements it through the transparent plate with contact pads. This extraction allows compact keyboard design while maintaining security capabilities through a different implementation approach that requires minimal space.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a keyboard (100) of a data entry device, the keyboard comprising a printed circuit board (100), a spacer (120) having a plurality of key positions, a plurality of keys (130), each key being at least indirectly in contact with a corresponding key imprint on said printed circuit board (100), and a transparent material plate (140) in which holes corresponding to each key are formed. In such a keyboard, the printed circuit board (100), the spacer (120), and the transparent material plate (140) are applied so as to form an assembly that cannot be removed from the outside of the data entry device.