Light-Emitting Touch Keyboard Without Light Guide Plate
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional light-emitting touch keyboards require a light guide plate, increasing their thickness and manufacturing costs due to complex structures and additional assembly steps, making them unsuitable for compact designs.
Innovation Solution
A light-emitting touch keyboard design that eliminates the light guide plate by using a reflecting sheet, a touch element with a transparent material layer, and scattering/reflecting points, where the light emitting element is adjacent to the touch element, allowing light to penetrate and be reflected for illumination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a light guide plate is disposed below the touchpad in a conventional light-emitting touch keyboard, then the light-emitting function is achieved, but the thickness of the keyboard is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the light guide plate from the keyboard structure. Instead of using a separate light guide plate component, the invention integrates light guidance functionality directly into the touchpad layer through ITO pattern designs that act as light guides, thereby removing the thickness contribution of a dedicated light guide plate while maintaining the light-emitting function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the light guide function with the touchpad structure itself. The ITO (indium tin oxide) patterns on the touchpad serve dual purposes: maintaining touch sensitivity and guiding light propagation. This integration eliminates the need for a separate light guide plate layer, thereby reducing overall keyboard thickness while achieving effective illumination.
2Illumination intensity
If a light guide plate and reflecting sheet are disposed below the touchpad, then the light-emitting effect is achieved, but the assembly process becomes more complex and production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the reflecting sheet component from the assembly. Instead of using a separate reflecting sheet below the touchpad, the invention incorporates reflective functionality directly into the ITO pattern design on the touchpad surface, eliminating the need for an additional reflecting sheet layer and simplifying the assembly process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple functions (light guidance, reflection, and touch sensitivity) into a single integrated ITO pattern structure on the touchpad. This multi-functional integration eliminates the need for separate light guide plate and reflecting sheet components, thereby reducing assembly complexity and production cost while maintaining effective light emission.
3Illumination intensity
If light sources are disposed below the light guide plate, then illumination is achieved, but the thickness of the keyboard cannot be effectively reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a vertical light source arrangement (below the light guide plate) to a lateral arrangement where light sources are positioned at the edges of the touchpad. This dimensional change allows light to propagate through the ITO patterns horizontally across the touchpad surface, eliminating the need for thick vertical light source assemblies and reducing overall keyboard thickness.
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
This design reduces the overall thickness and simplifies assembly, thereby lowering production costs and enhancing manufacturing efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the light emitting element emits a light ray to the transparent material layer
Implementation Method 2
the light ray penetrates the transparent material layer
Implementation Method 3
the reflecting sheet and the scattering/reflecting points reflect the light ray outside the touch element
Data Source
AI summary
A light-emitting touch keyboard includes a reflecting sheet, a touch element, a plurality of scattering/reflecting points, and at least one light emitting element. The touch element includes at least one transparent material layer. A light ray emitted by the light emitting element penetrates the transparent material layer, and then is reflected outside the touch element by the reflecting sheet and the plurality of scattering/reflecting points.