Touch Pad With Biasing Elastic Body for Uniform Movement and Click Feel
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing touch pads in laptop PCs face issues with inconsistent up-down movement across their surface, leading to discomfort and difficulty in achieving a satisfying click feeling, especially near the shaft, and require varying forces for different operation regions.
Innovation Solution
A touch pad design featuring a sensor board, outer frame, arm portions, a switch, and an elastic body that allows the entire surface to move up and down appropriately, with the arm portions inclined and supported by a shaft support to change the required pushing force based on the operation region.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If a shaft is provided along an edge adjacent to the keyboard and the sensor board is made tiltable about the shaft, then the up-down movement width is ensured on the front side, but the far side near the shaft does not move up and down much, resulting in poor click feeling
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is divided into multiple shaft support portions positioned at different locations (front side and rear side) rather than relying on a single shaft. This segmentation allows each region to have independent support, enabling the front side to maintain adequate movement width while the rear side also achieves sufficient up-down movement for click feeling.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the button region is operated with a side surface of a thumb, then the pointing stick can be operated, but it is not always easy to apply force
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the sensor board are equipped with different support characteristics. The shaft support portions are positioned and configured to provide appropriate support strength and movement characteristics for each region, making the button region more accessible and easier to press with thumb side surface while maintaining the pointing stick functionality.
3Device complexity
If the force required for pushing is uniform across the touch pad, then the structure is simple, but it does not accommodate different operation regions with different force requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure uses multiple shaft support portions with different positions and configurations to provide region-specific force characteristics. This allows the button region to require less force for operation while other regions maintain their original force requirements, all within a relatively simple overall structure that avoids complex active control systems.
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 uniform surface movement and adjustable pushing force across the touch pad, enhancing user comfort and click feeling by ensuring appropriate force application based on the operation region.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic body configured to bias the sensor board upward with respect to a base
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; an arm portion configured to be disposed on an inner side of the outer frame; a switch configured to be provided between one end of the arm portion and the sensor board; a shaft support portion configured to support the arm portion to be capable of being inclined in a pitch direction at an intermediate portion; and an elastic body configured to bias the sensor board upward with respect to a base. The other end of the arm portion is supported to be displaced in a lifting/lowering direction together with the sensor board.