Patent Publication Number: US-2020293145-A1

Title: Touch module

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a touch module, and more particularly to a touch module that is installed in an electronic device. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A touch module gradually becomes an essential accessory of an electronic device. The user can operate, enable or disable the electronic device through the touch module. However, the conventional touch module still has some drawbacks. For example, the conventional touch module does not have the function of displaying the operating status of the electronic device. During the operation of the touch module, the user is unable to realize the operating status of the electronic device immediately. 
     For solving the above drawbacks, it is important to provide a touch module capable of displaying an operating status of an electronic device for allowing the user to realize the current operating status of the electronic device immediately and intuitively. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a touch module. The touch module is capable of displaying an operating status of an electronic device for allowing the user to realize the current operating status of the electronic device immediately and intuitively. 
     In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a touch module for an electronic device is provided. The touch module includes a touch-sensitive plate, a light guide plate, a light-shielding plate and a translucent covering plate. The touch-sensitive plate includes plural light-emitting units. The light guide plate is disposed on the touch-sensitive plate. The light-shielding plate is located over the light guide plate. The light-shielding plate includes at last one hollow portion. The translucent covering plate is located over the light-shielding plate. The hollow portion is covered by the translucent covering plate. According to a touch signal, the touch-sensitive plate controls the plural light-emitting units to emit light beams to the light guide plate. After the light beams are transmitted through the at last one hollow portion, the light beams are transferred to the translucent covering plate. 
     In an embodiment, the light guide plate includes a comb-shaped slot and plural light-guiding strips. Moreover, each of the plural light-guiding strips has at least one lateral light-inputting surface. 
     In an embodiment, the plural light-emitting units are disposed in the comb-shaped slot and aligned with the lateral light-inputting surfaces of the corresponding light-guiding strips. After the light beams from the light-emitting units are received by the lateral light-inputting surfaces of the corresponding light-guiding strips, the light beams are transmitted through the at least one hollow portion. Consequently, the translucent covering plate provides a mixed color pattern. 
     In an embodiment, plural recesses are formed in a bottom surface of the light guide plate, and the plural light-emitting units are covered by the corresponding recesses. 
     In an embodiment, the at least one hollow portion includes plural patterned openings, and the plural patterned openings are located over the corresponding light-emitting units. 
     Preferably, after the light beams are transferred to the light guide plate and transmitted through the at least one hollow portion, the patterned openings are displayed through the translucent covering plate. 
     In an embodiment, the electronic device is a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a printer, an office machine, a game console, a keyboard, a mouse, a display screen or a speaker. 
     In an embodiment, the touch-sensitive plate is operated in a resistive touch control mode, a capacitive touch mode, an electromagnetic touch mode, a sonic touch mode or a pressure sensing touch mode. 
     In an embodiment, the light-emitting units include light emitting diode units, organic light emitting diode units, quantum dots light emitting diode units or electroluminescence units. 
     The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which: 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is a schematic exploded view illustrating a touch module according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 1B  is a schematic top view illustrating the touch module according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2A  is a schematic exploded view illustrating a touch module according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2B  is a schematic top view illustrating the touch module according to the second embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 2C  is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the touch module as shown in  FIG. 2B  and taken along the line A-A′. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1A and 1B .  FIG. 1A  is a schematic exploded view illustrating a touch module according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 1B  is a schematic top view illustrating the touch module according to the first embodiment of the present invention. For illustration, the two orthogonal axes on the horizontal plane are set as the X axis and the Y axis. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1A . From top to bottom, the touch module  1  comprises a touch-sensitive plate  10 , a light guide plate  20 , a light-shielding plate  30  and a translucent covering plate  40 . 
     The touch-sensitive plate  10  comprises a microcontroller unit (MCU) (not shown). Moreover, plural light-emitting units  101  are discretely arranged on a surface of the touch-sensitive plate  10  along the X axis. For example, these light-emitting units  101  include the light-emitting units  101   a ,  101   b ,  101   c ,  101   d ,  101   e ,  101   f ,  101   g ,  101   h ,  101   i  and  101   j . Examples of the light-emitting units  101  include but are not limited to light emitting diode units, organic light emitting diode units, quantum dots light emitting diode units or electroluminescence units. According to a touch signal detected by the touch-sensitive plate  10 , the light-emitting units  101  sequentially emit light beams with different tones or different luminous intensities, or the light-emitting units  101  sequentially emit light beams with the identical tone but different luminous intensities. The touch-sensitive plate  10  can be operated in a resistive touch control mode, a capacitive touch mode, an electromagnetic touch mode, a sonic touch mode or a pressure sensing touch mode. 
     The light guide plate  20  is disposed on the touch-sensitive plate  10 . The light guide plate  20  is made of polycarbonate (PC), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) or any appropriate optical-grade light-guiding plastic material. During the process of fabricating the light guide plate  20 , diffusion particles are added to the plastic material in order to increase the brightness of the light guide plate  20 . In an embodiment, the light guide plate  20  comprises a comb-shaped slot  201  and plural light-guiding strips  202 . The comb-shaped slot  201  run through the light guide plate  20 . The plural light-guiding strips  202  are arranged beside the comb-shaped slot  201 . Each light-guiding strip  202  has at least one lateral light-inputting surface  2021 . The light-emitting units  101  are side-view light-emitting units and disposed in the comb-shaped slot  201 . The light-emitting units  101  are aligned with the lateral light-inputting surfaces  2021  of the corresponding light-guiding strips  202 . The light beams from the light-emitting units  101  are received by the lateral light-inputting surfaces  2021  of the corresponding light-guiding strips  202 . 
     The light-shielding plate  30  is located over the light guide plate  20 . Moreover, the light-shielding plate  30  has a hollow portion  301 . The hollow portion  301  is arranged beside the comb-shaped slot  201  and not overlapped with the comb-shaped slot  201 . 
     The translucent covering plate  40  is located over the light-shielding plate  30 . In addition, the hollow portion  301  is covered by the translucent covering plate  40 . The user&#39;s finger can touch or move on the translucent covering plate  40 . By detecting the touching or moving condition of the user&#39;s finger on the translucent covering plate  40 , the touch-sensitive plate  10  generates a corresponding touch signal. 
     In the embodiment as shown in  FIG. 1B , the touch module  1  can be used as a switching key or a control key of an electronic device. For example, the electronic device is a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a printer, an office machine, a game console, a keyboard, a mouse, a display screen or a speaker. When the user&#39;s finger touches the translucent covering plate  40  and moves from top to bottom or from bottom to top along the X axis, the luminous intensity of the display screen (i.e., an example of the electronic device) is gradually increased or decreased, or the sound volume of the speaker (i.e., another example of the electronic device) is gradually increased or decreased. Moreover, according to the touch signal, the touch-sensitive plate  10  controls the light-emitting units  101   a ˜ 101   j  to emit the light beams La˜Lj to the lateral light-inputting surfaces  2021  of the corresponding light-guiding strips  202  sequentially. The light beams La˜Lj are transferred to the corresponding positions of the hollow portion  301  through the corresponding light-guiding strips  202 . Consequently, the translucent covering plate  40  produces mixed colors. For example, in case that the tones of the light beams La˜Lj include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple colors, the translucent covering plate  40  produces a rainbow-like mixed color. In case that the tones of the light beams La˜Lj are identical and the luminous intensities of the tones of the light beams La˜Lj is gradually increased, the translucent covering plate  40  produces a gradual mixed color of the colors from dark to bright. Alternatively, the mixed color is a gradual mixed color of the colors with different tones. In this way, the user can observe the mixed color pattern through the translucent covering plate  40  with the naked eyes. According to the mixed color pattern, the user can roughly know the current luminous intensity of the display screen or the sound volume of the speaker. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C .  FIG. 2A  is a schematic exploded view illustrating a touch module according to a second embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 2B  is a schematic top view illustrating the touch module according to the second embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 2C  is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the touch module as shown in  FIG. 2B  and taken along the line A-A′. In this embodiment, the touch module comprises a touch-sensitive plate  10 , a light guide plate  20 , a light-shielding plate  30  and a translucent covering plate  40 . The structures of the touch-sensitive plate  10  and the translucent covering plate  40  are similar to those of the first embodiment, and are not redundantly described herein. Similarly, plural light-emitting units  101  are discretely arranged on a surface of the touch-sensitive plate  10 . In this embodiment, the light-emitting units  101  are top-view light-emitting units. 
     Moreover, plural recesses S are formed in a bottom surface of the light guide plate  20 . These recesses S include the recesses S 01 ˜S 10 . The installation positions of the recesses S 01 ˜S 10  are aligned with the light-emitting units  101   a ˜ 101   j , respectively. The light-emitting units  101   a ˜ 101   j  are accommodated within and covered by the recesses S 01 ˜S 10 , respectively. 
     In this embodiment, the hollow portion  302  of the light-shielding plate  30  comprises patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j . These openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  are located over the light-emitting units  101   a ˜ 101   j , respectively. Each of these patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  has the profile of a picture, a symbol, a text, or the combination thereof. 
     The translucent covering plate  40  is located over the light-shielding plate  30 . In addition, the patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  are covered by the translucent covering plate  40 . In case that the light-emitting units  101   a ˜ 101   j  are disabled, the patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  or the optical pattern of the patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  cannot be viewed by the user through the translucent covering plate  40 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2C . According to the touch signal, the touch-sensitive plate  10  controls the light-emitting units  101   a ˜ 101   j  to emit the light beams La˜Lj upwardly to the light guide plate  20 . Then, the light beams La˜Lj are transmitted through the corresponding patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  of the hollow portion  302 . Consequently, an optical pattern corresponding to the patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  is displayed through the translucent covering plate  40 . When the user&#39;s finger touches the translucent covering plate  40  corresponding to any position of the patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j , the electronic function corresponding to the touched position of the patterned openings  302   a ˜ 302   j  is enabled or disabled. For example, the profile of the patterned opening  302   a  denotes the on/off state of the display screen. When the user&#39;s finger touches the translucent covering plate  40  corresponding to the position of the patterned opening  302   a , the display screen is turned on. According to the touch signal, the touch-sensitive plate  10  controls the light-emitting unit  101   a  to emit the light beam La upwardly to the light guide plate  20 . Then, the light beam La is transmitted through the hollow portion  302 . Consequently, the optical pattern corresponding to the patterned opening  302   a  is displayed through the translucent covering plate  40 . In this way, the user can observe the optical pattern through the translucent covering plate  40  with the naked eyes. According to the optical pattern, the user can realize that the display screen is in the on state. When the user&#39;s finger touches the translucent covering plate  40  corresponding to the position of the patterned opening  302   a  again, the display screen is turned off. According to the touch signal, the touch-sensitive plate  10  controls the light-emitting unit  101   a  to stop emitting the light beam La upwardly to the light guide plate  20 . Consequently, the optical pattern corresponding to the patterned opening  302   a  is not displayed through the translucent covering plate  40 . Meanwhile, the user realizes that the display screen is in the off state. 
     In the above embodiments, the mixed color pattern or the optical pattern is displayed through the translucent covering plate  40 . It is noted that numerous modifications and alterations may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. For example, in another embodiment, the combination of the mixed color pattern and the optical pattern can be displayed through the translucent covering plate  40 . 
     From the above descriptions, the present invention provides the touch module. The touch module is capable of providing the mixed color pattern or the optical pattern for allowing the use to intuitively and roughly realize the current operating status of the electronic device. Consequently, the electronic device is more user-friendly. Moreover, since the touch module provides the color-changeable pattern or the optical pattern, the appearance of the electronic device is aesthetically pleasing. In other words, the touch module of the present invention is industrially valuable. 
     While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all modifications and similar structures.