Patent Publication Number: US-2023141940-A1

Title: Straight-through three-in-one light-emitting key core module

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a U.S. continuation of co-pending International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2021/139182, filed on Dec. 17, 2021, which claims the benefit and priority of Chinese Patent Application Number 202111324838.2, filed on Nov. 10, 2021 with China National Intellectual. Property Administration, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present application discloses a keyboard structure, in particular a straight-through three-in-one light-emitting key core module, which belongs to the technical field of computer peripheral equipment. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The keyboard is the most commonly used and the most important input device. Through the keyboard, English letters, Chinese characters, numbers, punctuation marks, etc. can be input into the computer, so as to send commands and input data to the computer. It can be said that since the advent of the computer, the keyboard has been one of the indispensable peripherals of the computer. 
     With the continuous development of the keyboard, in order to make the keyboard have better use effect, the luminous keyboard (or backlit keyboard) came into being. The keycap is designed as a light-transmitting structure, using the light emitted by the backlight module to illuminate the keycap, which is more suitable for input at night, making it easy to see the words on the keycap, and on the other hand, it will also produce more cool Effect. The light-emitting keyboard structure in the prior art is to set a backlight module inside the keyboard, and the backlight module emits light to illuminate the keycap. The backlight module usually includes a light-shielding film, a light-guiding film, a reflective film and LEDs. The light-shielding film, the light-guiding film and the reflective film are arranged in a stacked manner, the LEDs are arranged on the side of the light-guiding film, and the light emitted by the LEDs is emitted into the light-guiding film and is guided to each keycap through the light-guiding film to be transmitted out to illuminate the keycaps. The current common backlit keyboards have inherent disadvantages due to their structural limitations: (1) Due to the limitation of the backlight module, especially the LED in the backlight module, the thickness of the entire backlight module is more than 0.5 min, which affects the thinning of the entire keyboard; (2) it uses light-guiding film with the structure of LED to emit light, so it is necessary to choose high-power high-brightness LED. On the one hand, the high-power high-brightness LED will cause its power consumption to be too high, resulting in high power consumption. On the other hand, the high-power high-brightness LED generates a lot of heat during use. Since only one or a few LEDs are installed, the heat is concentrated, which will cause problems such as poor heat dissipation and local heating of the keyboard, which will affect the customer&#39;s experience, especially when it is used in notebook computers, it will also affect the self-heat dissipation of notebook computers. 
     SUMMARY 
     In view of the above-mentioned problems of the light-emitting keyboard in the prior art when the backlight module is used for lighting, that is, the thickness is thick, the power consumption is high, and the heat dissipation is poor, the present application provides a straight-through three-in-one light-emitting key core module, which uses a specially-made light-emitting key core module, and uses LEDs corresponding to the key caps to directly illuminate the key cap area, so as to solve the above problems. 
     The technical solution adopted by the present application to solve its technical problems is: a straight-through three-in-one light-emitting key core module comprises a support structure, an insulating layer, a circuit layer, a spacer layer, an elastic conducting member, an LED light and a keycap, wherein the insulating layer is arranged on the support structure, the circuit layer is arranged on the insulating layer, and the spacer layer is arranged above the insulating layer, a first through hole is opened in the spacer layer at a position corresponding to the keycap, an elastic conducting member is arranged at a position corresponding to the first through hole, an LED light is arranged on the circuit layer and is arranged corresponding to the keycap, a second through hole is opened on the spacer layer corresponding to a position of the LED light, the LED light is arranged in the second through hole, and the keycap is arranged above the elastic conducting member. 
     The technical solution adopted by the present application to solve its technical problems further includes: 
     The support structure is made of a steel sheet, and the thickness of the steel sheet is 0.10 mm-0.25 mm. 
     The thickness of the insulating layer is 0.02 mm to 0.05 mm. 
     A switch is arranged on the circuit layer at a position corresponding to the keycap. 
     The thickness of the spacer layer is 0.02-0.07 mm. 
     A conducting layer is arranged above the spacer layer, and the elastic conducting member is fixedly arranged above the conducting layer, wherein the thickness of the conducting layer is 0.02-0.07 mm, a conductive sheet is fixedly arranged at a position corresponding to the elastic conducting member under the conducting layer, the conductive sheet is arranged corresponding to the first through hole and uses silver paste dots. 
     A third through hole is opened on the conducting layer at a position corresponding to the LED light, and the LED light is arranged in the second through hole and the third through hole, the conducting layer is provided with a black ink layer, and the black ink layer is arranged above the conducting layer. 
     1 to 4 LEDs can be arranged at each keycap. 
     The keycap is arranged above the elastic conducting member, and a scissor foot is arranged between the keycap and the elastic conducting member, wherein the keycap and the scissor foot are respectively arranged on the steel sheet. 
     The beneficial effects of the present application are: In the present application, the LEDs are used to directly illuminate the keycap area, so that the backlight module structure is omitted, the thickness of the keyboard can be reduced as a whole, and the lightweight design of the keyboard is more favorable. On the other hand, LEDs are used to directly illuminate the keycap area, and low-power components can be selected for LEDs, which is not only conducive to reducing power consumption, but also reduces its own heat generation. At the same time, due to the distributed arrangement of these LEDs, it is more conducive to heat dissipation, especially in notebook computers, and the heat generated by the notebook itself (mainly the CPU) can also be dissipated through the keyboard. 
     The present application will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic structural diagram of a partial three-dimensional exploded state of a single keycap in the present application. 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic structural diagram of a single keycap in the present application in an exploded state in a partial section. 
         FIG.  3    is a partial top-view structural schematic diagram of a single keycap in the present application. 
     
    
    
     REFERENCE SIGNS 
     
         
         
           
               1 -Steel sheet,  2 -Adhesive layer,  3 -Insulating layer,  4 -Circuit layer,  5 -Spacer layer,  6 -Conducting layer,  7 -LED light,  8 -Elastic sheet,  9 -Scissor foot,  10 -Keycap,  11 -Switch,  12 -Conductive sheet,  13 -First through hole,  14 -Second through hole,  15 -Third through hole. 
           
         
       
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     This embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present application, and other principles and basic structures that are the same as or similar to those of this embodiment are within the protection scope of the present application. 
     Please refer to accompanying  FIGS.  1  to  3   . The present application mainly protects a straight-through three-in-one light-emitting key core module, which is applied to a light-emitting keyboard. The FIGS. show the structure at a single keycap of the keyboard, and the structures at each keycap are the same during implementation. The light-emitting key core module comprises a support structure, an insulating layer  3 , a circuit layer  4 , a spacer layer  5 , an elastic conducting member, an LED light  7  and a keycap  10 , wherein the insulating layer  3  is arranged on the support structure, the circuit layer  4  is arranged on the insulating layer  3 , and the spacer layer  5  is arranged above the insulating layer  4 , a first through hole  13  is opened in the spacer layer  5  at a position corresponding to the keycap  10 , an elastic conducting member is arranged at a position corresponding to the first through hole  13 , the LED light  7  is arranged on the circuit layer  4  and is arranged at a position corresponding to the keycap  10 . As a result, the light emitted by the LED light  7  can illuminate the corresponding keycap  10 . A second through hole  14  is opened on the spacer layer  5  corresponding to a position of the LED light  7 , the LED light  7  is arranged in the second through hole  14 , and the keycap  10  is arranged above the elastic conducting member. 
     In this embodiment, the supporting structure adopts the steel sheet  1  to facilitate the installation of the entire light-emitting key core module. In a specific implementation, the support structure may also be a keyboard shell or an internal structure of an electronic product (such as a notebook computer, a mobile phone, an c-book, etc.) to which the light-emitting key core module is used. In this embodiment, the thickness of the steel sheet  1  is 0.10 mm˜0.25 mm, which can not only meet the strength requirements, but also will not make the overall thickness too thick. When the present application is used in a scissor-foot keyboard, the steel sheet  1  is also provided with installation structures, such as installation holes, hooks, etc., for installing scissors feet and keycaps, etc. Its installation structure is the same as that of a conventional keyboard, which will not be repeated here. 
     In this embodiment, the insulating layer  3  is made of polyimide insulating material, which is used for attaching and fixing the circuit layer  4 . During specific implementation, the insulating layer  3  and the circuit layer  4  may also adopt the FPC structure or other circuit board structures in the prior art. The insulating layer  3  can also be made of other insulating materials that are suitable for attaching the circuit layer  4 . The thickness of the insulating layer  3  is 0.02 mm˜0.05 mm, which needs to meet the adhesion requirements of the circuit layer  4 . 
     In this embodiment, the insulating layer  3  is fixed with the steel sheet  1  by using the adhesive layer  2 . The adhesive layer  2  is preferably a thermosetting adhesive, which is convenient for processing. In specific implementation, materials such as self-adhesive can also be used. The thickness of the adhesive layer  2  is negligible, and it only needs to meet the bonding requirements. Alternatively, during production and processing, the adhesive layer  2  is not provided, and other fixing structures are used to fix the insulating layer  3  and the steel sheet  1  together, or the insulating layer  3  can be directly arranged on the steel sheet  1 . 
     In this embodiment, the circuit layer  4  is a copper foil circuit, which is attached to the insulating layer  3  and can be formed by conventional circuit board processing techniques such as etching, silk screen printing, or pasting. The circuit structure of circuit layer  4  adopts conventional keyboard circuit and conventional LED light driving circuit structure, which is not limited in this application. The circuit layer  4  is provided with a switch  11  at a position corresponding to the keycap, that is, a keyboard key switch, and the switch  11  has the same structure as a conventional keyboard. 
     In this embodiment, the spacer layer  5  is made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) material, with a thickness of 0.02 to 0.07 mm, preferably 0.05 mm, and mainly plays an insulating role. In specific implementation, other materials with insulating properties can also be used. 
     In this embodiment, a conducting layer  6  is also provided above the spacer layer  5 . The conducting layer  6  plays the role of fixing the elastic conducting member on the one hand, and on the other hand, it can also play the role of shading to prevent light from emitting from the position between the keycap and the keycap, thereby affecting the use effect. In this embodiment, the elastic conducting member is fixedly arranged above the conducting layer  6 , and a conductive sheet  12  is fixedly arranged under the conducting layer  6  corresponding to the position of the elastic conducting member, and the conductive sheet  12  is arranged corresponding to the first through hole  13 . In other words, the conductive sheet  12  is arranged above the switch  11  correspondingly. In this embodiment, the conductive sheet  12  is formed on the conducting layer  6  by coating with silver paste dots. A third through hole  15  is opened on the conducting layer  6  at a position corresponding to the LEI) light  7 , that is, the second through hole  14  and the third through hole  15  are stacked and connected to form a through hole, and the LED light  7  is arranged in the second through hole  14  and the third through hole  15 . In this embodiment, a black ink layer (not shown in the figure) is arranged on the conducting layer  6 , preferably the black ink layer is arranged above the conducting layer  6 . In specific implementation, it can also be provided at the bottom, but the use effect is not good. The conducting layer  6  can also be directly made of black material, so that the light emitted by the LED light  7  can only be emitted from the position of the third through hole  15 , thereby illuminating the bottom of the keycap  10 . The light emitted by the LED light  7  in other directions is absorbed by the black ink layer on the conducting layer  6 , so that it will not be emitted in other directions. 
     In this embodiment, the conducting layer  6  is made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) material, and has a thickness of 0.02-0.07 mm, preferably 0.05 mm. In specific implementation, other materials may also be used. 
     In this embodiment, the LED light  7  uses low-power LEDs, which usually only need to illuminate one keycap, and 1 to 4 LEDs can be arranged corresponding to each keycap  10 , Usually, 1 or 2 LED lights  7  can be provided for common keys, while larger and longer keys such as “Enter”, “Shift”, “Space” need to be provided with 2˜4 LED lights  7  correspondingly to meet its illuminating needs. According to actual needs, more LEDs can also be provided corresponding to a keycap. It is also possible to leave no LEDs under the keycaps that do not need to be illuminated. 
     In this embodiment, the elastic conducting member is selected from the elastic sheet  8 , which can also be called a Rubber Dome or a dome piece. In the specific implementation, a rubber or silicone button form can also be used, which mainly plays the role of elastic support and increased hand feeling. 
     In this embodiment, the keycap  10  is arranged above the elastic conducting member, and the keycap  10  adopts a conventional keyboard key structure. In this embodiment, a scissor foot  9  is arranged between the keycap  10  and the elastic conducting member, wherein the keycap  10  and the scissor foot  9  are respectively arranged on the steel sheet  1 . 
     When the application is in use, press the keycap  10 , squeeze the scissors foot  9  through the key cap  10 , and continue to press down to press the elastic sheet  8 , so that the elastic sheet  8  is deformed, and the elastic sheet  8  presses the conducting layer  6  and then the conducting layer  6  moves downward together with the conductive sheet  12 , Through the first through hole  13  on the spacer layer  5 , the conductive sheet  12  contacts the switch  11 , so that it is turned on, so as to achieve the key effect, release the keycap  10 , the scissor foot  9  and the elastic sheet  8  rebound, so that the conductive sheet  12  disengages the switch  11  and makes it disconnect. 
     In the present application, the LEDs are used to directly illuminate the keycap area, so that the backlight module structure is omitted, the thickness of the keyboard can be reduced as a whole, and the lightweight design of the keyboard is more favorable. On the other hand, LEDs are used to directly illuminate the keycap area, and low-power components can be selected for LEDs, which is not only conducive to reducing power consumption, but also reduces its own heat generation. At the same time, due to the distributed arrangement of these LEDs, it is more conducive to heat dissipation, especially in notebook computers, and the heat generated by the notebook itself (mainly the CPU) can also be dissipated through the keyboard.