TOUCH PAD DEVICE FOR PORTABLE COMPUTER

• US 20060201792A1
• Filed: 03/13/2006
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Sun, You Myoung
• Granted Patent: US 7,119,291 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 200/5.A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033

Abstract

A touch pad device for a portable computer includes a key deck 20; a touch region 24 formed on a portion of the key deck 20; penetration portions 28 extending through the key deck 20 while being adjacent to the touch region 24; push buttons 32 integrally formed with the key deck 20 while being able to deform elastically inside the penetration portions 28; a touch pad 40 formed on a lower surface of the key deck 20 in a position corresponding to the touch region 24 for information input; a cover button 30 mounted on an upper surface of the key deck 20 to cover at least the push buttons 32 and the penetration portions 28, the cover button 30 having first and second button units 31 and 31′ adapted to deform elastically and compress the push buttons 32; and a board 42 having switches 44 toggled on/off by pushing the button units 31 and 31′. The touch pad device is advantageous in that it has a minimized number of components, a simple assembly process, and a low manufacturing cost. No tool or equipment for thermal bonding is necessary, since the push buttons are integrally formed with the key deck. The positional relationship of the push buttons is always maintained correctly. This improves the operation reliability of the touch pad device.

Claims

1. A touch pad device for a portable computer comprising:

a key deck;

a touch region formed on a portion of the key deck;

penetration portions extending through the key deck while being adjacent to the touch region;

push buttons integrally formed with the key deck while being able to deform elastically inside the penetration portions;

a touch pad formed on a lower surface of the key deck in a position corresponding to the touch region for information input;

a cover button mounted on an upper surface of the key deck to cover at least the push buttons and the penetration portions, the cover button having first and second button units adapted to deform elastically and compress the push buttons; and

a board having switches toggled on/off by pushing the button units.

2. The touch pad device for a portable computer as claimed in claim 1, push protrusions are formed on lower surfaces of the push buttons to make contact with the switches, respectively, and the push buttons are integrally connected to the key deck by first and second connection legs adapted to deform elastically.

3. The touch pad device for a portable computer as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first and second connection legs are parallel to each other and connect the push buttons to the key deck.

4. The touch pad device for a portable computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the touch region has a touch sheet.

5. The touch pad device for a portable computer as claimed in claim 1, wherein a seating channel is formed around a periphery of the touch region, and the penetration portions are formed inside the seating channel.

6. The touch pad device for a portable computer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the cover button is mounted in the seating channel in a shape corresponding to a shape of the seating channel, and the first and second button units are delimited by a seam formed on the cover button and correspond to the respective push buttons.