Glass keyboard
First Claim
1. A glass keyboard, comprising:
- a patterned glass sheet having a plurality of glass keys arranged in a keyboard layout, each of the glass keys comprising one or more cantilevered glass tabs integrally formed in the patterned glass sheet, each glass tab being deflectable from a plane of the patterned glass sheet;
a conductive layer arranged in opposing and spaced-apart relation to the patterned glass sheet, the conductive layer having a plurality of contact pads in positions corresponding to the glass tabs;
a plurality of pressure pads disposed between the cantilevered glass tabs and the contact pads and configured to selectively transfer contact pressure from the cantilevered glass tabs to the contact pads when the cantilevered glass tabs are selectively deflected from the plane of the patterned glass sheet, the pressure pads being compressible; and
a tip structure attached to each pressure pad for contacting the corresponding contact pad of the conductive layer when the corresponding cantilevered glass tab is deflected against the pressure pad.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A glass keyboard includes a patterned glass sheet having a plurality of glass keys arranged in a keyboard layout. Each of the glass keys includes one or more cantilevered glass tabs integrally formed in the patterned glass sheet. Each glass tab is deflectable from a plane of the patterned glass sheet. A conductive layer is arranged in opposing and spaced-apart relation to the patterned glass sheet. The conductive layer has a plurality of contact pads in positions corresponding to the glass tabs. A plurality of pressure pads is disposed between the cantilevered glass tabs and the contact pads and configured to selectively transfer contact pressure from the cantilevered glass tabs to the contact pads when the cantilevered glass tabs are selectively deflected from the plane of the patterned glass sheet.
22 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A glass keyboard, comprising:
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a patterned glass sheet having a plurality of glass keys arranged in a keyboard layout, each of the glass keys comprising one or more cantilevered glass tabs integrally formed in the patterned glass sheet, each glass tab being deflectable from a plane of the patterned glass sheet; a conductive layer arranged in opposing and spaced-apart relation to the patterned glass sheet, the conductive layer having a plurality of contact pads in positions corresponding to the glass tabs; a plurality of pressure pads disposed between the cantilevered glass tabs and the contact pads and configured to selectively transfer contact pressure from the cantilevered glass tabs to the contact pads when the cantilevered glass tabs are selectively deflected from the plane of the patterned glass sheet, the pressure pads being compressible; and a tip structure attached to each pressure pad for contacting the corresponding contact pad of the conductive layer when the corresponding cantilevered glass tab is deflected against the pressure pad. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A glass keyboard, comprising:
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a patterned glass sheet having a plurality of glass keys arranged in a keyboard layout, each of the glass keys comprising one or more cantilevered glass tabs integrally formed in the patterned glass sheet, each glass tab being deflectable from a plane of the patterned glass sheet; a conductive layer arranged in opposing and spaced-apart relation to the patterned glass sheet, the conductive layer having a plurality of contact pads in positions corresponding to the glass tabs; and a plurality of pressure pads arranged in a layer between the patterned glass sheet and the conductive layer such that each pressure pad corresponds to a glass key, the pressure pads being configured to selectively transfer contact pressure from the cantilevered glass tabs to corresponding contact pads when a compression force is selectively applied to the pressure pads by selective deflection of the cantilevered glass tabs from the plane of the patterned glass sheet, the pressure pads being arranged such that there is a space between the bottom of the cantilevered glass tabs and the top of the pressure pads when the cantilevered glass tabs are undeflected, the cantilevered glass tabs being configured to deflect through the space to reach the pressure pads and apply the compression force to the pressure pads, the pressure pads being adapted to spring back when the compression force is removed.
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Specification