Image analysis – Miscellaneous
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-08
2002-05-21
Chen, Wenpeng (Department: 2624)
Image analysis
Miscellaneous
C345S173000, C345S157000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06393165
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a touch pad for controlling the movement of a cursor on a visual display, more particularly to a touch pad module mountable on a notebook computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
For miniaturization of computer products, touch pads that perform the same function as a mouse device, have been developed to control the movement of a cursor in a visual display. As touch pads have a reduced size, they are advantageously used in notebook computers by mounting on a keyboard panel. As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a typical cursor control device comprises a touch pad body
1
, a touch control region
2
with a sensing film
2
a
formed on a front side of the touch pad body
1
, a control circuit
2
b
provided on a back side of the touch pad body
1
, and a contact switch unit
3
electrically connected to the control circuit
2
b
by means of a flexible printed circuit member
4
, such as a ribbon cable. The contact switch unit
3
is provided with a push button
3
a
and a movable contact unit
3
b
. Such a control device is not a unitary construction and thus tends to encounter problems in governing inventory. In addition, the manufacturing cost of such a control device is high due to the use of expensive ribbon cables. Moreover, the push button
3
a
raised from the touch pad body
1
occupies a certain height and is not advantageous for miniaturization.
Another conventional cursor control device is shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, wherein a contact switch unit
3
′ is directly mounted on a touch pad body
1
′ which has a touch control region
2
′ covered by a sensing film
2
a
′ and a control circuit unit
2
b
′. The contact switch
3
′ has a push button
3
a
′, a movable contact unit
3
b
′ loaded with a spring
3
c
′, and a stationary contact member
3
d
′ disposed on the touch pad body
1
′. The stationary contact member
3
d
′ is electrically connected to the control circuit unit
2
b
via printed circuit lines. This type of control device has a unitary construction and dispenses with the use of the ribbon cables. However, since it still utilizes the push button
3
a
′, the size thereof cannot be reduced satisfactorily. In addition, as the contact switch unit
3
′ and the control circuit unit
2
b
′ are provided respectively at the front and back sides of the touch pad body
1
′, soldering has to be carried out in two successive steps at two sides of the touch pad body
1
′ and therefore is thus laborious.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to provide a unitary touch pad module which can overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.
According to the present invention, a touch pad module for controlling the movement of a cursor comprises: a plate; two resilient arms coplanar with the plate, each of the resilient arms having one end formed integrally with the plate and a free end part opposite to the one end, each of the resilient arms being bendable to permit the free end part to resiliently move away from the plane of the plate; a touch control region formed at a front side of the plate; a control circuit unit disposed opposite to the touch control region at a rear side of the plate; and a switching unit provided on a rear side of each of the resilient arms and electrically connected to the control circuit unit, the switching unit having a movable contact member projecting resiliently from the rear side of the corresponding one of the resilient arms.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4314117 (1982-02-01), Ditzig
patent: 4503294 (1985-03-01), Matsumaru
patent: 4613736 (1986-09-01), Shichijo et al.
Chen Wenpeng
Quanta Computer Inc.
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