Collapsible keyboard

Typewriting machines – Key-board or key lever-actuating mechanism – Key-cap or key-stem structure

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C400S472000, C400S495000, C400S495100, C400S491200, C400S680000, C400S681000, C400S682000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06623195

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a collapsible keyboard, especially to a collapsible key board for compact electronic devices such as a PDA (personal digital assistant).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The current trend of electronic products is to provide portability for the user. Therefore, the PDA and cellular phones are prevailing, and user interfaces for the portable electronic products, such as keyboards, are also under extensive development.
The design goals of the keyboards for portable electronic products is compact size and preserving good ergonomics and function.
The size of the keyboard can be reduced by decreasing the size of each keyswitch on the keyboard. Alternatively, the separation between adjacent keyswitches can also be reduced for further decreasing the size of the keyboard. However, the keyboard with over crowded arrangement of keyswitches may cause frequent typewriting errors.
The foldable keyboard is another kind of keyboard for providing portability. However, the reduction in size still has limits.
FIG. 1
shows a prior art keyboard with variable volume. The keyboard has a plurality of keyswitches
1
a
. A sidewall
10
a
is arranged on a lateral side of one keyswitch
1
a
and attached to an inner surface of a supporting wall
20
a
of a base
2
a
, whereby the keyswitch
1
a
can be slid in a vertical direction. The keyswitch
1
a
further has a restoring spring ha with a bump
12
a
on a topside thereof. The bump
12
a
is in contact with a top inner surface of the keyswitch
1
a
to boost the keyswitch
1
a
for operation. The keyswitch
1
a
further has a cylindrical shaft
14
a
below the spring ha and having serrations
13
a on an outer circumference thereof. The cylindrical shaft
14
a
is pivotally arranged on a retaining case
21
a of the base
2
a
. Moreover, a driving plate
15
a
is engaged with the serrations
13
a
of the cylindrical shaft
14
a
and connected to another keyswitch
1
a.
To shrink the keyboard, the driving plate
15
a
is pushed by an adjacent keyswitch
1
a
and rotates the cylindrical shaft
14
through the serrations
13
a.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the bump
12
a
separates from the top inner surface of the keyswitch
1
a
and then the keyswitch
1
a
falls by the weight per se.
In the above-mentioned keyboard, the keyswitch
1
a
falls to reduce the volume of the keyboard. However, the keyswitch
1
a
should have sufficient height to accommodate the cylindrical shaft
14
a
and the driving plate
15
a.
The effect of volume reduction is limited.
Moreover, the keyswitch
1
has a complicated structure and the assembling thereof is cumbersome.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of the present invention to provide a collapsible keyboard with keyswitches having standard separation during operation and having reduced separation after operation.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a collapsible keyboard having at least one keyboard module. The keyboard module has a plurality of keyswitches arranged in an array pattern. At least one membrane circuit is provided to connect the plurality of keyswitches. When the keyboard is in an operation state, each keyswitch has a predetermined separation with an adjacent keyswitch, and the separation is the same as that in a standard keyboard. To shrink the keyboard, the plurality of keyswitches can be arranged in a collapsed state to reduce the transverse size of the keyboard, the lengthwise size of the keyboard, or both sizes. The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily separation is the same as that in a standard keyboard. To shrink the keyboard, the plurality of keyswitches can be arranged in a collapsed state to reduce the transverse size of the keyboard, the lengthwise size of the keyboard, or both sizes. The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:


REFERENCES:
patent: 5044798 (1991-09-01), Roylance et al.
patent: 5463195 (1995-10-01), Watanabe et al.
patent: 5590020 (1996-12-01), Sellers
patent: 5602715 (1997-02-01), Lempicki et al.
patent: 5635928 (1997-06-01), Takagi et al.
patent: 5767464 (1998-06-01), Dyer et al.
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patent: 5800085 (1998-09-01), Lee
patent: 5842798 (1998-12-01), Su
patent: 6092944 (2000-07-01), Butler
patent: 6107584 (2000-08-01), Yoneyama
patent: 6257782 (2001-07-01), Maruyama et al.
patent: 6331850 (2001-12-01), Olodort et al.
patent: 6388219 (2002-05-01), Hsu et al.
patent: 2002/0018683 (2002-02-01), Roysden, Jr.

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