Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Touch panel
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-20
2001-08-28
Liang, Regina (Department: 2674)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Touch panel
C361S689000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06281887
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touchpad assembly, more particularly to a touchpad construction that has a reduced height.
2. Description of the Related Art
Input devices are required for a computer to allow a user to move a cursor to various locations in a computer display. Many types of user input devices have evolved to allow a user to efficiently operate within a graphical user interface (GUI) environment. Touchpads are among the most popular devices available in the market. With the trend toward minimizing the thickness of notebook computers, the reduction in the height of a touchpad input device is a quite important design consideration for a notebook computer. Moreover, the durability of keys of the touchpad is also an important factor in valuation of the same.
A known structure of a touchpad assembly for a notebook computer is shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
. A base member
11
made of plastic material supports a touchpad member
10
thereon and is mounted at a rear part
12
on a portion of the notebook computer. A pair of arms
13
extends forwardly from the rear part
12
of the touchpad member
10
, and a keypad
14
extends from the free end of each arm
13
. A push bar
15
is provided on the bottom side of the keypad
14
, and is used to actuate a corresponding key switch
16
when a pressing force is applied by the user on the respective keypad
14
.
The keypad
14
springs back to a normal position when released from the pressing force, owing to the flexibility of the cantilevered arm
13
. Because the keypads
14
are frequently pressed during use of the computer, the arms
13
and the keypads
14
must be of considerable thickness in order to provide sufficient durability. The thickness of the arms
13
and the keypads
14
in this conventional construction is generally around 2 mm, which is too thick for application in most laptop computers. Moreover, the frequent operation of the keypad
14
and the arm
13
may eventually result in failure due to material fatigue.
In addition, the touchpad member
10
is often damaged and malfunctions during an electrostatic discharge (ESD) test, where static electricity of several kilovolts is applied by a static generator. For this sake, the touchpad member
10
must be provided with grounding elements in order to dissipate static charge. This leads to a complicated construction and increases the production cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a touchpad assembly with a reduced height.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a touchpad assembly, which allows rapid dissipation of static charges to protect a touchpad member from damage and malfunction.
Accordingly, the touchpad assembly of this invention comprises: a touchpad member having a bottom side; a conductive base member including a looped frame, a plurality of spaced apart resilient touchpad supporting fingers that extend inwardly from the looped frame, and a resilient switch actuating finger that extends outwardly from the looped frame, the touchpad supporting fingers establishing tight contact with the bottom side of the touchpad member to serve as a discharge path for static electricity; a key switch disposed beneath the switch actuating finger; and a keypad member mounted on a top side of the switch actuating finger, the keypad member being operable so as to bend the switch actuating finger relative to the looped frame and actuate the key switch.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5793355 (1998-08-01), Youens
patent: 5920310 (1999-07-01), Faggin et al.
patent: 6177924 (2001-01-01), Bae
Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Liang Regina
Mitac International Corp.
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