System and method for a thin capacitive split keyboard stack including a light-emitting diode (LED) layer and light guide for an information handling system
An information handling system comprising a hardware processor, a data storage device, and a power management unit includes a split keyboard stack structure having a removable tactile input layer and a keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on a multi-layer flexible printed circuit board or on a thin two-sided substrate membrane below a sealed input surface that forms a top surface of a keyboard chassis and onto which a removable tactile input layer is installed. The keyboard sensing hardware structure detects capacitive changes to capacitive fields above the sealed input surface with capacitive sensor pads of a capacitive pads layer and includes a plurality of shielding pads, a light-emitting diode (LED) layer comprising a plurality of LEDs formed coplanar with the capacitive sensor pads, wherein the sealed input surface has a light guide layer integrated to transmit light emitted from the plurality of LEDs up through the removable tactile input layer.
1 . An information handling system having a keyboard with a split keyboard structure comprising:
a hardware processor, a data storage device, and a power management unit (PMU) to provide power to the hardware processor and data storage device;
the split keyboard structure having a first removable tactile input layer to receive user input from a user, a sealed input layer forming a top surface of a keyboard chassis of the information handling system, and a keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on a multi-layer flexible printed circuit (FPC) board or on a thin two-sided substrate membrane underneath a bottom surface of the sealed input surface to detect capacitive changes of user inputs on or above the first removable tactile input layer;
the keyboard sensing hardware structure includes:
a plurality of capacitive sensor pads in a capacitive pads layer;
a plurality of active shielding pads in an active shielding layer;
a light-emitting diode (LED) layer comprising a plurality of LEDs formed coplanar with the capacitive sensor pads of the capacitive pads layer;
a light guide layer integrated into the sealed input layer of the keyboard chassis to transmit light emitted from the plurality of LEDs through the sealed input surface; and
a capacitive sensor microprocessor executing machine readable code instructions of a capacitive sensor driver detect the capacitive changes in capacitive fields of the capacitive sensor pads from the user inputs on or above the first removable tactile input layer, wherein the first removable tactile input layer is removable from the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis and replaceable with a second removable tactile input layer via reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structures.
2 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the multi-layer FPC board that electrically couples the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads and the plurality of LEDs formed on a first layer of the multi-layer FPC board and the plurality of active shielding pads are formed on a second layer of the multi-layer FPC board.
3 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane that is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
4 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor and a power source to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads and the plurality of LEDs that are micro-LEDs formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
5 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane; and
conductive traces printed or deposited on a bottom surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of active shielding pads formed on a bottom side of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
6 . The information handling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a grounding layer formed under the active shielding layer to provide a grounding source for the capacitive sensor pads and to form an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shield for the hardware processor, data storage device and other information handling system hardware components within the keyboard chassis.
7 . The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising:
the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis is formed into a recessed housing well within a c-cover surface over the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis having a first reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structure, wherein a support frame of the first removable tactile input layer has a second reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structure for operative coupling the first removable tactile input layer within the recessed housing well and over the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis.
8 . The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of capacitive sensor pads are operatively coupled to the capacitive sensor microprocessor via carbon ink traces formed on the multi-layer FPC board or on the thin two-sided substrate membrane and the plurality of LEDs are operatively coupled to the capacitive sensor microprocessor via metallic traces formed on the multi-layer flexible printed circuit (FPC) board or on the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
9 . The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of capacitive sensor pads are carbon pads sputter coated onto a top surface of the multi-layer flexible printed circuit (FPC) board or the thin two-sided substrate membrane and disposed vertically below a plurality of keyboard keys of the first removable tactile input layer.
10 . An information handling system having a keyboard with a split keyboard structure comprising:
a hardware processor, a data storage device, and a power management unit (PMU) to provide power to the hardware processor and data storage device;
the split keyboard structure having a first removable tactile input layer to receive user input from a user, a sealed input layer forming a top surface of a keyboard chassis of the information handling system, and a keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on a multi-layer flexible printed circuit (FPC) board or on a thin two-sided substrate membrane underneath a bottom surface of the sealed input surface to detect capacitive changes of user inputs on or above the first removable tactile input layer;
the keyboard sensing hardware structure includes:
a plurality of capacitive sensor pads in a capacitive pads layer, wherein the plurality of capacitive sensor pads are carbon pads sputter coated onto a top surface of the multi-layer flexible printed circuit (FPC) board or the thin two-sided substrate membrane and disposed vertically below a plurality of keyboard keys of the first removable tactile input layer;
a plurality of active shielding pads in an active shielding layer;
a light-emitting diode (LED) layer comprising a plurality of LEDs formed coplanar with the capacitive sensor pads of the capacitive pads layer;
a grounding layer formed under the active shielding layer to provide a grounding source for the capacitive sensor pads;
the sealed input layer of the keyboard chassis to transmit light emitted from the plurality of LEDs through the sealed input surface and up into the first removable tactile input layer; and
a capacitive sensor microprocessor executing machine readable code instructions of a capacitive sensor driver detect the capacitive changes in capacitive fields of the capacitive sensor pads from the user inputs on or above the first removable tactile input layer, wherein the first removable tactile input layer is removable from the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis and replaceable with a second removable tactile input layer via reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structures.
11 . The information handling system of claim 10 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the multi-layer FPC board that electrically couples the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads and the plurality of LEDs formed on a first layer of the multi-layer FPC board and the plurality of active shielding pads are formed on a second layer of the multi-layer FPC board.
12 . The information handling system of claim 10 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane that is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
13 . The information handling system of claim 10 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor and a power source to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads and the plurality of LEDs that are micro-LEDs formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
14 . The information handling system of claim 10 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane; and
conductive traces printed or deposited on a bottom surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of active shielding pads formed on a bottom side of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
15 . The information handling system of claim 10 further comprising:
the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis is formed into a recessed housing well within a c-cover surface over the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis having a first reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structure, wherein a support frame of the first removable tactile input layer has a second reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structure for operative coupling the first removable tactile input layer within the recessed housing well and over the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis.
16 . An information handling system having a keyboard with a split keyboard structure comprising:
a hardware processor, a data storage device, and a power management unit (PMU) to provide power to the hardware processor and data storage device;
the split keyboard structure having a first removable tactile input layer to receive user input from a user, a sealed input layer forming a top surface of a keyboard chassis of the information handling system, and a keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on a multi-layer flexible printed circuit (FPC) board or on a thin two-sided substrate membrane underneath a bottom surface of the sealed input surface to detect capacitive changes of user inputs on or above the first removable tactile input layer;
the keyboard sensing hardware structure includes:
a plurality of capacitive sensor pads in a capacitive pads layer;
a plurality of active shielding pads in an active shielding layer;
a light-emitting diode (LED) layer comprising a plurality of LEDs formed coplanar with the capacitive sensor pads of the capacitive pads layer;
a grounding layer formed under the active shielding layer to provide a grounding source for the capacitive sensor pads;
the sealed input layer is formed into a recessed housing well within a c-cover surface over the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis having a first reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structure and transmits light emitted from the plurality of LEDs through the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis;
a support frame of the first removable tactile input layer including a second reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structure for operative coupling the first removable tactile input layer within the recessed housing well and over the sealed input surface of the keyboard chassis wherein the first removable tactile input layer is removable from the sealed input surface via the second reciprocal latching, interference fit, or magnetic operative coupling structure and replaceable with a second removable tactile input layer; and
a capacitive sensor microprocessor executing machine readable code instructions of a capacitive sensor driver detect the capacitive changes in capacitive fields of the capacitive sensor pads from the user inputs on or above the first removable tactile input layer.
17 . The information handling system of claim 16 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the multi-layer FPC board that electrically couples the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads and the plurality of LEDs formed on a first layer of the multi-layer FPC board and the plurality of active shielding pads are formed on a second layer of the multi-layer FPC board.
18 . The information handling system of claim 16 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane that is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
19 . The information handling system of claim 16 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor and a power source to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads and the plurality of LEDs that are micro-LEDs formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.
20 . The information handling system of claim 16 further comprising:
the keyboard sensing hardware structure formed on the thin two-sided substrate membrane with conductive traces printed or deposited on a top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of capacitive sensor pads formed on the top surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane; and
conductive traces printed or deposited on a bottom surface of the thin two-sided substrate membrane to electrically couple the capacitive sensor microprocessor to the plurality of active shielding pads formed on a bottom side of the thin two-sided substrate membrane.