Including one or more lenses in individual keys of a keyboard to focus light
View Patent ↗In some examples, a computing device may include a first housing coupled to a second housing. The first housing may include a first set of components including a display device. The second housing may include a second set of components including a keyboard and a light source that emits light. An individual key of the keyboard may include one or more lenses. The one or more lenses may focus the light towards an area below an individual keycap of the individual key. For example, the one or more lenses may be integrated into a scissor mechanism of the individual key. The keycap may include an opaque material into which is embedded a character or a symbol made of a transparent or translucent material through which the light is visible.
1. A computing device comprising:
a first housing comprising:
a first set of components; and
a second housing comprising:
a second set of components comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keys; and
a single light source to emit light approximately horizontally into the second housing;
wherein an individual key of the plurality of keys comprises:
a keycap;
a scissor mechanism; and
one or more lenses attached to a top surface of the scissor mechanism, wherein an individual lens of the one or more lenses comprises a convergent lens to focus the light to an area comprising a backlight location of the keycap.
2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein:
the keycap comprises an opaque material.
3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein:
an alphanumeric character or symbol embedded into the keycap comprises a transparent material.
4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein:
an alphanumeric character or symbol embedded into the keycap comprises a translucent material.
5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the keycap comprises a plastic or a polycarbonate.
6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the scissor mechanism comprises a plastic or a polycarbonate.
7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein individual lenses of the one or more lenses comprise a plastic or a polycarbonate.
8. A computing device comprising:
a first housing comprising:
a first set of components including a display device; and
a second housing comprising:
a second set of components comprising a keyboard having a plurality of keys; and
a single light source to emit light approximately horizontally into the second housing;
wherein an individual key of the keyboard comprises:
a keycap;
a scissor mechanism; and
one or more convergent lenses located on a top surface of the scissor mechanism to focus the light towards an area below an individual keycap of the individual keys to illuminate an alphanumeric character or a symbol on the individual keycap.
9. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein:
the computing device comprises a laptop device; and
the first housing is connected to the second housing by one or more hinges.
10. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein:
the computing device comprises a 2-in-1 device;
a mechanism enables the first housing to be connected to the second housing for use as a laptop device; and
the mechanism enables the first housing to be detached from the second housing to enable the first housing to be used as a tablet computing device.
11. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein:
the computing device comprises a desktop device; and
the first housing is separate from the second housing.
12. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the individual keys of the keyboard comprise:
a keycap having a character or a symbol embedded into the keycap, wherein the keycap comprises an opaque material and the character or the symbol comprises a transparent material or a translucent material; and
a scissor mechanism to which is attached the one or more lenses.
13. The computing device of claim 8 , wherein individual keys of the keyboard include at least one of plastic material, polycarbonate material, or glass material.
14. A housing comprising:
a set of components comprising:
a keyboard having a plurality of keys;
a touchpad; and
a single light source emitting light approximately horizontally into the housing;
wherein an individual key of the keyboard comprises:
a keycap;
a scissor mechanism; and
one or more lenses attached to a top surface of the scissor mechanism to focus the light at a particular area beneath an individual keycap of the individual key to backlight the individual keycap.
15. The housing of claim 14 , wherein:
the single light source comprises one or more of a light emitting diode (LED) or an organic LED (OLED).
16. The housing of claim 14 , wherein the individual key of the keyboard further comprises:
the individual keycap; and
a scissor mechanism into which is integrated the one or more lenses, wherein individual lenses of the one or more lenses focus the light at an area near the individual keycap.
17. The housing of claim 14 , wherein:
the individual keycap comprises an opaque material.
18. The housing of claim 14 , wherein the individual keycap further comprises an embedded character or an embedded symbol made of a transparent material or a translucent material.
19. The housing of claim 14 , wherein the individual key of the keyboard includes at least one of plastic material, polycarbonate material, or glass material.
20. The housing of claim 14 , wherein the housing comprises a portion of a computing device.