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US-20260124526-A1 - INPUT DEVICE

US20260124526A1US 20260124526 A1US20260124526 A1US 20260124526A1US-20260124526-A1

Abstract

When a vibration motor is driven, noise due to a contact between a circuit board and a support member is prevented from being generated and included in voice data. An input device ( 10 ) includes a circuit board ( 61 ), a vibration motor ( 5 R, 5 L), a microphone ( 8 A, 8 B), a frame ( 51 ) to which the circuit board ( 61 ) is attached, and a damper ( 68 ) disposed between the circuit board ( 61 ) and the frame ( 51 ).

Inventors

  • Masaho MORITA
  • Takeshi Igarashi

Assignees

  • SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT INC.

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251226
Priority Date
20200331

Claims (16)

  1. 1 . (canceled)
  2. 2 . An input device comprising: a circuit board defining an opening; a vibration motor; a microphone; a first support member disposed on a first side of the circuit board; a second support member disposed on a second side of the circuit board; and a damper comprising: a body portion, a first portion extending from the body portion, and a second portion extending from the body portion, wherein the body portion is disposed at least partially within the opening of the circuit board, wherein the first portion is disposed between the first support member and the circuit board, and wherein the second portion is disposed between the second support member and the circuit board, such that the circuit board is supported between the first support member and the second support member via the damper.
  3. 3 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the first support member comprises a frame configured to hold the vibration motor, and the second support member comprises a cabinet section forming at least a portion of an exterior surface of the input device.
  4. 4 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the body portion of the damper is cylindrical, the first portion is a first flange extending from a first edge of the body portion, and the second portion is a second flange extending from a second edge of the cylindrical body portion.
  5. 5 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the first support member comprises a projected portion that fits into the body portion of the damper.
  6. 6 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the first support member includes a first contact portion in contact with the first portion of the damper, and the second support member includes a second contact portion in contact with the second portion of the damper, and wherein the first contact portion and the second contact portion face each other.
  7. 7 . The input device according to claim 6 , wherein the second contact portion comprises a cylindrical portion protruding toward the circuit board.
  8. 8 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the damper is disposed at a corner portion of the circuit board.
  9. 9 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the vibration motor comprises a voice coil motor, and wherein the vibration motor is configured to vibrate in a direction intersecting an attachment direction of the circuit board and the first support member.
  10. 10 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the microphone is supported by a member different from the circuit board and the first support member.
  11. 11 . The input device according to claim 2 , further comprising a fixture fixing the circuit board to the first support member at a fixed position, wherein the damper is positioned such that a straight line connecting the fixed position to the damper intersects the vibration motor.
  12. 12 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the opening of the circuit board is formed at an outer edge of the circuit board such that an edge of the opening is partly open.
  13. 13 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the damper is made of an elastic material comprising rubber or elastomer.
  14. 14 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the circuit board includes a positioning hole distinct from the opening for the damper, and wherein the first support member includes a positioning protrusion fitted into the positioning hole.
  15. 15 . The input device according to claim 2 , further comprising a battery holder configured to hold a battery, wherein the microphone is supported by a microphone support portion formed on the battery holder.
  16. 16 . The input device according to claim 2 , wherein the second support member has an exterior surface with a recessed portion, and wherein a sound hole connected to the microphone is formed in a bottom surface of the recessed portion.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation application of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 17/910,502, filed on Sep. 9, 2022, which is a National Stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/JP 2021/010423, having an International Filing Date of Mar. 15, 2021, which claims the benefit of Japanese Serial No. 2020-065100 filed Mar. 31, 2020 a the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to an input device that is used for game control or the like. BACKGROUND ART As an example of input devices that are used for video games, devices disclosed in PCT Patent Publication Nos. WO2005/022951 and WO2014/061322 are given. An input device such as those disclosed in the patent documents includes, in its right and left portions, input members such as an input stick (joystick), input buttons, and a directional pad. Further, the input device may include microphones as in the case of PCT Patent Publication No. WO2005/022951. The input device of PCT Patent Publication No. WO2014/061322 includes vibration motors for vibrating grips according to a situation in a video game. SUMMARY In an input device including a microphone, driving of a vibration motor vibrates a circuit board in some cases, so that the microphone may acquire voice data including noise. As an example of the input device proposed in the present disclosure, there is provided an input device including a circuit board, a vibration motor, a microphone, a first support member to which the circuit board is attached, and a damper disposed between the circuit board and the first support member. With this input device, noise is prevented from being generated and included in voice data acquired by the microphone. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1A is a plan view illustrating an example of an input device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 1B is a side view of the input device illustrated in FIG. 1A. FIG. 1C is a front view of the input device. FIG. 1D is a rear view of the input device. FIG. 1E includes a bottom view of the input device and an enlarged view of part of the bottom view. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the input device. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the input device. FIG. 4A is a sectional view taken along line IVa-IVa of FIG. 1C. FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along line IVb-IVb of FIG. 1D. FIG. 5 is a bottom view illustrating a circuit board and a frame. FIG. 6 is a plan view of an upper cabinet section. FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a grip. FIG. 8A is a sectional view taken along line VIIIa-VIIIa of FIG. 1A. FIG. 8B is a sectional view taken along line VIIIb-VIIIb of FIG. 1A. FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along line IX-IX of FIG. 1D. FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line X-X of FIG. 9. FIG. 11A is a sectional view illustrating a modified example of a sound hole, which is obtained from a cross section like the one in FIG. 9. FIG. 11B is a sectional view taken along line XI-XI of FIG. 11A. FIG. 12 is a perspective view illustrating a buffer member attached to the upper cabinet section. FIG. 13A is a perspective view illustrating the buffer member in an enlarged manner. FIG. 13B is a side view of the buffer member. FIG. 14A is a sectional view of the input device taken along line XIVa-XIVa illustrated in FIG. 13B. FIG. 14B is a sectional view of the input device taken along line XIVb-XIVb illustrated in FIG. 13B. FIG. 15 is a sectional view of a modified example of the buffer member. FIG. 16A is an exploded perspective view illustrating input buttons, the upper cabinet section, and a buffer member. FIG. 16B is an enlarged view of FIG. 16A. FIG. 17 is a sectional view taken along line XVII-XVII illustrated in FIG. 1A. FIG. 18 is a sectional view illustrating the circuit board and the frame in cross section along line XVIII-XVIII illustrated in FIG. 5. FIG. 19 is a plan view of an input member. FIG. 20 is a sectional view taken along line XX-XX illustrated in FIG. 1A. FIG. 21A is a sectional view taken along line XXI-XXI illustrated in FIG. 1A. FIG. 21B is an enlarged view of FIG. 21A. FIG. 22A is a block diagram illustrating a system including an information processing apparatus and the input device. FIG. 22B is a block diagram illustrating functions of the information processing apparatus. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT Now, an embodiment of the present disclosure is described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 and the like illustrate an input device 10 as an example of the embodiment. In the following description, in FIG. 1A to FIG. 1D, X1 and X2 respectively indicate a right direction and a left direction, Y1 and Y2 respectively indicate a forward direction and a rearward direction, and Z1 and Z2 respectively indicate an upward direction and a downward direction. Note that, these directions are defined for descriptions of shapes