JP2001209456A - Folding type of portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a folding type of portable terminal which is thin and cheap a lighting means of low consumption electric power. SOLUTION: A lens 3 which is faced toward a display pant 1 and a lens 4 which is faced toward a keyboard 2, on a hinge part 5 which join the screen to the keyboard, are arranged each on a higher place than a displace surface of the display part 1 and a operation surface of the keyboard 2. A light emitting diode 6 is built into the hinge 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a foldable portable terminal, and more particularly, to a foldable portable terminal, in which a light emitting element is provided inside a hinge portion and the hinge portion is provided with a lens function to reduce the cost. The present invention relates to a lighting device suitable for use in a foldable portable terminal having a thin and thin lighting means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a foldable portable terminal is divided into a display section and a keyboard section, and the backlight has two systems, one for the display section and one for the keyboard section.

[0003] Many of small-sized mobile phones and the like are equipped with a backlight, and there are a display unit using an EL and a structure using a light guide plate and an LED.
Some keyboards use LEDs.

On the other hand, a portable terminal having a keyboard such as a pocket board (a pocket boat is a product name of Docomo) and having a larger display unit than a portable telephone is mainly intended for indoor use. Therefore, in many cases, a backlight is not provided. However, since the actual place of use is not limited to a sufficiently bright place indoors, a backlight is often required.

However, when a portable terminal such as a pocket board is to be provided with a backlight function, the display portion has a large area, and the use of LEDs increases the number of components and increases the cost. Can be

[0006] Even when an EL is used, the EL area becomes large, and a significant cost increase is expected. The keyboard also requires more LEDs than the mobile phone, which also leads to an increase in cost.

Further, the thickness of the device is increased by the device of the EL or the light guide plate, which is disadvantageous for a portable terminal which is about to be reduced in size and thickness.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-196912, which is a first conventional example of a foldable portable terminal,
The display unit can be detached from the computer main unit, the computer main unit and the display unit are connected by an optical interface, the display unit is placed on the document surface of the overhead projector, and a video signal is transmitted from the light emitting unit of the computer main unit. A portable computer that receives an image on a light receiving unit, displays an image on a display unit, illuminates the image from the back surface of the display unit, and performs enlarged projection is disclosed.

A second prior art example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-62198.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-260,000 is cited.

In the portable terminal according to the second prior art, the image display section is divided into a plurality of display areas, a plurality of lighting means for lighting the plurality of display areas, and a lighting of the plurality of lighting means. The image display unit is divided into a plurality of display areas, a plurality of lighting means lights up the divided display area, and the lighting control of the lighting means is controlled by This is performed by the lighting control means. According to this display device, the image display section is divided into a plurality of parts and each is individually lit, so that power consumption can be reduced.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9 as a third prior art
Japanese Patent No. 269849 discloses that when the display is rotated with respect to the main body to close the device, a backlight switch is pressed by the display and the circuit in the keyboard is electrically disconnected from the circuit in the main body. Further, there is disclosed a portable information processing apparatus in which when the display is rotated with respect to a main body and the apparatus is closed, the display contacts a key on a keyboard and all keys are pressed. .

[0012]

However, the first, second and third prior arts described above have the following drawbacks.

First, the first prior art uses a separately prepared overhead projector for enlarging and projecting onto a separately provided projection plane, so that it has many components and complicated operation. Therefore, the present invention does not have a problem of reducing power consumption, which is a problem of the present invention.

Further, in the above-mentioned second prior art, the image display section is divided into a plurality of areas, and these divided areas are lit by a plurality of lighting means provided correspondingly, respectively. Is controlled by the lighting control means, the structure becomes complicated, the number of components increases, and it is doubtful whether the power consumption can be reduced.

The third conventional example is directed to miniaturization of a portable processing apparatus and does not have a problem of reducing power consumption. When the device is closed to reduce the size,
There is a disadvantage that the display unit comes into contact with keys on the keyboard and all keys are pressed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the conventional technology. It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel foldable portable terminal that has lighting means and can be configured compactly and at low cost.

[0017]

In order to achieve the above object, a foldable portable terminal according to the present invention is characterized in that a hinge connecting a display unit and a keyboard unit has a lens function. .

The lens function is constituted by first lens means facing the display section and second lens means facing the keyboard section.

One illuminating means is provided inside the hinge portion, and the one illuminating means illuminates two surfaces of the display section and the keyboard section.

The first lens means is arranged at a position higher than the display surface of the display section, and the second lens means is arranged at a position higher than the operation of the keyboard section.

[0021]

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIGS. 1, 2, 3,
FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a hinge part which is a main part of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view and a sectional view showing the operation of the first embodiment.

[Configuration of the First Embodiment] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in a foldable portable terminal having a display unit 1 and a keyboard unit 2, the display unit 1 and the keyboard unit 2 are connected. The hinge 3 is provided with a lens 3 facing the display 1 and a lens 4 facing the keyboard 2.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a hinge portion of the foldable portable terminal according to the present invention. The lenses 3 and 4 of the hinge portion 5 are higher than the display surface of the display portion 1 and the operation surface of the keyboard portion 2, respectively. The light emitting element 6 is built in the hinge portion 5.

The lens 3 and the lens 4 can be formed as an integral lens as shown in FIG.

As for the "ON" and "OFF" means for lighting, a conventional manual switch, a means which operates in conjunction with a lid open / close detection switch, and a method of detecting ambient brightness by a phototransistor or the like are used. It is also possible to combine it with one that operates as

[Operation of First Embodiment] Next, the operation of the first embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

When the illumination is "ON", the light emitting element 6 shown in FIG. 2 emits light, and the light is radiated to the display unit 1 and the keyboard unit 2 by the lenses 3 and 4, respectively.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the irradiation surface (7, 8), and FIG. 4 shows an example of the irradiation angle (9, 1) in the sectional view.
0).

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, in some foldable portable terminals, the angle of the display unit when opened is not constant. Therefore, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the lens 3 on the display 1 side is used. Is wider than the lens 4 on the keyboard 2 side and is formed as a lens 11.

As shown in FIG. 5, the screen can be illuminated irrespective of the opening / closing angle of the display unit by increasing the lens width on the display unit side.

[0034]

The present invention is constructed and operates as described above. According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

The first effect is that it can be used even in a dark place, so that the merchantability is improved.

The reason is that the lighting means is provided.

The second effect is that the illumination means can be provided with a minimum increase in cost.

The reason is that the conventional illuminating means requires the EL or LED of the display unit and the LED of the keyboard unit, and the number of LEDs increases in proportion to the area of the display unit and the keyboard unit.

However, according to the present invention, since both the display unit and the keyboard unit are illuminated by the light emitting element built in the hinge unit, the number of components can be reduced. Since the light emitting element can use an LED, a lamp, or the like, it has a feature that the component unit price is lower than that of the EL.

Further, since the light emitting element is built in the hinge portion, there is more mounting space than in the case where components are arranged on a conventional substrate, and it is possible to use a component having a large component shape and a low price. It becomes possible.

The third effect is that the illumination means can be provided without changing the size of the device.

The reason for this is that, in the conventional illuminating means using an EL or a light guide plate, an EL or a light guide plate is arranged on the back side of the display unit, and an LED is arranged between each key of the keyboard unit. Becomes thicker. However, in the present invention,
Since no components are placed on the keyboard and the display, the illumination means can be provided without changing the thickness of the device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a hinge part according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the operation of the first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a hinge part showing a second embodiment according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Display part 2 ... Keyboard part 3, 4, 11 ... Lens 5 ... Hinge part 6 ... Light emitting element 7, 8 ... Irradiation surface 9, 10 ... Irradiation angle

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 1/00 312F

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A foldable portable terminal, wherein a hinge connecting the display unit and the keyboard has a lens function. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said lens function is constituted by a first lens means facing the display section and a second lens means facing the keyboard section. A foldable portable terminal according to claim 1. 3. The foldable portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein said first and second lens means are integrated lenses. 4. The display device according to claim 2, further comprising: a lighting unit disposed inside the hinge unit, and the one lighting unit illuminates two surfaces of the display unit and the keyboard unit. Foldable mobile terminal. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first lens unit is disposed at a position higher than a display surface of the display unit, and the second lens unit is disposed at a position higher than the operation of the keyboard unit. The foldable mobile terminal according to claim 2, further comprising: 6. The foldable portable device according to claim 2, wherein a lens width of the first lens means is wider than a lens width of the second lens means. Terminal.