JP2000148034A - Display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display device reducing the number of parts by eliminating a light shield plate and luminescence displaying plural functions without dividing between display parts with a partition frame by making a frame window of a luminescent display part one. SOLUTION: A light guide body 19 used for the display device is constituted so that a luminescent part 3 is connected to an adjacent luminescent part with a connection part 4 whose shape is the same as the luminescent part 3, and a direct beam reflection surface reflecting a direct beam from an adjacent light source to the lower part of the connection part 4 is integrally molded with the light transmission body 19. In order to reduce the beam made incident on the connection part 4 from the adjacent light source, a light source is provided in the obliquely downward direction of the luminescent part 3, and by providing a projection part 13 on the inner side of the connection part 4, a light shield effect is enhanced further.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a display device for displaying an operation state of a function which can be used in an electronic device or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, not only consumer equipment but also general equipment has been increasingly reduced in thickness and size.

[0003] In particular, notebook PCs, which are immature products, have a strong tendency. Also, in notebook computers, it is difficult to differentiate in terms of function and performance, and design design has become an important factor influencing its commercial value.

[0004] In a notebook personal computer, the usage status of each function is mainly indicated by, for example, arranging light emitting diodes (hereinafter abbreviated as LEDs). In order to clearly display the lighting of each LED, openings for the number of LEDs are provided in the device housing, and the LEDs are directly lit there or light-guiding components are arranged to emit light.

Hereinafter, an example of the above-mentioned conventional display device will be described with reference to the drawings. 6A and 6B show a conventional display method using a light guide. FIG. 6A is a sectional view of the entire display device, and FIG. 6B is a front view of the light guide. The LED 50 is provided with a milky-white (semi-transparent) light guide 52 just above the LED 50 on the surface of the circuit board 51, and a tip 56 of the light guide 52.
Are exposed through a plurality of openings provided in the housing 53 of the electronic device. The light of the LED 50 is incident on the lower surface projection 57 of the light guide 52, becomes diffused light, and is extracted from the front end portion 56 to the outside of the housing 53. A plurality of light guides 52 having a front end portion 56 and a lower surface projection 57 are connected by a connection portion 58 having a cutout portion 55 (FIG. 6B). LE lit
A wall 54 using a part of the housing 53 as a light-shielding plate is inserted into the notch 55 so that light from the adjacent LED 50 can be guided in the notch 55 so that D and the unlit LED can be clearly distinguished. It does not enter the light plate 52.

As described above, in the conventional display device, the LED is arranged immediately below the housing window, so that it is necessary to take measures for shading and the number of components is increased. Gap between the housing window and the light-emitting part
There are problems such as unevenness being easily formed and dust being easily accumulated.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention reduces the number of components by eliminating a light-shielding plate, and uses a single frame window for a light-emitting display unit to form a partition frame between display units. A plurality of functions can be displayed by light emission without being separated by.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a light guide used in a display device according to the present invention connects a light emitting portion and an adjacent light emitting portion with a connecting portion having the same shape as the light emitting portion, and a lower portion of the connecting portion. A direct light reflecting surface for reflecting direct light from an adjacent light source is integrally formed with the light guide. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a display device with a small number of parts, excellent assemblability, and a simple design.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention according to claim 1 of the present invention provides a circuit board on which a plurality of light sources are mounted, a light receiving section corresponding to the light sources, and a projecting light emitting section having light diffusing means on the surface. A light guide including: a light guide that guides light from the light receiving unit to the light emitting unit; and a connection unit that connects the light emitting unit and the adjacent light emitting unit. A housing having an opening for exposure to the light-emitting portion, a projection having the same shape as the light-emitting portion is provided on the upper portion of the connection portion so as to be flush with the light-emitting portion, and a lower portion of the connection portion is formed from an adjacent light source. A direct light reflection surface having an angle is provided on the side where the incident angle of the direct light becomes large, and a display device with a small number of components that does not require a light shielding plate can be provided. In addition, since the light emitting portion and the connection portion have the same shape, it is possible to provide a display device with a novel design capable of performing a plurality of displays on the same light emitting surface in appearance.

The invention described in claim 2 of the present invention is claim 1
In the invention described in (1), a projection is provided at the lower part of the connection part below the viewing direction, and light incident on the connection part from inside the light guide part can be attenuated, so that light emission at the upper part of the connection part is suppressed. be able to. Therefore, the contrast between the display area and the dark area can be improved, and the display area can be easily viewed.

The third aspect of the present invention is the second aspect.
In the invention described in the above, the width of the protruding light emitting portion is 0.5 m
m to 2.0 mm,
The luminance of the light emitting section can be increased, and the luminance variation around the light emitting area can be reduced. Therefore, the boundary between the display area and the dark area becomes clear, and the display area becomes easy to see.

[0012] The invention described in claim 4 of the present invention is the invention described in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein
It is characterized in that the light source is provided at a position shifted from immediately below the light emitting part, the distance from the light source to the connection part can be increased, and the incident angle of the incident light from the light source to the connection part is reduced. Can be bigger. Therefore, it is easy to reduce the amount of light incident on the connection part without providing a light shielding member.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, third, or fourth aspect, the light guide is transparent. In addition, since the efficiency with which light incident on the light receiving unit reaches the light emitting unit is high, the display unit can be made bright and easy to see.

In the following, an embodiment of a display device according to the present invention will be described with reference to a notebook personal computer as an example.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

(Embodiment 1) A display device according to Embodiment 1 has a typical design of the present invention in which one opening is provided in a device housing and light emitted by a plurality of LEDs is guided to a light emitting portion. Device.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a notebook personal computer employing the display device of the present invention, FIG. 1B is an enlarged plan view of the display unit, and FIG. 1C is a sectional view of the display unit. 2 (a) is a perspective view of the integrally formed light guide according to the embodiment, FIG.
3B is a plan view of the light guide, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are cross-sectional views of the light guide.

The configuration of the light guide according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, 1 is a light guide section, 2 is a light receiving section,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a light emitting section, 4 denotes a connection section, and 5 denotes a fastening section to the main body housing section. There are a plurality of light guides 1 corresponding to the number of LEDs, and a light guide 19 is formed by integrating the light guide 3 with the connecting portion 4 provided on the same surface.

The light guide 19 is made of a translucent material such as an acrylic resin, and guides light incident from the light receiving unit 2 to the light emitting unit 3. The surface of the light emitting unit 3 is provided with light diffusing means such as graining, and the light that reaches the light emitting unit 3 becomes diffused light. The light-emitting section 3 is a convex projection and focuses light intensively on a narrow projection so that sufficient luminance can be obtained even in a bright room.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the light guide 19 of the first embodiment is provided with an opening on the back side of the housing of a notebook personal computer, for example, so that the light emitting section 3 is exposed from the opening. It is attached. As will be described later, since the upper part of the connection part 4 is formed in the same shape as the light emitting part 3, the appearance of the display part is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), it becomes the display section of the slit. Pictures, characters, and the like expressing the setting state when each light emitting unit is lit are printed on the housing cover around the display unit. A dark rectangle appears when the LED is not lit, and a bright rectangle appears when the LED is lit. In the example of the figure, only the left one of the three LEDs is turned on.
Lock is displayed.

The optical path in the light guide 19 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of the light guide unit 1 (view B in FIG. 2),
FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view (C in FIG. 2) of the connecting portion 4.

First, the optical path in the light guide 1 will be described. The light guide unit 1 has a light receiving unit 2 on the lower surface and a light emitting unit 3 on the upper surface and a reflection surface 6 forming an optical path. The surface of the light emitting section 3 is inclined so as to be inclined in the direction of the eyes 20 of the personal computer user so that light in the direction of the eyes 20 is increased. The LED 7 serving as a point light source is mounted on a circuit board (not shown), and is placed below the light receiving unit 2. LE
The diffused light emitted from D7 enters from the light receiving unit 2 and reaches the light emitting unit 3 via the reflecting surfaces 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, and 6g. Assuming that the LED 7 is an ideal point light source, the light emitted from the LED 7 is designed to be reflected once by the reflection surface 6 and reach the light emitting unit 3, and the light directly reaches the light emitting unit 3. There is no.

The light emitted perpendicularly from the LED 7 reaches the center of the light emitting section 3 via the reflecting surfaces 6a having a 45 ° inclination with respect to the reflecting surface 6f and the reflecting surface 6b parallel to the reflecting surface 6a. LE
Since the light from D7 reaches the eye 20 via various reflection paths, the light is diffused, but is further diffused by graining provided on the surface of the light emitting unit 3.

The light emitted from the LED 7 is efficiently guided to the light guide 1
In the embodiment, the area of the light receiving section 2 is set to L
It is set to be sufficiently large with respect to the light emitting area of ED7.

Next, measures against light shielding at the connection part 4 are shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the shape of the upper projection 8 of the connection part 4 is the same as that of the light emitting part 3. The lower portion 9 of the connecting portion has a trapezoidal cross section, and the trapezoidal bottom surface 10 is provided at an angle θ1 from the horizontal plane.

In order to prevent light emission from the upper projection 8,
Usually, the upper surface of the connection portion 4 is covered with a housing cover, or a light shielding plate is provided on the lower surface of the connection portion 4. In the present embodiment, it is impossible to cover the upper surface of the connection portion 4 with the housing cover structurally, and if a light shielding plate is used, the device becomes complicated. Therefore, light emission of the connection portion 4 is prevented by the following method. I have. (1) The LED 7 is shifted from immediately below the light emitting unit 3 and the LED 7
And the connection were separated. Thus, the amount of light that directly reaches the connection portion 4 without passing through the light guide portion 1 is reduced. (2) The light receiving area of the light receiving section 2 is sufficiently larger than the light emitting area of the LED 7. As a result, light leakage from the LED 7 can be reduced, and the amount of light that directly reaches the connection portion 4 without passing through the light guide portion 1 is reduced. (3) The lower surface 10 of the connection portion 4 is provided at an angle θ1 from the horizontal plane, and the incident angle of incident light that directly reaches the connection portion 4 without passing through the light guide portion 1 is θ1 + θ2 (θ2 is a straight line connecting the LED 7 and the connection portion 4). Angle between the vertical line and the vertical line). As a result, light that directly reaches the connection portion 4 without passing through the light guide portion 1 was reflected from the connection portion 4.

As a result, the light emission from the connection portion upper projection 8, which is caused by the light emission of the LED 7 leaking to the adjacent connection portion, can be suppressed to an extremely low level which has no practical problem. The area of the light emitting unit 3 in the embodiment is 1 mm × 4
mm, and the area of the connection portion is also 1 mm × 4 mm. The width of the light emitting section 3 is preferably about 0.5 to 2 mm. Light emitting unit 3
When the width is 3 mm or more, the reflected light is taken in from a wide angle, so that the variation in brightness depending on the position of the eye 20 is large and the cutting of the display unit in the horizontal direction is poor.

FIG. 1C is a sectional view of a display device in which the light guide 19 is attached to an opening provided in the main body housing 11. The light emitting unit 3 is exposed through an opening having a chamfered periphery, so that the light emitting unit 3 is more easily seen from the user's eyes 20 direction.

In the embodiment, the LED 7 is placed below the reflection surface 6f. However, it is also possible to make the light of the LED 7 enter from a surface obtained by cutting off the reflection surface 6a vertically.

If a reflecting plate such as a metal film is provided on the surfaces of the reflecting surfaces 6a to 6g, the optical efficiency can be further improved.

As described above, the display device of the present invention eliminates light-shielding parts and paint for light-shielding,
Is offset from the display not directly below,
The distance to the display unit can be increased, and the device housing can be made thinner. In addition, the shape of the light-guiding component
Since the degree of freedom of the offset position of the ED is high, a substrate dedicated to mounting the LED is not required, and the ED can be used also as a main substrate, and a highly reliable display device with a small number of components can be provided.

Further, since the entire display unit is housed in one window, there are few irregularities and gaps, so that dust and the like hardly accumulate around the display unit. Further, the display is easy to see and it is possible to provide a novel design.

(Embodiment 2) Embodiment 2 is a display device obtained by further improving Embodiment 1.

In the first embodiment, the countermeasure against light blocking at the connection portion is a countermeasure against light blocking directly entering the connection portion from the adjacent LED. However, it is necessary to take measures against light entering through the light guide portion 1 at the connection portion. There is. The display device according to the second embodiment is obtained by improving the structure of the lower portion 9 of the connection portion 4 in the first embodiment, and has the same basic configuration. Therefore, description of overlapping parts will be omitted, and only new parts will be described.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the light guide 19, and FIG.
(B) is a plan view when the light emitting unit 3 of the light guide 19 faces upward. As shown in FIG.
Projecting portion 1 at lower portion 9 of connecting portion 4 in the first embodiment
3 is provided.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the connecting portion 12 (FIG. 4b, as viewed in the direction of arrow D). As shown in the figure, the new connecting part 12 is provided with a protruding part 13 on the back side of the old connecting part 4. FIG. 5 shows a case where the stray light 14 enters the old connection unit 4 via some route. The stray light 14 is reflected by the reflection surface 6c and reaches the connection portion upper protrusion 8, and becomes the diffused light 15 and reaches the eye 20. In the case of the new connection portion 12 provided with the protruding portion 13, the stray light 15 enters the protruding portion 13 and repeatedly attenuates reflection and transmission. The light transmitted through the light guide 19 passes out of the system and is absorbed inside the personal computer. Although a part of the reflected light reaches the connection portion upper protrusion 8 and emits light, the provision of the protruding portion 13 can significantly reduce the light emission from the upper protrusion 8. If the reflection surface of the protrusion 13 is made black,
The stray light 14 is more effective because it is absorbed inside the protruding portion 13.

In the embodiment, a display device having a horizontally long display window has been described. However, a similar effect can be obtained by arranging a vertically long display window.

In the embodiment, the components of the light-emitting display device are described as a notebook personal computer. However, small electronic devices such as a printer, a scanner, a word processor, a telephone, and a facsimile that display a plurality of functions controlled by a microcomputer. Also applicable to

[0038]

As described above, according to the display device of the present invention, the number of components can be reduced by eliminating the light-shielding plate, and the display device can be made thin by arranging the LEDs diagonally. . Thus, a single frame window of the function display unit of the microcomputer control device can be provided, and a plurality of functions can be displayed by light emission without dividing the display unit with a partition frame.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a notebook personal computer employing a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a plan view of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Sectional view of the display device in the form of

2A is a perspective view of a light guide according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a plan view of a light guide according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view illustrating a light path inside a light guide unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a direct light reflecting surface below a connection unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Sectional view

4A is a perspective view of a light guide according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is a plan view of a light guide according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a protrusion in another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of a conventional display device. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a connection portion of the conventional display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light-guide part 2 Light-receiving part 3 Light-emitting part 4, 12, 58 Connection part 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g Reflection surface 7, 50 LED 8 Top projection 9 Connection part lower part 13 Projection part 19 Light guide

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A circuit board on which a plurality of light sources are mounted, a light receiving unit corresponding to the light source, a projecting light emitting unit having a light diffusing means on a surface, and a light guide between the light receiving unit and the light emitting unit. A light guide comprising a light guide, a light guide comprising a connection portion connecting the light emitting portion and the adjacent light emitting portion, and a housing having an opening for exposing the light emitting portion to the outside of the device. A protrusion having the same shape as the light-emitting portion is provided on the upper portion of the connection portion and flush with the light-emitting portion, and an angle is provided on the lower portion of the connection portion on the side where the incident angle of direct light from the adjacent light source is increased. A display device provided with a direct light reflecting surface. 2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein a protruding portion is provided at a lower portion of the connection portion than in a viewing direction. 3. The projection-shaped light-emitting portion has a width of 0.5 mm to 2.
The display device according to claim 2, wherein the display device is 0 mm. 4. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the light source is provided at a position shifted from immediately below the light emitting section. 5. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the light guide is transparent.