JP2003037375A - Foldable electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide foldable electronic equipment that can surely electrically connect a rotary cylindrical body side to first and second enclosure sides for a long period even when first and second enclosures or a cylindrical body is rotated. SOLUTION: A flexible printed board 51 provided in the rotary cylindrical body 4 is taken out from the central part of the rotating shaft 63 of the cylindrical body 4 and connected to an electric circuit on the first enclosure 1 side after the board 51 is wound around the rotating shaft 63 several times.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a foldable type having a first housing having a display portion, a second housing having an operating portion, and a hinge portion rotatably connecting these housings. The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly to a foldable electronic device in which a rotary cylinder provided on the same axis as a hinge can be electrically connected to a first or second housing side in a rotatable state. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic devices such as portable terminals have been usually made smaller, thinner and lighter so that they are convenient to carry, and have been made highly functional and multifunctional. .
For example, in a mobile terminal, it is important to efficiently arrange various electric parts, a display unit, operation switches, a microphone, a speaker, etc. in a limited space.

As for electronic equipment such as this portable terminal, a foldable type having a structure that can be miniaturized by folding a plurality of housings has been developed with the miniaturization of electronic parts. There is. For example, a foldable portable terminal device is known in which a first housing having a display unit such as an LCD and a second housing having an operation unit are rotatably connected by a hinge.

Further, as such a folding type portable terminal device has become multi-functional, a camera-equipped portable terminal device equipped with a camera and capable of accumulating image data taken by the camera is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-253124. As described in the official gazette, a foldable portable terminal device having a camera attached to a hinge portion is known. In this foldable mobile terminal,
The direction of the camera can be changed by rotating the hinge part.

By the way, in such a foldable portable terminal, in order to connect various electric parts provided in both housings, for example, a space is provided in a hinge portion,
It is conceivable that wires such as cables are provided in this space for electrical connection. Further, in the foldable portable terminal device in which the camera is attached to the hinge part, the means for electrically connecting the camera body and the display part such as the LCD is not specifically disclosed. It is conceivable to use a cable or a flexible printed circuit board.

The flexible printed circuit board is a film material on which fine pattern wiring is formed. Since it has flexibility, it can be arranged in various kinds of gaps. For example, when the hinge portion is rotated to change the direction of the camera or the housing is folded, the flexible printed circuit board can be displaced to some extent by following the rotation operation of the hinge portion.

[0007]

However, in this flexible printed circuit board, since the pattern wiring is formed, if the load such as the irregular twist or the bending is repeatedly applied thereto, the pattern wiring is damaged. May occur. Therefore, it is necessary to minimize the load applied to the periphery of the hinge portion, for example, the connecting portion between the flexible printed circuit board and the first housing or the second housing during folding operation or the like. ing.

Further, in the folding type portable terminal, for example, a rotary cylinder for housing the camera body is provided coaxially with the hinge part, and the rotary cylinder is rotated independently of the hinge part. In this case, in order to electrically connect the side of the rotary cylinder to the side of the first or second housing, it is necessary to consider the rotary operation of the rotary cylinder in addition to the rotary operation of the hinge portion. However, there is a risk that the flexible printed circuit board may bend or break inside the hinge.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances.
Even if the first casing, the second casing, and the rotary cylinder are rotated,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a foldable electronic device capable of reliably electrically connecting the rotary cylinder side and the first and second casing sides for a long period of time.

[0010]

Therefore, the present invention is directed to the first aspect of the present invention.
A first casing having a display unit and a second casing having an operation unit
A foldable electronic device comprising: a housing, a hinge portion that rotatably connects the housings, and a rotating cylinder body that is rotatable on the same axis as the hinge portion. A flexible printed circuit board is disposed inside the hinge portion to connect the first housing or the second housing side, and the flexible printed circuit board in the hinge portion is hinged from the rotary cylinder. It is characterized in that it is arranged by winding a plurality of times along a rotary shaft that is provided so as to project in the section.

[0011] Thus, by making the number of times of winding the rotary cylinder around the rotary shaft by the flexible printed circuit board a plurality of times, the outer peripheral side of the flexible printed circuit board having rigidity sticks along the inner peripheral surface of the arc-shaped projection. It will be in a state of being. When the rotating operation of the rotary cylinder and the opening / closing operation of the housing are performed in this state, the fluctuation due to the rotation of the spiral flexible printed circuit board can be dealt with by changing the flexible printed circuit board on the inner peripheral side. There is little load on the flexible printed circuit board.

Secondly, the flexible printed circuit board is pulled out from the inside of the rotary cylinder along the axial direction of the rotary shaft, and the winding direction is imitated on the outermost peripheral surface of the spiral flexible printed circuit board. It is preferable to draw it out along the direction close to the tangent line and connect it to the side of the first housing or the second housing.

As described above, by mounting the flexible printed circuit board in a direction close to the tangent line, the inner flexible printed circuit board is moved to the outer peripheral flexible printed circuit board by the opening / closing operation of the casing and the rotating operation of the rotary cylinder. Will be covered by. Since the inner flexible printed circuit board contacts the back surface of the outer flexible printed circuit board, the flexible printed circuit board on the inner peripheral side does not spread outward during rotation, and the flexible printed circuit board is formed in an arc shape. As a result, the flexible printed circuit board is less likely to be loaded.

If the flexible printed circuit board is mounted in a direction close to the normal line, the flexible printed circuit board will bend into the clearance between the connector connected to the main body printed circuit board and the inner surface of the arcuate projection.

Thirdly, the flexible printed circuit board is bent from the inside of the rotary cylinder along the axial direction of the rotary shaft at a bending portion and then wound around the rotary shaft. The lead-out portion of the flexible printed board wound around the shaft may be fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft with an adhesive material.

[0016] With this, by further pulling out the root portion of the flexible printed circuit board, which is the lead-out portion, at an acute angle in the tangential direction to the peripheral surface of the rotary shaft, the winding radius around the rotary shaft can be reduced. Further, in this case, a fold or a curved portion formed with a small curvature is formed on the flexible printed circuit board, and a load is applied to the fold or a curved portion formed with a small curvature when the rotary cylinder is rotated. In order to reduce the load of, the root part wound around the rotary shaft is fixed with an adhesive material or the like.

As a result, the acute angle portion or the curved portion having a small curvature does not move even when repeatedly rotated, so that no load is applied to the fold or the curved portion having a small curvature, and the pattern circuit on the flexible printed board is disconnected. Can be prevented. Note that if the arcuate protrusion is made as small as possible, the flexible printed circuit board inevitably forms a curved portion having a small curvature and winds around the rotary shaft, so that the same measure is required.

Fourthly, the flexible printed board is drawn out from the inside of the rotary cylinder along the axial direction of the rotary shaft and wound around the rotary shaft in a spiral curve, and the flexible print is wound around the rotary shaft. You may fix the drawing-out part of a board | substrate to the outer peripheral surface of a rotating shaft with an adhesive material.

In this case, a curved portion formed with a small curvature is formed at the base portion of the flexible printed circuit board, which is a drawn-out portion, and there is a risk that the curved portion will be loaded when the rotary cylinder is rotated. In order to reduce the load on the curved portion, the root portion wound around the rotary shaft is fixed with an adhesive material or the like. As a result, even if the rotary operation is repeated, the curved portion having a small curvature does not move, so that the curved portion is not loaded and the pattern circuit on the flexible printed circuit board can be prevented from being disconnected.

Fifthly, a gap is provided along the axial direction of the rotary shaft, which is almost the same as the thickness of the flexible printed circuit board, and the flexible printed circuit board is arranged in this space to extend from the inside of the rotary cylinder to the hinge portion. It is preferable to withdraw.

Thus, the flexible printed circuit board can be pulled out from the rotary cylinder to the hinge portion with a simple structure and a minimum space.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, a foldable electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a foldable camera-equipped mobile phone to which the present invention is applied.
This foldable camera-equipped mobile phone has, as a general configuration, a first casing 1 and a second casing 2 which are main bodies, a hinge portion 3, a rotary cylinder 4, a main body and a rotary cylinder 4. And flexible printed circuit boards 51, 52 for connecting to each other.

The first housing 1 is mainly composed of a front case 1A and a rear case 1B, and a display section 11 for displaying an image taken by a camera, a telephone number, etc., and a telephone for calling. The receiver 12 is provided. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, a printed circuit board 13 on which various circuits (not shown) are mounted is housed inside the first housing 1.

On the other hand, the second casing 2 is mainly composed of the front case 2
It is composed of A and a rear case 2B, and is provided with a button 21 of an operation section for operating the present mobile phone and a transmitter section 22 for a call. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a printed circuit board 23 on which various circuits (not shown) are mounted is also housed inside the second housing 2. Then, the printed circuit board 23 and the printed circuit board 13 on the first casing 1 side
, And the flexible printed circuit board 52 described above in which a loop is formed once or a plurality of times is electrically connected via the connectors 23A and 13B provided respectively.

The hinge portion 3 is used to rotatably connect the first casing 1 and the second casing 2. As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the first casing 1 is used. Rear case 1B
And the rear case 1B of the second housing 2 are connected. Therefore, the arc-shaped projections 1C and 1D extend from the rear case 1B of the first casing 1, while the rear case 2 of the second casing 2 extends.
From B, arcuate protrusions 2C and 2D extend. In this hinge portion 3, the rear case 1B of the first casing 1
The circular arc-shaped projection 1C integrated with the side and the circular arc-shaped projection 2C integrated with the rear case 2B side of the second housing 2 are rotatably incorporated. In addition, inside the hinge portion including the arc-shaped projections 1C and 1D and the arc-shaped projections 2C and 2D, the flexible printed circuit board 5 described above is provided.
A space for passing 1, 52 is formed.

The rotary cylinder 4 is coaxial with the hinge part 3 and is rotatable independently of the hinge part 3 by a manual operation, and a camera 6 having a camera lens 61 is provided. . In this embodiment, the rotary cylinder 4 is assembled in a state of being rotatably pressed against the side surface of the arc-shaped projection of the first housing 1 or the second housing 2. As an assembling method in this case, for example, an E-ring (not shown) is attached to the rotary shaft 63 that is the center of rotation of the rotary cylinder 4, and the E-ring is locked to a protruding portion protruding from the inner peripheral surface of the arc-shaped protrusion. It can be held by a method such as.

The camera 6 is housed in a camera case 62, and the direction of the camera lens 61 can be changed by manually rotating the rotary cylinder 4, as shown in FIG. Flexible printed circuit board 51
Implemented on. Further, the installation position of the camera 6 is adjusted to the focus position of the camera lens 61 by a holder or a holding flexible material (not shown) such as a sponge material, and the camera 6 is held in the camera case 62.

On this flexible printed circuit board 51,
A fine pattern for electrically connecting to the printed circuit board 13 inside the first housing 1 is formed. On the other hand, a control unit (not shown) is mounted on the printed circuit board 13 in order to control the camera 6. The flexible printed circuit board 51 on which the camera 17 is mounted includes a rotary shaft on the rotary cylinder 4 side,
For example, the rotating shaft 63 protruding from the side surface of the camera case 62
After being taken out from the outer peripheral surface of, and wound around the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 63 a plurality of times,
It is connected to a connector 13A on the printed circuit board 13 side built in the first housing 1.

Also, this flexible printed circuit board 51
When the part pulled out from the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft 63 is wound around the rotary shaft 63, the part tries to spread outward due to the resilience of the flexible printed circuit board 51, and the outer surface part of the flexible printed circuit board 51 wound a plurality of times is covered. It is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the arc-shaped projection of the first housing 1 or the second housing or the inner peripheral surface of the hinge portion 3. On the other hand, since the space inside the arc-shaped projection or inside the hinge portion 3 is a limited narrow space, the flexible printed circuit board 51 pulled out.
Results in arcs with small radii of curvature or folds at acute angles to be wrapped around the axis of rotation.

However, in such a state where an arc having a small radius of curvature or an acute bend is formed, the first casing 1 and the second casing 2 are repeatedly opened and closed, or the rotary cylinder 4 is moved. When it is rotated, cracks may occur in the fine pattern formed on the flexible printed board 51. Therefore, in this embodiment, in the vicinity of the lead portion that forms an arc having a small radius of curvature or an acute bend,
The adhesive material 51A is attached. Accordingly, since the flexible printed circuit board 51 can be easily wound around the rotating shaft 63 and the creases can be fixed, when the first housing 1 and the second housing 2 and the rotating tubular body 4 are rotated, The flexible printed circuit board 51 is configured to prevent a load from being applied.

Next, the flexible printed circuit board 51 in the mobile phone with the foldable camera according to this embodiment.
The state of attachment (winding) inside the hinge part 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7. Note that FIG. 4 (A)
And (B) respectively show a state in which the rotary cylinder is rotated and wound with the case closed, and a state in which the rotary cylinder is rotated and wound with the case open. Also,
5A and 5B respectively show the state where the rotary cylinder is rotated from the state where the rotary cylinder is rotated with the housing closed and the case where the rotary cylinder is opened. The state returned from the open state.

The flexible printed board 51 spirally drawn from the center of the rotary shaft 63 of the rotary cylinder 4 is mounted on the printed board 13 in the first housing 1 as shown in FIG. 4 (A). The connector 13A is stretched and attached in a natural state along the tangential direction of the outermost peripheral surface. That is, the flexible printed circuit board 51 is
In other words, the first casing 1 and the second casing 2 are wound in such a direction that the spirally wound portion is released as the first casing 1 and the second casing 2 are opened. It is adapted to be wound with the operation of closing the second housing 2.

The flexible printed circuit board 51 mounted in this state is the front case 1A of the first casing 1.
And, while being housed in a spiral shape (arc) drawn on the inner surface of the arc-shaped protrusion formed on the rear case 2 of the first housing, a restoring force for returning to the original is generated due to the rigidity of the flexible printed circuit board 51 itself. The outermost peripheral surface abuts the inner peripheral surface of the arc-shaped projection. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4B, when the first housing 1 and the second housing 2 are opened,
The rotating shaft 63 may be dragged and slightly rotated due to the rotating operation at the time of opening, which can be dealt with by expanding the flexible printed circuit board 51 on the inner peripheral surface side to the outer peripheral surface side.

On the other hand, the flexible printed circuit board 51 is
In order to change the orientation of the camera from the state of FIG. 4A, it is assumed that the rotary cylinder 4 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise as shown in FIG. 5A, for example. Then, since the rotary shaft 63 also rotates integrally with the rotary shaft 63 in the same direction by the same angle, the flexible printed circuit board 5 pulled out from the rotary shaft 63 is rotated.
In No. 1, the inner peripheral surface side tends to widen, but since the outer peripheral surface side on the outside covers this, it can be accommodated only by spreading along the back surface of the flexible printed circuit board 51 at the outermost peripheral surface portion.

Therefore, from the state of FIG.
In the state shown in FIG. 4B in which the case 1 and the second case 2 of FIG. 4 are opened, the flexible printed circuit board 51 on the inner peripheral surface side tends to further expand due to the rotating operation at the time of opening. (B)
Similarly, the flexible printed circuit board 5 on the outermost peripheral surface portion
The result fits in along 1.

The flexible printed circuit board 51
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, if the rotary cylinder body 4 is rotated in a direction to release the wound state when the rotary cylinder 4 is attached in the direction opposite to the winding direction of FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown in FIG. 7A, there is a problem that a part of the flexible printed circuit board 51 is sandwiched between the flexible printed circuit board 51 and the inner surface of the rear case 1B of the first housing and broken.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the flexible printed circuit board 51 wound spirally is
13 mounted on the printed circuit board 13 of the housing 1 of
When it is attached to A along the direction normal to the tangential direction of the outermost peripheral surface, the rotating operation of the rotary shaft 63 accompanying the opening of the first casing 1 and the second casing 2 causes In the flexible printed circuit board 51, as in FIG. 4, the flexible printed circuit board on the inner peripheral side spreads outward. Further, in this case, the flexible printed circuit board 51 on the inner peripheral side also expands outward by the rotating operation when the direction of the camera 6 is changed to a specific direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 7).

As a result, the rear case 1B of the first housing 1
The flexible printed circuit board 51 on the outermost peripheral surface side gets into the gap between the connector 13A and the connector 13A. Then, the flexible printed circuit board 51 that has entered is bent in the gap portion, and if this state is repeated, this portion is broken and the pattern wiring is broken.

Under these circumstances, by setting the mounting direction of the flexible printed circuit board 51 connected to the connector 13A on the printed circuit board 13 provided in the first housing 1 to be close to the tangential direction, It is possible to make it difficult to apply a load to the flexible printed circuit board 51.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a foldable electronic device including a rotating cylinder, a flexible printed circuit board that connects an electric component provided on the rotating cylinder and a printed circuit board provided on the main body housing is
The wiring is wound around the rotary shaft provided on the rotary cylinder multiple times, and the load on the flexible printed circuit board can be reduced when the rotary shaft rotates, and the fine pattern wiring, etc. provided on the flexible printed circuit board is damaged. Can be prevented.

As a result, even if the first casing, the second casing, and the rotary cylinder are rotated, the electrical connection between the rotary cylinder side and the first and second chassis sides is extended. The effect is that it can be performed reliably over a period of time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a folding camera-equipped mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a main part showing a periphery of a hinge part of a mobile phone with a foldable camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the rotary cylinder of the mobile phone with the foldable camera according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing an arrangement of a flexible printed circuit board of a mobile phone with a foldable camera according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (A) shows a state in which first and second casings are closed. , (B) are side sectional views showing a state in which the first and second casings are closed.

FIG. 5 shows an arrangement of flexible printed circuit boards of a mobile phone with a foldable camera when the direction of the camera is changed to a direction in which the flexible printed circuit board is loosened as compared with FIG. 4, and FIG. FIG. 3B is a side sectional view showing a state in which the casing of FIG. 2 is closed, and FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a state in which a flexible printed circuit board of a mobile phone with a foldable camera is wound in a direction opposite to that of FIG. 4, and FIG. 6A shows a state in which the first and second casings are closed. Side sectional view, (B) is a side sectional view showing a state in which the first and second casings are closed.

FIG. 7 is a side cross-sectional view showing a state in which the camera is changed to a direction in which the flexible printed circuit board is loosened as compared with FIG. 6, and (A) shows a state in which the first and second casings are closed,
(B) is a side sectional view showing a state in which the first and second casings are closed.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 first housing 1A front case 1B rear case 1C arc-shaped protrusion 1D arc-shaped protrusion 11 Display 12 Earpiece 13 printed circuit boards 13A connector 13B connector 2 Second housing 2A front case 2B rear case 2C arc-shaped protrusion 2D arc-shaped protrusion 21 Operation buttons (operation section) 22 Transmitter 23 Printed circuit board 23A connector 23A connector 3 Hinge part 4 rotating cylinder 51 Flexible printed circuit board 51A adhesive material 52 Flexible printed circuit board 6 cameras 61 camera lens 62 camera case 63 rotation axis

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masami Tachibana             3-1, Tsunashima-Higashi 4-chome, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Matsushita Communication Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yutaka Masutani             3-1, Tsunashima-Higashi 4-chome, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Matsushita Communication Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hidehiro Yanagibashi             3-1, Tsunashima-Higashi 4-chome, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Matsushita Communication Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ichiro Kajiya             384 Saedo-cho, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Within TS G Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 4E352 AA07 AA16 BB09 CC01 CC07                       CC18 DD08 DR02 DR23 DR24                       DR25 DR37 DR45 FF01 GG20                 4E360 AB16 BB02 BB16 BB22 EA24                       EC14 ED07 ED14 ED30 GA02                       GA12 GA31 GB26 GC11                 5E348 AA28 AA38                 5K023 AA07 DD08 HH07

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A first casing having a display unit and a second casing having an operation unit, a hinge unit that rotatably connects these casings, and a rotatable unit on the same axis as the hinge unit. A foldable electronic device including a rotating cylinder body, wherein the rotating cylinder body side and the first casing or the second casing side are provided with a flexible printed circuit board inside the hinge portion. While connecting, the flexible printed circuit board in the hinge portion,
A foldable electronic device, wherein the foldable electronic device is arranged by winding a plurality of times along a rotary shaft that is provided so as to project from the rotary cylinder into a hinge portion. 2. The flexible printed circuit board is pulled out from the inside of the rotary cylinder along the axial direction of the rotary shaft, and is close to a tangent line following the winding direction on the outermost peripheral surface of the spiral flexible printed circuit board. The foldable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the foldable electronic device is drawn out along a direction and is connected to the side of the first casing or the side of the second casing. 3. The flexible printed circuit board is bent from the inside of a rotary cylinder along an axial direction of the rotary shaft at a draw-out bending portion, and is then wound along the rotary shaft and is wound around the rotary shaft. 3. The foldable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the drawn-out portion of the flexible printed circuit board is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rotary shaft with an adhesive material. 4. The flexible printed board is drawn out from the inside of the rotary cylinder along the axial direction of the rotary shaft, is wound along the rotary shaft along a spiral curve, and is drawn out of the flexible printed board to be wound around the rotary shaft. The foldable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the portion is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft with an adhesive material. 5. A gap having a thickness substantially equal to that of the flexible printed circuit board is provided along the axial direction of the rotary shaft, and the flexible printed circuit board is arranged in this space and pulled out from the inside of the rotary cylinder to the hinge portion. The foldable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the foldable electronic device is a foldable electronic device.