JP2004260269A - Folding portable terminal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a folding portable terminal device capable of preventing the increase in the entire size of a device by preventing the increase in area of an operation forming surface or a display forming surface. <P>SOLUTION: The folding portable terminal device 30 in which a first case 36 having the operation forming surface 34 and a second case 35 having the display forming surface 32 are freely foldable has gap forming portions 50 which are formed on the surface 32 and have tips abutting on the surface 34 at time of completion of the folding operation to form a gap between the first and the second cases 36, 35. This device, in which an axis hole 50a is provided on the center of each of the portions 50, has an optical sensor 52 being provided so as to be overlapped in the inner side than the portion 50 in the thickness direction of the case 35 and detecting the brightness of an ambient light introduced from the axis hole 50a to output a signal, and a control means 55 for receiving the signal from the optical sensor 52 to control illumination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a foldable mobile terminal device such as a foldable mobile phone in which a pair of cases are foldably connected.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as a foldable mobile terminal device, for example, there has been a foldable mobile phone in which a pair of cases are foldably connected. Of the pair of cases of the mobile phone, a projection is provided on the same surface of one of the cases having the operation portion forming surface, and the display portion forming surface is provided when the case is folded with respect to the other case having the display portion forming surface. At the position corresponding to the projection, a receiving part made of an elastic body such as silicon rubber is fitted, and when the mobile phone is folded, the projection comes into contact with the receiving part of the elastic body so that it can be folded. And a gap is formed between the cases to prevent the operation keys from directly hitting the display portion forming surface (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003]
The elastic receiving member also has a closing cover for closing one of the screw holes, which is formed to screw one of the pair of front and rear panels constituting the case on the display portion forming surface side to the other. In many cases, it also serves.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2003-8708 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in such a conventional foldable mobile phone, other parts such as an optical sensor cannot be provided at the same place as the above-mentioned projection on the operation part forming surface. Other parts must be provided at positions different from the projections on the operation portion forming surface, and a large area is required on the operation portion forming surface, which leads to an increase in the size of the portable terminal device. There was a problem.
[0006]
In view of the above problems, the present invention is directed to a foldable portable device that can prevent an increase in the area of an operation unit forming surface and a display unit forming surface, thereby preventing the entire device from being enlarged. It is an object to provide a terminal device.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention
A first case having an operation portion forming surface and a second case having a display portion forming surface are foldable so that the operation portion forming surface and the display portion forming surface are close to each other,
It is provided on one of the operation part formation surface and the display part formation surface, and when the folding operation is completed, the tip thereof abuts on the other of the operation part formation surface and the display part formation surface to allow the first and second cases to be closed. In a foldable portable terminal device having a gap forming protrusion that creates a gap in,
A shaft hole is provided at the center of the gap forming projection,
An optical sensor that is provided so as to overlap the thickness direction inside of the case from the gap forming protrusion and detects a brightness of external light introduced from the shaft hole and outputs a signal.
A control unit that receives a signal from the optical sensor and controls illumination of a backlight provided on the display unit forming surface and / or an operation button provided on the operation unit forming surface. It is characterized by the following.
[0008]
According to such a foldable portable terminal device, the gap forming protrusion has a shaft hole at the center thereof, and the optical sensor is provided on the inner side in the thickness direction of the case from the gap forming protrusion, and the gap forming protrusion is provided. The optical sensor detects the brightness of the external light introduced from the shaft hole of the unit, and the control unit controls the illumination of the backlight and the operation buttons. Therefore, one of the operation unit forming surface and the display unit forming surface is controlled. The gap sensor and the optical sensor can be overlapped on the same surface on the same surface, so that the optical sensor is located at a different location from the gap generator on one of the operation unit formation surface and the display unit formation surface. It is possible to prevent the foldable portable terminal device from being increased in size as provided.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 are diagrams referred to for describing one embodiment of the foldable portable terminal device according to the present invention.
[0010]
The mobile phone 30 shown in FIG. 1 includes a case 35 having a display unit forming surface 32 and a case 36 having an operation unit forming surface 34. The display portion forming surface 32 of the case 35 is provided with the display surface 12 configured by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like, the speaker 13 and the like. On the operation portion forming surface 34 of the case 36, there are provided various keys such as a cross key 18 capable of instructing up, down, left and right directions, a numeric keypad 20 capable of inputting numbers and characters, and a microphone 15 and the like. ing.
[0011]
As shown in FIG. 2, the case 35 is arranged such that the inner side surfaces of the case members 35 a and 35 b face each other and overlap each other. A gap forming protrusion 50 formed of an elastic body is provided, and is disposed between the gap forming protrusion 50 and the other case component 35b so as to face the center of the gap forming protrusion 50. The support substrate 54 of the optical sensor 52 is provided between the optical sensors 52.
[0012]
A shaft hole 50a extending in the axial direction is formed at the center of the gap forming protrusion 50, and an optical fiber 56 (light transmitting member) for guiding external light to the optical sensor 52 is provided in the shaft hole 50a. I have.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 4, the optical sensor 52 outputs a signal to the CPU 55 (control means), and when the optical sensor 52 detects that external light is dark, the CPU 55 The illumination lamp 57 for each operation key such as the numeric keypad 20 on the section forming surface 34 is controlled to be turned on.
[0014]
The speaker 13 is provided in the vicinity of the gap forming protrusion 50 of the case 35, and the sound emitted from the speaker 13 can be heard from the hole on the same side as the gap forming protrusion 50.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 3, the case 36 having the operation portion forming surface 34 is disposed such that the inner side surfaces of the case constituent members 36a and 36b face each other and overlap with each other, and a screw member is provided in a screw hole of the case constituent member 36b. The case component 36a is screwed and fixed to the case component 36b by screwing the 37 together.
[0016]
At this time, the screw member 37 is inserted from a screw hole 39 formed in the case member 36a, rotated by a screw driver (not shown) (not shown), and screwed into the screw hole of the case member 36b. For this reason, after the screwing operation of the screw member 37, the cap member 40 is fitted into the screwing hole 39 to close it, and the screwing hole 39 does not remain on the operation portion forming surface 34. It has become.
[0017]
In such a mobile phone 30, when the cases 35 and 36 are folded, the tip of the gap forming protrusion 50 of the display unit forming surface 32 abuts on the exposed surface of the cap member 40 of the operation unit forming surface 34. A gap is secured between the display unit forming surface 32 and the operation unit forming surface 34 so that the numeric keypad 20 or the like does not directly contact the display surface 12 to cause damage. In addition, since the gap forming protrusion 50 is formed of an elastic body, it is possible to prevent a collision sound from being generated when the mobile phone 30 is folded.
[0018]
When the display unit forming surface 32 is viewed from the front, the optical sensor 52 overlaps with the gap forming protrusion 50 and is located at the same position. , It is possible to prevent the area of the display section forming surface 32 from increasing and prevent the mobile phone 30 from increasing in size.
[0019]
In the above embodiment, the case where the gap forming protrusion 50 is formed of an elastic body has been described. However, if the cap member 40 is formed of an elastic body, the gap forming protrusion 50 may be formed of an inelastic body. Is also good.
[0020]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the light-transmitting body is not used for the gap forming protrusion 50 has been described. However, the gap forming protrusion 50 may be formed using a light-transmitting body. The shaft hole 50a and the optical fiber 56 are not necessarily required.
[0021]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case has been described where the cap member 40 is provided at the corresponding position of the mating surface with which the tip of the gap forming protrusion 50 contacts, but the gap forming protrusion 50 is formed of an elastic body. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to a foldable portable terminal device in which the cap member 40 is not necessarily provided at the above position.
[0022]
Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the optical fiber 56 is used as the light transmitting member has been described. However, as long as the light transmitting member satisfies the function, the optical transmitting member need not be limited to the optical fiber 56 at all. It goes without saying that any of the above materials may be used.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the gap forming protrusion has the axial hole at the center thereof, and the optical sensor is provided on the inner side in the thickness direction of the case from the gap forming protrusion, and the gap forming protrusion is provided. The optical sensor detects the brightness of the external light introduced from the shaft hole of the, and the control unit controls the illumination of the backlight and the operation buttons, so that one of the operation unit forming surface and the display unit forming surface is controlled. Since the gap forming protrusion and the optical sensor can be provided on the same surface so as to be overlapped with each other, the optical sensor is provided at a different location from the gap forming protrusion on one of the operation portion forming surface and the display portion forming surface. It is possible to prevent the foldable portable terminal device from increasing in size as in the case.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a mobile phone 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of a case 35 in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB of the case 36 in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram for explaining a control operation by a CPU 55 of the mobile phone 30.
[Explanation of symbols]
12 Display surface 13 Speaker 15 Microphone 18 Cross key 20 Numeric keypad 30 Cellular phone 32 Display portion forming surface 34 Operation portion forming surface 35 Cases 35a, 35b Case components 36 Cases 36a, 36b Case components 37 Screw members 39 Screw holes 40 Cap member 50 Clearance forming projection 50a Shaft hole 52 Optical sensor 54 Support substrate 55 CPU
56 Optical fiber 57 Illumination lamp for operation key 58 Backlight for display surface

Claims (5)

A first case having an operation portion forming surface and a second case having a display portion forming surface are foldable so that the operation portion forming surface and the display portion forming surface are close to each other,
It is provided on one of the operation part formation surface and the display part formation surface, and when the folding operation is completed, the tip thereof abuts on the other of the operation part formation surface and the display part formation surface to allow the first and second cases to be closed. In a foldable portable terminal device having a gap forming protrusion that creates a gap in,
A shaft hole is provided at the center of the gap forming projection,
An optical sensor that is provided so as to overlap the thickness direction inside of the case from the gap forming protrusion and detects a brightness of external light introduced from the shaft hole and outputs a signal, and a signal from the optical sensor. A folding type, comprising: a backlight provided on the display unit forming surface and / or control means for controlling illumination of operation buttons provided on the operation unit forming surface. Mobile terminal device. The foldable portable terminal device according to claim 1, wherein a light transmitting member is provided in a shaft hole of the gap forming protrusion. A first case having an operation portion forming surface and a second case having a display portion forming surface are foldable so that the operation portion forming surface and the display portion forming surface are close to each other,
It is provided on one of the operation part formation surface and the display part formation surface, and when the folding operation is completed, the tip thereof abuts on the other of the operation part formation surface and the display part formation surface to allow the first and second cases to be closed. In a foldable portable terminal device having a gap forming protrusion that creates a gap in,
The gap forming protrusions are formed of a light-transmitting material,
An optical sensor that is provided so as to be superposed on the inner side in the thickness direction of the case from the gap forming protrusion and detects a brightness of external light introduced from the gap forming protrusion having a light transmitting property and outputs a signal,
A control unit that receives a signal from the optical sensor and controls illumination of a backlight provided on the display unit forming surface and / or an operation button provided on the operation unit forming surface. A foldable portable terminal device characterized by the above-mentioned. 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the gap forming protrusion is formed of an elastic material, and is used as a buffering protrusion for performing a buffering operation between the first and second cases when the folding operation is completed. 5. The foldable portable terminal device according to claim 1. The gap forming protrusion is formed of an inelastic material,
The other of the operation portion forming surface and the display portion forming surface is provided with a projection receiving portion formed of an elastic material, and a tip end portion of the gap forming projection portion abutting upon completion of the folding operation to perform a buffering operation. The foldable portable terminal device according to claim 1 or claim 3.

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