JP2005093219A - External terminal structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an external terminal structure with superior operability capable of enhancing design property without damaging unified feeling of appearance, capable of storing a cover in a case without making it protrude outward when using the external terminal. <P>SOLUTION: An external terminal unit 9 is formed by integrally mounting a cover 7' so as to surround the peripheral face of the external terminal 6. The external terminal unit 9 is rotation freely arranged in a case 2 through an engaging means 11 so that the position of the external terminal unit can be switched between a housed position where the external terminal 6 is housed in the case 2, and the cover 7' closes an opening 10 for the external terminal, and an unfolded position where the external terminal 6 is located at the side of opening 10 for the external terminal and exposed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an external terminal structure applied to an earphone jack or the like of a mobile terminal device.

  In recent years, small mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones and PHS (simple mobile phones) have been rapidly spreading.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a conventional mobile terminal device, in which 1 is a mobile terminal device, 2 is a housing of the mobile terminal device 1, and the foldable mobile terminal device 1 A structure in which an upper housing 2a as one housing and a lower housing 2b as a second housing are divided and connected to each other so as to be openable and closable via a hinge portion 3. have.

  The upper casing 2a is provided with a display 4 such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), while the lower casing 2b is provided with a number of keys 5 and a battery (not shown). Built in.

  In the mobile terminal device 1 as described above, an external terminal 6 such as an earphone jack is provided on the side surface of one of the upper housing 2a and the lower housing 2b (lower housing 2b in the example of FIG. 7). In the conventional case, the cover 7 that protects the external terminal 6 is formed of a material such as an elastically deformable rubber-based elastomer, and is provided at a required position of the casing 2 (lower casing 2b) to which the cover 7 is attached. A recess 8 for opening a cover 7 by inserting a fingernail is provided, or a protrusion (not shown) pinched with a finger is provided at a required position of the cover 7 itself. In use, an earphone plug or the like is inserted into the external terminal 6 with the cover 7 opened and bent.

As an example of a portable terminal device to which a cover 7 that protects the external terminal 6 as shown in FIG.
JP 2002-141679 A

  However, as described above, when the cover 7 that protects the external terminals 6 is formed of a material such as a rubber-based elastomer that can be elastically deformed, the difference from the plastic housing 2 becomes obvious, and the cover On the other hand, when the external terminal 6 is used, the cover 7 protrudes outside in a bent state, which is obstructive. Had a bug.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention can improve the design without impairing the unity of appearance, and can be stored inside the housing without protruding the cover when using the external terminal, It is an object of the present invention to provide an external terminal structure capable of improving the performance.

  In the present invention, an external terminal unit is formed by integrally attaching a cover so as to surround a peripheral surface of the external terminal, the external terminal unit is stored inside the housing, the external terminal is stored in the housing, and the cover is an opening for the external terminal. It is rotatably arranged via the engagement means so that it can be switched between a storage position positioned so as to close the door and a deployed position where the external terminal is located on the external terminal opening side and exposed. The present invention relates to an external terminal structure.

In the external terminal structure, a rotating shaft protruding from the center of the side surface of the cover;
A bearing portion formed on a support wall inside the housing to receive the pivot shaft;
A guide groove formed in the support wall so as to have an arc shape centered on the bearing portion;
A projecting piece projecting on the side surface of the cover so as to be slidable along the guide groove when the external terminal unit is rotated;
Locking grooves formed deeper than the guide groove at both ends of the guide groove in the support wall so that the protruding piece is fitted and held when the external terminal unit is rotated and switched to the retracted position or the deployed position. Combined means can be configured.

  In the external terminal structure, the cover can be formed of the same material as the housing, and the external terminal can be an earphone jack.

  According to the above means, the following operation can be obtained.

  When configured as described above, the external terminal unit is held in a storage position where the external terminal is housed in the housing and the cover is positioned so as to close the opening for the external terminal, while the external terminal is not used. When the external terminal unit is rotated from the retracted position, the external terminal unit is switched to the unfolded position where the external terminal is exposed on the external terminal opening side. It fits in the housing, and in this state, an earphone plug or the like can be inserted into the external terminal.

  As a result, unlike the conventional case where the cover for protecting the external terminal is formed of a material such as a rubber-based elastomer that can be elastically deformed, the cover that closes the external terminal opening is made of the same material as the housing, such as plastic. Since there is no sense of incongruity in terms of material, there is no need for a concave or convex part for opening the cover, and there is no loss of uniform appearance. In use, the cover does not stick out and fits inside the housing, so it does not get in the way.

  According to the external terminal structure of the present invention, it is possible to enhance the design without impairing the sense of unity of the appearance, and it can be stored inside the housing without protruding the cover when the external terminal is used. It is possible to achieve an excellent effect that the property can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 6 show an example of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 7 denote the same parts, and the cover covers the peripheral surface of the external terminal 6. 7 'is integrally attached to form the external terminal unit 9, so that the external terminal unit 9 is housed inside the housing 2, the external terminal 6 is stored in the housing 2, and the cover 7' closes the external terminal opening 10. It is rotatably arranged via the engagement means 11 so that it can be switched between the storage position located at the position 1 and the deployed position where the external terminal 6 is located on the external terminal opening 10 side and exposed. Is.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the external terminal unit 9 solders an external terminal 6 such as an earphone jack to a substrate 12 such as a printed wired board (PWB), and the external terminal 6 soldered to the substrate 12. On the other hand, it has a configuration in which a cover 7 'made of a molded product made of the same material as that of the housing 2 and formed in a U-shape is integrally assembled.

  On the side surface of the cover 7 ′, a pivot shaft 13 is projected at the center thereof, and a projecting piece 14 is projected at a position away from the center of the pivot shaft 13 by a required dimension (radius) R, Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the support wall 15 provided inside the housing 2 has a U-shaped bearing portion 16 for receiving the rotating shaft 13, and the bearing portion 16 as a center. A guide groove 17 having an arc shape with a radius R and engaging with the projecting piece 14 is formed, and the external terminal unit 9 is rotated at both ends of the guide groove 17 as shown in FIG. Then, a lock groove 18 into which the protruding piece 14 is fitted and held when switched to the retracted position or the deployed position is formed deeper than the guide groove 17, and the rotating shaft 13, the protruding piece 14, the bearing portion 16, The engaging means 11 is composed of a guide groove 17 and a lock groove 18.

  Next, the operation of the illustrated example will be described.

  When configured as described above, the projecting piece 14 of the cover 7 ′ is at one end side of the guide groove 17 as shown in FIGS. 1 (a), 3 (a), and 4 (a) when the external terminal 6 is not used. The external terminal unit 9 is held in a storage position where the external terminal 6 is stored in the housing 2 and the cover 7 ′ is positioned so as to close the external terminal opening 10. The

  On the other hand, when the external terminal 6 is used, the projecting piece 14 of the cover 7 ′ is formed on one end side of the guide groove 17 when the external terminal unit 9 is rotated about the rotation shaft 13 from the storage position. 1 and is slid along the guide groove 17 and formed on the other end side of the guide groove 17 as shown in FIGS. 1 (b), 3 (b) and 4 (b). The external terminal unit 9 is switched to a developed position where the external terminal 6 is exposed on the external terminal opening 10 side, and the cover 7 ' The earphone plug or the like can be inserted into the external terminal 6 in this state.

  As a result, unlike the conventional case in which the cover 7 (see FIG. 7) for protecting the external terminal 6 is formed of a material such as a rubber-based elastomer that can be elastically deformed, the cover 7 ′ that closes the external terminal opening is covered. Can be made of the same plastic material as the housing 2, so there is no sense of incongruity in terms of material, and there is no need for the concave portion 8 or the convex portion for opening the cover 7, making the appearance uniform. On the other hand, when the external terminal 6 is used, the cover 7 ′ does not protrude outward and fits inside the housing 2, so that it does not get in the way.

  In this way, the design can be enhanced without impairing the unity of appearance, and the cover can be accommodated inside the housing 2 without protruding outward when the external terminal 6 is used, and the operability can be improved. .

  It should be noted that the external terminal structure of the present invention is not limited to the illustrated example described above, and can be applied to a portable terminal device that is not a foldable type, and also to a small device other than the portable terminal device. Needless to say, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention, such as applicable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a perspective view of an example which implements this invention, Comprising: (a) is a perspective view which shows the state in which an external terminal unit exists in a storing position, (b) is a perspective view which shows the state in which an external terminal unit exists in a deployment position. It is. It is a disassembled perspective view of the external terminal unit in an example which embodies the present invention. It is sectional drawing of an example of embodiment which implements this invention, Comprising: (a) is sectional drawing which shows the state in which an external terminal unit exists in a storing position, (b) is sectional drawing which shows the state in which an external terminal unit exists in a deployment position It is. It is a side view of an example of embodiment which implements the present invention, and (a) is an IVa-IVa arrow equivalent view of Drawing 3 (a), (b) is an IVb-IVb arrow equivalent view of Drawing 3 (b). It is. It is the VV arrow line view of Fig.4 (a). It is VI-VI arrow line view of FIG. It is a perspective view showing an example of the conventional portable terminal device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable terminal device 2 Housing | casing 6 External terminal 7 'Cover 9 External terminal unit 10 Opening for external terminals 11 Engagement means 13 Rotating shaft 14 Protruding piece 15 Support wall 16 Bearing part 17 Guide groove 18 Lock groove

Claims (4)

  A cover is integrally attached so as to surround the peripheral surface of the external terminal to form an external terminal unit, the external terminal unit is stored inside the housing, the external terminal is stored in the housing, and the cover closes the external terminal opening. It is characterized in that it is rotatably arranged via an engaging means so that it can be switched between a storage position that is positioned and a deployed position where the external terminal is located on the external terminal opening side and exposed. External terminal structure to be used. A pivot shaft projecting from the center of the side surface of the cover;
A bearing portion formed on a support wall inside the housing to receive the pivot shaft;
A guide groove formed in the support wall so as to have an arc shape centered on the bearing portion;
A projecting piece projecting on the side surface of the cover so as to be slidable along the guide groove when the external terminal unit is rotated;
Locking grooves formed deeper than the guide groove at both ends of the guide groove in the support wall so that the protruding piece is fitted and held when the external terminal unit is rotated and switched to the retracted position or the deployed position. 2. The external terminal structure according to claim 1, wherein said external terminal structure constitutes a coupling means.   The external terminal structure according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cover is formed of the same material as the casing.   The external terminal structure according to claim 1, wherein the external terminal is an earphone jack.

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