JP2005208342A - Portable information terminal and its submersion judging method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable information terminal capable of simply judging its submersion, and a method of judging its submersion without preparing a specific component. <P>SOLUTION: Direct printing or painting with water-soluble ink 10 is applied to interior of the case 11 of the portable information terminal, by watching the effluence of the water-soluble ink 10 or staining by water-soluble ink 10 on a manufacturer label 12, the submersion of this terminal can be determined. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable information terminal and a submergence determination method thereof, and more particularly to a portable information terminal and a submergence determination method thereof that can easily determine submergence.

  At present, portable information terminals including mobile phones are widely used by people of all ages regardless of gender due to their convenience. There are various types of portable information terminals such as a straight type and a folding type, and the functions are not limited to a call function, but include a mail function and a melody performance function. As the number of functions of the portable information terminal increases, the number of parts of the portable information terminal increases, and the number of places where the portable information terminal may break down is increasing. However, even now, the top cause of failure of the portable information terminal is due to submergence, and it is important to easily and reliably determine whether the portable information terminal is submerged.

  For example, Patent Document 1 describes a submergence determination method for a portable information terminal using a submergence determination label for a mobile phone. FIG. 5 shows a plan view and a cross-sectional view of a submergence determination label used for the submergence determination of this prior art. The submergence determination label includes a film 40 and a double-sided tape 42. The submerged reaction ink 41 is attached to the film 40. Moreover, the double-sided tape 42 is provided at both ends of the film 40 and attaches the film 40 to a mount or the like. This submerged reaction ink 41 is a mixture of a water-soluble paste and a water-soluble pigment, and is well soluble in water. This submergence determination label is affixed inside the casing of the mobile phone.

  When this mobile phone is submerged, water enters the casing and the submergence determination label touches the water, so that the submersion reaction ink 41 melts and discolors the casing. It can be determined that the portable information terminal has been submerged by the discoloration inside the housing.

  Further, Patent Document 2 shows a mobile phone provided with an antenna 53 as shown in FIG. A casing (case) 11 c of this cellular phone is provided with a notch 54, and an ink seal 52 is affixed inside the casing of the notch 54. A small hole 55 is formed in the casing at the center of the ink seal 52, and a transparent seal 51 is attached to the surface thereof.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, the ink seal 52 is obtained by pasting an ink paper piece 56 coated with water-soluble ink on a transparent sheet 55. A blank portion 57 is provided around the ink paper piece 56.

  When this cellular phone is submerged, the ink paper piece 56 of the ink seal 52 touches the water, so that the ink melts and the blank portion 57 is discolored. By looking at the discoloration of the blank portion 57, it can be determined that the mobile phone has been submerged. Note that Patent Document 2 also shows that a nameplate seal on which a manufacturer and a date of manufacture can be used instead of the ink seal 52.

JP 2002-23639 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-254360

  However, this prior art requires a cost for producing a submergence determination label. In addition, sticking the submergence determination label to the inside of the housing in assembling the portable information terminal leads to an increase in assembly man-hours and a deterioration in assembly yield. In recent years, the design of portable information terminals is required to be smaller, thinner, and lighter, and there is no longer a space for attaching a thin submergence determination label.

  In addition, although other prior art shows that the ink seal 52 is used for the nameplate seal, there is a problem that a specific label is required.

  An object of the present invention is to solve these problems and provide a portable information terminal that can easily determine whether or not it is submerged without making a specific part and a submergence determination method thereof.

  The configuration of the portable information terminal according to the present invention is characterized in that submergence can be determined by directly attaching water-soluble ink to the inside of a casing to which a manufacturing label is attached.

  In the present invention, it is possible to provide a part of the recess inside the housing to which the manufacturing label is attached, and to attach the water-soluble ink to the recess, or to have an opening on the inner surface of the housing to which the manufacturing label is attached. In addition, a groove can be provided between the opening and the recess on the inner surface of the housing.

  In the present invention, a water-soluble solid can be used in place of the water-soluble ink, and printing is performed with a water-soluble ink on the earphone jack, I / O connector or external memory instead of the inside of the housing. You can also.

  The configuration of the casing of the portable information terminal according to the present invention is characterized in that the water immersion ink can be directly attached to the inside of the outer wall surface to which the manufacturing label is attached, so that the submergence can be determined.

The structure of the submergence determination method of the portable information terminal of the present invention is that the water-soluble ink is directly attached to the inside of the casing to which the manufacturing label is attached, and when the water-soluble ink is leaked, It is characterized by determining.
Further, in the present invention, submergence can be determined by adhesion of water-soluble ink to a production label attached to the inside of the casing, and adhesion of water-soluble ink can be performed by printing or coating.

  As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, there are effects that the number of parts can be reduced, the cost can be reduced, and the assemblability can be improved. This is because the water-soluble ink adheres to the inside of the casing for detecting the submersion of the portable information terminal, so that the submersion detection sticker attached to the inside of the casing is not necessary. In addition, since the submergence detection seal that has been manually pasted to the inside of the housing is no longer necessary, the assembling time is shortened, and defects due to sticking displacement of the submergence detection seal are eliminated.

  According to the configuration of the portable information terminal according to the present invention, water-soluble ink has directly adhered to the inside of the casing of the portable information terminal, so that water has entered the casing without using a device such as a submergence detection seal. It is characterized by determining whether or not.

  1A to 1C are a front view, a side view, and a rear view of a casing of a portable information terminal for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a casing 11 of a portable information terminal is printed with water-soluble ink 10 on the inside thereof. When the water 12 enters the inside of the casing 11 printed with the water-soluble ink 10, the water-soluble ink 10 and the water 20 come into contact with each other. Since printing is performed with the water-soluble ink 10, when the water-soluble ink 10 comes into contact with the moisture 20, the printing is blurred, and the printed characters or graphics are deformed. The melted ink changes the color of the production label 12. When bleeding, deformation or discoloration is seen in these prints, it can be determined that moisture has entered the housing 11.

  2A to 2C are a front view, a side view, and a back view of a casing of a portable information terminal for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the portable information terminal is printed with water-soluble ink 10 inside the housing 11. When the moisture 20 enters the inside of the casing 11 printed with the water-soluble ink 10, the water-soluble ink 10 and the moisture 20 come into contact with each other. Since the printing is performed with the water-soluble ink 10, the printing bleeds upon contact with the moisture 20, and the printed characters or graphics are deformed. When the manufacturing label 12 is blurred or printed, it can be determined that moisture has entered the housing 11.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the portable information terminal according to this embodiment includes a front housing 11 a, a rear housing 11 b, a substrate 15, a display area 16, and a battery 19. The substrate 15 is sandwiched between the front housing 11a and the rear housing 11b, and has a structure that prevents impact and moisture. An electrical component 17 and a key button 18 are mounted on the substrate 15. As shown in FIG. 1, the portable information terminal is printed with water-soluble ink 10 on the front casing 11a or the rear casing 11b. This printing may be any printing that can recognize a shape such as a character or a figure. A concave portion 13 is formed inside the housing 11a so that moisture can easily pass therethrough.

  Further, a groove 13 a is provided from the recess 13 toward the hole 14 that communicates with the outside of the housing 11. The thickness of the recess 13 may be about 0.5 mm. This is because the water-soluble ink 10 has a printing thickness of about 0.1 mm, so that the water 20 leaking on the water-soluble ink 10 can easily pass through.

  In addition, it is usually required to attach a manufacturing label 12 to the portable information terminal, and the manufacturing label 12 is attached so as to close the hole 14. The production label 12 is usually attached under the battery 19 so that it cannot be seen from the outside.

  Next, the operation of the portable information terminal will be described. When the portable information terminal is dropped into the water or is exposed to moisture, the moisture 20 enters the inside through a gap between the front housing 11a and the rear housing 11b as shown in FIGS. Moisture 20 that has entered the inside of the portable information terminal reaches the housing recess 13 through the inside of the housing 11 or the surface of the substrate 15. Since the casing recess 13 is printed, the intruded moisture 20 comes into contact with the printed portion. Since the water-soluble ink 10 is applied to the printing of characters or graphics, the ink 10 in contact with the moisture 20 is dissolved. Therefore, the printed shape cannot be clearly recognized as shown in FIG.

  At this time, since the ink 10 is dissolved in the moisture 21 that has entered the housing 11, the color of the ink 10 is changed. Moisture 21 that has been discolored in contact with the printing passes through the groove 13a provided toward the hole 14 leading to the outside of the casing, and then goes to the outside of the casing. A manufacturing label 12 is affixed to the hole 14 toward the outside of the housing, and contacts the discolored moisture 21 and the manufacturing label 12. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3A, the manufacturing label 12 forms a color changing portion 22 that is changed to the color of the ink 10.

  The first effect of the configuration of the present embodiment is to reduce the number of parts, reduce the cost, and improve the assemblability. This is because the water-soluble ink is printed inside the casing for detecting the submersion of the portable information terminal, so that the submersion detection seal that has been manually pasted inside the casing is not necessary. Therefore, the assembly time is shortened, and defects due to sticking displacement of the submergence detection seal are eliminated.

  The second effect is that it does not affect the appearance of the portable information terminal. This is because the manufacturing label is discolored when submerged and the manufacturing label is attached to the lower part of the battery, so that the appearance is not affected in a normal state. In addition, the thickness of printing with water-soluble ink is 0.1 mm or less, and the design of a portable information terminal that is required to be thin is not impaired.

  The third effect is that the submersion of the portable information terminal can be easily and reliably confirmed. This is because the manufacturing label appearing on the exterior surface changes color, and it is possible to determine whether the water is submerged by simply checking the manufacturing label without opening the housing. In addition, since characters and figures are printed on the housing, even if there is a minute amount of moisture that does not cause discoloration of the manufacturing label, it can be determined that the characters and figures have been submerged by deformation and double confirmation It is because it is possible.

  In the first embodiment, printing is performed on the inside of the housing 11 for submergence detection. In the second embodiment, a water-soluble solid is applied instead of printing. In this case, the same effect can be obtained. The water-soluble ink 10 or the water-soluble solid may be any water-soluble paste material mixed with a water-soluble pigment, and these can be attached to the casing 11 by printing or coating.

  In these embodiments, the inside of the casing is printed. Usually, the portable information terminal has an earphone jack provided on the side surface of the casing 11 as shown in FIGS. 31, the I / O connector 32, the external memory 33, and the like have a cover. It is possible to confirm that the portable information terminal is submerged by printing on the back side of these covers.

  The portable information terminal of the present invention can be widely used for portable information terminals including mobile phones and portable personal computer input devices.

(A)-(c) is the front view of the portable information terminal housing | casing explaining the 1st Embodiment and Example of this invention, a side view, and a back view. (A)-(c) is the front view, exploded side view, and back view of the portable information terminal of FIG. (A)-(c) is the front view, side view, and back view of a belt | band | zone information terminal housing | casing explaining the case where it submerged in FIG. (A)-(c) is the front view of the portable information terminal housing | casing explaining the 2nd Example of this invention, a side view, and a back view. (A) and (b) are the front view, side view, and back view figure of a submerged label used for the portable information terminal of a prior art example. (A) and (b) are a partially broken side view of a portable information terminal of another conventional example and a front view of its ink seal.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Water-soluble ink 11, 11c Case 11a Front case 11b Rear case 12 Manufacturing label 13 Concave 14 Hole 15 Substrate 16 Display area 17 Electrical component 18 Key button 19 Battery 20 Moisture 21 Moisture in ink 22 Color change part 31 Earphone jack 32 I / O connector 33 External memory 40 Film 41 Submerged reaction ink 42 Double-sided adhesive tape 51 Transparent seal 52 Ink seal 55 Transparent sheet 56 Ink paper piece

Claims (10)

A portable information terminal characterized in that submergence can be determined by directly attaching water-soluble ink to the inside of a housing to which a manufacturing label is attached. 2. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein a concave portion is provided in a part of the casing to which the manufacturing label is attached, and water-soluble ink is attached to the concave portion. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein an opening leading to the outside of the housing is provided on an inner surface of the housing to which the manufacturing label is attached. 4. The portable information terminal according to claim 3, wherein a groove is provided between the opening and the recess on the inner surface of the housing. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein a water-soluble solid is used in place of the water-soluble ink. The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein water-soluble ink is attached to an earphone jack, an I / O connector, or a cover of an external memory instead of the inside of the housing. A casing of a portable information terminal, wherein water-soluble ink is directly attached to the inside of an outer wall surface to which a manufacturing label is attached, so that submergence can be determined. A method for determining submergence of a portable information terminal, characterized in that water-soluble ink is directly attached to the inside of a casing to which a manufacturing label is attached, and when the water-soluble ink is seen to flow out, it is determined that there is submersion . 9. The submergence determination method for a portable information terminal according to claim 8, wherein when the water-soluble ink adheres to the manufacturing label attached inside the casing, it is determined that the submergence has occurred. The method for determining submergence in a portable information terminal according to claim 8, wherein the water-soluble ink is attached by printing or coating.

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