JP2009038425A - Light-emitting structure and electronics equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance the visibility of emitted light and the design of an apparatus, while making the apparatus itself more compact through miniaturization of the light-emitting structure. <P>SOLUTION: The light-emitting structure comprises a light-emitting section equipped in the housing, a lens for diffusing the output light from the light-emitting section, and a colored transparent external lens that is exposed to the outside from the housing, while covering diffusion lens at least in part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a light emitting structure, and more particularly to a light emitting structure that emits light from the inside of a housing to the outside.

  In recent years, various electronic devices have become widespread, and a wide variety of products are on the market. Along with that, user preference has increased, and those design elements have been emphasized, and various body colors have been adopted to improve design. On the other hand, a mobile phone, which is an example of an electronic device, is equipped with an incoming call notification LED, and its lens portion is exposed to the outside from the housing and is configured to emit light to the outside. And this LED lens used the thing containing a diffusing agent in order to improve the visibility of light emission from the circumference. At this time, since the diffusing agent is white, the entire incoming LED lens is milky white. Other electronic devices are also equipped with lamps such as LEDs for various information notifications, and are configured to emit light from the lens to the outside.

JP 2000-49909 A JP 2004-80390 A

  However, as described above, when the LED lens is made milky white in order to improve the light emission visibility, the milky white part is exposed from the housing, so that the design may be lowered depending on the body color, and various body types There is a problem that the degree of freedom in design is reduced when color is employed (see Patent Document 1).

  Further, Patent Document 2 includes a panel member on which a translucent or transparent pattern shape is formed so that LED output light is diffused in a planar shape and the diffused light is emitted outside in a predetermined pattern shape. A configuration is disclosed. However, the above configuration is not used to effectively emit a small notification lamp to the outside, but diffuses the light emission over the entire surface of the housing. There arises a problem that the thickness of the main body increases.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve the visibility of light emission and the design of the device while reducing the size of the device itself by reducing the size of the light emitting structure.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the light emitting unit provided inside the housing, the diffusion lens that diffuses the output light from the light emitting unit, and at least a part of the diffusion lens are covered and are colored and transparent from the housing to the outside. And an external lens that is exposed.

  According to the above-described configuration, first, since the output light from the light emitting unit is output using a lens, the light emitting structure can be reduced in size, and the electronic device itself can be reduced in size. And since the output light is diffused by the diffusing lens, the visibility of the light emission to the user is improved, and further, the diffusing lens is covered with a colored transparent external lens and exposed from the casing. By forming it in correspondence with the color, it is possible to improve the appearance design without damaging the design.

  The present invention uses a lens having a diffusing effect on a small light-emitting lamp such as an LED mounted on an electronic device, and further covers this lens with a colored transparent lens so that it is exposed from the casing when not emitting light. It is characterized by the structure that the lens part is set to the same color as the casing or colored.

  Therefore, a light-emitting structure according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a light-emitting unit provided inside a housing, a diffusion lens that diffuses output light from the light-emitting unit, and covers at least a part of the diffusion lens, and is colored and transparent. And an external lens exposed to the outside from the housing.

  According to the above configuration, the output light from the light emitting unit is diffused by the diffusion lens, and is output to the outside of the housing from the colored transparent external lens that covers the diffusion lens. Therefore, since the structure is such that the light is emitted from the light emitting unit using the lens, the light emitting structure can be miniaturized and used for various notifications in electronic equipment. Since the output light is diffused by the diffusing lens, the visibility for the user can be improved. Furthermore, because the diffuser lens is covered with a colored transparent external lens and exposed from the housing, it can be formed according to the color of the housing to improve the design of the appearance without compromising the design. Can do.

  Further, in the present invention, there is provided a configuration in which an outer peripheral portion of the diffusion lens covered with the external lens and an inner peripheral portion of the external lens are engaged, and an engagement portion is provided to fix the external lens to the diffusion lens. Take. Further, in the present invention, the engaging portion is a diffusion lens side protrusion or diffusion lens side recess formed on the outer peripheral portion of the diffusion lens, and an external fitting to the diffusion lens side protrusion or diffusion lens side recess. An external lens side concave portion or an external lens side protrusion formed on the inner peripheral portion of the lens is employed. In particular, in the present invention, the engaging portion includes a linear protrusion protruding from the outer peripheral portion of the diffusing lens, and a fitting groove formed in the inner peripheral portion of the external lens that fits into the linear protrusion. The structure is taken.

  Thereby, the external lens covering the diffusing lens is engaged with and fixed to the diffusing lens, thereby simplifying the light emitting structure that can improve the visibility and the design as described above, and between the lenses. The engagement can be stabilized. In particular, by fitting and fixing the outer peripheral part of the diffusion lens and the inner peripheral part of the external lens, the assembly of the external lens to the diffusion lens becomes easy, the fixing state is stabilized, and the number of parts is further increased. Can be reduced.

  Here, in the present invention, the diffusing lens is formed milky white. Further, the external lens is configured to be formed in a color corresponding to the color of the housing.

  And the said light emission structure is mounted in electronic devices, such as a mobile phone and PDA, for example, It mounts in the mobile phone which has a communication function especially, and may operate | move so that it may alert | report from a light emission part at the time of an incoming call alerting | reporting.

  Hereinafter, the light emitting structure in the present invention will be described in Examples. In the embodiment, a light emitting structure that emits light so as to notify an incoming call provided on the side of a mobile phone will be described. However, the light emitting structure in the present invention may be installed in any place of any electronic device. The light emission may be used for any purpose. Further, the shape of the light emitting structure in the present invention is not limited to those exemplified in the examples.

  A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 2 are diagrams showing a light-emitting structure equipped in a mobile phone, and FIGS. 3 to 4 are diagrams showing configurations of parts constituting the light-emitting structure. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state when the light emitting structure is assembled. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state during light emission.

[Constitution]
FIG. 1A shows a part of the mobile phone 10 main body. As shown in this figure, the outer lens 5 which is a part of the light emitting structure is exposed on the side surface portion of the housing 3 formed by assembling a plurality of case parts, and lights up when an incoming call is received. The light emitting structure including the outer lens 5 will be described in detail.

  FIG. 1B shows a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. As shown in this figure, a printed wiring board 1 is provided inside a mobile phone 10, and an LED 2 serving as a light emitting unit is mounted on the board. And the inner lens 4 (diffuse lens) which guides and outputs the output light from this LED2 is provided. As will be described later, the inner lens 4 is guided from a light guide 41 (on the right end portion in FIG. 1) located on the LED 2 installation side to a diffusing lens portion 42 (on the left end portion in the figure) located on the outside of the housing. The light is diffused and output from the diffusing lens unit 42 (see FIG. 3). Further, an outer lens 5 (external lens) that covers the diffusion lens portion 42 of the inner lens 4 and is exposed to the outside of the housing 3 is provided. The LED 2, the inner lens 4, and the outer lens 5 constitute a light emitting structure. Here, the configuration of the inner lens 4 and the outer lens will be described in more detail.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the diffusing lens portion 42 of the inner lens 4 is formed in a substantially rod shape having a predetermined length, and is formed in milky white translucent. Thereby, the output light from the LED 2 guided from the light guide unit 41 is diffused from the diffusion lens unit 42 and output. Further, near the base of the diffusing lens portion 42 of the inner lens 4, that is, on the side opposite to the distal end portion (left end portion in FIG. 3A) of the substantially rod-shaped diffusing lens portion 42, it is connected to the light guide portion 41. A linear protrusion 43 protruding from the outer surface is formed on the outer surface of the partial side. 3B is a view of FIG. 3A as viewed from below. Specifically, the linear protrusion 43 is formed to extend in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the diffusing lens portion 42. FIG. ing. A pair of linear protrusions 43 are formed on both side surfaces of the diffusing lens portion 42 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows the outer lens 5. FIG. 4 (a) is a front view of the outer lens 5, and a rear view thereof is shown in FIG. 4 (b). Further, FIG. 4C shows a view of FIG. 4A viewed from below, and FIG. 4D shows a view of FIG. 4C viewed from the right direction. As shown in these drawings, the outer lens 5 is formed so as to cover the distal end side of the diffusing lens portion 42 of the inner lens 4 and the surrounding three directions (three surfaces), in other words, the outer lens 5. Is formed in a tunnel shape with one end closed. In addition, two fitting grooves 51 having a shape corresponding to the linear protrusions 43 formed on the diffusion lens portion 42 are formed on the inner surface. As will be described later, a linear protrusion 43 of the diffusing lens portion 42 can be fitted into the fitting groove 51, and the outer lens 5 can be fixedly attached to the diffusing lens portion 42. Further, the outer lens 5 is formed of colored and transparent similar to the color of the housing 3.

[Operation]
Next, assembly of the above-described light emitting structure and light emitting operation will be described. First, the outer lens 5 is fixedly attached to the diffusing lens portion 42 of the inner lens 4. At this time, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 5, the positions of the fitting grooves 51 formed on the inner surface of the outer lens 5 and the linear protrusions 43 formed on the diffusion lens portion 42 are aligned, and the slide is performed so that these are fitted. The outer lens 5 is mounted so as to cover the periphery of the diffusing lens portion 42 by moving. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the outer lens 5 from being extracted from the front end side of the inner lens 4, and the fixed state is stabilized.

  Thereafter, as described above, the inner lens 4 to which the outer lens 5 is attached is disposed on the printed circuit board 1. At this time, the LED 2 is similarly arranged on the printed circuit board 1, and the light output from the LED 2 is arranged to be irradiated to the light guide portion 41 of the inner lens 4. The arrangement order of the inner lens 4 and the LED 2 is arbitrary. Then, by mounting other parts and assembling the housing 3, the outer lens 5 is surrounded and fixed by the housing 3 as shown in FIG. The fixed state can be more stable.

  Next, the usage state of the mobile phone 10 equipped with the light emitting structure as described above will be described. First, at the time of standby, the outer lens 5 exposed from the housing 3 is formed in the same color and transparent as the housing 3, so that the outer lens 5 does not stand out from the housing 3 and the appearance is impaired. This can be suppressed, and the design can be improved. When the mobile phone 10 enters the incoming state, the LED 2 emits light, and the output light is transmitted to the light guide portion 41 of the inner lens 4 (see arrow Y1) and diffused from the diffusion lens portion 42 via the outer lens 5. Output to the outside (see arrow Y2). As described above, the output light is diffused from the small lens and output, so that the visibility of the user can be improved and the convenience can be improved.

  Note that the method of engaging the diffusing lens portion 42 and the outer lens 5 is not limited to the method described above. That is, in the above description, the linear protrusion 43 is provided in the diffusion lens portion 42, and the outer groove 5 is provided in the fitting groove 51 to be fitted thereto, but the diffusion lens is formed by another structure (engagement portion). The portion 42 and the outer lens 5 may be fixed. For example, a diffuser lens side protrusion or diffusion lens side concave portion having an arbitrary shape is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the diffusion lens 42, and an external lens having a shape that fits in correspondence with the diffusion lens side protrusion or diffusion lens side concave portion You may provide a side recessed part or an external lens side protrusion part in the inner peripheral part of an outer side lens. Further, the outer lens 5 may be fixedly mounted on the diffusing lens portion 42 by providing an adhesive or other constituent member.

  In the above description, the outer lens 5 is configured to cover a part of the diffusing lens portion 42, but the outer lens 5 may be formed to cover the entire diffusing lens portion 42. In the above, the case where the color of the outer lens 5 is the same color as that of the housing 3 is exemplified, but this is for assimilating the outer lens 5 to the housing 3 to make it inconspicuous, but improving the design. For this purpose, the outer lens 5 may be formed in any color. In addition, the outer lens 5 has been described as being transparent, but the transparency thereof is arbitrary.

  The light-emitting device of the present invention can be mounted on any electronic device such as a mobile phone and a PDA, and has industrial applicability.

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a mobile phone, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. It is the BB sectional drawing of FIG.1 (b). It is a figure which shows the structure of the inner side lens disclosed in FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the outer side lens disclosed in FIG. It is a figure which shows a mode when an inner side lens is equipped with an outer side lens. It is a figure which shows the mode at the time of light emission.

Explanation of symbols

1 Print sailing board 2 LED
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Case 4 Inner lens 5 Outer lens 10 Mobile phone 41 Light guide part 42 Diffusing lens part 43 Linear protrusion 51 Fitting groove

Claims (8)

A light emitting unit equipped inside the housing;
A diffusing lens that diffuses the output light from the light emitting section;
An external lens that covers at least a part of the diffusion lens, is colored and transparent, and is exposed to the outside from the housing;
A light emitting structure characterized by comprising: An engaging portion for engaging the outer peripheral portion of the diffusion lens covered with the external lens and the inner peripheral portion of the external lens and fixing the external lens to the diffusion lens;
The light-emitting structure according to claim 1. The engaging portion includes a diffusing lens side protrusion or a diffusing lens side recess formed on an outer peripheral portion of the diffusing lens, and an inner portion of the external lens that is fitted to the diffusing lens side protrusion or the diffusing lens side recess. An external lens side concave portion or an external lens side protrusion formed in the peripheral portion,
The light-emitting structure according to claim 2. The engaging portion includes a linear protrusion protruding on an outer peripheral portion of the diffusion lens, and a fitting groove formed on an inner peripheral portion of the external lens that fits on the linear protrusion.
The light-emitting structure according to claim 2. The diffusion lens is formed milky white,
5. The light emitting structure according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4. The external lens is formed in a color corresponding to the color of the housing.
6. The light emitting structure according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.   An electronic apparatus comprising the light emitting structure according to claim 1. The light-emitting structure according to claim 1 and a communication function, wherein the light-emitting unit emits light when an incoming call is notified.
An electronic device with a communication function.

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