JP2009171179A - Electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic device capable of expanding an operation range in one cover member and raising operability. <P>SOLUTION: A projector 1 is provided with an exterior casing 2. An aperture 21 is formed in the exterior casing 2, and the aperture 21 is covered with a cover member 5. Two light receiving elements 6 which receive infrared signals output from a remote controller are provided inside the aperture 21. The respective light receiving elements 6 are arranged in the aperture 21 so that the light receiving directions B go toward the outside of the exterior casing 2 via the cover member 5, and are mutually separated. According to such configuration, the operation range θ2 in one cover member 5 is expanded, and the operability is raised. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an electronic apparatus such as a projector that modulates light emitted from a light source according to input image information to form image light, and enlarges and projects the formed image light. Further, as such a projector, a projector including a light receiving element that receives an optical signal output by operating a remote control means such as a remote controller (remote controller) is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). ).
In the projector described in Patent Document 1, a remote control light receiving window (cover member) is provided at a substantially central portion of the front case. A remote control light receiving module (light receiving element) is arranged inside the remote control light receiving window, and the remote control light receiving module receives an optical signal through the remote control light receiving window.

Here, the light receiving element generally has directivity, and receives an optical signal introduced from a predetermined angle range (hereinafter referred to as a light receiving range) with a predetermined direction (light receiving direction) as a center. Can do. In other words, when an optical signal is introduced from outside the light receiving range, the light receiving element cannot receive the optical signal, so the range in which the projector can be operated with the remote control (hereinafter referred to as the operating range) is limited. There is a problem that is.
On the other hand, for example, a configuration in which a plurality of cover members are provided on the exterior housing of the projector and a light receiving element is arranged inside each cover member to extend the operation range can be considered.

JP 2006-301227 A

  However, when a plurality of cover members are provided in the exterior housing, there is a problem that it becomes difficult for a user of the projector to determine which cover member the remote controller should be operated to. Further, when a plurality of light receiving elements are provided inside the exterior housing, there is a problem that wiring to the light receiving elements becomes complicated.

  The objective of this invention is providing the electronic device which can extend the operation range in one cover member, and can improve operativity.

  An electronic apparatus according to the present invention is an electronic apparatus that receives an optical signal output from a remote control means and is operated based on the received optical signal, and includes a plurality of light receiving elements that receive the optical signal, and the plurality of light receiving elements. And an exterior housing having a cover member that closes the opening, and each light receiving element has a light receiving direction through the cover member. It is arrange | positioned in the said opening part so that it may go to the outer side and may become a mutually different direction.

  According to such a configuration, the electronic apparatus includes a plurality of light receiving elements, and each light receiving element has a light receiving direction that goes to the outside of the outer casing through the cover member and is in a different direction from each other. Since it is arrange | positioned in the opening part of a body, the operation range in one cover member can be expanded, and operativity can be improved. Further, since there is one cover member, the projector user can easily determine in which direction the remote controller should be operated. Furthermore, since there is one cover member, a plurality of light receiving elements can be arranged close to each other, and wiring to each light receiving element can be simplified.

In the present invention, the light receiving elements are preferably arranged so that the light receiving directions are separated from each other.
According to such a structure, the effect similar to the effect of the electronic device mentioned above can be show | played.

In the present invention, the light receiving elements are preferably arranged so that the light receiving directions intersect each other.
According to such a structure, the effect similar to the effect of the electronic device mentioned above can be show | played. Furthermore, by arranging the light receiving elements so that the positions where the light receiving directions of the light receiving elements intersect each other are the positions near the cover member, the overlapping range of the light receiving ranges can be reduced at the positions near the light receiving elements. . Therefore, the opening and the cover member can be made smaller as compared with the case where the light receiving elements are arranged so that the light receiving directions are separated from each other while expanding the operation range of one cover member, and the appearance design of the electronic device The degree of freedom can be improved.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the light receiving elements are arranged such that the light receiving direction is substantially horizontal.
Here, when operating an electronic device by operating a remote controller, a user of an electronic device such as a projector or a television generally operates at a height position substantially the same as that of the electronic device.
Therefore, according to the present invention, the horizontal operation range of one cover member can be expanded, so that the light receiving range of the light receiving element can be used effectively.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the electronic device is a projector that modulates light emitted from a light source according to input image information to form image light, and enlarges and projects the formed image light.
According to such a structure, the effect similar to the effect of the electronic device mentioned above can be show | played.

In this invention, it is preferable that the said opening part is provided in the surface at the side of the said image light projection direction in the said exterior housing | casing.
Here, when a cover member having one light receiving element disposed inside is provided on the surface of the exterior housing on the image light projection direction side, the light reception direction of the light reception element and the projection direction of the image light are substantially omitted. In general, the light receiving elements are arranged to match. However, when the projector is configured in this way, when operating the remote control from the image light projection direction side, the projector user operates from a position away from the image light, that is, from a direction away from the light receiving direction of the light receiving element. Therefore, there is a problem that the light receiving element is difficult to receive an optical signal.
On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the operation range of one cover member can be expanded, each light receiving element can be used even when the projector user operates the remote control from a position avoiding image light. Is easy to receive optical signals. Therefore, the operability of the electronic device can be improved.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[Configuration of projector]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the projector 1 as seen from the front side.
The projector 1 as an electronic device forms image light in accordance with image information input from an external device or the like, and projects the formed image light on a projection surface such as a screen. As shown in FIG. 1, the projector 1 includes an exterior housing 2, a projection lens 3 that is exposed at a substantially central position on the front surface of the exterior housing 2 and that projects image light formed according to image information, And an optical device 4 (see FIG. 2) housed in the exterior housing 2.
In addition, although illustration is omitted, in the exterior casing 2, in a space other than the optical device 4, a cooling device provided with a cooling fan or the like for cooling each component in the projector 1, and each component in the projector 1. It is assumed that a power supply device that supplies power to the projector and a control device that controls each component in the projector 1 are arranged.

  The exterior casing 2 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and a substantially rectangular opening 21 is formed at a lower right position on the front surface. The opening 21 is covered with a cover member 5 made of a translucent material. It has been broken. That is, the opening 21 is provided on the surface of the exterior housing 2 on the image light projection direction side. Inside the opening 21, there are provided two light receiving elements 6 (see FIG. 3) for receiving an infrared signal (optical signal) output from a remote controller (not shown) as remote control means. The projector 1 is operated based on an infrared signal received by the light receiving element 6. The cover member 5 and the light receiving element 6 will be described in detail later.

[Configuration of optical device]
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an optical system of the optical device 4.
The optical device 4 forms image light corresponding to the image signal input from the control device described above, and projects the formed image light onto the projection surface. The optical device 4 has a substantially L-shape in plan view that extends along the back surface of the exterior housing 2 and extends along the side surface of the exterior housing 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, the optical device 4 includes an illumination optical device 41, a color separation optical device 42, a relay optical device 43, an electro-optical device 44, and the devices 41 to 44 therein. The optical component outer casing 45 to be disposed and the above-described projection lens 3 attached to the optical component outer casing 45 are configured.

The illumination optical device 41 includes a light source device 411, a first lens array 412, a second lens array 413, a polarization conversion element 414, and a superimposing lens 415.
The light source device 411 includes a light source lamp 416 that emits a radial light beam, a reflector 417 that reflects the radiated light emitted from the light source lamp 416 and converges it at a predetermined position, and a light beam converged by the reflector 417 as an illumination optical axis. And a collimating concave lens 418 that is collimated with respect to A.

The first lens array 412 and the second lens array 413 have a configuration in which corresponding small lenses are arranged in a matrix, and the first lens array 412 converts the light beam incident from the light source device 411 into a plurality of partial light beams. The image is divided and imaged near the second lens array 413.
The second lens array 413 forms an image emitted from each small lens of the first lens array 412 together with the superimposing lens 415 located in the latter stage of the optical path in an image forming area of a liquid crystal panel 441 described later of the electro-optical device 44. Let
The polarization conversion element 414 converts each partial light beam incident from the second lens array 413 into substantially one type of linearly polarized light.

The color separation optical device 42 includes two dichroic mirrors 421 and 422 and a reflection mirror 423, and a plurality of partial light beams emitted from the illumination optical device 41 are red (R), green (G), and blue (B). Separated into three color lights.
The relay optical device 43 guides the red light separated by the color separation optical device 42 to a later-described red light liquid crystal panel 441R, and includes an incident side lens 431, a relay lens 433, and reflection mirrors 432 and 434. ing.

  The electro-optical device 44 modulates an incident light beam according to an image signal to form image light. The electro-optical device 44 includes three liquid crystal panels 441 (the red light side liquid crystal panel is 441R, the green light side liquid crystal panel is 441G, and the blue light side liquid crystal panel is 441B), and the optical path of each liquid crystal panel 441 It is configured to include three incident side polarizing plates 442 arranged on the front side, three emission side polarizing plates 443 arranged on the rear side of the optical path of each liquid crystal panel 441, and a cross dichroic prism 444.

The three incident-side polarizing plates 442 transmit only polarized light having substantially the same polarization direction as the polarization direction aligned by the polarization conversion element 414 out of each color light separated by the color separation optical device 42, and other light beams. Absorbs.
The three liquid crystal panels 441 have a configuration in which a liquid crystal, which is an electro-optical material, is hermetically sealed in a pair of transparent glass substrates, and the liquid crystal panel 441 is controlled by controlling the alignment state of the liquid crystal according to input image information. The polarization direction of the polarized light emitted from the side polarizing plate 442 is modulated.
The three exit-side polarizing plates 443 emit polarized light in a certain direction among the light beams emitted through the liquid crystal panel 441 (for example, a light beam having a polarization axis orthogonal to the transmission axis of the light beam in the incident-side polarizing plate 442). Transmits and absorbs other light.

  The cross dichroic prism 444 combines the modulated light emitted from the respective emission-side polarizing plates 443 to form image light. The cross dichroic prism 444 has a substantially square shape in plan view in which four right angle prisms are bonded together, and two dielectric multilayer films are formed on the interface where the right angle prisms are bonded together. These dielectric multilayer films are emitted from the liquid crystal panel 441G and transmit color light via the emission side polarizing plate 443, and are emitted from the liquid crystal panels 441R and 441B and each color light via the emission side polarizing plate 443. To reflect. Thereby, image light (color image) in which red light, green light and blue light are combined is formed.

The exterior casing 45 for optical components is a synthetic resin box-like member in which a predetermined illumination optical axis A is set and the above-described devices 41 to 44 are arranged at predetermined positions with respect to the illumination optical axis A.
The projection lens 3 is configured as a combined lens in which a plurality of lenses are housed in a cylindrical lens barrel (not shown), and enlarges and projects the image light formed by the electro-optical device 44.

[Detailed configuration of cover member and light receiving element]
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a horizontal section of the cover member 5 and the light receiving element 6.
Each light receiving element 6 has directivity and receives an optical signal introduced from within the light receiving range θ1 centered on the light receiving direction B. As shown in FIG. 3, each light receiving element 6 is arranged in the opening 21 so that the light receiving direction B is directed to the outside of the exterior housing 2 through the cover member 5 and is separated from each other. Each light receiving element 6 is arranged so that the light receiving direction B is substantially horizontal, and the light receiving range θ <b> 1 is arranged in the region of the cover member 5.
Therefore, the operation range θ2 of one cover member 5 is wider than the light receiving range θ1 of each light receiving element 6.

The projector 1 according to the present embodiment has the following effects.
(1) The projector 1 includes a plurality of light receiving elements 6, and each light receiving element 6 is located in the opening 21 so that the light receiving direction B goes to the outside of the exterior housing 2 through the cover member 5 and is separated from each other. Therefore, the operation range θ2 of one cover member 5 can be expanded, and the operability can be improved.
(2) Since there is one cover member 5, the user of the projector 1 can easily determine in which direction the remote controller should be operated. Further, since there is one cover member 5, a plurality of light receiving elements 6 can be arranged close to each other, and wiring to each light receiving element 6 can be simplified.

(3) Since each light receiving element 6 is arranged so that the light receiving direction B is substantially horizontal, the horizontal operation range θ2 of one cover member 5 can be expanded. Therefore, the light receiving range θ1 of the light receiving element 6 can be used effectively.
(4) Since the projector 1 can extend the operation range θ2 in one cover member 5, each light receiving element 6 can be used even when the user of the projector 1 operates the remote control from a position avoiding image light. Is easy to receive optical signals. Therefore, the operability of the projector 1 can be improved.

[Second Embodiment]
Hereinafter, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a horizontal section of the cover member 5 and the light receiving element 6.
In the following description, parts that have already been described are assigned the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
In the first embodiment, each light receiving element 6 is disposed in the opening 21 so that the light receiving direction B is separated from each other. On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, it differs by the point arrange | positioned in the opening part 21 so that the light reception direction B may mutually cross | intersect. The light receiving elements 6 are arranged so that the light receiving directions B intersect at positions near the cover member 5.
Therefore, the operation range θ2 of one cover member 5 is wider than the light receiving range θ1 of each light receiving element 6.

In this embodiment as well, the same operational effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the following operational effects can be achieved.
(5) Since each light receiving element 6 is disposed in the opening 21 so that the light receiving direction B is directed to the outside of the exterior housing 2 through the cover member 5 and intersects each other, the vicinity of each light receiving element 6 At the position, the overlapping range of the light receiving range θ1 can be reduced. Therefore, the opening 21 and the cover member 5 can be made smaller as compared with the first embodiment while expanding the operation range θ2 in one cover member 5, and the degree of freedom in designing the external appearance of the projector 1 can be improved. Can do.

[Modification of Embodiment]
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modifications, improvements, etc. within a scope that can achieve the object of the present invention are included in the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, the projector 1 includes the two light receiving elements 6, but may include three or more light receiving elements. In short, a plurality of light receiving elements may be provided.

  In the above-described embodiment, each light receiving element 6 is arranged so that the light receiving direction B is substantially horizontal. However, the light receiving element 6 may not be arranged so that the light receiving direction is substantially horizontal. For example, when the present invention is applied to a ceiling-mounted projector installed near the ceiling, it is preferable that each light receiving element is disposed so as to be inclined such that the light receiving direction is directed toward the floor. In short, each light receiving element may be arranged in accordance with the electronic apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In the second embodiment, the light receiving elements 6 are arranged so that the light receiving directions B intersect at positions near the cover member 5, but may be arranged so as to intersect at other positions. . In short, each light receiving element should just be arrange | positioned so that it may become a mutually different direction while light-receiving direction goes outside the exterior housing | casing through a cover member.
In the embodiment, the cover member 5 and the light receiving element 6 are provided on the front surface of the projector 1, but may be provided on other surfaces.

In the above-described embodiment, the optical device 4 has a configuration having a substantially L shape in plan view. However, the configuration is not limited to this, and for example, a configuration having a substantially U shape in plan view may be employed.
In the above embodiment, the transmissive liquid crystal panel 441 is employed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a reflective liquid crystal panel may be employed, or a digital micromirror device (DMD) may be employed. . DMD is a trademark of Texas Instruments Incorporated.
In the embodiment, the projector 1 is exemplified as the electronic device. However, for example, another electronic device such as a television may be used. In short, any electronic device that receives an optical signal output from the remote control means and is operated based on the received optical signal may be used.

  The present invention can be used for an electronic device, and can be particularly preferably used for a projector.

1 is a perspective view of a projector according to a first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front side. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an optical system of the optical device in the embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the cross section of the horizontal direction of the cover member and light receiving element in the said embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the cross section of the horizontal direction of the cover member and light receiving element which concern on 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Projector (electronic device), 2 ... Exterior housing | casing, 5 ... Cover member, 6 ... Light receiving element, 21 ... Opening part.

Claims (6)

An electronic device that receives an optical signal output from a remote control means and is operated based on the received optical signal,
A plurality of light receiving elements for receiving the optical signal;
An opening for accommodating the plurality of light receiving elements is formed, and an exterior housing having a cover member that closes the opening,
Each of the light receiving elements is disposed in the opening so that a light receiving direction is directed to the outside of the exterior casing through the cover member and is different from each other. The electronic device according to claim 1,
The respective light receiving elements are arranged so that light receiving directions are separated from each other. The electronic device according to claim 1,
Each of the light receiving elements is arranged such that light receiving directions intersect with each other. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Each said light receiving element is arrange | positioned so that a light receiving direction may become a substantially horizontal direction, The electronic device characterized by the above-mentioned. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The electronic apparatus is a projector that modulates light emitted from a light source according to input image information to form image light, and enlarges and projects the formed image light. The electronic device according to claim 5,
The opening is provided on a surface on the projection direction side of the image light in the exterior casing.

Images