JP2010027335A - Key input device, and mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable to illuminate with a unit of key rows or a combination of them. <P>SOLUTION: The key input device is provided with a plurality of light guide sheets 46a to 46f arranged with predetermined key row units on a key sheet, and a plurality of light sources 50a, 50b, 50c arranged on a side part of the light guide sheets 46a to 46f. Each light guide sheet 46a to 46f includes a light-entering part 46a1 to 46f1 guiding light from each light source 50a, 50b, 50c inside the light guide sheet, the light-entering parts 46a1 to 46f1 are laminated and arranged with each other in a direction crossing a light-entering direction of each light source 50a, 50b, 50c, and also, each light source 50a, 50b, 50c consists of a plurality of LEDs independently arranged for each of the light guide sheets 46a to 46f. Those LEDs are laminated and arranged with each other in a direction crossing a light-entering direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a key input device including a light guide sheet disposed on a key sheet and a light source composed of a light emitter disposed on a side portion of the light guide sheet, and a portable terminal equipped with the key input device. .

  Recent mobile phones and PDAs have a structure in which a light guide sheet is disposed on a key sheet in order to illuminate the key top surface and key letters of the key sheet using a plurality of LEDs as light emitters as light sources. . In other words, the light from the light source is incident from the end surface of the light guide sheet to illuminate the key characters and the key top surface of the key sheet. And in such a structure, conventionally, various techniques for making the illumination of the key uniform have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4).

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for uniformly illuminating the entire area of a keyboard and a liquid crystal display panel with a small number of LEDs. That is, a light guide plate that illuminates the entire area of the back surface of the keyboard and the liquid crystal display panel, and an LED that illuminates one portion of the light guide plate, the single LED passes through one light guide plate. An apparatus for illuminating the entire area of the keyboard and the liquid crystal display panel from the back surface is disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a light guide sheet that efficiently guides light from a light source for a backlight from the side without leaking, and can be mounted on a key switch such as a cellular phone or a portable information terminal that is reduced in thickness. ing. Specifically, it is a light guide sheet in which a light receiving part that guides light emitted from an LED is formed on a side surface of a sheet body part formed in a flat plate shape, and the light receiving part is substantially the same as the light emitting surface of the LED. By providing a tapered light guide that tilts from the light-receiving surface formed in thickness toward the sheet body, the light emitted from the LED is efficiently guided into the light guide sheet, and the entire light guide sheet is uniformly brightened. It comes to irradiate.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a key illumination that can provide a user's uniqueness at low cost while maintaining mass production. Specifically, in the key button illumination structure of an electronic device, the electronic device is formed by fitting two cases that can be combined and separated and a plurality of key tops that transmit light into one case window. A color light guide that performs color illumination of the key button while the sheet is superimposed on the key button by performing color painting that transmits light to the surface of the sheet on the key button and the sheet that guides light. A sheet and a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted on a substrate fixed to the other case, which emits white light and serves as a light source of light that guides the color light guide sheet when the one case is coupled; It has become. That is, when a white single color LED is used to enter the light guide sheet, the key button can illuminate only one color. However, as disclosed in Patent Document 3, color painting that transmits through the light guide sheet is performed. By doing so, you can bring out the user's uniqueness.

Further, in Patent Document 4, the light incident from the end portion is guided to each key switch portion evenly by placing it so as to be along the outer surface of the plurality of key switch portions provided on the circuit board. There is disclosed a sheet switch module including a flexible light guide sheet that can be made to emit light and can improve switching characteristics and reduce the overall thickness. The light guide sheet arranged on the outer surface of the key switch affects the thinning of the terminal and also affects the switching. However, as in Patent Document 4, a flexible light guide sheet is used. When arranged along the switch, it is possible to realize a device that not only contributes to a reduction in thickness but also does not impair the switching characteristics.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-20217 JP 2004-69751 A JP 2006-146624 A JP 2007-324100 A

  As described in each of the above patent documents, there is already a technique for uniformly illuminating the entire surface by injecting an LED light source from the end face of the light guide sheet in order to illuminate the key tops and key letters. Although there are technologies for more efficiently and uniformly illuminating the screen, and color painting of the light guide sheet to make the user unique at a low cost, none of the above technologies only illuminate the entire key. For example, a key having a plurality of rows with a small number of LEDs cannot be individually illuminated for each row.

  The present invention was devised in view of such circumstances, and its purpose is to stack the light incident portions of a plurality of light guide sheets so as to be orthogonal to the light incident direction of the LEDs, and to each light guide sheet. Provided is a key input device that enables various types of illumination that are varied by combination of independent LEDs or a combination thereof, by arranging independent LEDs in the same manner, and a portable terminal equipped with the key input device. There is.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a key input device according to the present invention includes a plurality of light guide sheets arranged in units of predetermined key rows on a key sheet, and a light emitter arranged on a side portion of the plurality of light guide sheets. Each light guide sheet has a light incident portion for introducing light from the light source into the light guide sheet, and each light incident portion is in a light incident direction of the light source. It has a configuration in which they are stacked in a perpendicular direction. The light source includes a plurality of light emitters arranged independently for each of the plurality of light guide sheets, and the light emitters are stacked on each other in a direction perpendicular to the light incident direction. It becomes the composition.

  In this way, the light guide sheet is divided into a plurality of key row units, the light incident portions of each light guide sheet are stacked in a direction perpendicular to the light incident direction of the light source, and the light source also, A multi-layer LED structure is employed in which a plurality of light emitters arranged independently for each of a plurality of light guide sheets are stacked in a direction perpendicular to the light incident direction. That is, since both the light incident part and the light emitter of the light guide sheet have a stacked structure, the arrangement space when viewed from the upper surface of the keyboard can be the same as the conventional arrangement. Further, by arranging the light guide sheet in units of key rows, it is possible to realize key illumination for each function key, which has not been possible with the prior art.

  In this case, a light shielding sheet is disposed between the light incident portions of the plurality of light guide sheets. Furthermore, you may arrange | position a light shielding sheet also between adjacent light guide sheets. Thereby, the light from one light-emitting body corresponding to one light guide sheet can be prevented from entering the adjacent light guide sheet.

  According to the present invention, the plurality of light emitters may be configured to have different emission colors. For example, the light source may be composed of three light emitters, and the three light emitters may be configured to have different emission colors of R, G, and B. By configuring in this way, it is possible to illuminate each key row with an individual color, for example, it is possible to illuminate when receiving an incoming call on a mobile terminal or to match a melody when listening to music, A key input device with higher added value can be realized.

  In this case, each said light guide sheet may be arrange | positioned so that the side edge part adjacent in a key row direction may mutually overlap. By arranging in this way, for example, when one light guide sheet is illuminated in red and an adjacent light guide sheet is illuminated in blue, a purple-colored color in which both colors are mixed in the vicinity including the overlapping portion is obtained. When one light guide sheet is illuminated in blue and the adjacent light guide sheet is illuminated in green, a light blue color in which both colors are mixed is formed in the vicinity including the overlapping portion. In addition, when three rows of light guide sheets corresponding to R, G, and B are illuminated at the same time, light leaking from the adjacent light guide sheets may be mixed in the light guide sheet located in the center. In that part, the color becomes white or whitish.

  In the present invention, control means for controlling lighting of the respective light emitters is provided, and the control means performs on / off control of the respective light emitters singly or arbitrarily in combination according to a preset program. What is necessary is just to comprise. Thereby, it is possible to realize the illumination effect rich in color change as described above. Further, as a further development of the technique of the present invention, the technique of color painting is applied to the light guide sheet described in Patent Document 3 above, and the light source of the RGB three-layer LED structure is adjusted by software control to be infinite. It is also possible to realize the illumination color.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize illumination in units of key rows that could not be achieved by the prior art. Moreover, also about LED arrangement | positioning, it becomes possible to illuminate a several light guide sheet separately by a small number of LED chips by employ | adopting a multilayer LED structure. Furthermore, in terms of design, for example, it is possible to achieve illumination when receiving an incoming call on a mobile terminal or illumination according to a melody when listening to music, thereby realizing a key input device with higher added value.

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

<Embodiment 1>
1 is an external view showing Embodiment 1 of a portable terminal in which a key input device of the present invention is mounted, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an operation housing side, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD in FIG. It is. Examples of the mobile terminal include various terminals such as a mobile phone, an electronic dictionary, and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). In the first embodiment, a configuration of a foldable mobile phone will be described as an example.

  That is, FIG. 1 is an external view of the folded mobile phone in the “normally open state”. The normally open state is the most basic state when the folded mobile phone is used. (A) in the figure is a front view of the folded mobile phone in the normally open state as viewed from the user side. It is a left side view.

  This folding cellular phone includes an operation housing 1, a display housing 2, and a movable connecting portion 3. The operation housing 1 and the display housing 2 are both thin housings having a substantially rectangular flat plate shape, and have two opposing main surfaces. Each of the operation casing 1 and the display casing 2 is connected by a movable connecting portion 3 at one short side. The movable connecting portion 3 can relatively rotate both housings 1 and 2 around the first rotation axis A1.

  That is, if the operation housing 1 is fixed and the display housing 2 is rotated around the first rotation axis A1, the main surfaces of both housings 1 and 2 can be folded facing each other or expanded. be able to.

  Depending on the type of the folding mobile phone, there is a mobile phone provided with the second rotary shaft in a direction orthogonal to the first rotary shaft A1, but in the first embodiment, a general configuration including only the first rotary shaft A1 is provided. A case where the present invention is applied to a folding mobile phone having a simple structure will be described.

  On the main surface (opposite surface) of the operation casing 1, a numeric keypad 10, a mail key 11, a guide key 12, an Internet (Y) key 13 for connecting to the Internet, a multi-function key 14, an off-hook (power) key 15, an on-hook A key 16, a clear (C) key 17, an at-mark (@) key 18 used for inputting a mail address, and a television (TV) key 19 for receiving a one-segment digital terrestrial broadcast signal for a portable terminal. The main surface is used as an operation surface for a user to perform operation input. Further, the call microphone 25 is disposed in the vicinity of the casing end on the side opposite to the movable connecting portion 3 within the operation surface. In addition, a plurality of light sources 50 a to 50 c (see FIGS. 2 and 3) including a plurality of light emitters (for example, LEDs) that illuminate the operation keys 10 to 19 are provided inside the operation casing 1.

  A main display screen 20 including a liquid crystal display panel is disposed on the main surface (opposing surface) of the display housing 2, and the main surface is used as a display surface for performing display output to the user. A call receiver 21 is arranged in the display surface. In addition, a panel backlight 65 (see FIG. 5) for illuminating the main display screen 20 is provided inside the display housing 2.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the operation housing 1 is divided into an upper housing 1a and a lower housing 1b, and the above operation is performed on a substrate 44 arranged in the lower housing 1b. A key sheet 45 having a large number of key switches 45a, 45a,... Corresponding to the keys 10 to 19 is disposed, and a plurality of light guide sheets 46a to 46a divided into predetermined key row units on the key sheet 45. 46f is arranged, and on these light guide sheets 46a to 46f, key units 47 each having key tops 47a, 47a,... Are formed so as to face the key switches 45a, 45a,. ing. Although not shown in each of the light guide sheets 46a to 46f, a light diffusion pattern for diffusing light to irradiate the key top 47a evenly at a position facing the key top 47a. Is formed. Then, a required number of light sources 50a, 50b, and 50c made of LEDs or the like are arranged at predetermined intervals on one side (left side in FIG. 2) of the key sheets 45 arranged in a stacked manner (in the first embodiment, three are arranged). ).

  In the first embodiment, the light guide sheet is divided into six pieces. As shown in FIG. 4, the first light guide sheet 46 a in the first row includes the mail key 11, the guide key 12, the Internet key 13, and many It is formed a little wider so as to cover a key row including the function key 14, off-hook (power) key 15, and on-hook key 16. The second light guide sheet 46b in the second row is formed to have a width that covers a key row including the clear key 17, the at-mark key 18, and the TV key 19, and the third light guide sheet 46c in the third row. Is formed to have a width that covers a key row including numeric keys 1 to 3 of the numeric keypad 10, and the fourth light guide sheet 46 d in the fourth row is a number of 4 to 6 of the numeric keypad 10. The fifth light guide sheet 46e in the fifth row is formed to have a width that covers the key row including the numeric keys 7 to 9 among the ten keys 10. The sixth light guide sheet 46f in the sixth row is formed to have a width that covers a key row including a 0 numeric key, an asterisk (*) key, and a sharp (#) key.

  On the other hand, in the first embodiment, one light source 50a, 50b, 50c is arranged for two adjacent light guide sheets, and the first light source 50a is the first row and the second row. The second light source 50b corresponds to the third and fourth light guide sheets 46c and 46d in the third row and the fourth row, and the third light source 50c corresponds to the first and second light guide sheets 46a and 46b. This corresponds to the fifth and sixth light guide sheets 46e and 46f in the sixth and sixth rows.

  Here, the positional relationship between the third and fourth light guide sheets 46c and 46d in the third row and the fourth row and the corresponding second light source 50b will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. However, the positional relationship between the other light guide sheet and the light source is the same as the positional relationship described here.

  The second light source 50b is composed of two LEDs 51, 52 arranged independently for each of the two third and fourth light guide sheets 46c, 46d, and these LEDs 51, 52 are in the light incident direction (see FIG. 4 has a two-layer LED structure that is stacked in a direction perpendicular to the right direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface).

  On the other hand, the third and fourth light guide sheets 46c and 46d are light incident portions 46c1 and 46d1 for introducing light from the second light source 50b into the light guide sheet so as to correspond to the structure of the second light source 50b. Each of the light incident portions 46c1 and 46d1 (particularly, the light incident portion near the light source) overlaps the direction perpendicular to the light incident direction of the second light source 50b (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface). It has a configuration in which products are arranged. In FIG. 3, the light incident portion 46 c 1 of the third light guide sheet 46 c is disposed to face the upper LED 51, and the light incident portion 46 d 1 of the fourth light guide sheet 46 d is disposed to face the lower LED 52. However, it is a matter of course that the reverse arrangement may be used. In such a stacked arrangement, the light incident on one light incident portion leaks to the other light incident portion. Therefore, in the first embodiment, the light shielding sheet 48 is interposed between the light incident portions 46c1 and 46d1. is doing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the light shielding sheet 48 is composed of a single sheet formed in a vertically long strip shape. That is, in the first embodiment, the single light shielding sheet 48 is arranged between the first and second light guide sheets 46a and 46b, between the third and fourth light guide sheets 46c and 46d, and between the fifth and sixth. The light guide sheets 46e and 46f are sequentially interposed between the light guide sheets 46e and 46f and arranged along the left side edge of the key sheet 45. In order to more reliably prevent light leakage, an elongated light shielding sheet 49 may be disposed between adjacent light guide sheets as indicated by a thick solid line in FIG. This makes it possible to reliably prevent light leakage between adjacent light guide sheets.

  FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the electrical configuration of the main part of the folded cellular phone configured as described above.

  The folding cellular phone according to the first embodiment includes a main control unit 60, an input control unit 62, a display control unit 64, a cellular communication unit 66 that transmits and receives radio waves to and from a base station via a communication antenna (not shown), and an Internet connection. The main component is a unit 67 and a TV receiver 68 that receives a 1-segment digital terrestrial broadcast signal.

  The input control unit 62 monitors operations performed by the operation keys 10 to 19 on the operation surface and outputs a key operation signal to the main control unit 60. The operation keys 10 to 19 in the operation surface cannot be used in the normally closed state in which the operation surface is folded inward. Further, the input control unit 62 turns on the six LEDs 51 and 52 including the three light sources 50a to 50c for illuminating the operation keys 10 to 19 in the operation surface via the light guide sheets 46a to 46f. Alternatively, the blinking control is performed in accordance with an instruction from the main control unit 60.

  The display control unit 64 performs display control of the main display screen 20. Further, the display control unit 64 performs lighting control of the panel backlight 65 for illuminating the liquid crystal panel as the main display screen 20 in accordance with an instruction from the main control unit 60.

  The main control unit 60 is composed of a processor that performs main control of the folding cellular phone, and is not shown, but includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, and each LED 51, 52 of each light source 50a-50c. A program for controlling lighting or blinking is stored in the ROM in advance.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the most basic lighting control of the LEDs 51 and 52 performed by the input control unit 62 in accordance with an instruction from the main control unit 60.

  That is, it shows an example in which the LEDs corresponding to the respective light guide sheets 46a to 46f are individually turned on or blinked, and FIG. 5A shows that only the upper LED 51 of the first light source 50a is turned on or blinked. A state in which the key row including the mail key 11, the guide key 12, the Internet key 13, the multi-function key 14, the off-hook (power) key 15, and the on-hook key 16 is controlled to light or blink via the first light guide sheet 46a ( In FIG. 5B, only the LED 52 below the first light source 50a is turned on or blinked, so that the clear key 17 and the Internet key 18 are connected via the second light guide sheet 46b. In the state where the key row including the TV key 19 is controlled to be turned on or blinked (shown by hatching in the figure), FIG. By turning on or blinking only D51, a state in which a key row including numeric keys 1 to 3 is turned on or blinking via the third light guide sheet 46c (shown by hatching in the figure), In FIG. 6D, only the lower LED 52 of the second light source 50b is turned on or blinked, and the key row including the number keys 4 to 6 is turned on or blinked via the fourth light guide sheet 46d. In the state (shown with hatched lines in the figure), FIG. 7E shows from 7 to 9 via the fifth light guide sheet 46e by lighting or blinking only the LED 51 on the upper side of the third light source 50c. In the state where the key row including the number keys is controlled to be turned on or blinked (shown by hatching in the figure), FIG. 5F shows that only the LED 52 below the third light source 50c is turned on or blinked. , Sixth light guide sheet A state in which key strings including a numeric key 0, an asterisk (*) key, and a sharp (#) key are controlled to be turned on or blinked (shown by hatching in the drawing) is shown. .

  It is to be noted that lighting or blinking control is performed by combining two or more arbitrary LEDs, and the number of illumination of the operation keys 10 to 19 is changed by appropriately changing the number of LEDs to be lit or blinking and the combination thereof. The illumination location changes rhythmically, and a so-called illumination effect can be obtained. As a timing for performing such lighting or blinking control, for example, when a downloaded music is being viewed, the music can be viewed more happily by controlling the lighting or blinking according to the music. In the first embodiment, the LED emission color is not mentioned. For example, by making the LED emission colors different from each other, it is possible to perform colorful lighting or blinking control for each key row. Become.

<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, the most basic configuration is to illuminate two adjacent light guide sheets with a single light source having a two-layer LED structure. This is an embodiment in which three adjacent light guide sheets are illuminated by one light source having a three-layer LED structure having different emission colors.

  FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the operation casing 1 according to the second embodiment, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG. Moreover, FIG. 8 is explanatory drawing which looked at the arrangement | positioning state of a light guide sheet and a key from the upper surface.

  In the foldable mobile phone of the second embodiment, two light sources 50d and 50e are arranged for six light guide sheets 46a to 46f, and each light source 50d and 50e has three adjacent light guides. One is arranged with respect to the sheet. In other words, the first light source 50d corresponds to the first, second, and third light guide sheets 46a, 46b, and 46c in the first, second, and third rows, and the second light source 50e includes the fourth row. This corresponds to the fourth, fifth and sixth light guide sheets 46d, 46e and 46f in the fifth and sixth rows.

  Here, refer to FIG. 8 for the positional relationship between the first, second, and third light guide sheets 46a, 46b, 46c in the first, second, and third rows and the corresponding first light source 50d. This will be described in more detail. However, the arrangement relationship between the remaining light guide sheets 46d to 46f and the second light source 50e is the same as the arrangement relationship described here.

  The first light source 50d is composed of three LEDs 51, 52, 53 arranged independently for each of the three first, second and third light guide sheets 46a, 46b, 46c. 52 and 53 have a three-layer LED structure in which they are stacked in a direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface) perpendicular to the light incident direction (right direction in FIG. 8).

  On the other hand, the first, second and third light guide sheets 46a, 46b and 46c are input for introducing light from the first light source 50d into the light guide sheet so as to correspond to the structure of the first light source 50d. Each of the light incident portions 46a1, 46b1, 46c1 (particularly, the light incident portion near the light source) is orthogonal to the light incident direction of the first light source 50d. The configuration is such that they are stacked in a direction (perpendicular to the page). In FIG. 7, the light incident portion 46 a 1 of the first light guide sheet 46 a is disposed opposite to the upper LED 51, the light incident portion 46 b 1 of the second light guide sheet 46 b is disposed opposite to the central LED 52, and the third light guide sheet 46 c is disposed. Although the light incident portion 46c1 is arranged to face the lower LED 53, it is a matter of course that the opposite arrangement may be adopted. In such a stacked arrangement, light incident on one light incident portion leaks to the other two light incident portions, and in the second embodiment, between these light incident portions 46a1 and 46b1 and the light incident portion A light shielding sheet 48 is interposed between 46b1 and 46c1, respectively. However, in the second embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the light shielding sheet 49 is not disposed between the adjacent light guide sheets.

  In the above configuration, in the second embodiment, the three LEDs 51, 52, and 53 of the light sources 50d and 50e are LEDs having different emission colors, specifically, LEDs of the emission colors of R, G, and B, respectively. For example, the upper LED 51 is red, the central LED 52 is green, and the lower LED 53 is blue. By arranging in this way, when the first light guide sheet 46a is illuminated in red and the adjacent second light guide sheet 46b is illuminated in green, the adjacent portion becomes a yellowish color in which both colors are mixed, When the second light guide sheet 46b is illuminated in green and the adjacent third light guide sheet 46c is illuminated in blue, the adjacent portion has a light blue color in which both colors are mixed.

  Similarly, when the fourth light guide sheet 46d is illuminated in red and the adjacent fifth light guide sheet 46e is illuminated in green, the adjacent portion becomes a yellowish color in which both colors are mixed, and the fifth light guide sheet When 46e is illuminated in green and the adjacent sixth light guide sheet 46f is illuminated in blue, the adjacent portion has a light blue color in which both colors are mixed. Further, when the third light guide sheet 46c is illuminated in blue and the fourth light guide sheet 46d is illuminated in red, the adjacent portion becomes a purplish color in which both colors are mixed.

  Furthermore, when the first, second, and third light guide sheets 46a, 46b, 46c in three rows corresponding to R, G, B are simultaneously illuminated, the second light guide sheet 46b located in the center is adjacent. Since the red light and the blue light leaking from the light guide sheets 46a and 46c on both sides are mixed, the portion becomes white or whitish.

<Embodiment 3>
FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of the arrangement state of the light guide sheet and the key of the operation casing according to the third embodiment as viewed from above.

  In the second embodiment, adjacent light guide sheets 46a to 46f are arranged side by side with a slight gap, but in the third embodiment, adjacent side edge portions of adjacent light guide sheets overlap ( This is an embodiment arranged so as to be hatched). By arranging in this way, for example, when the first light guide sheet 46a is illuminated in red, and the adjacent second light guide sheet 46b is illuminated in green, both colors are mixed in the peripheral portion including the overlapping portion 46ab2. When the second light guide sheet 46b is illuminated in green and the adjacent third light guide sheet 46c is illuminated in blue, the peripheral portion including the overlapping portion 46bc2 has a light blue color in which both colors are mixed. Become. In addition, when the third light guide sheet 46c is illuminated in blue and the adjacent fourth light guide sheet 46d is illuminated in red, the peripheral portion including the overlapping portion 46cd2 has a purple color in which both colors are mixed. In this case, since the adjacent light guide sheets overlap, there are more portions to be mixed than in the case of the second embodiment, and it is possible to realize gradient illumination that is more varied.

It is an external view which shows Embodiment 1 of the portable terminal which mounted the key input device of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view by the side of an operation housing | casing. It is sectional drawing which follows the DD line | wire of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which looked at the arrangement state of a light guide sheet and a key from the upper surface. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of an electrical configuration of a main part of the folding mobile phone according to the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the most basic lighting control of each LED which an input control part performs according to the instruction | indication from a main control part. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an operation casing according to a second embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which looked at the arrangement state of the light guide sheet and key of the operation housing which concerns on Embodiment 2 from the upper surface. It is explanatory drawing which looked at the arrangement | positioning state of the light guide sheet and key of the operation housing which concern on Embodiment 3 from the upper surface.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation housing | casing 1a Upper housing | casing 1b Lower housing | casing 2 Display housing | casing 3 Movable connection part A1 1st rotating shaft 10 Numeric keypad 11 Mail key 12 Guide key 13 Internet key 14 Multifunctional key 15 Off-hook (power supply) key 16 On-hook key 17 Clear (C) key 18 At-mark (@) key 19 TV (TV) key 20 Main display screen 21 Call receiver 44 Substrate 45 Key sheet 45a Key switch 46a First light guide sheet 46b Second light guide sheet 46c Third Light guide sheet 46d Fourth light guide sheet 46e Fifth light guide sheet 46f Sixth light guide sheet 47 Key unit 47a Key top 50a First light source 50b Second light source 50c Third light source 51-53 LED
60 Main Control Unit 62 Input Control Unit 64 Display Control Unit 65 Backlight 66 Cellular Communication Unit 67 Internet Connection Unit 68 TV Reception Unit

Claims (9)

A plurality of light guide sheets arranged in predetermined key row units on the key sheet;
A light source comprising a light emitter disposed on a side of the plurality of light guide sheets,
Each of the light guide sheets has a light incident part that introduces light from the light source into the light guide sheet, and the light incident parts overlap each other in a direction orthogonal to the light incident direction of the light source. A key input device that is arranged. The key input device according to claim 1,
The light source includes a plurality of light emitters arranged independently for each of the plurality of light guide sheets, and the light emitters are stacked on each other in a direction orthogonal to the light incident direction. A key input device characterized by that. The key input device according to claim 2,
A key input device, wherein a light shielding sheet is disposed between light incident portions of the plurality of light guiding sheets. The key input device according to claim 3,
A key input device, wherein a light shielding sheet is disposed between adjacent light guide sheets. In the key input device according to any one of claims 2 to 4,
The key input device, wherein the plurality of light emitters have different emission colors. The key input device according to claim 2 or 3,
The key input device, wherein the light source includes three light emitters, and the three light emitters have different emission colors of R, G, and B. In the key input device according to claim 5 or 6,
The light guide sheets are arranged such that side edge portions adjacent to each other in the key row direction overlap each other. In the key input device according to any one of claims 5 to 7,
Control means for controlling the lighting of each of the light emitters,
The key input device according to claim 1, wherein the control means performs on / off control of each of the light emitters singly or arbitrarily in accordance with a preset program.   A portable terminal comprising the key input device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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