JP2012186665A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To illuminate a peripheral region of an electronic apparatus in a compact but inexpensive structure.SOLUTION: The electronic apparatus includes a casing opening on one side, a board housed in the casing, a cover member arranged in opposition to the board to cover the open region of the casing, and a panel covering an outer surface side of the cover member. The cover member is shaped such that at least part situated on the perimeter of the casing is exposed from the perimeter of the panel, and is formed of a translucent member. Light emitting means is provided on the cover member side of the board to emit light, which enters the cover member from the side opposed to the board and is guided down to the part of the cover member exposed from the panel. The cover member side surface of the panel is formed as a light shield.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly to an electronic device having a structure that emits part of an outer shape.

  In recent years, various electronic devices such as mobile phones have been developed, and various ideas have been applied to their appearance. An increasing number of electronic devices have a structure in which a part of the outer shape emits light in order to notify a user of information such as an incoming call or to provide a visual effect.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an electric device equipped with an illumination type push button unit that emits light from a light source around a push-down operation unit. This illuminated pushbutton unit includes a light-guiding lens having a light-emitting surface formed on the front end surface, and light from the light source is input to a cylindrical light-guiding unit located concentrically with the light-emitting surface. Thus, the light is guided to the light emitting surface and illuminated outside.

JP 2008-71639 A

  On the other hand, in recent years, it has been required to illuminate various parts of an electronic device such as a mobile phone. For example, it is also required to uniformly illuminate the end face and the periphery of a housing. However, in order to uniformly and uniformly illuminate a wide range of parts such as the end face and the periphery of the housing, a large number of light sources are required, and light from the light sources must not be shielded by obstacles. It becomes. Then, the cost increases according to the number of light sources, and it is necessary to secure an arrangement space for these light sources. This causes a problem that it is difficult to increase the cost and reduce the size.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can illuminate a wide range of parts by solving the above-mentioned problems, which are difficult to increase costs and reduce size.

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic device according to an aspect of the present invention is provided.
A housing having one surface open, a substrate housed inside the housing, a cover member disposed to face the substrate and covering the opening of the housing, and an outer surface side of the cover member A panel to cover,
The cover member has a shape in which at least a portion located around the casing is exposed from the periphery of the panel, and is formed of a transmissive member.
On the cover member side of the substrate, provided with light emitting means for emitting light that enters the cover member from the side facing the substrate and is guided to the exposed portion of the cover member from the panel,
The surface on the cover member side of the panel is formed to be shielded from light.
Take the configuration.

  By being configured as described above, the present invention can provide an electronic device that can illuminate a wide range of parts at low cost while achieving downsizing.

It is an exploded view which shows the structure of an electronic device. It is a figure which shows the external appearance and cross section of an electronic device. It is a figure which shows the cross section of a part of electronic device. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the mode of a light guide. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the structure. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the structure. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the structure. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the structure. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the structure. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the structure. It is the figure which simplified and showed the structure of the electronic device, and is a figure for demonstrating the structure.

<Embodiment 1>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing a configuration of an electronic device. FIG. 2 shows an appearance of the electronic device, a cross-sectional view taken along line AA, and a cross-sectional view taken along line BB. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of the cross-sectional view taken along the line AA disclosed in FIG. 4 to 11 are diagrams illustrating the configuration of the electronic device in a simplified manner, and are diagrams for explaining the state and configuration of the light guide.

  First, the electronic device in the present embodiment is, for example, a foldable mobile phone as shown in FIGS. However, the electronic device in the present invention is not limited to a mobile phone, and may be any electronic device such as a notebook computer or a portable game machine.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone includes a housing 10 that is open on one surface and a substrate 20 that is accommodated in the housing 10. In addition, a rear cover 30 (cover member) is provided so as to face the substrate 20 and covers the opening of the housing 10, and a panel 40 is further provided on the outer surface side of the rear cover 30.

  The housing 10 has, for example, a substantially rectangular shape, and is formed in a shape in which a surface located outside when the mobile phone is folded is opened. The substrate 20 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape that is slightly smaller than the opening of the housing 10. The rear cover 30 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape having substantially the same size as the opening, that is, the outer shape of the housing 10, so as to cover the opening of the housing 10. Further, the peripheral portion of the rear cover 30 located around the housing 10, in particular, the three side portions such as one side 31 and the two long sides 32 and 33 among the short sides protrude toward the outside of the mobile phone from the central side portion. It is formed in a convex shape. The panel 40 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape that is slightly smaller than the rear cover 30, and is sized to be accommodated in the inner portions of the convex portions 31, 32, 33 formed on the three sides of the rear cover 30. It is. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the convex portions 31, 32, 33 of the rear cover 30 located on the three sides around the housing 10 are exposed from the outer periphery of the panel 40.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an LED 21 (light emitting means) that emits light on the rear cover 30 side is mounted on the substrate 20. At this time, the LED 21 is disposed at the center of both long sides of the housing 10, that is, at the center of two sides facing each other among the three sides formed in the convex shapes 31, 32, and 33 of the rear cover 30. The light emitting means for emitting light to the rear cover 30 side is not necessarily limited to the LED 21. For example, the light emitting means does not illuminate light having directivity in one direction, and may be another light emitting element that illuminates light within a predetermined range as described later.

  Next, the configuration of the mobile phone will be described in more detail with reference to a cross-sectional view such as FIG. In FIG. 2, the AA cross-sectional view of the mobile phone is shown on the lower side, and the BB cross-sectional view is shown on the right side. Among these, a partial enlarged view of the AA cross-sectional view is shown. 3 is shown in FIG. 3, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are simplified views of the AA line cross-sectional view.

  First, the right view of FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view around the center of the AA line cross-sectional view of the mobile phone. As shown in this figure, the rear cover 30 is positioned above the LED 21. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the light emitted from the LED 21 enters the rear cover 30 itself from the surface of the rear cover 30 facing the substrate 20. Since the rear cover 30 is formed of a transmissive member, the light incident from the LED 21 is guided toward the periphery of the rear cover 30 and is directed outward from the surrounding convex shapes 31, 32, and 33. Illuminated. In addition, although the left figure of FIG. 3 has shown the enlarged view of the edge part vicinity of the AA sectional view of a mobile telephone, the convex-shaped part shown by the code | symbol 32 will be illuminated.

  At this time, although the shape of the rear cover 30 is slightly curved as shown in FIG. 3, it is not bent and is substantially flat. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, there are a portion 30 a closest to the LED where the light enters from the LED 21 located at the center portion of the rear cover 30, and convex portions 31, 32, 33 located around the rear cover 30. The exposed portion 30b from the panel 40 is located on a straight line passing through the rear cover 30 itself. In other words, there is no obstruction such as a rib formed on the housing 10 between the reference numeral 30a and the reference numeral 30b in FIG. 5 and the rear cover 30 itself is not bent. However, it is comprised so that it may guide light linearly from the said incident location 30a to the location 30b illuminated outside. Thereby, it is suppressed that the intensity | strength of the light from LED21 becomes weak, and will reach the convex-shaped parts 31, 32, and 33 located in the circumference | surroundings of the rear cover 30. FIG.

  The rear cover 30 is not necessarily limited to a flat plate shape. Even if the rear cover 30 is curved or bent, as shown by the symbol W in FIG. 5, by providing the rear cover 30 with a thickness, the light incident from the LED 21 can be transmitted from the incident portion 30a to the outside. It can comprise so that it may guide light linearly to the location 30b illuminated.

  The rear cover 30 is formed of, for example, a material such as polycarbonate mixed with a fluorescent agent, and light emitted from the LED 21 is emitted, so that the guided light is efficiently transmitted through the convex portions 31, 32, and 33. It will emit light. In particular, the convex portions 31, 32, 33 of the rear cover 30 are formed in a curved shape that protrudes toward the outside of the mobile phone, so that the emission ultraviolet light is emitted in all directions by the above-described fluorescent agent. The emitted light diffuses upward and can be seen brighter. Therefore, the visibility can be improved for the user, and the notification effect can be improved. Note that the rear cover 30 does not necessarily have to be formed including a fluorescent agent, and the LED 21 does not necessarily have to be an element that emits emitted ultraviolet light.

  Here, since the panel 40 provided above the rear cover 30 is formed of a light shielding member, the light incident on the rear cover 30 does not leak to the panel 40 side during light guiding. The light shielding member may be formed of a material mixed with an ultraviolet absorbing structure (conjugated system) material (for example, a material containing a benzene ring). Thereby, it can suppress that the ultraviolet-ray emitted from LED21 leaks outside. However, the panel 40 is not necessarily formed by a light shielding member, and the surface of the panel 40 on the rear cover 30 side may be coated with a light shielding paint (for example, a pigment-based black paint) to shield the light. At this time, the light-shielding paint includes a black paint or an ultraviolet absorbing structure (conjugated) material (for example, a material containing a benzene ring) in order to prevent the ultraviolet light emitted from the LED 21 from leaking to the outside. It may be a paint.

  Further, as indicated by reference numerals 35 and 36 in FIG. 6, light shielding surfaces may be formed on the panel-side surface 35 and the substrate-side surface 36 of the rear cover 30. At this time, the predetermined region portion 36a located in the vicinity of the LED 21 is cut out of the light shielding surface on the substrate 20 side. Thereby, the light from the LED 21 enters the rear cover 30 from the cut portion 36 a of the light shielding surface. The light shielding surface may be formed on either the panel side surface 35 or the substrate side surface 36 of the rear cover 30. In particular, the substrate side surface 36 of the rear cover 30 is not necessarily required when the inside is dark or when the substrate is formed in a green or dark color system. The light-shielding surface may be formed of a light-shielding paint or film as described above, or may be formed including a material having a function of absorbing ultraviolet light as described above.

  In addition, the light shielding surfaces formed on the panel-side surface 35 and the substrate-side surface 36 of the rear cover 30 described above may be formed by reflecting surfaces that reflect light to the rear cover 30 side. As a result, the light that has entered the rear cover 30 is reflected by the reflecting surface and guided through the rear cover 30, so that the light can be guided more efficiently to the illumination location.

  Here, modified examples of the configuration of the mobile phone will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 are simplified views of the cross-sectional view taken along the line AA shown in FIG.

  First, as shown in FIG. 7, the light emitting means for emitting light is constituted by the light emitting element 22 having a wide illumination range, not the LED 21. A portion of the rear cover 30 that is located above the light emitting element 22 and into which the light from the light emitting element 22 is incident is formed in a concave portion 37 that is recessed on the side opposite to the light emitting element 22 side. Also good. Accordingly, the rear cover 30 and the substrate 20 can be brought close to each other in a state where a part of the light emitting element 22 is accommodated in the concave portion 37 of the rear cover 30, and the mobile phone can be thinned. Even in such a case, the light illuminated in a wide range from the light emitting element 22 can enter the concave portion 37 of the rear cover 30 and can guide the light to the surrounding illumination spots. Note that the concave portion 37 is formed in a stepped shape or a diamond cut shape, or is subjected to a textured process, so that the light easily enters the rear cover 30.

  As another modification, as shown in FIG. 8, it is a place located above the light emitting element 22 of the rear cover 30, and a place where light from the light emitting element 22 is incident, that is, the concave portion of the rear cover 30. The 37 portions may be completely excised to form the opening 38. As a result, the rear cover 30 and the substrate 20 can be brought closer to each other in a state where the light emitting element 22 is accommodated in the opening 38 of the rear cover 30, and the mobile phone can be further reduced in thickness. Even in such a case, the light emitted from the side of the light emitting element 22 is incident from the side surface of the opening 38 of the rear cover 30 and can be guided to the surrounding illumination spots.

  Further, modified examples of the configuration of the mobile phone will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 11 are simplified views of the cross-sectional view taken along the line AA shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 5 to FIG. 8 described above, the exposed portions 31, 32, 33 (convex shape portions) from the panel 40 located around the rear cover 30 are exemplified as having a substantially ¼ arc shape in cross section. As shown in FIGS. 9 to 10, the exposed portions 31, 32, and 33 of the rear cover 30 may have a semicircular arc shape. Furthermore, the exposed portions 31, 32, and 33 are not limited to having a semicircular cross section, and may have any shape. For example, as shown in FIG. It may be a polygonal shape formed by.

  At this time, the exposed portions 31, 32, 33 of the rear cover 30 as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 are also exposed from the side surface of the housing 10 located on the opposite side of the panel 40, that is, the exposed portions 31, 32 and 33 are formed so that a part of them is also located on the side surface of the housing 10. As a result, light from the LED 21 is exposed from the exposed portions 31, 32, and 33 around the rear cover 30 within a range of about 180 degrees with respect to the side surface of the housing 10 as shown by arrows in FIGS. It will be illuminated outside. Therefore, the user can visually recognize the light illuminated from the periphery of the rear cover 30 not only from the panel 40 side of the mobile phone but also from the casing 10 side which is the opposite side.

<Appendix>
Part or all of the above-described embodiment can be described as in the following supplementary notes. The outline of the configuration of the mobile phone according to the present invention will be described below. However, the present invention is not limited to the following configuration.

(Appendix 1)
A housing having one surface open, a substrate housed inside the housing, a cover member disposed to face the substrate and covering the opening of the housing, and an outer surface side of the cover member A panel to cover,
The cover member has a shape in which at least a portion located around the casing is exposed from the periphery of the panel, and is formed of a transmissive member.
On the cover member side of the substrate, provided with light emitting means for emitting light that enters the cover member from the side facing the substrate and is guided to the exposed portion of the cover member from the panel,
The surface on the cover member side of the panel is formed to be shielded from light.
Electronics.

(Appendix 2)
The electronic device according to attachment 1, wherein
The light emitting means is one,
The cover member has a shape exposed from the periphery of the panel on at least one side located around the casing.
Electronics.

(Appendix 3)
The electronic device according to attachment 2, wherein
The cover member has a shape exposed from the periphery of the panel on at least three sides located around the casing;
The light emitting means is disposed at the center of two sides facing each other among the three sides,
Electronics.

(Appendix 4)
An electronic device according to any one of appendices 1 to 3,
The place where the light emitted from the light emitting means in the cover member enters and the exposed place from the periphery of the panel are located on a straight line passing through the cover member itself.
Electronics.

(Appendix 5)
An electronic device according to any one of appendix 4,
The location closest to the light emitting means in the cover member and the exposed location from the periphery of the panel are located on a straight line passing through the cover member itself.
Electronics.

(Appendix 6)
The electronic device according to appendix 4 or 5,
On the straight line passing through the cover member itself where the place where the light emitted from the light emitting means in the cover member enters and the exposed place from the periphery of the panel is configured so that there is no shielding object,
Electronics.

(Appendix 7)
The electronic device according to any one of appendices 1 to 6,
The outer shape of the exposed portion from the periphery of the panel in the cover member is formed in a convex shape protruding toward the outside of the electronic device,
Electronics.

(Appendix 8)
The electronic device according to appendix 7,
The exposed portion of the cover member from the periphery of the panel is formed to protrude outward from the periphery of the housing.
Electronics.

(Appendix 9)
The electronic device according to any one of appendices 1 to 8,
The surface of the cover member facing the substrate is covered with a light shielding member, and the light shielding member located in the vicinity of the location where the light emitting means is disposed is cut out from the light emitting means. The emitted light is formed to enter the cover member,
Electronics.

(Appendix 10)
An electronic device according to any one of appendices 1 to 9,
The light shielding surface formed on the panel side and / or the substrate side of the cover member has a reflective surface that reflects light on the cover member side,
Electronics.

10 Housing 20 Substrate 21 LED
30 Rear cover 31, 32, 33 Convex shaped part 40 Panel

Claims (10)

A housing having one surface open, a substrate housed inside the housing, a cover member disposed to face the substrate and covering the opening of the housing, and an outer surface side of the cover member A panel to cover,
The cover member has a shape in which at least a portion located around the casing is exposed from the periphery of the panel, and is formed of a transmissive member.
On the cover member side of the substrate, provided with light emitting means for emitting light that enters the cover member from the side facing the substrate and is guided to the exposed portion of the cover member from the panel,
The surface on the cover member side of the panel is formed to be shielded from light.
Electronics. The electronic device according to claim 1,
The light emitting means is one,
The cover member has a shape exposed from the periphery of the panel on at least one side located around the casing.
Electronics. The electronic device according to claim 2,
The cover member has a shape exposed from the periphery of the panel on at least three sides located around the casing;
The light emitting means is disposed at the center of two sides facing each other among the three sides,
Electronics. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The place where the light emitted from the light emitting means in the cover member enters and the exposed place from the periphery of the panel are located on a straight line passing through the cover member itself.
Electronics. The electronic device according to claim 4,
The location closest to the light emitting means in the cover member and the exposed location from the periphery of the panel are located on a straight line passing through the cover member itself.
Electronics. The electronic device according to claim 4 or 5,
On the straight line passing through the cover member itself where the place where the light emitted from the light emitting means in the cover member enters and the exposed place from the periphery of the panel is configured so that there is no shielding object,
Electronics. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The outer shape of the exposed portion from the periphery of the panel in the cover member is formed in a convex shape protruding toward the outside of the electronic device,
Electronics. The electronic device according to claim 7,
The exposed portion of the cover member from the periphery of the panel is formed to protrude outward from the periphery of the housing.
Electronics. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The surface of the cover member facing the substrate is covered with a light shielding member, and the light shielding member located in the vicinity of the location where the light emitting means is disposed is cut out from the light emitting means. The emitted light is formed to enter the cover member,
Electronics. The electronic device according to claim 1,
The light shielding surface formed on the panel side and / or the substrate side of the cover member has a reflective surface that reflects light on the cover member side,
Electronics.

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