JP2015061291A - Electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform accurate detection by a proximity sensor without increasing the size of a mobile phone.SOLUTION: A mobile phone 1 includes a proximity sensor 7 having a light emitting element 8 and a light receiving element which receives reflection light of light emitted from the light emitting element 8 to detect an object D to be detected. A light guide member 10 for guiding the irradiation light from the light emitting element 8 and the reflection light thereof is fitted in a front-side cabinet 3. The light guide member 10 has a light emitting part 11 for guiding the irradiation light, a reflection part for guiding the reflection light, and a connection part for connecting the light emitting part 11 and the reflection part.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device such as a mobile phone including a light emitting element and a proximity sensor having a light receiving element that receives reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element and detects an object to be detected.

  Conventionally, a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element are arranged close to each other, and a light-transmitting cover is provided on an optical path formed by irradiation light from the light-emitting element and reflected light incident on the light-receiving element. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). If the light emitting element and the light receiving element are too close together, the light emitted from the light emitting element may directly enter the light receiving element. However, a layered light absorbing member is provided at least between the light emitting element and the light receiving element in this cover to receive light. The scattered light is prevented from being reflected by the element.

JP 2001-194232 A

  However, in conventional electronic devices such as Patent Document 1, usually, a cover is placed in front of the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit in order to improve detection accuracy, and the detected part approaching the cover is often detected. In the case of a portable telephone or the like that places importance on portability, there is a problem that it is difficult to secure an installation space because the thickness and the like are limited.

  The present invention has been made in view of such points, and an object of the present invention is to enable accurate detection by a proximity sensor without increasing the size of an electronic device.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a light guide member for guiding irradiation light and reflected light is fitted into the housing.

  Specifically, the present invention is premised on an electronic apparatus including a detection sensor having a light emitting element and a light receiving element that receives reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element and detects an object to be detected. .

  A light guide member that is fitted in a housing and guides the irradiation light and the reflected light from the light emitting element, and the light guide member includes a light emitting part that guides the irradiation light and a reflection part that guides the reflected light. And a connecting part that connects the light emitting part and the reflecting part.

  According to said structure, since the freedom degree of an optical path change increases by providing a light guide member, it becomes unnecessary to arrange | position a light emitting element and a light receiving element in front of a to-be-detected object, and arrangement | positioning space can be made small. In addition, by dividing the light emitting part and the reflection part of the light guide member, the irradiation light and the reflected light pass through different optical paths, so that the detection accuracy can be increased and the connection part is connected. Easy to install.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a light guide member having a light emitting part that guides irradiation light from a light emitting element, a reflecting part that guides reflected light to a light receiving element, and a connecting part that connects them is provided. By being fitted in the housing, the detection accuracy of the proximity sensor can be increased without increasing the size of the electronic device.

(A) is the sectional view on the Ia-Ia line of FIG. 2, (b) is a front view which shows the opening for sensors when the glass cover is removed, and its periphery. 1 is a perspective view showing a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows a mobile telephone. It is the IV-IV sectional view taken on the line of Fig.1 (a). The light guide member is shown, (a) is a perspective view seen from the front upper side, (b) is a perspective view seen from the back lower side. It is a perspective view which shows the channel | path for light guide of the front side cabinet which abbreviate | omitted metal frames, and its periphery. It is FIG. 1 (a) equivalent view which concerns on the modification 1 of embodiment of this invention. FIG. 10 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1A according to a second modification of the embodiment of the present invention. In the mobile phone which concerns on the modification 2 which abbreviate | omitted the front side cabinet, it is the perspective view which looked at the light guide member and its periphery from upper direction.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  2 and 3 show a mobile phone 1 as an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile phone 1 includes a liquid crystal display unit 2 including a touch panel, for example, and the liquid crystal display unit 2 is a front surface as a casing. It is accommodated in the side cabinet 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the surface of the liquid crystal display unit 2 is covered with a transparent glass cover 2a. The glass cover 2a is affixed to the periphery of the front side cabinet 3 with a rectangular frame-shaped double-sided tape 2b and the like, and is waterproofed.

  The front-side cabinet 3 is an opaque resin molded product having a transmittance lower than that of the light guide member 10 as an optical component, and a rectangular thin plate-shaped metal frame 3a is insert-molded. The liquid crystal display unit 2 is accommodated on the front side of the front side cabinet 3. A back side cabinet 4 is coupled to the back side of the front side cabinet 3, and the back side is covered with a rear cover 5. The silicon gel 4a sandwiched between the front cabinet 3 and the back cabinet 4 waterproofs the front cabinet 3 and the back cabinet 4, and the circuit board 6 is accommodated in this waterproof region. A proximity sensor 7 is mounted on the circuit board 6. As shown in FIG. 4, the proximity sensor 7 includes a light emitting element 8 and a light receiving element 9 that detects reflected light of the light (irradiated light) emitted from the light emitting element 8 and detects an object D to be detected. Have. The proximity sensor 7 is fixed to the circuit board 6 so that the light emitting element 8 and the light receiving element 9 face upward. Note that the light receiving element 9 of this embodiment may also serve as a light control sensor that detects brightness.

  The light guide member 10 for guiding the irradiation light and the reflected light from the light emitting element 8 is fitted into the front cabinet 3. As shown in FIG. 5, the light guide member 10 is made of, for example, a transparent acrylic resin integrally formed product. It has the connection part 13 which connects these light emission parts 11 and reflection parts 12. FIG. An attachment projection 14 for pinching with a finger is integrally formed on the lower surface of the connecting portion 13. For this reason, even if it is the small light guide member 10, this light guide member 10 can be easily engage | inserted in the front side cabinet 3 by pinching this attachment protrusion 14. FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the light guide member 10 is affixed to the front cabinet 3 with a double-sided tape 15, for example. In addition, you may make it raise the reflectance by giving plating, vapor deposition, coating, etc. on the outer periphery except the front surface and the lower surface of the light guide member 10. Thereby, the leakage and attenuation of light can be prevented, and the sensitivity for detecting the detection object D can be increased.

  As shown in FIGS. 1B and 6, a part of the light guide member 10 is a sensor opening 3 c formed on the upper peripheral edge of the front cabinet 3 when the glass cover 2 a of the liquid crystal display unit 2 is removed. You can peek through. Although black printing is applied to the periphery of the glass cover 2a, printing is performed with IR ink in a separate process in a range substantially corresponding to the sensor opening 3c. When the side cabinet 3 is covered, the sensor opening 3c is difficult to see with the naked eye to improve the appearance.

  A light shielding rib 3b inserted between the light emitting portion 11 and the reflecting portion 12 is integrally formed on the back side of the sensor opening 3c. The light guide rib 3b forms a light guide passage 3d partially branched into two inside the front cabinet 3. As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the sensor opening 3c is formed on the front side, and the proximity sensor 7 is disposed at a position below the sensor opening 3c so as to face upward. The light passage 3d is bent in an L shape in side view. The light guide member 10 is fitted into the light guide passage 3d, and the light emitting portion 11 and the reflection portion 12 are covered with the light guide passage 3d including the light shielding rib 3b. Thereby, since the light shielding rib 3b reliably prevents light from passing between the light emitting unit 11 and the reflecting unit 12, the detection accuracy is improved.

  The portion of the light guide passage 3d close to the sensor opening 3c is constituted by a vertical wall portion that is press-formed and bent to the front side of the metal frame 3a. As described above, the metal frame 3a has high rigidity and does not transmit light, so that the light guide passage 3d can be formed by a thin wall surface.

  Of the reflecting surfaces that reflect light in the light emitting section 11 and the reflecting section 12 in the light guide path 3d, the reflecting surface 10a that is bent downward toward the back surface reflects the irradiation light and the reflected light, respectively. Playing a role. For this reason, the abutment surface 3e of the front side cabinet 3 corresponding to the back side has a lower reflectance than other regions of the front side cabinet 3 due to unevenness due to black coloring, embossing or the like. As a result, light leakage and attenuation can be prevented, and the sensitivity for detecting the detection object D can be increased.

  Thus, in this embodiment, since the light path changing degree of freedom increases by providing the light guide member 10, it is not necessary to arrange the light emitting element 8 and the light receiving element 9 directly in front of the detection object D, and the arrangement space is reduced. Can be small. Further, by dividing the light emitting unit 11 and the reflecting unit 12 of the light guide member 10, the irradiation light and the reflected light pass through different optical paths, so that the detection accuracy can be increased and the connection unit 13 is connected. Therefore, installation is easy.

  Therefore, according to the mobile phone 1 according to the present embodiment, the light emitting unit 11 that guides the irradiation light from the light emitting element 8, the reflecting unit 12 that guides the reflected light to the light receiving element 9, and the connecting unit 13 that connects them. By fitting the light guide member 10 having the above into the front cabinet 3, the detection accuracy of the proximity sensor 7 can be increased without increasing the size of the mobile phone 1.

-Modification 1-
FIG. 7 shows a first modification of the embodiment of the present invention, which differs from the above embodiment in that the shape of the light guide member 10 ′ is different. In the following modifications, the same portions as those in FIGS. 1 to 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  That is, the light guide member 10 ′ of the present modification has the extension 16 that extends linearly to the vicinity of the periphery of the sensor opening 3 c. The extension portion 16 extends from the respective tips of the light emitting portion 11 and the reflecting portion 12. By providing the extension 16, the detected object D and the distal end of the extended part 16 approach each other, and the directivity when detecting the detected object D is further improved.

-Modification 2-
FIG. 8 shows a second modification of the embodiment of the present invention, which differs from the above embodiment in that the shape of the light guide member 10 ″ is different.

  That is, the light guide member 10 ″ of the present modification has the second light guide member 17 fitted in the vicinity of the periphery of the sensor opening 3c. The second light guide member 17 is a region separated by the light shielding rib 3b. As shown in Fig. 9, the second light guide member 17 has a front side that spreads from side to side and can receive a wide range of reflected light. 17 and the light guide member 10 ″ are pasted with an OCA double-sided tape 18. Thereby, while being able to fix the 2nd light guide member 17, the fall of a sensitivity can be prevented. If a light guide gel is used instead of the OCA double-sided tape 18, the handling is easy. The second light guide member 17 can be positioned by the light shielding rib 3b, and the irradiation light and the reflected light can be divided, so that the sensitivity is good.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention may have the following configurations for the embodiments.

  That is, in the embodiment, the proximity sensor 7 and the light guide member 10 are arranged on the upper side of the mobile phone 1 so as to emit irradiation light toward the front, but the proximity sensor 7 and the light guide member 10 are placed at different positions. It may be provided, and the direction of irradiation light is not particularly limited.

  In the embodiment, the electronic device is the mobile phone 1, but may be a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a smartphone, a personal computer, a mobile tool, an electronic dictionary, a calculator, a game machine, or the like. It may be a liquid crystal display, a liquid crystal television, a Blu-ray (DVD) recorder, or the like.

  In addition, the above embodiment is an essentially preferable illustration, Comprising: It does not intend restrict | limiting the range of this invention, its application thing, or a use. The technical features described in each embodiment can be combined with each other, and a new technical feature can be formed by combining them.

1 Mobile phone (electronic equipment)
2 Liquid crystal display
2a Glass cover
3 Front side cabinet
3a metal frame
3b Shading rib
3c Sensor opening
3d light guide passage
3e Contact surface
4 Rear cabinet
5 Rear cover
6 Circuit board
7 Proximity sensor
8 Light emitting elements
9 Light receiving element
10, 10 ', 10 "light guide member
10a Reflective surface
11 Light emitting part
12 Reflector
13 Connecting part
14 Mounting projection
15 Double-sided tape
16 Extension
17 Second light guide member
18 OCA double-sided tape

Claims (6)

In an electronic apparatus including a light emitting element and a proximity sensor having a light receiving element that receives reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element and detects an object to be detected.
A light guide member that is fitted into a housing and guides the light emitted from the light emitting element and the reflected light;
The said light guide member has the light emission part which guide | induces the said irradiation light, the reflection part which guide | induces the said reflected light, and the connection part which connects this light emission part and a reflection part, The electronic device characterized by the above-mentioned. The electronic device according to claim 1,
An electronic apparatus, wherein the housing has a transmittance lower than that of the light guide member, and a light shielding rib inserted between the light emitting portion and the reflecting portion is integrally formed. The electronic device according to claim 2,
The electronic device, wherein the light emitting unit and the reflecting unit are covered with a light guide passage formed in the casing. The electronic device according to claim 3,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein a reflectance of a back side of a reflection surface that reflects light in the light emitting portion and the reflection portion in the light guide passage is reduced as compared with other regions of the casing. The electronic device according to claim 3 or 4,
The housing is insert molded with a metal frame,
An electronic apparatus, wherein at least a part of the light guide passage is constituted by the metal frame. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
An electronic device characterized in that a mounting projection for pinching with a finger is formed integrally with the connecting portion.

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