JP2023098260A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an electronic apparatus having an excellent designability and a high durability.SOLUTION: A smart phone 1 comprises: a first case 22 having a first side surface; and a second side surface that is opposite to an outer side of the first side surface of the first case 22. The smart phone comprises: a second case 28 in which a U-shaped groove is formed in the second side surface, and has a tongue part 40 of which one end is only connected to the other part; a spacer 42 that includes a projection part 72 along the groove, and in which the projection 72 is inserted into the groove part; and a switch element 50 that is arranged at a position opposite to the tongue part 40 of the first side surface, and detects an operation in deformation of the tongue part 40.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present application relates to electronic equipment.

Among electronic devices, there is an electronic device provided with a physical key operated by an operator. For example, in a smartphone, physical keys are arranged on the side of the housing as buttons for power operation and volume operation. The physical key is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100002, which includes a fixed member having a holding portion that holds an operation button, an operation button that is assembled to the fixed member so as to be pressable, and an engagement that the operation button is held by the holding portion. It has a joint portion and a support arm that connects the operation button and the engagement portion, and is fixed to the fixed member while holding the engagement portion, the operation button, and the support arm between itself and the fixed member. A structure is described that includes a receiving member.

JP 2017-103167 A

In the device described in Patent Document 1, the operation button is a separate member from the housing. Here, in an electronic device, there is a structure in which a notch is formed in a part of a housing as a movable part, and the movable part is used as a part of an operation button. As a result, a part of the housing becomes a button, and the design can be enhanced. However, since the groove is formed in the housing, there is a possibility that a gap may be created and foreign matter may enter the interior of the housing. Contamination of foreign matter requires maintenance and the like, and the durability as an electronic device is lowered.

In view of the above, there is a need for electronic devices that are excellent in design and have high durability.

An electronic device according to one aspect includes a first case having a first side surface and a second side surface facing the outside of the first side surface of the first case, and a U-shaped groove is formed in the second side surface. a second case having a tongue portion connected to another portion only at one end; a spacer provided with a protrusion along the groove, the protrusion being inserted into the groove; and the tongue on the first side surface. a switch element arranged at a position facing the portion and detecting an operation by deformation of the tongue portion.

It is preferable that a fixing member is provided between the spacer and the second case and fixes the spacer to the second case.

Preferably, the spacer has an opening at a position facing the tongue, and the tongue has a protrusion that passes through the opening and faces the switch element.

It is preferable that the spacer has a flange portion in which the edge portion of the opening protrudes further toward the tongue portion than the projecting portion and partially overlaps with the tongue portion in a direction in which the switch element is viewed from the tongue portion. .

Preferably, the flange portion has a surface on the tongue portion side that slopes toward the switch element toward the center of the opening.

It is preferable that a region of the opening where the projection is arranged has a narrower width in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the tongue than other portions.

It is preferable that the protrusion be arranged at the tip of the tongue.

1 is a front view of a smartphone according to an embodiment; FIG. FIG. 2 is a sectional view around the button on the side of the housing. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the button tongue, spacer and seal. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the tongue of the button; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a spacer. FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the spacer.

Embodiments according to the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals may be given to similar components. Furthermore, redundant description may be omitted.

Embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. A smartphone will be described below as an example of an electronic device having a physical key.

An overall configuration of a smartphone 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The smartphone 1 communicates wirelessly using a communication unit to make calls and transmit and receive data. Communication schemes supported by the communication unit include wireless communication standards. Wireless communication standards include, for example, cellular phone communication standards such as 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G. Communication standards for cellular phones include, for example, LTE (Long Term Evolution), W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), CDMA2000, PDC (Personal Digital Cellular), GSM (registered trademark) (Global System for Mobile Communications), PHS (Personal Handy-phone System). Wireless communication standards include, for example, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), IEEE802.11, Bluetooth (registered trademark), IrDA (Infrared Data Association), NFC (Near Field Communication ), WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network), etc. There is WPAN communication standards include, for example, ZigBee (registered trademark). A communication unit may support one or more of the communication standards described above. The communication unit may support wired communication. Wired communication includes, for example, Ethernet (registered trademark), Fiber Channel, and the like.

The smartphone 1 also has a storage and a controller for controlling and realizing various operations. The storage stores programs and data. The storage may also be used as a work area for temporarily storing processing results of the controller. The storage may include any non-transitory storage media such as semiconductor storage media and magnetic storage media. Storage may include multiple types of storage media. The storage may include a combination of a portable storage medium such as a memory card, an optical disk, or a magneto-optical disk and a reading device for the storage medium. The storage may include a storage device such as RAM (Random Access Memory) that is used as a temporary storage area. A controller is a processing unit. Examples of arithmetic processing units include, but are not limited to, CPUs (Central Processing Units), SoCs (System-on-a-Chips), MCUs (Micro Control Units), and FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays). The controller centrally controls operations of the smartphone 1 to implement various functions.

As shown in FIG. 1 , smartphone 1 has housing 20 . The housing 20 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has a front face (front surface) 1A, a back face 1B, and side faces 1C1 to 1C4. The front face 1A is the front of the housing 20. As shown in FIG. The back face 1B is the back of the housing 20. As shown in FIG. The side faces 1C1 to 1C4 are sides connecting the front face 1A and the back face 1B. Hereinafter, the side faces 1C1 to 1C4 may be collectively referred to as the side face 1C without specifying which faces. In some cases, the housing 20 has a chamfered shape, a partially protruding portion, or a concave portion at the end portion, but the front face 1A and the back face 1B have the largest area, and the side face 1C1 has the largest area. , 1C3 are longitudinal surfaces, and side faces 1C2 and 1C4 are lateral surfaces.

The housing 20 accommodates each part. The housing 20 has the back face 1B and the side faces 1C1 to 1C4 exposed to the outside. The housing 20 is covered with the touch screen display 2 on the front face 1A.

The housing 20 preferably has a structure that prevents water from entering inside. That is, the housing 20 has a waterproof structure. Specifically, the housing 20 has a hole connecting the inside and the outside with a mechanism that allows air to pass through but does not allow water to pass through. When the housing 20 is formed of a plurality of members, the housing 20 has rubber packings or adhesives at the boundaries of the plurality of members. The adhesive bonds the multiple members together. The member is perimeter sealed. Housing 20 will be described later.

Smartphone 1 has touch screen display 2, buttons 3A, illuminance sensor 4, proximity sensor 5, receiver 7, microphone 8, and camera 12 on front face 1A. The smartphone 1 has a camera 13 on the back face 1B. Smartphone 1 has buttons 3B and 3C and connector 14 on side face 1C. Hereinafter, the buttons 3A to 3C may be collectively referred to as the button 3 without specifying which buttons.

The touch screen display 2 has a display 2A and a touch screen 2B. In the example of FIG. 1, the display 2A and the touch screen 2B are each substantially rectangular, but the shapes of the display 2A and the touch screen 2B are not limited to this. The display 2A and the touch screen 2B can each have any shape, such as square or circle. In the example of FIG. 1, the display 2A and the touch screen 2B are positioned overlapping each other, but the positions of the display 2A and the touch screen 2B are not limited to this. The display 2A and the touch screen 2B may be positioned side by side or separated, for example. In the example of FIG. 1, the long sides of the display 2A are along the long sides of the touch screen 2B, and the short sides of the display 2A are along the short sides of the touch screen 2B. is not limited to this. When the display 2A and the touch screen 2B overlap each other, for example, one or more sides of the display 2A do not have to be aligned with any side of the touch screen 2B.

The display 2A includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic electroluminescence display (OELD), or an inorganic electroluminescence display (IELD). The display 2A displays objects such as characters, images, symbols, and graphics.

The touch screen 2B detects contact with the touch screen 2B by a finger, pen, stylus pen, or the like. The touch screen 2B can detect positions where a plurality of fingers, pens, stylus pens, or the like touch the touch screen 2B.

The detection method of the touch screen 2B may be any method such as a capacitance method, a resistive film method, a surface acoustic wave method, an infrared method, and a load detection method. In the following description, to simplify the description, it is assumed that the user touches the touch screen 2B with a finger to operate the smartphone 1. FIG.

Based on at least one of the contact detected by the touch screen 2B, the position at which the contact was detected, the change in the position at which the contact was detected, the interval at which the contact was detected, and the number of times the contact was detected, the smartphone 1 Determine the type of gesture. A gesture is an operation performed on the touch screen 2B. Gestures determined by the smartphone 1 include, but are not limited to, touch, long touch, release, swipe, tap, double tap, long tap, drag, flick, pinch in, and pinch out, for example.

Button 3 is operated by the user. The button 3 has buttons 3A to 3C. The controller detects an operation on button 3 by cooperating with button 3 . Operations on the button 3 include, but are not limited to, click, double-click, triple-click, push, and multi-push.

Button 3A is, for example, a home button, a back button, or a menu button. Button 3B is two physical keys and is a volume button. The button 3C is, for example, a power on/off button, a sleep/sleep release button, a shutter button, etc. of the smart phone 1 . In this embodiment, buttons 3B and 3C are arranged on side face 1C4. Buttons 3B and 3C may be arranged on another side face 1C, or may be arranged on a plurality of side faces.

The illuminance sensor 4 detects the illuminance of light around the smartphone 1 . The illuminance is the value of the luminous flux incident on the unit area of the measurement surface of the illuminance sensor 4 . The illuminance sensor 4 is used, for example, to adjust the brightness of the display 2A. The proximity sensor 5 detects the presence of nearby objects without contact. The proximity sensor 5 detects the presence of an object based on changes in the magnetic field, changes in the return time of reflected ultrasonic waves, or the like. Proximity sensor 5 detects, for example, that touch screen display 2 is brought close to the face. The illuminance sensor 4 and the proximity sensor 5 may be configured as one sensor. The illuminance sensor 4 may be used as a proximity sensor.

The receiver 7 is a sound output section. The receiver 7 outputs sound signals transmitted from the controller as sound. The receiver 7 is used, for example, to output the voice of the other party during a call. A microphone 8 is a sound input unit. A microphone 8 converts a user's voice or the like into a sound signal.

The camera 12 is an in-camera that captures an object facing the front face 1A. The camera 13 is an out-camera for photographing an object facing the back face 1B. The camera 13 is arranged on the side face 1C1 side of the back face 1B.

The connector 14 is a terminal to which another device is connected. The connector may be a universal terminal such as USB (Universal Serial Bus), HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), LitePeak (Thunderbolt (Registered Trademark)), earphone microphone connector. The connector may be a dedicated terminal such as a dock connector. Devices connected to the connector include, but are not limited to, external storage, speakers, and communication devices.

Next, the structure of the button 3 arranged on the side face of the housing 20 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6. FIG. FIG. 2 is a sectional view around the button on the side of the housing. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the button tongue, spacer and seal. Figure 4 is a perspective view of the tongue of the button; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a spacer. FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the spacer.

A structure in which the button 3B is arranged will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the housing 20 has a first case 22 and a second case 28. As shown in FIG. The touch screen display 2 is fixed to the first case 22 with an adhesive member 24 . As described above, the touch screen display 2 has the glass plate 2C arranged on the surface side of the display 2A and the touch screen 2B. The first case 22 serves as an inner housing of the smart phone, and the board 30 and the sheet metal member 32 are arranged in the space formed by the touch screen display 2 .

The second case 28 is an outer housing and is arranged on the back face side of the first case 22 . The second case 28 also covers the side face 1C of the first case 22. - 特許庁The second case 28 is fixed to the first case 22 .

Next, the buttons 3B and 3C will be explained. The button 3B has two parts for detecting the operation. The button 3C has one portion for detecting the operation. Although the number of buttons 3B and 3C arranged differs, their basic configuration is the same.

The configuration of the part that detects one operation of the button 3B will be described below. The button 3B includes a tongue 40, a spacer 42, a seal 44, a switch element 50, and a protector 52, as shown in FIGS.

The tongue portion 40 is part of the second case 28 that forms the surface of the side face 1</b>C of the smartphone 1 . The tongue 40 is separated from the rest of the second case 28 by a groove 60 having a U-shaped outer edge. A tip 61 of the tongue 40 corresponds to the base of the U-shaped groove 60 . The tongue portion 40 has a projecting portion 62 protruding toward the first case 22 on the surface of the tip 61 facing the first case 22 . Also, the tongue portion 40 has an end portion corresponding to the U-shaped open end of the groove 60 connected to the other portion of the second case 28 to form a base portion 64 . The tongue portion 40 has a pusher 63 protruding toward the first case 22 on the surface of the tongue portion 40 closer to the base portion 64 than the projection portion 62 toward the first case 22 . The tongue portion 40 forms a cantilever with the base portion 64 as a fulcrum, and when the tip 61 is pushed toward the inside of the smartphone 1 (the first case 22 side), the tip 61 moves inside the smartphone 1 with the base portion 64 as a fulcrum. move to the side. As the tip 61 of the tongue portion 40 moves to the inside of the smartphone 1 , the protrusion 62 and the pusher 63 move to the inside of the smartphone 1 .

The spacer 42 is arranged between the first case 22 and the second case 28 of the side face 1</b>C, that is, closer to the first case 22 than the tongue portion 40 . A spacer 42 is inserted into the groove 60 and fills in between the tongue 40 and the rest of the second case 28 . Although the material of the spacer 42 is not particularly limited, various members such as elastic members such as rubber, resins, and metals can be used.

Spacer 42 includes a base portion 70, a protrusion portion 72, a flange portion 74, and a narrow portion 76, as shown in FIGS. Further, an opening 73 is formed in the base portion 70 . The base portion 70 faces the portion of the second case 28 other than the tongue portion 40 . Base 70 is fixed to second case 28 by seal 44 . The projecting portion 72 is formed on the surface of the base portion 70 on the second case 28 side. The projecting portion 72 has the same shape as the groove 60, and has a U shape in this embodiment. The protrusion 72 is inserted into the groove 60 . The opening 73 is formed in the portion of the base portion 70 facing the tip 61 , that is, the portion surrounded by the U-shape of the projecting portion 72 . The flange portion 74 is formed inside the U-shape of the projecting portion 72 , that is, at the opening 73 . The flange portion 74 serves as the edge of the opening 73 . The flange portion 74 overlaps the tongue portion 40 when viewed from the outside of the side face 1C, as shown in FIG. The flange portion 74 does not overlap the projection portion 62 and the pusher 63 when viewed from the outside of the side face 1C. The narrow portion 76 is arranged at a position facing the protrusion 62 formed at the tip 61 of the tongue portion 40 . The narrow portion 76 is arranged inside the U-shape of the flange portion 74 . That is, the narrow portion 76 protrudes into the opening 73 and faces the tip 61 .

The seal 44 is a member with adhesive on both sides, and fixes the spacer 42 to the second case 28 . Although the seals 44 of this embodiment are separated into three and arranged at three locations between the spacer 42 and the second case 28, the layout shape and the number of layouts are not limited. Although the spacer 42 is fixed to the second case 28 with the seal 44 in this embodiment, the fixing method is not limited. Instead of the seal 44, the spacer 42 may be fixed to the second case 28 with an adhesive.

The switch element 50 is arranged on the second case side surface of the first case 22 at a position facing the protrusion 62 of the tongue portion 40 . The switch element 50 is turned ON when pushed by the protrusion 62 and turned OFF when it is not pushed by the protrusion 62 . The switch element 50 is, for example, a metal dome, and is deformed by being pushed by the protrusion 62 to energize the detection circuit. Do not turn on the power.

A protective member 52 is arranged between the switch element 50 and the tongue 40 . The protective member 52 covers the entire surface of the switch element 50 and prevents foreign matter from entering the switch element 50 . The protective member 52 is made of a flexible material, and is pushed by the protrusion 62 and deformed.

In the smartphone 1, a U-shaped groove 60 is formed in a surface (second side surface) corresponding to the side face 1C of the second case 28, and a tongue portion 40 connected to the other portion at only one end is provided. The projection 72 is arranged at a position facing the spacer inserted into the groove 60 and the tongue 40 on the surface (first side surface) corresponding to the side face 1C of the first case 22, It has a button 3B with a variation of the tongue 40 and a switch element 50 for detecting operation. By arranging the projecting portion 72 of the spacer 42 in the groove 60 of the button 3B, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from entering the groove 60 . Further, by using the tongue portion 40 that is a part of the second case 28 as the surface of the button, the design of the smartphone 1 can be enhanced.

By arranging a fixing member such as a seal between the spacer 42 and the second case 28 and fixing the spacer 42 to the second case 28 , the button 3</b>B can more reliably suppress foreign matter from entering the groove 60 .

Moreover, since the tongue portion 40 includes the pusher 63 that passes through the opening 73 and faces the switch element 50, the switch element 50 can be operated with little deformation. By providing the pusher 63 as in the button 3B of the present embodiment, a small displacement of the tongue portion 40 can be detected as an operation.

In the button 3B, the opening 73 is provided at a position of the tongue portion 40 of the spacer 42 facing the pusher 63, so that even when the spacer 42 is provided between the switch element 50 and the tongue portion 40, the tongue portion 40 and the pushing portion 40 can be pushed. The distance to the element 63 can be shortened, and an increase in the thickness of the device can be suppressed. That is, since the base portion 70 of the spacer 42 can be arranged around the pusher 63, an increase in thickness in the direction orthogonal to the side face 1C can be suppressed. Also, the amount of protrusion of the pusher 63 can be reduced. Further, the button 3B is provided with an opening 73 at a position facing the pusher 63 of the tongue portion 40 of the spacer 42, so that the deformation of the tongue portion 40 can be easily detected as the operation of the button 3B. That is, when the spacer 42 is present between the switch element 50 and the tongue portion 40, the spacer 42 may be deformed to reduce the displacement of the tongue portion 40, or may resist the deformation of the tongue portion 40. An opening 73 is formed at a position facing the pusher 63, and the deformation of the tongue 40 is transmitted to the switch element 50 by contacting the pusher 63 of the tongue 40 with the switch element 50 and the protective member 52 only. easier. Since the above effect can be obtained, it is preferable to provide the spacer 42 with the opening 73 as in the button 3B of the present embodiment, but the spacer 42 may have a shape without the opening. That is, the base portion 70 of the spacer 42 may be arranged between the tongue portion 40 and the switch element 50 .

The spacer 42 has a flange portion 74 in which the edge portion of the opening 73 protrudes further toward the tongue portion 40 than the projecting portion 72 and partially overlaps the tongue portion 40 in the direction in which the switch element 50 is viewed from the tongue portion 40 . , the spacer 42 can cover the entire surface of the groove 60 in the direction in which the switching element 50 is viewed from the tongue 40 . As a result, it is possible to more reliably prevent foreign matter from entering the groove portion 60 . In addition, the spacer 42 is provided with the flange portion 74 , so that the flange portion 74 contacts the tongue portion 40 when the tongue portion 40 is pushed toward the inside of the smartphone 1 by a certain amount. As a result, the pushing amount of the switch element 50 by the pusher 63 of the tongue portion 40 is increased, and excessive deformation of the switch element 50 can be suppressed.

Here, it is preferable that the tongue portion 40 side surface of the flange portion 74 has an inclined surface toward the switch element 50 side as it goes toward the center side of the opening 73 . By providing the inclined surfaces on the flange portion 74 and the tongue portion 40, the stroke of the tongue portion 40 can be secured in a small space.

In addition, by providing the narrow portion 76 in the spacer 42 , the region where the protrusion 62 is arranged in the extending direction of the tongue portion 40 is wider than the other portion in the extending direction of the tongue portion 40 . The width in the direction orthogonal to the can be narrowed. As a result, the distance between the protrusion 62 and the narrow portion 76 can be shortened. Displacement can be suppressed. In addition, by suppressing the positional deviation, it is possible to suppress the tongue portion 40 from running over the protruding portion 72 . Thereby, the switch element 50 and the pusher 63 can be preferably brought into contact with each other.

The disclosed embodiments of the present application can be modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, the embodiments disclosed in the present application and their modifications can be combined as appropriate. For example, the above embodiment may be modified as follows.

In the above embodiments, a smart phone has been described as an example of a device having a button (physical key), but the device according to the appended claims is not limited to a smart phone. The device according to the attached claims may be a mobile electronic device other than a smart phone. Examples of portable electronic devices include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, tablets, portable personal computers, digital cameras, media players, e-readers, navigators, and game consoles.

Specific embodiments have been described for the purpose of fully and clearly disclosing the claimed technology. However, the appended claims should not be limited to the above embodiments, but all variations and alternatives that can be created by those skilled in the art within the scope of the basics shown in this specification. should be configured to embody a

Reference Signs List 1 smart phone 2 touch screen display 2A display 2B touch screen 3 button 4 illuminance sensor 5 proximity sensor 7 receiver 8 microphone 12, 13 camera 20 housing 22 first case 24 adhesive member 28 second case 30 substrate 40 tongue 42 spacer 44 seal 50 Switch element 52 Protective member 60 Groove 61 Tip 62 Projection 63 Presser 64 Base end 73 Opening 70 Base 72 Projection 73 Opening 74 Flange 76 Narrow width

Claims (7)

a first case having a first side;
a second case having a second side surface facing the outside of the first side surface of the first case, a U-shaped groove formed in the second side surface, and a tongue portion connected to the other portion only at one end; ,
a spacer comprising a protrusion along the groove, the protrusion being inserted into the groove;
and a switch element arranged at a position facing the tongue on the first side surface and detecting an operation by deformation of the tongue. 2. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing member disposed between said spacer and said second case and fixing said spacer to said second case. The spacer has an opening at a position facing the tongue,
3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the tongue portion includes a pusher that passes through the opening and faces the switch element. 4. The spacer includes a flange portion, the edge portion of the opening of which protrudes further toward the tongue portion than the projecting portion, and which partially overlaps the tongue portion in a direction in which the switch element is viewed from the tongue portion. The electronic device described in . 5. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the flange portion has a surface on the tongue portion side that slopes toward the switch element toward the center of the opening. The electronic device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the protrusion is arranged at the tip of the tongue. 7. The opening has a width in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the tongue in a region in which the projection is arranged narrower than other portions in the extending direction of the tongue. Electronics as described.

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