JP4423156B2 - Cover member and electronic device using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cover member that closes an opening of an external connection terminal provided in a casing of an electronic device, a mobile phone using the cover member, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a digital camera, a digital video camera, a personal computer, and the like This relates to electronic devices.

  Conventionally, electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), digital cameras, digital video cameras, personal computers, etc. have external connection terminals such as a memory card connector receiving part, an interface connector receiving part, and an earphone jack. I have.

  This external connection terminal is exposed from an opening formed in the casing constituting the electronic device, and prevents dust or moisture from entering or damage due to impact when the external connection terminal is not used. Therefore, a cover member that closes the opening is provided in the housing.

  For example, FIG. 7 shows an example of a cover member used for a mobile phone.

  The cover member 50 includes a cover main body 51 and a tongue piece 52 extending from a central edge in the width direction of the cover main body 51. The cover main body 51 and the tongue piece 52 are deformable elastic materials such as polypropylene. The tongue piece portion 52 was formed in an arrow shape with a chipped tip at the tip while being integrally formed of resin.

  On the other hand, the opening of the housing 60 forming the mobile phone has a first opening 61a into which the cover body 51 is fitted and a second opening 61b through which the tongue piece 52 is inserted. The width of the opening 61b was formed substantially equal to the width of the root portion of the tongue piece 52.

And in order to attach the cover member 50 to the housing | casing 60, the tongue piece part 52 of the cover member 50 is inserted in the 2nd opening part 61b. At this time, since the tongue piece 52 is made of an elastic resin, when the tongue piece tip is deformed and inserted into the second opening 61b, the tongue piece tip returns to the original arrow shape by its restoring force, and the cover Even if the member 50 is to be pulled out of the housing 60, the tip of the tongue piece hits the housing wall and is regulated. Therefore, when the cover member 50 is pulled out, it is not easily removed. If the cover member 50 is pushed in, the second opening 61b can be closed with the tongue piece 52 and the first opening 61a can be closed with the cover main body 51. (Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-125046 A

  However, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the cover member 50 formed of an elastic resin such as polypropylene easily deteriorates with time when exposed to the outside air for a long time, and the elastic characteristics are impaired by the hardening of the resin, resulting in cracks. In addition, when opening and closing is repeated, there is a problem that the crack progresses from the crack and breaks. In addition, the outer dimensions of the cover member 50 change as the resin hardens. As a result, there is a problem that a gap is formed between the openings 61a and 61b, and the dust resistance and waterproofness are lowered.

  Further, in recent years, the design of mobile phones has been regarded as important. However, since the cover member 50 is made of a material different from that of the casing 60, the appearance and the same texture and color as the casing 60 cannot be obtained in terms of appearance. There was also.

Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention is a cover member that closes an opening of a housing of an electronic device, and includes a main body, a tongue piece extending from the main body, and an engaging claw protruding from the main body. An inner cover part and an outer cover part joined to the main body opposite to the extending direction of the tongue piece part, and the inner cover part is a cover member having a smaller elastic modulus than the outer cover part. In addition, the main body of the inner cover portion has a through hole, and the joint surface side of the outer cover portion has a boss inserted into the through hole, and the boss is inserted into the through hole. The outer cover portion and the inner cover portion are joined by providing a coupling portion formed by deforming the tip of the boss .

  In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the electronic device is configured so as to open and close the opening of the housing of the electronic device using the cover member.

  The outer cover portion has a thickness width substantially equal to that of the wall portion that forms the opening of the housing, and by engaging engagement claws provided on opposite edges of the main body with the housing. It is preferable that a cover member that closes the opening is fixed to the housing.

  In addition, the tongue piece portion of the inner cover portion is provided with a long hole extending in the extending direction, and a convex portion inserted into the long hole is provided in the casing inside the opening portion, and the tongue piece portion is It is preferable that the projection is slidable.

  Further, it is preferable that a connector is disposed in the housing, and the connector and the convex portion are brought into contact with each other.

  According to the present invention, since the cover member has the inner cover portion that engages with the housing and the outer cover portion that covers the inner cover portion, the inner cover portion is always prevented from being exposed to the outside air. Since progress of deterioration can be suppressed, dustproofness and waterproofness in the housing can be maintained for a long period of time.

  In addition, by forming the outer cover with the same color and the same material as the housing, it is possible to produce the same texture and color as the housing in terms of appearance, so that it can respond to various design requirements. Can do.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail by taking a mobile phone as an example.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which two casings constituting a mobile phone which is an example of the mobile terminal device of the present invention are opened, and FIG. 2 shows a mobile phone which is an example of the mobile terminal device of the present invention FIG. 3A is a perspective view showing an outer cover portion constituting the cover member, and FIG. 3B is a perspective view showing the inner cover portion constituting the cover member. 4 (a) to 4 (c) are perspective views showing the cover member, and FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d) are partial enlargements for explaining the attachment procedure of the cover member to the second housing. FIGS. 6A to 6C are partially enlarged perspective views for explaining a method for opening and closing the cover member.

  The mobile phone 31 includes a first casing 33 and a second casing 34 that can be overlapped in the thickness direction of the first casing 33. The second casing 34 is connected so as to be openable and closable by rotating about the rotation axis L.

  In the first casing 33, the two casings 33, 34 are overlapped with each other and closed, and the speaker is placed on the facing surface 33 a of the first casing 33 facing the second casing 34. A main display portion 35 including a sound emission hole 32 and a display panel using a liquid crystal or organic EL for displaying various information is disposed, and a protruding portion 36 protruding from the facing surface 33a is formed. The projecting portion 36 is disposed at one end 33 c of the first housing 33 that is located at a connection portion with the second housing 34. In addition, a sub-display unit 37 including a display panel using liquid crystal or organic EL for displaying various information is disposed on the back surface 33b of the first housing 33 located on the opposite side of the facing surface 33a. The sub display unit 37 is exposed to the outside regardless of whether the two casings 33 and 34 are opened or closed.

  The second housing 34 has an operation portion 38 and a microphone sound collection port 39, and has a substantially U-shaped notch 40 in a plan view that accommodates the protruding portion 36 formed in the first housing 33. Have. The operation unit 38 is disposed on the facing surface 34a of the second casing 34 facing the first casing 33 in a state where the two casings 33 and 34 are overlapped and closed. , And a plurality of operation keys that can be pressed variously, such as an end key, a cursor key, and a numeric keypad. In addition, the notch 40 is formed at one end 34 c of the second housing 34 that is located at a connection portion with the first housing 33.

  Then, in a state where the protrusion 36 formed on the first housing 33 is fitted into the notch 40 formed on the second housing 34, the protrusion 36 and the second housing of the first housing 33 are inserted. A shaft body and a hinge unit (not shown) are respectively inserted between the pair of convex wall portions forming the cutout portion 40 of the body 34. That is, the shaft body is inserted from one side surface of the projecting portion 36 to the inner surface of one convex wall portion, and the hinge unit is inserted from the other side surface of the projecting portion 36 to the inner surface of the other convex wall portion. The hinge unit is arranged on the rotation axis L. Therefore, the two housings 33 and 34 can be rotated relative to each other about the rotation axis L.

  In addition, the side surface of the second housing 34 has an opening 41, and an interface connector receiving portion or a memory card mounting connector receiving portion disposed in the first housing 34 from the opening 41. The external connection terminal 42 is exposed, and the second casing 34 includes the cover member 1 that closes the opening 41.

  The second housing 34 includes a front case 45 including a facing surface 34 a and a rear case 47 including a back surface opposite to the facing surface 34 a, and an opening 41 is formed on one side surface of the rear case 47. The housing 34 is configured by fitting the front case 45 and the rear case 47 together, and the opening 41 is formed by closing the notch 47a by the front case 45. It is like that. The front case 45 and the rear case 47 are made of hard resin such as ABS resin (acrylonitrile / butadiene / styrene resin) or PC resin (polycarbonate resin).

  Further, on the inner side of the notch 47a of the rear case 47, a substantially T-shaped convex portion 48 protruding in the thickness direction of the housing 34 and a pair of concave portions 49 formed on the bottom bottom surface of the convex portion 48 are provided. Have.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cover member 1 for closing the opening 41 includes an outer cover portion 2 made of a hard resin such as ABS resin (acrylonitrile / butadiene / styrene resin) or PC resin (polycarbonate resin). The outer cover portion 2 has an inner cover portion 4 made of an elastic resin such as a polyethylene-based elastomer resin that has an elastic modulus smaller than that of the material forming the outer cover portion 2 and can be elastically deformed. The outer cover portion 2 has a thickness width equivalent to that of the wall portion of the rear case 47, and four bosses 3 project from the inner surface of the outer cover portion 2.

  The inner cover portion 4 includes a main body 5, a tongue piece portion 6 extending from the center of the edge of the main body 5, engagement claws 8 and 9 projecting from opposite edges of the main body 5, and a mouth of the external connection terminal 42. The main body 5, the tongue piece 6, the engaging claws 8 and 9, and the rib 10 are integrally formed.

  A long hole 7 extending in the extending direction is formed at the center of the tongue piece, and a recess 7a for forming a partially wide portion is formed at the center of the long hole 7. The width W of the long hole 7 has a width substantially equal to the width V of the root 48b of the substantially T-shaped protrusion 48 formed in the rear case 47, and the width between the recesses 7a formed in the center of the long hole. X has a width substantially equal to the width Y of the substantially T-shaped convex tip 48 a formed in the rear case 47. Reference numeral 11 denotes four through holes 11 formed in the main body 5.

  A pair of engaging claws 9 are formed on the tongue piece portion 6 of the main body 5, and a pair of engaging claws 8 are formed on both ends of the edge portion of the main body 5 opposite to the tongue piece portion 6. .

  In order to form the cover member 1, the outer cover portion 2 and the inner cover portion 4 are joined, and the boss 3 of the outer cover portion 2 is extended in the extending direction of the tongue piece portion 5 of the inner cover portion 4. The outer cover portion 2 and the inner cover are formed by inserting the through hole 11 from the opposite side and then deforming the boss 3 by applying pressure while applying heat to the tip of the boss 3 to form an outwardly extending engagement portion 3a. The part 4 is formed integrally.

  Specifically, when the outer cover portion 2 is made of ABS resin or PC resin, applying pressure while applying heat to the boss tip in a range of 180 to 280 degrees causes the tip of the boss 3 to melt and deform. The engagement portion 3a can be formed at the tip of the boss by cooling after being deformed within a certain range, whereby the outer cover portion 2 and the inner cover portion 4 can be integrated to form the cover member 1. it can.

  Next, a procedure for attaching the cover member 1 to the second housing 34 will be described.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the convex portion 48 of the rear case 47 is inserted into the wide portion (between the recesses 7a) formed in the tongue piece portion 6 of the cover member 1 so that the convex portion tip 48a is attached to the tongue. Project from the piece 6. And as shown in FIG.5 (c), when the tongue piece part 5 is moved, the movement of the tongue part part 5 to the front-end | tip direction of the convex part 48 is controlled by the convex part front end 7a wider than the long hole 7, It can be slid along the long hole 7.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5 (d), the external connection terminal 42 is arranged so that its mouth faces the notch direction of the rear case 47, and is fixed to the rear case 47 by contacting the tip of the convex portion. This prevents the tongue piece portion 6 of the cover member 1 from coming off from the convex portion 48.

  Thereafter, a circuit board (not shown) and operation keys for forming the operation unit 38 are arranged in the rear case 47, and then the front case 45 is fitted to form the second casing 34.

  Next, a method for opening and closing the cover member 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in order to close the opening 41 of the second housing 34 by the cover member 1, the outer cover 2 of the cover member 1 is pushed into the opening 41 of the housing 34 as shown in FIG. Further, the engaging claw 9 on the tongue piece side of the inner cover part 4 engages with the recess 49 formed in the rear case 47 and on the opposite side of the tongue piece part 6 of the inner cover part 4. The claw 8 engages with the inner surface of the wall portion of the front case 45 and is fixed to the housing 34, and the outer surface of the outer cover portion 2 is arranged to form the same surface as the side surface of the second housing 34. And since the outer cover part 2 is formed in substantially the same shape as the opening part 41, the opening part 41 can be blocked and dust and moisture can be prevented from entering the housing 34.

  Moreover, since the outer cover part 2 which comprises a part of external appearance surface of the 2nd housing | casing 34 consists of hard resin, compared with the thing which the whole cover member was formed with the elastic resin like the past, aged deterioration is carried out. As a result, even when exposed to the outside air, the predetermined outer dimensions can be maintained over a long period of time, so that the dustproofness and waterproofness can be maintained over a long period of time.

  Further, the inner cover portion 4 made of elastic resin is located inside the outer cover portion 2 and the inner cover portion 4 is not exposed outward when the cover member 1 is closed. Characteristics can be maintained.

  Furthermore, if the outer cover part 2 is formed of the same color and the same material as the second casing 34, it is possible to make the hue and texture uniform, and it is possible to obtain a design with a sense of unity.

  Next, in order to expose the opening 41 of the second housing 34 closed by the cover member 1, when a predetermined force is applied to the outer cover 2 in the pulling direction, FIG. As shown in b), the engaging claws 8 and 9 that engage with the wall portion of the front case 45 and the concave portion 49 of the rear case 47 are made of an elastic body, and are deformed, so that the wall portion of the front case 45 and the rear case The engagement can be released beyond the concave portion 49 of the 47 and the cover member 1 can be pulled out along the long hole 7. And if the outer cover part 2 is lifted after the cover member 1 is pulled out to a position where the end of the long hole 7 comes into contact with the convex part 48, the tongue piece part 6 is made of an elastic body, so that it can be easily lifted. In addition, since the external connection terminal 42 can be exposed from the opening 41, the connection member can be easily inserted into and removed from the external connection terminal 42.

  The method of fixing the outer cover portion 2 and the inner cover portion 4 constituting the cover member 1 is not limited to the method shown in the present embodiment, but is fixed by a method such as adhesion or screwing. However, if the boss 3 of the outer cover part 3 is inserted into the inner cover part 4 and the engaging part 3a is formed and fixed at the tip thereof as in the present embodiment, there is a risk of peeling. It is preferable because it can be securely fixed.

  In the present embodiment, a folding type mobile phone has been described as an example. However, the structure of the mobile phone is not particularly limited, and other types of mobile phones include a horizontal rotation type, a slide type, and a straight type mobile phone including a single casing. May be. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to mobile phones but also to other electronic devices such as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), digital cameras, digital video cameras, and personal computers.

  Although the present embodiment has been described in detail above, it is needless to say that the specific configuration is not limited to the present embodiment, and the design is modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

It is a perspective view which shows the state which opened two housing | casings which comprise the mobile telephone which is an example of the portable terminal device of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which closed two housings which comprise the mobile telephone which is an example of the portable terminal device of this invention. (A) is a perspective view which shows the outer side cover part which comprises a cover member, (b) is a perspective view which shows the inner side cover part which comprises a cover member. (A)-(c) is a perspective view which shows a cover member. (A)-(d) is a partial expansion perspective view explaining the attachment procedure to the 2nd housing | casing of a cover member. (A)-(c) is a partial expansion perspective view explaining the opening / closing method of a cover member. It is a partial expansion perspective view explaining the relationship between the conventional cover member and a housing | casing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cover member 2 Outer cover part 3 Boss 3a Engagement part 4 Inner cover part 5 Main body 6 Tongue piece part 7 Long hole 7a Depression 8,9 Engagement claw 10 Rib 11 Through-hole 32 Speaker sound emission hole 33 1st housing | casing 33a Opposing surface 33b Back surface 34 Second housing 34a Opposing surface 35 Main display portion 36 Protruding portion 37 Sub display portion 38 Operation portion 39 Microphone sound collection hole 40 Notch portion 41 Opening portion 45 Front case 47 Rear case 48 Convex portion 49 Concavity

Claims (6)

A cover member that closes an opening of a housing of an electronic device, and includes a main body, a tongue piece extending from the main body, an engagement claw protruding from the main body, and the tongue of the main body An outer cover part joined to the opposite side of the extending direction of the one part, the inner cover part is a cover member having a smaller elastic modulus than the outer cover part ,
The main body of the inner cover portion has a through hole, and the joint surface side of the outer cover portion has a boss inserted into the through hole, and the boss is inserted into the through hole. A cover member, wherein an outer cover portion and an inner cover portion are joined by providing a coupling portion formed by deforming the tip of the cover . The cover member according to claim 1, wherein the engaging claws are arranged on opposite edges when the main body is viewed from the front. An electronic apparatus comprising the cover member according to any one of claims 1 to 2 , wherein an opening of a casing of the electronic apparatus can be opened and closed. By making the thickness width of the outer cover portion substantially the same as the wall portion forming the opening of the housing, and engaging the engaging claws provided on the opposite edge portions of the main body with the housing The electronic apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein a cover member that closes the opening is fixed to the housing. The tongue piece portion of the inner cover portion has a long hole extending in the extending direction, and has a convex portion inserted into the long hole in the housing inside the opening, and the tongue piece portion is The electronic apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the electronic apparatus is configured to be slidable with respect to the convex portion. 6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein a connector is provided in the housing, and the connector and the convex portion are in contact with each other.

Images