JP4520716B2 - Electronics - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic equipment provided with a front panel.

Conventionally, electronic devices such as car audio and car navigation systems have a front panel, and a part of the front panel is made of transparent resin, or an operation switch or the like provided on the front panel is made of transparent resin. There are light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged on the back side of the front panel so as to illuminate patterns and operation switches such as letters and pictures provided on the front panel (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-132955 A

  However, in this type of electronic equipment, especially in-vehicle electronic equipment such as car audio, it is necessary to illuminate the minimum necessary information (operation switches and pictures) so that it can be used at night and in tunnels. Even if a light source (LED or the like) is arranged for each minimum necessary information, a large number of light sources are required.

  For this reason, due to restrictions on the number of light sources and the arrangement space of light sources, a variety of effects such as illuminating a design pattern (logo etc.) provided from a design point of view or switching the illumination pattern is adopted. There were practically difficult problems.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to provide an electronic equipment capable of improving the presentation effect of the illumination with a small number of light sources.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention includes an operation key that has a front panel and has a plurality of operation modes, the function of which varies depending on the selected operation mode, and the front panel is stacked. a plurality of light guide panels, the provided on the light guide panel, light entering the respective functions of the operation keys to the light guide panel to allow viewing the plurality of picture indicated respectively at positions corresponding to the operation key a plurality of reflective picture portion for reflecting the front side of the front panel to the front and a light irradiating means capable of irradiating light in each Kishirubeko panel, the plurality of reflective picture portion, the operation mode for each The light guide panel is provided differently . According to this configuration, if each light guide panel is irradiated with light, light can be guided to a large number of reflective pattern portions provided in each light guide panel, and a large number of patterns can be made visible. By selectively irradiating each light guide panel with light, it becomes possible to change the pattern that becomes visible.

In the above-described configuration, the plurality of reflective pattern portions may be provided at different positions in front view of the front panel when the plurality of light guide panels are stacked, which are different for each operation mode. .
In the present invention, the front panel includes a plurality of laminated light guide panels, and a plurality of patterns provided on the light guide panel, each of which indicates each function of the operation keys at positions corresponding to the operation keys. In order to make it visible, it comprises a plurality of reflective pattern portions that reflect light incident on the light guide panel toward the front side of the front panel, and light irradiating means capable of irradiating light for each light guide panel. ,
The positions of the plurality of reflective picture portions that are different light guide panels and are shifted in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the plurality of operation keys in front view when the plurality of light guide panels are stacked. It is characterized by being provided in.
Further, in the above configuration, it is preferable that the reflection pattern portion is an image of a pattern printed on the back side of each light guide panel, and if the reflection pattern portion is a white print image, the illumination light can be efficiently used. It can reflect and can improve the visibility of a picture.

  In the above configuration, it is preferable that the electronic apparatus has a plurality of operation modes and the irradiation / irradiation stop to each light guide panel is changed according to the operation mode in which the light irradiation unit is selected. In this case, each of the plurality of light guide panels is provided with a reflective pattern portion corresponding to a different operation mode, and the light irradiation means selectively irradiates light to the light guide panel corresponding to the selected operation mode. Is preferred. According to this, it is possible to make only the pattern indicated by the reflective pattern portion corresponding to the selected operation mode visible.

  Further, the light irradiation means preferably changes the light irradiation state for each light guide panel, and in this case, as the light irradiation state for each light guide panel, at least one of light quantity, irradiation timing, irradiation interval, and light color is selected. It is preferable to change. According to this, since the light irradiation state is changed for each light guide panel, various lighting effects can be achieved.

The present invention can improve the presentation effect of the illumination in the number of not less light.

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

(1) 1st Embodiment FIG. 1: is a figure which shows the apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of the pattern display apparatus of this invention, FIG. 2: is a disassembled perspective view of this pattern display apparatus 1. FIG.

  This picture display device 1 is a device for display such as advertisements, and is a device built in an electronic device such as an in-vehicle electronic device such as a car audio or a car navigation, or used alone as a so-called display device.

  The pattern display device 1 includes a plurality of light guide panels 21, 22, and 23 and a plurality of illumination devices (light irradiation means) 31, 32, and 33 that irradiate each of the light guide panels 21 to 23. . In the present embodiment, a case where three light guide panels are provided will be described. However, a plurality of light guide panels may be used, and the design can be changed as appropriate.

  Each illuminating device 31-33 makes it possible to irradiate each light guide panel 21-23, and is arrange | positioned at the one side surface 10 side of each light guide panel 21-23, and several along this one side surface. A light source 4 (see FIGS. 3 and 4 to be described later) composed of arranged light emitting diodes (LEDs) or fluorescent tubes, a drive circuit (not shown) of the light source 4, and a case 5 (see FIG. 3) for housing them. And. The lighting devices 31 to 33 are controlled to emit light under the control of a lighting control device (not shown). In addition, this illumination control apparatus may be incorporated in the pattern display apparatus 1 or may be an apparatus provided outside. Although not shown, the picture display device 1 has a built-in power supply device for supplying power to the lighting devices 31 to 33. Hereinafter, since each illuminating device 31-33 and the light guide panels 21-23 have the same structure, the illuminating device 31 and the light guide panel 21 are demonstrated.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic view when one light guide panel 21 to which the illumination device 31 is attached is viewed from the upper side.

  The light guide panel 21 is a panel that guides the light L emitted from the illumination device 31 to the reflection pattern unit 15 described later. Specifically, the light guide panel 21 is formed of a transparent material such as acrylic, polycarbonate or ABS, or a transparent material such as glass, and due to the difference in refractive index between these materials and air, as shown in FIG. The light L incident from the illumination device 31 is substantially totally reflected by the front surface 2A and the back surface 2B, and propagates through the panel 21.

  On the back surface 2 </ b> B of the light guide panel 2, there is provided a reflective pattern portion 15 that reflects the light L emitted from the lighting device 31 and propagating through the panel 2 toward the front surface 2 </ b> A side of the panel 21. More specifically, these reflective picture portions 15 are printed images containing a material having a relatively high reflectance such as white ink, and as shown in FIG. The irradiated light L is reflected toward the surface 2A side, that is, toward the front side of the pattern display device 1.

  In the pattern display device 1, the light guide panels 21 to 23 are formed in the same shape, and have a configuration in which the light guide panels 21 to 23 are arranged with a predetermined interval. Moreover, the reflective pattern part 15 printed on each light guide panel 21-23 applies the pattern which consists of a character, a figure, a symbol, or these. In the present embodiment, the light guide panel 21 has characters “A” and “T”, the light guide panel 22 has characters “D” and “S”, and the light guide panel 23 has “D”, As shown in FIG. 1, when the light guide panels 21 to 23 are stacked and arranged, the advertising pattern indicating “ADDEST” is completed. ing.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram when the pattern display device 1 is viewed from the upper side.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the light L emitted from each of the lighting devices 31 to 33 enters the light guide panels 21 to 23, and is reflected toward the front side of the picture display device 1 by the reflective picture unit 15. The Thereby, since the illumination light of each reflective pattern part 15 is reflected by the reflective pattern part 15, and is irradiated to a front side, it can be made to be able to visually recognize the design for advertisement also in a dark place. By the way, when a fluorescent lamp is used as the light source 4 of the illumination devices 31 to 33, the fluorescent lamp generally irradiates white light. For this reason, if the reflective pattern 15 is made into a white printed image, the illumination light from the light source 4 can be reflected efficiently, and the visibility of the pattern can be improved.

  Moreover, since the light from the illuminating devices 31 to 33 propagates through the entire light guide panels 21 to 23, the light from one light source is guided to a large number of reflective pattern portions 15 provided in the respective light guide panels 21 to 23. It is possible to make a large number of images visible.

  In addition, as described above, the pattern display device 1 is configured such that the illumination devices 31 to 33 can irradiate the illumination light to each of the light guide panels 21 to 23, and thus any one of the light guide panels 21 to 21 irradiated with the illumination light. It is possible to reflect light only to the 23 reflective pattern portions 15. For this reason, for example, by controlling the illumination so that the light guide panels 21 to 23 for illuminating illumination light are sequentially changed, only a part of the advertisement design is illuminated or illuminated. Various lighting effects such as changing the pattern sequentially can be produced. Moreover, the illumination effect of illuminating each design of the design for advertisement with a different color can also be produced by making the illumination light of the illuminating devices 31-33 into a different color.

  As described above, the pattern display device 1 of the present embodiment includes the plurality of light guide panels 21 to 23 and the illumination devices 31 to 33 for irradiating the light for each of the light guide panels 21 to 23. By providing each of the light guide panels 21 to 23 with a reflective pattern portion 15, a large number of pattern illuminations, switching of illuminated patterns, and a large number of light sources can be achieved as compared with a conventional pattern display device of this type. Various effects such as illuminating a pattern with colors can be realized, and the effect of lighting can be improved.

  In addition, since the light guide panels 21 to 23 have a substantially transparent color, the picture display device 1 can visually recognize the display device on the back side even if a display device such as an LCD or CRT is arranged on the back side. it can. For this reason, if this picture display device 1 is combined with other display devices, various display effects can be realized.

(2) Second Embodiment FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an in-vehicle acoustic device that is an embodiment of the electronic apparatus of the present invention.

  This in-vehicle acoustic device 50 includes a device main body 60 incorporating various electrical components for realizing a radio reception function, a CD reproduction function, and a cassette tape reproduction function, and a front unit 70 provided on the front side of the device main body 60. It is roughly composed. In FIG. 1, for convenience of explanation, an insertion slot for a CD or a cassette tape and some operation keys are omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 5, an operation unit 62 including a plurality of operation keys 61 used for radio reception, CD playback, and cassette tape playback is provided on the front surface of the device body 60. A front unit 70 is fixed in the vicinity of 62.

  The front unit 70 functions as a display panel that displays information of each operation key 61 of the operation unit 62, and has substantially the same configuration as the picture display device 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the front unit 70.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the front unit 70 includes a plurality of light guide panels 721 to 723 and a plurality of illumination devices (light irradiation means) 731 that irradiates the light guide panels 721 to 723 with light. ~ 733. These light guide panels 721 to 723 are substantially the same as the light guide panels 21 to 23 of the first embodiment except that the reflection pattern portions are different, and the illumination devices 731 to 733 are illumination devices of the first embodiment. It is substantially the same as 31-33. For this reason, hereinafter, overlapping explanation is omitted, and different points will be described.

  FIG. 7A shows the light guide panel 721 of the front unit 70 and the lighting device 731 fixed to the panel. FIG. 7B shows a light guide panel 722 and a lighting device 732 fixed to the panel. Further, FIG. 7C shows a light guide panel 723 and a lighting device 733 fixed to the panel.

  The in-vehicle acoustic device 50 has, as operation modes, an operation mode for performing radio reception (hereinafter referred to as radio mode), an operation mode for performing CD reproduction (hereinafter referred to as CD mode), and an operation mode (for performing cassette tape reproduction). Hereinafter, each of the light guide panels 721 to 723 is provided with reflection pattern portions 751 to 753 indicating patterns corresponding to different operation modes.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7A, the light guide panel 721 disposed on the foremost side of the front unit 70 is printed with a reflection pattern portion 751 indicating the function of each operation key 61 in the radio mode. Is done. In the present embodiment, in the radio mode, an operation for calling a radio broadcast channel registered by associating each operation key 61 with a predetermined number (so-called preset channel number) by a control means (not shown) in the device main body 60. The figure shows a case where the number of the preset channel number is applied as the reflective pattern portion 751 which functions as a key.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, the light guide panel 722 disposed on the back side of the light guide panel 721 of the front unit 70 has a reflection pattern portion 752 indicating the function of each operation key 61 in the CD mode. Is printed. In the present embodiment, in the CD mode, each operation key 61 functions as an operation key for instructing scanning (“SCN”), repeat reproduction (“RPT”), and random reproduction (“RDM”), and a reflection pattern portion. 752 shows a case where the characters “SCN”, “RPT”, and “RDM” are applied.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7C, a reflective pattern portion 753 indicating the function of each operation key 61 in the cassette mode is printed on the light guide panel 723 disposed on the rear side of the front unit 70. . In the present embodiment, in the cassette mode, each operation key 61 functions as an operation key for instructing rewind, playback / pause, and fast-forward, and as the reflection pattern portion 753, rewind, playback / pause, and fast-forward. The case where the figure corresponding to each is applied is shown. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the reflective pattern portions 751 to 753 are printed on the back side of the light guide panels 721 to 723 so that they are arranged at different positions when the light guide panels 721 to 723 are stacked. ing.

  In this in-vehicle acoustic device 50, a light emission control device (not shown) in the device main body 60 performs control to change the light irradiation state of the lighting devices 731 to 733 according to the operation mode. More specifically, when the light emission control device shifts to the radio mode by operating an operation key (not shown) or the like, the illumination control device illuminates the light guide panel 721 on which the reflection pattern portion 751 corresponding to the radio mode is printed. The device 731 is driven. If another lighting device 732 or 733 is driven in the CD mode or the cassette mode before the transition to the radio mode, the driving is stopped. Thereby, illumination light is reflected toward the front side by the reflective pattern part 751 of the light guide panel 721, and only the reflective pattern part 751 becomes visible from the outside.

  Similarly, when the light emission control device shifts to the CD mode by operating an operation key (not shown) or loading a CD, only the illumination device 732 is driven, and the reflective pattern portion 752 corresponding to the CD mode is printed. The light guide panel 722 is irradiated with illumination light so that only the reflective pattern portion 752 is visible from the outside. When the operation mode is changed to the cassette mode by operating an operation key (not shown) or a cassette tape is loaded, only the lighting device 733 is driven, and the light guide panel 723 on which the reflective pattern portion 753 corresponding to the cassette mode is printed is displayed. Illumination light is irradiated so that only the reflective pattern portion 753 is visible from the outside.

  As described above, the in-vehicle acoustic device 50 changes the light irradiation / light irradiation stop to each of the light guide panels 721 to 723 according to the selected operation mode, thereby changing the front unit according to the selected operation mode. The pattern displayed on 70 can be switched to a pattern corresponding to the operation mode.

  As described above, the in-vehicle acoustic device 50 according to the present embodiment includes the number of light guide panels 721 to 723 corresponding to the number of operation modes, and the illumination devices 731 that irradiate light to each of the light guide panels 721 to 723. 733, and by providing each of the light guide panels 721 with reflection pattern portions 751 to 753 showing patterns corresponding to each operation mode, the number of light sources is smaller than that of a conventional on-vehicle acoustic device of this type, A number of patterns to be illuminated can be changed according to the selected operation mode.

  Further, conventionally, for example, a liquid crystal display panel is used as a configuration for changing the display pattern in accordance with such an operation mode, and the in-vehicle acoustic device 50 according to the present embodiment is compared with a configuration in which this configuration is adopted. Since the configuration is much simpler and no expensive parts are required, a significant cost reduction can be achieved.

  Each embodiment mentioned above shows one mode of the present invention, does not limit the present invention, and can be changed arbitrarily within the scope of the present invention. For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where a printed image of a material having a high reflectance is applied as the reflective pattern portions 15 and 751 to 753 is described. However, a concave or convex uneven portion is provided on the back side of the light guide panel. By applying this, the uneven portion may reflect the light incident on the light guide panel to the surface side of the light guide panel and irradiate the illumination light indicating a predetermined pattern toward the front side.

  Moreover, in each embodiment mentioned above, you may change a light irradiation state for every light guide panels 21-23 and every 721-723. Specifically, by changing the amount of light for each light guide panel and adding light and dark, or by changing the irradiation timing, irradiation interval, light color, etc. for each light guide panel, the illuminated pattern can be changed. Various lighting effects such as sequential switching can be added.

  In the second embodiment described above, the case where the present invention is applied to an in-vehicle acoustic device having a radio reception function, a CD reproduction function, and the like has been described. However, an in-vehicle acoustic device and a car navigation device having other functions are described. The present invention may be applied to electronic devices other than in-vehicle.

It is a figure which shows the apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of the pattern display apparatus of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of a pattern display apparatus. It is a schematic diagram when the one light guide panel with which the illuminating device was attached was seen from the upper surface side. It is a schematic diagram when the pattern display device is viewed from the upper side. It is a figure which shows the vehicle-mounted audio apparatus which is one Embodiment of the electronic device of this invention. It is a front view of the front unit of an in-vehicle acoustic device. It is a figure which shows each light guide panel of a front unit, and each illuminating device fixed to this panel.

Explanation of symbols

1 picture display device,
4 Light source,
15, 751-753 Reflection pattern part,
21-23, 721-723 light guide panel,
31-33, 731-733 lighting device,
50 On-board acoustic device,
60 equipment body,
61 Operation keys,
62 operation unit,
70 Front unit,
L light

Claims (9)

In an electronic device having a front panel and having a plurality of operation modes ,
It has operation keys whose functions change according to the selected operation mode,
The front panel includes a plurality of light guide panels which are stacked, is provided on the light guide panel, to enable viewing the plurality of picture indicated respectively at a position corresponding to each function of the operation key in the operation keys a plurality of reflective picture portion for reflecting the light incident on the light guide panel on the front side of the front panel, the front and a light irradiating means capable of irradiating light in each Kishirubeko panel,
The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of reflective picture portions are provided in the light guide panel which is different for each operation mode .   The plurality of reflective picture portions are different from each other in each of the operation modes, and are arranged in different positions in front view of the front panel when the plurality of light guide panels are stacked. Item 2. The electronic device according to Item 1. In an electronic device having a front panel and having a plurality of operation modes,
  A plurality of operation keys whose functions change according to the selected operation mode are arranged along one side of the front panel,
  The front panel is provided in the light guide panel and a plurality of stacked light guide panels, so that a plurality of pictures indicating each function of the operation keys at positions corresponding to the operation keys can be visually recognized. A plurality of reflective pattern portions for reflecting light incident on the light guide panel toward the front side of the front panel; and a light irradiation means capable of irradiating light for each light guide panel,
  The positions of the plurality of reflective picture portions that are different light guide panels and are shifted in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the plurality of operation keys in front view when the plurality of light guide panels are stacked. An electronic device characterized by being provided in The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflection pattern portion is an image of a pattern printed on the back side of the light guide panel. The electronic apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the reflective pattern portion is a white printed image. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light irradiation unit changes light irradiation / light irradiation stop to each of the light guide panels according to the selected operation mode. The electronic apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the light irradiation unit selectively irradiates light to the light guide panel corresponding to the selected operation mode. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the light irradiation unit changes a light irradiation state for each of the light guide panels. The electronic apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the light irradiation unit changes at least one of a light amount, an irradiation timing, an irradiation interval, and a light color as a light irradiation state for each light guide panel.

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