JP5094945B2 - Portable electronic devices - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable electronic device configured by connecting a pair of housings to each other.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a portable electronic device in which a pair of casings are connected to each other, a portable type capable of providing a user with a large amount of information by providing image display surfaces on both casings. An electronic device is known (see Patent Document 1).

  In such a portable electronic device, for example, a pair of housings overlap each other, and an image display surface (first image display surface) of a lower housing (first housing) is an upper housing (second housing). Both the housing and the fully closed state where only the image display surface (second image display surface) of the second housing is exposed, and the second housing moves relative to the first housing. The two housings move relative to each other between the fully open state in which the image display surface is exposed and the second image display surface is aligned with the first image display surface.

  In the fully open state, the image display surfaces of both housings are aligned on the same plane, so that it is possible to display an image on a large screen using the two image display surfaces as one screen.

JP 2009-71588 A

  However, in a conventional portable electronic device that can be set to a fully opened state, there are differences in shape and weight such as thickness and weight between the first housing and the second housing. In this state, since the second housing is in a posture of being greatly opened rearward, there is a problem that it cannot be placed on the desk in a well-balanced manner depending on the position of the grounding point when installed on the desk.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable electronic device in which a first housing and a second housing are connected to each other via a connecting mechanism, in a fully open state in which the surfaces of both housings are aligned on the same plane, with good balance. It is to provide a portable electronic device that can be placed on a desk.

  In the portable electronic device according to the present invention, the first casing and the second casing are connected to each other via a connecting mechanism, and an image display surface is provided on the surface of the casing. The fully closed state in which the surface is covered by the back surface of the second housing and the surface of the second housing is exposed, and the surfaces of both housings are exposed on the same plane by moving the second housing from the fully closed state. It is possible to selectively set at least two states of the fully opened state.

  The connection mechanism includes a connection arm having a base end portion connected to the first housing by a first pivot and a distal end portion connected to the second housing by a second pivot parallel to the first pivot; The connecting arm has an L shape that is bent in an L shape on a plane orthogonal to the first pivot and the second pivot, and is rotated between a rotation angle in a fully closed state and a rotation angle in a fully open state. When both housings are placed on a horizontal plane in the fully opened state, the connecting arm serves as one ground, and the end of the first housing serves as the other ground, and the two grounds serve as a ground plane. Supported by

  According to the portable electronic device of the present invention, when both housings are placed on the desk in the fully opened state, the end portions of the connecting arm and the first housing serve as the grounding points, respectively, and the grounding points of the connecting arms are less than the grounding points. Since the center of gravity exists on the first housing side, the posture in which the end of the connecting arm and the end of the first housing are respectively grounded is stably maintained.

  The portable electronic device according to the present invention can be placed on a desk in a well-balanced state in a fully open state in which the surface of the first housing and the surface of the second housing are aligned on the same plane.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a fully closed state of a portable electronic device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the portable electronic device upside down in a fully closed state. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a tilted state of the portable electronic device. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tilt state of the portable electronic device as seen from the back side. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a fully open state of the portable electronic device. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the portable electronic device upside down in a fully open state. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a fully open state of the portable electronic device. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the portable electronic device upside down with the slide fully open. FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the portable electronic device. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the portable electronic device in an inverted state. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a portable electronic device further partially disassembled from the state of FIG. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a portable electronic device in which a part is further disassembled from the state of FIG. FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the front cabinet constituting the first casing and the front cabinet constituting the second casing. FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the front cabinet constituting the first casing and the front cabinet constituting the second casing upside down. FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a magnet on the second housing. FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a slide member on the second housing. FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of the portable electronic device. 18 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. FIG. 20 is an enlarged sectional view showing a part of the second housing. FIG. 21 is a perspective view of a portable electronic device partially disassembled from the state of FIG. FIG. 22 is a perspective view of a portable electronic device partially disassembled from the state of FIG. FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view showing the transition of the portable electronic device from the fully open state (a) to the fully open state (b). FIG. 24 is another cross-sectional view showing the transition of the portable electronic device from the fully open state (a) to the fully open state (b). FIG. 25 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a main part of FIG. FIG. 26 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the contact portions of both housings in the fully open state of the slide. FIG. 27 is a series of side views showing the first half of the process of the portable electronic device according to the present invention from the fully closed state to the fully open slide state through the tilt state. FIG. 28 is a series of side views showing the second half of the same process. FIG. 29 is a side view showing a state in which the portable electronic device according to the present invention is placed on the desk in the tilted state (a) and the slide fully opened state (b).

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, the portable electronic device according to the present invention has a first housing (1) having a first image display surface (11) on the surface and a second image display surface (21) on the surface. Are connected to each other via a connecting mechanism (3).
In addition, when specifying each site | part of the component of a portable electronic device by the following description, when the portable electronic device shown by FIG. 1 is seen along the user's eyes | visual_axis shown by the arrow S in a figure. “Front (front side)”, “rear”, “left”, and “right” are also referred to as “front”, “rear”, “left”, and “right” in other drawings regardless of the posture of the portable electronic device.

As shown in FIG. 1, on the surface of the second housing (2), the cursor key (24) for moving the cursor, the END key (25a) for on-hook operation, and the off-hook on the right side and rear end thereof TALK key (25b) for operation, home key (25c) for displaying the home screen, menu key (25d) for displaying the menu screen, and BACK key (25e) for returning the operation by one step Is deployed. Here, the END key (25a) and the TALK key (25b) are mechanical switches and are accommodated in recesses formed in the front cabinet. On the other hand, the home key (25c), menu key (25d), and BACK key (25e) are software-like keys that operate the touch panel below the through hole provided in the front cabinet. It is.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a photographing lens (9) is provided on the back surface of the first casing (1).

  As shown in FIG. 3, on the front surface of the first housing (1), a home key (16a), a menu key (16b), a BACK key (16c), and the first housing and the second A view key (16d) to be operated when switching the display on the housing is provided. These operation keys are software-like keys, and operate the touch panel below the through holes provided in the front cabinet.

As shown in FIG. 17, a first touch panel (13) and a first display (12) are arranged inside the first housing (1) so as to face the first image display surface (11), and a photographing lens ( A camera (91) is provided facing 9). Further, as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, a battery (15) is accommodated in the first housing (1), and the battery (15) can be replaced by removing the battery lid (14). It has become.
On the other hand, a second touch panel (23) and a second display (22) are arranged inside the second housing (2) so as to face the second image display surface (21) as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, at the rear end of the front cabinet (1a) constituting the first housing (1), a stainless steel metal plate (101) that is a part of the front cabinet (1a). A stainless steel metal plate (201) that is a part of the front cabinet (2a) is screwed to the front end of the front cabinet (2a) constituting the second housing (2). ing. The metal plates (101) (201) may be fixed by a fitting structure.
As shown in FIG. 26, the end portions of the metal plates (101) and (201) and the end portions of the touch panels (13) and (23) are bonded and fixed to each other by double-sided adhesive tapes (102) and (202).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the portable electronic device according to the present invention covers the surface of the first housing (1) with the back surface of the second housing (2) and covers the surface of the second housing (2). By exposing the fully closed state and moving the second casing (2) rearward as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the surfaces of both casings (1) and (2) are exposed and the first casing ( A tilt state in which the surface of the second casing (2) is tilted at an opening angle of 90 degrees or more and less than 180 degrees with respect to the surface of 1), and the second casing (2) as shown in FIGS. And the fully opened state in which the surfaces of the two cases (1) and (2) are exposed on the same plane by turning the case back and the two cases (1) and (2) as shown in FIGS. It is possible to selectively set four states in which the second housing (2) is slid to the first housing (1) side with the surface thereof exposed on the same plane.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the connecting mechanism (3) for connecting the first housing (1) and the second housing (2) to each other is provided at both ends of the arm connecting portion (32a) extending left and right. A U-shaped connecting member (32) is provided which has a pair of left and right connecting arms (31) (31) extending in the front-rear direction.
The connection arm (31) has an L shape that is bent in an L shape on the surfaces orthogonal to the image display surfaces of both housings, and the first arm portion (35) intersects with each other at the corners of the L shape. ) And a second arm portion (36).

  The base end portion of the right connection arm (31) (the base end portion of the first arm portion (35)) is connected to the first housing (1) via a well-known hinge unit (4) incorporating a spring and a cam mechanism. ) And the base end of the left connecting arm (31) (the base end of the first arm (35)) is a dummy hinge unit (41) that does not incorporate a spring or cam mechanism. ) To the left rear end of the first housing (1).

Also, the tip of the right connecting arm (31) (the tip of the second arm (36)) is connected to the rear right end of the second housing (2) via the first hinge member (5). The front end of the left connecting arm (31) (the front end of the second arm portion (36)) is connected to the left end of the rear surface of the second housing (2) via the second hinge member (51). It is connected to.
Both hinge members (5) and (51) are housed in the back of the second casing (2) as shown in FIG.

The hinge units (4) and (41) constitute a first pivot connecting the base end of the connecting arm (31) to the first housing (1), while the hinge members (5) and (51) are connected to the connecting arm (31). ) Is connected to the second housing (2), and the first pivot and the second pivot are parallel to each other.
Moreover, the electronic component built in the 1st housing | casing (1) and the electronic component built in the 2nd housing | casing (2) are mutually connected by the flexible lead (7). The flexible lead (7) extends from the inside of the second housing (2) to the inside of the first housing (1) through the inside of the connecting arm (31). There is a margin that allows the relative movement of the body (1) and the second housing (2).

  Thereby, the second casing (2) can perform a series of relative movements shown in FIGS. 27 (a) to (d) and FIGS. 28 (a) to (c) with respect to the first casing (1). It is possible.

The hinge unit (4) softly locks the connecting member (32) to the first housing (1) in the tilted state shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and rotates the connecting member (32) in the tilted state. The bias is applied toward the rotation angle in the tilted state within a certain angle range centered on the angle. Further, the hinge unit (4) biases the connecting member (32) toward the rotation angle in the fully-rotated state within a certain angle range including the fully-rotated state shown in FIGS. .
5 and 6, the connecting member (32) is held by the first housing (1) so that the connecting member (32) is held at the rotation angle of the fully opened state. The

  As shown in FIG. 9, a torsion spring (6) is attached to the first hinge member (5) around its rotation axis (second pivot), and the second casing (2) is attached by the torsion spring (6). ) Is urged to rotate in the direction of reducing the opening angle θ in the tilted state shown in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the first arm portions (35), (35) of the connecting arms (31), (31) of the connecting member (32) are provided at the rear end portions of the both sides of the first housing (1). The accommodating parts (103) (103) to be accommodated are recessed.
On the other hand, on both sides of the back surface of the second housing (2), an accommodating part (204) (204) that should accommodate the arm coupling part (37) and the second arm part (36) (36) of the coupling member (32). 203) and (203) are recessed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the connecting arms (31) and (31) of the connecting member (32) receive the second casing (2) on the opposite side of the second casing (2). A receiving surface (33) is formed, and slide surfaces (29) to be brought into sliding contact with the receiving surface (33) are formed at both ends of the back surface of the second housing (2).

  In the tilt state shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the fully open state shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the slide surface 29 of the second housing 2 is connected to the connecting arm (see FIG. 23A). 31) abuts on the receiving surface (33) of the first casing 31), and the rotation of the second casing (2) relative to the connecting arm (31) is received. ) Relative to the connecting arm (31).

  As shown in FIG. 12, a U-shaped slide member (83) capable of sliding in the front-rear direction is provided on the rear panel (28) constituting the second casing (2), and the slide member A U-shaped support member (81) is fixed so as to cover (83). Support arm portions (84) and (84) project from the left and right end portions of the slide member (83), and slide guide portions (85) are provided at the respective support arm portions (84). In addition, sliding portions (82) and (82) project from the left and right ends of the support member (81).

  As shown in FIG. 17, the sliding guide portions (85) and (85) attached to the support arm portions (84) and (84) are connected to the sliding portions (82) and (82) of the support member (81). The slide member (83) on the back panel (28) is guided to slide in the front-rear direction while being sandwiched between the back panel (28) and the back panel (28).

  Thus, a slide mechanism (8) for sliding the second housing (2) in the front-rear direction with respect to the support arm portions (84) and (84) is configured, and the second housing (2) is shown in FIGS. It is possible to slide back and forth between the fully open state shown in FIGS. 6 and 21 and the fully open state shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 22.

A magnet (88) is installed on the rear panel (28), and a frame portion (89) surrounding the magnet (88) is formed at the center of the slide member (83) as shown in FIG. In the frame portion (89), a pair of projecting pieces (86) (87) are formed in front and rear of the magnet (88) as shown in FIG.
As described above, when the slide member (83) slides in the front-rear direction, one of the pair of protrusions (86) (87) comes into contact with the magnet (88) as shown in FIG. .

  As a result, the second housing (2) has one of the pair of projecting pieces (86) and (87) in each of the rotation fully open state shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and the slide fully open state shown in FIGS. One of them is attracted to the magnet (88), and the sliding position in the fully open state or the fully open state of the slide is held by the magnetic attractive force.

As shown in FIGS. 24 (a) and 24 (b), the rear end face of the first casing (1) and the front end face of the second casing (2), which are opposed to each other in the fully opened state, are engaged with each other. The convex part (10) and the concave part (20) which can be formed are formed, and the convex part (10) and the concave part (20) are mutually in the fully open state shown in FIGS. 24 (a) and 25 (a). In the fully open state shown in FIGS. 24B and 25B, the projection (10) and the recess (20) are engaged with each other.
As a result, in the slide fully open state shown in FIGS. 24B and 25B, the first housing 1 and the second housing 2 are engaged by the engagement of the convex portion 10 and the concave portion 20. Are connected to each other, and the state in which the first image display surface (11) and the second image display surface (21) are aligned on the same plane is maintained.

  24 (a) and 25 (a), in the fully open state, the metal plate (101) constituting the first housing (1) and the metal plate (201 constituting the second housing (2) are provided. A gap T having a sufficient size (for example, several mm) is provided between the two metal plates (101) in the fully open state as shown in FIGS. 24 (b) and 25 (b). ) (201) come into contact with each other or face each other with a slight distance (for example, 0.1 mm).

In the fully opened state, the dimensions shown in FIG. 26 are, for example, a: 2.55 mm, b: 0.2 mm, c: 0.05 mm, d: 0.15 mm, e: 1.1 mm, f: 0.3 mm. , G: 0.2 mm, h: 0.5 mm, i: 0.05 mm.
Here, the dimension a is the distance from the end surface of the cabinet to the image display area of the display (12) (22), and the dimension b is the distance from the edge of the image display surface (11) (21) to the image display area. h is the thickness of the metal plates (101) and (201), and the dimension i is the amount of dropping of the metal plates (101) and (201) from the cabinet surface.

  According to the portable electronic device, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the first housing (1) and the second housing (2) are overlapped to expose only the second image display surface (21). As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the second housing (2) is moved rearward from the fully closed state to move both the first image display surface (11) and the second image display surface (21). A tilted state in which the second image display surface (21) is inclined at an opening angle of 90 degrees or more and less than 180 degrees with respect to the first image display surface (11), as shown in FIGS. A fully opened state in which the second housing (2) is rotated backward from the tilted state so that both the first image display surface (11) and the second image display surface (21) are exposed on the same plane; As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the second housing (2) is slid toward the first housing (1) from the fully opened state, and the first image display surface (11) and the second image display surface (21 ) Are brought close to each other at both image display surfaces (11) It is possible to selectively set four states of the slide fully open state in which (21) is exposed on the same plane.

  In the fully closed state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the first arm portion (35) of the connecting arms (31) (31) is connected to the housing portion (103) (103) of the first housing (1) shown in FIG. 35) is housed, and the arm connecting portion (37) and the second arm portion (36) of the connecting member (32) are provided in the housing portions (204), (203) and (203) of the second housing (2). (36) is accommodated, and the connecting mechanism (3) does not protrude from both side surfaces and the rear end surfaces of both housings (1) and (2), so that the entire device is compactly accommodated.

  Further, in any of the tilted state shown in FIG. 3, the fully-rotated state shown in FIG. 5, and the fully-opened slide state shown in FIG. ) And the protruding portion of the coupling mechanism (3) is not visible from the user's normal line of sight (arrow S in FIG. 1).

As shown in FIGS. 27A to 27D and FIGS. 28A to 28D, the portable electronic device is shifted from the fully closed state to the slide fully opened state through the tilted state and the rotational fully opened state. Then, if the second housing (2) is pushed backward and moved slightly in the fully closed state shown in FIG. 27 (a), then, as shown in FIGS. Due to the urging of the torsion spring (6), the second housing (2) rotates counterclockwise as indicated by the dashed arrow, and the connecting arm (31) rotates clockwise as indicated by the solid arrow. To do.
As a result, the second housing (2) moves rearward with the second image display surface (21) facing upward or obliquely upward.

  Then, when the state of FIG. 27 (d) has passed a little, the connecting arm (31) further rotates clockwise as shown in FIG. 28 (a) by the bias of the hinge unit (4). ) And is softly locked at a tilted rotation angle. Further, the second housing (2) is rotated counterclockwise by the urging force of the torsion spring (6), and the slide surface (29) comes into contact with the receiving surface (33) of the connecting arm (31). Thus, the posture in the tilted state shown in FIG.

  Accordingly, the user simply pushes the second housing (2) rearward in the fully closed state shown in FIG. 27 (a) and moves it slightly, and then automatically moves to the tilted state shown in FIG. 28 (b). The second casing (2) is moved to the second position.

Next, if the second casing (2) is pushed backward in the tilted state shown in FIG. 28 (b) and the connecting arm (31) is slightly rotated clockwise, then the second casing FIG. 28 (c) shows that the connecting arm (31) is urged by the hinge unit (4) while the sliding surface (29) of (2) is in contact with the receiving surface (33) of the connecting arm (31). It rotates to the rotation angle of the rotation full open state, and is received by the 1st housing | casing (1) at this rotation angle.
With the rotation of the connecting arm (31), the second casing (2) is rotated rearward, and finally the first image display surface (11) and the second image display surface (21) are the same. It will be aligned on a plane.

Further, when the second casing (2) is pulled toward the first casing (1) from the fully opened state shown in FIG. 28 (c), the second casing is shown in FIGS. 23 (a) and 23 (b). When the slide surface (29) of the body (2) slides on the receiving surface (33) of the connecting arm (31), the second housing (2) is horizontally moved to the fully open position shown in FIG. And finally comes into contact with the first casing (1).
As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, the first image display surface (11) and the second image display surface (21) come close to each other, and one large screen is formed by both the image display surfaces (11) and (21). Will be.

  In the fully opened state, as shown in FIG. 24 (b), the convex portion (10) of the first casing (1) and the concave portion (20) of the second casing (2) are engaged with each other, and both casings (1 ) (2) are linked. Therefore, even if the second image display surface (21) is strongly touch-operated in this state, the second housing (2) maintains a constant posture with respect to the first housing (1).

  As shown in FIG. 26, the metal plates (101) and (201) of the two casings (1) and (2) are opposed to each other when the slide is fully opened, so that the metal plates (101) and (201) are adopted. Compared to the general structure in which synthetic resin cabinets face each other, the difference between the synthetic resin cabinet thickness (1.2 mm x 2) and the metal plate thickness (0.5 mm x 2) The distance between the first display 12 and the second display 22 can be reduced by (1.4 mm).

Further, in the portable electronic device, when placed on a desk in a tilted state as shown in FIG. 29 (a), or placed on a desk in a fully open state as shown in FIG. 29 (b), the connecting arm (31) The corner portion protrudes from the back surface of the first housing (1), and the front end portion of the first housing (1) and the corner portion of the connecting arm (31) are grounded.
Here, in any state, the first casing (1) and the second casing (2) are arranged so that the center of gravity G is closer to the first casing (1) than the ground point of the connecting arm (31) as shown in the figure. ) And the L-shape of the connecting arm (31) are designed to stabilize the postures of the housings (1) and (2).

  Therefore, when placed on a desk in a tilted state as shown in FIG. 29 (a), for example, while looking at the display (12) of the rear second casing (2), the touch panel ( 13) can be operated.

  Also, when placed on a desk with the slide fully open as shown in FIG. 29 (b), both image display surfaces (11) and (21) are slightly displayed in accordance with the protruding amount of the corners of the connecting arm (31). For example, a single screen is formed by the two image display surfaces (11) and (21), and an image can be viewed on a large screen. In this case, since both the image display surfaces (11) and (21) are sufficiently close to each other, an almost uninterrupted image can be displayed on both the image display surfaces (11) and (21).

  In addition, each part structure of this invention is not restricted to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible within the technical scope as described in a claim. For example, the present invention can also be implemented in a portable electronic device that can selectively set three states of a fully closed state, a rotational fully open state, and a slide fully open state while omitting the tilt state.

(1) First housing
(11) First image display surface
(2) Second housing
(21) Second image display surface
(29) Slide surface
(3) Connecting mechanism
(31) Connecting arm
(35) First arm
(36) Second arm
(33) Receiving surface
(4) Hinge unit
(5) Hinge member
(6) Torsion spring
(7) Flexible lead
(8) Slide mechanism
(83) Slide member
(88) Magnet
(101) Metal plate
(201) Metal plate

Claims (3)

The first casing and the second casing are connected to each other via a connecting mechanism, and an image display surface is provided on the surface of the casing, and the surface of the first casing is covered with the back surface of the second casing. Select at least two states: the fully closed state where the surface of the second housing is exposed, and the fully open state where the surface of both housings are exposed on the same plane by moving the second housing from the fully closed state In portable electronic devices that can be set automatically,
The coupling mechanism is housed in a housing portion whose base end is recessed in the side surface of the first housing and is connected to the first housing by a first pivot, and a distal end is parallel to the first pivot. A connecting arm connected to the back surface of the second housing by a second pivot, and the connecting arm has an L-shape that is bent in an L-shape on a plane orthogonal to the first pivot and the second pivot; The rotation angle between the fully closed state and the fully open state is possible, and when the two casings are placed on a horizontal surface in the fully open state, the L-shaped corners of the connecting arm are on one side. The portable electronic device is characterized in that the end of the first housing is the other ground and is supported on a horizontal plane by the two grounds. 2. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein a housing portion for housing a distal end portion of the connection arm is recessed on a back surface of the second housing. The housing portion recessed in the first housing and the housing portion recessed in the second housing can accommodate the entire connection arm in a fully closed state of both housings. The portable electronic device according to claim 2.

Images