JP5115168B2 - Light guide structure, portable terminal equipped with the same, and light guide method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a light guide structure for LED (Light Emitting Diode) illumination, a portable terminal including the light guide structure, and a light guide method.

  As part of the differentiation of the appearance of mobile phone terminals, a plurality of LEDs are arranged vertically and horizontally in a housing having an opening corresponding to each of the plurality of LEDs, and at least a part thereof is lit to produce LED light. A technique is used in which an arbitrary pattern according to a situation or user setting can be visually observed by emitting the signal to the outside of the casing.

  In this configuration, it is necessary that only the light from the corresponding LED is emitted from the opening corresponding to each LED, and it is desirable if light from a certain LED leaks from the opening corresponding to the adjacent LED. Pattern is not displayed correctly.

  For this reason, the light-shielding member formed by resin molding is arrange | positioned between LED and the opening of a housing | casing, so that the light from a certain LED would not leak from the opening corresponding to LED which adjoins.

  In recent years, mobile phone terminals have been required to be thinner, but the light-shielding member formed by resin molding has a certain thickness to prevent light leakage. Difficult to do. Further, there is a limit to reducing the thickness from the viewpoint of moldability.

  As a technique related to emitting light of a plurality of arranged LEDs only from an opening corresponding to each of them, “LED light leakage prevention structure” disclosed in Patent Document 1 and “Patent Document 2” are disclosed. LED display device ".

  The invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 is such that LED light is emitted only from the holes corresponding to the respective LEDs by inserting the LEDs into the holes formed in the light-shielding elastic material.

In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2, a transparent sheet in which a light shielding layer is formed leaving a light transmitting hole corresponding to each LED is disposed on the LED, so that LED light is emitted only from the hole corresponding to each LED. Is to be emitted.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-155654 JP 2006-145682 A

  However, in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the light-shielding elastic material is sandwiched between the printed wiring board and the cabinet, the mounting efficiency of the printed wiring board is lowered. That is, a plurality of LEDs cannot be mounted with high density. Moreover, since there is no light-shielding elastic material between the LED and the cabinet, when an external force acts on the cabinet, the cabinet and the LED may collide and the LED may be damaged.

  Moreover, since the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 does not include any member that functions to absorb external force applied to the light emitting surface, there is a possibility that the LED may be damaged by external force such as when the terminal is dropped. is there. Furthermore, when another device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is mounted on the back side of the LED, this may also be damaged. Furthermore, high printing accuracy and mounting accuracy are required to form the light-shielding layer while leaving the light-transmitting holes, resulting in a low yield.

  As described above, a light guide structure that can mount a plurality of LEDs with high density and has excellent impact resistance has not been provided.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and provides a light guide structure capable of mounting a plurality of LEDs at high density and having excellent impact resistance, a portable terminal including the light guide structure, and a light guide method. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, as a first aspect, the present invention provides a plurality of LEDs arranged in a predetermined pattern and a plurality of LEDs in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs so as to correspond to each of the plurality of LEDs. A housing having an opening, and a light guide member that is disposed between the plurality of LEDs and the housing and guides light emitted from each of the plurality of LEDs only to the corresponding opening of the housing; The light guide structure emits light emitted from each of the LEDs from the corresponding opening of the housing to the outside of the housing, and the light guide member has a plurality of through holes formed in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs, An opaque elastic sheet facing the LED and a translucent sheet having translucency and facing the casing are formed to overlap each other, and each of the through holes of the elastic sheet is smaller than the corresponding LED. Providing a light guide structure characterized by Than is.

  Moreover, in order to achieve the said objective, this invention provides the portable terminal provided with the light guide structure which concerns on the said 1st aspect of this invention as a 2nd aspect.

  In order to achieve the above object, as a third aspect of the present invention, a plurality of LEDs are arranged in a predetermined pattern, and a plurality of LEDs are arranged in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs so as to correspond to each of the plurality of LEDs. An opaque elastic sheet in which a plurality of through holes smaller than the LEDs are formed in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs between the housing in which the opening is formed and the plurality of LEDs, and a translucent sheet having translucency Are arranged such that the elastic sheet faces the plurality of LEDs and the translucent sheet faces the casing, so that the light emitted from each of the plurality of LEDs is emitted from the corresponding opening of the casing. A light guide method for emitting light out of the housing is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a light guide structure that can mount a plurality of LEDs with high density and has excellent impact resistance, a portable terminal including the light guide structure, and a light guide method.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a light guide structure in which the present invention is suitably implemented.
The light guide structure includes a plurality of LEDs 101 arranged in a predetermined pattern, a housing 102 in which a plurality of openings 102a are formed in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs 101 so as to correspond to the plurality of LEDs 101, and The light guide member 103 is disposed between the LED 101 and the housing 102 and guides light emitted from each of the plurality of LEDs 101 only to the corresponding opening 102a of the housing 102, and each of the plurality of LEDs 101 emits light. The light guide structure emits light from the corresponding opening 102a of the housing 102 to the outside of the housing 102. The light guide member 103 has a plurality of through holes 1301a formed in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs 101, and a plurality of through holes 1301a are formed. An opaque elastic sheet 1031 facing the LED 101 and a translucent sheet 1032 having translucency and facing the housing 102 are overlapped. Are formed Te, each of the through-hole 1031a of the elastic sheet 1031 is smaller than the corresponding LED 101.
The case 102 is, for example, a case of a mobile terminal.

  Hereinafter, the light guide structure in which the present invention is suitably implemented will be described in more detail.

  FIG. 2 shows an appearance of a mobile phone terminal to which the light guide structure according to this embodiment is applied. As shown in the drawing, the liquid crystal side housing 8 and the key button side housing 9 are connected via a hinge so as to be foldable.

  3 and 4 show the configuration of the liquid crystal casing 8. The liquid crystal housing 8 is composed of a front case 3 and a rear case 4. The LED 6, the light guide plate 5, the substrate 2, the substrate 1, and the LCD 7 are housed inside the liquid crystal side housing 8.

  The substrate 2 controls the LCD 7. The LCD 7 is arranged so that the display surface is located in a window provided in the front side case 3. A liquid crystal protective screen 10 is attached to both the LCD 7 and the front side case 3 to which the LCD 7 is attached. The liquid crystal protection screen 10 includes a rubber pad 11 in the vicinity of the end portion of the front side case 3 opposite to the hinge portion. The rubber pad 11 prevents the LCD 7 from being scratched by forming a gap between the liquid crystal side housing 8 and the key button side housing 9 when folded. The LEDs 6 are arranged with the light emitting surface facing the rear case 4 and with the pitch in the oblique direction being minimized (in other words, each LED 6 is arranged at a position that becomes the apex of the triangular lattice, and is two-dimensional. In the close-packed structure).

  The rear case 4 is formed with an illuminating portion 8 a having an opening for emitting LED light to the outside of the housing corresponding to each of the LEDs 6. In the configuration shown in the drawing, an opening for improving the design is provided in addition to the opening corresponding to the LED 6, but the illumination part 8 a only needs to have an opening corresponding to at least each LED 6.

  FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the light guide plate 5. The light guide plate 5 has rubber holes 51 formed in the same pattern as the arrangement pattern of the LEDs 6. The diameter of the rubber hole 51 is smaller than the corresponding LED 6 so that the LED 6 cannot be completely inserted into the rubber hole 51.

In FIG. 6, the cross section of the part in which the rubber hole 51 of the light-guide plate 5 is formed is shown.
The light guide plate 5 has a structure in which a PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) film 5b and a rubber 5d are bonded together by a double-sided adhesive tape 5c. The light guide plate 5 is disposed such that the PET film 5 b faces the rear side case 4 and the rubber 5 d faces the LED 6. The rubber 5d is opaque, and light emitted from the LED 6 does not pass through the rubber 5d.
A double-sided adhesive tape 5a is disposed on the side of the PET film 5b facing the rear side case 4, and the light guide plate 5 can be fixed to the rear side case 4 by using this.
In addition, printing is performed on the side of the PET film 5b facing the rear side case 4, and the printed layer 52 formed by printing is exposed at the opening portion of the rear side case 4. Therefore, if the printing layer 52 is formed so that the color of the opening of the rear side case 4 matches the color of the rear side case 4 (color difference between the color of the PET film 5b and the color of the rear side case 4). If the color difference between the color of the printing layer 52 and the color of the rear case 4 is smaller than that, the presence of the opening can be made inconspicuous.

In FIG. 7, the cross section in the state which assembled the liquid crystal side housing | casing 8 is shown.
The LED 6 and the rubber 5d are arranged so as to be close enough that the light emitted from the light emitting surface of the LED 6 does not reach the through hole corresponding to the other LED 6. The LED 6 and the rubber 5d may be in contact with each other.

  Since the rubber hole 51 formed in the rubber 5 d is smaller than the LED 6, the LED 6 cannot be completely inserted into the rubber hole 51. Further, the thickness dimension of the rubber 5d is smaller than the thickness dimension of the LED 6. For this reason, the rubber 5d does not contact the substrate 1. Therefore, dead space does not occur in the substrate 1, so that mounting efficiency can be improved.

  Further, since the rubber 5d exists between the LED 6 and the rear side case 4, even if an external force acts on the rear side case 4, the LED 6 and the rear side case 4 do not collide. In addition, the external force is attenuated by the rubber 5d, and the force acting on the LED 6 and the LCD 7 on the back side thereof is weakened, so that the impact resistance is excellent.

  As described above, in the light guide structure according to the present embodiment, the printable PET film 5b and the rubber 5d for light shielding are bonded to each other, so that the LED 6 is printed in a color tone that matches the rear side case 4 when the LED 6 is not lit. The exposed PET film 5b is exposed, and when the LED 6 is turned on, the LED light can be emitted only from the corresponding opening.

In addition, the said embodiment is an example of suitable implementation of this invention, and this invention is not limited to this.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the rear case has a circular opening. However, the opening may be rectangular, star, or oval as long as it is smaller than the LED.
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the structure which bonded PET film and rubber | gum with the double-sided adhesive tape was made into an example, these may be bonded together using an adhesive agent.
Furthermore, although the mobile phone terminal has been described as an example in the above embodiment, the present invention can also be applied to a mobile terminal that does not have a telephone function and a stationary electronic device.
As described above, the present invention can be variously modified.

It is a figure which shows the light guide structure which implemented this invention suitably. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the mobile telephone terminal to which the light guide structure which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows the structure of the liquid crystal side housing | casing of the mobile telephone terminal to which the light guide structure which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows the structure of the liquid crystal side housing | casing of the mobile telephone terminal to which the light guide structure which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows the structure of the illumination plate of the light guide structure which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the cross-sectional structure of the illumination plate of the light guide structure which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the light guide structure which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 Board | substrate 3 Front side case 4 Rear side case 5 Illumination plate 5a, 5c Double-sided adhesive tape 5b PET film 5d Rubber 51 Rubber hole 52 Printing layer 6 LED
7 LCD
8 Liquid crystal side housing 8a Illuminating part 9 Key button side housing 10 Liquid crystal protection screen 11 Rubber pad 20 Hinge

Claims (10)

A plurality of LEDs arranged in a predetermined pattern;
A housing in which a plurality of openings are formed in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs so as to correspond to each of the plurality of LEDs;
A light guide member disposed between the plurality of LEDs and the housing, and guiding light emitted from each of the plurality of LEDs only to a corresponding opening of the housing;
A light guide structure that emits light emitted from each of the plurality of LEDs from a corresponding opening of the housing to the outside of the housing;
The light guide member has a plurality of through holes formed in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs, an opaque elastic sheet facing the plurality of LEDs, and a light transmissive property facing the housing. It is formed by overlapping the sheet,
Each of the through holes of the elastic sheet is smaller than the corresponding LED.   The light guide structure according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of LEDs are arranged in a two-dimensional close-packed structure.   The light guide structure according to claim 1, wherein the elastic sheet and the translucent sheet are bonded with a double-sided adhesive tape.   The light guide structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the light guide member is attached to the housing with a double-sided adhesive tape.   The housing includes at least one dummy opening that does not correspond to any of the plurality of LEDs in addition to the opening of the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs corresponding to each of the plurality of LEDs. The light guide structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4.   The light guide structure according to claim 1, wherein the translucent sheet is transparent.   The light guide structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a printed layer is formed on a side of the translucent sheet facing the housing.   The light guide structure according to claim 7, wherein a color difference between the color of the printed layer and the color of the casing is smaller than a color difference between the color of the translucent sheet and the color of the casing.   The portable terminal provided with the light guide structure of any one of Claim 1 to 8. A plurality of LEDs are arranged in a predetermined pattern,
The LEDs having the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs are disposed between the plurality of LEDs and a housing in which a plurality of openings are formed in the same arrangement pattern as the plurality of LEDs so as to correspond to the plurality of LEDs. A light guide member in which an opaque elastic sheet in which a plurality of smaller through-holes are formed and a light-transmitting light-transmitting sheet are overlapped, the elastic sheet is opposed to the plurality of LEDs, and the light-transmitting sheet is A light guide method in which light emitted from each of the plurality of LEDs is emitted from a corresponding opening of the housing to the outside of the housing by being disposed so as to face the housing.

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