JPH04167011A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the brightness of a light emitting diode from decreasing and to diffuse light in two directions by providing a display member which has a staircase- shaped light incidence surface where the light of the light emitting diode is made incident and a reflecting surface for guiding the incident light to an upper end display surface or front end display surface. CONSTITUTION:This equipment is equipped with a housing 1 which connects from its top surface to the front surface and has display holes formed, light emitting diodes which are provided inside the display holes, upper end display surfaces 21a arranged in the display holes formed in the top surface, and front display surfaces 21b arranged in the display holes formed in the front surface. Further, the equipment is equipped with the display member 17 having the staircase-shaped light incidence surface 21d where the light from the light emitting diodes is made incident and the reflecting surface 21e which reflects the light, made incident and then reflected, and guides the reflected light to the upper end display surface 21a or front display surface 21b. Thus, the reflecting surface 21e guides the incident light to the upper end display surface 21a or front end display surface 21b, thereby brightening both the upper end display surface 21a and front end display surface 21b. Consequently, the brightness is prevented from decreasing and the light can be diffused in the two directions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application)] The present invention relates to electronic equipment such as a laptop computer equipped with an indicator device for displaying the operating status of each device.

(Prior Art) In recent years, laptop-type or book-type portable computers have become popular. This portable computer consists of a base unit and a display unit rotatably attached to the base unit. The base unit consists of a base, a keyboard mounted on the front of the base, and a rear cover mounted on the rear of the base. The display unit consists of an outer surface and an inner surface having a display screen. The display unit is attached to the rear cover and can be rotated between a closed position that covers the keyboard and an open position that exposes the display screen. The rear cover has a rear upper surface formed higher than the surface of the keyboard, a front upper surface formed lower than the rear upper surface, and a front opening connecting the rear upper surface and the front upper surface. When the keyboard is set in the closed position, the rear upper surface of the rear cover and the outer surface of the display unit are approximately at the same height, making the portable computer approximately rectangular.

Among these portable computers, there is a portable computer in which a slit is formed in a corner formed by the front surface and the rear upper surface of the rear cover and continues from the front surface to the rear upper surface, and an indicator is provided inside the slit. This portable computer has a slit that extends from the front of the rear cover to the top of the rear cover, so the lighting status of the indicator can be displayed on the front and on the top, making it possible to see the indicator regardless of whether the display unit is open or closed. In this portable computer that can display the lighting status of the indicator in the front direction and the rear upper direction, the light-transmitting member attached to the slit is made of a light-diffusing material to diffuse light in both directions.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In conventional portable computers, the light-transmitting member provided in the slit that was formed continuously from the front surface to the rear upper surface of the rear cover was made of a light-diffusing material, which caused a decrease in brightness. There was a problem in that the display performance deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device equipped with an indicator that can prevent a decrease in brightness and diffuse light in two directions.

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems)] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a casing having a front surface and an upper surface, in which a display hole is formed extending from the upper surface to the front surface; a light emitting diode provided inside the display hole; a top display surface disposed in the display hole formed on the top surface; a front display surface disposed in the display hole formed on the front surface; It has a step-like light incidence surface into which light from the diode is incident, and a reflecting surface that reflects the light incident and refracted from the light incidence surface and guides the reflected light to the upper end display surface or the front end display surface. The gist is that the display member is provided with a display member.

(Function) Light emitted from the light emitting diode enters the stepped light incident surface of the display member, is refracted, and enters the reflective surface.

This reflective surface guides the incident light to the upper end display surface and the front end display surface, so that the upper end display surface and the front end display surface can be illuminated.

(Example) An example implemented in a notebook type laptop personal computer shown in the drawings will be described below.

3 and 4 are external perspective views of the computer. The computer case 1 is made of synthetic resin and has a substantially rectangular planar shape. The housing 1 is formed from a base portion 1a and a rear cover portion lb attached to the rear upper surface of the base portion 1a.

A keyboard 2 is provided on the front upper surface of the housing 1.

Inside the casing 1 is a printed wiring board (not shown) on which electronic components are mounted, as well as an indicator circuit board to be described later. Part of rear cover
b has a rear portion 3 whose upper surface is higher than the keyboard surface. A display section 4 is provided at a corner formed by the front surface and the top surface of the rear portion 3.

Display housing 5 can be rotated with rear cover lb
It is attached to the rear part 3 of the. That is, a pair of legs 6 are provided on both left and right sides of the display housing 5, and the legs 6 are rotatably connected to the rear part 3 of the rear cover 1b.

The display housing 5 attached to part lb of the rear cover of the housing 1 can be rotated between a closed position covering the keyboard 2 (Fig. 3) and an open position for operating the computer (Fig. 4). . The housing 5 is sized to cover the keyboard 2 in the closed position. The display housing 5 has a hook portion 7, and the casing 1 has a latching groove 8.

When the housing 5 is set in the closed position, the hook portion 7
and the locking groove 8 engage with each other, and the housing 5 is held in the closed position. The display housing 5 is formed by connecting a pair of case members, and has a flat panel display panel 9 such as a liquid crystal display therein.
is stored.

The display 9 is exposed on the front surface of the housing 5 when the housing 5 is set in the closed position.

A battery pack 10 and an option cover 11 are detachably attached to the upper surface of the rear end of the housing 1. The top and rear surfaces of the battery pack 10 and the option cover 11 form part of the rear outer surface of the housing 1, and the top surface is flush with the outer surface of the display housing 5 when the display housing 5 is closed. It is formed to be.

A floppy disk mounting opening 12 is formed on the side surface of the housing 1.

Next, the configuration of the display section 4 will be explained using FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

The display section 4 of the housing 1 is provided with a plurality of narrow display holes 15 extending over the top wall 4a and front wall 4b of the rear part 3 of the rear cover part 1b. An indicator device 16 is provided within the display section 4 . The indicator device 16 displays various statuses of the personal computer. The indicator device 16 includes a display member 17, an indicator circuit board 18, a chip LED 19, and a holder 18a.

The indicator circuit board 18 is attached to the inclined surface of the holder 18a. Indicator circuit board 1
8 has circuit components (not shown) mounted thereon. A plurality of chip LEDs 19 are attached to the front edge of the circuit board 18 in correspondence with the display holes 15. The chip LED 19 faces the direction of the corner formed by the upper end display surface 21a and the front end display surface 21b.

The display member 17 is made of a transparent material such as transparent acrylic resin. The display member 17 includes a base portion 20 and a plurality of light transmitting portions 21 integrally formed at the front portion of the base portion 20.

The display member 17 is provided in the display section 4 by fixing the base section 20 to the back surface of the upper wall 4a by heat caulking. Each of the light transmitting parts 21 closes one of the display holes 15. That is, the light transmitting section 21 is connected to the display section 4.
The upper end display surface 21a is exposed flush with the outer surface of the upper wall 4a.
1 and a front end display surface 21b that is connected to the front end of the display surface 21a and exposed on the outer surface of the front wall 4b of the display section 4.

The light transmitting portion 21 has a reverse slope 21c continuous to the lower end of the front end display surface 21b. The upper end of the reflective surface 21c is connected to the lower end of the front end display surface 21b. Lower end front wall 4b of reflective surface 21C
It is formed so as to be separated from the back side of the

The reflective surface 21e forms a part of the light transmitting section 21, and is located substantially parallel to the opposite slope 21c.

The upper end of the reflective surface 21e is connected to the base portion.

The light transmitting portion 21 has a pre-inclined slope 21d in the form of a right-angled step that connects the lower end of the reflective surface 21c and the lower end of the reflective surface 21e. (However, the stepped angle of the light incidence surface 21d does not necessarily have to be a right angle.) The light incidence surface 21d is a chip LED.
The light emitting sides of 19 are closely opposed to each other.

In the personal computer configured as described above, the corresponding chip LED 19 lights up when the power is on, when reading or writing to the hard disk driver or floppy disk driver, when switching modes due to keyboard 2 operation, etc. It lights up and its status is displayed on the display section 4.

Next, details of this status display will be explained below.

When the chip LED 19 is turned on, light emitted diagonally upward and in front of the chip LED 19 with directionality is incident from the light entrance surface 21d. The incident light is refracted by the prism principle and dispersed toward the customer.

A part of the refracted light directly passes through the front end display surface 21b or the upper end display surface 21a. Further, a part of the refracted light is incident on the oblique reflecting surfaces 21c and 21e. Reflective surface 21c
The light incident on the reflective surface 21e is transmitted to the reflective surface 21e.
At c, the light is reflected upward by the reflective surface 21e and transmitted through the upper end display surface 21a and the front end display surface 21b.

The upper end display surface 21a and the front end display surface 21b are illuminated by the light directly transmitted to the front end display surface 21b or the upper end display surface 21a and the light transmitted from the reflective surface to perform display on the upper surface and front surface of the display section 4. be able to. In addition,
The optical path related to this illumination is represented by a thin line arrow in FIG.

That is, by lighting the same chip LED 19, bidirectional display over the front and upper surfaces of the display section 4 can be simultaneously achieved, and there is no need to use expensive special materials such as diffusion glass for the display member 17. By providing the first attack slope 21c, the light reflection section 21e, and the step-like light entrance surface 21d in the light transmission section 21, the bidirectional display as described above can be achieved, so that the attenuation of light in the light transmission section 21 can be reduced. .

Therefore, the upper end display surface 21a and the front end display surface 21b
Display performance will not deteriorate due to insufficient light amount.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can of course be applied to electronic devices other than personal computers.

[Effects of the Invention] The electronic device of the present invention described above includes a casing having a front surface and a top surface, a display hole extending from the top surface to the front surface, and a light emitting device provided inside the display hole. a diode, an upper end display surface disposed in the display hole formed in the upper surface, a front end display surface disposed in the display hole formed in the front surface, and a step-like structure through which light from the light emitting diode is incident. and a reflecting surface that reflects light incident and refracted from the light incidence surface and guides the reflected light to the upper end display surface or the front end display surface, It prevents the brightness of the light emitting diode from decreasing and can diffuse light in two directions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an indicator device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a part of the indicator device, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the entire electronic device, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the entire electronic device. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the entire electronic device with the display housing opened. 1... Housing 4a... Top wall 4b...
Front wall 17... Display member, 19... Chip LED 21a... Upper end display surface 21b... Front end display surface 21c... Reflective surface 21d... Light incidence surface, 21e... Reflective surface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a casing having a front surface and a top surface, a casing having a display hole extending from the top surface to the front surface; a light emitting diode provided inside the display hole; and a light emitting diode disposed in the display hole formed on the top surface. an upper end display surface, a front end display surface disposed in the display hole formed in the front surface, a step-like light incidence surface into which light from the light emitting diode is incident, and a light incident surface that is incident from the light incidence surface and refracted. An electronic device comprising: a display member having a reflective surface that reflects light and guides the reflected light to the upper end display surface or the front end display surface.